Weekend Writing Warriors ~ A Bad Idea

December 16, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Hello everyone, and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a bunch of us crazy writer-types share excerpts from our published work or work-in-progress. If my fellow writers take exception to being called crazy, I apologize, but I’m feeling a little off my rocker lately because of all the time I’m spending in the head of my main character–Jacqui the cat shifter. Jacqui has a bit of a split personality and spends a lot of time arguing with his inner cat, who just isn’t as concerned with things like privacy, politeness and other inconvenient human social restraints. In this week’s snippet, Jacqui in his cat form is spying on his new neighbor. Even though he has a rule about not becoming romantically entangled, his interests have been–shall we say–aroused. You can read last week’s snippet here.

***

Jacqui stared, mesmerized, as Wyatt leaned to one side and then the other.

I give him a nine and a half. He loses half a point because he has no sense of style. His hair looks like he used that weed whacker on it. And the five o’clock shadow? That’s so spot-on trendy—he needs our help badly.

Don’t distract me from the sweat trickles. I want to lick them. I want to bite the back of his neck and make him mine.

This was such a bad idea.

***

Looks like a pretty good cat perch to me

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 (you wish).

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.

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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

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ A Local Brand of Lunatic

October 15, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Greetings and welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. The rains have come, and my writer self is very happy to have a cold, wet Sunday to hunker down by the glow of computer and read all the wonderful snippets being shared. Six months from now, I’ll be less enamored of the rain, but for now, I’m in my happy place.

I’ve been sharing from my new WIP, tentatively titled Prowl. It’s a cozy gay shifter romance mystery (Yes, all those genres squeezed into one package) and my hero is Jacqui, a fashion-designer and cat shifter who has a knack for sticking his whiskers where they don’t belong. Last week, I left him standing on his apartment balcony, considering a shift and a prowl through the neighborhood.

***

Jacqui made the mistake of looking down, letting his gaze wander across the street to where a moving van had recently been parked.

Jacqui had a new neighbor.

Back—to—work.

Jacqui’s new neighbor was Wyatt West, the new deputy sheriff in town. Yes, Jacqui had played around with the name in an endlessly juvenile fashion as he fantasized about Wild Wild West with the broad shoulders, lean waist, auburn hair, amber eyes and a crooked smile that made Jacqui’s heart do a little squeezey thing, leaving him breathless. How wild was West, Jacqui couldn’t help but wonder?

So they’d never spoken. Minor detail, didn’t matter. Until this weekend Wyatt West of the exceptionally hot body was a live aboard, a local brand of lunatic who lived on a sailboat surrounded by fucking water. Jacqui wasn’t about to go sniffing around a mental case like that.

***

Example of a “live aboard”

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Mischief

January 22, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a bunch of really awesome writers share from their work in ten sentences or less. Can I just say that I am really ready for January to be over? Next Saturday is the Chinese New Year (Year of the Rooster, btw) and I can’t wait! I’m sure I’ll be so much more productive, eloquent and on the ball with the lunar shift. And I’m also sure I’ll finish Death by Starlight, my current work in progress, in record time. For now, I’m continuing to share from the first chapter. Zeke has returned from the dark realm and is seeking the help of Alistair, who lives on a sailboat. Zeke and Alistiar have a less than buddy-buddy relationship.

***

Alistair slumped over his little table, cheek pressed into the open pages of a large book. A bottle of rum with an inch of dark liquid remaining in the bottom sat by his head. Zeke quickly imagined a dozen or more tricks he could play on the snoozing shaman, his taste for mischief stronger than ever after his time in the realm.

Once again the urgency to reunite with Ian trumped all distractions. Zeke walked bent over until he reached the end of the cluttered berth where he presumed Alistair slept when he didn’t pass out at the table. He sat gingerly on the lumpy quilt within poking range of the shaman and commenced to stare.

Alistair had the compact-build and tough, weathered skin of someone who’d lived in the far north, dodging polar bears and harvesting icebergs for a living. Although ancient by human standards, strands of black hair were still woven in amongst the gray. His eyeballs were busy behind the twitching lids, fingers clutching sporadically at the table where they rested.

Zeke leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “And then the leviathan rose from the depths and swallowed your little boat whole.”

***

I know I promised a blurb from Death by Starlight, but it hasn’t happened yet. In my other life, I’m a bookkeeper, and January BITES. So to tempt your tastebuds, here’s the scoop on the first book in the Edge of Night series, Betwixt and Between:

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 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.

