Elin Gregory

As last year, just click on the image to the left to be taken to the A-Z website and links to other blogs taking part. Good luck to everyone and I hope the inspiration keeps flowing.

Harald Hardrada

I wrote quite a lot yesterday about the travels of Garibaldi and I thought I’d follow it up today with a brief account of another mighty traveller of greater antiquity.

Travelling was almost obscenely uncomfortable and difficult in times past but we shouldn’t think for a moment that hard journeys weren’t undertaken. Harald was of Viking stock and they not only coast hopped everywhere you could take a long ship and explored rivers too but struck out boldly across the wide ocean to see what they could find. America for one thing. But exploring apart, there were well worn trail a man could take that would carry him across continents.

In 1030 AD Harald got on the wrong side of the King of Norway, Cnut – yes that Cnut – in 1030 AD and had to take off for less dangerous climes. He went to Russia where he had relatives, spent a few years beating up the Poles, Estonians, Pechenegs, proto-Cossacks and steppe nomads, then took his army south to Miklagard – mighty Constantinople, site of the decandent court of Byzantium.

The Byzantine emperor must have decided he’d sooner have Harald on his side than against it and took them into the Varangian guard, mostly Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons, pictured here in a contemporary chronicle, where they settled like a pack of wolves in a nation of cats.

I like to think that this is drawn to scale.

Harald had huge fun in Constantinople – and Sicily, Greece, north Africa, southern France, Palestine, Asia Minor and as far east as the Euphrates – as one of the emperors strongest arms and amassed a huge fortune in the process. With money to burn, and having worn out his welcome by interfering with Byzantine politics, including blinding an ex-emperor, Harald returned to Norway in 1046 with a Russian princess and an army and by the end of 1047 was wearing the crown. And he was only 32!

Hedging his bets, Harald uses a triqueta – both Christian and pagan – on his coinage.

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As last year, just click on the image to the left to be taken to the A-Z website and links to other blogs taking part. Good luck to everyone and I hope the inspiration keeps flowing.

F is for Feet

Apologies to people who are appalled by feet and for those who are looking at the beads and thinking “oooh cool”, click on the picture and you’ll go to the site. But please read the post first, ‘kay?

I’m not here to try and sell you foot necklaces, or whatever they are. I’m here to tell you that both the young women in the picture are of Anglo-Saxon, Jutish, Danish extraction rather than Scottish, Irish or Welsh.

How do I know this?

It’s the shape of their feet.

During WW2 a chiropodist called Phyllis Jackson noticed that a lot of her customers with foot problems were servicemen of celtic extraction. Their little toes were being squashed by their service issued footwear and their heels were pinched and blistered. It didn’t take her long to realise that the fault lay with their footwear rather than with their feet. The standard British ‘army boot’, used by the other armed services as well, is made to a specific average shape that conforms well to the usual shape of feet in England but out on the Celtic fringes feet are shaped differently. Over the next 40 years Phyllis studied these differences, especially the differences at skeletal level, by attending archaeological digs and photographing and measuring skeletal remains. She published a paper about it in 2007 and her findings are being used to determine the percentage of Romano-British and Saxon bodies in 5th, 6th and 7th century cemeteries as a means of plotting the Saxon invasion.

So take your socks off and look at your feet. If you have a long big toe, a considerable taper towards the little toe, a broad ball of the foot and a narrower heel you might have Saxon feet. If your feet are more rectangular and there is less difference in length of your toes then you might have a drop of Irish, Scottish or Welsh blood.

Are YOU brave enough to ask this lot to take their socks off?

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As last year, just click on the image to the left to be taken to the A-Z website and links to other blogs taking part. Good luck to everyone and I hope the inspiration keeps flowing.

E is for Einkorn and Emmer

These two early varieties of wild wheat are still slugging it out for the title of the first crop to be grown by early farmers. Grain from both has been found on Paleolithic sites with no other signs of farming, so it is assumed that grain was collected from wild plants. But it is known that wheat was first cultivated in the Fertile Crescent over nine thousand years ago.

It was this cultivation of food crops and the development of a food stuff – grain – that could be stored as a surplus from harvest to harvest that enabled the concentration of humans into cities.

The past couple of days I’ve talked about cats and dogs and relative antiquity of their domestication. Dogs belong to a time of hunters and gatherers and of nomadic herdsmen. But cats were domesticated at about the same time as granaries needed protection from rodents.

Dogs enabled our ancestors to live in the wilderness – they protected them from predators and helped them hunt big game. Cats in protecting the caches of emmer and einkorn, enabled civilisation to develop from Egypt to Assyria.

Model of granary from Thebes, 11th dynasty, approx 2000 BCE

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Having Fun With My Characters by Lucy Felthouse

I don’t mean that kind of fun! They get up to that sexy stuff with each other, not me 😉
What I’m talking about, in this instance, is writing real character traits, for example awkwardness, into my story, Letters to a War Zone. My lead characters, Bailey and Nick, are an insurance broker and a soldier respectively. I don’t want to give too much away, but the two of them meet through a website that puts people in pen pal contact with serving soldiers. It’s an erotic romance, so I don’t think I’m giving spoilers by saying there’s a happy ending, but I had fun getting the two of them. If it had been as simple as them “meeting,” starting to chat, being attracted to each other and running off into the sunset, then it wouldn’t have been much of a story. There are many hurdles for the two of them to leap. Not least the fact that at the beginning of the story, Nick is in Afghanistan, and Bailey’s in the UK.

