I have a huge surprise for all of you: some friends and fellow authors and I are getting together for a MASSIVE giveaway! Some of the books are free and some are available to be won, including a copy of The Loved, The Lost, The Dreaming. Many of the others also ended up on the Top Ten of 2012 list I put up earlier this year. Others are going to be on this year's list, and the rest are just damn good anyway.
So, GET CLICKING! The Rafflecopter for the big giveaway is posted both here and above. This means you have TWO chances to win my book! Isn't that insane? With the second, you could scoop up an armful of others, too.
Take a deep breath and don't even try to keep calm. Just browse the pretty covers.
Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out!
A quick post today. First, the good news! The Loved, The Lost, The Dreaming has won 'Book of the Month' on Modern Good Reads! You should go join and talk about it! It's also on sale to celebrate--$2.99 instead of $4.99, which is 40% off and a hell of a deal for a novel and AND short stories and a novella! The reviews it's been getting are INSANE and make my little magpie soul incredibly happy. As you can see, I'm giving back--I've got a Rafflecopter running right above this post, and you have until the end of the month to enter! Yay! So, buy it now or enter the contest--I don't mind sending the book as a gift to someone for you either!
Next up on the good news-o-meter--Richard Long, the one and only, is in the final hours of his Kickstarter for The Book of Paul. Go buy it--it's on sale for $0.99--and go throw a few bucks in the bucket! They have a $5000 budget, so every penny helps!
Picture supplied by the author. LOOK AT THAT COVER.
Another horror writer friend, Travis Luedke just released The Nightlife: Paris. It is marvellous; his finest yet. I left my honest thoughts on a review. It was rather beautiful, a cut above his previous work (which was still really great.) BUY IT. Or enter the giveaway for that one, too.
Finally, we come to the news I hinted at this weekend.
Sigh. My first work, Synchronicity, a tale 11 years in the making...is going to be undergoing painful page-1 rewrites. I was trying to get it out for you guys this summer, but that's simply not happening. The plot has Swiss cheese-like holes, the villains make no sense, and the prose just isn't at the standard I've set in my other works. This was the eldest child, dating before even And the Stars Will Sing, and it got me into writing seriously. I endured heartbreak and I grew up while writing it. Synchronicity started when I was only thirteen, and I worked on it intermittently until this year. And then, finally, seeing the painful morning light, I realised that no amount of work could make it more than okay. And I am so much more than 'okay' as a writer.
I was incredibly upset about this on Sunday, and posted a bunch of comments about being hungover. I was, in fact, hungover from too little sleep; regular readers will know that I'm not a drug user at all and I generally avoid drinking, so rest assured that it was staying up until 4:00 AM that did me in, not substances of dubious provenance.
Luckily, my early morning saviour was a deeply respected friend and developmental editor. We hashed out that plot for HOURS. You can expect to hear more about the lovely Sarah in future, because I'm very grateful for her resuscitation of my 'eldest child'.
However! My baby isn't dead--just undergoing a brain transplant. The new plot is planned out and I think you're going to love the direction. The only hint you're getting is 'water'. So...puzzle over that for a bit! I'll be dropping more hints as time goes on. Suffice to say I am INCREDIBLY relieved and really looking forward to getting down to work!
Finally, I'm getting things set up so I can release The Underlighters as a stand-alone this summer, for those of you who don't want all those extra short stories. That should be fun! I'll be posting updates. That's all for now! Stay tuned, and I'll have more kickass content on the way.
*****
Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the good kind of crazy. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out!
To continue with the terrifying theme for February, I have one of the best--perhaps the best--vampire erotica author out there today, the rising star Travis Luedke. Travis' books surprised me. Until I ran into those, I was still thoroughly disgusted by Twilight and even Anne Rice's works; too much porn and not enough blood. With the Nightlife series, I discovered that there were authors who could combine bloodthirsty monsters of the night, hardboiled crime, and kinky sex in ways that didn't make me homicidal.
Be warned, though--Travis tends to write very hot stuff, and if you pick these up, expect plenty of adult content.
So, with your seatbelts on and condoms at the ready, please welcome the one and only Travis Luedke!
*****
Q: Describe yourself in 20 words or less.
Obnoxious, talkative, flirtatious, sarcastic, helpful,
intuitive, clever, total sci-fi/horror/fantasy/paranormal/vampire/erotica nerd,
irreverent and occasionally irrelevant.
Q: Tell us about your novels.
I write sexy, dangerous misadventures involving vampires and
an interesting assortment of wickedly corrupt men and women of the night. Gangs, pimps, prostitutes, cartel, mafia,
drug dealers, addicts, alcoholics, all those wonderfully colorful people you
find rubbing elbows in the back alleys, night clubs, and strip joints.
