Summer musings - baby, it's hot outside!

July 28, 2020

The stretch of days between the first of July and the middle of August used to be called the "dog days of summer." I suspect the younger crowd has forgotten all about that just as they've conveniently forgotten so many other things that don't fit their climate change narrative. 

The dog days of summer also mark the rising of the dog star, Sirius, in Hellenistic astrology. Hellenistic being what historians usually classify the era from about the first or second century BC to the sixth or seventh century AD. It helps to read books. 

I hear the "news" reporters crying about how it's never been this hot. Really? Temperatures in the low to mid-nineties in July is new? I don't think so, kids. It's the dog days of summer, remember. It's supposed to be hot. And, in case you don't know, locally our hottest day in July happened in 1954 where the mercury reached 105F. 

What? You don't get the mercury reference? Again, read a book. 

This is the time of year when the garden harvest begins. We've been eating a lot of cucumbers this year. I've made a couple of batches of refrigerator pickles and next year plan to can bread and butter pickles. "Old-fashioned" food without chemical preservatives appeals to me. 
I've room for a good-sized garden here on the manor, but there are precautions to be made. We have a lot of deer, rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, and birds around. They can decimate a garden so one must prepare and then be constantly on watch. My solution will be an electrified fence. 

I'm looking forward to growing more of my own veggies. The notion takes me back to my girlhood days and my grandfather's garden. It will keep me connected to him, and that is a good thing. 

I want to keep honeybees, too, but the spousal unit has dug his heels in about that. The battle is not yet truly begun. 

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com

The Back Stairs by KC Kendricks for the MidWeek Tease

November 15, 2017

**Updated 4/2/21 - the MidWeek Tease blog hop is closed.**

 Welcome to the world of a true shapeshifter - Sundown's world. His kind can take on any form they choose - which gets pretty interesting for Sundown's lover, Fallon. 

This week for the MidWeek Tease, I have a couple of excerpts from The Back Stairs and the beginning of Fallon and Sundown's story. Be sure to check out all the MidWeek Tease offering using the list at the end of this post. Enjoy!

_*_*_*_*_


He smiled, and I melted inside, but I kept my best officer of the law face sternly in place.

“I heard it on the grapevine, Lieutenant. The fire marshal made us stop using smoke signals because it sent the boys in the station house into a tizzy.”

I knew the man he spoke of, and my cop composure cracked as I grinned at him.

“That would do it. Listen, whatever your name is, someone’s son is dead, and I need to find out who killed him, and why. If you don’t have any pertinent information, I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

He regarded me coolly, his green gaze strangely familiar. I’d seen him somewhere before, and it would bug the hell out of me until I remembered where. 

Why had Muffin told me to come here? My cop instincts, which were pretty good, said this fellow had told me the truth when he said he didn’t know Carlton. Those same instincts whispered the man was hiding something, though. But who didn’t have secrets?

“Come in and have a seat, Fallon. I happen to have some very good Kona coffee beans. I’ll grind up a few and put on a pot to brew.”

The hair on my arms prickled with unease. “How do you know my name? I didn’t give it to you.” 

My business card simply said, ‘F. Roxbury’. I didn’t give my name to Muffin, either. As for the coffee, Kona was difficult for me to turn down. 

“Word travels around here.” He took a step backward and motioned for me to take a seat at his table. 

I took a breath to tell him I was leaving, and caught the aroma of fresh-brewed java beneath the scents of sandalwood and patchouli. I was tired of getting jerked around, even by a man so incredibly sexy. Put it on to brew, my ass. 

“You’re awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you? I don’t need pseudo-intimate conversation any more than I need to flirt.” 

He shook his head. “You didn’t listen very well, Fallon.”

“Listen to what? I’ve a mind to haul your scrawny carcass down to the precinct house and let someone else pick your brain for answers, but I don’t have a legitimate reason to have you interrogated. Yet.”

“Tough talk, but you don’t mean any of it. Please, Fallon. Come. Sit at my table, and think of nothing but my very good coffee.”

Would it be so bad to spend half an hour talking with this attractive young man? Heaven help me, he drew me, a tired moth to his steady flame. And he had my favorite coffee, already hot.

Words echoed in my memory. I tried to pull them in so I could hear them again. What had Muffin said? More importantly, it was what she hadn’t said. She didn’t actually say anyone here knew Michael Carlton. 

“I’ll sit at your table on one condition.”

He tilted his head, a smile teasing his full lips. “Oh? What is that?”

“You tell me your name.”

Was it victory I saw in his green eyes, or desire? I needed to know if they were the same. His chin lifted as his gaze locked to mine.

“You can call me Sundown.”

_*_*_*_

And later...


Sundown shook his head. “She didn’t see Michael Carlton, dead or alive, or anyone else go in or out of the alley until your people showed up.”

I clamped down on my anger. “That’s good to know, but I need to hear it from her.”

“Do you?” He cocked his head to the side. “You’re out of luck, Fallon. She is gone from here, and it is beyond my ability to bring her back.”

“Why’d she send me here, then?”

His green eyes flashed with his inner fire, anchoring me where I stood. “So I could give you want you needed, Fallon. What you need me to give you again.”

“Don’t be so damn sure of yourself. I don’t need you.” I lied, and he knew it, the knowledge reflected back at me in his level gaze.

