Monday, August 31, 2015

Book of the Week: Beyond the Surface by Felice Stevens



Author: Felice Stevens
Publish date: August 17, 2015
Length: 229 pages


Blurb

On 9/11, firefighter Nick Fletcher’s world changed forever. He's unable to rid himself of survivor’s guilt, made worse by the secret he hides from his family and co-workers. Nick's life is centered around helping burn victims, until he is reunited with the man he’d once loved but pushed away. Now he has a second chance at a love he thought lost forever.

For fashion designer Julian Cornell, appearances mean everything. His love affairs are strictly casual, and the only thing he cares about is making his clothing line a success. A chance encounter with the man he loved long ago has Julian thinking for the first time in years there may be more to life than being seen at the best parties and what designer labels to wear.

When Julian’s world takes an unexpected turn, it's Nick who helps him regain perspective on what matters most in life. Julian, in turn, helps Nick accept who he is and understand he isn’t responsible for tragedies he couldn't prevent. Lost love found can be even sweeter the second time around and after all the years apart, both men learn to look beyond the surface to find the men they are inside.




 Review

It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Felice Stevens. I’ve read all her books from the first to the most recent and have been blown away every time. Her words, her stories, they hurt, and you cry and then inevitably she wraps you in a blanket of warmth and love. It’s not predictable it’s hopeful. You know you’ll be okay, that there will be a HEA. But first she’ll put you through the ringer. Beyond the Surface is no different. It’s book one of a new series she’s doing called The Breakfast Club and it’s clear who the main 3 men of these books will be pretty quick. This one follows Julian (breakfast Club man numero uno) and his long time heartbreaking love, Nick. Nick’s past surrounds him, suffocates him, owns him. A survivor of 9/11, he’s been chasing demons for years. Until the love of his past comes to the surface and rescues him. They rescue each other really. But there’s a journey they need to take first. For me this book is the essence of beauty. Beauty isn’t skin, it’s heart. It’s unconditional love. It’s find what completes you. It’s your purpose and Felice really pulls through with that understanding. Beyond the Surface will touch your heart, make you cry but it will be worth every tear drop and hiccup. This is a brilliant book and I can’t wait for more of this series.

 

Blog Tour: Uncommon Valor by Rachel Ravenheart #Excerpt #Review #Giveaway




Title: Uncommon Valor

Author: Rachel Ravenheart

Publisher: Cool Dudes Publishing

Cover Artist: Louis C Harris

Length: 167 Pages

Release Date: July 22, 2015

Blurb: “Lil’ Bro,

If you’re reading this, then something obviously happened and I’m not going to be around. I wanted to let you know how much I love you, and you don’t have to tear yourself up over this. I’m the one who chose to enlist, and I believe I’ve served proudly for the last few years. I know this won’t ease your mind any, but I believe I’m probably in a better place now. Please don’t be sad. I died doing what I loved, fighting for my country. I wish I could be there for you when you tell Mom and Dad about you being gay. Just know that I am with you in spirit. Look to Chase for guidance. I know he’ll be the big brother for you I can no longer be. The guys will be a great support for you, and they won’t care that you’re gay. They’re a great group of guys, and they’ll treat you just like I would. They’ll be a support system for you when Dad blows up, and you know he will. Be safe and know I will be watching out for you from the other side.

Love, Sam.”

Uncommon Valor is not just a story of a gay man, it is the fulfilling story of a young man who is on the verge of discovering his true self and he has the perfect prop to do that. He is also about to become a Dad. Will he pull through as a gay man and a Dad? Or will he fall upon the wayside and reject his newborn child, and in so doing, also reject the man of his dreams?



Last weekend with the platoon was great.

I met a ton of new people, and the guys were really supportive when I told them. I hadn’t heard anything from my Mom, so I wasn’t sure what to think about that, but I’d decided I wasn’t going to worry too much. I was on cloud nine from having spent time with people who didn’t care I was gay and treated me like one of the guys even though I wasn’t a Marine.

That all came to a halt when I ran into Tina in the dining hall on campus during the week.

Tina uses her beauty to her advantage. She’s medium height with red hair and green eyes. Whatever she said was right and she was of the opinion that no one could outsmart her. Personally, I tried to stay away from her if I possibly could.

But, she had a crush on me.

