Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Nine-Inch Nails

June 16, 2018 by Alexis Duran

Good morning, readers, writers and random internet wanderers. As a participant of Weekend Writing Warriors, I’m sharing excerpts from my newest release, Prowl, Book 1 in the Jacqui the Cat mysteries series. If you’re Jacqui curious, I’ve posted the first chapter of Prowl here.

In this scene, Jacqui is having his first conversation with Wyatt, the hunky deputy sheriff who lives across the street. They’re discussing a most shocking crime that may or may not have happened recently in their neighborhood.

***

Jacqui chewed his lower lip and realized he’d been staring unblinking at Wyatt the entire time. This was the type of behavior that made people look at him funny. Wyatt was looking funny at Jacqui’s lower lip.

Jacqui stopped the nervous chewing and forced his gaze down the street. “There’s probably an international planter smuggling ring afoot.”

Afoot?

Wyatt chuckled. He had a nice throaty chuckle.

“Speaking of the evil that lurks, do you know who owns that huge cat with the pointy ears who prowls around the neighborhood?”

“The gorgeous one with the beautiful blue-green eyes?”

“I was thinking more the gnarly one with the nine-inch nails.”

***

Jacqui the Cat Mysteries, the cozy gay shifter romance mystery series the world has been waiting for~

Jacqui Corleone is a fashion designer, a yoga-instructor and a concerned citizen who selflessly helps the police solve crimes. Oh, and he occasionally turns into a small wild cat. Probably due to a wizard’s curse or an evil government plot to create super warriors.

Or, he’s a cat cursed to turn into a human and only the bite of a sexy alpha lion will allow him to remain in his superior form of Cat.

Jacqui does not have a split personality, but sometimes his cat personality can get rather loud.

Loud? You’re loud.

Jacqui Corleone is a cat shifter who doesn’t know why or how he turns into a cat. He lives a solitary life in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. He’s not afraid of intimacy (yes, he is) but sensibly refrains from potentially awkward entanglements. Unfortunately, the sexy new deputy sheriff just moved in across the street and Jacqui’s vow not to get mixed up with island dudes is sorely challenged.

When the mysterious disappearance of three blue pots draws Jacqui to investigate, he’s drawn ever deeper into danger–and into the muscular but not too bulgy or veiny arms of deputy Wyatt West (he wishes).

Join Jacqui (and Cat) in this new exciting and sexy gay shifter romance mystery series from author of fantastical romantic fiction, Alexis Duran.

Here be the Amazon links:

Prowl

Pounce

Roam

***

I’ve had some inquiries if my books are available in formats other than Kindle. At this time, only Gryffon Hall is out there on B&N, Apple, etc. One reason is because I’m re-releasing all my Loose ID titles and am just flat out overwhelmed. The other reason is that I’m experimenting with Kindle Unlimited to see how that goes. When the KDP select term is up, I’ll distribute the books to other retailers. If you’d like to know when that happens, you can sign up for my nifty newsletter here!

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Weekend Writing Warriors is a blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less. Click the link to check out the other writers participating today. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book!

***

Thanks to Robin Ludwig Design, Inc. for the fabulous covers!

Weekend Writing Warrior ~ Demon Cat

February 10, 2018 by Alexis Duran

Hello and welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. Chinese New Year is coming up next week and 2018 is the Year of the Dog! No wonder Jacqui is having such a rough time of it. Last week, we left him seeking refuge from a pair of barking Pomeranians on the shoulders of his next door neighbor, deputy Sheriff Wyatt West. To sum up, Jacqui is a cat shifter, Claire is the irresponsible dog owner, and Wyatt is caught in the middle.

***

Jacqui wanted to let go. He really did. This was not a good paw to start off their voyeuristic, one-sided relationship on, but Cat was having none of it. Cat wanted those Poms gone. Jacqui hissed to express his desires.

Claire finally caught the other slavering butt-licker and picked it up. “I know you’re busy right now what with the move and all—”

“And a demon cat rending my flesh,” Wyatt noted with admirable calm.

“Yes, well, but I actually came over to report a crime.”

