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Free book! Get yer hot, fresh free book!

LLG_lgThat’s right, folks, Love, Like Ghosts is now FREE on Amazon! This spectacular deal is, of course, for a limited time only. Since I’m not sure exactly how long this is going to last, best to hustle your buns on over there and get yourself a copy before they start charging again 🙂

Love, Like Ghosts is technically a part of the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series — the last book of that series, though it can be read as a stand-alone — but it’s the story where Greg Woodhall and Adrian Broussard from the Mojo Mysteries series first met and fell in love. So while it’s not a part of the Mojo Mysteries series, in a way it’s where that series started, because it’s where Greg and Adrian began as a couple.

If you’ve ever wondered if this couple and their adventures might appeal to you, now’s your chance to get a taste before Myth Adventures, the latest Mojo Mystery, comes out next month. Personally, I adore this book and my boys, and I want everyone to love them like I do.

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© Copyright 2009 Ally Blue

Truth. Lies. A century-old mystery. What a tangled web…

At age eleven, Adrian Broussard accidentally used his mind to open a portal to another dimension. Now, ten years later, he’s successfully harnessed his strong psychokinetic abilities. In the process, he’s learned the lessons which have become the guiding principles of his life. Absolute truth. Absolute control. Always.

Sticking to his personal code of ethics has never been a problem, until two chance meetings—one with a hundred-year-old ghost, one with a handsome, very-much-alive man—turn his orderly existence upside down.

Having grown up in a family of paranormal investigators, Adrian is intrigued by the spirit of Lyndon Groome and determined to solve the mystery of his death. Greg Woodhall, however, affects Adrian in unpredictable ways. Not only does his every touch challenge Adrian’s hard-won control over his abilities, his company quickly becomes a light in Adrian’s lonely life.

As the mystery surrounding Lyndon’s death turns sinister, Adrian’s relationship with Greg deepens into something serious. Something Adrian wants to keep. But intimacy isn’t as easy as honesty, and when the heart’s involved, the line between right and wrong can blur.

(Warning: This book contains a gory ghost, a haunted castle, nerdy college parties and gay sex enhanced by psychic powers.)

Ally enters the modern age. Sort of.

That’s right, y’all. I’m starting a newsletter. Finally getting in the groove of five years ago! Ha!

Anyway, all kidding aside, I really am starting a newsletter. I think I need to. I’m super unorganized, and I think that might actually be the best way for me to make sure that the people who want to know about my new books and whatnot actually get to hear about them.

The signup form is on the sidebar here on my website. For those following along via Amazon or Goodreads, I’m also putting it here in the body of this post. I really hope you’ll sign up. My first newsletter,  coming out in early October, will have an exclusive excerpt from Myth Adventures (Mojo Mysteries book 3) as well as (I hope) pictures and travel reports from my trip to New Zealand to visit my daughter. I’m looking forward to sharing my ramblings with all of you 🙂

 

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Discovery: flash fiction anthology

cover-discoveryThe rules are simple enough. Write a complete story—either sci fi, fantasy, or paranormal. Make sure it has LGBT characters and/or an LGBT vibe. And do it all with just 300 words.

The stories in this volume run the gamut, from platypus shifters to alien slug monsters, from carnival horror stories to haunting stories of ships with souls. There are little jokes, big surprises, and future prognostications.

This is an anthology of flash fiction specific stories, all with LGBTQ characters/ideas, and all with the general theme of Discovery. The publisher, Mischief Corner Books, takes what they need for expenses, and the rest goes to support the QSF website. A very worthy cause! It’s a fantastic site supporting GLBTQ sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fiction.

My own contribution is a little horror story called “Wrong.” I hope you like it 🙂

You can buy the book from Mischief Corner Books, Amazon, ARe, and Kobo.

 

We have a winner!

The winner of my Pride Month Giveaway is Tracey S. Congratulations, Tracey! To everyone who entered, thank you so much!

This was a Pride Month for the history books 🙂

Pride Month Giveaway

Hey y’all, in honor of GLBTQ Pride Month, now drawing to a close (where did the time go??), I’ve decided to have a drawing. I’ll be giving away an ebook set of my Mojo Mysteries series to one winner, chosen by random number generator. Just leave a comment here telling me to include you in the drawing. Be sure to include your email so I can contact you! Deadline is eleven PM Eastern Standard Time June 30, 2015. The winner will get one copy each of Demon Dog and A Ghost Most Elusive, the first two books in the Mojo Mysteries series. The third book doesn’t come out until October, so that’s why it’s not part of the package.

