Hiya guys look at what I have for you now! It’s Lou Sylvre and her entire Vasquez & James series!!!! We have excerpts of all the books, there’s a fabulous giveaway & I interviewed Lou where I managed to weasel out TWO new excerpts from her upcoming release (which hasn’t been finished yet!) A shot of J&B (Jackie’s & Brain’s Story) *happy dance*, so guys enjoy the post and click that Rafflecopter link <3 ~Pixie~
Vasquez and James Series Blurb
Professional badass Luki Vasquez and weaver Sonny James meet for the first time in Loving Luki Vasquez, and they might make a sizzling couple if they can ever get past the impulse to run the other way every time romance comes into view. Then again, they have to stay alive if they’re ever to see their wedding day, and tribulation, cruelty, and greed has a way of demanding attention at all the worst moments. Together, they pack a lot of resources to fight for love. If they can hold out, they just might win the enduring love and family they were meant to share.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=551
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_7?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=lou+sylvre&sprefix=Lou+Syl%2Cstripbooks%2C234
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=series&qString=Vasquez+%26amp%3B+James+Series
Vasquez-James Series Book Blurbs & Excerpts
Loving Luki Vasquez – (Vasquez and James Book One)
Reclusive weaver Sonny Bly James controls every color and shape in his tapestries, but he can’t control the pattern of his life—a random encounter with Luki Vasquez, ex-ATF agent and all-around badass, makes that perfectly clear. The mutual attraction is immediate, but love-shy Sonny has retreated from life, and Luki wears his visible and not-so-visible scars like armor. Neither can bare his soul with ease.
While they run from desire, they can’t hide from the evil that hunts them. After it becomes clear that a violent stalker has targeted Sonny, Luki’s protective instincts won’t let him run far, especially when Sonny’s family is targeted as well. Whether they can forgive or forget, Sonny and Luki will have to call a truce and work together to save Sonny’s nephew and fight an enemy intent on making sure loving Luki Vasquez is the last mistake Sonny will ever make.
Excerpt:
Loving Luki Vasquez
Single Whip led into White Crane Spreads Its Wings, the name of which made Sonny adorably… all right fine, adorably happy. The sequence involved motions that at first felt counterintuitive. Like probably every student in the centuries tai chi had been around, Sonny needed help with it. As he would with any other student, Luki stood behind him, using his own hands to guide Sonny through the move. He wondered if he could get away with teaching him all the rest of the moves in just that way. Perhaps for hours. Every day. For a long time.
As he was teaching and wondering and probably even almost smiling, a wind rose up, splashing spray and sand and whipping Sonny’s long hair at Luki’s face and right into his mouth. On the word “open,” appropriately enough.
Sonny spun around, gathering up his luxurious baked-earth red hair. Before Luki had a chance to close his mouth, Sonny kissed him. A passionate, seeking sort of kiss. A kiss that Luki instinctively returned, though kissing wasn’t a large part of his intimate life, and especially not kissing on the beach.
As suddenly as he started it, Sonny ended it, leaving Luki bereft… frustrated and bereft.
Sonny turned away, refusing eye contact. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that.” Without any further explanation, he stepped away.
Luki knew fear, could spot it from afar and pick it out in a crowded room. Right now, it ran hot through Sonny’s veins. He reached for Sonny’s arm. “Sonny, what….” What are you afraid of? He ended the question silently. Sonny had already gone.
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/loving-luki-vasquez-by-lou-sylvre/
Delsyn’s Blues – (Vasquez and James Book Two)
Sonny James and Luki Vasquez are living proof that the course of love never runs smoothly. Ambushed by grief, Sonny listens to a voice singing the blues from beyond the grave. While revisiting the sorrows and failings of his past, in the here and now he puts up a wall against love. Just when Luki chips through that barricade, the couple becomes the target of a new threat from outside: an escalating and unexplainable rash of break-ins and assaults.
Thoughts of infidelity rise between them, a threat that may strain their newly mended love past its limits. To come through the trials alive and together, Luki and Sonny will have to unite against enemies who were once friends and overcome crippling hatred and overwhelming fear. If they succeed, maybe then they can rekindle the twin flames of passion and love.
Excerpt:
Delsyn’s Blues
As he wandered through his bare rooms, Luki traded the perfect, flawlessly tailored clothing he usually wore even at leisure and donned tattered jeans and a faded flannel shirt. Just what Sonny would have worn, and it helped keep Sonny alive in his mind, a man rather than a thin shade. He’d look a lot better than me wearing this, he told himself, padding over the hardwood floor to the only room in the house he ever smoked in, wondering on the way when the floor had become so cold. Once he got there, he switched on the silent fans and the omnidirectional heat, sank into the leather of the only easy chair in the house, and lit up. In his mind, he could hear Sonny clearly, as if his lover stood right next to him. Or sat by him on their love seat. Or sat on the floor at his knees making drawings for a tapestry he would weave so resplendent the world would probably weep. “You should quit,” he’d say.
