Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Magic Afoot

June 21, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Happy Summer! Thanks for taking time out of your hopefully glorious Sunday to stop by Weekend Writing Warriors. This week I’m continuing with snippets from the opening chapter of my soon to be released (June 30th!) m/m contemporary fantasy, Betwixt and Between. Hey, it finally dawned on me I haven’t posted a blurb yet, so today you’ll find that after my 1o lines.

I’ve skipped ahead a bit from last week to Ian’s point of view. Unbeknownst to him, he’s about to stroll into a trap set by a svarta, a dark elf.

***

Ian sensed magic afoot and couldn’t pass it up. That was his job, after all—finding and cataloging the magical creatures lurking in Seattle’s shadows. Readers of the tabloid he worked for, The Cosmic Eye, gobbled up his stories, and with every contact, however dubious, he inched a bit closer to unlocking the vast magical mystery that shrouded his life.

A flash there, a ripple here. A haunted rowboat, a flying spoon, a burning book, a talking cat. All these things added up to something. He just didn’t know what yet.

His first impression of the musician in the stairwell was that, yes indeed, he’d stumbled across a magical creature. Shadowed lines resolved into a dark-haired figure in a long, heavy coat and high leather boots. The outfit looked like something a down-and-out musketeer might wear, the coat being old-fashioned, fastened with two rows of brass buttons, and well-worn.

***

The Blurb:

Obsessed with magical creatures since childhood, tabloid reporter Ian Evers never experiences satisfying proof that the magical realm actually exists until he falls into an entrapment spell set by a handsome but dangerous elf. Barely escaping with his soul intact, Ian is able to undo the hex, but he can’t escape the very real infatuation he’s developed for the fierce elf.

Ezekiel Stormshadow is a svarta, a dark elf who serves the queen of the dark realm. The realm of darkness needs the power of light to survive, and while hunting the last few magical beings on earth, Ezekiel discovers Ian, a light elf who’s unaware of his true nature and ripe for the plucking. Their brief encounter awakens a great hunger in Ezekiel, and he’s determined to feast on the light elf’s power and body before the queen intervenes and claims Ian for herself.

Driven apart by an ancient imbalance between the dark and light realms, an evil queen starved for power, and their fear of each other, Ian and Ezekiel are relentlessly drawn together even though their union might destroy them both.

***

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight to ten sentences from a published work or perhaps their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or use the address: http://www.wewriwa.com

My Sexy Saturday~ Most Definitely Enhanced

June 6, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to My Sexy Saturday– the hop guaranteed to get your weekend off to a steamy start. This week’s theme is My Sexy Galaxy, which gives me the perfect excuse to play with my m/m space-opera-in-progress, From Mars, With Love. I toyed with the idea of sharing the tentacles, or rather tendrils, scene but decided instead to share the moment my two heroes meet. Eli was abducted by a slave ship on earth and after proving troublesome, stuck in a stasis pod for the long trip to Titan. Lucky for him, the marines have arrived.

***

Eli’s rescuer returned the laser rifle to a shoulder holster and undid a latch to remove his helmet. He pulled it off and hooked it on his belt. His black hair was cut in a decidedly unmilitary fashion, longish around the face and shorter in back, but the eyes were what really caught Eli’s attention. They were bluer than any blue Eli had ever seen, like a glacier mashed up with the sunny skies of Earth’s glory days. Must be enhanced. Most definitely enhanced.

His blue-eyed rescuer reached out a gloved hand and helped, or rather jerked, Eli to his feet, vice-like grip digging bruises into his forearm. He held Eli at a distance, probably not wanting to slime his nifty super-secret uniform. He was about a hand taller than Eli and a good deal broader. After determining Eli wasn’t going to collapse he released him and stepped back.

“Got one earth rat down here,” he said into his mic, which turned out to be attached to the stiff collar of his jacket. “Seems to be intact and mobile.”

The hard blue eyes turned on Eli again and looked him up and down. Eli suddenly felt much more naked but refused to cower. He moved away in case the man in black decided to shove him back inside the pod.

“Ask them to bring a robe or something, why don’t you?” he asked, putting the pod between them. The man didn’t react, but continued to watch him with a wary sort of bemusement. He was stunningly attractive in that rich habitat dwelling sort of way, and didn’t look like a typical jarhead at all. Eli was only used to seeing beautiful people in holos, or the enhanced variety in the clubs that always looked a little strange, no matter how expensive the procedure.

He changed his mind. Probably not enhanced, except the eyes, which were most likely implants. Eli realized they were staring at each other without speaking, and imagined the man had opposite thoughts about Eli, like how he wasn’t used to seeing earth rats in the buff. He didn’t look disgusted, but Eli felt angry anyway.

His rescuer finally broke his mesmerizing gaze and started to poke around the room. He kicked at the corpse of the security crab. “Looks like we got here in the nick of time, eh?”