Their adorable awkwardness comes into play, too, and this is the part I particularly enjoyed writing. Nick may be a soldier, an alpha male, but it doesn’t automatically make him confident and straightforward when it comes to sex and relationships. Bailey’s not an alpha male at all, so when the two men start to correspond, they certainly don’t cut straight to the chase—not least because, to start with, they don’t even know if they bat for the same team. In fact, they haven’t even thought beyond friendship, beyond exchanging snail mail letters.

I’m not going to give any more away, but when you read Letters to a War Zone, I hope you’ll enjoy the fun exchanges between the two men that show their shyness, their awkwardness, their reluctance to stick their necks out. It made the story feel very real to me. I hope you’ll agree.

Happy Reading,
Lucy x

*****
Letters to a War Zone
Excerpt:

After clicking all the available links on the website to find out more about it, Bailey decided to go ahead and sign up. He’d never know what it was really like unless he gave it a go.

He’d read about the site in an article somewhere, about how it linked people with serving soldiers, pilots, marines and sailors in order to write to them. It had been proven that receiving mail—even from someone they didn’t know—improved military morale. It sounded like a damn good use of time to Bailey, and it would be interesting, too.

He began typing his details into the online form. Of course, the chances were that he’d be paired up with a man, given the ratio of males to females in the forces. It didn’t matter, though. He could still exchange letters with a guy, become friends. It seemed like such an old-school way to communicate with someone, given how technology had come on over the years, but at least it was different. Perhaps it would give him something in his life to look forward to, something other than getting up, showering, going to work, coming home, eating, watching television and going to bed. The watching television—and even the eating—were occasionally replaced by nights out with friends or seeing family. Weekends were spent cleaning, washing clothes, gardening and odd jobs. Dull stuff, in other words.

He had an utterly mundane life, and Bailey knew it. It wasn’t even as if his job was exciting. Insurance broking was hardly thrilling, game-changing, or going to save the world. He didn’t expect having a pen pal to change his entire life, but it would certainly break the monotony. Hopefully.
He went through the various steps to fill in his details and create a profile, then continued right through to the information on actually writing and sending the letters. It looked straightforward enough.

His mind made up, Bailey immediately went in search of a pen, some nice paper and an envelope. Armed with a print out of exactly what to do when the letter was finished, he settled down at the kitchen table. Instantly, his mind went blank. What the fuck was he meant to say? He didn’t know any soldiers or other military personnel, didn’t know anything about their lives, other than there was a great deal more to it than shooting people and being shot at. His own existence was so fucking boring that he didn’t want to write about it. Unless there were any insomniacs in Afghanistan—telling them about his day would solve that particular condition right away.
After chewing on his biro until it broke, covering his lips and chin with ink, Bailey replaced it, resolving to try harder. He’d tell his pen pal the bare essentials about himself, then ask lots of questions about them and their work. That was bound to rustle up some conversation.

That decided, he began to write, absentmindedly swiping at his inky skin with a tissue. He’d have to scrub it off when he was done with the note. His wrist and hand had begun to ache before he was halfway down the page. He rolled his eyes. He sat on his arse at a desk all day, using a computer. As a result, even writing something short by hand was hard work! There was no way he was going to divulge that particular piece of information to someone that was willing to lay down their life to protect their country.

He just about managed to fill a single side of the A5-sized paper. And that was only because he’d formed large letters and spaced his words and lines out plenty. But he tried not to worry—at least he’d finished it, his first letter to a war zone.

He read through it carefully, relieved to find no mistakes. He’d forgotten how much more difficult—and messy—errors were on the written page. Computers let you edit and rewrite to your heart’s content. No correction fluid or crossings-out necessary.

Finally, he addressed the envelope. It felt like the longest address ever. The area and country was bad enough, even without including the soldier’s name and BFPO address. But it was done—Bailey Hodgkiss had penned a missive to Corporal Nick Rock, currently stationed at Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Now he’d just have to post it and wait for a reply. The website had said his missive would take between one and three weeks to reach Corporal Rock. Then he had to allow for time for him to read it and send a reply. It could be around six weeks before he heard anything. If he heard anything at all.

*****

Blurb:

When lonely insurance broker, Bailey, gets himself a new hobby, he ends up exchanging letters with a war zone. But he’s not expecting what happens next…

Bailey Hodgkiss is lonely and dissatisfied with his boring life as an insurance broker. In an attempt to insert some variety, he signs up to a website to write to serving soldiers. He’s put in touch with Corporal Nick Rock, and over the course of a couple of letters, the two of them strike up a friendship. They begin to divulge their secrets, including their preference for men.

Nick encourages Bailey to add more interests to his life. As a result, Bailey picks up his forgotten hobby, photography, and quickly decides to team it up with his other preferred interest, travel.

Booking a holiday to Rome is his biggest gesture towards a more exciting existence, and he eagerly looks forward to the trip. That is, until Nick says he’s coming home on leave, and it looks as though their respective trips will prevent them from meeting in person. Is there enough of a spark between them to push them to meet, or will their relationship remain on paper only?