Luki knew he should quit. Knew that cigarettes… cigarettes and hamburgers were the only flaws in his otherwise perfect health regime. Smoking would someday, probably soon, take a toll. Perversely, when he met Sonny he’d started smoking more than ever before, just because Sonny’s existence in the world nudged him off his solitary perch, the place where he seemingly rose above the world of emotion and let other men into his life only occasionally to practice his skills at cold but perfectly executed sex. With Sonny? Anything but cold. Although still close to perfect. He smiled at the memory of Sonny’s surprised looks when Luki showed him something new, something that, in all his gay years, he’d never felt.
“Luki, please,” he’d say.
Review link
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/delsyns-blues-by-lou-sylvre/
Finding Jackie – (Vasquez and James Book Three)
Luki Vasquez and Sonny Bly James finally have their Hawaiian wedding, and it’s perfect, almost. But their three-phase honeymoon is riddled with strife. Luki’s status as a working badass spells discord for the newlyweds. A former informant from Luki’s days with ATFE brings a troubling message (or is it a warning?) from a Mob hit man. When Luki’s sixteen-year-old nephew, Jackie, is lured into capture and torture by a sadistic killer, the honeymoon is well and truly over.
The couple put aside their differences and focus on the grueling hunt, which takes them from leather bars to dusty desert back roads, and calls on Sonny’s deep compassion as well as Luki’s sharpest skills. Their world threatens to fall apart if they fail, but their love may grow stronger than ever if they succeed in finding Jackie—before it’s too late.
Excerpt:
Finding Jackie
“You know what, Titus? I don’t want to kill him.” Marcone swept a hand against the cool silk-soft wood of his desktop, thinking of Nadia’s skin. His heart had started beating faster. “I want to show Vasquez why he shouldn’t have been part of anything that screwed with the Marcone name, why he should have made haste to take his fag lover far away the minute he saw there were Marcones involved. This isn’t the first time we’ve opposed one another, but this is the first and will be the last time he’s deliberately involved himself in smearing shit all over my name. I’d have forgiven him everything that came before he realized who Richard and Marina were, if only he’d gone east at that point, instead of racing back west to stick his guns in where they didn’t belong. And I want him to keep remembering, keep feeling the pain he earned with that fuckup, keep that pain with him for years. For the rest of his life.”
“Yes,” Titus breathed, his voice gone low and distant.
“And that won’t be hard either, Titus. I’ve been doing my homework—keeping a watch on him through a variety of sources. He’s got people, and for all his hardass ways, his heart’s like a sponge.”
Titus took a quick breath, and spoke without inflection. “I love people like that.”
The DA’s brows rose, and he smiled. “I know you do, my man. I know you do.”
Review link
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/finding-jackie-by-lou-sylvre/
Saving Sonny James – (Vasquez and James Book Four)
Luki Vasquez and his still newlywed husband are back home after pulling off a harrowing desert rescue of their teenage nephew Jackie. But the events of the last couple of years have begun to catch up with Luki—loving Sonny James and letting Sonny love him back has left gaps in his emotional armor. In the gunfight that secured Jackie’s rescue, Luki’s bullet killed a young guard, an innocent boy in Luki’s mind. In the grip of PTSD, memories, flashbacks, and nightmares consume him, and he falls into deep, almost vegetative depression.
Sonny devotes his days to helping Luki, putting his own career on hold, even passing up a European tour of galleries and schools—an opportunity that might never come again. But when Luki’s parasomnia turns his nightmares into real-world terror, it breaks the gridlock. Sonny realizes what he’s doing isn’t working, and he says yes to Europe. Enter Harold Breslin, a dangerously intelligent artist’s promoter and embezzler whose obsessive desire for Sonny is exceeded only by his narcissism. When Harold’s plan for Sonny turns poisonous, Luki must break free of PTSD and get to France fit and ready in time to save his husband’s life.
Excerpt:
Saving Sonny James
Almost whispering, breathing in fearful sounding gasps, Sonny said, “Luki, I want you to fuck me…. No. No, I want you to make love to me.” He looked away then back to meet Luki’s eyes, brow lowered with worry. “Luki, I know—”
“Sh! Hush, baby.” Luki kissed the tender arch of Sonny’s foot—the rest of him being out of reach. He looked at Sonny and nodded. “Yes. I want that too.” [...] With all the power of his mind, he blocked out the things that would get in the way of him loving Sonny—had been getting in the way for weeks. And with all the power of his heart, he focused everything on his husband, his love. His breath beginning to come faster, biting his lip for stability, he rose on one knee and moved toward his husband.
