Thank you for joining us again this week. If it’s your first time here, a huge welcome, and I hope you read all the way to the end! This is another jam-packed episode with two new authors to get to know!

In my world – I’ve hit the murky middle of Elliot and Thaddeus’s story, and I hope to have it finished this week (all going to plan)! The weather is being kinder to us here in little old NZ, but I’m not holding my breath it will stay that way, and I’ve been offered some shifts at my local hospital, which I am tossing up – it’d be fun to put my nursing hat back on for a bit, but I’m also quite happy with what I’m doing now… so I’ll see how that plays out – but enough of my waffling – let’s get this newsletter started!

Amanda Meuwissen is a queer author with a primary focus on M/M romance. As the author of LGBTQ+ Fantasy #1 Best Seller, Coming Up for Air, LGBTQ+ Horror #1 Best Seller and #1 New Release, A Delicious Descent, and several other titles through various publishers, Amanda regularly attends local comic conventions for fun and to meet with fans, where she will often be seen in costume as one of her favorite fictional characters. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, John, and their cat, Helga.

Amanda’s Quirky Questions

Holly: Describe yourself using… (choose one: a food, a book, a song, a movie, an animal, a drink, a place etc)

AMANDA: I’d say I’m like sushi – full of variety and different tastes, best when “dressed” well, whether simply or extravagant, and an acquired taste that while it may always sound good to people, isn’t necessarily for everyone XD.

Holly: If you could change your name to anything what would it be and why?

AMANDA: My online handle that has been my second name since middle school – Crimson Domingo. It was originally the name a friend gave a character she based off me, meant to be a play off the song title “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2. I loved it and still use it to this day as my Tumblr and Archive of Our Own handles. I can sometimes be found under the Japanese adaptation of it akanichiyoubi (aka – red, nichiyoubi – Sunday). Alternatively, I sometimes use the name Nemirac, which was meant to be my opposite as an almost backward version of Crimson.

Holly: When did you first call yourself a writer?

AMANDA: This is actually one of my favorite stories, which I haven’t told in quite some time. I’ve been writing since grade school, and as I got into high school, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue writing or acting more. I was very deep into fanfiction by that point, something I recommend for all young and aspiring writers, because it’s wonderful practice and provides for community and a type of feedback you just don’t get with published works.

I had become friends with an author of a fanfic for the video game Final Fantasy VIII, which tackled some heavy issues for one of my favorite characters, Zell, and him handling depression and even suicidal thoughts. This is common to see in fanfiction, especially at that age, because of the emotional issues and growth we experience as teenagers, when many people first find fanfiction. It can be very therapeutic to read and write. At the end of the story, however, the author wrote Zell as not being savable and had his character die, despite the storyline being about him trying to overcome those feelings.

I wrote to the author and pleaded that she find some other way, and she admitted she’d wanted to but couldn’t see how to do it. I asked if I could try, and we worked together on an alternate ending, where I rewrote the last three chapters. Not only did the original author and the fandom love and prefer my ending, but I had an anonymous review from someone saying how much it had meant to them to have a hopeful ending for someone going through something similar to what they were, and that what I wrote gave them hope to pull out of their own depression. Well, I cried. I don’t know what became of that person, but that was the moment when I knew I couldn’t possibly do anything but write, and I’ve called myself a writer ever since.

Holly: Name an underappreciated novel that you love. What is it about this book that you adore?

AMANDA: The Vlishgnath Chronicles, hands down, and it’s continuing series by Daniel Mitchell. It’s high fantasy, Dungeons & Dragons inspired, and just so engaging. The characters are some of my favorites of all time and pull me into this world in a way I never was with books like Lord of the Rings. It’s action-packed, clever, and can really hit you in the feels in ways you won’t expect.

I had the pleasure of being the managing editor on these books, and of all the titles I helped see published from the internal side rather than being the writer myself, it’s the story that has stuck with me the most.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091SLC4T3

Holly: Who has been your favorite character to write and why?

AMANDA: Janskoller the warrior bard. He’s actually more of a background character in this book, as his book in the Tales from the Gemstone Kingdoms was book three, The Bard and the Fairy Prince, but he steals every scene he’s in for sure. He’s also a fan-favorite character, which makes me happy, and I never tire of his humor, flirtatiousness, and cunning.

Because he’s a bard, writing him allowed (forced, haha) me to write A LOT of bard songs, which was both fun and challenging, and here in Void Dancer, it’s no exception, as naturally, a bard song helps save the day.

Holly: What do you do if you get a brilliant idea at a bad time?