Why these books? To me, Greg and Adrian (my Heroes in this series) represent Pride: they live and love openly and proudly. They know that what they share is rare, beautiful, and precious, and they’d never let anyone tell them it’s not. As a straight woman, it’s not really my place to speak about Pride, I think. But as an ally, I do support it in heart, in spirit, and in the flesh. This little giveaway is only a wave to say “hi” and “Pride is on my mind this June.” I’d encourage everyone who enters to also search out and purchase books by LGBTQ authors. There are SO many excellent LGBTQ writers out there, in all genres. Do yourself a favor, find them and read them!

 

ETA: Okay, well, since WordPress refuses to cooperate with me and allow comments, here’s what to do to enter the drawing: email me at ally @ allyblue dot com (in the usual email format instead of that one, obviously) with PRIDE MONTH GIVEAWAY in the subject line. Give me your name, preferred email, and preferred ebook format, and I’ll enter you in the contest. Sorry about that! Stupid WordPress.

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Mojo Mysteries book 1: Demon Dog.

DemonDog72webOne juicy mystery, mustard and relish included.

Three years after solving the hundred-year-old murder case that brought them together, Greg Woodhall and Adrian Broussard have settled into life together in the colorful college town of Chapel Hill. Adrian’s doctorate research and Greg’s two jobs keep them busy, but they have each other and life is good.

When Greg is offered the chance to help Bay City Paranormal scope out the historic PlayMakers Theater’s rumored spirits, he’s excited to get involved—at first. But as the protoplasmic trail unexpectedly shifts to DogOpolis, where Greg works part time, he senses something in the air besides the mouthwatering aroma of gourmet hot dogs.

There’s an entity that the team can’t quite get a handle on, but it’s creating havoc in Greg’s relationship with Adrian. Things that leave him doubting his own sanity. When the team finally uncovers the truth, no one is prepared for the danger—or what they’ll have to do to stop the thing plaguing DogO before it stops them. Permanently.

(Warning: This book contains a spooky mystery, unusual hot dog toppings, and a fast food joint that may or may not be haunted. May cause random hot dog cravings.)

© Copyright 2012 Ally Blue

 

Mojo Mysteries book 2: A Ghost Most Elusive.  

GhostMostElusive-A72webWhat’s a guy supposed to do when his mojo’s a no-go?

Adrian Broussard has always considered his ability to talk to ghosts a mixed blessing. Until the night he and his man, Greg Woodhall, find the body of an elderly neighbor. The woman’s ghost whispers murder, then refuses to speak to Adrian again.

She does, however, try to communicate with Greg. An unexpected twist that leaves Adrian grappling with a green-eyed jealousy monster—and he has no idea how to vanquish it.

For Greg, his first experience with talking to a ghost is part fun, part terrifying. Beyond that, he simply wants to help the woman he’d befriended in life. At least Adrian’s just as eager to solve the case, which is good. Because things get real weird, real fast.

Figuring out whodunit isn’t going to be easy, especially with a ghost who seems to be speaking in tongues. But neither of them anticipate the revelations they reveal as they dig deeper into the case. Or the danger those revelations unleash.

(Warning: This book contains suspense, spookiness, suggestive nicknames, amateur sleuthing and a grumpy ghost. May cause inappropriate laughter and/or nail-biting.)

© Copyright 2014 Ally Blue

Cover & Blurb: Myth Adventures (Mojo Mysteries 3)

MythAdventures72webI’m so thrilled with this beautiful cover, by super talented artist KanaxaMyth Adventures is scheduled for release from Samhain Publishing October 6th, 2015. Blurb is below, and I will post an excerpt once the edits are done. Enjoy!

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© Copyright 2015 Ally Blue

Something evil is going down in Atlanta…

Adrian Broussard and Greg Woodhall are attending OutlantaCon, Atlanta’s annual gay geek conference, and are looking forward to a weekend of cosplay and general nerdy fun. As they mingle with other conference goers, though, Adrian feels a strange, cold energy emanating from a man dressed as a satyr.

 Encounters with storybook creatures roaming the streets only increase the chilly tendrils teasing Adrian’s sixth sense—strong enough to cause disturbing visions of Greg’s existence being erased.

When a girl at the conference goes missing, then turns up dead, clues literally drop in their laps as Adrian begins to fear the cold, alien energy is engulfing the whole city. And in danger of swallowing up his lover. 

To Adrian’s horror, his worst nightmare is realized. Now both he and Greg must call on reserves of strength and resourcefulness they never knew they possessed to save Atlanta, and each other.

[Warning: This book contains weird critters, Hell-Lanta, regular Atlanta, a creepy escalator, awesome cosplay geeks, temples that aren’t (but totally are), and liberal use of mojo mind powers.]

