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This one's a couple of years old now but I like revisiting Rafi from time to time. :) In case you're interested, here's the link to the entire list of Rafael's rules for How To Safely Navigate Vampirism. The Line Rafael Schiller, vampire and sexual god without peer, believes himself the top of the food chain, until a bizarre creature feeding in an alley scares the deathless hell out of him. Available as a standalone or in the 50's MIxed Tape Anthology
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Need something to listen to besides a certain orange billionaire's voice today? Allow me to offer a little bit of Skim Blood and Savage Verse: Offbeat Crimes 3. Carrington Loveless III gets his turn in this one, atypical vampire, son of an old-money family. It's a story that only he could tell. Also - pardon the blips in the narration. I forgot how to word for a second there. Skim Blood and Savage Verse
Offbeat Crimes 3 Coming soon from Pride Publishing Preorder: 21st February Early Download: 7th March (Pride website release) General Release: 4th April When a ferocious book attacks Carrington at his own birthday party, he believes it's an isolated incident. But similar books soon pop up all over town, menacing innocent people with harsh bits of poetry and blank verse that deliver damaging physical blows. It's a frustrating case with too many variables and not enough answers, and the stakes go up with each attack. With the help of his misfit squad mates at the 77th and the public library's rare book department, the missing pieces decrease but not Carrington's vexations. His commanding officer rakes him over the coals at the beginning of every shift. His police partner has lost patience with what she sees as his delusional relationship choices and his inability to pick the right man in a vast field of two. City Hall demands that the books be stopped immediately. It's enough to put a nutritionally-challenged vampire off his skim blood.  Pride Promotions tour poster for Finn at MLR Press I've been asked many times over the years where the idea for Finn came from. If my dear pooka friend and I were in a relationship? We'd have to use the "It's Complicated" status on Facebook. I've told bits and pieces of Finn's literary journey, but there are, perhaps, only two people out there who know the whole thing. See, once upon a time, there was a lonely science fiction writer. She was lonely because she didn't have any other writers to play with and didn't have a clue about getting published. Critique groups were nice, but they were full of romance writers who wrote steamy stuff. Who would've thought? Since the SF wasn't getting a hearing, she decided to write some adult stuff, too, But she thought she should practice first... There was a lovely fiction site at that time (we're talking about 2004-ish) called Double Moon where writers could share original fiction in the medieval castle setting and write scenes in pairs or groups. Sadly, Double Moon was abandoned shortly after one of the owners of the site passed. No trace of it left. But I did have a lot of fun there and one of the characters I wrote was the bastard son of a Spanish noblewoman and a river pooka. When I decided to try to write gay fantasy for publication and was casting around for something different (Elves? Nah, lots of those. Werewolf? Tons of those.) because of the playing around writing at Double Moon and because of an old amusement park ride that featured a pooka (Corkscrew Hill in Busch Gardens, VA, also no longer there) I returned to the Irish shapeshifter. Finn is a much different person than the powerful, elemental Ribero (the original character's father) was and more interesting, in my opinion. So Finn was born. I was between publishers - my very first, Forbidden Publications, had closed due to the poor health of the owner. When I finished Finn and shopped him around, there were quite a few rejections. Not what we're looking for, sorry. Beginning to despair, I tried a last batch of queries and received an enthusiastic yes from Red Rose Publishing. (Cue the Sally Fields moment, "They like me! They really like me!") Did I do my publisher research? Yes - but I was stupid. I ignored some clear warning signs. By the time they had published Diego, the second in the Endangered Fae series, I knew things weren't right. During a well-publicized, drawn out meltdown, Red Rose's reputation tanked, and I hired a lawyer to wrest my rights back. Red Rose, several years later, has finally shut down. But during this well-publicized meltdown, several other publishers were watching. One of them came to me and said "When you get Finn free, we want it." Silver Publishing. (Cue the ominous music.) They were new, but I did my research. They had a good team. I knew some of these people. I knew a lot of the authors signed with them. Good. This looked good. Well, you all know how that ended with Silver. I did get Finn free before the final implosion. My poor pooka was traumatized by now. Then there was GRL 2013. The ever-busy, omnipresent Kris Jacen from MLR Press wanted to talk to me. To me? Really? But we scheduled some time during pitch sessions and yes, I was working on something for them. And yes, they were interested in Endangered Fae - the two Silver refugees, and the one I had briefly self-pubbed - if I promised a fourth one by June of the following year. I can do that, I said. Finn was much relieved and told me he liked Kris. Here we are, a year later, and we have all four Fae books available for you, the whole story arc from Finn and Diego's first meeting to Diego's chance at redemption. The road has been crooked and strange, but the readers are why I've kept going. More Finn. Yep. I promised. Always good to have more Finn.     A Gallery of Finns. From Red Rose to Silver to the current lovely cover from MLR.    A similar progression of Diegos...   The two Semper Fae iterations - please note that the wonderful Sara York took pity on me and made the first cover after I managed to make a couple of really horrid ones myself.  The newest addition to the series? Here we are:
