Love Bytes says welcome to author Ally Blue joining us today on her Riptide Blog Tour for new release “The Secret of Hunter’s Bog”

Hi y’all! I’m Ally Blue. Welcome to my blog tour for my newest book, The Secret of Hunter’s Bog. Thank you for stopping by. Be sure to comment on this post, or any of the posts on the tour, for a chance to win a full set of my Mojo Mysteries series—Demon Dog, A Ghost Most Elusive, and Myth Adventures—in the winner’s choice of electronic format. Read on and enjoy!

This book began with a cab full of authors and editors and my overactive imagination.

We were attending the GayRomLit conference in Chicago in 2014. Fertile ground for any creative endeavor, with so many talented people to talk to. The awesome folks from Riptide Publishing were taking us authors out for dinner one night. The restaurant was a little ways away from the hotel, so we all piled into cabs and away we went. At some point during the drive, we passed a dreary, empty, sort-of-swampy-looking area. It was mysterious. It was creepy. It was severely out of place in the suburban sprawl through which we traveled. It was across the street from a strip mall, which was just weird. It was clearly and obviously haunted, said my fed-on-horror-since-childhood brain.

Now, I’m a writer. You knew that. Being a writer, I make things up all the time. And being a fan of spooky stuff of all kinds since before I can remember, my mind-gears were grinding like crazy, churning out story ideas left and right about that haunted swamp. Naturally, being a writer in a vehicle literally stuffed full of other writers and editors—laps were being utilized here, that’s all I’m saying—I had to share my ideas. Such as, what if the strip mall was next to this haunted swamp instead of across the road? Because then one of the shop owners could see a ghost in the swamp, or even in the mall itself. And on and on and on.

Writers and editors being the creative creatures we are, the whole car got in on the action. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, I had one of my main characters, Koichi McNab, sketched out in my head, though I didn’t know his name yet, and I’d pretty much promised my editor this book. At that time we were calling it the Haunted Strip Mall story, although, in the usual way of such things, it ended up being not really that at all. The original germ of the story grew and developed into what is, in my opinion, something even better.

One of the questions writers are asked most often, I think, is “Where do you get your inspiration/story ideas?” For me, anyway, the answer is usually as simple as the inspiration for The Secret of Hunter’s Bog: an out-of-place marsh, an interesting face in a crowd, a crumbling shack that catches the light just so. A familiar song at the right time. Anything can spark a story, if your mind is open to it.

Thanks for reading, everyone. And big thanks to my host today for letting me post on your blog!

About The Secret of Hunter’s Bog

For Koichi McNab, the shop he and his twin sister Kimmy are opening in Hunter’s Bog Mall is a fresh start after their old one burned down. A way to move on. Especially when he meets the hunky owner of the luxury camping goods store next door. Koichi’s never been an outdoorsy guy, but Will Hood just might change his mind.

Will came to Southern Alabama to establish his own life away from his big, intrusive family—and in hopes of finding Anthony, the lover who vanished two years ago. But meeting Koichi throws everything off-kilter. Anthony was a long time ago. Koichi’s right here, smart and funny and cute, and Will wants him.

As Koichi and Will become friends, then lovers, Will’s past and Koichi’s present tangle into a dangerous knot that brings them face-to-face with secrets, theft, treachery . . . maybe even murder. With their lives on the line, their only way to safety is together.

Riptide Publishing

Amazon

About Ally Blue

Ally Blue is acknowledged by the world at large (or at least by her heroes, who tend to suffer a lot) as the Popess of Gay Angst.

She has a great big suggestively-shaped hat and rides in a bullet-proof Plexiglas bubble in Christmas parades. Her harem of manwhores does double duty as bodyguards and inspirational entertainment. Her favorite band is Radiohead, her favorite color is lime green and her favorite way to waste a perfectly good Saturday is to watch all three extended version LOTR movies in a row.

Her ultimate dream is to one day ditch the evil day job and support the family on manlove alone. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Connect with Ally:

Website: allyblue.com

Twitter: @PopessAllyBlue

Tumblr: therealallyblue.tumblr.com

Facebook fan page: facebook.com/pages/Ally-Blue/98548113963

Facebook profile page: facebook.com/AllyBlue.author

Group blog: fictionwithfriction.com

Goodreads: goodreads.com/PopessAllyBlue

Leave a comment for a chance to win a full set of Ally’s Mojo Mysteries series—Demon Dog, A Ghost Most Elusive, and Myth Adventures—in the winner’s choice of electronic format. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on March 12, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!