Tag Archives: dark themes

Get the complete STRAIN series for only $13.99 during @RiptideBooks anniversary celebration! #postapocalyptic #mmromance

For Riptide’s 4th Anniversary, they’re offering Strain: The Complete Collection for only $13.99. Which basically means you’re getting a book completely free. Get it while you can!

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The BANE blog tour is making its final stops today, with the last chapter of REFUGE, a free STRAIN-universe short!

I’m leaving in a few hours for Seattle, so I’m afraid I won’t have a chance to make this post later, even though one of the stops for the tour hasn’t been posted yet.

Today on the BANE blog tour, I’ll be sharing the final chapter of REFUGE. REFUGE is a sweet beginning to an trans romance set close to 30 years after BANE. There’s a chance it may be the basis for a continuation of the STRAIN universe, but we’ll have to see what the muse decides about that.

Yesterday, Kal and Billie resolved some of Billie’s misunderstandings about the Wapato Island Refuge and they set off with Zeus on their journey. Billie begins to understand how much she enjoys being with Kal, but is the time right for them?

You can find the installments for today at the following stops:

CHAPTER FIVE:
Smart Girls Love SciFi (Part 1)
BookLover Sue (Part 2)
TTC Books and More (Part 3)

I’m also making a spotlight stop at Rainbow Gold Reviews with another chance to enter the drawing for some Riptide store credit.

Thanks so much for joining me on the tour! If you need to catch up on REFUGE, you can find the previous installments here (or you can check out the Extras tab on the BANE page at Riptide):

CHAPTER ONE:
My Fiction Nook (Part 1)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words (Part 2)

CHAPTER TWO:
3 Chicks After Dark
(Part 1)
Book Reviews and More by Kathy (Part 2)
The Jeep Diva (Part 3)

CHAPTER THREE:
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
(Part 1)
GGR Reviews (Part 2)
Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews (Part 3-please ignore the text labeling it Chapter 2, Part 3.)

CHAPTER FOUR:
Prism Book Alliance (Part 1)
Love Bytes Reviews (Part 2)
Butterfly-o-Meter (Part 3)

Remember that you can comment at each stop to enter to win some Riptide store credit!

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It’s Day 4 of the BANE blog tour! That means Chapter 4 of REFUGE, a free STRAIN-universe short!

Today is the fourth day of the BANE blog tour, and we’re bringing you Chapter 4 of REFUGE.

REFUGE is a sweet beginning to an trans romance set close to 30 years after BANE. There’s a chance it may be the basis for a continuation of the STRAIN universe, but we’ll have to see what the muse decides about that.

Yesterday, Kal and Billie started to get to know each other, but Billie’s desire to find a home outside the Clean Zone where she won’t be an outcast conflicts with her fear of Kal’s people in the Wapato Island Refuge and the horrible things she’s been told about them and their settlement all her life. Today they start to pick through the truths and the lies, to decide if Billie can ever feel safe there.

You can find the installments for today at the following stops:

Prism Book Alliance (Chapter Four, Part 1)
Love Bytes Reviews (Chapter Four, Part 2)
Butterfly-o-Meter (Chapter Four, Part 3)

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the final chapter! If you need to catch up on REFUGE, you can find the previous installments here:

CHAPTER ONE:
My Fiction Nook (Part 1)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words (Part 2)

CHAPTER TWO:
3 Chicks After Dark
(Part 1)
Book Reviews and More by Kathy (Part 2)
The Jeep Diva (Part 3)

CHAPTER THREE:
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
(Part 1)
GGR Reviews (Chapter 3, Part 2)
Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews (Chapter 3, Part 3-please ignore the text labeling it Chapter 2, Part 3.)

Remember that you can comment at each stop to enter to win some Riptide store credit!

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It’s Day 3 of the BANE blog tour, with two new installments of REFUGE, a STRAIN-universe short! #postapocalyptic #mmromance

Day 3 of the BANE blog tour brings you the conclusion of Chapter 3 of REFUGE. REFUGE is a sweet beginning to an trans romance set close to 30 years after BANE. There’s a chance it may be the basis for a continuation of the STRAIN universe, but we’ll have to see what the muse decides about that.

Yesterday, Kal helped Billie out of the derelict building she was stuck in (and if you were paying attention you might have an idea of just how Kal relates to your faves from STRAIN and BANE.) Today you learn a little about what’s happening on the political front in the aftermath of BANE (don’t worry, spoilers are minimal and only very general.) You also learn how Zeus got his name!