AMANDA: One of two things, since usually the “bad time” is when I’m trying to sleep. I have primary chronic insomnia, which means there’s no explanation for why, I was just born with it, and it’s ALL THE TIME. So, if I’m nowhere near falling asleep, I might actually get up, grab my phone, or even go downstairs to my office, and jot ideas down. But if I don’t want to get up, I repeat something small and simple about the idea in my head, over and over, so that it’s a mantra for when I wake up. Definitely helps to not forget, even when it’s a phrase I want to have a character say.

Holly: How long have you been writing?

AMANDA: It must be over 25 years now if I’m counting when I first started to scribble down story ideas. I was first published a little over ten years ago, though I was more so on the backend of publishing at the time, so I didn’t get my work out there and promote it at all. I consider my actual publiversary to be 2019, when I restructured my brand, finally had a social media presence, website, and newsletter, and began publishing more regularly.

Holly: Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that affect your writing?

AMANDA: I am full-time as of two years ago, which is the most amazing thing and is still so incredible to me every day I wake up and just get to do what I love. For those part-timers out there, believe me, it doesn’t mean you have more time to write. I still usually set extra time aside to write in the evenings, because so much time during the workday is dedicated to the other side of being your own boss – emails, social media, networking, promotion, design, bookkeeping, etc. But it is all worth it. I’ve had the opportunity to continuously increase my sales each year, meet and befriend new peers and readers, and it’s all only getting better each year, which also helps improve my craft.

A brilliant inventor, Enzo Dragonbane has plenty to hide, including his secret identity as the recently deceased king’s bastard son. But he’s not half as mysterious as Cullen, the man he finds in the caverns. Cullen has no memories at all.

Cullen doesn’t know who he is or how he got there, and he certainly doesn’t know anything about his strange shadow powers. But he soon learns that memories or not, magic or not, the Ruby Kingdom stands on the brink of civil war. A lower-class group called the Ashen is poised to take advantage of the power vacuum caused by the king’s death to fight for equality.

Soon Enzo and Cullen find themselves in the midst of a revolution. As they untangle Cullen’s past, they discover they have much in common. But if they’re to have any hope of a peaceful life together, they’ll have to discover the secret of controlling Cullen’s abilities, take sides in the coming fight, and face up to the truth of who they really are.

Excerpt/ Teaser

A drop of water fell upon Enzo’s cheek, dark like something from a swamp, but where it landed, it seemed to sizzle and freeze like an entombed snowflake meeting the summer sun.

“Cullen….” Enzo said softly, not choking, for the shadows around his throat had yet to squeeze. They rested there, like the claws resting upon Enzo’s shoulders without tearing his tunic or breaking the skin.

He didn’t want to do any of those things, did he? Did he? He didn’t want to consume. He wanted….

He… wanted….

Enzo reached for him, and thick, hearty fingers pressed to his cheek and cupped his chin. His eyes must be glowing like violet embers, mouth a maw of vicious fangs again, body distorted and expression fierce, and yet…. Enzo’s touch came tenderly.

“It’s all right,” Enzo said, and oh, how Cullen wanted to believe him.

The shadows like coiling tendrils remained, along with the sense that he was both hot and cold at once. Surely, it must pain Enzo to touch him, yet he didn’t look pained. He smiled, as Cullen’s claws became hands again, still black-purple and shimmering.

Instead of squeezing, the tendrils around Enzo’s neck caressed.

“Ah!”

“I’m sorry!” Cullen’s voice echoed like it had outside the tavern.

“N-no, it’s, um….” The tendrils dragged farther down Enzo’s neck and chest as if of their own accord, and Enzo shuddered. “Oh….”

Cullen’s body had felt weightless when he leapt—flew—from the workshop table, as if he didn’t have a lower half, just the wisp of a spirit form tapering to nothing. He very much felt his lower half now, and Enzo’s, for something pushed up against Cullen’s stomach with how low he hunkered over Enzo’s body like a beast that had pounced.

“I-it doesn’t… hurt,” Enzo said, and the way his cheeks darkened proved how much he meant that. “Y-you don’t… want to hurt me. I know you don’t. You… ohhhhh!” A wilder howl left Enzo, low and guttural and lusty with want, which Cullen knew he had caused without trying to. Without consciously trying to, but his shadow tendrils had a mind of their own and still wanted to consume, one way or another.

Cullen’s body was its normal shape, but he was still made of shadow, and parts of his undulating self wrapped all around Enzo to cradle him closer. The hardness pressing into Cullen’s stomach coaxed an answering response from him, and he wanted to thrust downward, to envelop this handsome, sun-like creature and rut until the darkness in him cleared away like storm clouds.

“C-Cullen… please, it….”

“Hurts?”

“No,” Enzo said like a laugh. “B-but I don’t… know… if you understand what you’re doing.” His mouth dropped open with a longer moan and arch of his neck, and Cullen realized he’d thrust downward after all, his own hard cock, however made of shadow, finding Enzo’s, and rutting like he wanted.