Butt Riders on the Range now available

ButtRidersOnTheRange_cvr (Final)Butt Riders on the Range is now available from Wilde City Press! This is the fourth in the Butt-thology series and the second in which I’ve taken part. In this one, the theme is cowboys/Westerns. Each of the authors approached the theme from a different angle, and the result is fun, fascinating, and fresh. I hope y’all enjoy it!

Do you imagine blazing gun battles, bandits, and saloons with watered-down drinks when you think of cowboys and the West? We don’t. Our minds go right to horse shifters, bull shifters, were-leopards, urban wannabes, an interrupted journey along Route 66, a man of mystery named Dr. Feel-Good, and high noon at the edge of the galaxy! The fourth time’s the charm as the Butt-Thology authors saddle up, ride their men hard, and put ‘em away wet.

Butt Riders on the Range…the bulls aren’t the only ones being grabbed by the horns!

 

Here’s an excerpt from my contribution to the anthology, “The Five Hells War.”

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© Copyright 2015 Ally Blue

When the latest Cavendish minion arrived to try and buy out his ranch, Rocky was standing on top of a step stool with both hands inside a boomer cow.

“Tell him to fuck off,” Rocky instructed his foreman through clenched teeth. “I’m busy.” He turned the calf in his grip as gently as he could. The cow honked at him, shuffling her wide feet nervously. He leaned a shoulder against her broad, yellow and white speckled hindquarters. “Easy there, Jezabell. We’re almost there, sweetheart.”

In the barn door, the foreman, Jackson, cleared his throat. “I already told him that. He said he won’t leave till you talk to him.”

Great jumping jackalopes.

Rocky dipped his head and used his rolled-up sleeve to mop the sweat from his face. “What’s this asshole’s name?”

“Balthazar Shellenbarger.” Jackson’s boots shuffled on the barn floor. “He’s a lawyer, Rocky.”

Jez’s womb contracted. Rocky tugged with slow, steady pressure, and one of the calf’s long legs popped free. Only one more to go. Then came the tricky part—the head. He couldn’t afford to lose focus now. He didn’t have enough boomers to lose a calf to one of Jez’s breech births.

“You go tell Mister B.S. Lawyerman that I’m up to my elbows in a goddamn cow, so he can either fuck the hell off, or make himself useful and come help me deliver this calf.” He spared a quick glance at Jackson, who still hovered in the doorway looking uncertain. “Go on, now. Tell him.”

Jackson sighed. “Okay. But he’s not gonna like it.” He turned on his heel and marched off toward the big house Rocky owned but hardly ever used except for receiving visitors.

“He’s not supposed to fucking like it,” Rocky muttered to the boomer baby slowly emerging wrong end first from its mama.

He’d tried being polite when the Cavendish Family Farms governing board first started sending underlings out to Five Hells Ranch with their offers to buy him out. No thank you, he’d told them, matching fake smile for fake smile and glibness for glibness. Five Hells isn’t for sale. No thanks, no thanks, no thanks.

He’d started telling them to fuck off when the offers began to arrive accompanied with veiled threats and the minions’ smiles became hard and cold, and he realized they weren’t going to take no for an answer. Eventually, they were going to escalate.

This was the first time they’d sent a lawyer. Rocky figured that meant escalation had arrived.

“Bring it, bitches,” he declared to Jez, her partially born calf, and the couple of other pregnant cows in the barn. He might be surrounded by Cavendish boomer ranches, but he’d die before he sold the ranch his great-grandparents had built up from the dust of this fucking planet.

The ring of boot heels on banjo wood announced the arrival of the Cavendish lawyer in the barn. Rocky kept his attention on his work, easing the last gangly, gory leg free from Jez’s uterus. “Just in time, Lawyerman. I’m gonna need that bulb there any minute now.” He nodded at the rubber suction bulb the size of his forearm lying at the ready in a bucket of warm water at the foot of the stepladder. “Hand it up to me when I tell you.”

He heard the queasy gulp and couldn’t decide whether to laugh or curse. In the end, he did neither, because Jez’s body spit out the rest of the calf with one last mighty contraction and Rocky had his hands full—literally—making sure the baby didn’t arrive dead of a broken neck. Boomers were tough, hardy animals, damn near impossible to kill, but their relatively long necks made a breech birth particularly dangerous.

A quick glance showed Rocky that Jackson had gone back to his work and Lawyerman wasn’t going to be any help. In fact, he looked sick.

With a deep sigh, Rocky climbed off the stepstool, the slippery new calf cradled in his arms. “Never mind. I got it.” He scooped the bulb out of the bucket, squeezed it flat, shoved the business end into the baby’s throat, and let the bulb reinflate.