His hands wanted to wander over Sonny’s skin, and he let them. Let them follow the long slender curves of Sonny’s legs, his inner thighs. When he reached his sex, he framed his husband’s familiar and much-missed cock and balls with his hands, but he didn’t touch them. He let Sonny see the smile in his eyes as he instead moved his hands up over hip bones and belly and abs and pecs with their hard puckered centers of dark, sensitive flesh. Once he reached the chiseled shoulders, he lifted Sonny and pressed him against his own chest. And then he took his lips in a kiss like fire.
Review link
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/saving-sonny-james-by-lou-sylvre/
Yes – (A Vasquez and James Novella)
Professional badass Luki Vasquez and textile artist Sonny James have been married for five years, and despite the sometimes volatile mix, they’re happy. From their first days together, they stood united against deadly enemies and prevailed. But now the deadly enemy they face is the cancer thriving inside Luki, consuming his lungs.
As Luki’s treatment proceeds, Sonny hovers near, determined to provide every care, control every thread of possibility just as he does when he weaves. But he can’t control the progress of the cancer or how Luki’s body reacts to the treatment regime. Sonny tries, but Luki dances with cancer alone—until he gets a startling reminder of the miracle of life. With renewed determination and mutual love, the two men emerge from their coldest winter into a new spring day.
Excerpt:
Yes (A Vasquez and James Novella)
[Luki] woke up in profound darkness, aware of Sonny still beside him, but held rigid now while small, strangled noises escaped from deep in his throat. Even if it hadn’t been for the give-away sniffle, Luki would have known. Sonny was crying. Not that “I’m sad” kind of crying that was more a glorified pout. No. Sonny fought for all he was worth not to let a sob fly loose. His heart had a great big, hurting hole in the middle of it, and Luki had put it there, and still Sonny tried to protect him. If he couldn’t stop from crying, by God at least he’d do it quietly and let Luki sleep. But he and Luki had loved too long, too deep, too close for Luki not to hear it anyway, to register it even in his sleep, and understand. And feel it, too, like what Sonny felt.
Luki rolled over and put his arms around the man who, when all was said and done, he loved and would love forever.
Because of Jade – (A Vasquez and James Novel)
Luki Vasquez receives the news he’s still cancer free after five years, and he wants to celebrate with his whole family. He and his husband, Sonny James, take a road trip south, intending to gather at the home of his nephew Josh, Josh’s wife Ruthie, and Jade—a little girl who was still in the womb when she and her mother helped Luki beat lung cancer.
Halfway to their destination, Luki learns Josh and Ruthie have met a tragic death. The horrible news lays Luki low, but he pulls himself together in time to be the family’s rock and see to the dreaded business of tying up loose ends. The most important business is Jade, and when Luki and Sonny head home, they take Jade with them.
Luki and Sonny must combat self-doubt and fear and help each other learn to parent an unexpected child—and they must also nourish the love that has kept them whole for the past ten years. A relative’s spurious claim to Jade threatens the new family, and even if they prevail in court, they could lose their little girl unless they can rescue Jade from evil hands and true peril.
Excerpt:
Because of Jade
Later, while Sonny and Jade lay on the floor in front of the fire, and Sonny read Merry Christmas, Mr. Snowman! over and over, Luki paced. He stopped occasionally to look out the window, and just as the sky began to lighten he saw that snow had begun to fall, big flakes touching down soft as feathers to cover the lumpy, frozen ground near the house.
Luki turned around to share the wonder of snow with his family, but they had at last fallen asleep stretched flat on the floor on their stomachs—Jade because of her injuries and Sonny because of his aching back. Luki shook his head and smiled, surprised at how much he loved them even though he knew. He threw some wood on the fire and banked it and fetched a light but warm down comforter and a pillow from the bedroom. Laying himself down next to them, he covered them all three, let his head fall to the pillow, and found first peace, and then sleep.
Review link
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/because-of-jade-by-lou-sylvre/
About Lou
Lou Sylvre hails from southern California but now lives and writes on the rainy side of Washington State. When she’s not writing, she’s reading fiction from nearly every genre, romance in all its tints and shades, and the occasional book about history, physics, or police procedure. Not zombies, though. Her personal assistant is Boudreau, a large cat who never outgrew his kitten meow. She plays guitar (mostly where people can’t hear her) and she loves to sing. She’s usually smiling and laughs too much, some say. She also loves her family, her friends, the aforementioned Boudreau, a Chihuahua named Joe, and (in random order) coffee, chocolate, sunshine, and wild roses.
Visit her at http://www.sylvre.com or contact her at lou.sylvre@gmail.com .
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouSylvre
Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLouSylvre
Twitter: @Sylvre
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Lou Sylvre Live Interview!
Pixie: Hello to Lou Sylvre who is joining us for her Vasquez and James blog tour, hiya Lou *waves*
Lou: Hey, there, Pixie. Thanks for inviting me!
