Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Mistake

July 19, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. This will be my last snippet from Betwixt and Between for a while. Don’t want to over-share! In previous excerpts Ian has gotten himself entangled with a magical musician busking for change at the Pike Street Market. Today he makes a break for it.

***

Ian spun around and ran up the stairs, taking three at a time. He burst out into a clump of German tourists all singing along to the strains of the Vltava that had reached its climactic conclusion. He sprinted up the sidewalk. The farther he got, the easier it was to move and breathe, and the less the image of the stormy eyes burned into his corneas. He knew damn well he should get to Aunt Cleona’s as fast as possible and beg her to put a counteracting spell in motion.

Third mistake.

But he was late to meet Dijeree, and she’d be pissed if he blew her off again. She had a confirmed Windigo sighting out on the peninsula, and she needed his advice. He stopped running, and as he walked slowly up Pine catching his breath, the intensity of the hex faded to almost nothing. Maybe the violin player had only wanted to scare him off.

***

As characters often do, Ian has gone off on his own and landed an interview with Evelyn Shepard. If you’d like a peek at how he’s coping with dark elves in his life, as well as another chance to win a $10 gift card, check it out here.

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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

Evelyn Shepard Interviews Ian, plus $10 GC GIVEAWAY!

July 17, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Ian, hero of Betwixt and Between, reveals a few tips about living with dark elves and battling evil.

CHARACTER INTERVIEW with Alexis Duran | $10 GC GIVEAWAY!.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Calculating

July 5, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, where writers of all stripes and spots share their work in eight to ten lines. This week I’m continuing with excerpts from the first chapter of my new release, Betwixt and Between, an m/m contemporary fantasy. Our hero Ian has encountered an elf with mischievous intentions busking for coins and souls in a dark stairwell at the Pike Street Market. This is right after last week’s snippet.

***

Though poorer than a church mouse, Ian felt a strong urge to empty his pockets into the violin case. That would be a mistake. Giving a coin to a magical being created a bond that could link you forever to a malevolent spirit. At least he’d learned that much from his Aunt Cleona. At the thought of his aunt, he remembered the protective token she’d given him the last time he’d run afoul of a fairy living in Gas Works Park. He reached for the moonstone necklace he always wore now, and when he touched it, the grip of the music loosened. He hadn’t noticed the tightness in his chest until it was gone.

Further proof he’d been hexed came from the musician’s reaction. The remarkable gaze shot up again, and he focused on Ian’s face for longer than a second. It wasn’t exactly an evil look, but not friendly either – calculating, that was the word.

***

Cover art by April Martinez

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 the 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.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Glamour Casting 101

June 28, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Love Wins – Huzzah! And that’s what my erotic romances are all about, ultimately, be they fantasy, science fiction or contemporary and wether they take place in worlds where gay love is the norm, where it’s forbidden, or in today’s world, where we’re inching slowly towards total acceptance. My new release Betwixt and Between takes place in modern day Seattle and for Ian, the fact that his soul mate is a man is the least of his worries.

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. This week I’m sharing another snippet from Betwixt and Between, now available for pre-order! In this bit, Ian is figuring out that the handsome violinist at the Pike Street Market is not quite what he seems.

***

The man radiated magical energy but otherwise looked perfectly normal except for the outfit, which could be considered normal among the odd musical and dramatic types that wandered the market. For a while he made no indication of being aware of Ian, but then with a flick of his head he tossed the hair out of his face and quickly moved his gaze from the violin to Ian. That was when Ian knew for sure the man was some sort of magician.

His eyes were smoky blue or stormy gray or some combination of dusty sapphire and silver. Whatever they were, they weren’t human. And he was ridiculously handsome like he should be fronting a rock band, not busking for quarters in a dark stairwell. This made Ian wonder if it was lust rather than magic drawing him in. Could just be an ordinary guy. He doubted it. The music was penetrating Ian’s soul, rooting him to the spot – he’d fallen for glamour casting 101.

***

Release date June 30th. Available for pre-order now at Loose Id.

Cover art by April Martinez

Blurb:

My Sexy Saturday ~ Hexed

June 27, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to My Sexy Saturday. It’s steamy hot here in the pacific northwest, but who can’t use a little more heat? Today’s theme is Our Sexy Man, which I’m happy to say fits rather well with my new release, Bewixt and Between, a contemporary m/m fantasy featuring two terribly sexy men. Actually this theme works for all of my books, but hey, what’s not to like about that?

Here are seven paragraphs where Sexy Man Ian checks out photos he took of Sexy Man Zeke, who happens to be an elf. Dijeree is Ian’s roommate and Alistair is the shifty shaman who’s going to help unhex Ian. Maybe.

***

“Holy hottie, Batman,” Dijeree said. “Why is it you haven’t fucked him yet?”

“I was wondering if the camera would catch the same thing I saw.”

It did. Ian had taken his film to an associate at the paper who developed film quickly for a steep fee. Ian and Dijeree sat in the corner café and passed the photos back and forth between them over a table littered with coffee cups, half-eaten scones, the weekly copy of The Cosmic Eye, and Ian’s notes.

Most of the photos were too dark and blurry, but not all. In one of the shots, he’d caught the svarta as he looked up, a shaft of sunlight reflecting off his violin. He was every bit as handsome as Ian remembered, with an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, incredibly thick lashes, and those eyes. The photo couldn’t do them justice. As it was, they looked like mirrors reflecting a wind-tossed sea. When the sea started to swirl, Ian looked away.

“Are you okay?” Dijeree asked, placing a hand on his wrist.

“No. I’m hexed.” He struggled to breathe regularly.

“Let’s hope Alistair gets back soon.”

***

Release date is June 30th. Be the cool kid on the block and get your copy first (at 10% off!). Betwixt and Between is available for pre-order now at Loose Id.

Blurb:

Reporter Ian Evers, obsessed with magical creatures since childhood, 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, alluring 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.

Ian knows only he can save Ezekiel from the grasp of the dark queen. Driven apart by the 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.

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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 ~ 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:

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.

***