New Release: “The Darkest Midnight in December,” by Jana Denardo:

My guest today is fellow Dreamspinner Press author, Jana Denardo, here to celebrate her new release, “The Darkest Midnight in December,” an urban fantasy about demon hunters in the 1930′s.  So without further ado, I leave you with some thoughts from Jana, as well as the blurb and an excerpt from her novella! Happy release day, Jana! -Shira

_______________________

Caleb, Temple, Agni and Li are demon hunters working for the Soldiers of the Sun. In this urban fantasy, the world knows about the demons but only a small handful of people can see them if they’re in human form. The ‘demon-eyes’ hunt them down and destroy them. These groups of hunters are spread throughout the world in various organizations, like the Knights Templar (which did not get dissolved in this UF), and the Soldiers of the Sun, which isn’t church-bound.

These four young men were culled from across the globe, eventually getting assigned to the Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania area in the 1930’s. Just before Christmas, they are called out to a surrounding community that’s facing two attacks: couples are going missing and infants are being taken. They have to figure if this is a demon and if so, stop it and pray they’ll all make it back home for the holidays.

I’ve long since been a fan of demon hunters in books, TV shows and anime, and wanted to try my hand at it. It owes a lot to things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dresden Files, D. Gray-man and The X-Files. Heck, we could probably go back even further to my childhood with shows like Kolchak: the Night Stalker or Scooby-Doo.  There are so many current-day urban fantasies that I decided I wanted to do something different. Between my love of mysteries and steampunk, I was a little burned out on the Victorian age, so I looked for something different. I was going to set it in the Roaring Twenties, but Temple insisted he was a great fan of radio dramas and those really didn’t get rolling in any meaningful way until the 1930’s.

There were a lot of challenges to that. I didn’t know that much about the time period, so research was essential. Also having an ethnically and religious diverse group was a little more problematic but only touched on in the novella. Even though I was born and raised around Pittsburgh, I didn’t know that much about it in the 1930’s. I was surprised to find it wasn’t as easy to find stuff on this time period online or even in books when I hit the local bookstores. It was still fun and fascinating and I’m still researching as I’m hopefully not done with these characters. I do have at least one more story in the works for them. – Jana

*********************

Blurb:  The year is 1930, and something is hunting infants and young couples in Economy Village, PA.When a local priest begins to suspect a demon may be the culprit, the sheriff calls in a team of Soldiers from the Sun.

Caleb, Agni, Temple, and Li specialize in demon hunting, but they can’t rule out an old religious sect as the true culprit. Prejudice, distraught parents, and angry townspeople don’t make the team’s job any easier. And if something goes wrong, they’re on their own, because by the time their backup arrives, it will be too late.

*************

Excerpt: 

“How many babies have gone missing?” Li asked.

Caleb tapped the briefcase holding a stack of files given to him by General Taglioferro before they left their headquarters in Pittsburgh. “Three and several couples. The local priests and police think it’s all the work of demons.”

“I was too busy packing.”Temple patted the box that held his Tommy gun and ammunition. “I didn’t get a chance to check out what the Order already knows about what’s going on here.”

“Once again, Li, your partner was napping.” Agni leveled a look at Temple who wrinkled his nose.

 “We’ll bring him up to date once we get there.” Li pulled his coat tighter as the truck taking them from train station to hotel lurched down the road. “I just want to know why we have to ride in the bed with the luggage.”

 “We all wouldn’t have fit.” Caleb shrugged. “And the driver they sent didn’t want any demon hunters in the cab with him, like we’ll infect him with our ability to see the demons or something.”

 “Idiot. Who does he think is going to save this dumb town?” Temple grumbled.

 “I also think he wasn’t too keen on our partners.” Caleb glanced over at Agni, the Hindu’s dark skin peeking out of the scarf wound around his hooded head.

 Temple snorted. “Big surprise. One of Father’s biggest complaints about me joining the Soldiers of the Sun and not the Knights Templar was that we welcomed all faiths, all cultures. I thought he’d go apoplectic when he found out I have a Chinese partner,” he said. The wind nearly whipped away his whispered, “Too bad he didn’t just die from it.”

 The four demon hunters hunkered down, trying to keep out of the wind as the truck wound its way through Ambridge, Pennsylvania. The store fronts winked by with promises of Christmas treasures on offer. The holiday was only a few days away. None of them,Temple in particular, had wanted to leave home before Christmas. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t be spending the holiday holed up in their hotel, nursing demon-inflicted wounds.

Now available in ebook at Dreamspinner Press.