Pixie: Glad you could come :-) So we are going to be chatting about Luki, Sonny and the gang, any secrets you want to give up first? *flutters eyelashes*
Lou: Ooh, I don’t know. Secrets about the boys, or upcoming things?
Pixie: *rubs hands together and eyes sparkle* How about both :-)
Lou: Well, part 2 first, because that’s easier…I’m working feverishly (because I’m behind schedule) on a spinoff from the Vasquez and James series, A Shot of J&B–Jackie and Brian’s story, for those who read Finding Jackie. And…
Pixie: And… And what????
Lou: My ‘very close friend’ Lou Hoffmann has a release coming this fall from Harmony Ink, Behind the Wraith Queen’s Veil. It’s YA with dragons and all. Neither of those are really secrets…
Lou: As far as secrets about the boys… Let me think. I give away their secrets all too often… Well, perhaps folks would be interested to know, that when Luki and Sonny first came to me as characters, Sonny was Nephilim, and a firefighter… yeah. I know. Crazy right?
Pixie: *cough, splutter* A Nephilim!!! How did that change?
Lou: It got too complicated for Luki to keep up… I had to simplify!
Pixie: LOL I can’t imagine Luki never keeping up with Sonny but I think Sonny was perfect as a weaver.
Lou: I really think so too. And part of the reason I had him as a Nephilim was because I’d written a short story about a Nephilim called Charlie Chrysalis, and I wanted Sonny to finish that story out in my mind. Wasn’t to be.
Lou: One more! Luki loves it when Sonny calls him ‘husband’.
Pixie: Luki is a big softy when it comes to Sonny awww
Lou: He’s really quite the softy all around, inside. It’s that frozen shell he uses that makes him seem hard. But of course he has badassery skills galore.
Pixie: How did you come up with such a tough ex ATF guy?
Lou: I wanted him to have been a law enforcement officer of some kind, but not the usual murder detective as in cozies or police books, and not FBI. I investigated and found out ATF(E) does a lot of dangerous work, and despite their paper pusher reputation, they have some tough agents.
Lou: It seemed to fit Luki because he is not your everyday guy.
Pixie: You can say that again LOL. So how did you go from Nephilim to weaver for Sonny? Weaving isn’t the usually occupation that you find in mm books.
Lou: As Nephilim, he was a glass blower in the everyday world, so I already had him as an artist. Again, I wanted him to have an unusual medium, but glass making is a very rough occupation, and as a human, I don’t think he has the physicality to make the kinds of things he was making. I confess, I’ve always wanted to have a loom and learn to weave, so that was an attractive idea. And it’s solitary, something he can be learned in as well as talented. (PhD and all). And he’s tall and lithe and it seemed right. Also… I wasn’t really aware of m/m as a genre when I wrote Loving Luki Vasquez. I was just telling my character’s story and hoping there would be a market. :-)
Pixie: Wow, well you hit it perfectly with Sonny and Luki.
Lou: Thanks! It was a bit of luck, the timing I think. Because when I was almost done with the novel, I just happened to see an interview someone did with Elizabeth North!
Pixie: The research you must have done because he doesn’t just weave, he also makes his own dyes but also the ATF stuff as well, just how deep did you dig for both characters?
Lou: Right, and I did some research for the dyes, but I didn’t have a need to get into particulars except in a couple of places. I knew a little bit about natural dyes, because I knew a woman who was a weaver and she kept cochineals in her freezer–that’s an insect used to make a lovely red. And I spent enough time on the reservation to know some basket weavers and hear about dyes from them. For Sonny that part sort of goes to his roots, whereas his tapestries are in the European tradition. That was fun to research too, as well as different looms. For Luki…
I did a lot of research into the organization of ATF, what kinds of things they do, how the government mandates they do some things and then legislates that they can’t do it. I also researched firearms, legal and illegal, and what makes something a firearm in the eyes of the law. Also, for Loving Luki Vasquez and again for Finding Jackie, I had to explore homemade explosives and detonators. I actually think, seriously, that at some point I was being watched by some law enforcement agency or other. Sounds paranoid, but it never scared me. :-)
By the way… I loved learning about the guns, explosives, points on the body to attack for greatest efficiency, and I already knew a bit on Luki’s Tai Chi.
Pixie: *snort* ah the things you do for your art :-)
Lou: Yeah! Self-sacrifice and all… he-he
Pixie: I will be honest and say I was really surprised when I first discovered that Loving Luki Vasquez was your first story, it is so well put together. And the way you have carried the entire series over was really impressive, the series never loses focus but broadened to include others.
Lou: I have had quite a number of short stories published and one novel under another name, some about gay characters, but none for this market. So I had a little more practice. And the other novel wasn’t put together as well. :-)
Thank you very much. I really have to say, that the series progressed because of a couple of common sense type things, rather than great foresight on my part. I did intend a series but the idea of what would happen in the books was very nebulous. The truth is, as a writer who writes character driven fiction, I listen to them to develop the story. Also, sometimes, when something happens in a novel, there’s an aspect that is not completely resolved and it would have a logical progression–I tend to be bothered by those, and so I write another book.