I never got the chance to tell my brother that during a night of drunkenness I had slept with her. There was a part of me that always felt something else had been involved, but I couldn’t prove it. I didn’t even know if we did anything. All I knew was I woke up the next morning in the same bed with her and both of us were naked. It wasn’t something I was proud of, and I honestly hoped I would never see her again. Unfortunately, we were both in law school together, so I knew that wasn’t going to be an option.

I’d almost completely forgotten about the incident because it had happened at the end of the semester and I had taken the summer off. The new semester had just started, and I had been lucky enough to not see her in any of my classes or around campus.

I was shocked to see her with what I would consider a baby bump, but I didn’t want to make any assumptions. I pretended to not see her, but she saw me.

“Jason! I need to talk to you,” she said, and grasped my elbow from behind.

“What do you want, Tina?” I yanked my arm out of her grasp with a snarl.

“It’s a private matter.”

“We can talk at my house, but that’s all that’s going to happen.” I turned and walked away, expecting her to follow me to the parking lot. As it turned out, we were parked fairly close to each other, and I motioned for her to follow me as I got into my car.

§

We arrived at my house and I was still trying to figure out what she wanted to talk to me about. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it.

Inside, she headed for the lounge. “Would you like something to drink?” I asked. When I turned to face her she held her stomach in a protective manner.

“Water would be nice.”

“Have a seat and I’ll be right back.” I said, placing my bag on the floor by the door.

When I returned, she was standing in front of the bay window looking out over the park. “Here you go.” I held out a bottle of water to her as she turned around.

“Thanks, Jason. I’m sorry to put you out like this, but I needed to talk to you and I didn’t want to do it with people around.”

“What’s going on? I haven’t seen you since the end of spring semester.” I walked over and took a seat on the couch and waited to hear what she had to say.

“I went home for summer break and some surprising news came up just before I came back to school.” She came over and sat down next to me.

“Spit it out,” I said, frustrated. I just wanted her gone; something about her really irked me.

“The thing is, just before I came back I realized that I had missed my period so I went to the doctor and took a pregnancy test. I’m pregnant.”

“What’s that got to do with me?” It felt like I had been punched in the gut.

“Well, I hadn’t been with anyone for a while before you and I hooked up at the end of the semester.” She licked her lips and wrung her hands.

“We didn’t hook up. I got way too drunk and don’t remember anything until I woke up the next morning with you by my side and naked.”

“Why do you refuse to believe that what we shared was something special?” she whined. “You know you love me, you only need to admit it and we’ll be happy together as a family.”

“It wasn’t special. What do you want from me?”

“I want you to be a father to our child. I want us to be a family.” She tried to put her hand on my arm. I pulled away.

“We will never be a family. What the HELL were you thinking? Obviously you weren’t; that’s the problem.” I walked over to the bay window and glared out. “If the child is mine I’ll support it and even take custody of him or her, but we will never be together. As soon as the baby is born I’m going to fight for custody and before I commit to anything there needs to be a paternity test, until that time you are nothing more to me than a pregnant woman. Until you have further information, I think this is all we have to talk about.”

“We’d make good parents together. Why are you refusing to admit that?” she cried.

“I have no doubt that we will be good parents, but we won’t be a couple. I’m gay and will not be in a relationship with any woman. Now, if there’s nothing else, I think that it’s time for you to leave. Let me know when you set up the paternity test and I’ll be there. We’ll talk more after the test results come back.” I opened the front door and waited for her to leave. I was being mean and harsh, but I was pissed about what had happened, mostly at myself because I let myself get wasted at that party. I wished I could remember what happened that night.

She stormed past me and went out to her car mumbling under her breath. Part of me hoped I was the father, but there was a greater part of me that hoped I would have nothing more to do with her.

Okay.... So what we have here is an emotional ride. Jason loses his brother in war and that right there tears me apart. It's so sad. Heartbreaking. Chase is a Marine who falls deeply in love with Jason. It IS an insta-love sort of thing and though I'm not one for those types of things, with all the hell these two go through in this book, I was able to get passed it.

Tina, a one nighter of stupid drunkness announces she's pregnant with Jason's baby. Jason has some serious choices to make. No way does Tina make anything easy for them. She wants Jason all to herself and hits WAY below the belt. She's quite possibly the most evil woman in all the world.

So we have a crazy lady, a baby, and 2 men in love.

Tina's vindictiveness gets uglier through the story and it takes Jason and Chase's love for each other to save not just this baby, but their relationship.

I was never bored reading this story. I hoped Tina got her comeuppances but she really didn't. In the end it's, did they live happily ever after.

