2010-07-05

When Writing Worlds Collide

I'm blogging today about all the fun and freaky serendipity that occurs when you share muses with other authors. Muses who seem inclined to save time by multi-tasking, I might add.

To read all about it, visit the Nine Naughty Novelists at:


I also want to announce a new release coming soon. Edge of Heaven (published by Loose Id) is being released on July 20. Yes, just two weeks away and I wish I had a cover to share with you, but sadly that's still in the works. Sigh.

Those of you who know me, know how excruciatingly hard I find it to wait on covers. While we're waiting, here's a blurb and excerpt:

Welcome to the afterlife, where men are men and the angels are fallen...

Edge is an unlikely angel. Unable to atone for the sins he committed while human, he's resigned to spending the rest of eternity in Limbo. Until he meets a miracle named Mattie. 

It was a reckless act of passion that ended Edge’s life and left him in Limbo—literally. Now, he’s stuck here. While most of the other angels-in-training move quickly up the celestial ladder, Edge knows it can never be that simple for him. He’s dealing with issues that are a lot more complicated than a simple lack of closure. 

While Edge doesn’t know for sure what it will take to get him into Heaven, there is one thing he’s certain won’t help—his latest assignment guiding angel-baby Matteo Matinucci while the newbie find his wings.  

But twenty-something Mattie—sexy, beautiful, recently departed and openly gay—could turn out to be the answer to all of Edge’s prayers, as well as the fulfillment of all his fantasies, even the hot, sweaty, secret ones he’s never confided to anyone. And by helping to send Mattie to Heaven, Edge just might end up saving both their souls. 

Warning: This book contains angels in the afterlife, a host of heavenly hotties worth falling for, and man on man angel sex—so good, you’ll be dying to get some.

Excerpt:

Prologue

People have all sorts of misconceptions about angels. They think we’re perfect. They think we don’t have feelings or emotions or lust after each other’s bodies -- and occasionally after yours as well. That’s nonsense. Of course we do. We’re only human, after all. Or at least some of us were. Once.

My name is Edge. I’m an angel. And this is my story.

I understand how confusing it might seem at first, all the questions you’re probably asking yourself. Like aren’t angels and humans fundamentally different? Aren’t we completely separate species? Weren’t angels created first? The simple answer to all those questions is yes. But whoever said the universe was simple?

There’s nothing uncomplicated about the human heart. There’s nothing easy when it comes to free will. If you consider all the trouble a soul can get itself into, or if you think about all the tasks the celestial hosts are called on to perform, you’ll see why it only makes good sense for there to be more than one type of angel in the world. Besides, if you’d ever caught even a glimpse of one of the seraphim -- those fierce and fearsome creatures forever on fire to do battle against the forces of darkness -- you’d think twice too about using them as messengers to ordinary people. Never mind sending one of them to stand watch over the kiddies while they sleep!

The path to becoming an angel is actually far easier than you might imagine. All you have to do is lose your soul. That’s another concept many people find difficult to grasp. Soul loss. It’s something else that comes entirely too easily to most of us. Sudden death, violence, a lack of closure, guilt -- that’s all it takes sometimes. You lose your way. You disconnect. Your soul fractures. The next thing you know, you’re waking up here. Stuck in limbo. Unable to move on to heaven…or the next plane of existence…your next lifetime…

Okay, you want the truth? We don’t really know where we’re supposed to go from here. All we know is we aren’t going anywhere. Not yet. Not until we’ve found our closure, mended our fences, or in some cases, performed a truly unselfish act.

Unselfish. Now that’s hard.

Most of the folks here don’t have it as tough as that. They’ve just got closure issues to deal with. Closure is a piece of cake. It’s something almost anyone can manage once they’re ready for it. I’ve seen people find closure in the damnedest things. But unselfish acts -- truly unselfish acts? Well, that’s a whole nother story.

Take me, for example. I committed suicide. That’s what landed me here. And you really can’t get much more self-absorbed than that.
********
If you'd like to read a more (much more) adult excerpt, click HERE to download.