Nix Winter

Monday, September 26, 2011

Interview: Scarlet Hyacinth

Scarlet took a couple minutes to talk to me on her release day! So please welcome Scarlet Hyacinth!

Nix:
You new book has five lovers? That's a really big menage! Do you have a favorite couple?

Scarlet:
I wanted to create a book where all six men were involved with each other. All of them have a bond, it's not just the human and each of them individually. Connor is the one that brings them together, in spite of their differences. As for my favorite couple... Well, I think I like Wren and Tallean best. I've always had a thing for elves. And when the masters step in to spice things up... Well, the only thing I can say is that it's hot, hot, hot.

Nix:

Hot is definitely good! It's a pretty decently sized book too. Does it have a lot of plot and politics or so? Suspense?

Scarlet:

Yes, some of the size is caused by the world-building and political element of it. In Tides of Love, the action takes place on a different world, Uli, where humans are viewed with suspicion and treated like exotic pets. Connor's arrival causes many reactions, from the lust of a governor to an official investigation from Uli's world authority, the Imperium. It's up to Connor's lovers to protect him from all that. Of course, I had fun creating all the details and putting my characters in impossible situations. When I write, I really like that element, to create vivid worlds that can immerse the reader fully in the plot.

Nix:

I also write sci-fi and fantasy. World building is a lot of fun! So to wrap up this short little interview, two questions! The easy one: Where can readers find you? The second... if you had one wish for the world we live in, what would it be?

Scarlet:

The readers can write to me at any time at scarlet.hyacinth@gmail.com. For more information on my work, I have both a website: http://scarlethyacinth.webs.com/ and a blog: http://scarlethyacinth.blogspot.com/. I also have accounts on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook and Author's Den.

As for my wish for the world we live in... I would like for all the prejudice that keeps people from understanding one another to disappear. It's probably an ideal that will never be reached - there will always be fanatics that cannot grasp the fact that no matter what our race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or religion, we are all people and equal insofar as our rights are concerned. But even if it is so, I will hold onto this hope, if not for the world in my lifetime, for a future one, where our children and our children's children will be able to live happily with a person of their choice.

Tides of Love is a LovExtreme series from Siren Bookstrand, that takes place on the waterworld of Uli. As humans get transported on this strange world, they meet love in the unlikeliest of places.

Published by Siren Bookstrand

Date of publication: 26.09. 2011

Word count: 62.670 words

Buy link: Saving Connor

Blurb:

Thrust by chance in the waterworld of Uli, Connor finds himself falling for five gorgeous men. Rallion, Wren, Tallean, Chek and Rodrik are as different as night and day, and yet they all arouse deep feelings inside him, feelings he does not know how to deal with.

Elven princes Wren and Tallean want to protect Connor, but they do not realize how much the abyss between their social positions affects him. It is up to half-fae Rallion to soothe Connor. But when an investigation regarding his presence on Uli begins, the situation is complicated by the appearance of Chek and Rodrik.

The two shape-shifters teach Connor and his men more about their souls and bodies than they'd ever known before. But there is a shadow watching from the darkness, hunting Connor. Can the five men save their lover before it is too late? What will these tides of love bring?

Series structure:

1. Saving Connor

2. Craving Owen

Work in progress

3. Healing Valderr

Other projected releases:

4. Seducing Kani

5. Claiming Fayre

Monday, July 18, 2011

Story: Life and Hope - August and Anderson

This bit of art is a prize for Perpetua, from the last Gay Day.

Life and Hope

by Nix Winter

August's apartment had been big enough for one because before Corey came back to him he didn't eat there, didn't work there, and didn't sleep there if he could possibly get into Corey's room instead. He'd actually slept there quite a bit. Mostly it was like a storage room for art, books, and clothes.

When Corey did come home, it took them about an afternoon to realize that even though Corey didn't own much, there wasn't room for two people in the apartment. The obvious interim answer was to move back into the rooms on the estate, the same suite of rooms they'd shared when they'd been in college. There was room for Mother Meg and the servants seemed to like her more than Corey could have hoped.

August sat on the huge desk that Aunt Cordillia had once given Corey. Only a slight yellowing across his face betrayed that he wasn't 100% after the Disaster. Wearing kakis, blue converse, and white button up shirt that had seen too many painting sessions, he let his feet swing back and forth against the desk. The Disaster and being in the hospital for nearly two months afterwards had cost him almost twenty pounds, which he'd never been really in need of losing. On the other hand, he'd never been happier. "You might want to go through that box after we get home," he said as Corey lifted up a box that had been buried. On the outside it looked like it might be a box of legal paperwork, the detritus too many cases and an unwillingness to lose, but it was much more personal.

Corey, wearing jeans and a tore up tee-shirt that had been his years before, his hair untrimmed since he'd left the church, looked a bit like a hippy Jesus to August. Sunlight had always seemed like a golden caress in Corey's hair, mixing fire and shimmering gold, so that August thought of the god Apollo, even though Apollo had been Greek and probably had never looked much like stubborn Irish priest. "Why? This whole stack was art, wasn't it? I am sure I never imagined there could be so many pictures of me in all the world."

