Happy Tuesday everyone and happy birthday to me! *grin*
Party won't start until Saturday (I've got some more nifty gifts ready for you guys, hehehe) but meanwhile today I also have something very special... visiting author Tali Spencer!
Tali is under the spotlight sharing what it's like to write a sensual story and giving away a copy of her recent release Dangerous Beauty. Read on to learn how to win!
Welcome to A Dream Beyond, Tali!
Thanks, Elyzabeth, for letting me visit. On
this visit I’m also offering a copy of my new M/M release, Dangerous Beauty, to one of the commenters on this post.
People
ask me sometimes how I write lush and evocative prose. After I finish blushing
and drawing circles on the floor with my foot, I explain that I use all the
senses. One of my favorite editing tricks is to go through the story and find
places where a sense doesn’t deliver a needed punch. My favorite images,
however, are almost always visual.
In my newest release, Dangerous Beauty, the second of my Uttor series set in a world not
terribly unlike our own in historical times, the very first sentences invoke an
image upon which the main character, Endre, is understandably fixated. I give
the reader exactly what Endre is seeing and—because he’s the POV character—his
response reveals a great deal about him.
Endre Kordeun touched
his tongue to his lips as he watched the brown-skinned man’s cock rear above
muscular thighs like a cobra ready to spit. He had never seen a cock so
beautiful. Long fingers as regal as the man who owned them stroked the monster,
displaying it with the casual confidence of one who knew he would be admired.
Readers soon learn Endre doesn’t think of
himself as gay. In fact, his religion and family would condemn him if he were.
But the reader is already onto the truth about Endre’s sexual attraction to
other men. It’s there in the details, how much he notices about another man’s
cock, and also about the other man himself. As it happens, the man being
described is the other hero of the book, Arshad. Both men are about to embark
on a journey of danger and discovery.
Later, after a bout of lovemaking, Endre
reawakens to all his senses and pulls these impressions together:
The air smelled of
sex and men and, oddly, of books. Endre moved a stiff arm, surprised to find
himself on a hard surface, a rug on the floor, clasped against another body by
a loose, muscular arm. He was naked, and as he twisted his hips, a telltale
soreness in his thighs and ass brought back a rush of memories he found
astounding. The domed ceiling overhead displayed celestial designs and
equations that made his mind soar. He and Arshad lay at the exact center of the
room, beneath a golden sun conceived by an artist and ringed by glimmering
heavenly realms.
How egotistical, he thought. Though it was true he felt himself the
center of the universe.
The scene utilizes the senses and weaves
them into things the reader already knows: that Arshad is a celestial
mathematician, Endre is an excellent observer of the universe and everything
around him, and the two men believe in something few in their world believe,
that their world circles the sun.
I see the world as beautiful and elegant,
even when it’s horrifying or dangerous, and I hope my readers enjoy the
journeys on which I take them. Dangerous Beauty is one of those journeys. The
novel continues the story begun in Captive
Heart, a M/F romance involving Endre’s sister Julissa and the Uttoran
emperor Gaspar, both of whom have cameos in this book.
Blurb:
Once the Kordeun family ruled Sebboy…now
they are imperial captives of the Uttoran Emperor. Devout and studious, Endre
Kordeun loves his family and will do anything to free them, even if that means
pretending he’s gay so he can pass messages to his father’s shady allies. With
his golden good looks and a beautiful male courtesan posing as his lover, Endre
finds Uttor’s decadent society more than willing to believe his ruse.
But when a passionate kiss from a dark,
gorgeous man unlocks feelings Endre had been hiding even from himself, lies
start to unravel. Arshad, prince of Tabar, is Endre’s match in every
way…including a shared love for science and celestial mechanics. Going forward
with his charade will be dangerous, and not only because he might be
discovered. In that event, even his own father would kill him. How much is
Endre willing to risk for love?
Excerpt:
Footsteps sounded on the gravel path,
stopped, waited. Someone was there, listening for sure and maybe watching. His
guard should have interrupted; Yanni surely would have. This had to be someone
else. Frozen by indecision, Endre allowed Arshad’s lips to continue their
artful assault. Sweep by sweep, those firm lips commanded his and he resisted
less than he should have, kissing back, teeth on teeth, tongues warring as he
fought for control. One of them would soon have to breathe and he broke first,
throwing his head back, gasping for air. With a triumphant growl, Arshad began
pressing hot kisses along the column of his exposed throat.
“Oh, Prophets!” Endre gasped. Overhead,
moonlight spilled through the tangle of vines. He turned his head to the right
and saw Arshad’s knotted hand manacling his wrist. Dense hair crushed against
his cheek, the man’s mouth hot on his collarbone. His cock, already hard enough
to be uncomfortable, stiffened painfully against his trousers and he groaned
with need and discomfort from the now tight cock cuff.
Arshad ceased his kisses and slammed his
body forcefully against him. “Everything you want,” he said, “I can give it to
you. Every…fucking…thing.” Those powerful thighs ground his pelvis against
Endre’s, rolling cock against stiff cock.
“Damn it, stop,” Endre grated, barely a
whisper. Was their watcher still there? He didn’t even know. Worse, he no
longer cared. His cock was on a rampage, straining against the cuff secured
around his shaft and balls. He jammed his hips forward, pushing back,
increasing the contact and the pleasure.
“Not on your life. You’ve been asking for
this for weeks. This is what you’re here for, what you need. Not someone small
and soft. You want it large and hard.” Arshad bent his head near again, lips
brushing his ear, and murmured, “Say it, princeling. Let them hear you say you
want it.”
That big hard cock was grinding against his
now, creating such sweet friction he knew he would never last. Endre groaned
against his clenched teeth. His head sagged forward, bumping Arshad’s shoulder,
golden hair spilling across midnight velvet. He was on the fucking edge.
“Say it.” That dark voice vibrated softly
beside his ear.
No, he wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t going to
say it, no matter what his damn cock was feeling. He shook his head.
“Stubborn,” Arshad grunted. Taking the edge
of Endre’s ear between his teeth, he gently bit.
Dangerous
Beauty is available at Resplendence
Publishing and also at AllRomance.
Thanks for allowing me to visit, Elyzabeth!
I’ll leave some links for anyone who wishes to contact me. I’m pretty easy to
find.
My Goodreads author
page.
And for the giveaway, I’ll do a random
drawing on Friday the 15th, the day after Valentine’s Day. To enter
the drawing, just leave a comment and include your email address. Thanks again,
Elyzabeth, for having me over!
