Hi everyone, is it just me, or is January flying by?
My kiddos still have another couple of weeks until they head back to school so you can imagine the juggling act it is in my house right now, hehe. We’ve also had more sun, and higher temps than we are used to, but with the snow and storms I’m seeing on social media, I promise I am not complaining.
My short story for the Love and Hope Anthology to support HM Wolfe has been edited and sent off to be formatted. Due to go live on the 14th of Feb, this collection of sweet, short, sexy stories will make you swoon this lover’s day.
My next story is slowly taking shape, and even though I’m a little behind schedule, I’m grateful that I’m settling into the daily habit of writing again and keep reminding myself, “all or something, not all or nothing.”
Okay, enough about me, this week on the blog please welcome Dani Gray.
Author Bio
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I still remember one of the first books I read, it was the Bobbsey Twins. As I got older, I moved into the more interesting books, but some of the typo’s made me nuts! So, after contacting writers I started a career of where I began content editing (I am no good with grammar), beta reading and brainstorming. After being harassed for a couple of years by some of the writers, I gave in and have now begun to write.
I live in central Canada with my hubby of over 25 years, 4 kids, and 5 grandkids. We have a collection of pets, including our guard cat. I love nothing more than curling up with a good book (much to hubby’s frustration), or my laptop to work on the next thing that catches the muse.
Dani’s Quirky Questions
Holly: Would you visit the future or the past, and why?
Dani: The Future! I want to go play with Princess Leah and Chewbacca! Seriously, I would love to
see what it would be like in the future! Would it be better or worse?
Holly: How does the world end?
Dani: Knowing my luck, with a really big bang right in my face!
Holly: What was the first book that made you cry?
Dani: A Child Called It. My youngest son had to read it for school, and he was telling me about it,
I bawled at what this person had to endure from his family.
Holly: What other artistic pursuits (if any) do you indulge in apart from writing?
Dani: nothing really, unless you count reading.
Holly: How did you come up with the idea for this book?
Dani: no clue, just like the rest of my books…
Holly: Tell us something we don’t know about your main characters. What makes them tick?
Dani: If you can figure that out, please let me know. The only thing I know about one of my
characters is from Truth Unveiled. Sam ends up loving the idea that he can give birth to their
children.
Holly: Let’s talk to your characters for a minute – what’s it like to work for such a demanding writer?
Dani: OMG, girl, do you know how hard it was to get her to write what I was saying!! – that was from
Sammy in Party Nuts. Need I (Dani) say more??
Holly: What do you do when you get writer’s block?
Dani: Read, and then read some more and hope that helps me get over it. Then I talk to my author
friends and hope that helps me get over it. I’ll brainstorm with them and see if that can help me get
over my funk. Sometimes, it’s easier said than to get over it.
Holly: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Dani: Don’t give up, and don’t read reviews. Those will kill you. There are some very nasty people out
there who don’t know how to say anything nice – at all!
Holly: Do you ever base your characters on real people? Do you tell them?
Dani: yes, and yes, just to see them squirm!! I even told them what book they were in and then I let
them know what character they were…snickers.
Breaking Rebel’s Walls
Tommy “Rebel” Reeves lived with five other men who he considered to be his brothers. They all worked together as hackers under the name of “King Arthur”. They worked for the three different mobs in the city, as well as the different types of governments who came knocking on their door. They were that good and were considered a kind of “Switzerland” to everyone. But the one day their coffee machine dies on them when they need it, Tommy is sent to get them coffee from a local shop. Little did he know he was going to walk into someone’s fist and gets his ass kicked.
Amato Genoa was sent by his don to guard the hacker known as King Arthur. When he arrives at the hospital, he finds a hurt young man, but also some of his brothers. Still hurting from the loss of his lover, he’s sent to guard Rebel as an intervention by his childhood friend, Don Ferrone.
Will these two men be able to find a way to open themselves up to one another? Will they be able to survive what’s to come, now that a new Cartel is trying to move into the city? Find out if Amato can break through Rebel’s walls that he’s built around himself.
Teaser Time
Breaking Rebel’s Walls
Chapter One
Tommy Reeves looked at one of his best friends, of which he lived with all five of them, but this time he glared at Robby. He was the one who did the cooking for them, and when he came over to tell them that the espresso machine died, Tommy was ready to commit murder.
How in the hell was he supposed to function without his coffee?
He looked around at his friends, who were also glaring at Robby.
“Hey, it’s not my fault!” Robby snapped at them. “I told you not to buy that brand, but would you listen to me? No!”