Available from: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/letters-to-a-war-zone/

Add to your Goodreads shelves: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20722128-letters-to-a-war-zone

*****

Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house. She owns Erotica For All, and is book editor for Cliterati. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

*****

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As last year, just click on the image to the left to be taken to the A-Z website and links to other blogs taking part. Good luck to everyone and I hope the inspiration keeps flowing.

D is for Dog

Well the cats had their turn yesterday so it’s only fair we pay some attention to man’s very oldest best friend.

And the antiquity of that very special relationship is pushed back year by year. The results of DNA analyss and carbon dating of a dog skull found interred in the Altai Mountains of Siberia prove that Canis Lupus familiaris had a place in our hearts 33,000 years ago, and one from Belgium is older yet, clocking in at 36,000 years old.

A study of early Asian dog remains suggested that all modern dogs stemmed from a mutation in the Asian wolf population based in western China about 16,000 years ago, but the Siberian dog remains show a closer alignment to North American wolf populations. This suggests that the domestication of the dog occurred in many places world wide as the opportunity allowed.

One thing that I have not been able to discover is when the mutation occurred that caused floppy rather than pricked ears. I’m a bit sad about that because Wilfred’s floppy ears are my favourite bit of him.

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As last year, just click on the image to the left to be taken to the A-Z website and links to other blogs taking part. Good luck to everyone and I hope the inspiration keeps flowing.

C is for Cat

I’ve been told that the first iteration of the World Wide Web was all about experimentation and the second was about easy access to pr0n but as soon as web.2 came along, the cheap and easy one that you didn’t need a degree in Information Technology to use, it became over run with cats.

It’s no wonder really. Cats have been with us for a long time, worshipped as gods by some cultures, persecuted as devils by others.

They appear in Egyptian tomb paintings and in Chinese mythology but so far the oldest evidence to be found is from the island of Cyprus.

Archaeologists excavating the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos discovered the burial of a person of about 30 years of age with the bones of an eight month old cat carefully positioned to mirror the burial of the human. The human was provided with grave goods to denote a very high status and it is possible that the cat was killed in order to be part of the offering. The burial dates to approx 9500 BCE and since cats are not indigenous to Cyprus they must have been imported.

Careful measurements of the bones indicate that the cat was of a similar type to the African wildcat in this picture. Click on the pic for more information.

Of course, cats are not our oldest companions, but more of that tomorrow.

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My guest today is Jon De’Lisle, an author who really is writing what he knows. Many thanks Jon for visiting ad for answering my questions so fully.

First, Elin, thank you so much for having me here today. It’s always an honor and a privilege to be hosted on an interview.

My name is Jon De’Lisle, and I live in New Mexico. The Dantone Project is my first published (self-published actually) novel. I began writing the book in my sophomore year of high school. It actually started as more of a journal for me to express my feelings on paper (or a computer screen). I had realized within that year that I was gay, and had not yet come out to anyone.
I created a character, somewhat like me, by the name of James Warner. I’d had a passion growing up to work in the field of private investigations. The beginning chapters of the book reflect the turmoil and emotions I was feeling at that time. It was actually very difficult for me to type out the words making my character gay for the first time. It was as much of a struggle for me as speaking those words about myself to another human being, only about a year later. In the beginning, I did not know where the story of The Dantone Project would lead. I wrote it off and on and finished the first draft the summer after I completed high school. I edited it off and on with various re-writes throughout my college years, before finally accepting it as it was and building up the courage to release it to the world.

###

Elin : Can you tell me a little about yourself? For instance, do you have to have a day job as well as being a writer?

Jon : I keep myself pretty busy most of the time. Following in the footsteps of my character, James, I’m a licensed private investigator. While that is currently not my primary “day job” right now, I do still work in the field of investigations. Working with victimized populations and using my brain is what keeps me going, even though I have a love/hate relationship with the field. It’s chaotic, and unpredictable, which goes against the half of me with an OCD type nature. Still, I’ve been doing this kind of work for so long that I expect the chaos. The difficulty I find is returning to the land of fiction in my head after chasing facts all day. It’s hard to tell my brain to just make up stuff, and that whatever rules I conjure up are valid.

Elin : When you aren’t writing, is there any other creative activity you enjoy? Have you ever written about it?

Jon : In regards to art, or creativity, writing is probably my strongest activity. I’m not musically inclined at all, although I do enjoy listening to the music of others. My drawing is pretty horrific too; even my stick figures would give someone a nightmare.

Elin : What are you reading? Can you recommend something that you wished you’d written yourself?

Jon : As a writer myself in the sub-genre of gay detective fiction, I admire quite a few authors who write in this genre as well. My favorites would have to be the Donald Strachey mysteries, by Richard Stevenson, and the work of John Peyton Cooke. Mr. Stevenson’s Donald Strachey is a gay private investigator in New York State who investigates a lot of gay-related cases.

Mr. Peyton Cooke writes gay themed mysteries and thrillers, some of which are historical pieces. My favorite is the novel Torsos, which takes place place in Cleveland during the 1930’s, and revolves around a historically accurate serial killer. Peyton Cooke’s The Chimney Sweeper and Haven: A Novel of Anxiety are also really good.

