Saturday, September 24, 2016

Tango in the Night by KC Kendricks

September 24, 2016
**updated 4/2/21 - the My Sexy Saturday blog hop is not longer operational**

I'm very happy to finally have Tango in the Night available, and to share it for this My Sexy Saturday (MSS#160). I've had people ask if the title is a reference to the song. The answer is yes, and no. If you don't know right off hand what the tango in the night is, well..... think about it..... There ya go. It's what we all do with someone new. The give and take. The learning about them while not giving too much of our self away. Falling in love is a dance - a tango. Make sense now?


Here are seven sexy paragraphs from Tango in the Night. And be sure to check out all the My Sexy Saturday blogs. The list is at the bottom of this post. 


*_*_*_*_*



“Glad I could be of assistance. Meet me for coffee in the morning?”

I wavered, my resolve to keep our courtship slow and careful threatening to crack in an unexpected way. If I told him to come by the house for coffee in the morning, he’d end up spending the night tonight instead. Standing in his embrace, that didn’t seem like a bad idea at all. My body was tight, aroused, wanting him. I rubbed my bristly cheek against his bristly cheek.

“Let’s work on morning coffee next week.”

“You’re killing me, Jubal.” He nuzzled at my neck, behind my ear. “I’m gonna have to go home and beat off when I could be making love to you.”

I chuckled softly as I tilted my head so he had more room to nibble my neck. I shivered in waves as his lips teased, finding pulse points.

“What do you think I’ll be doing, Ellis?”

He jerked away and fixed me with a hot blue stare. “Okay. If you want a little courtship, I’m good with that, but now I’m gonna be nuts all night.”

_*_*_*_*_*_


About TANGO IN THE NIGHT



Jubal Graham is back on the job after a shooter took the life of his long-time partner, and sent him into a coma followed by months of rehab. Determined to have justice, Jubal is focused on finding a killer, not a new romantic entanglement. Ellis Banks, with his smoldering blue eyes and denim-clad swagger is a distraction Jubal can’t afford – or ignore.

Ellis Banks came to Philadelphia to bust a drug operation; one that connects to the same case agency legend Kentuckian Jubal Graham is working. Ellis finds himself drawn to Jubal, but Jubal holds him off. Sure that Jubal is interested, even though he wears his slain lover’s ring, Ellis mounts a determined siege.

Jubal’s surprise at having a suitor develops into a growing affection for Ellis, one clouded with old fears. Fate ripped one lover from his arms, and now Ellis is in the line of fire. Jubal has to decide if he’s brave enough to love again.

Tango in the Night is available at

AmazoniTunes and other online booksellers. 


 KC Kendricks

Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com




Sunday, September 18, 2016

Where There's Smoke - cover reveal

September 18, 2016

One of really great things about self-publishing is the control one has over book covers. I truly enjoy playing around with Photoshop and creating my own covers. Some really work - others not so much. Either way, it's fun to do. Plus, if a few months down the road I think a cover isn't working for the long run, I can update it without begging or paying for the update. It's a handy skill to have. 

I've been working on a story set in Marionville about a guy and his dog meeting another guy and his dog. So of course I had to put Deuce on the book cover. 

Do you know how difficult it is to get Deuce to sit still and pose for a picture? He's only nine months old and in constant motion. I had to bribe him with food. Yes, it's true. I stoop to bribery with my dog.

Where There's Smoke will be out before the end of 2016. Having the cover ready is encouragement to write faster. 

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Beneath Dark Stars by KC Kendricks

September 17, 2016

Welcome to my part of the My Sexy Saturday blog hop! This week is about sexy magic, so I have seven sexy paragraphs from Beneath Dark Stars. What's more magical than a shapeshifter able to take on whatever form he chooses? That's Sundown. He's not limited to one shape only, and he keeps his lover on his toes. Of course, sometimes Fallon knows just what to say...

*_*_*

He drew in a quick, short breath, and then blew it out.

“The Chal can help. We are able to go into places where you can not.”

For once, his people would be on my side. “The Elders will sanction that. Right. Tell me another story.” 

“I was with the Elders yesterday, apologizing for my actions regarding Sergeant Mack. I have promised them – again – that I will cease to play Sasquatch tricks on him.”

“But did you promise not to play any tricks on him, period, or just the Bigfoot ones?”

He blinked at me, dismay written all over his face. Uh-huh. I had him now. “Chupacabra, perhaps?”

His mouth dropped open. His eyes widened. “That is not me! I have never been to Texas!”