Robby stomped back to the kitchen area of their home, which was located in what looked like an old warehouse. When they had the funds put together, they hired a contractor who came in and made some special modifications to the place. It was now their version of Fort Knox, but since another one of their friends, Percy, was such a history nut, they called their home Camelot.
“Tommy, we just got a job from Don Ferrone,” Bones said, coming into the living room from their computer room. “He’s offering us extra pay for a rush job.”
“What is it?”
“He needs some deets from the police database.”
“One of these days…” Tommy muttered.
“What?” Bones asked.
“I want to tell them no, but since we’re kinda Switzerland with the mob’s, I guess we still have to play nice with them.” Tommy sighed.
“Sorry,” Bones shrugged.
“Yeah, but I refuse to work without coffee. Let me make a quick run to the coffee shop,” Tommy looked around at the guys he considered his brothers. “Does anyone want anything?”
“I’ll text you a list,” Chip said, their resident computer genius. “I’ll ask around while you’re walking there.”
“Perfect.” Tommy grinned at him, then headed to the stairs that would take him to the main floor. He checked the security cam to make sure the coast was clear, then he opened the door and left the building. Walking the two blocks, Tommy enjoyed the weather. It was nice enough that he didn’t need a jacket, and today he was wearing one of his new t-shirt’s that he’d just received in the mail. This one was pink and had “Gay men suck, if you ask nicely” stamped on it. As soon as he saw it on the website, he knew he had to buy it. When he walked into the common area this morning, his friends all looked at him and just snickered. They all knew he loved to buy snarky t-shirt’s like this.
Going into the coffee shop, he was happy to see that there was only a couple of people in front of him. He pulled out his phone and saw a text from Chip letting him know what everyone wanted, but also to tell him that a new espresso machine had been ordered and would be delivered this afternoon. Good thing, since he didn’t know how long this new job was going to take. Usually, this stuff that was needed from the police database was pretty easy though.
Placing his order, he moved aside to wait for it, since it was going to take a few minutes to make up the six cups of heaven, as far as he was concerned. Getting everything put together, Tommy turned to leave, and just as he was about to walk out, he literally walked into a wall, or at least what felt like one.
“Watch where you’re walking, ya dumb fuck,” a deep voice said from above him. Standing at five feet, five inches didn’t make him very tall, but Tommy had enough attitude for someone twice his height.
“Listen asshole, I was the one walking out the exit door,” Tommy snarled at him. “I’m now wearing coffee on my new t-shirt. Thanks for ruining that on me fucknuts. You owe me and my friends new coffee’s.”
“I don’t owe you shit,” the bald, no neck asshole snorted at him. “If you can’t walk properly, that’s your problem, not mine.”
“Bullshit.”
Just then, someone behind the asshole reached out and grabbed Tommy, pulling him out of the coffee shop and around the corner into the alley, slamming him into the brick wall of the coffee shop.
“Are you arguing with us, you stupid pink fuck?” The second guy spit into Tommy’s face as he kept hitting him into the wall.
“Fuck you,” Tommy screamed at him. “You won’t get away with this.”
“Really, watch us.”
The last thing Tommy saw was the meaty fist coming at his face.
What’s Next from Nerd Squad
Here is a small peek into the next book in the Nerd Squad. This will be Doc’s book, and his bodyguard is Vasily “Vasa” Nicolayevich, a huge and gentle giant.
***
Going to the front of the clinic, Doc went and opened the doors when he saw Hazel and another man outside waiting for him. What worried him was the scared look on Hazel’s face as she kept nervously glancing at the other man.
“Morning Ms. Hazel, and how are you this morning?”
“I’m good Doc, but I’m wondering if we should do this another day?”
“Let’s go bitch,” then the man beside her pushed her into the clinic.
Hazel fell onto the floor with a cry before Doc could catch her, and the man stepped over her. She looked at him with terrified eyes, then got up and ran back out the door. He was glad to see her get away. When he saw the man lift a gun and take aim at her, he pushed his arm so that the shot missed hitting her as she ran.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” then he turned with the gun and hit Doc.
Doc cried out, but only put his hand up to cover the side of his head where he’d been hit.
“What do you want?”
“I know you’ve got drugs here. I need some.”
Doc knew that Vasa would have heard him cry out, so he just had to wait for him to come, but he was worried about this guy seeing Vasa before he could get him.
“What are you looking for?”
“Any of the good stuff, anything I could sell. I want whatever I can get my hands on. I’ve been here before, so I know you’ve got some. Let’s go, stop wasting my time, move it.” He waved the gun and pointed towards the back where the pharmacy was.