Pixie: Which is great for us ;-)
Pixie: Now let’s talk about your evil habit of causing suffering to Sonny and Luki AND all us poor readers!
Lou: Yes. That is evil. This past week, I wrote a blog post about that, at the blog owner’s request. I quoted G. R.R. Martin. Don’t remember the quote offhand, but something about making the reader turn the page. He is far more vicious than I, you may agree if you’re familiar with the Ice and Fire series, so I figure he knows what he’s talking about. Really, it very often boils down to raising the stakes, and avoiding deus ex machina.
Lou: Those are favorite phrases in the writer’s vocab.
Pixie: True, I do wonder when I crack one of your books open what you will do to make us suffer this time. So can we expect more of the same in Jackie’s and Brian’s book? :-)
Lou: Yes, it will be suspense, Brian is Scotland Yard, and Jackie is studying for his master’s in forensic psychology, particularly profiling. So… That’s perfect for a Very Icky Person to threaten harm, don’t you think?
Pixie: *quivers* Damn it, I can’t wait…
Lou: Would you like to see a teensy excerpt (early draft) about the Very Icky Person?
Pixie: *squeal* HELL YES!!!!!!!
Lou: Okay, hang on…
Lou: Psychology Professor Brechtje Hermans stood behind her office door, studying the young person seated in the hall awaiting their appointment time. The professor had situated herself carefully so that she could observe without being seen. This meeting was not to be education counseling for a student in her program, but a preliminary mental health evaluation. Generally, the students sent to her for that purpose were suffering from phobias—Dr. Hermans was famously brilliant on the subject of the causes of human fear, how humans could be expect to react to fears, and how to treat those fears when they manifested into pathology.
But this student—Blakely was the last name—promised to be a different case altogether. Much more interesting, referred for evaluation after suspicions had mounted that this first year graduate student had perpetrated a series of ugly ‘pranks,’ if they could be so termed. No one had been able to prove guilt—the professor didn’t know if anyone had actually tried—but evidence indicating that probability had mounted, and University authorities had decided it would be too risky not to take some steps now. The first, mildest incident involved firecrackers and carmine paint, another utilized a trip wire, a cardboard silhouette, and some tricky lighting. In the most recent incident, a preserved sample of a grotesquely shaped tumor had been taken from the university pathology lab and placed in a fellow student’s shoe. Dr. Herman’s waiting patient had regularly visited the pranked student’s dorm room to play chess with his roommate.
Dr. Hermans smiled slightly, hidden behind her door. The look on the student’s face, the unconscious posture and body language, supported the early conclusions the esteemed doctor had drawn from the file. Blakely would indeed be an interesting study… a bird of a very different color. She thought about the vital research she’d had to abort years ago, due to the shortsighted aversions among her fellows. She’d never given up on it, and now….
Perhaps, she thought, opportunity awaits.
Pixie: Ohhhhh….. When did you say it’s gonna be ready???
Lou: Well, as I said, I’m behind. It was at one time tentatively scheduled to be available around November, but life has been annoyingly troublesome lately, so I’m not sure now. Probably late this year or early 2015. OMG, it’s going to be 2015! I mean, I remember thinking that was way in the future… Years go by too fast.
Pixie: *sigh* Don’t they just, I keep hoping time will freeze but *pout*
Lou: Of course, they don’t go by as quickly as they did for Sonny and Luki… Like 10 years in a year, poor Luki is 50. (In Because of Jade) I mean 51.
Pixie: You have had 5 novels and 1 novella in the James and Vasquez series and every one has been different, with all the tragedy, kidnappings, murders, abuse, revenge and rescues….. How did you keep it fresh and new each time?
Lou: Hmmm… good question. Well, actually, in each book, the new threat builds on what happened in the prior book(s). For instance, in Delsyn’s Blues what happens is the indirect result of what happened in LLV. And even the development of the real threat to Luki and Sonny, because what happened to Delsyn in the beginning of the book (when he dies) was a catalyst that set the dangers in motion at high speed. In Finding Jackie, the threat depends on what happened in LLV, also. And then of course, the opening of Saving Sonny James is a direct result of the events of Finding Jackie as well as earlier things. That’s how the suspense develops…. the love story…
The love story develops alongside that, the same way any relationship develops. People react to what happens to them, and to the reaction of their counterpart. They have to grow and change to deal with that, and that shapes their emotions and their daily lives. With luck (a lot of it) a few couples get to have a relationship that comes through the growth stronger.
But the point is, the changes are logical, cause and effect, although there are always too many causes to trace.
Which is why the changes can be surprising.
