The Questions
1)
You’re marooned on a small island with one
person and one item of your choice—who is that person and what item do you
have?
I’m such a
nerd… I’d say my kindle. ;-) and my hubby of course. He’s the only one I can
stand to be around in extended periods of time.
2)
Which musical would you say best exemplifies
your life – and which character in that musical are you?
The only
“musicals” I’m really into are operas, and they’re all too fantastical or
tragic to resemble my life. IRL I’m just a regular gal.
3)
Take these three words and give me a 100 word or
less scene using them: frock, noun,
guitar
I’m
pregnant. I can’t brain words right now. That sounds like such a cop-out, but
during the first trimester I have no brain function—okay I’m exaggerating a
tiny bit, but still. I’ve got two more weeks before things should start
clearing up. J
4)
You’ve
just been let loose in the world of fiction, with permission to do anyone you
want. Who do you fuck first and why?
Oh wow,
that’s tough since I mostly read m/m these days. Umm, I guess I’d plop myself
down in the middle of Charlie Cochet’s THIRDS and hope one of them threw me a
bone. *giggle*
5)
What is your idea of how to spend romantic time
with your significant other?
I would
probably say going to a movie in an actual theater. It sounds lame, but with a
toddler and one in the oven, it’s a luxury we’ve gone without for a while. We
just recently went to see Jurassic World
in the theater and had a great time.
6)
When you start a new story, do you begin with a
character, or a plot?
It’s
different each time. There’s no telling what will pop into my head to start a
story. With Shadows Fall, the
character of Titus came first, and I built the story around him.
7)
If they were to make the story of your life into
a movie, who should play you?
I’d have to
go with Scarlett Johansson. My hubby likes her for obvious reasons, but I like
her because of the way she’s been campaigning lately for women to be seen as
more than sex objects in the film industry.
8)
Who’s your favorite horror villain and why?
Probably
Nosferatu – again, nerd alert. I watched the silent film as a kid and it always
stuck with me as one of the creepiest things I ever saw.
9)
Do you have an historical crush and if so, who
is it?
Hmm… ask my
husband, I am definitely not
a history buff. But if we’re talking
historical fiction, then I’d say
Sherlock Holmes. And not just because of the awesome actors that have played
him through the years.
10)
Is there a story that you’d like to tell but you
think the world isn’t ready to receive it?
I’d
absolutely love to do a trans* story someday. I wouldn’t say the world isn’t
ready for it so much as the market may not be, or I’ve just yet to find it.
Mainly I’m still educating myself on the subject and building up a knowledge
base so that when I do write one, it will be as true to life as possible.
Book Name: Shadows Fall
Release
Date: June 10, 2015
Blurb:
A gift—or curse—gives
Titus McGinty the unwanted ability to talk to ghosts. When he starts seeing the
same few apparitions repeatedly, appearing with similar gruesome injuries, he
begins to wonder what they want from him.
Detective Charlie Hale has a serial killer on
his hands. On the loose for weeks, the Queen City Slayer has left the police
nothing to go on, no forensic evidence other than what he wants found. The city
is running out of time.
The crisis brings Titus and Charlie
together—Titus stumbles upon a body and finds himself a suspect. Their budding
romance is tested as they are sucked into a web of underground laboratories,
restive spirits, and religious fanaticism. They’ll have to work together to
find the identity of the killer before he takes his next victim…Titus.
Pages or Words: 102,000 words
Categories: Contemporary, Crime Fiction, Fiction,
Gay Fiction, Romance, Thriller
Excerpt:
I always hated
walking home alone at night on the deserted city streets. But I couldn’t ask my
employees to do something I was scared to do myself, so I’d taken the late
shift. In the dark, the wandering dead became nothing but sliding shadows and
hissing whispers. The phrase 'jumping at shadows' is apt, because there were things in the shadows.
Those things
slithered around me, feeling much more insidious in the murky stillness of the
nighttime city. Hands in my pockets, I gripped my four inch pocket knife that I
always carried. Fat lot of good it would do me against mule, but there was a killer on the loose after all.
It was
ill-advised, but I still blasted my music inside my headphones. I didn't want
to hear what the spirits had to say in gloam. I mostly kept my eyes glued to
the sidewalk in front of me—don't stand
out, don't make eye contact, make yourself invisible—but I cast glances all
around my periphery to keep aware of my surroundings.
A tall, skinny
man approached, heading toward me on the opposite side of the sidewalk. He wore
dark jeans and a black hoodie with the hood pulled up, casting his face in
shadow. I found that odd, as it was one of those warm, humid nights the
Southern springtime was famous for. His dark eyes glittered at me from the
empty void where his face should be, obviously a trick of the poor lighting.
As he passed me,
he clipped my shoulder, throwing me off balance. I wanted to turn around and
yell, but self-preservation intervened. I could probably take him in
hand-to-hand, but he could be packing for all I knew. I put my head down and
kept walking.