He did it twice more, slurping out about half a liter of amniotic fluid and shooting it into the bucket, before the baby’s ribs expanded and it let out a high-pitched squeal. Rocky grinned. “There you go, little guy.” He carried the calf to Jez, who’d stretched out on the straw to rest after her ordeal, and laid him at her teat to suckle. “I think I’ll name him Squeaky. What d’you think, Lawyerman?”

The silence behind him was absolute. He turned, raising his eyebrows at the human cog in the Cavendish machine. The man stood rooted to the floor, mouth hanging open beneath a thick black mustache shot through with silver, dark eyes wide. He blinked and focused a curious gaze on Rocky. “Do you name all of them?”

Rocky shrugged. “I used to. But there’s too many of ’em these days. Now I only name the ones I deliver myself.” He scratched Jezabell’s long nose when she lifted her head. “I’ve delivered all of hers. She almost always has breech babies. Don’t you, old girl?”

The lawyer studied Jez with intense interest for a second, then stared at Rocky like he’d done something fascinating. “Isn’t it dangerous to deliver them yourself? Why don’t you call the veterinarian to do it?”

Okay, that was a surprise. Cavendish minions had never shown any concern for Rocky’s boomers before, except as profit the company wasn’t getting. It intrigued him to the point where he almost didn’t notice the other thing wrong with what Shellenbarger had said.

“We don’t have a vet out here, mister.” Rocky pointed a still-bloody finger at the man. “You can thank your bosses for that.”

Shellenbarger shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Peering into his eyes, Rocky saw honest puzzlement. “Wow, they don’t tell you people much, do they?” He strolled over to the sink, turned on the water with his elbow and scrubbed his hands under the lukewarm flow. “All the Cavendish ranches employ their own vets. I can’t afford one. So I’ve learned how to take care of my animals myself.”

Lawyerman’s eyebrows pulled together. “But I met the local veterinarian. He drove me from the train station into town.”

The light dawned then, and Rocky laughed so hard his stomach hurt, while Shellenbarger’s cheeks went red. “Sorry,” he gasped when he could breathe again. “But Dr. Kage isn’t a vet. He’s a retired proctologist. He likes to have a little fun with any new people who come around. The last newbie who showed up thought he was a famous brain surgeon for a whole fucking month. Oh, man.” He turned off the water and rubbed his wet hands over his face. The coolness felt good. “Okay, Shellenbarger. Let’s get to the point. If you’re here to make me an offer for the ranch, you can turn your fancy ass right around and go back to Danu, ’cause Five Hells is not now nor will it ever be, for sale.” He crossed his arms and aimed a your move, asshole look at the Cavendish man.

Shellenbarger sighed as if the whole thing was a terrible burden. He took off his wide-brimmed black hat and wiped sweat from his forehead with a linen cloth from his coat pocket. Strands of black hair escaped from his neat ponytail—the latest style for men in the Galactic Center, Rocky had heard—to curl around high cheekbones and a strong jaw. He was handsome, Rocky realized. Tall, wide-shouldered, narrow-hipped, big dark eyes and a lower lip Rocky kind of wanted to suck on like a hard candy.

Too bad he was a pampered Center fancy. Would probably cry like a baby if he got a damned splinter. Rocky had no patience with that sort.

Or maybe that was good. The last thing Rocky needed was to get sexually involved with one of Cavendish’s people.

“I’m not here to make you an offer,” Fancy Pants said, breaking the stretch of quiet and startling Rocky out of his musings.

“Okay. That’s new.” Rocky scratched his neck where the sweat ran down from his hairline into his collar. “What the hell’re you doing here, then?”

Fancy drew himself up straight and held his hat in front of his chest like a shield. The effect was strangely formal, and apprehension curled in Rocky’s stomach.

The man licked his lips and stared directly into Rocky’s eyes. “I’m truly sorry, Mr. Flint. But Cavendish isn’t asking this time. They’re taking you to court, and they’re taking Five Hells Ranch.”

Down, now available

Down_400x600My long-awaiting horror novel Down is now officially available from Riptide Publishing. Excitement! Yay! Go forth and purchase! Also, don’t forget to follow along with the blog tour this week. Drop by and comment on any of the blog stops for a chance to win a $15 Riptide store credit.

Read the first three chapters and buy the book on the Riptide website. Also available on Amazon and B&N, and probably your other favorite third party retailers as well.

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© Copyright 2015 Ally Blue

Seven thousand meters below the ocean’s surface, the crew of the BathyTech 3 mineral mining facility has found something remarkable: a rock-like sphere of unknown material and origin.