Elin : In that crucial inspiration stage of a new story which comes first? Plot, situation or character?

Jon : With The Dantone Project, the character most definitely came first. James was developed as a reflection of myself, with the story developing and evolving around him. I think the answer of “which comes first” is very individual, and somewhat dependent on the individual work. I think most authors are inspired to write different works for different reasons. Whatever the inspiration is probably has some influence on what parts of that individual work are developed first. I have several other works on my hard drive in which the character has been developed at the same time as the situation. Most of these are still in their infancy, and haven’t been developed into anything very solid yet.

Elin : Do your characters arrive fully fledged and ready to fly or do they develop as you work with them? Do you have a crisp mental picture of them or are they more a thought and a feeling than an image?

Jon : My characters seem to develop over time. In fact, there are still things I’m figuring out about James and Clint (the main characters in The Dantone Project. I’m still developing them which beginning my work on the sequel to the novel.

Elin : Is there any genre you would love to write, ditto one you would avoid like a rattlesnake? What inspired you to write about a private investigator?

Jon : For the time being, it appears my genres of fiction revolve somewhere between detective fiction and thriller/horror. I have a few projects I’m working on in more of the horror genre. I’m not sure how much I would care to write romance fiction, or at least, purely romance. There were some periods of time while writing The Dantone Project that I had to take a break. Even though it is not a purely romantic story, after a few failed relationships in my personal life, my characters’ fictional romance and interactions seemed too disgusting and sappy.

My inspiration to write about a private investigator came from my passion for film noir and “old time detective stories”. I grew up watching movies like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and others, and playing adventure computer games with detectives as main characters. As I got older, my interest expanded to old time radio shows from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. As The Dantone Project began to develop in my mind, I desired to blend the feel of a film noir story with a gay character. In a nutshell, this is how the story began to develop beyond the creation of the character, James.

Elin : Do you find there to be a lot of structural differences between a relationship driven story and one where the romance is a sub plot?

Jon : I’m going to try to answer this question, although I don’t really consider myself a romance writer. I would believe there to be some structural differences between a relationship driven story and a sub plot romance. In The Dantone Project, the romance is a sub plot. It develops in the background, dependent on the interactions between James and Clint (James’ client), and the course of the investigation that James conducts, which is the main plot.

I would imagine the roles of the main plot and sub plot to be reversed in a primarily romance-plot driven story. In these stories, I would imagine any sub-plot would be dependent on the development and outcomes of the romance within the story.

Still, I believe the basic elements of any plot to still be existent in both types of stories. There still has to be a introduction, and conflict introduced in order to make the story interesting, and to eventually lead to a conclusion.

Elin : Put together your ideal team of men/women – drawing from all and any walks of life, fictional or non-fictional – who you would want to come to your rescue if menaced by muggers/alligators/fundamentalists?

Jon : I would like to be rescued by the heroes I have in my everyday life, because they are the ones who would truly save me. These heroes would be my boyfriend, parents, and my close group of friends.

Elin : Villains are incredibly important in fiction since they challenge the main protagonists and give them something to contend with beyond the tension of a developing relationship. The cruel sea. The serial killer. The society itself. Your hero’s inner demons. What sort of villains do you prize?

Jon : There is something to be said for the villains that we cannot see. Growing up, the horror movies that I found the scariest were the ones in which the nemesis was unseen. I think that it is the fear of the unknown that makes these the best villains. If you cannot see your villain, you do not know what it is, and even worse, you do not know how to defeat it.

As a mystery writer, I also treasure villains who are psychopaths. These are the enemies who hurt people, and commit crimes without a conscience, nor any remorse for what they are doing. These are the kinds of criminals who, if caught, cannot be rehabilitated, and leave society no choice but to lock them up for life. I find it fascinating to delve into the minds of these types of villains, to see how they tick. they’re desirable, because in a way, they are not human.

Elin : What kind of research did you conduct for The Dantone Project, and James’ PI business?

Jon : The research that I conducted was pretty basic. I began my training as a private investigator in real life during my writing of the book. In so doing, I was able to use my knowledge of real life private investigators in my story, at least for the most part.

For example, when I began writing the book, PI’s were not licensed in the state of Colorado. However, in 2012, voluntary licensure was implemented. This was something that was re-written in my editing of the book, prior to officially being released. James’ use of a gun is somewhat more of a fictional liberty taken on my part. Not all private investigators carry guns, and in many states, a concealed carry license is separate from a PI license, or at the very least, two different types of PI licenses. In my own state, I’m licensed solely as a private investigator, with no permit to carry a gun.

The biggest challenge I found in my writing of the book was developing the story in Denver, Boulder, and the town of Niwot. I’ve never personally been to Niwot, and my experience in Denver is limited. I relied heavily on online maps and websites during my research. Even after completing my research, it took a great deal of convincing my brain to take such fictional liberties, to create my story in a real place I had not thoroughly explored first-hand.

Elin : What are you working on at the moment? Can you discuss it or do you prefer to keep it a secret until it’s finished.

