I'm so thrilled to reveal the beautiful new cover to the next book in the The City of Dark Pleasures series, The Amber Columns.

But first a reminder about book I, The Obsidian Stairway:

When O’Mara is assigned to report on a new sexual service in the City of Dark Pleasures -- one that has been the subject of much gossip -- she’s not sure what to expect. What she finds there only reminds her of all that has been lost in The Expiation.

She meets Tully -- handsome, attentive, mysterious and unlike any “servant” O’Mara has met in the Pleasures. His extraordinary service is about to allow her to experience a level of intimacy she has only ever imagined.

And now, here's a little synopsis of what's to come in The Amber Columns:

Tully:
          Sex is what we sell in the City of Dark Pleasures. To work here you need to sequester your emotions, your humanity, your soul if there’s such a thing. If you don’t you’re in danger of losing it all together, permanently.
          For someone like me, my damaged soul is all I have left. I try to slip it off like a coat when I work, and most of the time I can. Most of the time no feelings at all come into what I do. But there are times I weaken, times when patrons get to me either for good or ill. Mostly ill.
          Once a woman I met got inside me like no one has. It wasn’t love, but it was as close as I will ever be. O’Mara was her name. O’Mara Tanner. Every morning I read her byline on the Island News Service. She writes about fluff—places to shop, entertainments to see. She wrote about me once. It was all lies, but I don’t hold that against her. Our civilization is built on lies. The brief time we spent together was all lies.
          Sometimes I think I would give up everything just to have O’Mara Tanner lie to me again.

O'Mara:
          It’s only at night that I’m scared of him. During the day I think about his golden eyes, his warm skin and his velvety voice to the point of distraction. I could lose my job if I don’t get my shit together. A lost job means a lost income. If I can’t pay my rent I could lose my citizen status. And then what? Then I join him, working in the Pleasures?
          I could go and see him. I should go and see him. I can find the money somewhere and go and get him to hook me up to that infernal machine of his and lose myself in his beautiful dreamscape. The one in which we are lovers. If I can just spend another moment in that forlorn and hopeless dream I might be able to get him out of my system.
          As it is I’ve been masturbating until my fingers ache, and the skin of my clitoris is burning and raw. Whenever I climax I hear his voice, saying my name. Or I say his name.
          “Tully…”
          Maybe before the Expiation people knew that the love of a good man was a powerful, devastating intoxicant. It weakens you, distracts you, makes you prone to obsessive thoughts and lost productivity. Maybe that’s why they did it. To increase productivity.
          Love must be the most potent force on earth, if it can fuck you up even when you know it’s not real.

Without further ado, here's the lovely new cover:

Isn't it gorgeous? And when you read the book and discover what he's looking up at it's even better! And if that's not enough to get you excited, here are a couple of teasers:

       

Destination Staycation at AFK E&E

Alright, so it's been a while. Apologies again, I'm really just bad at that but I'm working on it. In other news through a happy coincidence I happen to have arrived in Washington the day before the Destination Staycation author signing event at the AFK Elixirs & Eatery in Renton this past Saturday the 27th. Jeffrey Cook, Lee French, Sechin Tower, AJ Downey, and several other wonderful writers were in attendance.

At the last minute AJ was able to get several print copies of I Am The Alpha delivered to her house and we had them on hand at the first Author signing I have every attended as one of the authors. It was also a wonderful experience since, how often are AJ and I, who live two states away from each other, going to be in the same place at the same time to Autograph one of our books for a fan?

Not often I can tell you that much.

It's been a wild few days since then, hence my tardiness in putting this post together but I had to process (and read my way through Sechin Towers Mad Science Institute novel) It was also a pleasure to meet Jeffrey in person, finally, as we have been friends for about two years now through Facebook and author groups that we are both members of. I shall be posting a few photos here, though I regretfully didn't take any during the even itself. We were having too much fun and talking to some wonderful readers and fans throughout the evening as well as the stellar staff at the AFK.

AFK, if you couldn't guess by the name, is a gaming and fantasy/sci-fi themed bar and restaurant.

I could go on about the location but this is a writing blog so I'll try to stick to that. It was a lot of fun getting to discuss writing and our stories with the other authors in attendance and my unplanned arrival was taken in stride and I was welcomed by everyone else. AJ and I had a blast explaining how our unusual partnership started to those patrons and fans that made their way over to speak to us and several of us went out of our way to try to get AJ completely plastered. She said she was but I don't know that I believe her, she was acting way too sober in my opinion.

