Love Bytes would love to welcome the authors Lisa Oliver and T.J. Oliver today here on the blog for their blog tour of Uncaged.
Welcome to the blog, T.J. and Lisa!
Author Name: Lisa Oliver and T.J. Oliver
Book Name: Uncaged
Series: Shifter Uprising #1
Release Date: July, 2015
Pages or Words: 44,000 words
Publisher: Oliver Group Publications
Cover Artist: Lisa Oliver
Blurb:
Carlin is an Alpha Wolf Fighter, one of only three in the top spots at the Souterrain – an underground fighting club, run by the Elite to punish shifters who have gone outside of the laws. He’s happy enough, only has to fight exhibition matches, has his own apartment space, food and sex on tap – yep, life it good. So when Martin offers him the chance to fight for his freedom, Carlin turns it down. It’s no fun being a lone wolf and Carlin is quite happy where he is.
Then Lucas catches his eye. A handsome man, a stunning fighter, moving up through the ranks fast. Lucas might not have the killer attitude that most men at the Souterrain have, but he’s got the moves. Carlin has no problems insisting the man is bought to his apartment – sex is never a bad idea. But when he catches Lucas’s scent and realizes the man is his fated mate, suddenly getting him to bed is the least of his problems. Lucas wants to be free, and for the first time in a long time, so does Carlin.
Unfortunately there is more to Lucas than meets the eye. Martin certainly has no intention of letting them go, and if he has to have Carlin killed to keep Lucas at the Souterrain, then the man has no problems with that either. Suddenly the deal Carlin makes with Martin goes horribly wrong, and Carlin and Lucas realize that the price for freedom might be Carlin’s life, and even then Lucas will not be free.
Warnings: M/M sex, HEA, some violence (they are in a fight club after all). A growly Alpha who lets his emotions get the best of him, and a hybrid shifter with a wicked imagination.
Categories: Erotica, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Lisa Oliver, co-author of Uncaged. (Book one of the Shifter’s Uprising series, along with Thomas Oliver). Hi Lisa, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hello and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here today to talk about one of my latest books. As you may know I write a lot of M/M shifter stories, and this is in the same genre. However, what is different about this one is that firstly it was based on ideas from my twenty-two year old son, Thomas, and it is a tiny bit more violent than what I am used to writing.
Simply put, Uncaged is the story of Carlin, an Alpha wolf shifter, and Lucas, who is a hybrid shifter. They are living in prison-like situations, being forced to fight to the death once a week for a hugely private human audience. Carlin finds out that Lucas is his mate and for the first time in a long time, wants to be free – along with Lucas of course. Unfortunately the powers that be don’t agree, in particular the warden of the place, Martin, who wants to claim Lucas for himself. To do that, he has to kill Carlin. So as you can see a bit different to what I am used to writing, but working with my son was a lot of fun.
Do you have pictures that you use for your characters? Can you share them with us?
My readers are marvelous people and they quite often send me random pictures of hot men, which I use as inspiration for my characters. Below you can see the inspiration I had for Carlin, Lucas and Martin.
What kind of book would you like to write that people would see as a huge departure for you?
I always write about gay paranormal characters and while I have never had any plans to write an m/f story, I have considered writing contemporary books. Unfortunately I have no patience with the angst and emotional games people play in real life so it may be a while before that ever happens.
Have you ever killed a character? Was it traumatic for you? If you haven’t killed one, would you ever consider it?
Oh I had to stop and think for a moment. I have had deaths in my books – Shawn killed Xavier in The Reluctant Wolf, and Damien killed Simon and Jacob in When No Doesn’t Cut It. But I have never killed off anybody that my readers have been invited to get to know and there has always been a good reason for the death. In TRW Xavier had challenged Shawn so he had no choice, and Simon and Jacob were both child abusers. I really get invested in my characters and I like to think my readers do too, so I can’t think of any reason why I would kill them off – write a book about them and give them their own mate, but never kill them. Even though Martin (Uncaged) is a bad man, I will give him his own mate in a later book.
Favorite location you’ve ever written about?
I did a lot of research about Tulsa for one of my stories and would love to visit there one day.
What’s your favorite season and favorite activity for that season?
I love the autumn. The days are still warm, I love the reds and golds of the leaves falling from the trees. I seem to write more in the autumn and winter because it gets a little bit too chilly to enjoy a walk down the beach.