Jon : I’m currently working on several short stories that I hope to release on the Kindle at some point. I am also working on the sequel to The Dantone Project, picking up where it leaves off. It’s still in the beginning stages of development, but I’m hopeful my progress will be quick. I’m excited to see where James and Clint progress at this point.

Elin : Could we please have an excerpt of something?

Jon : The excerpt I’m including is the first interaction between Clint and James. This gives readers a sneak peek into James’ mind, as well as an introduction to the main plot, and the investigation he will be conducting.

With a sense of alarm, I straightened myself up, and ran over to the security control panel on the wall in the office. I turned on the outside front door camera. From what I could see on the small screen, it was a white Toyota. As the occupant got out of the car, I could begin to make out his physical appearance. He looked like he was probably in his mid twenties…my age give or take a few years. He appeared to be fair complected, with either blonde or light brown hair. His build looked slender, but it was hard to tell for sure as a bulky coat was wrapped tightly around him. I hardly had time to think when his face appeared at the front door and I heard the knock. I saw the silhouette of a figure against the foggy glass.
My heart skipped a beat and I seriously considered not opening the door, but instead tiptoeing away and pretending not to exist. Wiping the newly formed sweat from my brow, I turned to the door. I opened it, and got the first look of who would turn out to be my most interesting client yet.
“Are you the private investigator?” The man spoke in a calm, soothing, and seductive voice. His face was in the form of curiosity and suspicion. I wondered why he needed some low life like me.
“Well…” I said, observing my door. “either I am or it appears I’m in the wrong apartment.” was my only reply. “What can I do for you, Mr..?”
“Brussell. Clint Brussell. I called earlier. May I come in?” With only the slightest hesitancy, I moved aside to let Clint in.
“Certainly, Mr. Brussell, please come in and take a seat. My name is James Warner, you can call me James.”
“Thank you, James. Call me Clint.” Clint looked at me with a sort of curiosity in his eyes. Somehow, I felt a little nervous around him. Like he was seeing through my thick skin and scanning my soul. I found it hard to look him in the eye; as if doing so would reveal every dark secret I had instantaneously. Dammit me! Stop this! A person can sense someone else’s fear. If I don’t act confident, he will discover my weaknesses…
Clint came in and sat in one of the chairs I had in front of my oak desk. I closed the office door and walked over to my squeaky old chair. “Well Clint, why are you in the need of a PI?”
“James, I…I’m sorry. It’s hard for me to try to tell the whole story.”
“Take your time Clint, I’m here to help.” There was about a thirty-second pause before Clint seemed to get his nerve up to talk.
“My brother, Damen, went missing about five days ago.”
“Go on.” I was having a hard time listening to him and paying attention. The biological side of me, naturally being messed up, was making me feel attracted to him. I felt lightheaded, and somewhat of a tingling sensation began coursing throughout my body. The biological part of my mind felt a strong desire to get to know him better. The logical part of my mind told me to listen to his story and help him, and the angry side of me was yelling at me for being attracted to him. He was just so…perfect. What else could I say?
The first thing that really caught my attention about him was his eyes. They were the bluest, most pure eyes I had ever seen on a guy. His pupils remained trained on my very own eyes as he talked to me; observing my every move with curiosity. He had sandy brown-blonde hair that waved in and out across his head, in beautiful proportions. His nose was perfectly symmetrical to his luscious lips and his eyes; it was a perfect size, not at all smudgy or ugly. His ears were made of the best skin, all smooth and very appealing. Beneath his head, his strong neck appeared very alluring and disappeared into his collared button-up shirt…
Next, my eyes moved down to his arms and took their appearance in. I could tell they were strong, the muscles beneath the skin not bulging, just enough power in them to be quite desirable. The hands at the end of each arm had five fingers which all appeared quite delightful and interesting. I wondered what it would be like to hold them.
Just about the time my mind began to wonder just how tasty his legs might be I remembered just what I was supposed to be doing and interrupted my bliss. I rubbed my eyes and let out a groan. Clint asked if I was okay, and after a quick nod of my head, he continued.
“Damen and I have always been close. When times are rough, we always help each other out. We always share everything. We have a great trust in each other. We can even sense when the other one of us is in trouble and feeling bad.”
“Clint, could you give me the age relationship between you and Damen?”
“Certainly. Damen is five years older than I am. He’s thirty-one and I’m twenty-six. Like I’ve said, we have always trusted one another. However, about three weeks ago, I sensed a change in his character. He was quieter than usual and kept to himself a lot more. He became jittery and clumsy, especially when the phone or doorbell rang. One day, I approached him and asked him about all of this. He really wasn’t acting normal. He tried to convince me that everything was fine, and that he was just feeling down about himself lately. He said that it would be okay and I should not worry. He thanked me for my concern and caring and then left.”
“Do you and your brother live in separate homes?”
“Yes. We each have an apartment over in Boulder. But, since we care about each other so much, we talk at least three or four times a week. Of course, we each have our own lives and jobs. I’m a web site designer and he works for a small business he started which does scientific studies of different sorts.”
“Does he have many competitors?”
“Well, I really don’t know. He hasn’t really shared a lot of information on the fine details of the company.” Clint started to change positions and cleared his throat.
“I apologize, Clint. Would you like some water?”
“Yes, thank you James.”
I got up and went over into my kitchen and filled a plastic cup with tap water. I returned to Clint and handed it to him.
I heard a noise to my right. Shawn entered the room dreary eyed and in some lounging clothes. He paused and looked surprised at the two of us. “A client, Jim?”
Yeah, Shawn, this is Clint. He’s requesting my services. Clint looked a little startled at Shawn and then looked back at me.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Clint, this is my high school friend Shawn. He just arrived earlier today to visit for a while.” Clint seemed to relax a little. Shawn was starting to look more awake.
“Oh, I thought maybe he was your brother or roommate or something.” Clint raised his eyebrows at me. Shawn didn’t seem to really notice, or he didn’t get it. “Jim, do you have any coffee?”
“Sure. It’s in the cabinet. Go ahead and put another pot on. I’ll be done here in awhile.” Shawn headed off to find a drink, and I resumed my talk with Clint. “So, why don’t you tell me how Damen went missing, and why you’ve requested my services?”
“It was about five days ago. We were arguing on the phone and I demanded to know what was going on. He told me that everything was fine and I didn’t need to make a trip down to his place. Well, of course I was concerned. I quickly got in my car and headed down there. Something didn’t feel right and my fears were confirmed when I got to his block. There was a white van spinning out of the parking area close to his apartment. I knew that it was important so I got the li-cense number. Of course, it could be wrong, but I have nothing else to go on.”
This certainly was intriguing. I awaited the rest of the story as Clint licked his lips. I noticed the tingling sensation coming back. Chewing myself out in my head, I managed to get it to go away again.
“Please continue, Clint.”
“The license plate was from New Mexico. I tried to follow the van but lost it fairly quickly; so I returned to his apartment. I was stopped along the way by his landlord who told me I couldn’t go into his apartment. Something to the effect that Damen had left and the door was locked. I was really concerned by this time. I pretended to be leaving and when the landlord left, I headed back to Damen’s apartment. The door was busted down. From what I could see there was a mess inside and that was all. However, on the floor I found a slip of paper. Opening it, I found this letter typed in plain font.” Clint pulled out a note that read:

