Now That We're on the Other Side

Amazingly, it's been a little over two weeks since the release of Blood Howl.  Robin and I were talking about it yesterday, and it seems impossible it's been so little time.  It feels like months since we were sitting up all night, waiting for that clock to tick over, like two impossible children on Christmas Eve.  How incredible, to know that the story we dreamed up, that we worked over and offered out, hearts in our throats, has now actually be read by people we've never met.  More than read, in some cases, people are actually enjoying it.

It still blows my mind.  I know Blood Howl isn't perfect.  Indeed, it's more of an appetizer than anything, getting our toes wet in this complex world we're now exploring fully.  But it is something we are proud of, it is the story we wanted to tell, and we realize we are incredibly blessed to have done been able to share that.  Robin and I are hard at work writing the second in the series, but I found myself, today, taking a little time to think back.

If you've read the book, what's your favorite part?  I'll admit, mine is one that actually wasn't planned out at all.  At least, it wasn't until we were almost on top of it.  The scene at the zoo (and if you've read the book, I hope you know what I'm referring to) really came out of the characters themselves, and Robin and I following along a silly impulse.  Somehow, in the writing, it became one of my favorite moments of the whole book.

So what about you?  Do you have a favorite scene?  A line?  A character?  I must admit, I'm dying to know.  I feel like everyone who's read the book is now a friend, is someone that I share a secret with.  After so many months of my sweet partner and I being the only two who knew these characters, this story, it's dizzying to think that there are others we could discuss it with.

So please, if you'd like, let us know if there was anything that stuck with you.  I'd love to brew up a pot of coffee (tea for my better half, thank you very much, though I'm sure Robin would share) and sit down with you all and talk.

-Alex

Drug Addled Writings

Well, since I'm popping Vicodin like an extra on House (thanks to two very rude wisdom teeth that had the bad grace to grow in crooked and funky), writing has slowed significantly here in the Saxon-Kidwell household.  Never fear, though, we are still deep in the throes of Blood Howl's sequel.  Neither rain nor snow nor pain medication loopiness will keep us from our appointed task.

It does lend to some interesting scenes, though.

(Slight spoilers ahead, maybe, kind of.  If you haven't read Blood Howl.  Which, if you haven't, what's stopping you?  ARe has us featured on the front page, AND we're on sale.  Come on, that's like kismet if I ever heard of it.  Practically begging you to buy it and curl up with a nice cup of tea and/or whiskey, depending on your preferences.  In any case, here's the scene that never will be, along with a little something for my friend Tj Klune.)

Saturday Snark, Blood Howl Style

It's Saturday, and that can only mean one thing.  Time for Saturday Snark at the lovely Marie Sexton's blog!  For our humble contribution, we submit this exchange between Jed and David in Blood Howl.  Enjoy, and don't forget to share your own snark!  :)

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Sitting proudly in a glass vase were brightly colored foil wrappers, arranged like flowers. “I hope you got the triple extra large,” Jed smirked, reaching out to flick the edge of one of the condoms, the entire bouquet waving gleefully at them. “Or the ribbed, those are nice.”

“Glow in the dark,” David answered with a sly smile. “To help you find your cock.”

----

Robin Muses About Redford and Character Making

Now that a week has passed since Blood Howl's release, I thought I'd take the time to talk a little about the character of Redford Reed. I like babbling about characters and inspirations, so you get to read it!

Obviously the following will contain massive spoilers for Blood Howl:

Stuff Round-Up For The Week

Well, it's been a week since Blood Howl's release, and a lot has been happening. I thought I might start doing a regular round-up for media.

This week has been crazy! As first time authors, Alex and I weren't really sure what to expect - still aren't sure, in many cases - but it's been a learning experience, one we're both grateful as hell to undertake. It's a tremendous amount of fun connecting with fellow authors and readers.

We've started work on the second in the series. The series itself is called Sanguis Noctis, and Blood Howl was, obviously, the first in it. We have at least three more books planned out in this series, with the possibility of more.

Interviews We've Done:
Champagne Sips: Our Interview With MM Good Book Reviews
Interview with SJD Peterson - Plus Exclusive Excerpt

Reviews That Made Us Grin Like Idiots:
On Amazon
On Goodreads

Promo Stuff:
Over the last week we posted six excerpts. One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. We ended the posts with an e-book giveaway. People told us spooky stories, and we gave away a free copy of Blood Howl.

Writing:
Up to 30k words in the second book! Today we wrote a sex scene that was 2800 words. Nobody will ever accuse us of brevity.