“Come inside and tell me you do not need what I offer you.”

I didn’t think I could. My resolve to bully him into giving up Muffin’s whereabouts waned with every pheromone-laden breath I took. I stood inside the ring of warmth and scent that surrounded him. My erection relentlessly swelled toward completion, and I couldn’t stop it.

“I can’t compromise my investigation further, Sundown. Carlton’s parents are flying in to claim the body. I need to have answers for them.”

His fingers grazed mine, the gentle touch heating my blood.

“I knew you were a good man. I trust you, Fallon. Will you trust me?”

“I trust you to be nothing but trouble.”

_*_*_*_

ABOUT THE BACK STAIRS:

Fallon Roxbury has a nose for trouble and the uncanny ability for landing in the middle of it the moment he finds it. While investigating the gruesome murder of a young male prostitute in the red-light district, Fallon gets a whiff of something very strange. Forensics has unidentified hairs. Very unidentified hairs, like nothing in any of the textbooks. Following a tip from a person of interest, Fallon meets Sundown, an apparent hustler who knows a lot more than he will admit.

Getting personally involved with Sundown breaks every rule in the police manual, and in Fallon’s own personal code. Sundown is like a drug, and Fallon can’t stop at just one hit. When Sundown is forced to reveal the truth, Fallon’s world is turned upside down, and he’s left with only two options: check himself in for psychiatric evaluation, or accept a new reality with a strange shift.

Shapeshifters, that is.

The Back Stairs (Book #1 of the Sundown saga) is available at:

itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1098336257

www.amazon.com/Back-Stairs-Sundown-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01F1J1X46

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-back-stairs-k-c-kendricks/1027224556?ean=2940152768510

www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-back-stairs

KC Kendricks

Website: www.kckendricks.com

Blog: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

twitter.com/kckendricks

The Back Stairs for MSS 142

May 21, 2016

The theme this week for My Sexy Saturday is, "My Sexy Spaceship." Well, I don't have a spaceship but I do have a friendly alien shapeshifter. I think that's close enough!

Here are seven sexy paragraphs from The Back Stairs. Enjoy!

_*_*_*_

It took me three attempts to clear my throat enough to speak. “Why should I allow you to ‘ease me’?
Will you tell me the truth if I do?”

“I have told you the truth.”

There was the truth we tell the world, and then there was the truth we hide from ourselves. That hidden truth seized me in a relentless, sharp-edged vise. I was as big a whore as he was; only my coin was information. But I wanted his mouth on me more than I wanted to find out what else he knew.

“So far, you may have told me the truth. There’s more, and I’ll do whatever it takes to learn it.”

Sundown blinked up at me. “Will you, Fallon? Veritas. Truth. Do you know your limits?”

I shook my head, my gaze transfixed on his hands. I watched as he unsnapped my pants and slowly eased down the zipper and lay open the edges of the fabric to reveal my white cotton briefs. My cock lifted as he drew his middle finger along the hard ridge, barely touching my underwear, from the tip to the base. Sweat broke out in my armpits and over my back. His fingers hooked over my waistband and tugged at my garments. I lifted my butt, and he shucked everything down around my ankles. I looked down at my cock, full to bursting, and rosy red against my paler abdomen. Panic slammed my system.

What the hell was I doing? What if he were Internal Affairs working an undercover sting? Juny and I were not department favorites. We were more concerned with catching the bad guys than playing office politics. Sundown’s spooky green eyes sparkled with desire—and amusement.

_*_*_*_

About The Back Stairs:

Fallon Roxbury has a nose for trouble, and the uncanny ability for landing in the middle of it the moment he finds it. While investigating the gruesome murder of a young male prostitute in the red-light district, Fallon gets a whiff of something very strange. Forensics has unidentified hairs. Very unidentified hairs, like nothing in any of the textbooks. Following a tip from a person of interest, Fallon meets Sundown, an apparent hustler who knows a lot more than he will admit.

Getting personally involved with Sundown breaks every rule in the police manual, and in Fallon’s own personal code. Sundown is like a drug, and Fallon can’t stop at just one hit. When Sundown is forced to reveal the truth, Fallon’s world is turned upside down, and he’s left with only two options: check himself in for psychiatric evaluation, or accept a new reality with a strange shift.

Shapeshifters, that is.

THE BACK STAIRS
Available now at All Romance eBooks, Amazon, and other online book sellers. 

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

Fly By Night by KC Kendricks (MSS 125)

January 23, 2016

**Updated 4/2/21 - the My Sexy Saturday blog hop has closed.**

Happy snowy Saturday! If you live on the east coast, from the Carolinas to Boston, I feel your pain! But we can still celebrate the snow with My Sexy Saturday. This week, I'm doing something I rarely do by posting seven sexy paragraphs from an upcoming release, Fly By Night.

Fly By Night is the fifth book in the Sundown saga, Sundown being my sexy smart, albeit bratty, shapeshifter. In this excerpt, Fallon is teasing Sundown with a new word. Sundown then applies it to Fallon's office assistant.

Enjoy!

_*_*_*_*_

“I don’t want that to happen, either. I rather like having you all to myself. It makes me feel a little hinky when I think of another Chal's essence being inside your head when we made love.” I opened the passenger door for him as he glared at me.

