Seductive Studs ~ You’re Not Supposed To Care

December 19, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Seductive Studs, the blog hop dedicated to m/m romance by the people who read, write and review it.

This week I’m sharing another excerpt from Curse of Salar, Book 3 in the Masters and Mages series, release date January 5, 2016.

I’m picking up right after last week’s snippet. Prince Dezra is getting a little hot and bothered at an official state function.

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Stop it, he ordered himself, or people will mistake the heat in your face for rage at the Armazins. You’re not supposed to care. Not supposed to care that his family had been wiped out. A burning desire to stand and rain curses on the head of the traitorous Armazin minister swept through him. He stared at his feet and thought about diving into the bathing pools in the courtyard garden. The image helped cool him off until Captain Nevar joined him in his vision, naked and wet, sending Dezra into another spiral of lust and rage. And yet he sat stone still, suppressing wave after wave of powerful emotion. When would this agony end?

Finally the minister concluded her speech, and the Armazins withdrew. Now the captain avoided looking at him. Dezra took this as a victory. As a living god, he could be intimidating when he put his mind to it. No one was ever entirely purged of superstition, after all. He watched the captain’s easy movements with pleasure, his strong back muscles detectable beneath the fluid silk shirt as he returned to his table at the far end of the hall.

***

Blurb for Masters and Mages 3: Curse of Salar

In the desert kingdom of Jahar, the rule of mages has been overthrown and the ancient lineage of sorcerer kings wiped out. Prince Dezra and his sister are the last living members of the royal family and are held prisoners in their ancestral palace.

Prince Dezra lives a life of lies and deceit. In order to stay alive, he must pretend to be a drug-addicted wastrel, trusting no one, isolated from even his sister who has chosen to cooperate with the government that executed their parents.

Into his lonely existence comes a man who should be his sworn enemy; Captain Rayn Nevar. Dezra is irresistibly drawn to the rough soldier and his longing for a simple sexual encounter quickly morphs into a dangerous obsession.

Captain Rayn Nevar knows he should stay far away from Prince Dezra, but his desire for the beautiful young man overrides all common sense. Despite the fact that Dezra’s ancestors destroyed Rayn’s family, the captain finds himself in a position of protecting the prince from the many schemers who believe the last of the mages should be annihilated.

When treachery leads to Dezra’s escape, he is at last free to bond with the serpent god Ka’alar and develop his long repressed powers. Only the arrival of a mysterious monk with powers greater than Dezra’s stops the prince from using black sorcery to destroy all who stand in his way, including Rayn.

As Jahar edges toward another war between masters and mages, Rayn must question his devotion to his increasingly deadly lover while Dezra must decide if ultimate power is worth the ultimate sacrifice.

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Don’t forget to continue the hop at the Seductive Studs home page. Lots of steamy m/m goodness goin’ on.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Sacrificial Opponent

December 13, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a bunch of really awesome writers share ten sentence snippets from their work. This week I’m sharing from my upcoming release Masters and Mages 3: Curse of Salar.

This snippet is from one of my favorite scenes, where Prince Dezra finally meets his match on the shibar field. (A shibar is a 5-6 ft pole with bronze blades on each end. In this case the blades are dulled so as not to risk injuring the prince.)

***

Dezra drank the cool water offered to him and considered who his next sacrificial opponent would be. Perhaps Lanz himself. Now that Dezra had worked his edge off, he could focus on technique against his teacher.

He inspected the line of onlookers, wondering if any of the visiting attendants or military personnel might appreciate a chance to brush up their skills. Only those with the highest clearance were allowed anywhere near him, and so those present probably didn’t partake in the lowly game of shibar, a foot soldier’s weapon.

He wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and was about to call for Lanz when a new figure stepped out of the shadows of the columns with a shibar in his hands. It was Captain Nevar. Dezra’s eyes narrowed to slits against the sun. Perhaps he was hallucinating. The guards stopped Nevar immediately.

***

Blurb for Masters and Mages 3: Curse of Salar ~ Release date January 5,2016

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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 ~ I Want To Watch

December 12, 2015 by Alexis Duran

It’s time for another round of sexy snippets here on My Sexy Saturday. This week’s theme is Her Sexy Fantasy. Well, as a writer of m/m erotica I thought I didn’t have anything to fit, but then I remembered one of my favorite minor characters, Lady Angela Thorburn from To Catch a Threeve. She’s deliciously wicked and so fun to write.

Here are seven paragraphs taken from a scene where Lady Angela attempts to blackmail the handsome but unattainable Axel Blackwood into participating in her sexy fantasy. Lady Angela speaks first.

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“Don’t look so grim, Constable. I don’t judge you. It’s well-known among the learned that when the goddess Brigitta ruled these lands, no false strictures were placed on love. The war god and his warrior kings are the ones who condemned the love of man for man, woman for woman.”

“If you believe this of me, why are you here?” Axel unlocked his rigid muscles and moved toward the fire, compelled to drive out the chill in his blood.

“I am a connoisseur of the beautiful and the comely. You, Axel, are beautiful. I enjoyed admiring you across the feast hall tonight, and I’d like to admire you up close.”

Axel didn’t know how to respond. He was sure the lady wouldn’t be content to merely gaze languidly upon his manhood.

She moved close enough to rest a silken hand on his bicep. “Your prisoner is also beautiful.”

Axel kept his attention on her delicate fingers. “So?”

“So I want to watch. You and him. Make love.” She patted her chest with her other hand as if she’d scandalized herself.

