Win a copy of Possession and meet talented author A.D. Blackburn today at the Book Boost!
Here's what she had to say about making fast friends...
“Authors have giant egos.”
This is the most ridiculous statement I have EVER heard. Maybe the big name, big time bestsellers who own New York penthouses and can afford to pay for thousand dollar entrees, but the authors that I have had the pleasure to get to know over the last few months do not fit this misnomer.
As a new author, I plunged into the literary world with both feet, and more trepidation than I could shake a stick at! My first published work was included in an anthology with some newbies, true, but there was some serious talent packed into it, talent that I myself had read before.
I was a fan becoming a colleague.
You wanna talk about nervous? Yeah, I was so nervous. Of course, when I began to wade into the waters of social cues, I came to realize one very real fact...
ROMANCE AUTHORS ARE THE FRIENDLIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH!
That's right people! I said it. You ever seen the movie She Devil, where Roseanne Barr's husband leaves her for a romance novelist? She's played by none other than Meryl Streep. The character lives in a pink mansion, wears pink silk robes with ermine cuffs. Her Latin pool boy runs around shirtless and her breathy cadence is the only forgiving thing about her snarky, snappy attitude towards, well, everyone. That is what I think most people see when they envision romance writers.
Snooty, over-sexed old women with too much chocolate and not enough humanity.
I will admit some trepidation on my part, but when I opened up and acted like myself, well, I found that a great many of the gals were like me. Smart-asses with a love of great stories, hot heroes, and steamy sex. They didn't prance around in silk robes, ordering around their pool boys! They were working on manuscripts between picking up their kids, kissing their husbands and making sure that they had their work done for the day.
We share a common bond. The love of the story. Every single new found friend I have that shares my occupation is warm, and funny, and supportive! I can't tell you how many times I've had a panicked moment about a possible review or my sales and another, wiser and probably sexier fellow author has given me the pep talk I needed to calm it right on down.
As my debut hits the virtual shelves and I work on its sequel in addition to several other monstrosities, I am comforted to know that out there, in the world, even though most of us as scattered to the four corners of the earth, it is always nice to know that no matter how hard my characters are making me work or how hard it is to get the words to flow out of my cerebellum, there is always someone out there, who knows exactly how it feels to struggle with a story. My new friends know the joy, the pain, the agony and the unparalleled ecstasy of how it feels to read those four little words.
“We accept your submission.”
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that one of the dearest friendships I have forged in the last few months is with none other than the Book Boost's own, Kerri Nelson. She is, after all, my girl crush!
A Note from the Book Boost: Well, color me flattered, my sweet potato pie with whipped cream on top. xoxo I know exactly how you feel but trust me (from one of those "oldies" that has been struggling to get published and stay published for 15 some odd years--you've come a long way in a short time, baby. And that means one thing--this girl is going places. I'll be so glad to say I knew you "back when". ;-) Thanks for joining us today and just so you know...I'm picking up my copy of Possession today over at Evernight with my handy discount code (good for everyone this week on any e-book purchase! Here it is: (Code: QDK8F2NK6T during checkout save 25%)! Go forth and purchase!
Blurb:
In the epic battle between Heaven and Hell, there are angels and demons…and then there’s James.
Tall, dark and deadly, James Gunn is the President of the Diabolus Venator motorcycle club, a group of one time outlaws turned gun-toting, sword-wielding, ass-kicking demon hunters. His no-holds-barred style of dispatching hell's darkest minions has earned him quite the reputation, but when he fights a low-level demon that warns him that his soul is in danger, he laughs it off…until he discovers that they mean to steal his heart to obtain it. When James realizes that a
high-ranking demon has marked him for a prime spot in hell, he pulls out all the stops to protect the one thing he loves more than his own soul— his girlfriend, Maddy.
What James doesn’t count on is that this particular demon knows a little bit more about the art of possession than the average minion and he’s forced to make the ultimate choice between the love of his life or his own soul.
Excerpt:
The door jerked open violently, James' body taking up most of the space between the door frame. Her eyes shifted and she drank him in from head to toe. Long black hair with the strange silver strands hung down passed his shoulders in thick wet ropes. The steel metal grey of his eyes bored into her. They were tired and worn. His rugged face was gaunt and thin, like he wasn’t eating or spending entirely too much time working. The angel versus demon tattoos that covered his upper arms and his chest danced as the muscles underneath twitched. And there it was, staring back at her, twisting her belly in knots. Her name, in her own handwriting, a beautiful flourish of red and black, was inked on his abdomen, right below his belly button for the entire world to see.