“Hinky. Hinky. Why do you do this to me? Tell me what is this hinky? Tell me now!”

I slid behind the steering wheel and stuck the key in the ignition switch. “It means something is not quite right, bordering on the unreliable. Or maybe a person is acting a little suspicious. Cops use the word instead of saying we’ve got a sixth sense about something. We say it’s got a hinky feel. Do you understand?”

I started the car and put it in gear as he mulled it over. He didn’t speak until we reached the precinct house.

“Yes. Mon-tee. I have a hinky feeling about Mon-tee.”

“I’ve got that same feeling about shapeshifters, babe.” I grinned at him. “I’ve never encountered anything hinkier.”

He flung his hands up. “Oh, we are finished with this word, Fallon Roxbury. I don’t believe it is a real word and I will confirm this suspicion with Sergeant Mack. He will not misinform me if I have an honest question. Why are you laughing?” 

_*_*_*_*_

More about FLY BY NIGHT:

Lieutenant Fallon Roxbury has a few secrets. His lover Sundown is a shapeshifter, and his entire Clan is under Fallon’s protection. He can usually handle the job but the universe has conspired to align a few unusual events. A body was found at the old rail yard where the shapeshifters once had a village, the clan’s nestlings are about to mature, and his lover and his police partner are suddenly behaving like best friends.

When the clan elders confirm the identity of the murderer, Fallon has more trouble. The suspect is one of the city commissioners and the evidence points to him killing more than once. It’s up to Fallon to find legally admissible evidence to connect his cold case to the more recent murder. He’ll need some specialized help for that, the kind only Sundown can provide.

Bit by bit Fallon gathers evidence, not only about the murders, but about the secrets Sundown has kept. It’s a sobering reminder that looks can be deceiving, and the shapeshifter he shares his life with isn’t human. 

The Sundown saga in order is:

The Back Stairs
Beneath Dark Stars
River Walk
Moon Dances
Fly By Night

Please visit www.kckendricks.com for more info and excerpts from the Sundown saga.

You can check out all the My Sexy Saturday blogs using the list below.

KC Kendricks
http://www.kckendricks.com
www.twtiter.com/kckendricks
www.pinterest.com/kckendricks

River Walk by KC Kendricks (#mss120)

December 5, 2015

Welcome to another My Sexy Saturday blog hop! This week's theme is about sexy in another galaxy, but I'm switching that around a bit. What if someone from another galaxy came here? What if that someone is a shapeshifter and his entire Clan is here? Urban legends begin somewhere, don't they?

Here are seven sexy paragraphs from River Walk, the third installment in the Sundown saga. Enjoy!

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

I wet my lips and slid down over his cock again, working mouth and hand in tandem. His fingers twisted into my hair. After a few moments, his face took on a blissful, dreamy look. I knew he’d stay wrapped in his pleasure peak until motion fatigue forced me to stop, and I was determined not to falter for at least five minutes.

Sundown moaned softly. There was a subtle movement beneath my fingertips and I knew he was satisfied—for the moment. I released his rod and sprawled over him to find his willing mouth. His knees slid along my sides as his hands gripped my shoulders. The familiar hesitation washed through me, the moment where the ingrained habits of years of safe sex practices hovered.

No matter his outward appearance, my lover was Chal. The usual precautions didn’t come into play. I slipped my hand between us to guide my cock, and slid into his heat, shuddering in the wake of possessing him. He smiled up at me.

“You have such pretty blue eyes, Fallon. I have often thought of emulating them.”

I smacked his hip and flexed into him, the wiry dark hairs of my bush tight to his ass. “Nice try to distract me, lover.” I thrust into him again. “Now put your pleasure receptors where they’ll do you the most good and prepare to be fucked.”

His powerful thighs squeezed me as he laughed. I rocked into him, hard. His eyes widened, and I proceeded to show him I meant what I said, using my dick like a piston. Sundown loved it, and oh, God, so did I.

Not for the first time I wondered what it would be like to be Chal and experience what equaled five-, ten-, or even more-minute orgasms. Where before he’d enjoyed the blowjob, it was clear he’d now passed the gates of his personal Nirvana. I had one very happy shapeshifter impaled under me.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

RIVER WALK
Book 3 of the Sundown Saga

Gay romance with paranormal shift

available now at 

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/River-Walk-Sundown-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01F7LMN8S

iTunes

itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1098576743

Barnes and Noble/Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/river-walk-kc-kendricks/1113758621?ean=2940153172361

Kobo

www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/river-walk-1

About River Walk:

Detective Fallon Roxbury has a big problem. A twenty-year old cold case turned hot threatens to expose his secret - shapeshifters exist and they’re living in Montgomery Circle under his protection. Between a new witness and a group of fanatical alien watchers, Fallon’s scrambling to uphold the law and keep his promises intact. He already knows no power on earth can keep his shapeshifter lover from stepping into the mix.  

Sundown has come into his own with his human lover by his side. Fallon is his compass, and shield, as he seeks to keep his Clan united and teach them most humans can be trusted. A catalyst, Sundown is rare among his kind, a descendant of heroes. The status of his Clan rests on him and he’s determined to see his people prosper on this world owned by humans - without the humans knowing shapeshifters walk among them.