Rachel Ravenheart has written a very emotional and curvy story. Great book.





Ms. Ravenheart is new to the literary world, but has had the desire to write since junior high school. She moved from a small town in Iowa in time to start high school in Louisiana.

Rachel lost sight of writing as she got bogged down with sports and school. Her dream of being a writer forgotten as she looked to the future to study Political Science with the hope of going to law school when she moved to Texas.

To make her way in the world she got wrapped up in the field of nursing when she got a job as a C.N.A. and soon even her dream of law school was forgotten. Strangely, thanks to an injury, she was at home recuperating and was bored when she remembered her love for writing. Never thinking she would ever get published, she began.

It was writers like Rob Colton, Mann Ramblings, and Alicia Nordwell that inspired her creativity. She found GayAuthors.org and after some encouragement she decided to post her first story. With the enthusiasm of readers her confidence grew and she took the step to send off her first story to be published. Hopefully, the first of many.

||  Website & Blog  || Facebook  ||  Facebook Page  ||  Twitter  ||  Email  ||



Winner’s Prize: E-copy of Uncommon Valor.



Sunday, August 30, 2015

Cover Reveal: I Am Hope by Evelyn Shepherd #Excerpt #Giveaway



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Evelyn Shepherd reveals the beautiful cover art for her next book in her THE METEORA TRILOGY series titled I AM HOPE.

It releases on September 8, 2015, published by Loose Id Publication.

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BLURB

The undead were only the beginning.

Topher, Jesse, and Sawyer thought their greatest threat were the Infected and Mutated that roam the world. As they struggle to reach the camp in Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina, they soon discover that the monstrous mutations of the undead are the least of their problems. Something else, something far more intelligent and lethal, is hunting them.

Topher knows that the only way humanity will survive is to find a cure for the strange infection that’s ravaged the world. He’s on the brink of discovering it; but the further his research goes, the more he realizes that curing the world of the infection may mean losing Sawyer.

The three will fight to stay together, and Topher will have to make the ultimate choice: cure the world or save his lover?

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PRESENTING


Cover Art by Valerie Tibbs


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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT

Sawyer nodded, his hands clamped between his knees. His head lined up perfectly with my shoulder, so he could comfortably rest it against me. The first time I’d seen him, my heart had stopped. Sawyer had been the snarky punk in my ex-lover’s SUV. I should have been jealous, but all I had wanted was to see him smile.

I pressed a kiss to Sawyer’s forehead. “How are you doing?”

“I’m not the one who got shot.”

“True, but a lot has been happening lately. Between Salvation, the farm, and now this…it’s a lot to take in.” I reached down and took his hand in mine, pressing our palms together. His fingers danced over mine, tracing patterns on the back of my hand and coming around to write letters on my palm.
“Do you think the world is worth saving?” Sawyer asked.

Read more exclusive excerpts on –

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Evelyn Shepherd lives in Columbus, Ohio with two fat cats. Her time is split between writing and running a book/writing blog. She’s the author of the Theo Bourne Series, the best-selling Last Canticle, and the award-winning Meteora Trilogy.

||  Blog & Website  ||  Facebook Page  ||  Twitter  ||  Tumblr  ||  Email  ||

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

Winner’s Prize: E-copies of I AM HERE (Book 1) and I AM ALIVE (Book 2)

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Author Saturday Spotlight: Maris Black #Interview #Excerpt #Giveaway

Maris Black author of the SSU Boys Series and the amazing Kage Trilogy is my spotlight author this Saturday and I am thrilled! She is quite a talented woman. Dubbed the Queen of Cliffhangers she indeed masters that very well. Today we will look at her Kage Trilogy, do an interview, enjoy a wonderful excerpt from her newest book Kage Unleashed, and wrap it up with a giveaway. So, let's get started.

My name is Jamie Atwood, and I’m an addict. I never thought I’d say such a thing. Never had a problem being overly-attached to anything in my life. I came from a perfectly middle-class family, made good grades, and had a hot cheerleader girlfriend... but the truth is, nothing ever really moved me. So how did a guy like me become an addict?

I met Michael Kage.

Kage is an MMA fighter. A famous one. I like to think I helped him get that way.

He’s charming as hell, with looks to rival any movie star and talent to back it up. So why did he need to hire me as an intern Publicist? Simple. He has a darkness in him– like a black hole so deep it could swallow him, and me, and everyone we know– and that’s not good for business.