I yelped when a
spirit appeared in front of me—unlike what movies and television showed, they
didn’t usually just pop up. He was a
young man, probably about my age, with pale skin, black hair, and eyes so blue
they seemed otherworldly… and he was gorgeous. I blinked, hoping he’d
disappear. No such luck.
He turned his
head towards the building beside us that was being renovated, the entrance to
which was blocked off with caution tape. Stretching out his left arm, he
pointed to it, and I could see bone-deep gouges in his wrist and forearm. He
glanced at me again. Look.
“Not tonight,
okay?” I mumbled, trying to step around him. In the blink of an eye, he
disappeared and rematerialized right in front of me. See!
“No,” I said,
getting angry. I walked straight through him. Usually when I passed through a
spirit, I just felt a slick, oily cold sliding through my body—but this burned
like a vat of acid had been dumped over me. I screamed and fell to my knees.
He appeared in
front of me again. As I looked up at him, still reeling from the pain, it
occurred to me how new he must be. When a mulo
first left its body, it still maintained some measure of its humanity. It was
able to take and maintain a corporeal form more easily than the older spirits,
and the ability faded with each day since its passing.
He pointed again
and this time, his eyes took on a pleading quality. I could practically feel
his anguish.
Struggling to my
feet, I brushed myself off and sighed. “Fine, I’ll look. But then you need to
leave me the hell alone. I ducked under the caution tape strung across the
doorless entry of the run-down building. It was almost pitch black inside, but
I got a vague sense of sawhorses and scaffolds. Tip-toeing for some
inconceivable reason, I made my way into some kind of vestibule or foyer. I
didn’t notice anything that this mulo
would be so desperate for me to see, but I couldn’t really see much at all.
My foot hit
something solid and I was afraid to go any further into the dark. Who knew what
kind of hazards were strewn about the construction site. I dug out my iPhone
and swiped it to turn on the flashlight app. A bright light shone out of the
camera flash and illuminated the dusty room in front of me—and the man lying
all too still on the floor.
I screamed for
the second time in five minutes, stumbled back against a plastic-draped
scaffolding and dropped my phone. I assumed it landed screen up, because the
room was suddenly plunged back into darkness. With my skin crawling, I felt
around on the floor for the hard case. Instead, I grabbed a cold leg.
“Holy God!” I shouted, scrambling backwards and
sideways until my back hit a wall. My pulse pounded and my head was spinning
with the urge to pass the fuck out, either from fright or hyperventilation. My
muscles were on lockdown, frozen into that gray area between fight-or-flight,
but I knew I had to find my phone so I could get the hell out of there.
And the body…
I’d have to call someone. I poked around with the toe of my shoe, carefully
avoiding the area of blackness where I thought the body was. Finally I felt the
phone. I dragged it across the floor with my foot until I was able to pick it
up. Everything was illuminated once again. “Oh thank God,” I said.
But once there
was light, I could see him again. His head was turned to face away from me, but
I knew that it was the guy from outside. Obviously he’d wanted me to find his
body. It was laid out like a sacrifice, arms stretched out to reveal the deep
cuts on his arms. I shivered. My brain was finally catching up to the situation,
and I realized it was entirely possible that the killer could still be here.
I quickly got to
my feet and lurched toward the dim light pooling at the doorway. As soon as I
was out of there, I pressed my back up against the cool façade of the building
and panted to catch my breath. I see the dead all the time, but I’d never
actually seen a dead body before. I
wasn’t sure what to do; the only thing I could think was call Charlie.
With shaking
hands, I pulled up his number on my phone—I may have entered it from the
business card he gave me after chasing Jay out of the shop. I pressed send and
he picked up on the first ring.
“Hale.”
“Ch-Charlie?”
“Who’s this?”
“Titus.” My
voice was shaking and I was embarrassingly close to tears. “I need help.”
“Tell me where
you are and I’ll be right there.”
I rattled off my
general location, already soothed by the sound of his voice, the confidence in
it. “Please hurry,” I said.
“Stay put, I’m
on my way.”
About the
author:
J.K. Hogan has been
telling stories for as long as she can remember, beginning with writing cast
lists and storylines for her toys growing up. When she finally decided to put
pen to paper, magic happened. She is greatly inspired by all kinds of music and
often creates a “soundtrack” for her stories as she writes them. J.K. is hoping
to one day have a little something for everyone, so she’s branched out from m/f
paranormal romance and added m/m contemporary romance. Who knows what’s next?
J.K. resides in North Carolina, where she was
born and raised. A true southern girl at heart, she lives in the country with
her husband and young son, a cat, and two champion agility dogs. If she isn’t
on the agility field, J.K. can often be found chasing waterfalls in the
mountains with her husband, or down in front at a blues concert. In addition to
writing, she enjoys training and competing in dog sports, spending time with
her large southern family, camping, boating and, of course, reading! For more
information, please visitwww.jkhogan.com.
Where to find the author:
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Cover
Artist: J.K. Hogan
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