Secrets have a way of being exposed. Fallon’s not the only one who knows about Sundown’s kind. A cop used to right and wrong being black and white, Fallon struggles to learn shades of gray. Their relationship is tested as Fallon and Sundown race against the clock to find a kidnapped shapeshifter before the Clan takes matters into their own hands.  Because if they fail, Fallon knows his lover will be forced to stand with his people and act against him.  

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

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Be sure to check out all the My Sexy Saturday blogs for more excerpts by using the list below.

MSS #94- The Back Stairs by KC Kendricks

May 30, 2015

** Updated 4/2/21 - My Sexy Saturday was a weekly blog by a group of writing joining together for promotion. It ended in 2017.***

Welcome to the weekend and another My Sexy Saturday blog hop. I've begun work on a new Sundown and Fallon story so it seems right to revisit them at the beginning in The Back Stairs. When Sundown says Fallon doesn't know him, boy, is he right! But who expects to find a shapeshifter living downtown?

= = = = =
“Fallon, you do not know me at all. But someday, perhaps you will."

There I was, straddling him, my dick in my hand, and he wanted to play cryptic word games. What was the price of getting him on his belly with his ass in the air for me?

“What the hell does that mean? Never mind. Just roll over. I promise to cuff you to the bed and spank you next time.”

He snickered and pulled his knees up to his chest, thighs spread to show me everything he had. The rosy, full cock on his pale belly, the lobed sac with its smattering of hairs, the round tight rosebud—good grief, what a tempting display, and he knew it. Sundown smiled, his full lips bowed beneath a green gaze full of challenge.

“Take what I offer while you can.”

I conceded and agreed to momentary defeat. I wanted him, and he could have me any way he wanted to take me. My palm connected with his left buttock, hard. Sundown yelped, sounding for all the world just like a dog. I smacked him again, and he growled.

“You will cease that, Fallon, if you wish to continue.”

_*_*_*

About The Back Stairs

Fallon Roxbury has a nose for trouble and the uncanny ability for landing in the middle of it the moment he finds it. While investigating the gruesome murder of a young male prostitute in the red-light district, Fallon gets a whiff of something very strange. Forensics has unidentified hairs. Very unidentified hairs, like nothing in any of the textbooks. Following a tip from a person of interest, Fallon meets Sundown, an apparent hustler who knows a lot more than he will admit.

Getting personally involved with Sundown breaks every rule in the police manual, and in Fallon’s own personal code. Sundown is like a drug, and Fallon can’t stop at just one hit. When Sundown is forced to reveal the truth, Fallon’s world is turned upside down, and he’s left with only two options: check himself in for psychiatric evaluation, or accept a new reality with a strange shift.

Shapeshifters, that is.

THE BACK STAIRS

Book 1 of the Sundown Saga

Available on iTunes

itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1098336257

Available at Amazon

www.amazon.com/Back-Stairs-Sundown-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01F1J1X46

Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-back-stairs-k-c-kendricks/1027224556?ean=2940152768510

KOBO

www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-back-stairs

KC Kendricks

Website: www.kckendricks.com

Blog: kckendricks.blogspot.com

twitter.com/kckendricks

Moon Dances

May 3, 2014

If it's Saturday, it's time for a blog hop. This week it's the Seductive Studs and Sirens Blog Hop. Be sure to check out all the SS&S blogs. 

About Moon Dances:

For Lieutenant Fallon Roxbury, Special Police Consultant, reality has taken on a strange shift. Shapeshifters exist and a clan of them live under his protection. One is his lover, Sundown. Protecting the Chal is a full-time job, a task which would be easier if they weren’t so secretive - and scheming. When Fallon’s police force partner suggests a vacation, Fallon jumps at the chance to take Sundown someplace private. A resort near where he grew up seems like the prefect place for a get-away. Ten days filled with sex, sleep and sun is just what they both need, but more than fun lurks in the woods.

The ancient nemesis of the Chal is still out there and could one day return to earth to enslave both Chal and human alike. Secrets of the Chal past come to light when Fallon’s suppressed memories of his early years resurface. The shapeshifters have always had a plan defeat their enemy, one with Sundown at its core.

_*_*_*_*_

Sundown’s easy laughter lifted my spirits as we fell into step together. I didn’t have a destination in mind, just the joy of walking along the edge of the woods hand-in-hand with my lover. Tomorrow would be time enough to venture among the trees and search for my old haunts.

The boat dock was about a mile beyond our cabin, and we ended up walking down to the water’s edge. As luck would have it, there was also a weathered bench, so we sat shoulder-to-shoulder and watched the crescent moon rise over the lake. I rested my arm on the back of the bench, and he leaned closer. Mingled with smell of the water and pines was a rich sandalwood— the scent my lover produced when he wanted sex.

“You could sit on my lap, babe.”

Sundown bumped against me. “Are there not laws to forbid such exhibitions?”

"I doubt the fish will take pictures.” I unzipped my jeans.

_*_*_*_

Moon Dances

Book IV of the Sundown saga

available now at www.allromanceebooks.com/product-moondances-2004041-145.html

Please visit http://www.kckendricks.com/MoonDances.html for a longer excerpt and third-party vendor purchase information.

Review info: Moon Dances received 4.5 Nymphs from Literary Nymphs

_*_*_*_

KC Kendricks

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River Walk - KC Kendricks' My Sexy Saturday blog post

December 14, 2013

**Updated 4/2/21 - the My Sexy Saturday blog hop has been discontinued.**

Who doesn't like a mischievous shapeshifter?