Here’s the tag line: The Nightlife Series is sexy, violent, and
occasionally violently sexy.
Q: Vampires have been very hot since Twilight came out. How
is your approach different than, say, the usual romantic vampire book?
Well these creatures are indulgent. They live in a world of constant blood, sex,
and arousal. The act of feeding is
highly erotic, causing the victim to experience multiple orgasms. A vampire’s bite is the most powerful drug
imaginable, exstasy, euphoria, and a near instant addiction if we’re not
careful.
They are also lethally violent predators, designed to cut
through flesh like a hot knife through butter.
They slip through the nightlife quietly, unobtrusively, until
cornered. Then it gets ugly, people die.
Provided by the author. You can tell he's about to get up to no good.
Q: Are vampires pure fun to help people escape, or do they
have significance in our culture right now in other ways?
There are numerous movements today involving one or more
beliefs in real-life vampirism. There
are those who believe they consume the life-energy of other people, and there
may be some truth to that. I have had a
few ex-girlfriends who sucked the life right out of me and my pocketbook. Call me a believer.
There are also men and women today who drink blood on a
regular basis and consider it a normal part of their diet, very literal
vampires. Dentally implanted fangs and
sharpened claw-like fingernails are only a few of the interesting modifications
you find among those who consider themselves true vampires.
Q: You write pretty gritty, sexy stories. In addition to
vampires, all three of your books feature involvement with gang and mafia
violence. What got you interested in this (excellent) combo?
I actually lived on both sides of the Mexico border for four
years. I had occasion to witness and experience
things you might expect from a Quentin Tarantino film. I have known a number of interesting
individuals who made their living in a decidedly illegal trade. I learned that Tequila has an amazing ability
to loosen the tongue.
Many of the interesting characters you meet in my novels
have been inspired by people and events I touched on in real life.
Q: You tend to write about unconventional couples, including
bisexual women and polyamorous situations. How do you write bisexual women that
are more than man-candy?
I’m going to steal one of my favorite lines, “I think of a
man and I take away reason and accountability.” ~ Jack Nicholson ~ As Good As
It Gets
On a serious note, I don’t find it difficult to imagine all
the things I would do to a girl, if I was I girl. I live very vicariously through my writing. J
And truthfully, I actually had a very close lesbian friend
at one point. We hit the bars together,
both hunting for the same thing. At the
end of the night we compared notes to see how many phone numbers we each
collected. I usually won the
competition.
Lookie! His newest release has a poll! You can vote on it just below this. Aren't they pretty/?
Q: You're also going to be releasing some young adult
novels. What was it like transitioning from your very extreme, balls-out style
in the adult novels to the young adult audience?
It’s strange for sure.
It’s like cutting out a piece of my soul to remove the excess sensuality
and eroticism from my writing. But I
think I found a balance. To be sure, my
YA is not your goody-two shoes stuff, its gritty, true-life, troubled teens who
face difficult challenges as they grow to become adults. I am sticking with what I know and love,
paranormal thrillers, but it’s toned down on the sex and violence for a YA
readership.
Q: What do you plan to write or publish next?
I am currently in heavy edits/rewrites of the next novel in
the Nightlife Series, The Nightlife Paris.
After that I will begin preparing to publish my first YA novel, The
Shepherd. From there I will move on to
The Nightlife London, and then jump back over to another YA novel. I should have no less than four novels
published this year, if not more.
Q: Which foods do you absolutely hate?
Black licorice, mustard, and guacamole. I couldn’t even imagine eating them individually,
a mixture of the three would surely be slop fed to inmates at the seventh
circle of hell.
Q: Werewolves: love, hate, or meh?
Though it seems a little overdone in today’s ebook market, I
am okay with werewolves. I have a love
for all things supernatural, and I collect books and film of such. Vampires are my first love. Werewolves would have to be the second runner
up. I will try my hand at werewolves
soon enough. Your favorite two vampires,
Aaron and Michelle will butt heads with werewolves eventually. Who knows what kinds of things you find in
the back alleys of the Nightlife.
That's all we have from Travis for right now, but as you can see, you will need to go shopping after this interview. Even newbies or vamp-haters will love these, and people who already enjoy the genre are falling all over themselves for the Nightlife series. You know I don't gush often--these are really quite good.
Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the good kind of crazy. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. A review of The Hobbit is coming, as well as more info about The Loved, The Lost, The Dreaming in paperback, and there is even another interview still coming for horror month. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out!