BH Giveaway - Winner Announcement!

Good morning, lovely people!

First of all, thank you all very much for sending in your stories. We thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them. Alex and I were both kids that loved to walk around graveyards at night and checked out 'haunted' houses just to see if the stories were really true. Nothing quite like deliberately scaring the crap out yourself, I always say.

The time has now come to announce who wins a free e-book copy of Blood Howl. Alex and I debated back and forth, and we just couldn't choose. In the end, we had to pick our three favorites and then draw them out a hat (my old and battered top hat, to be precise).

So, without further delay:

Lorraine Ulrich, you win! :D We don't have an email address for you, so please email us at saxon.kidwell@gmail.com, and we will hook you up with your e-book!

Blood Howl Giveaway! And the sixth excerpt.

Today, we’re happy to announce we’re doing a free e-book giveaway! 

In the spirit of urban fantasy, we want you to give us your scariest stories. Ever had a brush with the supernatural? Got a local urban legend? Leave them in the comments, and we will be picking our favorite — and whoever gives us the best spooky story will win a free e-book copy of Blood Howl.

The contest starts right now and lasts until 11:59pm on Wednesday, 9/14/11.  So think of something to give us chills and leave it below!

Also, we are now two days away from Blood Howl’s release date, and we wanted to give you a special treat for this last excerpt.

This one might be less than work appropriate...

A Rainy Friday Leads to a 5th Excerpt...

Good morning, wonderful people.  It's grey and cloudy and drizzly here, which can only mean one thing.  It's our second to last excerpt, and one day before our giveaway promotion!

Starting tomorrow, there's going to be what I hope will turn into a really fun, interactive contest.  To give you a taste, I'll just say this:  You might want to start thinking about your favorite ghost stories.  It will help you be in the right brainspace.

And now, on to the excerpt!


In which there is badassness beginning:

Spending a few more minutes considering, Jed determined which roof he’d use. A brick storage facility about a hundred yards away gave the best angle and view of the dock area and most access points. Other options were available, sure, but snipers took the easiest route as often as possible. There was enough working against you without worrying about bad wind angles or things blocking the trajectory.

Quietly, Jed worked his way around to the back of the storage facility. Using a dumpster, he climbed his way up to the roof, unholstering his Glock and moving as silently as he could around the ventilation system. And there was his dance partner. The man was in dull camo, rifle scope resting lightly against his cheek as he scanned the area. He wasn’t moving, ever the good little soldier. He didn’t even flinch when the barrel of Jed’s gun pressed into the back of his neck.

"Howdy." Jed grinned. It wasn’t a pleasant expression. "Whatch’a lookin’ for?"

Except Four

Fourth excerpt!


In which Redford has had the audacity to clean out Jed’s horrible bachelor fridge, and Jed is mourning the loss of his moldy cheese:

When everything was done and cooking, Redford wandered back out to join Jed. There were even more colored marks on the maps that Jed was working on now.

“I liked that cheese,” Jed said, making Redford wonder if he’d spent the last half hour sulking in defense of his cheese.

“I could smell it from all the way down the street,” Redford protested.

“It could have been its own civilization. It was close to forming its own government.”

“It was disgusting.”

“Democracy is never disgusting.” Jed scowled.

Excerpt Three

As promised—here's the next excerpt!


In which Jed goes to his happy place:

“We’re here.”

Jed’s voice had turned cheerful, leaving Redford little time to reflect on his newfound question as Jed tugged him from the car. There was a bright banner in the distance, proclaiming the event to be “The Annual State Gun Show”, with hundreds of people milling about.

Thankfully, Jed didn’t seem to notice his sudden anxiety. They weaved their way through the car park, approaching the huge open area of the gun show. Stalls and brightly colored tents dotted the area, people milling around them, different music blaring on various different speakers and clashing with one other, voices on megaphones adding to the chaos of noise. There was gun oil and beer, cooking meat, exhaust fumes, perfume, old leather, melting steel—

“Isn’t this great?” Jed turned to him, a grin splitting his face, and Redford made himself smile back. “Some of my contacts I only see here, once a year. Some of them could know something.”

Redford took a moment to wonder why Jed always spoke about contacts but never about friends. If he considered that he had friends, maybe he just labeled them as contacts. Or maybe he just never let himself get that close. “It’s….” He struggled to find something good to say. “Loud,” Redford ended up with.

Apparently Jed liked that. “I know,” he enthused, grabbing Redford’s hand and tugging him into the crowd. 

