Happy Friday, everyone! Today's excerpt is from J.V. Speyer's contemporary F/F romance Whirlwind - a huge thank you to J. V. for allowing me to read. I may have had too much fun with Sarah Tremblay... :D Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post!

Whirlwind
by J. V. Speyer

Buy Link: JMS Books
Release Date: Saturday, April 14 2018
Word Count: 35000
Genres: contemporary, bi/lesbian
 
Book Blurb:
  
Rock star Jo Avery didn’t have a choice about coming out, but ever since her ex outed her as bi she’s been a proud advocate for LGBTQ+ issues.  Most of her family wants nothing to do with her, but her brother has always supported her.  When he gets married, he wants her in the wedding party, and she has to accept.

​The only problem?  Her new sister in law is the daughter of conservative pundit and anti-LGBT warrior Sarah Tremblay.  Sarah has another daughter, too, the beautiful and charming Valeria.
 
Valeria has been in the closet since she was fourteen.  She’s always envied Jo’s strength and freedom, if not her path to living her authentic life.  She soon finds herself falling for the fierce, pretty rocker, but coming out could cost her everything.  How many risks can she take for someone she’ll only know for two weeks?
 
Can Jo and Valeria turn attraction into love, or will their whirlwind romance blow out before it gets off the ground?

Author Bio:
 
J. V. Speyer has lived in upstate New York and rural Catalonia before making the greater Boston, Massachusetts area her permanent home. She has worked in archaeology, security, accountancy, finance, and non-profit management. She currently lives just south of Boston in a house with more animals than people.
 
J. V. finds most of her inspiration from music. Her tastes run the gamut from traditional to industrial and back again. When not writing she can usually be found enjoying a baseball game. She's learning to crochet so she can make blankets to fortify herself against the cold.
 
J. V. can be found on Twitter at @JVSpeyer, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JVSpeyer
 
Author Website
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​Giveaway:
 
JV Speyer is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card with this tour – enter via Rafflecopter for a chance to win:

Welcome to the second in our series of guest story reads! Today we have a bit from Angel's Feather, a gay science fiction novella from Alina Popescu. :)

Angel's Feather

by Alina Popescu

How far would you go for the one you love? How much of yourself would you sacrifice?

Trapped on a decaying Earth and cut off from the rest of the Universe, humans are no longer allowed to leave their planet. Break this one law and you die: a penalty enforced by flyers, aliens who look like angels of long-lost religions. Michael, the flyers’ leader, is the Punisher who carries out every public execution.

Adam, a young human with near-perfect memory, is committed to rebuilding Earth and a true believer in the flyers’ dominion. While Adam’s support for flyers isn’t a secret, his deep love for Michael is. Not even Michael knows, for his kind never take human lovers, and to Adam, they are too far above him to reach.

In his broken and unwelcoming world, Adam’s love can only lead to pain, loss, and disaster. Yet there is no force in the huge expanse of stars and galaxies that can stop Adam from following Michael to the end of existence. Not even Adam’s own beliefs.

Pre-order now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y6BWX9V
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06Y6BWX9V
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06Y6BWX9V
Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06Y6BWX9V
​

Hi everyone! Recently I was privileged to be able to interview debut novelist BA Brock and talk a little bit about, you guessed it, the debut novel in question, King of the Storm. Thank you for joining us, BA!

Thanks, Angel, for having me on your blog today! I’m happy to be here.
 
1. Let’s start with the obvious – King of the Storm and subsequent books in The Godhead Epoch follow the growth and adventures of demigods from Greek legends. What attracted you to the Greek pantheon specifically? 

The Ancient Greeks had an interesting idea of sexuality, which I wanted to explore in my writing. I chose the Greek gods because they interacted with the common people. They laughed with them, cried with them, punished them, and procreated with them. That familiar mixing of the divine with humanity was supremely interesting to me, even if I gave my own interpretation of those gods a bit more of a hands-off approach.
 
2. The Godhead Epoch appears (from the blurbs) to focus on themes of destiny vs. choice. Greek heroes didn’t appear to have much choice (though, let’s face it, a lot of them bring on their own dooms by being jerks…) Do you have a personal, real life take on that theme? 