Pixie: *nods* yes you can see all that clearly…. but the only thing that we readers could count on when we read one of the books was that Sonny and Luki loved each other and that Luki would eventually run to the rescue. Everything else would be up in the air so we never quite knew what to expect, who would be in danger, who would die, who would be injured or who the baddies would be…. it was refreshing :-)
Lou: Good! Thank you. That’s exactly how it was supposed to work.
Pixie: When the series started had you only plotted out the first book or did you also have idea’s for the later ones as well?
Lou: Funny you should ask! :-D I did indeed plot out (roughly) the books in the series. Those books I planned ahead have never been written. (And probably won’t be.) As I said, the characters are just so bossy!
Pixie: So the characters told you how it was going to be :-) They have good ideas!
Lou: :-) They didn’t really tell me, and if they had, they wouldn’t have chosen the things that happen. But the things they did made the things that happen come about. For instance, if Luki hadn’t had that long ago awful night when he was 13, he wouldn’t have been the man he was at the beginning of Loving Luki Vasquez, and his love life would probably have been far different. Same for Sonny–Delsyn’s Blues would not have been the same story at all, if Sonny hadn’t endured the early life he experienced. And so on… And of course, the bad guys are characters too, and they drive the story as well.
Pixie: Boy do they! I think that’s why I liked the stories so much, they were such real characters and had such strong backgrounds that shaped them and the people around them also influenced them. *sigh* Will there be anything else from Sonny and Luki in the future? *ppllleeeaaassseee*
Lou: So interesting that you ask that. I had a chat on Dreamspinner facebook, and the question came up there. I will say that as far as stories featuring Luki and Sonny as primary characters, I really had planned to leave it at Because of Jade. It seems a true HEA is possible there. I mean, to be honest, I have a whole big story in my mind that takes place some years down the line, and it would certainly be a beautiful, emotive story, but if readers think I’m mean now, OMG, they’d stone me if I wrote that story. But…
Pixie: Damn you have it write it now, otherwise that’s just teasing us LOL
Lou: I’ve had some readers ask me just as you did “please” to write more for them, so I’m considering it, but I’m leaning toward no. That said, they are important secondary characters in A Shot of J&B, and will be in at least one more spinoff, if all goes well. No, seriously, you’d hate me, because what happens when people grow old together? Jus’ sayin’.
I was going to mention… Most of the readers I asked in the chat agreed that Because of Jade was a good place to leave it… But some said they wanted me to write more for them.
Pixie: I know Lou but I’m greedy! But knowing that they had many MANY years together makes it less painful.
Lou: Yes, that’s true, in fact there would certainly be a sweetness involved, poignancy, if you will. But who will finance my Kleenex requirements if I write such a story?
Pixie: Because of Jade is a perfect place to say goodbye as main characters and I suppose I could be satisfied knowing I will see them again as secondary characters *sigh*
Lou: Thank you. I like it as an ending, because they have everything they never knew they wanted, and it has made them whole.
Pixie: *Can you picture me pouting and all dejected* 3:-)
Lou: Well, yes, but I think maybe that pout is a little insincere!
Pixie: *shhhhh* I have tears in my eyes here
Lou: Peeling onions?
Lou: Aw, no, I know you love my guys. I love them too. In fact, they still won’t shut up in my head.
Pixie: See it’s a sign!
Lou: That I hear voices?
Pixie: No that they won’t shut up.
Lou: We’ll see…
Lou: Did I mention that I answer them?
Pixie: Yeah let’s not go there…
Lou: I can share one more small excerpt from A shot of J&B that has Luki in it, importantly. Interested?
Pixie: Oh yes please Lou :-)
Lou: Jackie felt good, better than he had in a long time. He’d made it through college early and earned a degree in abnormal psychology. His studies, long with lots of therapy and painful personal work, had brought him, if not peace with his past, acceptance and some understanding of it, and the ability to trust himself. At twenty-two he’d grown up—in spite of everything—and he believed himself to be a good, capable man.
Luki and Sonny had arrived yesterday, come to Nebraska for his college graduation—yet another joy. Now, Jackie stood smiling, staring blankly out at the late spring green on the other side of the bay window in Kaholo’s old house, thinking of things that made his life good. He heard no footsteps approach before he heard Luki’s voice..
“Jackie.”
He turned to find his uncle chewing his bottom lip, a look that usually meant he was thinking about something serious, although this time he had a smile hidden in his eyes. Luki had changed since he’d conquered lung cancer half a year ago. He’d built his physical strength back up, but his way of moving through the world had altered subtly. Jackie felt it like a kind of contentment Luki carried around with him. Not that he couldn’t get annoyed as easily as ever. Like now.
“Jackie, why are you staring at me like that?”
“Sorry, Uncle,” Jackie laughed. “Just thinking.”