_*_*_*_

About BENEATH DARK STARS


Fallon Roxbury, seasoned detective and special police consultant, knows that appearances can be deceiving. Trained to gather the clues and arrive at logical conclusions, he fits the puzzle pieces of a situation together to find the truth. But there’s nothing reasonable in Fallon’s attraction to the sexy, secretive shapeshifter called Sundown.

Sundown has studied people all his life. Having his very own human male is all he ever wanted. In Fallon, he’s found a man he can trust with his secrets and reveal his true nature. Keeping Fallon happy is a joyful exercise into which Sundown puts his heart and soul—when he’s not teasing Fallon’s police partner by leaving strange footprints at crime scenes, that is.

Fallon’s new case ties into an old one. At a dead end, he knows it’s time to ask Sundown for a little help. With his special abilities, Sundown can get into places Fallon can’t. All Fallon has to do is figure out a way to prove what he already knows. But what’s a cop to do when the truth takes a shift that’s stranger than fiction?

BENEATH DARK STARS 
Gay romance with a paranormal shift
available now at AmazoniTunes/AppleBarnes and NobleKobo, and other online booksellers. 

Be sure to use the linky below to check out all the MSS blogs to read some great Saturday excerpts. 

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com
www.twitter.com/kckendricks
www.facebook.com/kckendricks



Friday, September 16, 2016

For the Lexophile in us all

September 16, 2016

This came around in one of those endless emails we all get, but it’s pretty cute and worth a nod. Anyone who lives in Maryland in July has met Number 17. 

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. 

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.


Have a good day!!!

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com

Did you know my books are also on iTunes? Yep, they are!

Saturday, September 10, 2016

September Morning for MSS 158

September 10, 2016

Welcome to My Sexy Saturday here at the blog! I've been on vacation this past week, enjoying a few day trips around the county as a way to say goodbye to summer.

This is the 158th week of My Sexy Saturday, and the theme is a sexy dilemma. A sexy dilemma? Which book to chose for that one? I think it's pretty simple for this month: September Morning.

_*_*_*_*_


Nate’s hand was warm on my thigh. The heat snaked towards my balls, inducing the almost forgotten tingling. My cock swelled. I was speechless, amazed I could feel arousal again.

Part of me fought it, whispering that it was cheating on Michael. But it wasn’t. He was gone. Would he expect me to mourn him forever? I didn’t think he would, so why did I feel so guilty?

“Hey. JD. What gives?”

I shook my head. “It’s complicated. I wish it wasn’t.”

“The guy in the photo I noticed at your place the other morning? The one who looks like you? Was he your brother? He died, didn’t he?”

In many ways, he had been like a brother. That and so much more.

“Michael was my partner. I lost him last summer.”

_*_*_*_*_

About September Morning:


Following the death of his partner, Jagger Davis is on a sabbatical to finish healing and to get his life moving again. JD goes to Sandbridge, Virginia, for a restful summer of solitude and discovers the cottage next door is full of friendly neighbors. One in particular catches his interest.

Nate Fischer is part of a group of guys who spend every summer at Sandbridge. An IT specialist for a private contractor at the nearby Naval base, Nate’s taking some vacation time. When JD arrives, Nate invites him to a cookout on the beach. It isn’t long before Nate and JD are inseparable, but there are three men in the relationship.

JD’s memories are a constant companion. He won’t banish them to satisfy someone new. When Nate’s job abruptly calls him away, JD realizes he didn’t give his summer lover a fair chance. Now he has to convince Nate there’s room in his heart for both the past and the future. 



SEPTEMBER MORNING



KC Kendricks
kckendricks.blogspot.com






Wednesday, September 7, 2016

The end of another summer (IWSG)

September 7, 2016

Why does the name of the ninth month of the year have its roots in "sept" or "seven"?

Authors ask themselves questions like that all the time. It's our curse, and our blessing. We who write become repositories of vast amounts of useless information. We get curious and go look up why the ninth month of the year is known by September. It won't save the world and we won't lose ten pounds, but we still have a need to know once the question forms.

It turns out September comes from the Latin septem, or seven. The Roman calendar had only ten months and, you guessed it, Septem was the seventh month. Mystery solved. (Until the curious ask when the calendar changed. In 45 BC, okay?)

Be it the seventh month, or the ninth, September has historically been a busy TCOB (taking care of business) writing month for me. Summer may be ending, but I'm beginning. September is my month of planning. And yes, planning counts as writing time in my world.