Sadly, I do not believe in destiny. Rather, I rely heavily on statistics and chaos theory. Perhaps my boring beliefs are what made the idea of writing about destiny fascinating to me, and it’s probably why my characters struggle with the idea of fate.
 
3. Do you have a series map all drawn (and if yes, how many stories?) Or do you prefer to let the current project inspire the next? 

My series isn’t chronological, nor does it focus on the same main character in each story. The series arch is about a demigod’s negotiation between their humanity and the divine, which I will explore with at least one more protagonist, but beyond that, I don’t know.
 
4. Your bio states that you first considered writing when your D&D character wanted stories told. Now, you know you can’t tell an old geek that and not expound. Can you tell us a bit about the character? 

Before Perseus was a character in my book, he was a character in my campaign in Dungeons and Dragons! I chose Perseus from legend to use as a model for my roleplaying character, because he had a flying horse. Seriously. I was always hoping my Dungeon Master would give me a horse. (He didn’t.)

I made Perseus a Paladin in D&D Next, so he could lead and tank, and I role played him a bit like Captain Jack Harkness, because that’s sort of how I envision the Greek heroes. They are confident in their abilities, they can be fun-loving, but as you said, they can also be jerks.

Roleplaying aside, when I wrote Perseus as part of a story, he emerged differently. Part of my process was giving up that idea I had from his legend, and in a way that became a minor theme, of giving up your expectations of someone, and the expectations you have of yourself.
 
5. Process – every writer has one. Sometimes we’re not even aware that we do. Are you conscious of having a process and does it change from long-form story writing to short form? 

When I come up with an idea, I write it down, sit on it, and see if it develops. Depending on how much is there, I’ll flesh it out into a longer story, or—if it’s made to evoke a certain feeling or singular idea—I’ll leave it as a flash fiction. It all depends on what the bones of the story can hold.
 
6. I really enjoy your reviews, and that sometimes authors send you work to review. How do you handle it when you’ve been sent a story and you really can’t connect to it? (Or perhaps it was terrible?) 

Thanks! I love reviewing novels, and I feel it’s a great way to give back to the community. My strategy is to never write a bad review. First reason being, what’s the point? There are so many scathing reviews out there, so why add to the drama and negativity? Also, I’m an author, so writing a bad review seems unfair, and an abuse of my position. But how do I handle it when I’m sent a story I can’t connect to, or maybe just don’t have enough to say about? Easy. I don’t write a review. It sounds blasé stated like that, and to be honest, I’ve made mistakes. It’s part of being human.
 
7. Aside from intellectual theft, what do you consider the worst sin authors commit? 

Turning on your fans, or other authors. Other authors make up a good part of your readership, and we’re all on the same team.
 
8. You’ve done both non-fiction and lit fiction writing previously. Is the new series a move away from those or do you want to continue to publish in all three venues? 

I’ll probably continue to publish in those genres. I enjoy exploring aspects of each.
 
9. Is your writing linear or episodic (from start to finish, or random scenes that eventually pull together?) And how many projects do you typically have going at a time? 

I actually wrote the last half of King of the Storm before the first, but I think I’m mostly a linear writer. However, my inspiration can be episodic. As for how many projects I have going on at one time? Let’s see. I have two projects that I’m actively working on, two stories that are half finished, and I have many story ideas that are sitting in a folder marinating. Is that normal? I don’t know. Add me to the data pool!
 
10. Do you have writerly influences you can cite? Anyone you want to be like when you grow up as a writer? 

If I could be the Matthew Woodring Stover of LGBTQ+ fiction, I’d consider that a lifetime achievement. His work is gritty and bloody and profane. I love how deep he goes into point of view, and how he challenges ideas with his satire. It’s not really something you’d think about in gay romance, but the genre is changing.

I grew up with horror and mystery novels: R. L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Patricia Cornwell, and Robert Ludlum. I still love those gory details, and frankly, I enjoy crass diction. Sex in literature makes sense to me, because it’s a part of life, but I don’t require it to be romantic. Part of me is always struggling to balance those themes, and bring them together.

Thanks again, Angel! I had a blast.
 

In which Angel may or may not have blanked on the word "intriguing" at the end of the video...