It was too much. She had to turn away.
“I just... I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Padre told me what happened and... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come.” She choked on hot unshed tears. “I will just have Caius get the rest of my clothes later.”
She turned towards the club's bar room but his hand on her wrist stopped any forward motion.
“Maddy, please.” James pulled her closer towards him. “I didn't want it to be this way. I told them not to call you.”
She stared at the stitches on his forehead. The wound underneath was no longer red and angry but the thought of him being touch and go for two days without her by his side was a heartache she never wanted to live with. The levee was breaking. The tingling sensation of his skin against hers was enough to shatter the last sad remains of the barriers that she’d built. There was no sweetness left. What vestiges of the sweet simple Maddy remained were thrown by the wayside.
A fire of pure unadulterated anger was what he’d left behind in her now.
“I spent days begging you to change your mind James.” The tears behind her eyes began to trickle down her face. “You’re right. It didn't have to be this way. But you and whatever convoluted thought processes govern you, decided that this was what was best for me.” Her voice grew louder. She didn't notice that James had already pulled her into his room.
“You made the choice. You called the shots and I have to live with it, but damn it, you can't expect me to turn off my feelings for you.”
“I didn't ask you to stop loving me, Maddy.”
She stared blankly at him for a moment. “You ass!” She smacked him in his chest and instantly regretted it as her small hand met with solid muscle. “What kind of statement is that! Of course I'm not going to stop loving you, but what the hell am I supposed to do with it? Because you’re scared I can't see you. I can't talk to you. I can't fuck you. What the hell, James.”
“Damn it woman.” He slammed the door shut and stood directly in front of her, glaring down at her. His chest was heaving, his arms shaking. “Do you see this?” He pointed at the stitches on his forehead. “You knew this was a possibility when we met. When we got together I told you what we do and you accepted all of the terms. This is the kind of shit I get into. This is what happens to us when we do what we do. You think I want you to live through this?” He stepped back and sat on the bed, sucking in slow, steadying breaths. His elbows rested on his knees as he laced his fingers through his hair.
“You don't know what they are like, what they do. I never wanted to hurt you. All I ever wanted to do was make you happy and keep you safe, but for real? We called this off just in time, Maddy.”
She cocked an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. Just... look, I love you. I know I've said it before and hell, I think I've pretty much branded by self,” he pointed towards the flourishing M-A-D-D-Y tattoo on his belly, “but I would rather love you from a distance than watch one of those bastards eat your soul.”
Maddy seethed. Every fiber of her being was lit on fire. “Let them eat it! They can take it for all I give a shit. I'd rather loose my soul than spend the rest of my life knowing that they are the reason I lost you.”
James stood, his body seething. He went from contemplative to nuclear thermal pissed in a nanosecond. “Fuck you and your dramatic Heathcliff bullshit.” With every word he stepped closer and closer towards her. “I’ve said just about all I can say. I love you. I will go to my grave loving you but I cannot risk something happening to you!”
Maddy tensed up, tilting her face upward. She glared into his eyes, the fire in her blood made her cheeks hot. “You mope and talk about sacrifices you’ve made for my well-being and I’m dramatic? Spare me your sob story pal! We were good together and you know that! You and me were something different, something that could last. You think I’m a big pussy, that I can’t take care of myself, but you don’t have to watch over me like I’m some simpering infant. And to be honest, if that’s the way you see me, then maybe you are right. Maybe this,” she pointed back and forth between herself and James who were now only a few inches apart, “this just needs to be over. So fuck you very much.”
She turned to leave, but before she could fully grasp the door knob James jerked her up off of her feet and planted the two of them firmly against the wall. He gripped her entire body against his, his iron-corded arms holding her tight against him. James stared down into her face before seizing her mouth with his. His tongue was hot and hungry. His hands cupped her ass and lifted her up. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, hooking her ankles.
“Let me go,” she whispered between the angry kisses.
“Shut up,” he whispered back. He cupped her face and looked down into her eyes. “Just this one time.”
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