Clint, I hoped the day would not come when I would have to bring you into this mess of which I appear to have become the focal point, but if you are reading this, there is no other choice. My work has gotten out of hand, and lives are at stake, perhaps including my own. If anyone comes asking you about me, pretend we had a falling out. Tell them you haven’t seen me in five years…ten years. Whatever you have to. Just make sure they leave you alone. I’m so sorry. I did not mean to bring this evil into our lives. If we never have the chance to see each other again, I want you to know how much I love you, and am proud to be your brother. Be kinder to yourself, and take good care of mom for me. Damen

“Is this all you found?” The note certainly didn’t give much information.
“Yes. I started looking around his apartment more but I was interrupted quickly by his landlord again.”
“What did his landlord do?”
“I tried to ask him what happened. He asked me who I was and when I told him I was Damen’s brother, he acted like he didn’t believe me. He threatened to call the cops on me if I didn’t leave right away.”
“So you left?”
“Well he could have been bluffing, but I didn’t feel like risking it. Of course I contacted the police after I left and they did their own search. They’ve classified it as a standard missing persons case, but they haven’t found any leads.”
“Well. I think you’ve given me something to work on. I’ll need to make a copy of this letter, and I’ll need to get some other information. Details on Damen’s work and his apartment address. I’ll need to get in there and look around.”
“That’s fine. How much do you charge?” This was a tough question. The problem being that I was very low on money, so I really should charge a good amount. But would that be honest?
“I charge four-hundred dollars a day, plus expenses.” Clint didn’t even blink.
“I can probably manage most of it…” He pulled out his wallet.
“Give me a decent amount to start with, the information I asked for and a number to reach you at.”
“Okay.” He gave me all the information I needed. As for a number I could reach him at, he only gave me an address. I got the feeling he wanted to see more of me. My paranoid side told me to ditch the job right away and get the hell out of there. My logical side said, “Hang on bud, let’s just sniff around a bit.” As for a retainer, he gave me two grand. Not bad.
“I’ll be in touch, Clint.”
“Yes, I hope so.” He stood up and stuck out his hand. As I shook it, he took his left hand and placed it over my right. He then slowly slid his hand across mine. All this was starting to turn my knees to jelly so I quickly pulled back. I just hoped I didn’t look too nervous. He turned around and walked out leaving me alone, but with hope…

~~~

Elin: If we would like to follow you online, do you have any social media links that you are pre-pared to share?

Jon : For now, my spots on the internet are pretty humble. I have a basic website, a Facebook page, GoodReads profile, and my Amazon Author’s page. Here are my links:

http://jonbogart.wix.com/jondelisle

https://www.facebook.com/authorjdelisle

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7764899.Jon_De_lisle

I would like to also give credit to my amazing graphic designer, and the incredible job he did on my book cover – Damien Shay

The Dantone Project by Jon De’Lisle

Blurb:
James Warner is on the verge of a breakdown. He’s a 27-year old private investigator working at a mom and pop diner just to make ends meet. He’s also gay, and with the exception of his out of town high school friend Shawn, he doesn’t have a friend in the world. All that is about to change, however.
A biological weapon project has fallen into the hands of the wrong people, and the project director, Damen Brussell, has gone missing. His brother, Clint, has hired James to find his brother, and the reason behind his disappearance. In one week’s time, James will resuscitate his private eye skills, as well as face his inner demons about what, and who, he truly is. James will encounter true love, as well as pure evil, in this missing persons’ investigation that will take him through Colorado, and into the canyons of Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. James and Clint will both learn so much more than just what exactly is so dangerous about The Dantone Project.

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It’s a while since I’ve done one of these. There have been so many good books to read and so many good authors to promote that I haven’t been bothering to blog.

Extra points if you recognise who used this diary in which film.

Mostly this is because I didn’t have much to write about on my own account. I’ve betaed a few terrific novels over the past year but haven’t actually written much.

However, Sue Roebuck tagged me in a writing progress meme – check hers out, she’s been busy – so that’s a good excuse to talk about writing.

1. What am I working on?

At the moment I have a short story on the go which may or may not meet the 31st March deadline. This is about a Londoner trying to make a new life somewhere rural. I have a finished novel in a file fermenting for a bit before I try the second draft. The first is rough as a badger’s chuff but I think could be made fun.

I have another long short – about 25k – inspired by the Black Knight sketch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, that was returned to Riptide Press on a revise and resubmit request in January. It’s another 4 weeks before I can legitimately email to ask for confirmation that the editor received it so I’m doing my best not to think about it. This is hard.

2. How does my work differ from others?

I’m not sure that being different from others in ones genre is a good idea. People go to  M/M to read lots of good red hot explicit man on man boinking. Disappoint them at your peril. It will be reflected in your reviews and your sales.

So naturally I do disappoint. Sex happens in my books but it’s the fact that it has happened and the effects it has on the relationship that is important, not whose hands/mouth/feet/other body parts went where, how often and from what exact angle. I have read thousands of brilliant mainstream novels where this was acceptable and am saddened that books with gay protagonists can’t be accepted as just being part of their genre – horror, sci fi, historical, detective – without having to have the erotica label applied to them as well.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I once saw a plaintive comment from a well known gay male author – no names no pack drill – along the lines of “Where are all the good humoured historical stories with gay protagonists where they end up happy instead of dead?” and thought “Damn, I’ve been writing things like close to that for 40 years”.