For this My Sexy Saturday, I have seven "sexy" paragraphs from River Walk, in which Fallon and Sundown's relationship is tested by startling new facts about a cold case that has some bearing on how they met, a kidnapped nestling, and Sundown's jealousy over Fallon's new office assistant, Monte. Monte is straight and has a girlfriend, but Sundown doesn't understand how anyone wouldn't want Fallon. (It's a shapeshifter thing.)

I've enjoyed the Sundown series and am, in fact, working on the fourth installment this month and next. River Walk was a bit intense so the new one will be a bit more light-hearted. The cop and the shapeshifter will take a vacation together.  

So without more rambling, here's a bit from River Walk for My Sexy Saturday. Be sure to check out all the blogs on the list below.

= = = = =

I wanted to say yes, but my inner voice, the smarter half of me, said he’d try and shadow me himself. “No. I know damn well you’d follow me around yourself. I won’t have you in danger trying to protect me.”

“You are wise, my beloved, and you know me well.”

I scrunched down under the covers, pulling him with me. “Try to remember you’re the one who said it. Now go to sleep.”

Sundown’s warm hand cupped the soft lump of my genitals. He sighed when nothing happened, but twice was all I could manage. “Do you dream of me, Fallon?”

“All the time, darling. Sometimes I spank you in my dreams.”

He laughed at my words and flipped over, his butt against my hip. I rolled onto my side and tucked him into the curve of my body. “Where do you go when you rest?”

 Sundown was silent for so long I thought he’d declined to answer, but he finally did. “I go with you, Fallon, to be sure you dream of me and not Mon-tee.”

= = = = =

River Walk
gay romance with a paranormal shift

The Sundown Series
1) The Back Stairs
2) Beneath Dark Stars
3) River Walk

4)Moon Dances
5) Fly By Night

KC Kendricks
website
blog
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S is for Sundown

2013 A to Z Blogging Challenge

It's All About the Books

Day 19

April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day!

Welcome to my little corner of the blogoshere and the 2013 A to Z Blogging Challenge. Have you been visiting the different bloggers? I know there are too many to get to every one, but it’s great fun to pick a couple every day and go meet the blogger.

We’re rapidly approaching the home stretch and I’m pretty pleased I’ve kept up for a third year in a row. It would be easy to do a little backsliding, but I signed up for it and by golly I’m gonna do it!

Today S is for Sundown, my mischievous shapeshifter. He got a bit miffed when I interviewed Fallon and I had to promise him equal time. So last night, much to my surprise, he knocked on the door. Yes, it was the knocking that surprised me. He usually comes right into my study and makes himself at home.

Here’s an excerpt of our conversation that I hope you’ll enjoy. I’ve used the initials from his real name, Czun Dun Nhunfi and not the name he gave for Fallon to call him.

_*_*_*_*_*_

KC: So you’re out running about the woods this evening? Please tell me you’re not leaving Bigfoot tracks around here. (He looked a little bashful at this point.)

CDN: Have you not seen the show on television where they seek the Sasquatch?

KC: Okay, you did, but please stop it. And if you can’t help yourself, you need to leave bear tracks, or maybe cougar tracks.

CDN: Very well.

KC: I’d want to change the subject, too, if I were you. Fallon told me you’ve learned to drive.

CDN: It was fun, although I must confess Lt. Roxbury was not very enthusiastic about the process.

KC: I think because you scared him, Sundown.

CDN: I have been a passenger in his car many times. This would be what you refer to as “turn about is fair play” would it not?

KC: In all probability. I heard you enjoyed running through the woods on four paws on your vacation.

CDN: I was informed vacations are where one has as much fun as one can handle. Is this not true? Fallon and I had a great deal of fun. By the way, you should make sure your cat is inside at night. I have seen several coyotes very near here, although they would not approach me.

KC: Because they know you’re different. Be careful, Sundown. We have a lot of hunters here on the mountain. Do any Chal still live up here?

CDN: Only three, but they are not members of Clan Nhunfi and I do not know them well. They are old ones and seek solitude so we do not intrude on them.

KC: You’re a mystery to a lot of the Chal, aren’t you?

CDN: I am a direct descendant of one who died long ago. My existence was kept secret for many years.

KC: What made you… hmm. I’m not sure how to ask this since the Chal don’t actually give birth. What made you join your fellow nestling when you did?

CDN: I am a catalyst, a mirror image, of most Chal. Even while I remained within a host Chal, I learned many things. The Chal verge on a new era and I came to help guide them into it.

KC: What new era? I’ve not heard of this before.

CDN: The Chal are many. Our presence on your world is becoming known. Already many live as I do with a human companion. Technology exists that makes it possible to identify our DNA. We must adapt, and we must find new ways to protect ourselves until we are accepted.

KC: And I’m part of educating the humans that we’re not alone and the Chal are not a threat.

CDN: Yes. We appreciate your help. But not all feel as you do. To some we are evil and must be destroyed. These are the ones we must reach and the hearts we must change. Once they are sure in their hearts we mean harm to no one, that we can in fact protect this world from the Others, more will accept us.