Excerpt Two

As we said yesterday, we're posting a small excerpt a day for six days, plus a give-away at the end of it, starting on the tenth. Enjoy today's excerpt!

In which the boys blow off steam with a friendly game of basketball:

He rolled the basketball in his hands, thinking. It was years back, but Redford could still remember the way the kids used it. Experimentally, he threw it at the ground, intending to catch it when it came back up. Unfortunately, it bounced off at an angle and away from him, leaving Redford watching in confusion as it rolled into a corner. He chased after it, picked it up, and tried again, with the same result.

Basketball was a lot harder than it looked.

“You’ll have to teach me how to play,” Redford admitted. When he turned back to Jed, he found the man standing there where he’d left him, a strange smile on his face. It wasn’t the usual one, the charm and the confidence and the wink-nudge of a man hiding behind them. This was softer. Tender, almost.

Without a word, Jed reached out to him, drawing him in, so gently, almost like he was afraid. With his fingers hooked behind Redford’s jaw, he brought him closer, until their lips touched in the barest breath of connection. Redford had never seen fireworks, but he’d heard them described once. The description seemed strangely similar to the burst of sensation low in his stomach, the excitement that tripped his heart an extra beat. Jed was kissing him again, and it might have been the most amazing experience Redford had ever known.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not involved in basketball,” Redford said quietly.

Excerpt One - Plus An Upcoming Give-Away!

As we are now one week away from the release of Blood Howl, we've decided to post a small excerpt a day for the next six days.

Keep watching this blog, because we're going to be doing a give-away contest, where you could win a free E-book copy of Blood Howl!

Excerpt One:

In which Redford needs to go shopping:

“Chains,” he started. “Thick ones. Several locks. A muzzle. An iron hoop to attach to the wall, for the chains.” Redford dried the next dish, hoping that he wouldn’t drop it with the shaking in his hands. He’d never talked about this with anyone before. “We’ll need to go to a hardware store and a pet store.”

Quiet, Jed carefully set the last plate back into the sink, hands braced on the metal sides while he blew out a slow breath. “Didn’t take you for the kinky kind, sweetheart,” he murmured, one corner of his lips turning up, though without the usual heat. Taking the towel from Redford, slowly drawing it through Red’s fingers as he pulled it away, Jed held his eyes with a scary kind of intensity. “That what your grandma used to do?” he whispered. “Tie you down before she traipsed off to her roses and her fucking doilies?”

Redford got the feeling that if Jed wasn’t whispering, he’d be shouting. Hunching his shoulders, Redford tried to remind himself that Jed wasn’t angry at him. At least, he really hoped he wasn’t.

“It was safer that way,” Redford replied, and he wasn’t entirely sure why Jed seemed insulted. “She was keeping herself and everybody else safe.”

Amazing...

Because I am on the cutting edge of all things pop, snap, and crackle culture, today I signed up for Goodreads.  Which is just a rabbit hole for anyone who likes books, really.  I can already see what my new time sink is going to be.

Imagine my amazement, though, when I get myself set up and find that Blood Howl already has a page.  Not only that, but 26 people have expressed some kind of interest in it so far.  Would you think less of me if I said I teared up a little?  Writing a book has been my dream since I dropped that one about a hobbit coming to whisk me off to Middle Earth.  And through this entire process - the countless rounds of editing, sleepless nights going over and over scenes to try and make them perfect, approving our cover, seeing it up on the Dreamspinner Press site - I don't think the reality had truly set in until that moment.

People are going to read this book.  More than that, even before it's been published, even before there are any reviews hinting at whether this is worth their time or not, even though it's from two unknown authors, people are interested in this book.

It's an incredible feeling.  And it just makes me want to keep writing, to keep exploring these characters and all the other worlds and stories Robin and I have brewing between us.  It makes me realize that this is what I want to do, until my fingers no longer can punch the keys or hold a pen.

So thank you, Goodreads members.  If any of you ever see this, ever read this, thank you.  And I sincerely hope you enjoy the book even half as much as Robin and I have loved writing it.  These characters are ones we care about very much and I am truly excited to get to share them.

I hope that everyone checks out that awesome site, by the way.  It really is quite fun and a great way to find new reading material.  And if, by chance, you want to jot down your thoughts about Blood Howl, well, it's a mighty fine place to do so.

We only have ten days left to release.  Someone hold me, please.

-Alex

So many ideas, so little time...

Totally loving all the prompts over at Dreamspinner Press' Anthology calls.  Seriously, we have so many muses and half-baked story ideas that the big problem for us will be paring it down.

I'll leave you with this thought:

Barramundi.

-Alex