For Mo Rees, the discovery calls to his inner explorer and adds color to his dull miner’s life. Even better than the promise of new knowledge is the unexpected connection he forges with Dr. Armin Savage-Hall, leader of the team brought down to study the thing.

For Armin, the object is the find of a lifetime. It could prove his controversial theories and secure his scientific reputation. And Mo is a fascinating bonus.

Then crew members start behaving strangely. Worse, they start to change: their eyes glow purple, their teeth sharpen. Then the violence begins, the brutal deaths. As BathyTech descends deeper into chaos, the surviving crew works desperately to find the cause of the horrors around them. What they uncover could annihilate the human race. And they can’t stop it.

Down blog tour, coming soon to an internet tube near you!

Down_TourBannerMy first full-lenth horror novel, Down, releases from Riptide Publishing on April 20th, and I’ll be touring around the internet to celebrate and talk about my awesome new book. Please come and join me on my blog tour! There will be a prize! Also many awesome and fascinating posts written by me 😀 Here’s the tour schedule. I hope to see y’all around the webs!

(p.s. You can read the first couple of chapters and pre-order the book for a discount on the Riptide website!)

April 20, 2015  –  The Novel Approach
April 20, 2015  –  Rainbow Gold Reviews
April 21, 2015  –  Prism Book Alliance
April 22, 2015  –  Love Bytes Reviews
April 22, 2015  –  Book Reviews and More by Kathy
April 23, 2015  –  Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
April 23, 2015  –  MM Good Book Reviews
April 24, 2015  –  TTC Books and More

 

Cover Reveal: Butt Riders on the Range

ButtRidersOnTheRange_cvr (Final)The upcoming cowboy-themed anthology Butt Riders on the Range — releasing April 29th from Wilde City Press — has a cover! Isn’t it lovely? Mmmmm. **admires** This multi-author anthology contains “The Five Hells War,” my futuristic outer space version of the Fancy Man from Back East Comin’ Ta Take Mah Ranch tale. As soon as I get through edits, I’ll post an excerpt. In the meantime, here’s the blurb for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

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Do you imagine blazing gun battles, bandits, and saloons with watered-down drinks when you think of cowboys and the West? We don’t. Our minds go right to horse shifters, bull shifters, were-leopards, urban wannabes, an interrupted journey along Route 66, a man of mystery named Dr. Feel-Good, and high noon at the edge of the galaxy! The fourth time’s the charm as the Butt-Thology authors saddle up, ride their men hard, and put ‘em away wet.

Butt Riders on the Range…the bulls aren’t the only ones being grabbed by the horns!

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Check it out on the Wilde City website, and bookmark for the release!

Website update!

Yep, I’ve updated the Work In Progress page, making it a WIP/Coming Soon page and adding some stuff to it as well as updating the existing stuff. Also added a page for Down, with cover goodness, blurbage, and excerpt, so go check it out! You can also go see a really super long excerpt on the Riptide website, and I’m including the cover here for your viewing pleasure because, come on. LOOK AT IT! It’s fabulous, right? **admires**

Down_400x600

Fiction With Friction Reboot

For many years, my critique partners and I had a group blog called Fiction With Friction. It was a lot of fun and we loved it. Hopefully our readers loved it too. It ran its course, and we closed it a few months ago. Now we’ve rebooted it as a Facebook group. The basic idea is the same — we’ll all post about our books, our writing, our new releases, etc. Maybe we’ll even resurrect the fun and popular holiday short stories 🙂 It’s a work in progress! In fact, we haven’t even settled on a header yet, LOL. But we’re excited to have our little group back in a shiny new space. Come on over, join the group, and say hi!

Cover reveal for DOWN

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the cover for my upcoming horror novel Down (releasing from Riptide Publishing in April 2015), it’s finally here! The awesome blog Horror Novel Reviews is hosting an exclusive cover reveal today. Check it out right here!

Also, Down is now available for pre-order on the Riptide website. Go forth and order for cheap, and get your name in the hat for free Riptide books for a year!

FYI…

Dear readers, the Samhain website has undergone an overhaul in the past few days. It’s looking pretty spiffy — go and see! — but the links for the books have changed. Which means me going through my website and changing aaaaaaallll my Samhain book links from the old ones to the new ones. Seeing as how I have a fair number of books with them, this may take a while. Y’all bear with me.

And please, if you notice any Samhain book links that take you to a maintenance image rather than an active book page, feel free to email me or contact me through the form here on my website and let me know. Just give me a couple of days first to switch them all over 🙂 Thanks in advance for your patience! Hugs to all!