Carlin knew he was behaving like an idiot pacing up and down the floor of his small apartment, but he couldn’t stop. How long did it take for one man to have a shower for fucks sake? He’d ordered food for the both of them. Having been a fighter for more than five years, Carlin knew that Lucas would be hungry – hopefully for food and sex. But if the bloody man didn’t get his skates on then Carlin would eat alone and get straight to dessert when Lucas arrived.
About to call Brian and find out where his errant fuck had gone, Carlin caught the sound of people outside of his door. He threw himself on the couch and picked up a book. He didn’t want Lucas thinking he was waiting for him or anything.
Brian came in, Lucas a few steps behind him.
“Alpha Fighter Carlin. This is Lucas, ranked fifth after today.”
Carlin was surprised. He’d heard the man had moved swiftly up the ranks, but he didn’t realize that Lucas was so close to a shot for an Alpha ranking. In theory, one more fight and he might have to fight Lucas in the ring. For a moment Carlin was tempted to send the man away. He did have some conscience, even after so many years of being a fighting machine. He didn’t want to have to kill someone who had been in his bed.
But then Lucas stepped past Brian, and Carlin was caught in angry eyes. Silver eyes. Something tugged at Carlin’s brain – the eye color had some significance, didn’t it? But then Lucas’s scent hit Carlin’s nose and any rational thought fell straight out of his brain.
“Leave, Brian,” Carlin said, standing up and not breaking his stare with Lucas. He knew his body radiated the power he was famous for, and guessed he might look intimidating, as he heard Brian whisper to Lucas as he scurried out of the door, “I told you not to stare at an Alpha. You’re dead meat pup.”
“Better dead than a fuck toy,” Lucas snarled – his comment for Brian, but those silver eyes stayed fixed on Carlin.
“I agree,” Carlin said, his voice dropping as he got closer. Before Lucas could react, he reached his hand around, grabbing Lucas by the nape and pushing the man’s face into his throat. Whatever Lucas was going to say was muffled by Carlin’s skin, although the man was kicking, punching and doing everything he could to get free.
“Sniff, damn you,” Carlin said urgently. “Fucking sniff, and then I’ll let you go.”
Carlin felt Lucas quieten, although his body still stayed rigid in Carlin’s grasp. Lucas’s deep inhale was the only sound in the room. Carlin knew the moment Lucas had worked out what Carlin was trying to say.
Buy the book:
Lisa Oliver had been writing non-fiction books for years when visions of half dressed, buff men started invading her dreams. Unable to resist the lure of her stories, Lisa decided to switch to fiction books, and now stories about her men clamor to get out from under her fingertips.
When Lisa is not writing, she is usually reading with a cup of tea always at hand. Her grown children and grandchildren sometimes try and pry her away from the computer and have found that the best way to do it, is to promise her chocolate. Lisa will do anything for chocolate.
Lisa loves to hear from her readers and other writers. You can friend her on Facebook here, or email her directly at yoursintuitively@gmail.com.
Thomas Oliver doesn’t have a lot of time for writing itself although he can talk about his ideas for hours. A construction worker by day, he has a wicked imagination and it was from sharing some of his ideas with Lisa, that the idea for this series was born.
When not working, Thomas is like any other young man. He loves to spend time with friends, his girlfriend and working on his car. His dream is to do up a project car – something mean, with attitude and plenty of power under the hood.
Anyone wanting to contact Thomas can do so through Facebook.
Where to find the author:
Tour Dates & Stops:
21-Sep – BFD Book Blog, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Amanda C. Stone
22-Sep – Just Love Romance, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, MM Good Book Reviews
23-Sep – Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My, Happily Ever Chapter
24-Sep – Divine Magazine, Molly Lolly
25-Sep – Open Skye Book Reviews, Jessie G. Books
28-Sep – Mikky’s World of Books, It’s Raining Men, Bayou Book Junkie
29-Sep – Michael Mandrake, The Blogger Girls
30-Sep – Inked Rainbow Reads
1-Oct – Love Bytes, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Bike Book Reviews
2-Oct – Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
Rafflecopter Prize: three ebook copies of the book to giveaway (pdf, mobi or epub)
Congratulations, Lisa and TJ!