KC: I know, but it’s not easy. The best thing you can do is life your life honestly. It’s the best proof you can offer that the Chal deserve to live here. And I'd be careful telling too many people about the Others. It will frightend them. 

CDN: As long as the Chal are here, we will protect this beautiful planet. Even though the Others brought us here as slaves so long ago, we embraced this world. We share in it's bounty. Should we not all share in protecting and maintaining it so our nestlings can prosper?  

KC: You sound like an environmental activist, Czun Dun Nhunfi.
(He blinked his emerald green eyes at me here and I thought for a moment he thought I'd insulted him, but I didn't mean it like that.)

CDN: Fallon said once we should leave the polictal nonsense for others and simply do what we can do when we can do it and not expect a pat on the back for doing what is right.

KC: Well, Fallon's a smart guy.

CDN: I am fortunate he choose me.

KC: I had a little to do with that, you know.

CDN: And we both thank you.

*_*_*_*_*

We chatted a little more, but he was eager to get home. It seems he didn’t tell Fallon how far afield he planned to come this night. He told me a few more things which will be in an upcoming book after I’ve had time to sort it out and write the story. Stay tuned!

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

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

2013- No Retreat, No Surrender

December 26, 2012

It's easy to settle into a reflective frame of mind as cold Winter wraps her arms around my world.  The old year is ending - which is better than the world ending as many feared. The New Year is a mere handful of days away, and I feel it pulling me forward. But for me, going forward means keeping one foot grounded in the past. I believe the past made me the person I am today and it's important to always remember where I come from.

But this blog is about the part of me that embraces being a writer, not those other sides of me that are partner, daughter, cousin, friend, and co-worker. That part that is writer is only ten years old - or is it? I’m a life-long reader so perhaps every book I’ve ever read was research, or at least I like to think so.

The year just past, 2012, was a year of “rest” for the author side of me. There are various schools of thought about scaling back, not that I put a lot of stock in them. The author is the single most important thing about a book - any book - and the trick is knowing how to nurture that element.

So just where was the author in 2012? With family, for the most part, and loving it. Did me a world of good, too. Writing is the Solitary Art. It’s just the writer and all those words ready to be plucked out of the air to form thought. Is the finished product the accomplishment, or is it the work itself? For the sake of this particular blog entry, I’ll take the side of the finished product.

What did I, the writer, accomplish in 2012? A Cat Named Hercules (book five of the Men of Marionville series), Eye of the Beholder (a story about voyeurism), Leather Jackets (book six of the Men of Marionville series), River Walk (the third Sundown story), and the newly released Doors of Time. Not at all a bad showing.

This leads us to the New Year, to the undiscovered country of the future. What lies ahead? Will the author continue several popular series, or forge into virgin territory? Not to admit to being in a holding pattern to echo 2012, but the answer is both.

Look for Desert Snow the first weekend of January 2013. No, it’s not about snow. In fact, it has nothing to do with snow. The story takes place at the Palm Springs White Party. Palm Spring = desert. Thousands of guys dressed in white - like snowflakes, each unique and beautiful. Ergo - Desert Snow. (I like the title and I’m the author so allow me to have my own way for once, okay?)

Expect another Sundown and Fallon story in the New Year, this one more light-hearted than River Walk. Our shapeshifter flees his responsibilities for his first-ever vacation and Fallon has his hands full, as usual. Private investigator Ian Coulter is back with a case of a cyber-stalker turned real-life stalker. Ian turns to Rick for help.

There’s a possibility of a new Marionville couple as part of an upcoming PAX. The story will be written and submitted by September 1, 2013, but it’s up to the powers that be at the publisher when it will come out, but to the writer, it’s a 2013 project.

A new project I’m very excited about is, um….can’t tell you the title for fear some enterprising so-and-so will steal it. Really. It’s happened before. Can’t trust anyone. Anyway, I’ve had this one on the back burner and it’s simmered to the boiling point. It’s time to get it written. There are a few more ideas taking shape, but will they be for 2013 or 2014? I’m not sure yet, and I know better than to force them into the light. The story will come in the proper time.

Where I’ve been and where I’m going. A glance into the past and a vision for the future. And between the two is a “now” full of contentment. I’ve made choices, good and bad, that guide my way. I’m right where I need to be to welcome the New Year, and I’m ready. No retreat, no surrender.

Will you step into 2013 with me? 

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
twitter.com/kckendricks
facebook.com/kckendricks
pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards
instagram.com/kc_kendricks
My country life at Holly Tree Manor

 

Six Sentence Sunday: Beneath Dark Stars

November 4, 2012

When I decided to create my shapeshifter, Sundown, I knew he would young-at-heart with a wide streak of mischief in his soul. I had to explain how his people got to Earth, how they blended in and how they survived. It was so much fun I'm currently working on the fourth book in the Sundown series! 

This week's six sentences come from the second in the series, Beneath Dark Stars. There's a lot of things about humans Sundown is in the process of figuring out for himself. But he knows one thing for certain - Fallon is his. Of course, Fallon enjoys teasing Sundown from time-to-time.

 
His eyes flashed an angry red as his spine straightened. “This is a young man you must now work beside?”

“Don’t get excited, babe. He’s only a kid, a rookie, and Juny and I wi—.”

“How young? I will meet this boy and explain to him he would be in error to desire you!”