*************

Bio: Jana Denardo’s career choices and wanderlust take her all over the United States and beyond. Much of her travels make their way into her stories. Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Mystery have been her favorite genres since she started reading, and they often flavor her erotic works. In her secret identity, she works with the science of life and calls on her medical degree often in her stories. When she’s not chained to her computer writing, she functions as stray cat magnet.  She’s also learning that the road to enlightenment is filled with boulders she keeps falling over and that the words gardening and Zen don’t go together no matter what anyone says.

http://jana-denardo.livejournal.com/

http://twitter.com/#/JanaDenardo

janadenardo@yahoo.com

“The Trust” – Excerpt #2

Excerpt #2 from my upcoming Dreamspinner Press release.  This one’s a little hotter than the last (just the way I like it!).  “The Trust” is a romance/suspense thriller about a secret agent who races against time to learn the truth about the technology implant in his body and the man he fell in love with ten years before.  You may ask if there’s a HEA – of course!  You’ll just have to find out how Jake gets there.  Enjoy! -Shira

Anticipated Publication Date:  June 18, 2012

Blurb:   Eight years ago, Jake Anders was a college kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Then Trace Michelson recruited him into The Trust, a CIA-backed agency whose “executives” eliminate rogue biotechnology operations. Trace was everything Jake ever wanted in a man: powerful, brilliant, and gorgeous. But Jake never admitted his attraction to his mentor, and Trace always kept Jake at arm’s length.

Now Trace is dead and Jake is one of The Trust’s best operatives, highly skilled and loyal to the organization. But the secret agent has his own secret: six years ago, before he was assassinated, Trace designed a Sim chip containing his memories and experiences—and now that chip is part of Jake. It’s just data, designed to augment Jake’s knowledge, but when Sim becomes reality, Jake wonders if Trace is still alive or if Jake really is going crazy like everyone claims. He doesn’t know if he can trust himself, let alone anyone else.

To learn the truth about Trace and the chip, Jake embarks on a dangerous mission—except he’s not the only one looking for the information. Some of the answers are locked in his head, and unless he finds the key, he’ll be killed for the technology that’s become a part of him.

Now, more than ever, Jake wishes Trace were here to guide him. Too bad he’s dead… right?

*****************

NOTE:  Pre-publication Excerpt, final version may change!

Excerpt from Chapter Eleven:

He closed his eyes and imagined himself on a beach overlooking blue-green water. He could hear the sound of the surf hitting the sand; he felt the spray on his face and the warmth of the sun. He took a deep breath and followed the Sim’s instructions.

He felt a strong pair of hands on his shoulders, digging into the tense muscles there from above him, kneading at the stiffness. The surf pounded the shore, and a drop of salt water hit his cheek. For the first time during a meditation, he realized he could smell—the tangy scent of seaweed washed up on the sand, the salt on the breeze, and something else—the citrus aftershave he remembered from years before. Trace’s aftershave. It was deeply unnerving. It was as though Trace were there with him, beside him. The real Trace and not a simulation. He fought the urge to stand up and start pacing again.

“Relax.” Trace Michelson’s resonant voice was a surprising balm for the stress Jake could not seem to release. The voice was also different than before: warmer, perhaps. No longer in his mind, but right there, next to him. Real. Much like the difference between a painting of a beautiful sunset and the sunset as it paints the world with vibrant color, because you are there to experience it.

“You’ve never touched me before.” Jake marveled at the strength in those long, graceful fingers. He could almost hear the other man’s breath in his ear as he imagined Trace’s face above his own, looking down. He didn’t open his eyes for fear that the scene would disappear and he’d be back in his own apartment once more, alone.

“You’ve never let me touch you, not in this way,” the Sim responded. “Until now, you haven’t been comfortable letting me get this close to you.”

“Hell.” Jake sighed and gave in to the need to believe that it was Trace Michelson touching him, and not just a simulation. “It’s all in my head, anyhow. Why should I care what you do?” He began to relax into the warm sand, and all thoughts of what Grey might say if he told him his Sim massaged his shoulders on a Caribbean beach vanished.

“You will find the answers.” Trace began to work his way down Jake’s arm, kneading the muscles. “But you must be patient.”

“Easy for you to say,” said Jake with a laugh. Trace worked his fingers up Jake’s arms and lingered briefly at his shoulders, working through the tension, reaching around his neck to work the muscles of his upper back. Painful bliss.

“Relax,” Trace commanded after a few more minutes. Jake obliged as his head sank back further into the soft sand.

“God, that feels so good.”

“You’re fighting it,” Trace said, his face again close to Jake’s.

“Hell no. It’s just that I’m starting to feel like Jell-O.”