The first time I met him, I felt the pull. I think the addiction began at that very moment. And even if I’d known then what I know now, I would have fallen for him. How could I not?

For me, Kage is everything.


On Amazon Now 





My name is Jamie Atwood, and I am an idiot. Against all odds, I got the attention of Michael Kage, the hottest MMA fighter on the planet. To say he rocked my world would be an understatement. He transformed me completely, made me depend on him, and made me love him. And the sex? Let me put it this way: I'd never been with a guy before I met Kage, but I'd gladly spend the rest of my life on my knees for him. He is my obsession and my addiction. But I did something stupid, and now I'm paying for it. I don't know if I'll ever see Kage again.
***
Being Michael Kage was never easy. Too many demons, too much anger, and not enough to live for. And then I met Jamie Atwood. He's got this innocence about him that speaks to something deep down inside me- in a place that's never been touched by anyone. He's beautiful, smart, and courageous, and he hasn't been tainted by the darkness that's ruled my life. I wanted him from the first second I laid eyes on him. It's selfish, I know. Because you can't bring an innocent thing into the darkness and not expect something to rub off.

 On Amazon Now 


COMING OCTOBER 25th: 

Round Three of the KAGE Trilogy continues with the story of Jamie Atwood & his MMA fighter boyfriend. 

PreOrder on Amazon














EXCERPT
The elevator doors slid open, and we stepped onto the empty car. Kage hung the drugstore bag on his left wrist, stuck his key card into the Penthouse slot, and stalked me into a corner as the doors closed behind us.
“What are you—”
“Shhh…” He put a hand over my mouth, silencing me. “God, you make me so fucking hard.”
He unzipped his pants and took out his cock right there in the elevator. I glanced down at it, my breathing getting shallow and fast at the sight of it, so thick and hard. Then he bent his head to kiss me and started stroking himself. Kissing and stroking, slow and steady, entraining my heartbeat to his hypnotic rhythm. All I could do was return his kisses, licking into his mouth with slow, wet glides of my tongue. All the while, he kept claiming my mouth and stroking his cock, keeping up that deliberate rhythm.
When the elevator doors opened on the Penthouse hallway, he palmed the back of my head with his free hand and maneuvered me out. The plastic bag hanging from his wrist rustled against the middle of my back as we moved through the doors and out into the hallway. He only paused to pull his keycard from the slot. I had a fleeting thought that it would be really awkward if Kage’s uncle had been standing outside his door or something, but the hall was clear and deathly quiet.
With only minimal interruption, Kage was able to work his keycard into the door and get us into the apartment, where he promptly dropped the bag and keycard to the floor. Then, still stroking himself, he pushed me down onto my knees.
I groaned and parted my lips, wetting them with my tongue, getting ready to take his cock in my mouth. God, I had missed that thing. Missed the taste of it, the feel of it, the scent of it.
“You want this cock in your mouth?” he asked, continuing to stroke in that same maddening rhythm.
I nodded.
“Say it.”
I swallowed, feeling vulnerable. “I want it. I want your cock in my mouth. Please…”
Interview

Thank you, Maris, for being here today. Your new book Kage Unleashed is currently available! I’ve had the honor of reading it and it’s amazing. Book 1 left us panting and gasping with that cliffhanger. I was happy to see those crazy guys again. I’d love to ask you a few questions about this series.

Thanks for having me, Meredith. Ask away!

Now you’ve told us that it’s a trilogy. Do you see any prequels or even extending this series further?

When I began Kage, I essentially had the entire story arc planned out already. It came to me very quickly and nearly fully formed, and I knew it was going to be an involved story that would take three books to tell.

I’ve had a number of people suggesting that I do spin-off books for side characters. Cameron, Steve, & Jason all have all been requested. However, with as many projects as I have in the works at any given moment, it’s difficult to say if those spin-off books will ever see the light of day. SSU Boys in particular has to take precedence over everything, since that series has a loyal fan base impatiently waiting for the next installments. I wish there were two of me!

Kage is quite a complex character. I love how Jamie described him all rough and tough on the outside and soft on the inside, though I think that’s just for Jamie. What was the character breakdown like for Kage when you drew up his background?

Alright, I guess you’re about to have information I’ve only shared with my closest friend and my mother. The very first thing I came up with about Kage was his big secret. Ironically, it has only been hinted at so far and  is the LAST significant thing to be revealed in the trilogy. Knowing this secret about him helped me to shape his personality from the very beginning.