I write action adventure stories, often historical, about gay men. I’ve always written action adventure about men, often men who have a very close ‘buddy’ relationship with each other to the exclusion of female companions. I never read M/F romance, apart from Georgette Heyer, but preferred what my husband describes as bloke books with masses of plot and action, where the heroes swing from the rigging, or charge with the Light Brigade or keep their heads down in the trenches. Sometimes there’s romance but generally the important relationships are man to man – Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin spring to mind. Adding a soupcon of romance between the guys just seems logical if they care about each other that much and ups their stress levels enormously  when they are in danger.

4. How does my writing process work?

Not very well at the moment. My circumstances changed radically last year when my husband retired and the hours I could spend in the evenings have been cut right back. However ideally the process would be as follows:

• Get an idea and think about it for a year or so
• Do the background reading
• Work out first draft in head
• Type first draft early in the morning before anyone else is awake
• Suffer existential angst about a 3rd into the story that halts writing
• Overcome angst and carry on, or abandon project and work on something else
• Finish project, hate it, put it aside
• Look it out some months later and decide that it might be better with more work
• 2nd draft then off to the darling betas
• 3rd draft with edits and polish
• Try to decide what to do with the finished MS

That’s actually the easy part of the process. Once the writing is done there’s the submission process. If the book is good enough to be accepted there’s the editing process. Then – Oh God – marketing! Writing a book is just a little bit of the work.

I’m supposed to tag people so I choose – um – Charley Descouteau, Jay Dellamere Northcote, R S Charles and Anna Martin. Have at it, folks.

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My guest today is Troy Lambert, currently on tour, celebrating the release of his new novel, Stray Ally!

Troy is a freelance writer and researcher, who also works as Senior Editor at Tirgearr Publishing. At present Troy is writing novel number seven, between working with and helping other authors.

He lives in the southern part of Idaho with his wife, two of his five children and two dogs.

Welcome, Troy, and thank you for visiting my blog.

Readers: don’t forget to look for the giveaway!

###

Elin: Can you tell me a little about yourself? For instance, do you have to have a day job as well as being a writer?

Troy : Last year I started writing at home full time. For the last four years I have been writing at home pretty much full time hours while still working part time at a Museum. I still do some consuling with museums from time to time.

Elin: What are you reading? Can you recommend something that you wished you’d written yourself?

Troy : I’m currently reading a collection of novels by a group of authors calling themselves “The Twelve.” There are some great reads in there by the likes of Allan Leverone, Vincent Zandri, Josh Grahm, Aaron Patterson, and others.
But as for a book I wish I had written? I love Heath Lowrance’s thriller, City of Heretics, and I hear he is working on another similar title now. I can’t wait to read it.

Elin: In that crucial inspiration stage of a new story which comes first? Plot, situation or character?

Troy : For me character always comes first, and my work seems to all have similar themes. The situations vary, but by and large they follow the “man in hole” plot formula. Something bad happens, and the protagonist(s) have to struggle in some way to get out of it.

Elin: Do your characters arrive fully fledged and ready to fly or do they develop as you work with them? Do you have a crisp mental picture of them or are they more a thought and a feeling than an image?

Troy : I wrote about this recently. I usually have a shadowy picture of them, but until I write, they don’t start to move, and the picture stays blurry. Once I start to tell their story, they tell me more of it.

Elin: Is there any genre you would love to write, ditto one you would avoid like a rattlesnake? What inspired you to write about a man who befriends a dog in a dangerous situation?

Troy : I would love to dabble in some sci-fi. I have a paranormal bent to my thrillers anyway. It would be hard for me to write Regency romance, as I know way too little about the genre, but I’d write just about anything else with the right story.

Stray Ally came to me in the middle of the night, and the idea of a dog with some pretty unusual intelligence and friends helping a man out of a dangerous situation really came from my own life, when I was really in a bad place, and a dog really was my best friend. The book is dedicated to him.

Elin: Do you find there to be a lot of structural differences between a relationship driven story and one where the romance is a sub plot? {This is probably not appropriate for dedicated romance authors, nor for people who would never write a romance but might appeal to people who write in lots of different genres}.

Troy : Nope. A story is a story, and the driver, or motivation should not change the structure. In most of my novels there is some romance in the sub plot, and Stray Ally is really relationship driven in some ways, although the relationship is between a man and a dog.

Elin: Villains are incredibly important in fiction since they challenge the main protagonists and give them something to contend with beyond the tension of a developing relationship. The cruel sea. The serial killer. The society itself. Your hero’s inner demons. What sort of villains do you prize?

Troy : I like the sympathetic villains. The ones we all identify with in one way or another. Many of the bad guys I write are not pure evil but rather think they are doing good, but just have a distorted view of what “good” is.

Elin: What are you working on at the moment? Can you discuss it or do you prefer to keep it a secret until it’s finished.

Troy : I am currently working on a new novel, tentatively titled “Revival.” It’s a dystopian suspense thriller, but no more spoilers. You will have to stay tuned for more about that project.

Elin: Could we please have an excerpt of something?

Troy: Here’s an excerpt from my latest release, Stray Ally.