No Fae Is An Island Endangered Fae 4 MLR Press cover by Winterheart Designs (Lex Valentine) Amazon All Romance Three years ago, Danu banished Diego for a time from the human world. Three years and three days doesn't seem that long to be away from home but living among the wild fae can change a man and the human world returns the favor by changing while he's gone. There's a vampire on Tearmann Island's security force. A curious selkie's followed him home. So much to do to keep the world safe...but Diego's no longer sure he has the right to interfere. Theo Aguilar started his vampire life on the wrong side of the law. He's killed and knows he's dangerous if he doesn't stay in control every moment. But the fae took him in and Prince Lugh has given him a position of trust. So when Diego and Finn are arrested on a diplomatic mission far from home, he knows his duty. He's striking out on his own to rescue them, a lone vigilante once again, this time for the good guys. The only glitch? The selkie, Limpet, can't seem to understand the alone par Buy a Fae book, support a pooka and his author ;)  Promo image courtesy of Pride Promotions <3 It's that time! No Fae Is An Island: Endangered Fae 4 releases tomorrow, Friday 9/5/14! The link will go up at MLR first thing, but we usually have Amazon and All Romance links within 24 hours.  No Fae Is An Island
Endangered Fae 4 MLR Press cover art by Winterheart Designs (Lex Valentine) Three years ago, Danu banished Diego for a time from the human world. Three years and three days doesn't seem that long to be away from home but time among the wild fae can change a man and the human world returns the favor by changing while he's gone. Human governments haven't all had humane reactions to magic users. There's a vampire on Tearmann Island's security force. A curious selkie's followed him home. So much to do to keep the world safe...but Diego's no longer sure he has the right to interfere. Theo Aguilar started his vampire life on the wrong side of the law. He's killed and knows how dangerous he can be if he doesn't stay in control every moment of every day. But the fae took him in and Prince Lugh has given him a position of trust. He owes them more than gratitude, so when Diego and Finn are arrested on a diplomatic mission far from home, he knows his duty. He's striking out on his own to rescue them, a lone vigilante once again, though this time for the good guys. The only glitch? The selkie, Limpet, can't seem to understand the alone part.  Truth be told - my judges had a heck of a time picking their favorite new Vamp Rule.
They all had different picks with some intersections, but they couldn't agree on just one. C'mon guys! Pick one! Nope. They all kept coming back with two and refused to choose just one. So... Instead of one winner, we have two. Rafi will end up with eleven rules instead of ten. Since he never told me exactly how many there were, this is not a problem. I reserve the right to reword a bit, but the two that intersected the most amongst our judges? From Kat: Never, never decorate with wooden furniture. And from Ellen: Brush and floss twice a day. Vampire dentists are hard to find, and when you do find one, their payment plans really....bite. Congrats, Kat and Ellen! I'll be sending your All Romance GC's along soon and your ideas will join Rafi's rules! Thank you everyone for stopping by and making me laugh (sometimes hysterically) - Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!  The Line releases as a single story for early orders this Friday. 12/20!
The Line Rafael Schiller, vampire and sexual god without peer, believes himself the top of the food chain, until a bizarre creature feeding in an alley scares the deathless hell out of him. Just a teensy bit excited about this one - my first individual release with Totally Bound. To celebrate, I figure a little contest is in order. :) As you'll see throughout the story, Rafi's developed ten rules for himself, sort of a collection of things he's learned over the years. The hard way. He calls them How To Safely Navigate Vampirism. Now - I don't specifically spell out all ten rules in the story, but I thought It would be nice for my readers to see all ten of them. Problem is, I only have nine. So here's the deal. Please leave your suggestions for Rule Number Ten in the comments below, keeping in mind that Rafi is kinda snarky and sarcastic. On Friday, 12/20, I'll have my impartial panel of judges pick the best one. (Don't forget to leave me some kind of contact info.) Best Rule Number Ten gets $10.00 in All Romance eBucks. :) The Nine Rules we have so far: How To Safely Navigate Vampirism Rule Number One: Don’t even think about love. Love is for humans and fools. Rule Number Two: Do not get involved with other predators. Rule Number Three: Don’t fall asleep in the sun. It won’t kill you, but take my word for it—you’ll regret it. Rule Number Four: When three neighbors ask how you stay so young, it’s time to move. Rule Number Five: Always lick your plate clean and don’t leave a mess behind. Rule Number Six: Don’t feed from crazies. It borrows trouble and they don’t tend to taste too great. Rule Number Seven: Meals should always be takeout. That is, you should take the meal out. Don’t let any meal see where you sleep. Rule Number Eight: Vampires are the top of the food chain. Don’t let another predator scare you. Rule Number Nine: Do not get tied down to an income source. If it can’t move with you on a pitchfork-and-torch-mob second’s notice, then it’s not the career for you. Have fun with it and good luck! |
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About Angel
Angel writes (mostly) Science Fiction and Fantasy centered around gay heroes. Currently living part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware and full time inside her head, she has one husband, one son, two cats, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate. |
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