Because of childhood trauma, he is emotionally closed off, angry, and antisocial. He exhibits symptoms of PTSD and uses controlled aggression to get relief-- both in the ring and in the bedroom. Inside, he is still that innocent little traumatized boy, and there are a few people who are able to catch glimpses of this deeper Kage: his long-time friend Vanessa, Enzo the chef, Steve the hotel clerk, Marco the trainer, and Jason the sparring partner. These people have spent enough time around Kage to know that he is not a hard person at his core, and they are rooting for him.

But Jamie is a different story altogether. He holds the distinct honor of being the only person Kage has ever wanted to have a relationship with. Kage is drawn to his innocence (which represents the innocence Kage himself lost at an early age), his boyish physical beauty, and his natural submission, though it’s notable that he is only submissive to Kage.

Besides being overwhelmingly physically attracted to him, Kage craves the normalcy that Jamie brings to his life. In his utter “averageness,” Jamie grounds Kage, and the promise of a picket-fence life with him is something that Kage hardly dares to imagine.

I actually was never a MMA fan. Hell, boxing, wrestling, all that has always been hard to watch for me. Did you do extensive research in MMA, or is there some personal knowledge of this sport for you?

I actually got interested in combat sports when I was doing wrestling research for my second book, Pinned (SSU Boys #1), though I suppose there must have been at least a seed of interest there already to prompt the story idea. I knew nothing about wrestling except what I watched of pro wrestling as a kid with my grandfather (Mr. Wrestling #2, Dusty Rhodes, Nature Boy Rick Flair…), so I hit Youtube in search of information, and soon I was hooked. Learning the moves and watching so many matches gave me an appreciation for the sport. It didn’t hurt that a graphic design client of mine turned out to be a lifelong wrestler whose son was a college wrestler competing on a national level. So I had a fantastic resource-- people who essentially WERE my characters in Pinned.

But something interesting happened to me while I was researching wrestling. I kept stumbling across MMA videos on Youtube, and I got fascinated with it. Fast forward one year, and I’m a paying member of UFC.tv, buying every pay-per-view event they put out and screaming at my television like a crazy person. And my teenage son is taking MMA classes and aspiring to be a fighter (UGH!).

So, while I’m not thrilled with the idea of my son getting beat on, I am a huge fan of the sport and as knowledgeable about it as anyone you’ll probably ever meet. But I do realize that most of my readers are NOT fans of the sport, know very little about it, and probably don’t WANT to know any more than is necessary. My goal is to provide enough authenticity that the reader gets the sense of being immersed in the experience rather than bogged down in the technical aspects, since it’s a romance story first and foremost.

When can we expect book three Kage Unmasked to release?

KAGE Unmasked is already on pre-order at Amazon with a release date of October 25th. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/KAGE-Unmasked-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B014E2FLMG

Do you have celebrities, that you picture when you see Kage and Jamie? If so, who are they?

Scott Gardner is my Jamie, and Chad White is my Kage. Of course no one ever fits my vision perfectly. For instance, I picture Kage’s hair long enough on top to pull into a topknot. Chad White usually wears his too short for that, though in some of the pictures it’s close.

Another note on character descriptions: I try to use enough description for a reader to get an idea of what the character looks like, but I also try to leave enough room for them to bring their own interpretation and tastes.


I’m sure your time is pretty filled but what books are you currently reading, or at least have read recently?

Well, right now I have Lynn Kelling’s third Twin Ties book just waiting for me. Been looking forward to that one for some time. Hang on, let me look at my Kindle… My friends Lisa Wilde and Z.B. Heller just released their first M/M books, so I’ve got their betas on there. And before that was Roan Parrish’s “In the Middle of Somewhere,” and Heidi Cullinan’s audiobook “Nowhere Ranch”. Hmmm… the titles on those last two. I’m noticing a thematic pattern. :-)

I’ve also been listening to my own audiobooks. They all just came out recently, and since they’re done by Audible Studios, I had to wait just like everyone else to listen to them. Because of the book release, I haven’t even had time to get through them all. It seems crazy to me that there are tons of people who have heard my audiobooks before me!

How do you celebrate a book release?

A bottle of Dom, and an all-night sex romp with my husband. Just kidding, I’ve never even tried Dom Perignon. Things I enjoy celebrating with: my kids, a Blue Moon with orange, a nice restaurant, something sweet, and I ALWAYS go to Best Buy and get some electronic gadget. I’m just geeky that way. Oh, and a sex romp, though it doesn’t actually last all night. I do stay up all night on release night just because I get an adrenaline high that won’t quit. It takes me days to recover after a release.