~~~

The skateboard collided with my windshield, and I braked with both feet, screeching forward. The body hit the glass next, spider-webbing it as the skater’s helmet-clad head struck the glass in the center of my vision. The rear view mirror separated from the window and hit the center of the seat with a thud as the car skidded to a stop.

Marsha is gonna be pissed, came the unbidden thought. We just replaced this windshield.

Where did he come from? Creedence still blared from the stereo speakers and I turned the ignition key to the rear. Silence descended, broken a moment later by distant sirens.

I lifted my hand and felt wetness on my forehead, cut by—something. Glass? Must have been.

I opened the door, dazed. Under the helmet, a young face offered a blank stare. Nothing but blackness in the eyes: no color. Not good.

“You okay, kid?” I felt stupid asking. Stupider for expecting a response. “What were you doing on the freeway?”

I heard distant voices. Looked up. Kids, on the overpass above. Did he fall?

They pointed. One slugged the other one. A scuffle broke out and they ran. All of them.

The sirens came closer. Another car pulled up, tires squealing as it stopped, rocking on its springs.

“What happened? Is everyone okay?” the driver asked.

Struck dumb, I just pointed. The skateboard rested half on the roof, half on the shattered windshield. The skater lay below it, unmoving, his left foot against the hood ornament, the Mercedes star cocked sideways.

“Is he..?”

He didn’t finish, but rushed over, feeling for a pulse, checking for breath. All things I should have done, but couldn’t.

He shook his head, glanced over at me. “What was he doing here?”

shrugged.

“Did you see him?”

Head wag, substituted for speech.

“Are you okay?”

Another head wag. I couldn’t articulate what was wrong.

You’re bleeding.”

I managed a nod, and then my legs gave out. I dropped to the pavement and grimaced as my tailbone impacted the hard surface. I heard a whimper. It must have been me, because the other driver rushed over.

I stared ahead, seeing and not seeing the scene.

###

Blurb: A strange accident on the freeway, accusations of murder, and an encounter in the Idaho wilderness all propel Todd Clarke into a new friendship with a dog named Sparky. But Sparky is no ordinary dog, and there is more going on than Clarke could have imagined.

A military commander he investigated for Aryan activity and links to domestic terrorism is after him, and he’s not sure why until another chance encounter provides the answer.
With Sparky and the help of his canine friends, will he be able to figure out the Colonel’s plan and stop him in time? All Clarke knows for sure is none of it would be possible without the help of his Stray Ally.

Buy Link: Stray Ally: http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Lambert_Troy/stray-ally.htm

Author Website: http://www.troylambertwrites.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authortroy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Troy-Lambert/191932724173411?ref=hl
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Troy-Lambert/e/B005LL1QEC
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Authrotroy

Click on the Writer Marketing Services graphic for the rest of the blog tour and more opportunities to win.

 
Giveaway:

Best story of a dog (Stray Ally) that you rescued or that helped you through a hard time sent to author@troylambertwrites.com by March 29th wins a $25 Amazon gift card.

Winner and story shared on my blog Monday, March 31st. Share your story today!

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