Today we at Love Bytes are extremely honored to have the opportunity to post the Exclusive cover of Rooster & Pig Publishing new upcoming release , ONE TWO THREE SHATTER By JOEY JAMES HOOK!

Check out their site here: Rooster & Pig Publishing

Also we have the author himself here for an interview AND we have an exclusive excerpt of the story 🙂

Welcome Joey!

 

Describe yourself only using song lyrics?

Oh man, I love too much music for this question. I’m gonna try though. I’m so crazy, but I just may be the type of personality that compliments your style. I’m at home in the clouds, and towering over your head. Show me the way, allow me to see cause my heart is broken. Be my escape, allow me to hear with a word unspoken. (Get Scared – For You, All Time Low – Remembering Sunday, Attack Attack! – Smokahontas)

What gave you the idea for One, Two, Three Shatter?

Honestly it was the character of Kaleb that spurred me on to writing the novel. He just popped up one day in my head fully formed and he wouldn’t let me rest until I’d written his incredibly detailed and dark back story.

If you could choose anyone in the world, who would you sleep with?

Oh jeez. I’m gonna do one of either gender because I’m pansexual. For a girl, I’m gonna have to go with Emilia Clarke. For a guy, that’s so much more difficult. First one that comes to mind is Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon. It’s the tattoos, man.

Your characters are stranded on a dessert island, and have only floss and a vat of petroleum jelly. What do they do?

Kaleb would probably get really, really angry and throw the petroleum jelly across the desert cursing up a storm. Trent would definitely try and figure out how to make something useful out of it, but I dunno how successful he’d be. Can’t make much out of that, can you?

Your main character is on a shopping spree with $50.00 and has to buy the perfect gift for the other main character. What would that gift be?

Trent would likely be the better gift-giver, so he’d probably buy Kaleb drawing supplies, such as high-quality pencils and graphite, charcoals maybe, and some big canvases.

What is your main character’s favorite sexual position?

Gonna have to go with missionary because it’s the least triggering of the positions. Kaleb can keep his eye on Trent at all times, so he enjoys it more.

If your life was a soap opera, what would be the title?

Something to do with leprechauns, I think. That’s one of my nicknames. Unfortunately, though, I don’t think my life’s interesting enough to be a soap opera!

Out of all of your characters, which do you love the most?

Oh that’s not fair. I love Kaleb because he’s just such a broken bird, but I love Trent because of how much he loves Kaleb and seems to know intrinsically what he needs without Kaleb speaking up because he doesn’t actually do that. So, I’m cheating and the answer is that I love them both equally.

Have you ever written someone you don’t like in real life into a book? If so, what did you do to them?

I have, and I killed them in a vicious, incredibly bloody manner. This manuscript hasn’t seen the light of day, though, and I think I may have lost it with my last computer crash, which sucks because it was a good death.

If you could go back in time and give your twelve year old self some advice, what would it be?

Deep breaths, and it gets better. You’ll figure yourself out eventually. Cliche, but honestly it’s probably what twelve year old me needed to hear.

 

 

Did you become curious yet ?

Well Here it is !!

 

BLURB: 

Life was harsh and cruel to Kaleb Xander from very early on, and he was never given a moment’s rest to breathe and recover from the misery. Once freed from years in a cage of wrath and perverted lust, he found the real world to be a mere step up from what he was used to. Abuse was simply coming in different guises and through new avenues now.

All it should take is one person to reach out their hand and save this lost soul – but Kaleb is more complicated than that. It’ll take a miracle, and he’s banking on someone to be just that for him before he gives it all up

 

Jeff had called Kaleb and told him to take the day off, and he’d work the evening shift. Yet he went to Spyder anyway around eleven, intent on being a customer instead. He grinned when he stepped up to the bar, watching Jeff work.

The guy made it look so easy, he mused with a soft chuckle.

Jeff turned and smiled at Kaleb, shaking his head. “I gave you the day off,” he remarked.

Kaleb just shrugged. “I know, but I’ve never actually been here as just a customer.”

Jeff laughed, amusement dancing in his bright eyes as he started to make another customer’s drink. Kaleb had always liked watching his friend work.

“So, you want a straight shot, Shotgun, or beer?” Jeff asked while passing off a Plasma Cutter to another customer.

Kaleb pondered for a moment, chewing his lip as he went through the three options. “Let’s start hard and go for a Shotgun,” he decided with a nod.

