Howdy! Kelly Wyre (rhymes with) here today on Sid Love’s site to talk about shoes and ships and sealing wax, books and MMA fighting rings! I’m ever-so-grateful to Dani & Sid for hosting my humble chaos, and am thankful for you, too, for stopping by.

And this is where I, Kelly Wyre, take both sets of chess pieces in hand and play both sides of the Q&A board! Shenanigans… BEGIN!

So what’s up, Kelly?
Oh, not much. World domination, organizing my sock drawer, and celebrating a new book coming out today, March 4th from Loose Id Publishing.

Dude! That’s awesome. What’s it about?
Well, I could tell you. But I think Lego Fury and Nathan might want to give it a go.

Well, thank you for that. And now that we have that infernal song stuck in our heads, let’s talk about sacrifice.
Oh, now you’re speaking my language. Flora, goat, or virginal princess?

…ah, er. *cough* No, no. I mean sacrifice in principle.
…oh fine. Ruin the fun, why don’t you. Keep it up and we’ll be neck-deep in weeping under-sexed princesses before you can say “Unleash the Kracken.” And don’t you dare say I didn’t warn you.

…If we can be serious for a moment…
That’s really highly doubtful.

I know. I ask so much.
You really do, you know. It’s so hard to channel the calm in this cave of horny, naked men.

I can only imagine.
And I don’t have to. *waggles eyebrows…sighs…shushes the horde… concentrates*

While you’re finding, ah, center, I’ll say again that sacrifice does seem to be a theme in your novel, and I was wondering if you could tell us a little about that.
Well, I can start by saying the book is the most aptly named novel I’ve written to date. The characters are fighting all over the place: with themselves, with their ideologies, for and with each other, and quite literally in the MMA ring. The fights are central to the plot because the story’s really all about struggling to acknowledge who each of them really is and how each of them wants to be. And all along the way are sacrifices in the name of truth. The guys sacrifice their morals, their bodies, their families, their integrity… And that sounds like the book’s about a bunch of debased heathens, but, in reality, they start out sacrificing the good parts of themselves on the altar of All the Wrong Reasons, and by the end, they’ve realized they need to sacrifice their false idols in order to pay homage to their individual truth.

Which is all a fancy way of saying: they give up a whole lot to be accepted, realize that ain’t working, and then they give up the lies so they can be who they really are.

So, safe to assume this isn’t your typical boy-meets-boy-kisses-boy-overcomes-angst-lives happily ever after kind of book?
Well, I think in a way it is, but I think it’s also about reminding ourselves of the virtues we really want to value and giving up pretense that isn’t working for us anymore. Being honest has a way of carving out the stuff and the people in your life that shouldn’t be there, and that’s… well. Hard. In a word.

Indeed. Safe to assume you were working on some of that, yourself, while writing this book?
Very safe to assume. I was trying to regain balance for all kinds of reasons, and the writing of this book and the boys, Fury and Nathan, really helped me to do that. I can only hope that some of the good side of that struggle shows through for readers. And that they, you know, think the guys are clever and hot.

Oh, we have faith in you. Thank you for sharing that. Anything else you’d like to say before we go to covers, blurbs, and excerpts, oh my?
YES! I’m running a contest to celebrate the new release over on my blog. I’m giving away three ebook copies of the book, and those winners will also receive a free MP3 file of me reading one of the juicer bits of my novel, (and don’t worry; I’ve got years of experience reading erotica and doing my very best When Harry Met Sally routine). And one other lucky winner will be eligible for the GRAND PRIZE: the ebook, the audio file, and the Lego versions of Fury and Nathan featured in that video up above. All details are over on my site.

So comment here to enter to win, dear readers! And don’t forget to include your email info so Kelly can let you know if you’ve won. Now for the last and all-important question: Where can we buy a copy of FIGHT?
You can get your copy RIGHT HERE! And here’s a little more about the book and me, myself, and the too-honest I.

Fight by Kelly Wyre – The truth is worth anything and everything you’ve got.

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Fight
To Nathan Hunt, honesty is anything but the best policy. Telling the truth has gotten him nothing but heartache and pain; so lying about who he is and what he wants seems to be the only path to job security and friends. Hell, it even brings him a hollow kind of happiness.

Except, that’s not much of a life for any man. Especially one with Nathan’s passion. Desperate to cure his self-made misery, Nathan agrees to go along with a con that will score cash for Nathan to start over. There’s just one problem: lying is getting harder by the day. And a con who can’t lie, is a con who gets caught.

Nathan’s attempts to distract himself from his moral quandary lead him to a mysterious, intoxicating man named Fury. The Mixed Martial Arts fighter knows a thing or two about lies and pasts better left buried. He and Nathan have something else in common – they both want to be with someone who lets them be themselves.