“I’m not talking about your body,” the Sim replied. “I’m talking about your mind, your spirit.”

“My mind?”

“You must open your mind, Jake, and see the infinite possibilities.”

A flash of color hovered on the periphery of Jake’s consciousness: the mandala. “What am I supposed to see in it?” he asked as Trace caressed his chest. “What am I missing?”

“The future. Your future is there.”

“Right now, I’m just seein’ myself dead,” Jake answered acerbically. “And that’s what I see, no matter which way I look.”

“You’re better than that—stronger. You’re capable of so much more than you’re willing to admit. This is no different from any mission you’ve been sent on in the past. Only perhaps there is more to be gained in the end.”

“Will you be waiting there?” Jake asked.

There was no answer. Trace followed a line to the sensitive skin under Jake’s ear, and he felt gooseflesh rise on his body.

“God, Trace,” he whispered, “what are you doing?”

“I’m merely responding to your wishes, to your desires.” Jake imagined Trace’s lips close to his ear. “It’s what I’m programmed to do.”

“My… desires?” Jake wondered aloud. “Trace… he programmed you to…?”

“My programming has never been completely static,” Trace replied as he ghosted a pair of silken palms over the muscles of Jake’s chest, and Jake’s body arched instinctively upward. “I’m only responding to your needs, your desires.”

“Have I desired this?” Jake mused. He was a sexual being, although he’d never found a man who could completely satisfy him. And yet, this man whom he’d worshipped from afar….

“You hesitate because you do not know what to believe of your unspoken need,” Trace explained calmly.

“I….”

“It’s your desire that guides me. And it’s your fear that holds you back.”

“I’m afraid,” Jake admitted.

“You’re afraid of being with me.” Jake knew Trace was right. Was it so unreasonable to be afraid of Trace? He was nothing more than a ghost.

“How did you know,” Jake asked, uncomprehending, “when I didn’t understand it myself?”

“I’m a part of you. I can’t be separated from you, nor can I fail to hear what’s in your heart.”

Jake moaned again. The feel of Trace’s fingers on his scalp made him want to….

“Open your eyes, Jake Anders,” that glorious voice now commanded. “Open your eyes.”

Jake obeyed, looking into the most stunning eyes he’d ever known, their deep blue now appearing almost gray in the bright sunlight. It was as if he were seeing those eyes for the first time—they were no longer the cold, controlled eyes of the man who had mentored him but the eyes of a lover, warm and deep. Trace was naked, his hair wet from the water. Jake realized that he was naked, as well.

“Trace,” he whispered as their lips met. He ran his fingers over the well-defined chest, the smooth pale skin that seemed to glow in the sunlight. “You’re so goddamn beautiful. I never knew….” His voice trailed off as he felt Trace run his hands through his hair with its ends now painted in sand. Trace licked his ear, and Jake gasped. Why did this all seem so real? And how hadn’t he understood what he’d felt all along? He smiled for a moment at the realization that Grey had correctly guessed at his heart, then silently cursed the man for it.

“Do you understand, now, what you’ve denied yourself all these years?” Trace whispered, biting the lobe of Jake’s ear and sucking it for a moment. “Do you understand why I always kept you at arm’s length?”

“You didn’t want to hurt me.” Jake was momentarily stricken by the thought that the real man behind the Sim might not have desired him in the same way. To Trace, he’d been just a kid, eager, willing, and yet unable to comprehend the adult whispers of his soul.

Jake couldn’t deny it any longer: after years spent with the Sim as his constant companion, he’d grown to love Trace. It was utterly absurd. But as he lay on the beach with the water lapping at his toes, the absurdity of falling in love with the ghost who inhabited his mind didn’t matter. Here, in this place, that love felt real.

“I wanted you to make your own choices.”

I want this now. I want him.

Jake pulled Trace on top of him, raking his back with his nails until he heard a low groan in response. Then, roughly, he drew Trace’s face back to his and found his lips once again, probing Trace’s mouth with an insistent and demanding tongue, relishing the warmth as it opened to him. He had never tasted anything as sinfully sweet.

“Jake, what do you want?” Trace wrapped his arms around Jake and pulled him closer.

“I want you,” moaned Jake, his hands grasping at the tensed muscles of Trace’s shoulders, feeling the power there.

Trace pushed Jake back onto the sand, his eyes hooded with lust. He sucked hard at the base of Jake’s neck, then moved lower, biting a nipple and laving the outline of it with his tongue. Jake growled as Trace took the pebbled flesh between his teeth and rolled it there, biting it again, just enough to sting.

