A warm welcome to author Brad Vance who is joining us today here on Love Bytes for the blog tour of Werewolves of Brooklyn.
Welcome Brad.
Author Name: Brad Vance
Book Name: Werewolves of Brooklyn
Release Date: August 5, 2015
Pages or Words: 54,000 words
Publisher: Brad Vance
Cover Artist: Brad Vance
Blurb:
Darien Mackey wasn’t looking for an adventure. For ten years, he’d been happy living in Brooklyn, working as a butcher in the same job, living in the same apartment, dating some “nothing-special” guys. Until one night his buddy Jacob talked him into taking ayahuasca, the soul-changing drug. And Darien had a vision…of a wolf, its all-too-human eyes on him, its paws on his chest, its enquiring mind in his own…
Darien Mackey is changing. He’s more confident, more assertive, hungrier, hornier. And his world is changing around him – his job, his home, his beloved Mechanic’s Library all falling victim to the predations of unscrupulous developers, bent on demolishing the old Brooklyn he loves and replacing it with a forest of condos. But he’s no longer a passive observer of his own life, and as this thing, this power, grows inside of him, he resolves to fight back, to preserve the way of life he loves.
And he’s not alone in the fight. The Lipsius Preservation Society of Brooklyn stands ready to assist in the battle, even though it seems like a bit of a joke to Darien, with its King and its Duke, Marquess, Earl and Viscount.
But there’s nothing funny about his growing attraction to Albeus Finley, King of this mysterious Court. And when slumlords and condo-mongers start to die mysterious, violent deaths at the hands of savage animals, Darien begins to realize that something is afoot in Brooklyn – something supernatural.
And it’s afoot in him, too…
Categories: Historical, M/M Romance, Paranormal
Today I’m very happy to be interviewing Brad Vance, author of “Werewolves of Brooklyn.” Hi Brad, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Favorite thing about building your own world?
I call the shots! The unjust are punished, the good are rewarded. Good people find true love. As Garrison Keillor said about Lake Woebegone, “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.”
What inspired you to write your first book?
As Brad, my first novel was “Given the Circumstances.” TBH I was inspired by Amazon’s “adult filter,” which was one of the many surprises they’ve popped on erotica writers. It really crashed the market for short erotica, for a while, by making it harder to find on Amazon. So I knew I had to move into novels. And that was when baseball player Ryan Braun was revealed as a user of performance-enhancing drugs, and it strained or maybe broke his friendship with football quarterback Aaron Rodgers. And I laughed and said, I should write a story where they’re gay lovers. A lot of my books start with a crazy joke…then my mind starts turning. And I thought, what if they were? What is it really like to be a pro athlete, under this enormous pressure to perform? What is it like to be in the closet in pro sports? And away we go…
Do you have a specific writing style?
I do. My favorite quote on writing is from George Orwell: “Good prose is like a window pane.” Not a window, not a fancy metaphor, but a window pane –clean, untinted glass that doesn’t interfere with what you’re seeing. The window frame and the window treatment, blah blah, that’s garnish and foofaraw. I always write dialogue that sounds the way actual people talk. If it sounds fake, or phony, I throw it out.
Who are some of the authors that influenced you to write?
I was a huge science fiction fan growing up. That was my first love and the first stories I wrote. Now as “Adam Vance” I’m just finishing up my second SF story in a series. I loved Ray Bradbury, Frank Herbert, Harlan Ellison and the “Dangerous Visions” anthologies, Ursula K. LeGuin…anyone who painted on a huge canvas and used the future to comment on the present.
What are some jobs you’ve held? Have any of them impacted your writing? How?
I’ve had a lot of jobs in tech, which helped enormously when I wrote my cyberthriller, “Would I Lie to You?” Being a technical writer really gave me an allergy to bullshit. Corporate writing is definitely a field that rewards bullshit. When I would read something like “In order to perform the functions involved in classifying the widget, it is important to take the following steps,” I’d cut it to, “To classify a widget: Step 1…” Then people would get all pissed because you “critiqued” their document. There’s a tendency in corporate writing to try and make yourself sound more authoritative by cramming in more words. It also makes you look like you’re “working hard” because, just look at all the words you put on paper!
One of the best things about selfpubbing is that a book is exactly as long as it needs to be – tradpub has so many contracts that say, “deliver a 100k book.” And if you finish your story at 70k, then it’s, o shit I gotta add some words. Then you end up with all these recaps and, worst of all, meeting/conference scenes that slow the book to a crawl.
The wolf’s eyes were lava-yellow with hate. His growl and his snarl were meant to terrify Darien, to freeze him in his tracks, prepare him for his death.
Then something rose up in Darien, rage, frustration, primal energy. And his own lips curled, his own growl met the enemy’s.
The Duke retreated a pace, taken aback. Darien felt sharp pains in his palms and looked down. Where he’d had fingernails, he had claws, long and sharp, and the fists he was making were digging them into his flesh.
He smiled, exhilarated, wild. He lunged and snapped at his enemy, knowing that his canines had become…literally that, elongated spikes ready to tear out a neck.
Darien’s ears were ringing, something surging in him beyond mortal feeling – like testosterone but stronger, more powerful, the smell of victory, immortality.
“The King is mine,” Darien declared. “And I am his.”
He knew he’d taken a step from which there was no turning back. He was the King’s man, the King’s consort. He would open to Albeus and take him, and be taken by him, and he would be alone no more.
He was one of the pack.
And it curdled the blood of men for miles around when he raised his face to the full moon, and howled.
Buy the book:
Brad Vance writes gay romance, erotica and paranormal stories and novels, including the breakout hits “A Little Too Broken” and “Given the Circumstances.” Keep up with Brad at BradVanceErotica.wordpress.com, email him at BradVanceErotica@gmail.com, and friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/brad.vance.10.
Where to find the author:
GMail: bradvanceerotica@gmail.com
Google+: BradVanceErotica
Twitter: @BradVanceAuthor
Tour Dates & Stops:
24-Aug Jessie G. Books
25-Aug Foxylutely Book Reviews
26-Aug MM Good Book Reviews
27-Aug Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance
27-Aug Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
28-Aug Velvet Panic
31-Aug Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
1-Sep Happily Ever Chapter, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
2-Sep Bayou Book Junkie, V’s Reads
3-Sep The Jena Wade, Hearts on Fire
4-Sep Molly Lolly
7-Sep Love Bytes
8-Sep Prism Book Alliance
9-Sep Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
10-Sep Wake Up Your Wild Side
11-Sep Nic Starr, Carly’s Book Reviews, Up All Night, Read All Day, My Fiction Nook
14-Sep Kimi-Chan
15-Sep Iyana Jenna
16-Sep Inked Rainbow Reads
17-Sep The Novel Approach
18-Sep BFD Book Blog
19-Sep Rainbow Gold Reviews
Rafflecopter Prize: One of three e-book copies of ‘Werewolves of Brooklyn’ by Brad Vance
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