You can find the installments for today at the following stops:

GGR Reviews (Chapter 3, Part 2)
Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews (Chapter 3, Part 3-please ignore the text labeling it Chapter 2, Part 3.)

There’s also an excerpt from BANE at MM Good Book Reviews.

If you need to catch up on REFUGE, you can find the previous installments here:

CHAPTER ONE:
My Fiction Nook (Part 1)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words (Part 2)

CHAPTER TWO:
3 Chicks After Dark
(Part 1)
Book Reviews and More by Kathy (Part 2)
The Jeep Diva (Part 3)

CHAPTER THREE:
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
(Part 1)

Remember that you can comment at each stop to enter to win some Riptide store credit!

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BANE is live on Amazon! #postapocalyptic #mmromance

Bane_500x750For those of you who rely on Kindle, BANE has gone live on Amazon. B&N, Kobo, et. al. will no doubt be trickling out over the next 24 hours or so.

Also, today is your last chance to get STRAIN for $.99, so if you haven’t already, take advantage of that!

And be sure not to miss the BANE blog tour kicking off tomorrow. I’ll be sharing a short (and very sweet, for those of you who doubted I could do stories without smut) story from the STRAIN universe, called REFUGE. It’s set quite some time post-BANE, but any spoilers are only of the most general sort.

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Get BANE tonight @RiptideBooks! #postapocalyptic #mmromance #sequel

Bane_500x750Tonight at midnight Eastern, BANE will be available for anyone who has pre-ordered from Riptide! Guys I’m so excited to have you all visit with Rhys and Darius (and Zach and Nico) again!

Also, STRAIN is available for $0.99 for a short time from Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and Itunes. If you weren’t already aware, BANE is best enjoyed after you’ve read both JUGGERNAUT and STRAIN (in whichever order you prefer.) So this is a great opportunity to catch up on where we left Darius and Rhys off before you jump back into their story with BANE.

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Get STRAIN for only $0.99 just in time for BANE! #postapocalyptic #mmromance

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For a limited time, STRAIN is on sale for $0.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo (maybe elsewhere? If so I haven’t found it yet.) Be sure to grab it before BANE comes out next week! (and don’t forget to check out JUGGERNAUT while you’re at it!)

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

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Enter to win an early copy of BANE on the JUGGERNAUT blog tour! @BookReviewsMore @3ChicksAftrDark @AllIWantnMore

It’s the final day of the JUGGERNAUT blog tour!

You can still comment on all the the posts for a chance to win an early copy of BANE until August 15th, so if you’re chomping at the bit for the next book, stop by and strike up a conversation about JUGGERNAUT or the STRAIN universe in general.

You really don’t want to miss today’s stops in the tour. Over at Book Reviews and More by Kathy I share some thoughts on my inspirations for what the end of the world looks like, and some notable differences. I share an excerpt from JUGGERNAUT over at 3 Chicks After Dark, and at All I Want and More Books I discuss a major setting for some of the action in JUGGERNAUT, the quarantine camps.

Thank you so much to all the amazing blogs that have hosted my tour this week. See you in September for the BANE blog tour!

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On day 4 of the JUGGERNAUT blog tour, learn more about life before the end of the world! #postapocalyptic #mmromance @RiptideBooks

Today I’m over at Prism Book Alliance with an article about an important part of life before the Bane virus wipes out most of humanity: economics and the living conditions of the masses. I’m also stopping by Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words and Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents with more chances to enter to win a copy of Bane before it hits the shelves. Come join me!

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Day 3 of the JUGGERNAUT blog tour! More deleted scenes! @LGBT_Reviews @ScottBFLL #postapocalyptic #mmromance #RiptideBooks

Today is the third day of the JUGGERNAUT blog tour, complete with more chances to win one of three pre-release copies of BANE.

I’m over at Rainbow Gold Reviews today with a deleted scene from Juggernaut, and with another deleted scene over at Gay Guy Reading and Friends. I’ll also be making a stop by Natural Bri, though the post doesn’t appear to be up yet. Keep checking back because each time you leave a comment, you get another chance to enter the drawing.

Enjoy! I’ll be back tomorrow to let you know what you’ll find on the next stops!

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Where to buy JUGGERNAUT

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So the various ebook retailers have been getting Juggernaut up on their own time, and now it’s fairly complete, so if you have a preferred site, here are the links:

Riptide Publishing (please remember that more of the sales price goes to the publisher and author if you use Riptide’s own site, thus enabling them to keep making books!)
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Itunes
Kobo
All Romance eBooks (also, Riptide has a 25% rebate going on at ARe right now, which makes this a great opportunity to pick up other Riptide titles you’ve been hankering for, or to pre-order Bane)
Smashwords

So there you go!