***

Don’t forget to continue the hop to check out more sexy snippets from the other participants. Seven words, seven lines or seven paragraphs of steamy fun await at My Sexy Saturday main page.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Keep Trying

May 10, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the hop where writers of all genres share, in ten mere sentences, tantalizing snippets of their work that will leave you itching for more. Or that’s the idea, anyway. Let’s see how it goes.

I’m continuing with my erotic space opera, From Mars, With Love, but this will be the last Mars snippet for a while. I know I’ve said that before, but I’ve got a new release to promote! I’d tell you all about it right now but my editor and I are still working on a title. Seems like my original title “Dark Heart” has been used about a gazillion times. So next week you get to hear all about it. But I digress. Our hero Eli is the prisoner of slavers who’ve stuck him in a stasis pod, but discovered something very unusual about the ring on his finger. I’ve skipped ahead a bit since last week’s snippet.

***

The asteroider turned from the display and leaned over Eli. “You’ve been given a paralyzer, but you can still speak. Tell me, where did you get that ring?”

Eli had to dig deep into his muscle memories in order to send the proper signals to his mouth and tongue. “Mishhh,” he said.

“Keep trying.”

He licked his lips and mumbled, “My mother.”

“Is she altered? Has she ever been to the belt, the Oort or any other unregulated zone?”

Eli had no idea where his mother had been in her short life, but he doubted if she’d ever left Old York.

***

Guardians-Of-The-Galaxy-New-Posters-and-Cameos-Revealed1

Don’t worry, Eli, help is on the way. Though probably not any raccoons.

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post ten sentences from a published work or perhaps their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or use the address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ A Long Ride to Titan

May 3, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another exciting installment of Weekend Writing Warriors. I’m continuing with my erotic m/m space opera, From Mars, With Love. Last week our hero Eli awoke to find himself in a stasis pod. His captors seem to think the ring on his finger is an alien. Preposterous! But then so is the rest of the plot, so maybe they’re right.

***

An asteroider, this one in a grey uniform with epaulets on the shoulders, was busy staring at a neon readout floating between the pod and the wall. They were in a small room with only one pod – maybe quarantine. The asteroider’s skull was mostly chrome, his face fully human with the pale waxy skin of someone who was never exposed to sunlight and didn’t bother with spectrum treatments.

“The burns from the explosion were superficial. Luckily he was doused with repressing foam before much damage was done. He’ll fetch a good price once we remove the al… the object.”

“It’s a long ride to Titan… he could be disciplined and repaired many times before we arrive.” The security crab clicked its pinchers and several long spiky instruments extruded from its extra arms.

***

Iron Man doesn’t need a gun, just a steely gaze.

***

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from a published work or perhaps their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or use the address: http://www.wewriwa.com

My Sexy Saturday ~ Keep Looking

April 18, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to My Sexy Saturday. This week’s theme is “I’ve got you, Babe.” I had a hard time coming up with an excerpt to match the theme, maybe because I’m always busy tearing my couples apart. So this week’s seven is from an upcoming contemporary fantasy: title-yet-to-be-announced, in which my lovers, Zeke and Ian, got each other, but only oh-so briefly.

***

“I’ve searched for you my whole life.” Ian fingered sweaty strands of hair from Zeke’s face.

“Keep looking. Promise me you will keep looking.”

“If you don’t leave, I won’t have to.”

“It’s not my choice.” Zeke let go of Ian’s hand and his body faded,everything except the eyes.

***

Don’t forget to continue the hop to check out more sexy snippets from the other participants. Seven words, seven lines or seven paragraphs of steamy fun await at My Sexy Saturday main page.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ This One Has Value

April 12, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another thrilling episode of Weekend Writing Warriors. I’ve been sharing snippets from my erotic space opera in progress, From Mars, With Love. Guess what? I’ve finally reached the end of the never-ending chapter! Eli has made a break for it, attempting to escape from the slavers who were in the process of putting their prisoners in stasis for the long ride to Titan. I actually ended with two lines to spare, so I continued on into the next scene to provide a taste of what follows.

Then miraculously, Eli was in the hall and sprinting toward the shuttle dock. An earsplitting alarm sounded and he knew he had seconds before he’d be cornered and overwhelmed. He rounded a corner and came face-to-face with two surprised guards, who were even more surprised when he hit them with the stun wave.

He ran to the control interface of the dock, smashed the screen with the gun and jammed the snout into the splintered crack. After an agonizing moment of searching the weapon’s stock he found the power modulator and turned it to maximum. He took a deep breath, said a prayer to Lucky, and fired the gun into the guts of the shuttle system.

* * * *

“Can I snip off his genitals now?” asked a robotic voice.

“Absolutely not. This one has value.”

***