"Mug shots," August teased, fingers nervously tapping on the edge of the desk. "I'm not sure that box, you know, I mean, Roman might be back any time."

"Oh," Corey said, green eyes widening in understanding. He grinned, well half of his face grinned, freckles dark with is back to the single window and the aura causing sunlight. He sank down to the floor, cross legged, box leaning against his legs as he pushed the lid up. In a slightly British accent he asked, "What have we got in the box, Auggie my boy?"

"Any hardship," August said, clearing his throat after the word 'hardship', "is all on you."

"That is usually pretty contagious," Corey's lips parted, red eyebrows drawing up as his fingers walked him through the hundreds of drawings and watercolors in the box. "How did you have time to try cases?"

"I'm very industrious. I love you, you know that, right?"

Corey pulled a watercolor up out of the box, head tiling as if that would help him see it clearly somehow. "Why do I have cat ears and a collar in this one?"

"There was," August said, rubbing his finger over his upper lip even though that caused him to mumble a little, "that was a weekend I went an anime convention."

Corey titled his head the other way, eyes narrowing. "This is me, right?"

August's face went long, eyes rolling to look at the ceiling. "Of course it's you. There's one of you as a wolf too."

"So you like me in a collar?"

"Sometimes."

"Any of these have semen on them?"

"Maybe." August said, face much brighter than long. "Really, look, can't we look through those when we get home? I'm still frail, weak." He pressed his hand to his chest. "My heart..."

Now Corey's face went long, but his eyes narrowed. "Really? Maybe your heart just needs me to fuck you good?"

Smiling, August nodded. "Maybe."

Corey dropped the watercolor back into the box, but then he spied the next one. "In my blacks?" He pulled that one up to look at it. August leaned back into a spread of pale brown, the same brown his own hair had been painted in. Neither of them were painted completely. It wasn't a photo, but most of Auggie's paintings weren't. His cock was thick, a little thicker than real life, but in the painting Corey had his mouth wrapped all the way around it. The priest collar undone, sunlight from no where weaving gold into red hair, the Corey in the painting looked very happy to the Corey looking at the painting. "I still have them, you know."

"You are my rose, you know," August countered.

Corey closed up the box, crawled the small distance between art pile and desk. Still on his knees, between August's knees he reached. August reached to him, leaning and their lips met, brushing over each other, tasting, licking, all brand new, as if they needed to make sure that the other one was still there - would never go away again, ever.

"Oh Damn," Roman complained, giving the front door a really solid kick shut to announce his presence, "Do you too jack rabbits ever give it a rest? I brought pizza. You two both look like super models."

The kiss lingered on another moment, August caressing Corey's hair. Both smiled when they pulled apart, just enough to keep Roman from having a heart attack. "Maybe you could use a live model?"

"That could be really good," August said, rubbing the top of his foot against Corey's crotch, where his brother couldn't see.

"Seriously, boys," Roman complained, "Give it a rest. I have mid-terms to study for and we've got to get you moved."

"Okay, okay," August said, as he gave Corey a wink. "We're good. We're always good."

Note: If you'd like to read more of August and Corey, Redeem Me has their stories from before they met until after The Disaster.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

New Review: Redeem Me

Title: Redeem Me
Author: Sebastian Blade
Publisher: Second Lagrange Point Press
Book URL: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052YX5VA
Release Date: Available Now
ISBN: N/A
Format: Electronic
Page Count: 129
Genre: Homoerotic Contemporary
Reviewer: Teresa
Rating: 5

Redeem Me by Sebastian Blade is a beautiful homoerotic story following Cory and Augusts’ love story.

August Richards V has everything that he ever wanted. Don’t get me wrong, he knows the difference between right and wrong, but he seeks pleasure where ever he can despite the costs. His father remembers his wild days before he met Augusts’ mother and he hopes that he will settle down when he finds the man of his dreams. August found Cory, but a twist of fate separated them, but August has never given up the hope that they will one day to be together. August grew up with every luxury while Cory grew up in an orphanage run by Mother Meg who taught him everything he knows. Cory is as dedicated to helping others as August is to finding pleasure, but somehow the two find common ground. As their friend and love grows, their differences become more apparent as the two struggles to find their place in the world. Will August and Cory’s love overcome their obstacles or is it doomed to die?

Sebastian Blade has written a wonderful story with characters that come to life for the reader. I loved how as the story unfolded the individual story’s blend into a cohesive and riveting book. I enjoyed the cartoon in the middle of the book giving the reader exact pictures of the characters giving the reader exact pictures of them. The conflict between Cory and Augusts’ brother Roman gave the reader a clear view of their differences. I loved Cory’s confusion in how to deal with August the first time he met him. It was wonderful how Augusts’ family, except for Roman, loved Cory form the start accepting him for himself. It was inspiring how Cory’s religious beliefs gave him insight into the future and he held onto his beliefs in spite of the disbelief of others. This book with its many fascinating characters and fast paced plot is one that will remain on my favorites list.