“Yes… yes,” Cullen said, both in answer and in honor of the sensations building between them. It felt like fire and ice colliding, like he knew his shadows must feel upon Enzo. He felt. He felt. And he didn’t want to stop feeling yet.

“C-Cullen….”

“Yes… handsome Enzo?”

Enzo laughed, face rosy and eyes darkening. “M-maybe….”

Cullen kissed him, and his shadows pulsed forth with such a great wave of desire, different than the hunger he’d thought he felt before, that Enzo squirmed up against him in obvious pleasure and feverishly kissed him back.

Cullen did want to consume. Enzo’s lips. His body. His very being. He wanted it all.

So he never had to remember the void.

Amanda’s Link Tree

An avid reader and colorful dreamer, it was only a matter of time before taking pen to paper, literally. Notebooks and computer documents are piling up. Alexis sings under her breath, off-tune, taps her toes, and swings her hips, much to the delight of her family, coworkers, and friends. A firm believer in every song tells a story, and every story has a song, all of her stories have a song or theme, oftentimes both, behind them. She freely admits that becoming a romance author is the best mid-life crisis a girl could ever have.

Alexis’s Quirky Questions

Holly: Would you visit the future or the past, and why?

Alexis Woods: So this is an easy question for me. I would definitely visit the past. I am part of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a non-profit educational society that promotes the historical aspects of the medieval ages from the fall of the Roman Empire until the creation of the steam engine. My personal favorite time periods are late Roman and Greek, plus the Scandinavian countries. We pick names and personas, wear the clothes of the times, and ultimately try to recreate many aspects of the culture while at the same time learning or teaching about it. I’ve been a member for over thirty years now and still love it as much as I did on day one.

Now if I could actually meet Robin Hood or King Arthur… that would be sweet!

Holly: What are some day jobs that you have had/have? Do they impact your writing, share an example.

Alexis Woods: I’m a pharmacist by trade, so I have the joy (and sometimes anger or sorrow) to work retail. This means I get to interact with so many people on a daily basis. I hear plenty of stories and sometimes those bits of humor or horror actually make it into a book.

Throughout my life, I’ve held many jobs from making microfiche to secretarial work to nurse’s aide, and I’m a avid volunteer with the Society for Creative Anachronism and Girl Scouts. I’m First Aid and CPR certified. I love camping and hiking. I shoot archery and know quite a bit about fencing and sword and shield fighting. The Medieval Ages is my jam. Dragons? Yes, please! I love music (all types) and dancing (badly) and singing (off-key), so lots of quirks and interests that certainly make it into every one of my stories.

Holly: How did you come up with the idea for this book?

Alexis Woods: Hand in Hand started out as a “Can I write a Daddy book?” I’ve been an alpha reader/prelim editor for Wulf Godgluck since 2014, and if you know his work at all, it’s mostly gritty Daddy/sweet boy. I didn’t think for one second that I’d love writing the genre as much as I do. This particular story started life (totally pantsing, btw) as contemporary fiction, but I just could not make it work. One day…. EPIPHANY!! Make the characters paranormal! And it all just fell into place after that.

Holly: What do you do when you get writer’s block?

Alexis Woods: Writer’s block?? I loathe that phrase. If I’m not feeling like working on a particular story, I move on. I have three open series I’m currently working on, and also a ‘shared world’ book due out in August of 2024. Somedays I just sit and make promo pictures until inspiration strikes. I love working from prompts so I’ll poke around until I find one that works for my story and flesh out a scene or two from it. There is never a time when I don’t have something I could be working on or editing/proofreading a project for me or someone else.

Holly: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Alexis Woods: Learn better editing skills early in life. I actively encourage my youngest child in this because (OMG) schools suck nowadays. Teachers teach how they want, which isn’t always the “correct” way, especially at the elementary school level. I’ve spent significant time relearning a lot of what I should have known, and even now, I’m constantly referencing Merriam-Webster for potential spelling mistakes and various grammar sites to make sure I’ve got my commas in all the right places.

Holly: Do you ever base your characters on real people? Do you tell them?

Alexis Woods: So many of my characters, especially in my Southern Jersey Shores and Chosen Angels series are based on RL people. In fact, Opening Day was written loosely based on myself and my spouse. We both worked in retail pharmacy, me as a pharmacist and my husband as a front store supervisor. He’s not a manager but had gone through the initial process before having kids derailed the plan. In Evading Exodus, the Passover Sedar is modeled on one my father loved, and the rabbi in Chosen Angels is based on my own rabbi here in South Jersey. There are bits and pieces of others in many characters which allows me to bring those characters to life just a bit more.

From Hand in Hand (Forest Edge #1):

When two Daddies might be one too many.