The one shot I managed to remember to take of the table with AJ's Sacred Hearts series and I Am The Alpha on display. All in all it was an incredibly entertaining evening and an experience as an Author that I will never forget and I look forward to participating in many more signing events in the future.

Random musings

I have been negligent in my blogging of late. Honestly, I'm bad at this. I just frequently don't know what to write a blog post about, more often than not. And right now is no exception to that rule. Life has decided to kick me in the ass in both a bad and good way recently. It's a chaotic mess, really. But it's making me think now. I'm pretty certain that a book with nothing going wrong wouldn't be much fun to read. It would get boring if the characters were happy all, the time and it also wouldn't be believable. So, is there something about the human condition that seems to require that at times we must be miserable? If there's no conflict, no pain or sorrow to overcome, we wouldn't read the story. Maybe reading about someone else's fictional pain makes us feel better about our own? Who knows? It's just a thought that occurred to me. I do know that I would never be able to read a book where everyone was happy all the time. So that's my random thought for the day. I promise I'll get a better post in soon. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing. The random thought of the day. See ya around gang.

••*´¨`*•.☆•Cover Reveal•☆.•*´¨`*••

 

Well it's finally here! The cover for I Am The Alpha, my first joint collaboration with author A.J. Downey ...

 

 

 

The pack has ruled over it's territory, the wilds of Washington, for a generation, but that has all crumbled with the murder of the Alpha. William Reese is determined he will heal the pack by taking leadership, but in doing so he pits himself against enemies he may not be able to beat.

 

Chloe has been pulled from her home and thrust into a world she never knew existed, a world her father was careful to keep hidden from her. She is now threatened with a gruesome death by terrifying creatures from legend.

 

Somehow William and Chloe must find a way to stay alive against the forces determined to see them dead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I wouldn't," he drawled from the front seat in a threatening tone. I looked up into the rearview mirror. Deep brown eyes, intense, brooding, and very unfriendly were illuminated by the headlights from the oncoming traffic. I met their reflection with a grim resignation. I had nothing on him size wise. Nothing at all. I was stuck.

My breathing was returning but it hurt, I knew I would be bruised, but I could live with that. I could probably live if he raped me, even if the thought did make me ill… but if he actually physically took me away? Out of the city? No. If he took me away, I knew the odds. I knew the likelihood of what happened next. If he took me away I couldn't live with that, I wouldn't live, statistically speaking. If he took me, rape would be the least of my worries. If he took me away he was going to kill me and I wouldn't, couldn’t go down without a fight.

As soon as I could draw full breath I struggled into a sitting position. I was about to let loose and start screaming when he growled at me. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before, an animal sound emanating from his very human throat. It caught me so off guard I forgot about the whole screaming and making a fuss that I was supposed to be doing. He knew it too! The bastard jerked the wheel and slammed on the brakes and I was thrown back down below the level of the windows. My head connected sharply with the tempered glass on my way down and I cried out, my hands tied and useless in front of me, though I desperately tried to stop myself from colliding with anything else.

He jerked the car’s shifter into park and got out, the crisp fall air swirling into the car’s warm interior in his wake. The back door opened and I kicked out. He cursed and grabbed my ankle and I screamed. I screamed and howled and I kicked out with my other foot and connected solidly with his chest. Predictably, it didn’t do a damned thing for me, except piss him off.

He grunted and dove into the back seat, over the top of me, his large hands curving around my tied wrists. He was between my thighs and I gasped which I choked off into a whimper. His black jeans may have been two sizes too big, his belt working overtime to keep them up, but there was no amount of fabric in the world that would disguise the hot, solid length of his erection which pressed solidly at the apex of my thighs.

"You keep struggling, I will rape you, just to make a point," he threatened. I blinked and he grinned savagely, his teeth very white and almost sharp looking, nestled in his dark blonde goatee.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked and hated how breathy it was.

"None of your business, either behave, or I'll put you in the trunk."

I turned it over in my mind. That had possibilities, I could break out a tail light or pull the emergency... I gasped and suppressed a moan as he squeezed my wrists so hard, I swore the bones in them ground together.