BENEATH DARK STARS 
Gay romance with a paranormal shift
available now at Amazon, iTunes/Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other online booksellers. 


KC Kendricks
Visit my website at: http://www.kckendricks.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
Join my mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys
Read my personal blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com

River Walk

July 28, 2012

Having a new book come out is a great way to cap off a very busy month. RIVER WALK is the third book in the Sundown series. And if there's one thing to remember about Sundown, it's never ask a shapeshifter a question unless you're ready for the answer. 

RIVER WALK
Gay romance with paranormal shift
available now at Amazon

Book three of the Sundown series

Detective Fallon Roxbury has a big problem. A twenty-year old cold case turned hot threatens to expose his secret - shapeshifters exist and they’re living in Montgomery Circle under his protection. Between a new witness and a group of fanatical alien watchers, Fallon’s scrambling to uphold the law and keep his promises intact. He already knows no power on earth can keep his shapeshifter lover from stepping into the mix.   

Sundown has come into his own with his human lover by his side. Fallon is his compass, and shield, as he seeks to keep his Clan united and teach them most humans can be trusted. A catalyst, Sundown is rare among his kind, a descendant of heroes. The status of his Clan rests on him and he’s determined to see his people prosper on this world owned by humans - without the humans knowing shapeshifters walk among them. 

Secrets have a way of being exposed. Fallon’s not the only one who knows about Sundown’s kind. A cop used to right and wrong being black and white, Fallon struggles to learn shades of gray. Their relationship is tested as Fallon and Sundown race against the clock to find a kidnapped shapeshifter before the Clan takes matters into their own hands.  Because if they fail, Fallon knows his lover will be forced to stand with his people and act against him.  

INTRO

“So when do you teach me how to change shape?”

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Fallon, wearing a different skin is not possible for you.” Sundown blinked rapidly, looking more and more shocked. “You would wish it?”

I shook my head. “No, I do not wish it for myself. It’s not normal for a human, Sundown. Come sit on the couch with me.”

I picked up my coffee cup and eased down on the brightly colored scarves covering his sofa. I loved his room with its red and gold brocades, bead curtains, and bright cloths. It made me nostalgic for the days of Woodstock even though I’d not been born until nine months after the Summer of Love changed the world. I lifted my arm and Sundown nestled in against my side. 

“Are you angry with me, Fallon?”

Was I? Some inner knowledge assured me he’d not harmed me in any way.

“I’m concerned. That’s different. What happens if I get hurt and some doctor discovers weird little cells dancing around inside me?”

Sundown sipped his coffee. He licked his full lips and took another drink. He was trying to stall me in the hopes I’d ask something else and give him the opportunity to bypass giving me an answer. I wasn’t going to allow him to get away with such a ploy, not this time. I waited. Sundown finally sighed. 

“It hasn’t happened yet, Fallon.”

His answer didn’t surprise me. The Chal used every means at their disposal to protect themselves and the clan, whether or not we humans would approve their actions. 

“Here’s a news flash for you, lover. Forensic medicine has come a long way in a short time, and it’s possible today’s technology can detect those cells now.”

Sundown sat up straight and twisted to stare at me. I saw Czun Dun Nhunfi, the pride of his clan, before me. His quick intelligence absorbed the information, considered the ramifications, and developed options. I stroked his smooth cheek with my knuckles, and gave his words back to him, gently.

“It hasn’t happened yet, darling. How many humans have you done this to?”

His chin lifted. “You once accused me of using you as my science project. In this, you’re correct. The knowledge handed down to me said it was indeed possible to blend with a human in this way and thus know their thoughts. I needed to know if this were true.”

“You’re avoiding giving me a number, Czun Dun Nhunfi.”

“What was handed down said it was possible for those like me. My ancestors who were catalysts did this to gain knowledge of their captors. It is said without doing this, the Chal could not have escaped slavery on this world thousands of years ago.”

If the folks at SETI only knew how right they were – and how late they were to the game. 

EXCERPT:

“Many years ago, when I was a mere nestling and thus had no part in it, the Chal erred.”

I gnawed on a knuckle to keep from laughing at his apparent need to cover his ass over whatever the hell had happened. It wasn’t very respectful on my part, but I couldn’t help it. I pulled myself together and spoke formally to alleviate his concerns.

“I do not blame you for the actions of others, Czun Dun Nhunfi. Nor do I seek to impose sanctions over honest mistakes. Please, continue.”

“This reassures me, Fallon. And I forgive you your humor as you know me so well.” He leaned over and kissed between my shoulder blades. “It happened at Madison Park, along the river walk.”

“Oh, shit!” I rolled up and dumped him off me. Juny’s cold case file. He knew about it through me. “Either someone thinks they killed a Chal, or they really did manage to off one of you, and the Chal removed the body. Or the Chal killed a human and removed the body.”

“Why do you suspect this?” He blinked at me, rapidly, several times.

“I’m guessing because of what Juny told me this afternoon.”

“Wsie emu.”

Oh, fuck was right. I waved my hand in front of his glazed expression. “I told you, Sundown. Juny knows things. He’s got his hands on a cold case. This one.”

“Beir wsie qite emu tagu.”

I’d been with him long enough to learn a few words and phrases and knew the Chal words he uttered translated roughly to “can it get fucking worse?” I watched him square his shoulders. He was about to attempt damage control, but it was too late. I was a cop. I was trained to extrapolate facts and form theories, and I had. 