“Cats and dogs off-leash, attacking people?”

***

Jacqui the Cat Mysteries, the cozy gay shifter romance mystery series the world has been waiting for~

Or, he’s a cat cursed to turn into a human and only the bite of a sexy alpha lion will allow him to remain in his superior form of Cat.

Jacqui does not have a split personality, but sometimes his cat personality can get rather loud.

Loud? You’re loud.

Join Jacqui (and Cat) in this new exciting and sexy gay shifter romance mystery series from bestselling author (she wishes) Alexis Duran. Coming as soon as Alexis gets her s**t together.

***

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

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Nice Kitty

February 3, 2018 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where authors from across the spectrum of genres share excerpts from their work in ten sentences or less- just enough to tantalize your reading taste buds. My offering this week is from my upcoming shifter mystery/romance titled Prowl. I’m almost ready to set a release date. I have the cover and I love it! Hope to do the reveal soon. In the meantime, I’m continuing the saga of “How Jacqui met Wyatt”. Jacqui, in his cat form, decided to spy on Wyatt, his new neighbor. Unfortunately, he was startled by a pair of barking Pomeranians and ended up taking refuge on Wyatt’s shoulders- much to Wyatt’s surprise and dismay.

***

“Would you help me extract this cat?” Wyatt asked, the note of tension in his voice growing tauter.

“He’s a sweetheart, really,” Claire said, making no move to come closer.

“She says as it tries to lacerate my jugular.” Wyatt tugged on Jacqui’s tail again. Painful, yet oddly arousing.

“Maybe if you stopped yanking on him and tried to calm him down.”

“Maybe if you got your fu—if you’d get your dogs under control.”

“Poor thing is all scared—bad dogs!” She snagged one of the beasts and hooked it up to the leash.

Wyatt stopped yanking and tugging and said, “Nice kitty,” through clenched teeth.

***

In case you’re wondering why Wyatt hasn’t dislodged Jacqui yet, imagine several of these imbedded in your flesh.

Jacqui the Cat Mysteries, the cozy gay shifter romance mystery series the world has been waiting for~

Or, he’s a cat cursed to turn into a human and only the bite of a sexy alpha lion will allow him to remain in his superior form of Cat.

Jacqui does not have a split personality, but sometimes his cat personality can get rather loud.

Loud? You’re loud.

Join Jacqui (and Cat) in this new exciting and sexy gay shifter romance mystery series from bestselling author (she wishes) Alexis Duran. Coming as soon as Alexis gets her s**t together.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Threats and Enticements

November 25, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Greetings and welcome to my corner of Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a bunch of really awesome writers share snippets from their published work or works-in-progress. If you’re in the states, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, and if not, I hope you had a great ordinary Thursday!

I’m currently sharing from a work-in-progress, Prowl, which is the first book in a series of cozy mysteries featuring Jacqui Corleone, fashion designer and cat shifter extraordinaire. I’ve skipped ahead from last week, where Jacqui was in the process of shifting into his cat form. Now he’s ready to prowl, and perhaps spy on the sexy new neighbor across the street.

***

He raced across the floor to the balcony, sprang to the wrought iron rail and then made the three-foot leap to the large madrone tree outside his apartment. The bronzed tree glowed in the light of the setting sun and it smelled like heaven, a piquant blend of warm wood and feathery bird. Jacqui scrambled into its branches and scanned the street below for threats and enticements.

The little birds had scattered at his launch.

Lucky for them.

We don’t kill birds.

Party pooper.

After determining no loose dogs or grabby children roamed the hood, Jacqui scrambled down the trunk and sauntered nonchalantly toward the condos across the street, where fenced backyards opened onto the sidewalk. Wyatt West, in the middle of moving, had left his gate open. Jacqui paused and peered around the corner.

***

Happiness is a warm tree.

Jacqui the Cat Mysteries, the cozy gay shifter romance mystery series the world has been waiting for~

Or, he’s a cat cursed to turn into a human and only the bite of a sexy alpha lion will allow him to remain in his superior form of Cat.