“Oh, fuck… Trace!” he cried out. Where did a Sim chip learn to do that? The thought was quickly replaced by thrumming need. He went to push Trace over, to dominate him as he was being dominated, but Trace was far stronger than he remembered, and he remained pinned beneath the smaller man.

Trace’s eyes grew darker still as he pushed Jake’s wrists into the sand at his sides. Jake ceased his struggle, surrendering to his companion until he felt Trace’s hard cock against his. But the blissful pressure of that contact was quickly gone as Trace leaned down, then drew lazy circles on his abdomen with his pink tongue, making his way slowly downward to the point that Jake thought he might lose his sanity in the pleasure of the other man’s touch.

“God, Trace.” The sun-heated water lapped at Jake’s feet as Trace’s lips parted and he felt the warmth of Trace’s mouth, exploring the length of him, tasting and sucking there.

Now I’ve really lost my mind.

“Hardly,” murmured Trace, circling his tongue around the sensitive tip before swallowing it down until his mouth met the reddish curls at the base of Jake’s cock. “You’ve just found it.”

He could barely breathe to feel that warm heat. And that tongue! God, that tongue was at once both heavenly and sinful. Trace sucked in his cheeks, increasing the pressure—that incredible, perfect pressure that made Jake forget everything. Teeth, lips, and tongue combined in the most exquisite way.

Jake realized his lover no longer held his wrists when he felt lithe fingers scrape the sensitive skin of his perineum and a firm hand cup his balls, then roll them about. “Shit!” he cried out, the sound of his voice lost on the crashing waves. “Shit, shit, shit!” A finger pressed against his tight opening, and it was just too much for him. He came hard in Trace’s mouth, shuddering and clutching Trace’s hair in his hands.

The cell phone alarm buzzed, and Jake awoke with a start, panting. He was still on the couch, wearing the same pair of pants as before. The apartment was dark. He was soaked in sweat. He felt the sticky warmth of his release on his abdomen. He was half-hard just remembering.

“Helluva dream,” he muttered to himself. He got up and headed for the shower, stripped off his pants, and set the temperature as cold as he could stand it. “You are one fucked-up SOB,” he added, shaking his head and grabbing the shampoo.

That was a dream, wasn’t it? he wondered as he rinsed the shampoo from his long hair.

Cover Art for “The Trust” is Here

I just got the final artwork from Dreamspinner Press for my upcoming release, “The Trust,” and it rocks!  Cover design is by Catt Ford at Dreamspinner.  Release date is set for June 18th, and I’ll be running some giveaways and posting excerpts over the next 3 weeks or so.  You can also enter the Goodreads giveaway to win a paperback copy of the book.

The Trust is an M/M suspense/romance, featuring a pair of sexy secret agents, Trace Michelson and Jake Anders.  And yes, in case you were wondering after reading the blurb, it DOES have a happily-ever-after (that’s a requirement for any of my books!).  You can link to an excerpt from the book here.

I hope you enjoy the excerpt.  Here’s the blurb: 

Eight years ago, Jake Anders was a college kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Then Trace Michelson recruited him into The Trust, a CIA-backed agency whose “executives” eliminate rogue biotechnology operations. Trace was everything Jake ever wanted in a man: powerful, brilliant, and gorgeous. But Jake never admitted his attraction to his mentor, and Trace always kept Jake at arm’s length.

Now Trace is dead and Jake is one of The Trust’s best operatives, highly skilled and loyal to the organization. But the secret agent has his own secret: six years ago, before he was assassinated, Trace designed a Sim chip containing his memories and experiences—and now that chip is part of Jake. It’s just data, designed to augment Jake’s knowledge, but when Sim becomes reality, Jake wonders if Trace is still alive or if Jake really is going crazy like everyone claims. He doesn’t know if he can trust himself, let alone anyone else.

To learn the truth about Trace and the chip, Jake embarks on a dangerous mission—except he’s not the only one looking for the information. Some of the answers are locked in his head, and unless he finds the key, he’ll be killed for the technology that’s become a part of him.

Now, more than ever, Jake wishes Trace were here to guide him. Too bad he’s dead… right?

Thanks for “Hopping” By!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for the Hop Against Homophobia!  I will be contacting the winner of the giveaway today.  It was really a joy to share my rants and know that there are people out there listening!  What a great way to raise awareness and encourage those of us in “the choir” to go out into the world and spread the word that homophobia is hatred, pure and simple.  If each of us just reaches one person and makes him/her think about it, then it was worth it! -Shira

Hop Against Homophobia: Day Three!