GRL authors FREE books – cover reveal

Okay, y’all, listen up. Last year at GRL, the supporting authors all got together to give away an awesome book of excerpts and short stories to all the folks who came to the signing. This year, featured and supporting authors will each be giving away books chock full of fabulous excerpts and original short stories. Yay! Anyone who’s in the Chicago area next month for the supporting author signing on October 16th and/or the featured author signing on October 18th, please stop by and pick up your free copy! Both booksignings are open to the public.

Here’s the cover for the featured author’s book. Isn’t it gorgeous? The one for the attending authors is similar, the colors are just a little different. Artist is the very talented LC Chase 🙂

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000037_00019]

Ally Update – GRL and more

Hello dear readers, I hope y’all are doing well 🙂  Just wanted to give you a little update on what I’ve been doing in my Sooper Exciting Author Life. Har. Firstly, I’ll be attending the GayRomLit retreat next month at Indian Lakes Resort just outside Chicago, and I’ll be selling/signing books at the featured author signing on Saturday, October 18th from 2-5 p.m. The conference itself is sold out, but the book signing is open to the public, so if you’re in the area please come on over and see me! You can buy books on site or bring your own to have signed. Folks will be there to stamp books with invisible ink to indicate that they were brought in by you so that you don’t end up having to pay for them again. Tons of fabulous authors will be there so if you’re in the area it’ll be an awesome opportunity to see them and collect signatures!

Details of the book signing, including a list of authors who will be there, can be found here on the GRL website.

In other news, I’m nearing the end of edits on my first horror novel, Down, tentatively scheduled for release from Riptide Publishing in the spring of 2015. It has been a massive journey, to say the least, ha, but my critique partners (who are also my best friends in the world) and the wonderful folks at Riptide have helped me along the way SO much, and I’m super proud of the end product. And OMG, y’all, JUST WAIT until you see the cover! I’ll share it here as soon as I’m allowed. It’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

I’m also working on two other projects: a short story for the upcoming Butt Riders On The Range project, with my crew from the Butt Ninjas From Hell anthology, with a planned release from Wilde City probably in May; and the next book in the Mojo Mysteries series, tentatively titled Myth Adventures, not yet contracted as I’m still in the initial writing-polishing-and-planning stages. That one is set in Atlanta, GA, at the totally fabulous OutlantaCon conference, which I like to describe as Dragon Con’s gay little brother. If you haven’t been to that conference, you should go. It’s pretty much my favorite. Totally relaxed and friendly, laid back, lots of fun.

That’s what’s going on with me. I hope I’ll see some of you in Chicago!

Hell On Earth is HERE!

Not in an End Times way. In the sense that my latest book is now up for sale, yaaaaaaay!!!!

That’s right, boys and girls, both and neither, Hell On Earth (Hellscape book 2) is now available in the usual ebook formats for your reading pleasure on Samhain Publishing, Amazon, B&N, and possibly your other favorite 3rd party ebook retailers as well (you’ll have to check; it’s not on all of them yet). I’m extra super excited about it, too, because I LOVE the Hellscape universe, I love this book, and I particularly love my boy Sandman. He’s fascinated me ever since he popped up in book one, Hell’s End, and threatened to steal the show. Now he has his very own story, and I could not be more thrilled to share it with the world 🙂 Read on for the blurb and an excerpt. You can read a different excerpt right here on my website, or read chapter one (slightly edited for Sandman’s bad language, ha) on the Samhain website. Enjoy!

© Copyright 2014 Ally Blue

Hell On Earth

Hell On Earth

Two prisoners. One forgotten planet. A secret that twists justice beyond all recognition.

All Sandman wants is to get away from his violent past on Hell’s End, but trouble follows him, leaving him with more blood on his hands and a one-way ticket aboard a crewless prison transport on a pre-set course for Deimos.

By the time he realizes the transport’s actual destination is a mystery, there’s only one other prisoner he can trust. He doesn’t like it, or the things Vijay makes him feel. Caring makes you weak. Makes you easy to hurt. And Sandman’s never been easy, or weak.

Vijay is focused on what he’s always done best. Survival. But Sandman is an enigma, fearless in battle yet terrified of tight spaces. Vijay finds himself longing to break through the fierce young warrior’s shell.

After crash landing on an uncharted planet, they stumble on the justice system’s dirty little secret—the Farm, where prisoners go in but never come out. When the Farm’s threat gets personal, Sandman and Vijay each test the limits of endurance to protect the man at his back—and in his heart.