In a world where shifters live secretly among humans, Ryan Crane, a hybrid-avian shifter who can’t shift, finds himself buried under a mountain of debt. When offered a unique opportunity to work, he signs on the dotted line. His new employer, Scion House—a matchmaking organization—pairs trained littles, like Ryan, with Daddies. After three failed contracts as a little, Ryan’s hopes are running low. Number four seems promising at first. Eli Renard is gorgeous and kind, but when he inadvertently reveals his own shifter status, it sends Ryan into a tailspin. Would an alpha fox want a half-human crane? And when Jon, a coyote shifter and Eli’s ex, returns with co-parenting in mind, Ryan’s concerns double. Ryan wants to complete the contract and pay off his loans, but two Daddies might be one too many.

Hand in Hand is the first book in the Forest Edge Series. The series builds on the prior books and should be read in order. Each story focuses on a new throuple with characters returning from previous books. The series continues with mates finding their Happy Ever Afters.

Teaser

Eli grabbed Ryan’s wrist. “What are you laughing about, kit?”

Ryan stuck his fingers in his mouth and coyly bit them. “I like your happy trail, Daddy.” His joy bubbled over, and the giggles soon grew to bellyful proportions. He tipped over onto his back, grabbing his stomach with one hand, and covering his mouth with the other.

Eli shook his head, his gaze fond, a tiny smile curling the corner of his mouth. He reached for his pants and stood, swiftly rebuttoning and zipping before he knelt, straddling Ryan’s jerking body.

“Little boy.” Eli leaned over, caging Ryan’s body with his own.

Uh-oh. Stern Daddy, but Ryan couldn’t turn off his delight. “Sorry, Daddy, I’m— I’m happy!” Ryan burst out with another loud cackle.

“You’re happy? Well, that’s good because I certainly am.” Eli kissed Ryan’s forehead.

Ryan stilled, his laughter receding. He took a few deep breaths before he asked, “Yeah?”

“Yes. You did wonderfully. Do you think I could return the favor and make you feel good?”

Ryan’s eyes flew open. “Really?” None of the others had done that.

“Really. But maybe on the bed.”

Ryan nodded as he squirmed out from under Eli, running into the bedroom, and pouncing on the bed, spinning to land on his knees in the middle of the mattress. He pulled his shirt off and tossed it to the side before shimmying out of his pants. Next, Ryan yanked his socks off and flung them over his head, and then he held his arms wide.

“Ta-da!” One naked boy ready for his daddy to come love on him.

Eli tapped his lower lip with a finger as he raked Ryan with intense scrutiny. Before Ryan could blink, Eli was on the bed, tackling him and tickling him without mercy.

Ryan screamed and laughed, trying to fend off those annoying ticklers, and finally calming as Eli’s large hands moved from his ticklish spots to his erogenous zones. Eli found every one with meticulous care, kissing and petting, causing Ryan to gasp and moan.

The trail of kisses from his neck, straight down his sternum to his belly button, had Ryan lifting his hips in a blatant request for some action on his cock. He didn’t think he’d ever been this hard, this filled with desire for someone before.

“Please, Daddy.”

“Begging won’t always get you what you want, Ry, but…” —Eli winked— “today it will.”

Alexis’s Social Links

Join my Facebook Fan Group: “All In” with Alexis Woods

Join my email list: “All In” with Alexis Woods

On Amazon: AlexisWoodsAmazon

On Goodreads: Alexis Woods – Goodreads

On Instagram: AlexisWoodsAuthor

On BookBub: AlexisWoodsAuthor

Reach out to me via Email: alexiswoods553@gmail.com

NEW IN MM ROMANCE THIS WEEK!

In Death Together

Shelby Rhodes

You’ve returned… good! Octavius Evander here, your lovable vampire detective. So, where we ended things last time, everything had gone horribly wrong. What can really be said, besides that change is a fact of life, and unlife. Turney, my love, my heart—unfortunately, he has much change to deal with. No matter, we will all get through it together! Some of us will be getting through it together, much closer than we ever expected, if you know what I mean.

But, enough about that. On to the cases! We will have a new one come up, one with love and questionable family relationships, and even a murder! We don’t get to witness the murder, but we can’t always get what we want. Either way, it’s going to be fun.

Lastly, I suppose there is also the old case looming over us. The ‘pain in the ass’ case. Prepare yourselves for pain, blood, betrayal, glitter, and devastation. No, hint’s as to whose…but remember, this is a love story. Stop worrying, you silly humans. It will be fine.

PLEASE CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS

Okay, beautiful people, I think I’ve ticked all the boxes this week: two amazing new authors, a couple of new releases, and an update from me. 

I hope to see you all here again next week and until then… 

Find a Spark of Magic Every day