"You're hurting me!" I cried.

"That's the idea, Little Huntress, you going to calm your shit?"

"Oh my god, fuck you!" I spat, "Why should I cooperate with you? Why should I help you kidnap me?"

He leaned back a bit, actually considering the question before meeting my eyes again. "Because I'm not the only one interested in finding you, and they aren't nearly as nice as I am."

 

 

 

A.J. Downey is a born and raised Seattle, WA Native. She finds inspiration from her surroundings, through the people she meets and likely as a byproduct of way too much caffeine. She has lived many places and done many things, though mostly through her own imagination.

An avid reader all of her life it's now her turn to try and give back a little, entertaining as she has been entertained. She lives in a small house in a small neighborhood with a larger than life fiancé and one cat.

You can find her on Facebook, on Goodreads , on Amazon, on Pinterest , on YouTube, or on her blog which is here.

 

 

A California native and avid reader, for Ryan, making the transition from reader to writer was simply the next logical evolution.

 

He enjoys a number of genres from paranormal suspense to dystopian post-apocalyptic. All of his work contains a romantic spin with a decidedly erotic flare.

 

You can find him either here on his blog or on Facebook. He hasn't gone quite as crazy as A.J.

 

 

Survival Instincts

One of the interesting things about self publishing, or publishing in general, I would imagine, is that you don’t just publish your book and then sit back to wait for the royalties to roll in. It doesn’t work that way as much as we might wish it to. The first publish get’s your name out there, a bit. Get your promoting and marketing going strong and you might get your name in front of a lot of people. Some of those people might actually buy the book. 

Hey, you’re on your way!

You’re on the ladder climbing your way to the top!

Too bad you’re only on the second rung.

So what do you do once you’ve published the book and are staring at your computer or tablet again? Simple. Write another book and publish that one. Then, write another after that. And another. And another. 

It never stops, I’m afraid. 

If this idea is daunting then you’re in the wrong business my friend. 

Good thing I find it exciting and fun, instead of daunting. 

SO with IATA in edits, OR on the back burner for research purposes and AJ and I hammering out the details for that one I was looking around for other projects to work on. You know, stuff to keep me out of trouble and away from the liquor cabinet. 

OH! I know!

Let’s go where few have dared to tread, as far as I know. 

I started up a new project last night, one that I hope to get a good head of steam on, and I’m liking the outlines I've been doing so far. I’m not really sure what to call it though as far as Genre goes. For now I’ll just list it for what it IS and figure out how to label it later. 

Survival Instincts is going to be a Post Zombie Apocalypse Erotic Romance and Suspense. 

I see I lost a few of you there while others just got a new interest. Trust me, it hurts my head too, but bear with. It’s a simple enough concept. The world has gone to hell in a FedEx cart, so what is there left to do really?

Survive. 

And survival comes in many different forms. 

The bottom line though?

What would you do? What would you sacrifice in order to survive?

This is going to be so much fun!

Rollin' rollin' rollin'...

Things are rolling along with I Am The Alpha and I'm quite pleased with it. AJ held it for a week or so while she read through and made adjustments to the story. Filling in and fleshing out portions of it where it was needed. 

It's now in my hands and I am doing the same. And that's what I love about this collaboration. It isn't she wrote her parts and I wrote mine and we just slap them together. No. We've both tweaked and adjusted each others writing so the whole book should read as a seamless whole from beginning to end. 

I'm more than half way through with my revision and very excited for the May 12th cover reveal that we've got planned. I'll post links to where this will be as soon as I've got them. We'll be having author interviews and blog spots coming up between then and August as well. Maybe even a takeover event. 

Anyone interested should keep checking here or on my Facebook page for updates. 

https://www.facebook.com/authorryankells?__nodl

Back to the grindstone! Books don't write themselves. Yet. 

Omega's Run

Just a quick update today.

I Am The Alpha is in revision stage, AJ and I, going back and forth on that and it's been a fun process. But I can't sit still. So while she's got IATA, I have started work on the second book in the trilogy, 'Omega's Run'.

I'm quite looking forward to this second chapter in the world of the Wolf-kind and things are getting started with a bit of fun and some violence that should set the tone for the rest of the novel.

Because once you've become Omega, what do you have left to lose?

Back to work.