Jacqui does not have a split personality, but sometimes his cat personality can get rather loud.

Loud? You’re loud.

Join Jacqui (and Cat) in this new exciting and sexy gay shifter romance mystery series from bestselling author (she wishes) Alexis Duran. Coming as soon as Alexis gets her s**t together.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Shall We Prowl?

October 22, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Greetings and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. I’ve been sharing from my current WIP, a cozy gay romance shifter mystery, and I’m having a ton of fun with it. I find the voice of the inner cat comes very easily, perhaps because I have four of them prowling around my desk as I write, providing plenty of inspiration. In this snippet, Jacqui is on his balcony watching his new neighbor, Deputy Wyatt West, move in across the street. Jacqui might have a tiny crush on Wyatt, and his inner cat is urging him to shift and check the new guy out.

***

Birds twittered and chirped in their brainless yet enticing way in the blooming lilac and sea spray that lined the road in front of Jacqui’s apartment building.

Jacqui ran his hands through his hair. The spying really had to stop. There was no way to morally defend creeping around and peeping into strangers’ windows—

Then Wyatt emerged from the fenced patio area behind his condo. He was shirtless. Oh, man was he shirtless.

How nicely he fulfilled all of Jacqui’s dirty fantasies about him. Jacqui had only ever seen Wyatt in uniform—hot in theory, but not so great fitting and a little on the rumpled, square-cut side, probably bulk ordered from Uniforms Are Us in Dubuque, Iowa—and jeans and T-shirts.

Shall we prowl then?

***

Next week I’ll post a blurb, promise!

My first readers, making sure I get the voice of Cat right.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Stalker-In-Training

October 23, 2016 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a bunch of really awesome writers share excerpts from their work in ten lines or less. I’ve been sharing from Matthias: Order of the Black Knights, due to hit the virtual shelves on November 2nd. Dylan, a reporter, discovers he’s been assigned to help investigate an old acquaintance of his, Matthias Krall. Matthias was a mystery man back in college, and things haven’t changed much. (For previous snippets, click here and here.)

***

Matthias kept a low profile even while he mingled with jet-setters. Most of the photos Dylan uncovered were thanks to tabloid coverage of Matthias’s brief affair with Jason Vaughn. A few others showed him with senators, CEOs, and movie stars. All were incidental. Matthias was never the focus of the shot, merely a bystander.

Dylan had lost track of Matthias, had tried to put him out of his mind, but now that Amanda had stirred the slumbering coals of his obsession, he was determined to find out what he couldn’t back in college. Who was Matthias, and what the hell was he up to?

As a journalism major and stalker-in-training, Dylan had quickly discovered that, although Matthias attended classes, he wasn’t a registered student at UW. That was as far as Dylan’s research got. Matthias had disappeared from campus and from Dylan’s life, until now.

***

Matthias: Order of the Black Knights ~ Release date November 2, 2016

From Louisiana swamp rat to revivalist huckster to skilled con artist, Matthias Krall clawed his way out of poverty using his natural gifts of grift and manipulation to become the leader of an exclusive retreat center. Exploiting the guise of spiritual guru, Matthias seduces the rich and powerful into turning over their lives and fortunes to his control. But wealth and a small cadre of loyal followers can’t protect Matthias from the betrayal he knows is imminent. Everyone wants what Matthias has, except for one man who wants to destroy it. Dylan Connelly is a reporter who’s determined to prove the charismatic recluse is not only a fraud but a murderer.

Irresistibly drawn to Dylan despite the warnings in his gut, Matthias lures Dylan to his island retreat, determined to destroy his enemy once and for all.

Preorder at Dreamspinner Press!

Preorder on Amazon!

Order of the Black Knights

Every century has seen its knights, but they are not always seen. Some of them do what must be done—getting their hands dirty when no one else is willing. Assassins and antiheroes who work from the shadows, they are called the Black Knights. From the time of the society’s creation in the 1100s, these men are cursed to repeat their lives of bloodshed. But for each knight, there is one who can bring out the man that waits inside and break the cycle. The question is whether or not the knight will kill his true love before he figures it out.

***

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