Day three of the Hop Against Homophobia!  If you haven’t already, be sure to leave a comment with an email address where I can contact you if you win the prize (your choice of one of my Dreamspinner Press titles, including the upcoming “The Trust“).

Today, I’m going to let a visual artist do the talking for me.  My favorite ever cartoon in support of gay marriage – it makes me hopping mad when I think about how true it is!  Share it everywhere, and maybe someone will think about the stupidity of the arguments that gay marriage somehow does anything to hetero marriage! -Shira

Blog Against Homophobia, Day Two!

Day two of the Hop Against Homophobia!  If you haven’t already, be sure to leave a comment below with an email address where I can contact you if you win the prize (your choice of one of my Dreamspinner Press titles, including the upcoming “The Trust“).

Today, I thought I’d share an amazing and heart-warming story I read in our Raleigh, North Carolina paper, The News and Observer.  Diane Daniel was together with her husband, Wessel, for two years before they got married.  But barely two months after they married, Wessell confided to Diane that he wanted to be Diane’s wife, not her husband. 

How would you react to something like that?  I’d love to say I would be completely fine with it, supportive, and not feel as though it was somehow my fault that my husband wanted to become a woman.  But that’d be a lie.  Diane, naturally, felt terrible.  Sad, guilty, angry — all the things you might imagine.  And then, as she describes it, she “opened her heart” to the man who would later become a woman.

Diane and Lina are still together, seven years later, now a same-sex couple.  This story just amazed and touched me, and made me consider how, even though we may think we are open-minded and loving, it takes true strength to confront the hidden prejudices and fears that live within each of us.

Please check out the wonderful story from the N&O:  http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/12/1844950/losing-him-loving-her.html  And spread the word.  Hearts can open, mindsets can be changed.  It just takes one person to turn another person’s heart. -Shira

Hop Against Homophobia, Day One!

Day one of the Hop Against Homophobia!  Contest details below, and be sure to check out all the other blogs by clicking on the hop logo.  And yeah, we’re here in part because we love M/M fiction and we want to celebrate it, but we’re also here because we want to raise awareness of the fight against homophobia.  It’s not just about supporting the genre (although that goes a long way to getting rid of homophobia), it’s also about getting the word out there that homophobia is just as bad as racial discrimination, and discrimination based on sex or religion. 

Ironically, the day after North Carolina overwhelming voted in favor of a state constitutional amendment  banning gay marriage was the 20th anniversary of my heterosexual marriage.  For someone like me (a transplanted northern liberal whose parents are at least as liberal as I), the issue of gay marriage was a complete no-brainer.   And in liberal Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, it’s a no-brainer for the majority of folks.  And yet, on May 8th, North Carolina (which has already outlawed gay marriage in statute), overwhelmingly voted to add insult to injury and outlaw gay marriage in the state constitution. 

What does this mean?  That no North Carolina judge or state legislature can overturn the law prohibiting gay marriage, because the law is protected by the state constitution.  Basically, it sucks.  Unless the U.S. Congress or the Supreme Court of the United States declare these state constitutional provisions “unconstitutional” under the federal constitution, we’re stuck with them.  Do I think that will happen?  Definitely.  In fact, one of the Republicans who sponsored the amendment said that within 20 years, if would be struck down.  So why bother?  Damn good question.  Especially since gay marriage was already illegal in North Carolina and there are a million things the legislature should have been doing to help a state struggling through the economic downturn. 

But you know what?  The amendment didn’t pass with as much support as originally anticipated.  And people are talking about it, comparing the gay marriage ban to the bans against interracial and interreligious marriages that used to be the law.  It’s a start.  The more we talk about it, the more people THINK about it.  And maybe they’ll actually think about the argument that gay marriage somehow ”threatens the sanctity” of their heterosexual marriages.  And they’ll scratch their heads and say, “This argument makes no sense.” 

I’m not scratching my head.  I know why I’m still married after 20 years:  I worked my ASS off to make my relationship work, and so did my husband.  And for all those gay couples out there celebrating their 1st, 5th, 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th and even 50th anniversaries marking their commitment to each other, I know how you got there, too.  Love, hard work, and more hard work. -Shira

**********************

Contest Info:  Everyone who comments on my blog between now and midnight EST on May 2oth will be entered to win their choice of one of my Dreamspinner Press releases in the ebook format of his/her choice.  Please be sure to leave me an email so I can contact you if you’re the winner.  And while you’re here, check out my free fiction novella, “Stealing the Wind” – M/M paranormal pirate romance with plenty of sexy boys to enjoy.  I’ve got 3 chapters up here on my blog, and updates every 3-4 weeks.