***

Here’s the blurb for To Catch a Threeve:

Axel Blackwood catches a thief and is astounded to see that he closely resembles Liam Alloway, the love he lost seven years ago in an attack by the evil woodland folk known as threeves. Axel suspects he’s fallen prey to dark magic, but can’t help becoming infatuated with his prisoner. He’s overwhelmed with the hope that he can at last bring his lost lover home, despite everything that warns him it’s all a diabolical trick.

Bryn Darrow, the half-threeve, half human orphan sent to trick Axel and rob him of much more than a simple gem finds himself equally as fascinated with his handsome human captor and the lure of someplace to call home, but he knows deep down that the constable is in love with a dangerous illusion. When he’s commanded by the threeves to murder Axel and steal a witch’s powerful grimoire, he’s forced to decide between the only family he’s ever known and the one person who might rescue him from a life of isolation and pain.

Will Axel and Bryn be forced into a deadly confrontation before they can discover the truth?

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Don’t forget to continue the Sexy Saturday hop. There’s a lot of sexy snippets out there for your enjoyment, only a click away.

Seductive Studs ~ This Man Is Dangerous

December 12, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Seductive Studs, the blog hop dedicated to m/m romance by the people who read, write and review it.

This week I’m sharing another excerpt from Curse of Salar, Book 3 in the Masters and Mages series, release date January 5, 2016. At an official function in the great hall, Prince Dezra’s attention (and imagination) have been captured by a stranger, Captain Rayn Nevar.

***

Dezra decided to turn his divine wrath on the rude captain and returned his stare. The rest of the hall fell away, and they might as well have been the only two people in it. Though the captain stood at least fifty feet away, his gaze penetrated Dezra’s defenses and threatened his secret thoughts. To his bemused annoyance, Dezra developed a growing erection that would not subside.

This man is dangerous, Dezra thought, but refused to look away. Finally the captain shifted his attention to his minister, who prattled on. Dezra couldn’t remember the last time he’d been aroused at a formal dinner. Probably when Lashmi had been delivered as tribute from Tovald. Dezra regretted having told Jai not to wait in his chambers. He could always send for the servant but instantly knew Jai would be a poor substitute for the fantasy catching fire in his mind.

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Blurb for Masters and Mages 3: Curse of Salar

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Don’t forget to continue the hop at the Seductive Studs home page. Lots of steamy m/m goodness goin’ on.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Never Saw Him

December 6, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another exciting edition of Weekend Writing Warriors. Well, I was supposed to start on the promo for my release coming up in January, but then I realized I was ONE snippet away from finishing Chapter 2 of From Mars, With Love. I know, it seems like we should be much farther along, but at ten sentences a pop, it takes a while.

Last week Eli finally found out he’s not being returned to Earth by his rescuers, but dumped at the unwelcoming outpost on Mars, which was definitely not on his to-visit list.

***

The man in black still stood there, pausing as if mildly interested in Eli’s plight. He shrugged and nearly smiled.

“Good luck with that,” he said, and sauntered past. Eli stared after him, taking deep breaths and calming himself before he said something unfortunate to the well-armed marine.

“Who is that, anyway?” he asked her.

“You never saw him,” she said, looking at Eli with a stern, don’t-mess-with-me expression. “I mean it, you never saw him, ’cause if you did, you might require a memory sweep, got it?”

“Never saw who?” Never saw him. As if Eli could ever erase the memory of those luminous blue-eyes.

***

How is it I’ve managed to overlook this motherlode of hunky space guys with guns? SG-Universe – my kind of show.

From Mars, With Love follows the adventures of Eli and his pal Rilke, two down-and-out scavengers from earth as they’re abducted by slavers, arrested by space marines, and dumped on an unwelcoming outpost on Mars. Eli’s troubles are only beginning when he finds out the ring his mother gave him contains the life force of a powerful but dormant alien and the mysterious man he has a huge crush on happens to be an alien artifact smuggler. Eli’s just trying to make it on Mars, but can he survive the dangerous political intrigue swirling around him? This erotic space opera is a work-in-progress. Stay tuned to this blog for ongoing excerpts and updates.

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My Sexy Saturday ~ Human Warmth

December 5, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of My Sexy Saturday. This week we’re exploring My Sexy Galaxy, which is right up my space port. I do love my sci-fi. These seven paragraphs are from an unpublished novella temporarily titled Machine in the Ghost. Ezra is a “linker”, a geek with the ability to communicate with alien technology, and Lann is a marine on the space station where they both work. Lann has a crush on Ezra, but the serious-minded linker has never responded. Until now.

***

Ezra picked up his drink and downed it in one shot. He put the glass down and said, “That’s very good.”

“Another?”

“Not yet.” He leaned forward and it took all of Lann’s control not to lean in as well. “I wanted to thank you for saving my life today.”

“What? I didn’t. The med-bot did the saving. I just called it.”

“You don’t understand. You pulled me out of the abyss, with this.” Ezra reached out and grasped Lann’s hand. “Human warmth.” He looked at Lann’s hand like he’d never held one before. Hell, maybe he hadn’t. Ezra was so shut off, so closed down, he might even be a virgin. Lann’s heart skipped a beat at the thought. He looked around and spotted ZJ and Burn staring at them with mouths open. Lann gave them an evil glare and they pretended to peruse the menu of new earth-inspired drinks.

Lann took a deep breath and turned back to Ezra. “Are you on a whole lot of drugs, Eleven?”

Ezra continued to toy with Lann’s fingers. “You’re wondering about the change in me.”

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Don’t forget to continue the Sexy Saturday hop. There’s a lot of sexy snippets out there for your enjoyment, only a click away.