“Yeah. What you said.”

“Very well, Fallon. I have not yet advised the Elders, but we will speak. The Chal are involved, but not because one was killed, or died. Some twenty or so of your years ago, Timothy Petrie witnessed a group of young Chal playing in Madison Park.”

Cold shock slammed my system. I’d arrested Petrie for the brutal murder of two young men and in the process Petrie dealt a blow rendering me deaf in my right ear. It was also the case where I’d met Sundown.

Petrie spun a fanatical tale of shapeshifters living among humans to anyone who’d listen, and one who had was Juny Mack. My temper spiked and I grabbed his arms.

“You should have told me this a long time ago, Sundown. The Chal had Petrie under surveillance for years, didn’t they? Something drove him to kill Michael Carlton and Allen Young. Was it some action of the Chal?”

His surprise at the strength of my grip on him gave way to anger. “I did nothing wrong! I put myself at great risk to resolve the situation, so much so the Elders discussed what needed to be done about you!”

I washed cold again, a second icy blast which quickly chilled my blood and sent my pulse racing.

“Are you telling me the Elders wanted me away from you so badly the discussed ‘removing’ me?”

Fear flickered in his emerald eyes. “Fallon. We must move on from this. The Elders did what they thought needed to be done to contain Timothy Petrie, and ultimately failed. They bear the guilt of this.”

His panic seeped into me through our connection. It was a blinding white light inside him but I couldn’t back off, not this time. He’d withheld important information from me time and time again, and it had to stop. 

“I seek the truth, Czun Dun Nhunfi. The truth the Chal, and you, work so hard to hide.”

“We do what we must to protect ourselves. Selisei, please. Please.”

Beloved. Selisei. Had he played me for a fool? He gave me the hottest sex of my life. Had it blinded me to his real agenda? 

“Tell me what happened in Madison Park and do not - do not - leave anything out.” I gave him a shake then released him. 

Sundown stared at me. “Will you confide in me, Fallon? What does Sergeant Mack know of the Chal?”

I very carefully pictured a high, wide brick wall around my brain. “First things first. Now you talk, and I’ll consider what you should learn when you’re finished.”

He gave me a look full of cautious speculation. Did it say the barrier I’d erected worked? Something surprised him. He’d expected to be able to read my mind - and for me to waver because I always had before. Sundown arranged the pillows and beckoned to me to come to him.

We were as far apart from each other as we’d ever been since we met. Maybe he had it right and we needed to touch to find our way back from our sudden anger and mistrust. I nodded, eased down beside him. We shifted positions until we lay face-to-face. I offered him my hand and he slipped his palm beneath mine.  

“Start talking.”

RIVER WALK

Gay romance with paranormal shift
available now at Amazon
www.amazon.com/River-Walk-Sundown-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01F7LMN8S

Book three of the Sundown series

KC Kendricks
website at: http://www.kckendricks.com/
blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys

Many Sundry Things

Sunday
January 29, 2012

Some quipster once said, "It's not the speed of life that scares me...it's the sudden stop at the end."

Aye. Right. It's the speed of life! I swear I jinxed myself by declaring my intention to cut back on my workload. It's not happening and I feel like a hamster on a wheel. It might not be that bad in real life, but it FEELS that way.

Let's see. What's been going on in my world....

I'm on Brenda Williamson's An Eclectic Author blog today with A Cat Named Hercules. I'll be Brenda's guest blogger with a regular bi-monthly slot on the 29th of the month.

Have you signed up for the 2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge yet? I have. This is not the cakewalk you might think. Twenty-six blogs in thirty days on topics that follow the alphabet. Many will begin, few will finish. Are you one of the elite?

FINISHED!! The manuscript of Leather Jackets is finished. Now it gets a few passes to check for typos and continuity, then it will be time to fill out the publisher forms and send it all in. And let me just add it's done well ahead of my March 1, 2012 deadline, so I want an "atta girl," please. If you've read A Cat Named Hercules, you should be able to figure out who this story is about as this is number six in the Men of Marionville series. The series is going on hiatus after Leather Jackets so I can finish up some other projects, including the next Sundown story.

Work on my family tree is going well. I connected with a [distant] cousin and she's great. It's been fun. I've been turned on to a website called "Find A Grave." Lot's of info there. My partner and I have new destinations when we simply want to get out of the house for an hour or two - cemeteries.

Next weekend, Eye of the Beholder goes live. Yes, it's a little soon after A Cat Named Hercules, and it's my fault. I turned it in to the scheduling guru too soon. I should have waited until the day Herc went on sale. I mean, I don't even have the page on my website done so you can check it out. Bad KC. But you and check out what I have here. Eye of the Beholder is something different for me - a short piece of only 11K words. Short, smutty and fun to write.

It's Hammer time! I got a new blue urethane Hammer. That's a bowling ball for those of you who don't bowl. For those of you who do, I had to move my feet and my target five boards left. This ball can snap on the back end if you get the right speed on it. You've been warned.

So there it is. The last couple of weeks in a nutshell. One month of the New Year has [all but] passed. Amazing.

Until next time..


**Update**

Eye of the Beholder is now available at
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes/Apple, Kobo
and other online booksellers

KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

My country life at Holly Tree Manor