Doc turned and slowly made his way towards the pharmacy. He knew the code to get in, but took his time going there. He held his head, acting as if he was dizzy and off balance, hoping to give Vasa time to get this guy.
“Come on, I don’t have all fuckin’ day. Move it!”
Doc was pushed from behind, and he let out a cry and fell to the floor. “Listen, you hit me and I’m not feeling well. I’m dizzy. I’ll take you to the pharmacy, but you need to give me a second to catch my breath.” He tried to make himself sound off, giving himself and Vasa time.
“We don’t have any fucking time,” the guy reached down to grab Doc, and that’s when Vasa came out from one of the rooms, catching him off guard.
Vasa kicked the guy in the stomach while reaching for the hand that had the gun in it. While the guy was trying to catch his breath, Doc could hear some bones break as Vasa forcibly took the gun away from him.
“You okay?” Vasa looked at him as he secured the gun.
“I’ll be fine, he didn’t hit me that hard. I was just faking it so you had time to get him.” Doc grinned at him.
“Da, very good. Now, what do we do with him?”
“I’ve got a room we can put him into, then we can call the police. They can deal with him.”
“Maybe I should call my Pakhan? Let him deal with this idiot instead of calling the police. They might give you problems with my being here.” Vasa frowned at him.
Doc thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Call him, I don’t need you getting in trouble with the cops for helping me.”
Doc leaned down to check on the guy on the floor, who was curled up in a ball moaning in pain while Vasa talked on the phone. He checked the hand that had been holding the gun and saw the only a couple of fingers were broken.
“I can splint your fingers…”
“Fuck you!” The guy screamed, spitting at him in the face. “This wouldn’t have happened if not for you.”
“No, this happened because you decided to be a dumb fuck and try to rob me,” Doc snorted at him. “Now, do you want me to help you or not?”
The sudden sound of Vasa letting out a string of Russian that he didn’t understand and he was picked up and tossed over a very hard shoulder. The next thing he heard was the sounds of glass shattering and a hail of bullets hitting the walls around him.
Vasa threw him to the ground in the closest room and then laid his larger body over top of him, protecting him from the barrage of chaos around them. There was not only the metal from the bullets, but also the debris of the clinic being destroyed around them. While he was scared out of his wits, he still felt protected, since he was wrapped in the bigger man’s arms.
When he felt Vasa’s body suddenly jerk, Doc became worried. “Vasa, what’s wrong?”
“Wait a moment, then you can look.”
But he worried at the pinched look on Vasa’s face, he could see that the other man was in pain. When the sound of the bullets had stopped, Doc squirmed out from under Vasa and moved to see that a piece of wood had entered his calf.
“Stay here, I’m going to see if I can get anything from one of the exam rooms and get this out and stitch up your leg, then we can get out of here. I’ll be right back.” Then he got up and slowly moved toward the door. When it looked like it was safe and no one was out there, he slowly made his way down the hallway towards one of the exam rooms to get what he needed so he could help Vasa.
When he went suddenly flying through the air, with the loud sound of thunder and the heat of furnace behind him, Doc didn’t feel himself crashing into the wall.
Dani’s Socials
Website: https://www.authordanigray.com/#/
Dani’s FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/737602503302358
FB: https://www.facebook.com/author.dani.gray
I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of Holly’s Quirky Questions. I’m gonna shout about the Love and Hope Anthology because it is such a great cause. Helping out one of our own during a hard time is such a worthy cause. So be sure to grab yours.
I’d love to know what you’ve been reading, so be sure to drop me a message and let me know <3
A huge thank you to Dani.
Next week we have Eden Winters.
Until then: Find a Spark of Magic Every Day.
Love and Hope
A limited-time anthology to benefit one of our own, H.M. Wolfe.
https://books2read.com/LoveandHope
Twenty-six of your favorite MM authors have come together to donate short stories filled with love and hope for our dear friend. 100% of the proceeds go directly to her to aid in her time of need. While she’s recuperating, we wanted to fill her kindle with love and support in the best way we know how by sharing our words of love and healing.
Available 2/14/24
Preorder now for only $2.99. Price will increase upon release.
Authors included in this anthology are:
TL Travis, BL Maxwell, Brina Brady, Miski Harris, Ann MacConnell Lister, Wendy Rathbone, Nic Starr, Shane K Morton, Anne Barwell, Sam E. Kraemer, Holly Oliver, Layla Dorine, Aria Grace, Jackie North, Kaje Harper, Samuel York, Kris Jacen, Dora Esquivel, Lynn Michaels, Amalia May, Megs Pritchard, Ashlynn Mills, Jax Stuart, Charlie Godwyne, CJ Barlowe, A.M. Snead