Jeff turned and pulled the whiskeys down, pouring one right after the other before floating the last shot and sliding it to Kaleb.

“Thanks, man.” Kaleb picked up the shot glass and tossed it back easily.

He was good and drunk by the time the crowd started thinning out. Chin on his forearm, he watched as Jeff started cleaning up the glasses littering the bar. He licked his lips, humming to himself.

“So, how’s Kitty or Moon or whatever the fuck your girlfriend’s name is?” he asked.

Jeff laughed, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair, which had obviously been recently re-dyed. “Her name’s Maggie, and she’s fine,” Jeff said through his laughter, shaking his head as Kaleb gave him a broad grin. “Hey, Trent.”

Kaleb looked over. Trent sat right next to him, and he blinked. He leaned over and poked at the man’s arm lightly, snickering before he bit his lip, looking up at Trent with the same broad grin.

“You are so drunk, dude,” Trent said with one of his damned dimpled grins.

For once, Kaleb didn’t have the filter to stop himself from reaching up and poking his index finger into the soft cave.

“What are you doing?”

“Poking your dimple, dude. They’re really deep…” Kaleb trailed off, the pad of his finger pressing against Trent’s cheek as their eyes met. Kaleb blinked slowly and his head canted, his tongue sliding over his bottom lip in a quick movement that almost seemed sluggish in his mind. He’d forgotten they were anywhere. He was just… staring, and he couldn’t stop.

“Kaleb…?”

Jeff’s voice was far away, somewhere to the left, but Kaleb couldn’t look away from the deep mirrors of Trent’s eyes. He was caught, helplessly so, and he wasn’t so sure it was a bad thing anymore. He dropped his hand from Trent’s face and glanced over his shoulder to a curious-looking Jeff.

“Gimme another, would ya, Jeff?” he asked, looking down once Jeff nodded slowly. When he heard the ‘clink’ of the glass against the bar, he looked up with a smile before downing the next shot, too.

“You sure you need any more?” Trent teased.

Kaleb laughed, shaking his head and leaning his arm against Trent’s, letting his head loll against Trent’s shoulder as he grinned up. “Yes, I honestly think I need more. I can still think, and that… that means I haven’t had enough yet, don’t ya know?” Kaleb replied with a wider grin, laying his head on the bar and looking up at Trent with wide eyes, batting his lashes in an over exaggerated gesture. Trent laughed out in a husky burst, and Kaleb’s expression only widened. “I… like your laugh.”

“I like yours, too,” Trent said, smiling as Jeff slid his beer to him. He grabbed it and took a swig, but Kaleb reached out and got the glass, pulling it away from Trent with a grin and taking a swig of it before handing it back. The bouncer laughed and shook his head. “You are something else.”

“So… I’ve been told,” Kaleb said with a nod. He was a bit more out of his mind tonight, wasn’t he? He was completely comfortable with his half-lying position, looking up at Trent and Jeff through his lashes.

Trent leaned closer and smiled. Kaleb could feel the man’s breath against his cheek, and it made him shiver and bite his lip. “You really are too cute when you’re like this.”

The husky murmur made his spine straighten. He lifted his head off the bar, looking over slowly. Their gazes connected again, and he swallowed hard, cocking his head to the side as he exhaled sharply through parted lips.

“Thanks.” He kept his gaze on Trent’s, letting himself get momentarily lost in the color. “Your eyes are really, really pretty.”

“Yours are, too.”

Trent’s voice was so low, it seemed to be hitting octaves which coincided with the nerves in Kaleb’s back because another shiver chased the first one. Kaleb’s mouth went dry, his breathing picked up, and he did nothing to try and regulate it. His heart beat hard against his ribcage, and he wondered whether bones could bruise. The thought was absurd, of course they could bruise. He’d have bruises on his ribs from this.

“Would you kiss me again?” Kaleb asked.

 

Joey James Hook is a twenty-something-year old man who lives in anywhere he wishes, currently Sacramento but who knows, it could change next week.  Among his favorite things to do are reading, writing, and listening to loud music, which is where he finds most of his inspiration.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/joeyjamesh

Website (out of date) – http://joeyjameshook.webs.com/

Facebook ‘like’ page – https://www.facebook.com/JoeyJamesHook

Blog – http://jjhook.blogspot.com/