The Blog of Sid Love is hosting a giveaway event for the readers and fans. This is your chance to win some ebooks for FREE – written by some well known M/M authors! The event began on 15th April, 2013, now being the second week of this big event. “Chris Quinton”, “RJ Scott”, “G.A. Hauser” and their books are featured for this purpose and this will go on till 30th April.

Giveaway Contests that are still on:

CHRIS QUINTON: GIVEAWAY #7
RJ SCOTT: GIVEAWAY #8
G. A. HAUSER: GIVEAWAY #9

Ha! I bet you are surprised to see the two ladies once again for a giveaway. Well, authors are kind (you can beg to differ all you want) and you, the readers are going to feel loved by them.

Steph L. Danielson and Nephylim were on my blog last week, talking about their individual projects but today they are here to give away the books which they have penned together. The series “Upstaged” is the creation of these two great minds…

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Hey Sid, thanks for hosting the terrible twins. For our post we got out heads together and thought about the Upstaged series in particular, and other, solo works, and realised we have a propensity to write heroes with real flaws, so we thought it might be interesting to explore this a little more.

Nephy.

I remember reading a complaint somewhere – on a writer’s forum or a review from a reader, that heroes are all perfect. He of the chiselled body and perfect hair; she of the heaving bosom and flashing eyes.sure, for sheer escapism you can’t beat it. We all want to be perfect and part of us wants to read about people who are. On the other hand, we’re not all perfect and therefore, in order to have any pretence towards reality we have to have flawed heroes. And by that I don’t mean someone who finds it impossible to say ‘I love you’, or has commitment issues.

What I’m talking about is a really flawed hero, someone with physical or mental impairments that really gives them something to struggle with.

In Upstaged we have characters who are basically put through the ringer and deal with it in different ways. Dealing with my own character, Asher.  He starts off fairly unstable, suffering, I believe, from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from horrific events which happened in his past and led him to attempt suicide and spend time in a mental hospital.

Even when the series starts, three years later, he’d reacting to triggers and showing signs of instability. In book two he falls apart with panic attacks and slowly deteriorates through the series from there until he finds himself in very serious trouble indeed. This descent into madness is slow but steady and the people around him respond in very different ways, from anger to despair. He’s seen as moody, unreasonable, selfish and unfair even as he’s sliding towards his darkest moment and, in that I think he is representative of many who are struggling with mental health issues, an invisible illness that is often seen by others as something self absorbing and selfish.

In another book, “The Face in the Window” which I’m hoping will be released later this year, one of my two main characters is blind but in many of the situations the two protagonists find themselves in, he’s the one who takes control and who ‘sees’ the truth. He’s strong and brave, intelligent, funny and infinitely sensible. Through the book I think, I hope, we get the message that physical impairment doesn’t have to be a disability at all, at least not for Ace.

My quintessential work involving mental health issues has to be the Enigma series. It starts in a care home, where River a care assistant tries to draw the enigmatic Silver out from hiding completely inside his head after a hugely traumatic experience. Although, bit by bit, Silver emerges from his self imposed prison and, over the course of four books, gradually learns to live in the ‘real world’, he never quite overcomes the mental health issues that very nearly destroyed him. That, however, does not prevent just about everyone he comes into contact with, including me, falling in love with him.

So, why do people want to read about flawed characters? I think part of it is that it gives them hope. If someone like Asher, or Ace or Silver can fight through their problems and find love and happiness, there’s hope for anyone, no matter how imperfect they might be.

Steph

Mental illness. It’s a diagnosis that can make or break a person and sends images of pill-popping and suicides into our heads; but dealing with it myself (and living with it, my husband is bipolar) on a daily basis; my characters became it as well.

When I wrote “For the Heart of Phillip” I did a not-so-ordinary thing; I made the main character bipolar and highly unstable when it came to relationships and romance. The whole story, he deals with these demons and how to cope with being in love with two totally different men. He can’t make a decision to save his life, thinks about attempting suicide more than once, and is overall just a mess when it comes to dealing with highly intense emotions.

Another character of mine, Bernard, was also suicidal, and had attempted it four times already. He is obese, a virgin, and has never been in love, at least where it was returned. He was a ‘throwaway’ as far as society was concerned and he almost made himself a statistic.

Even in the Upstaged series; Billy, who is seen as stable, upbeat, carefree, and absolutely vibrant, at some point, his emotions are tested and the truth comes out; and he is deeply depressed, enough to want to attempt suicide.

Mental illness is no laughing matter; take it from me. By putting these real life maladies into our tales, we not only bring awareness, but also show that despite things going wrong with our brain chemistry and our lives, they are loveable and with the right help, can cope with their illness and daily lives.

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WIN UPSTAGED BOOKS

(Click the images to read more about them)

To win this series for free, answer the question below:

The two main characters in Upstaged are from different countries, the same countries as the co authors. Which countries are they?

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To win this contest and take home a free copy of the Upstaged series, reply to this post in the following format:

Name*:

Email ID*:

Your Answer*:

Message to the authors:

Feilds marked * are necessary

Please note that all the comments for this contest will be under moderation and hidden from public view till 28th April, 2013.

Contest deadline: SUNDAY – 4/28/2013 – 11:59 PM Central Time

So HURRY!

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Nephylim’s Blog || Nephylim on Facebook || Nephylim on Twitter

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