Part of that is due to what goes on at the day job. There, too, we are planning. I'm obsessed with budgets and calendars in September, and I think the mindset carries over. I keep a list of title ideas and in September I check the list and see what is possible.

I set up folders for those titles that speak to me. I write character bios and story blurbs. I look for inspirational photos. This year, the inspirational photo search will be more focused. I'll be looking for cover stock. And as I piece together the ideas, the most important thing is happening. Somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my brain, the story is starting to cook.

The best stories I've written, and the easiest ones to write, are the stories I've allowed to have a proper simmering time.

This does NOT mean I'm going to let the stories cook forever. I need to be more diligent than ever to keep my head in the game and keep writing. As freeing as the lack of a publisher deadline is, it's in my best interest to try to set one for myself and attempt to meet it. Nonetheless, 2016 will go down in the annals as one weird-ass writing year, and not at all what I planned in 2015. 

Not. At. All. 

And while this is the Insecure Writer's Support Group, I'm secure enough to know writing isn't a science. Sometimes going with the flow of your life is the best option. Or the only option. I think writers on the whole get too caught up in the desire to "write something every day" they put a lot of undue pressure on themselves. I didn't learn that over night, but I learned it, and it's made my writing life easier. 

So that's what you'll find me doing this September. Planning and going with the flow of my life. Enjoying the last days of summer and looking forward to the magic month of October. 

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com
www.twitter.com/kckendricks


In the mood for a mystery/private investigator/FBI agent story? Check out the Amethyst Cove series. Ian and Rick are waiting. 


Saturday, September 3, 2016

School days, old days we remember

September 3, 2016

The spousal unit and I often enjoy in-depth discussions. It's true. The man really can do more than grunt. Oh, I'm sorry. That's a politically incorrect statement. We can't man bash any longer. Oh, wait. He's "mine" so I can say that. 

I'm so confused as to what's proper and what's not. Utopia is out and dystopia is in. Humor is out and gloom is in. It's a different world. 

Back in the day, Maryland schools resumed the day after Labor Day. Somewhere along the way, that changed. Gov. Larry Hogan proposed adopting a more traditional schedule for Maryland schools as a way to save upwards of $100 million in the school/education budget, and this became a BAD thing. Soooo I can only assume spending more taxpayer money is in and saving taxpayer money is out. 

Yeah, no shock, that. 

Hogan's proposal led us - me and the hubby - to a discussion of our school days. RC is almost ten years older than me, but our experiences are similar. We rode a school bus and we had to walk to a central spot with all the other kids to get on the bus. There was no stopping every fifty feet for individual curb service - and fuel was a lot cheaper back then. 

Spring break? What the fuck is that? We didn't get a spring break and we weren't scarred for life. 

Snow? Get your ass on the bus and go. If the roads got bad, they sent us home early. 

The music program: my choice was to ignore it since they didn't exactly promote rock 'n roll but RC played lead guitar in various bands for over thirty years. He still won't let me hang his Strat on the wall for decoration, though. 

Gym class. Basketball? Why? Archery? Why? Although now I won't mind being skilled with a weapon that launches a deadly projectile. 'Nuff said on that. 

The exterior doors are locked? Someone is about to get an ass-kicking from the principal and they scurried away to hide. So the janitor locked 'em in. Other than that, the doors were not locked.

Take a gun to school? Are you fucking nuts? What if your father found out you did something that fucking stupid? You're grounded!

We definitely came of age in a different time. We worry about the quality of education the grandsons received. We know how well they did in cross country track, but can they make change without a cash register read-out telling them the amount? Simple things. 

I can't say that RC and I abhor progress because we don't. We each have our own computers, smart phones, and Kindles. (I win because I also have a laptop!) Endless hours are spent sharing neat little apps and tips to make all the toys run better and give more enjoyment. We've embraced Prime videos, Netflix and network apps. Someone even brought home a smart TV recently (my checkbook did not take that hit). 

I love being able to do work at home and email it to myself for later retrieval. And of course, I'm proud to be an e-published author with blogs, facebook, and twitter at my fingertips. I do my own website and I've recently mastered the art of book covers. And I drive a car without a carburetor that still ranks as American Muscle.  

Speaking of art, there's an art-like beauty to the ways life changes from generation to generation. But as the world turns, I feel a sort of sadness, or perhaps melancholy, for those things children today will never know - because we allowed them to slip away. 

And one of those things we allowed to fall away are the sweet hours of the Labor Day weekend. The unofficial end of summer and the last dwindling moments of September's sunlit freedom before school starts again. 

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com