Do you have any writing rituals you do before or during the creation of one of your books?

#1 - Coffee. Lots of coffee.

#2 - I like to listen to certain songs to create the mood for each book or scene, but I can’t listen to them while I’m actively writing. I end up writing random words that don’t fit, or adding “ing” to a word for no reason-- stuff like that. It’s hilarious. When I read back over my writing, I can tell if I was listening to music or not. However, I don’t know if their effect is real or placebo, but binaural beats seem to help me concentrate and get creative. Sometimes I will lie down in the bed and listen on my headphones in the dark, and soon I have full scenes playing out like a movie behind my eyes, WITH the accompanying narrative. The bad part is that my memory isn’t up to the task of remembering all of it, so many good scenes get lost. Believe me, when someone comes up with a device to translate words directly from the imagination to the page, I will be the first in line to buy it. Some of my best work is rattling around in my head somewhere, inaccessible for the most part.

#3 - I also like to do short character interviews randomly during the writing process to get inside a character’s head. A sample question might be, “Kage, what did you think of Jamie the first time you met him?” Usually, I will start with this as a prompt, begin writing as if the character is in a real interview, and eventually I look up and the interview has turned into part of the novel, some scene involving another character and dialogue. It’s amazing how that happens, and it thrills me to death. At that point, I edit the interview out, but I do keep the original for myself.

Aside from Kage 3, what else are you currently working on, or what’s on the docket so to speak?

SSU Boys has to come next. First there will be Dual Threat, which is the continuation of the short “Initiation.” Then Sammy’s and Seth’s stories. Lots of people are waiting for those, especially Seth’s, because he’s been a fixture in the series since the beginning.

I also have some standalones planned, one in particular that makes me cry thinking about it. Gonna be a real tear jerker. I also have a series planned that will be more along the lines of cop stories, though I don’t want to get specific at this time. And then I have a series about Nashville and the music business. I’ve already written parts of two of those books. Too much stuff in the works, too little time.

How can your fans follow you through social media, website etc…?

If you want to see what I’m doing day-to-day and interact, obviously Facebook is it. If you just want to get an email when something is coming out, the mailing list is the way to go. I’m also dying for people to follow me on Twitter, though I’m really just getting the hang of the tweeting stuff. So if you want to help my ego by increasing my number of followers, follow me on Twitter. #preciateit

Thank you so much, Maris for your time. I cannot WAIT for more of Kage!
Thanks you for having me, Meredith! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being grilled. :-)



ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is Maris Black (sort of), and I’m a Southern Girl through and through.
In college, I majored in English and discovered the joys of creative writing and literary interpretation. After honing my skills discovering hidden meanings authors probably never intended, I collected my near-worthless English degree and got a job at a newspaper making minimum wage. But I soon had to admit that small town reporting was not going to pay the bills, so I went back to school and joined the medical field. Logical progression, right? But no matter what I did, my school notebooks and journals would not stop filling up with fiction. I was constantly plotting, constantly jotting prose, constantly casting the people I met as characters in the secret novels in my head.
Yep. I can blame my creative mother for that one!
When I finally started writing fiction for a living, I surprised myself with my choice of genre. I’d always known I wanted to write romance, but the first story that popped out was about a couple of guys finding love during a threesome with a woman. Then I wrote about more guys, and more guys, and more guys. I was never a reader of gay fiction, and I’d never planned to write it. The only excuse I have for myself is: Hey, it’s just what comes out!
I adore the M/M genre, though, with all my heart. It feels sort of like coming home. I can’t quite explain it. I’ve always had openly gay and bisexual friends and relatives, the rights and acceptance of whom are very important to me, so it feels great to celebrate that. But there’s also something so pure and honest about the love between two men that appeals to me on a romantic level and inspires me to write.
Thank you, men. 
I currently live in Nashville, TN with my devoted husband (my biggest fan), my three eccentric children, and a hairless cat. Life is good.
 Giveaway
Maris Black is giving TWO people a chance to win ANY of her ebooks. Simply enter the rafflecopter below. Contest will run until September 4th. Winners will be contacted via email so be sure to check your spam.
I want to thank Maris for being here today and sharing with us some very interesting little facts about Kage! Be sure you all check out this trilogy. It's EPIC!
 

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