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It’s Day 2 of the JUGGERNAUT blog tour! Win an early copy of BANE! @lovebytesreview @MMGoodBookRevie @thejeepdiva @RiptideBooks

Hi and welcome to Day 2 of the Juggernaut Blog Tour! Be sure to follow along and comment at each stop for one of three chances to win a free copy of BANE before it hits the shelves!

Today I’m sharing a deleted scene from Juggernaut over at The Jeep Diva, and a sneak peek at Bane on Love Bytes Reviews. I’ll also be sharing an excerpt at MM Good Book Reviews!

Enjoy the free reads!

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Kicking off the JUGGERNAUT blog tour! @ TTCBooksandMore @SinfullySexyB @cupoporn @ontopdownunder1

Hi and welcome to the JUGGERNAUT blog tour! Be sure to comment at each stop along the way for one of three chances to win an early copy of BANE.

Today I’ll be sharing a sneak peek at BANE, the sequel to JUGGERNAUT and STRAIN, over at Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews. You’ll also find spotlight stops at TTC Books and More, On Top Down Under, and Coffee and Porn in the Morning. Come along and get your apocalypse on!

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Juggernaut is live at Amazon! #postapocalyptic #mmromance @RiptideBooks

Juggernaut_500x750

Juggernaut is up at Amazon!

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Speaking of @AllRomance… #Juggernaut #Bane #Rebate #postapocalyptic #mmromance @RiptideBooks

Juggernaut_500x750Bane_500x750While we’re on the subject of AllRomanceeBooks.com, apparently they are having one of their 50% rebate events today to celebrate the launch of their new app. Furthermore, Bane is available for pre-order there, which means if you were planning to buy Juggernaut or order Bane, this is a great chance to get 50% of the purchase price back in store credit.

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Juggernaut is now available @AllRomance #postapocalyptic #mmromance @RiptideBooks

Juggernaut is up for sale at All Romance eBooks. If you buy through Amazon, B&N or elsewhere, hang in there, it will be live by Monday!

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One week until JUGGERNAUT #mmromance #postapocalyptic @RiptideBooks

First of all, did anyone else know the Reviews by Jessewave site is back? They are! And they’re under new management. Today they gave Juggernaut a really great review, and they’re not the only ones. Kazza K at On Top Down Under had some really lovely things to say. Check out what readers are saying over at Goodreads, too.

So. Here it is, the one week countdown! That’ll be less than a week, if you pre-ordered from Riptide, of course, and there’s still time to do that.

The blog tour is going to kick off on Monday the 10th, and you’ll want to be sure to follow that because I’ll be giving away early copies of Bane. I’ll have a few deleted scenes from Juggernaut in there, a couple sneak peeks at Bane, and several posts about the pre- and immediately post-apocalyptic society.

Also on Friday the 7th I’ll be featured over at http://bookfare.blogspot.com/ in their But What Are They Eating (food in fiction) feature! Yes, I had to take a moment to compose myself and then double-check that they really knew what they were asking for when they offered me a shot at guest blogging about a series based around a zombie(ish) apocalypse. No, I didn’t go for the obvious cannibal angle and instead I’ll be talking about scavenging in a world where mass production and availability of food is no longer happening.

Yay! So excited! I can’t wait to be able to share this book with you all!

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BANE, the sequel to JUGGERNAUT and STRAIN, is available @NetGalley #postapocalyptic #mmromance @RiptideBooks

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BANE, the sequel to JUGGERNAUT and STRAIN, is now available for reviewers at NetGalley!

Also, if you have been wanting to get the paperbacks of any of my previous releases, the paperbacks for Strain, Saugatuck Summer, and Player vs. Player are all discounted this week at Riptide!

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Juggernaut is now available to reviewers on NetGalley! #postapocalyptic #mmromance @RiptideBooks

Juggernaut_500x750NetGalley. Juggernaut. That is all.

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I’ve been waiting to see them all in a row like this! #StrainSeries @RiptideBooks

As promised, I’m putting the Juggernaut and Bane covers up here today. But then I have also wanted to see the whole series laid out, chronologically. While it doesn’t matter which order you read Juggernaut and Strain in, this is how they fall:

Juggernaut_500x750They helped destroy the world. Now they have to survive the new one.