***

Available at these retailers: Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble

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 ~ Whatever Might Fall Out of the Sky

January 8, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. It’s strange here in Oregon. We’re experience this phenomena called “winter”. There’s been ice and snow, ice and snow. If you stand outside too long, your toes start to hurt. So in other words, perfect writing weather.

I’m continuing to share from my current project, Death by Starlight, the sequel to Betwixt and Between. This picks up right where we left off last week, with Ezekiel the dark elf returning to Seattle from a journey to his homeland.

***

Zeke wasn’t used to giving a second thought to what anyone might think of his comings and goings, but he knew Ian would be worried. Although Zeke’s bond with his lover was strong, Ian’s powers weren’t steady enough yet to track Zeke through the dark realm. Even if they were, Zeke wouldn’t allow Ian to expose himself by keeping open a connection. The dark realm was still full of creatures who wanted nothing more than to destroy Zeke’s half-human, half-liosa lover. Zeke wasn’t too popular himself.

Zeke hunched his shoulders, shrugging off the cool, damp air. The world of humans was colder, brighter, more porous and open to whatever might fall out of the sky. For a moment Zeke was tempted to slip back into the hot, enclosed world he’d just emerged from, but that urge was quickly swept away by an overwhelming need to see Ian, to hold him, touch him, reignite their bond.

He’d dampened his connection with Ian in order to protect him, but now that Zeke was back, his body vibrated with desire. Suddenly the air wasn’t so cold and he opened his long leather jacket, letting the breeze ruffle his silk shirt.

***

Here’s the scoop on book 1 in the Edge of Night series: Betwixt and Between

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The Blurb:

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Available at these retailers: Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble

Weekend Writing Warrior ~ New Year, New Book

January 1, 2017 by Alexis Duran

Happy New Year! Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. I hope 2017 finds you happy, healthy and inspired. 2016 ended on a bit of down beat, for many reasons, but I’m feeling optimistic and reenergized after a rather unproductive December. Sometimes even manic writers have to take a break.

I’m starting off the new year by sharing from my new WIP, which is nearing completion. It’s the second in the Edge of Night series, featuring Ian and Ezekiel, light and dark elves who somehow manage to form an unbreakable bond. Betwixt and Between is the first in the series. If my excerpt does the trick and intrigues you, you can click the link for more info.

These ten lines are from the opening scene of Book 2 (working title Death by Starlight):

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The skyline of Seattle reared up in a blaze of lights, metal and chrome. Overhead, traffic clattered and roared across the Freemont Bridge, headlights and taillights a stream of silver and red. Ezekiel Stormshadow narrowed his eyes to dim the affect. After so long in the dark realm, such a garish display stabbed into his brain, slicing away the last comfortable strands of shadows linking him to his homeland.

Standing on the edge of the Ballard Locks, he breathed in the mix of gasoline fumes, fresh cut grass and a slight hint of salt water blowing in from Puget Sound. A row of houseboats creaked and bobbed in front of him.

By the position of the moon in the partly cloudy sky, he guessed it was nearly midnight. The date was a murkier thing to calculate. He’d roamed the dark realm for several nights, but time passed differently here in the world of humans, and he suspected he’d been gone much longer than a week or two.

A prickle of concern brought a scowl to his face.

***

Here’s the info on Book 1. Next week I’ll put up the blurb for Edge of Night 2:Death by Starlight.

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The Blurb:

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Available at these retailers: Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ The Barbarian From the West

April 17, 2016 by Alexis Duran

Greetings and welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. This week, since I’m up to my eyeballs in it, I’ve decided to share from my current WIP, a reimagined fairy tale currently titled Gryffon Hall. Our hero, Wryler Glimmerveen, is reluctantly attending a fancy feast hosted by his father, lord of Glimmerveen castle. Wyler, the fourth son, expects to soon be married off to Lennox, a wealthy merchant’s son, but a mysterious visitor may throw his carefully planned future into disarray.

***

A commotion at the wide doors served as a welcome distraction. Three rather large men had entered, shouting greetings and apologies for their lateness. The crowd parted and a footman cleared his throat.

“Lord Aeric Rouchet, Earl of Gryffon Hall!” he announced. The gasp and murmur that rippled through the room would have amused Wryler, if not for the fact that Wryler couldn’t help gasping and murmuring along with the rest of them.

“What is he doing here? Shall we alert the guards?” he whispered into his father’s ear.

The music came to a squeaky halt as Aeric Rouchet stepped forward. Everyone gaped at the notorious barbarian from the west. The footman, who was no slight fellow, appeared diminutive next to the visitor; Rouchet could have picked him up with one hand and used him to clean the gristle from his teeth.

***