Together, they undertake a journey that proves honesty is more dangerous and more difficult than either of them could have imagined. And as they combat addiction, thugs, guns, and their own inner demons, Nathan and Fury can only hope that their battle to be together will be worth the bitter fight.

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Excerpt:
Nathan registered the look of dulled shock in Duke’s eyes, and a presence manifested next to them. Nathan shoved Duke away but didn’t do anything else. He was too busy staring up at Fury and fighting for control.

Fury leveled a gaze on Nathan but didn’t say a word or lift a hand. He had on jeans, a checkered shirt, and a long coat that was stretched taut across his shoulders.

“Oh, hey…hey, Fury.” Duke straightened his clothing, but he was the rabbit cornered in the hunt. “Didn’t… Man, I didn’t see you.”

Fury swiveled his head and glowered. Duke backed up, smart enough to read a cold trail. “We cool, man. We all cool, here. Nate? You know where to find me if you need me, right?”

Nathan struggled to make his vision stop bleeding red and didn’t answer.

“Cool. It’s cool.” Duke smacked his lips and jogged off in the other direction.

Nathan would have sighed in relief and slumped against the wall, but Fury returned his focus to Nathan, who suddenly had sympathy for those insects pinned to boards for display.

“Ah…” Nathan cleared his throat. He wiped his palms on his jeans and tried to think straight. “Um…hey.”

Fury still said nothing, and Nathan tensed so he wouldn’t squirm. “You had a great fight. Earlier, I mean. Inside…in the…not out… Right.”

Fury blinked. Slowly. His eyelashes were so dark and thick, it looked like the guy wore mascara. He wasn’t exactly an attractive man in the traditional sense. Too much forehead, eyes too close together, big, crooked nose…

“Duke’s an asshole,” Nathan babbled. “Harmless, usually. Just fucked up tonight.” Nathan had no idea why on God’s green earth he was defending Duke. Or maybe he was defending himself. Trying to be smooth after a tweaked-out piece of shit cornered him in a parking lot, and Nathan had to tamp down the urge to kill Duke with his bare hands? Christ, what was wrong with him? Nathan took anger out on himself, not others.

“He sells some decent weed, if that’s your thing,” Nathan tried to joke, laughing feebly. Fury only had three inches of height on Nathan, but Fury might as well be the size of skyscrapers.

“It’s not,” Fury said in his characteristic growl. “My thing.”

“Oh.” Nathan coughed. Of course, he would try to push weed on a teetotaler. That was Nathan’s style, right there. Smooth. “Well. Sure. Not with what you do for a living, right? Can’t be good for the—”

“I got other things.”

Nathan shut his mouth with an audible clack of teeth. Fury still studied Nathan, hands loose at his sides, shoulders at ease, expression neutral. If the fighting thing ever failed, Fury had a bright future in poker. “That right?” Nathan asked.

Fury nodded, and again, it was slow. “Yeah.” Fury looked Nathan up and down, just like he had after Nathan had spotted him on the weight bench. Must be trying to place him. No way was it anything else.

“You were at the gym,” Fury said at last.

With the threads of recognition in Fury’s tone, Nathan’s logic died, and he got sucker punched by hope. Stupid, untimely, insipid, teenager-with-a-crush hope. “I…uh, yeah, I was. I think.”

“You think?” Fury asked with what might have been amusement.

“I do. Think,” Nathan replied with more assurance. It was easier to come by when he told himself this conversation wasn’t really happening.

Fury finally quit inspecting Nathan and glanced around the parking lot. “You headin’ back inside?”

“I…I don’t think so.”

Fury stared at something far away. “You interested in some more action?”

“Always.” The answer flew from Nathan’s lips before he could catch it. The symptoms of the panic returned, but they hurt a little less. “What you got?”

Fury shoved his hands into his pockets. “I got somewhere to be.” He took a few steps toward the row of cars, and he paused, raising his eyebrows at Nathan. “You comin’?”

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Do all you do in and for love. Many thanks!
Kelly Wyre enjoys reading and writing all manner of fiction, ranging from horror to romance. She used to work in advertising but is now happily chained to her writing desk. Kelly relishes the soft and cuddly and the sharp and bloody with equal amounts of enthusiasm. She’s a coffee addict, a workaholic, a chronic night owl, and loves a good thunderstorm. Currently Kelly resides in the southeastern United States.
Kelly Wyre’s Website ♠ Kelly’s Blog ♠ Kelly’s Twitter
Kelly’s Facebook ♠ Kelly’s Tumblr (NSFW!) ♠ Kelly on Goodreads

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And if you like FIGHT, try the New Amsterdam Series!