[Warning: This book contains spaceships, soldiers, good guys, bad guys, solar system politics, and a one-eyed Gutter with an attitude. ]

 

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Sandman followed, twirling his knife between his fingers while Vijay pulled water pouches and protein bars out of the backpack. They sat side by side on the filthy floor with their backs against the wall and ate in silence. Outside, the wind-driven rain pelted the building with a tick-tick-tick like an endless barrage of tiny pebbles. Thunder boomed in the distance, farther away each time. Vijay couldn’t even see the lightning anymore.

“D’you think there’ll be real sunlight when the storm goes away?”

Something in the way Sandman spoke made Vijay study his profile long enough to earn himself a back-off glare. Vijay ignored it, because he knew a defense mechanism when he saw one. He’d heard the faint thread of longing and fear in his companion’s voice, and seen it echoed in the tightness around the boy’s mouth. “I have no idea. But I hope so. Our supplies won’t last forever. Eventually, we’ll have to hunt, and if there’s no sun, that means nothing to eat.”

If Sandman felt any reaction to that, he kept it to himself. He turned his head to peer across the room. At this angle, Vijay couldn’t see his intact eye, only the yellow smiley-face ball in his right eye socket. The effect of the artificially cheery bit of rubber combined with his stillness was eerie. Vijay fought the urge to turn the boy’s face toward his, so he could see Sandman’s single eye with its constant spark of hot, defiant life.

“You should get some sleep.” Sandman rose to his feet, the movement smooth and graceful, still twirling his knife in one hand. When he turned around, his expression was blank. Cold. Except for the fire that never went out of that one brilliant blue eye. “I’ll keep watch.”

Vijay hesitated, though he wasn’t sure why. One of them would have to watch while the other slept. They would not survive this world if they didn’t trust one another at least that much. Finally, when Sandman’s free hand balled into a fist, Vijay nodded. “Yes, all right. Promise you’ll wake me when you get tired, though.”

Sandman’s eyebrows shot up, as if Vijay had surprised him somehow. “I will.”

Since Sandman didn’t seem to expect any further conversation and Vijay wouldn’t have known what to say in any case, he scooted into the curve of the half-wall and curled onto his side with his back against the cool stone and his face toward the gap through which he and Sandman had entered the space. He didn’t doubt Sandman’s abilities as a guard, but Vijay figured it couldn’t hurt for him to get in as strategic a position as possible before going to sleep.

If he could sleep. His body felt tense as a spring, his mind racing in spirals. Sleep seemed impossible. But they couldn’t travel in this rain that burned their skin, so now was the time to rest.

Calling on the skills born of a childhood rife with poverty and uncertainty, Vijay shut his eyes and breathed the tightness from his muscles. He focused on the din of the rain hitting the side of the building and tried to pretend it came from one of the tame storms generated by Mars’s engineered atmosphere. He lay there on the cold, dirty floor, one arm bent beneath his head, and let the sound sink through his skin, into his brain, quieting his runaway thoughts. It pounded like a thousand wild drums, like a terrified pulse hammering out of control, like small fists and feet on the inside of a coffin lid when the fire rages outside, like the crackle of flames when they eat away the wood and start on the naked skin of your shoulder and side…

Vijay woke with the scream on his tongue stifled under the unyielding grip of a strong, cool hand over his mouth. He struggled for a second before the nightmare faded, the real world returned and he remembered where he was. Relieved, he relaxed against Sandman’s chest. One of the boy’s arms banded both of his across his waist and the other hand kept an iron grip on his mouth.

Sandman’s hair brushed Vijay’s neck as he leaned close enough to put his lips to Vijay’s ear. “Someone’s in here. Stay put and be quiet.”

Vijay didn’t get a chance to argue. Sandman was already gone, slipping in a crouched stance toward the opening between the stone barrier and the wall on swift, silent feet, his knife in a confident grip and his gaze trained with impressive concentration on something beyond Vijay’s line of vision.

In that moment, Sandman resembled nothing so much as one of the predators that had roamed this planet long ago, creeping up on their prey and inflicting a killing blow before the unsuspecting victim knew what stalked it. Vijay found the sight arresting. He watched the flex of Sandman’s wiry body beneath the thin, still-damp prison shirt and licked his lips.

A high-pitched screech cut the air, followed by another, and another. The echoes were still bouncing around the room when the owners of the voices hit in a blur of rags, weapons and eye-watering stench. Sandman ducked beneath one leaping body, lunged in and slashed at it with his knife in one smooth motion. He was already up and whirling toward the next one in the half second it took Vijay to realize that the first attacker lay twitching on the floor, mouth opening and closing while her—definitely her—intestines slithered from the gaping wound in her belly.