For rentboy Nico Fernández, it’s a simple job: seduce a presidential advisor to help cement approval to launch Project Juggernaut. He’s done similar work for General Logan McClosky before, and manipulating people for his favorite client beats the hell out of being trafficked for slave wages in some corporate brothel.

Zach Houtman feels called to work with the most vulnerable outcasts of society. But his father, the Reverend Maurice Houtman, insists that Zach work for him instead as he runs for Senate. Zach reluctantly agrees, but is horrified to see his father leave behind Christ’s mandate of love and mercy to preach malicious zealotry and violence instead. Zach even starts to suspect his father is working with fundamentalist terrorists.

When Project Juggernaut accidentally unleashes a deadly plague that claims billions of lives, Nico and Zach are thrown together, each bearing a burden of guilt. With only each other for safety and solace, they must make their way through a new world, one where the handful of people left alive are willing to do anything—and kill anyone—to survive.

There is an excerpt available from Juggernaut at Riptide.

Strain_500x750

In a world with little hope and no rules, the only thing they have to lose is themselves.

Rhys Cooper is a dead man. Cut off from the world since childhood, he’s finally exposed to the lethal virus that wiped out most of the human race. Now his only hope for survival is infection by another strain that might provide immunity. But it’s sexually transmitted, and the degradation he feels at submitting to the entire squad of soldiers that rescued him eclipses any potential for pleasure—except with Darius, the squadron’s respected, capable leader.

Sergeant Darius Murrell has seen too much death and too little humanity. He’s spent a decade putting plague victims out of their misery and escorting survivors to a safe haven he can never enjoy. He’d rather help Rhys live than put him down, so when Rhys can’t reconcile himself to doing what’s necessary to survive, Darius is forced to save Rhys in spite of himself.

But with each passing day, it looks less and less likely that Rhys can be saved. And that means that Darius might soon have to put a bullet in the head of the one person in years who reminds him of what it means to be human.

Strain is available now at Riptide.

Bane_500x750

The weapon that nearly destroyed humanity may be their only salvation.

Rhys Cooper’s unique immunity to all three strains of the virus that nearly annihilated humanity has brought him the unwanted attention of Clean Zone scientists. They’ve summoned him for testing—ostensibly in the hopes of finding a vaccine—but Rhys’s partner, Darius Murrell, has good reason not to trust any government. He and his comrades in Delta Company were unwitting test subjects for Project Juggernaut, the military experiment that gave them superhuman abilities and unleashed the pandemic. Doubting the government’s intentions, Delta Company refuses to let Rhys go alone.

Fear of infection has kept Zach Houtman and his lover Nico Fernández apart for a decade. They meet rarely, just long enough to coordinate their spying on the head of the government’s virus research division. Secretary Littlewood is a vicious predator, and they suspect he’s trying to acquire the strain of the virus that would make him superhuman. To stop him, they need the perfect bait: Rhys.

For Rhys, helping them might cost him his relationship with Darius—or his life. For Zach and Nico, even if their plan succeeds, they still face the ultimate question: can infected and uninfected people ever live together safely?

People who have read the Juggernaut excerpt will recognize the name “Secretary Littlewood.” You can also read an excerpt of Bane over at Riptide.

The Bane blurb makes it apparent that, as of the end of Juggernaut, Nico and Zach haven’t gotten their happy ending. Sorry about that. The situation between the characters at the end of Juggernaut is an impasse which just can’t be resolved at that time. But never fear! Bane continues their story and brings a very satisfying level of closure to both their plot and Darius and Rhys’s, and also for your other faves from Delta Company in general.

Less than three months to go until Juggernaut!

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Coming this week: The JUGGERNAUT and BANE cover reveal!

Juggernaut_Teaser3DBane_Teaser3D

Finally, at long last, you’ll get your first look at the covers for my upcoming titles in the Strain series, Juggernaut and Bane (link for Bane is not yet active but will be soon)!

This coming Thursday, May 14, JoyfullyJay will be hosting the big cover reveal! Be sure not to miss it!

Juggernaut

They helped destroy the world. Now they have to survive the new one.

For rentboy Nico Fernández, it’s a simple job: seduce a presidential advisor to help cement approval to launch Project Juggernaut. He’s done similar work for General Logan McClosky before, and manipulating people for his favorite client beats the hell out of being trafficked for slave wages in some corporate brothel.