“Yeah?” Luki smiled, barely. “Well, I’ve been thinking, too, and there’s something I want to talk to you about. It’s really sweet outside; take a walk with me to the river?”
“Sure!” While Jackie pulled on his old shoes without undoing the laces, he worried what was on
Luki’s mind, but he knew Luki always, only had his best interests at heart, accepted him for who he was, and loved him without reserve. So he was only a little apprehensive.
After they stepped out the door, Luki said, “Don’t look so scared, Jack. I’ve never beheaded you yet.”
Jackie laughed. “I’m not scared!” But then corrected, “Well, not too much.”
Luki put a hand on Jackie’s shoulder. “It’s okay, really.”
Jackie felt instantly calm at the brief touch, and felt no need to break the peace by asking Luki what he wanted. He knew Luki would tell him when he thought the time was right, and in the meantime the walk through the bright shade of the oaks was pleasant.
They got to the bridge that had so much history in Luki’s life—the river beneath it being the infamous pool where his face had been cut at age thirteen. Luki gazed own into that pool for a time, then turned to face Jackie, and waited.
When Jackie turned toward his uncle and met his eyes, Luki said, “I’m gonna to get all up in your business, now. ‘Kay?”
Jackie laughed at that. “You been hangin’ out with thugs, uncle?”
Luki smiled about halfway, and his eyes twinkled. “The thing is, I know you’ve asked Brian to come for your graduation, and to spend some time with you after.”
Jackie hesitated, trying to figure out where Luki was going with this line of discussion. “Um… yes.”
“And you know, of course, that I will love and support you in any case, right?”
“Okay.”
“So here’s my concern, as plain as I can make it.” But, after saying that, Luki stopped and turned back to watch the river flow, saying nothing more for a long time. When he finally spoke, it seemed a detour. “You remember a long while ago, when you were… maybe fifteen, you and Sonny and I had a Skype call and we talked about kink, and stuff like that.”
Jackie smiled. “Of course I remember. How could I ever forget that?”
Luki chuckled. “Really,” he said, “it was a good thing Sonny was there. I was completely out of my element. But the reason I bring it up is, at the time you questioned how you would ever sort out how much of what you thought you wanted, in terms of sex and lifestyle, was you, and how much was a result of the abuse you’d suffered.”
“Right.”
“Is it okay to talk about this a little? You’re alright?”
“You’re always taking care of people! Thanks for checking, but yes, I’m fine.”
Luki nodded. “So, Brian is into the BDSM lifes, to a degree. I’m sure that’s not news. He’s a Dom, with a good reputation, I understand. And yes, before you ask, I made some inquiries.”
Jackie laughed right out loud at that, saw Luki chewing his lip in an effort not to laugh at himself. “You are so very Luki Vasquez, uncle. Predictable.”
Luki rolled his eyes. “I can’t help it! Anyway the thing is, I’d feel a whole lot better if I knew… how you’d sorted that out. I assume if you want to be with Brian you want the kink that comes with the package. But I want to be sure you’re… safe, emotionally. I know I can’t dictate any part of your life, and I wouldn’t try. But… well, are you willing to set my mind at ease?”
The question Luki was asking was one Jackie had struggled with over and over again as he came to know himself. He wasn’t at all unwilling to talk to Luki about it, but he realized that he’d never fully articulated the truth on the subject, even to himself. The sun grew hot on his back as he stood leaning over the bridge rail, trying to put sentences together in his mind.
“Let’s go down to the water,” he finally said. “Sit on your rock.”
“My rock, huh?”
“That’s what Sonny calls it.”
“Right.”
When they were perched on the large flat rock that hung over the water, with their shoes and socks off, jeans rolled up, and feet dangling in the cool stream, Jackie finally spoke. “Okay. I’ll tell you part of my story, uncle.” He looked up and smiled at Luki. “I think I’m glad you asked.”
He waited for Luki’s slight smile, then went on. “So, I’m pretty sure I knew I was gay by the time I was eleven or so. Not much before that—even though Josh says he knew by the time I was nine. Thing is, I had a crush on this boy when I was eleven. I invented all kinds of ways to touch him, including picking a fight so I could wrestle him. He won—I might have let him. He wasn’t super strong or much bigger than me. I wanted him to win because I liked being held down. The reason I remember that is because I surprised myself. I hated it when me and Josh fought and he held me down, and of course I really hated it when… Mariano—I can’t bring myself to call him
‘Dad’—held me down to beat my ass with his belt. It felt so different, with this kid. You get what I mean?”
Luki nodded. “I think so.”
“So then, I kind of forgot about it. I had crushes on boy after boy—I guess you could call me fickle.”
“Extremely.”