It wasn’t like Vijay had never seen anyone die before. He’d been born and raised in the slums that covered nearly three-quarters of Callisto. Any child who made it to double digits there without having seen enough death to make it seem mundane was a rare creature indeed. But he’d never experienced death precisely like this. Never stared into someone’s eyes watching their life fade while they bled out not half a meter from his face.

People really did survive here. Whether from previous prison ships or not, this planet obviously still supported human life. He prayed he hadn’t just watched the last one die.

Sandman’s sudden appearance between him and the dying woman startled him into motion. He was on his feet with his stolen gun aimed at Sandman’s heart before he knew what he was doing.

Laughter was the last reaction he expected. He let the gun drop and leaned against the stone wall behind him, shaking. “What in the hell are you laughing at? I almost shot you.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t.” Still grinning like it was funny, Sandman raked his tangled blond hair out of his face. “Good to know you got the balls to pull a weapon when you need to, Numbers. I like it.”

Uncomfortable with the odd gleam in Sandman’s eye, Vijay glanced around. Two other people—people, by the gods, actual human beings—lay gutted on the floor. Killed by Sandman, presumably. The short but intense fight seemed to have burned off some of the excess energy that had surrounded him like a crackling cloud, leaving him relaxed and smiling. Almost like he’d just had amazing sex.

The comparison disturbed Vijay on a fundamental level, not least because thinking of sex and Sandman made him feel hot inside.

He shoved his gun back in his pocket, not daring to look the boy in the eye. “I told you not to call me Numbers. My name is Vijay.”

More laughter. Low, rough, skating over Vijay’s skin like textured fabric. He bit his lip.

As if he sensed Vijay’s discomfort, Sandman sidled so close Vijay could smell him, sweat and blood and the faint residue of the poisonous water where the ship had crashed. He leaned in so that his plump, full lips nearly touched the shell of Vijay’s ear. “Whatever makes you happy. Vijay.” He drew back, his angular cheek brushing Vijay’s, and turned away with a wicked smile.

Vijay tried to hold himself up on the stone wall without letting on how much Sandman’s blatant flirtation had affected him. By the gods, what had he gotten himself into?

The Real Story Safe Sex Project

ParkInTheDarkCover4So, there’s this awesome project going on. It’s called the Real Story Safe Sex Project, and it’s the brainchild of fabulous author Brent Hartinger. Basically, a bunch of gay romance authors (including yours truly!) have written short stories involving fun, hot, SAFE sex. All of the stories are and will forever remain FREE, on as many platforms as possible.

My own contribution is called “In The Park, In The Dark” and it’s now live on Smashwords. As soon as I work out what the trouble is with the cover image, I’ll get the story into their “premium catalog” and over onto the other platforms (Amazon, B&N, iBooks, etc). I’ll also create documents myself for direct download here, as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, head on over to Smashwords and download it for free in various formats. Enjoy!

Here’s a little snippet to whet your appetite *g* Read more about the Safe Sex Project here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What’s hotter than the beach at noon in June? Evander and Clark, in the park, in the dark.

Evander didn’t realize he wasn’t alone until after the fireworks ended.

The sound that gave it away wasn’t much—the soft scuff of sneakers on wood, barely louder than the rustle of the marsh grass. But it was enough to tell him he wasn’t the only one watching the show from this out-of-the-way boardwalk. He turned around, putting his back to the railing and his face to his unexpected company.

A tall boy in red board shorts and a yellow Piggly Wiggly t-shirt flashed a wide, bright smile in the almost-dark. “Hey. Good show, huh? But it always is, so no shock there.”

“It was great, yeah.” Since Evander hadn’t exactly made many friends on the island yet, he pushed away from the rail and edged closer to the other boy. “Do you come here every summer?”

Piggly Wiggly laughed. “Naw. I live here. Not far from the library.” He strolled toward Evander, one hand out in front of him. “I’m Clark Delancy. Pleased to meet you.”

“Evander Mercado.” They shook. Clark had a strong grip and adorable dimples in both smooth, dark cheeks. Evander smiled back. “This is my first time here. I’m working at the Mouse Mob resort for the summer.”

Clark’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah? I’m a waiter at San Miguel. We’re practically work neighbors.”

They both laughed. Evander wondered if they’d ever passed one another in the relentless tourist crowds at Shelter Cove Harbor, where Mouse Mob was located. It was a weird thing to consider, that they might’ve been close enough to touch one another before but neither had noticed the other until now, alone in this deserted park, in the deepening darkness of a summer night.

An awkward silence fell. Clark wandered over to the edge of the overlook and leaned on the railing. Evander did the same. He let his elbow touch Clark’s. The contact sent sparks along his skin.

It was daring, for him. He usually moved a lot slower when it came to reeling in a cute guy. But hell, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?