Zach Houtman feels called to work with the most vulnerable outcasts of society. But his father, the Reverend Maurice Houtman, insists that Zach work for him instead as he runs for Senate. Zach reluctantly agrees, but is horrified to see his father leave behind Christ’s mandate of love and mercy to preach malicious zealotry and violence instead. Zach even starts to suspect his father is working with fundamentalist terrorists.

When Project Juggernaut accidentally unleashes a deadly plague that claims billions of lives, Nico and Zach are thrown together, each bearing a burden of guilt. With only each other for safety and solace, they must make their way through a new world, one where the handful of people left alive are willing to do anything—and kill anyone—to survive.

Bane

The unstoppable weapon that nearly destroyed humanity may be their only salvation

Rhys Cooper’s unique immunity to all three strains of the virus that nearly annihilated humanity has brought him the unwanted attention of Clean Zone scientists. They’ve summoned him for testing—ostensibly in the hopes of finding a vaccine—but Rhys’s partner, Darius Murrell, has good reason not to trust any government. He and his comrades in Delta Company were unwitting test subjects for Project Juggernaut, the military experiment that gave them superhuman abilities and unleashed the pandemic. Doubting the government’s intentions, Delta Company refuses to let Rhys go alone.

Fear of infection has kept Zach Houtman and his lover Nico Fernández apart for a decade. They meet rarely, just long enough to coordinate their spying on the head of the government’s virus research division. Secretary Littlewood is a vicious predator, and they suspect he’s trying to acquire the strain of the virus that would make him superhuman. To stop him, they need the perfect bait: Rhys.

For Rhys, helping them might cost him his relationship with Darius—or his life. For Zach and Nico, even if their plan succeeds, they still face the ultimate question: can infected and uninfected people ever live together safely?

As you can see, Juggernaut is actually a prequel to Strain, though the two are stand-alone and can be read in any order. Bane is a sequel entwining storylines involving characters from both books. In order of release, the sequence will be Strain, Juggernaut, and Bane. In chronological order within the universe, the reading order will be Juggernaut, Strain, and Bane. Either way works.

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WIP(ish) Wednesday: McClosky’s Revelation

Back before the release of Strain, I was posting regular snippets for writerly-type themed days like Seven-Sentence Sunday and whatnot, and I sort of got out of the habit of that. I thought I would try to get back into it.

Technically, Juggernaut isn’t a WIP, but I’m not going to restrict myself on those grounds. I’m just going to set Wednesday aside as a day to introduce people to characters and concepts from Juggernaut, Bane, and maybe some of my already released books they’re not familiar with.

For those of you who aren’t already aware, Juggernaut is a prequel, set roughly ten years before Strain, in which we see the events immediately preceding and following the apocalyptic pandemic from the perspective of two men who are tangentially involved in those events. For a nearly five chapter long excerpt please check out the Juggernaut product page at Riptide Publishing. (note: please read the warnings and additional details tabs and/or be advised that the excerpt may contain objectionable or triggering material.)

Juggernaut_Teaser3D

They helped destroy the world. Now they have to survive the new one.

For rentboy Nico Fernández, it’s a simple job: seduce a presidential advisor to help cement approval to launch Project Juggernaut. He’s done similar work for General Logan McClosky before, and manipulating people for his favorite client beats the hell out of being trafficked for slave wages in some corporate brothel.

Zach Houtman feels called to work with the most vulnerable outcasts of society. But his father, the Reverend Maurice Houtman, insists that Zach work for him instead as he runs for Senate. Zach reluctantly agrees, but is horrified to see his father leave behind Christ’s mandate of love and mercy to preach malicious zealotry and violence instead. Zach even starts to suspect his father is working with fundamentalist terrorists.

When Project Juggernaut accidentally unleashes a deadly plague that claims billions of lives, Nico and Zach are thrown together, each bearing a burden of guilt. With only each other for safety and solace, they must make their way through a new world, one where the handful of people left alive are willing to do anything—and kill anyone—to survive.

In this scene, rentboy Nico Fernandez has just learned the “special jobs” he’s been doing for General Logan McClosky have had an unforeseen-and catastrophic-consequence.

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Is STRAIN for me? #mmromance #post-apocalyptic #dub-con @RiptideBooks

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Coming February 17 from Riptide Publishing

So, in the past few days, I’ve been seeing a lot of people asking whether or not Strain is for them, because they want to read it but they’re not certain about the content. So I thought I would try to clear up some of the questions.

I’m not really giving any spoilers here; all this information is available in shorthand form in the Warnings and Additional Details tabs of the Strain listing at Riptide Publishing. Definitely check it out.

Even so, I’m going to put this beneath a cut.

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