“Shut up, Uncle!” They both laughed, then Jackie continued with his story. “But when I was fourteen, there was a boy I liked, and I just kept liking him more and more. Finally I figured out that part of the reason I didn’t just move on was because he liked me back. We got to be really good friends, and then he went away for the summer. When school started again, it was like he was a magnet and I was liquid iron. After school we’d meet—Josh would keep watch for us but no one was ever around until…”
“He was the one Mariano caught you with.”
“Yeah. But before that, one day we were just talking, standing close so our arms touched, and I wanted to kiss him so bad. But I just couldn’t make myself do it. Then, not suddenly, but not hesitating either, he leaned toward me, and I knew he was going to kiss me. Without thinking I brought my hands up against his chest, holding him off. I was damn near ready to cry, fighting myself so. But he knew. He took both my hands and held them behind my back. He said, ‘It’s okay, Jackie. This is okay.’ And after a few seconds he said, ‘I’m gonna kiss you.’”
Jackie paused, and saw that Luki had donned a gentle, wisp of a smile. The older man nodded, clearly encouraging him to continue, so he did. “You see, when he kissed me, I had no choice, right? I mean, I did, really. If I would have resisted in any real way, he wouldn’t have forced me. But it was so sweet to give him control. I didn’t have to fight myself, or doubt myself or even fucking worry about anything.” He shook his head and lost himself for a few minutes, thinking of the boy he might have loved if his father, Mariano, hadn’t so thoroughly broken his life soon after that kiss.
He felt Luki’s hand on his shoulder again, and looked at his uncle. “You understand; this is me. This Jackie, the sub who wants to get close to Brian the Dom, is the man who was once the boy that loved that kiss before all the really bad shit happened. I’ve suffered, I’ve healed—believe it Luki, I worked hard to be able to say that, and it’s true. And I’ve grown into a man, but I’m the same guy.”
“’Kay. Good.”
“And I’ve gathered a little bit of experience, just to be sure I really know myself. Totally affirming.” He waited a moment before continuing, making sure he was careful about what he would say next. “I admit,” he finally said. “I’m still a bit fragile sometimes. Yeah. I’m a sub, and I need a Dom, but that has to be a man who won’t break me. I don’t know how things will turn out with Brian and me, but I think I can trust him to be careful. I think I can trust him to care.
He met Luki’s gaze, and after Luki nodded, he went on, trying to be as honest as he could. “Still, I know some people think my desire to submit is a product of abuse, and some people think I’m just weak.”
Luki draped an arm around his shoulder and gave him a comforting hug. “Believe me, Jackie,” he said. “Nothing about you qualifies as weak. You may very well be the strongest person I know.”
Lou: I hope that’s not too long for this interview…
Pixie: What! No, No it’s perfect… in fact you could post more if you like ;-)
Lou: I’d better not! But thank you! :-)
Pixie: *huff* you can’t blame me for trying LOL
Lou: Certainly no fault there! I’m flattered anyway, and I don’t mind that, really! Seriously, it is affirming… when a writer’s working on a WIP, most of us have a lot of “oh no, it’s turning out awful” and “what if nobody likes it?” So it’s good to hear people like the excerpts–It helps keep my fragile confidence up. Joking, but only a little.
Pixie: You do seem to write pure gold, I haven’t read anything of yours that has me going *blagh* and I am looking forward to everything you write and I know there are a lot of people out there that feel the same so you’re doing well.
Pixie: So Lou, is there anything else you’d like to tell us readers?
Lou: Thank you so much for that sweet compliment! As far as anything to tell readers. Mainly, thank you! I’m so glad you pick up my books and turn my pages, but also just for loving fiction in general and the m/m romance genre in particular. I’ve heard it said that the genre has become more sophisticated, and I agree. I believe the reason that happens is through the influence of savvy readers, both attracting writers to the genre, and being open, honest, and expecting the best. So, yes, thanks. Also, there’s a rafflecopter going on…. :-)
Lou: So other than the thanks to readers, the only other thing I want to be sure to say is thank you, Pixie, and MM Good Reviews for having me on and featuring my work. This has been fun!
Pixie: So Lou I want to thank you for stopping by for this chat, it has been a pleasure talking to you and lots of fun.
Lou: The pleasure has been mine. Have a great day!
Check out the other blogs on the tour
7/18 – The Hat Party, Kimi-Chan
7/25 – Rainbow Gold Reviews, The Novel Approach
8/1 – Hearts on Fire, MM Good Book Reviews
8/8 – Prism Book Alliance, Tara Lain, Fallen Angel Reviews
8/15 – Smoocher’s Voice, Love Bytes
8/22 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Nephylim
8/29 – LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Book Reviews and More by Kathy
9/5 – Amanda C. Stone, Emotion in Motion
Filed under: Author Giveaway, Blog Tour, Book Review, Excerpt, MM Romance Book Review, Pixie's Author Interview Tagged: A Vasquez & James Novel, Dreamspinner Press, GLBT Action/Adventure, <a href="http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/glbt-conte