Guest Post: Ofelia Grand drops in to talk about The Blood Witch

Hello, everyone! Thank you, Ally, for allowing me to swing by again 🥰 (You’re always welcome!-Ally)

A couple of days ago, The Blood Witch was released. It’s a story I wrote for National I am in Control Day. If you don’t know me, I write stories for all those silly days out there – today, for example, it’s National Black Forest Cake Day. Always nice with an excuse to eat cake, right?

National I am in Control Day is observed annually on March 30th. It was created because when, back in 1981, there was an assassin attempt on Ronald Reagan, the secretary of state told everyone at a press conference that he was in control. Chaos erupted since some folks thought he was trying to take over after Reagan when he had no right to do so.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to create a holiday 😄

I seldom read stories where the characters are royalty – some, of course, but I’ve never gone looking for a story with a king or a queen, and I’ve most definitely never written one.

I’m Swedish, and Sweden is a monarchy. The royal family is mostly there as decoration and a waste of money. In case you didn’t catch it in my tone, I’m not a fan. I don’t dislike the king as such, the poor sod never had a choice, and I would never want to trade places with him, but…

So when I decided to write a king, I also decided there would be no fancy clothes, balls, princesses in expensive dresses, and the king would not be there as some kind of ornament.

Conri is a werewolf, and he rules over Northbridge, a small city. The world is divided into areas, most pretty small, and the supernatural population are ruled by a king or queen. The supes have fewer rights than humans – they’re not allowed to own businesses, they’re not allowed any higher education, the legal system doesn’t treat them fairly and so on.

To make sure no supernatural being is lying about their race, there are blood tests when applying for school and other things.

Nick is a blood witch, and as a blood witch, he can change blood. This makes him a great asset to a kingdom, but blood witches are often kept prisoner by their kings or queens so they can be forced to work for them. Nick managed to escape his former king, and he has no plans of going back to working for a king ever again.

He’s managed to hide in Northbridge for six years, but one day he outs himself, and now the king demands he come and pay his respects.

I loved writing this one, and who knows, I might write more kings in the future LOL

Available now: The Blood Witch

Excerpt:

A blood witch—Conri had a blood witch in his kingdom, and it could earn him power and freedom beyond any king’s dreams. He wasn’t sure how it would work, but it was what he’d heard—a blood witch could strengthen a king’s power in ways no one else could.
Conri had promised no harm would come to the man who’d saved Cellica, but now the little shit refused to pay his respects, and Conri was running out of options.
People flocked around him. They came to Twilight, his nightclub, simply to be close to him. His bed never lacked lovers, and his schedule didn’t have any gaps unless he put them there—which he tried to do as often as possible. Everyone wanted to be close to the king, and when he summoned someone, they showed up. He did not beg for anyone’s attention. He didn’t have to. He was king. The fucking witch.
“I’m going to talk to him.” He grabbed his phone and called Urien, his second in command.
Most would frown at a werewolf having a vampire as his closest ally, but it worked great. Conri didn’t do packs, so he didn’t have a beta, and if he’d picked an alpha from another shifter group, all hell would break loose. Urien was a godsend.
As soon as the call connected, he spoke. “Will you be in soon?”
Urien slept through the day, so Conri couldn’t fault him for not being in earlier—it was the only downside with having a vampire as his second.
“I’m already in the building. There was some trouble by the stage. It’s sorted.”
Conri hummed. In one area of the bar, they had live performances during opening hours. If there was trouble, it often started there.
“I’m going out for a bit. You can reach me on my cell.”
He ushered Zephirah out of the office and locked the door.
“I’ll come with you.” Zephirah fluffed her hair.
“No, I’m going alone.”
She pouted. “But it could be dangerous.”
He gave her an impassive look until she snarled “Fine!” and stomped away. Conri feared she’d become a problem one day soon.
The closer he came to the house where the blood witch lived, the deeper his frown became. Blood witches were wealthy beyond belief, and yet this one lived in the worst part of the city.
Cellica lived here because the pack had shunned her. She’d broken a mating—no one ever did. The male she’d been mated to had been picked for her and wasn’t her true mate. He had personally made sure the mate wouldn’t come back. He could do nothing about how the pack treated her, not without becoming a member, and he wasn’t going to. He had tried to move her to a better area which she had refused, but she had allowed him to pay her rent a couple of times when things had been worse than usual.
He jogged up the stairs of the decrepit building where he’d been told the blood witch had his apartment and knocked on his door.
“Hello?”
Conri frowned at the door but didn’t reply. When the footsteps moved away, he knocked again.
“Yes?”
“Open the door.” Conri would not shout through a closed door.
“No.”
“Open the door or I’ll open it myself.”
“I’m calling the cops.”
Conri cursed. “I only want to talk to you.”
“Don’t patronize me.”
Conri frowned again. He wasn’t patronizing. “I wasn’t.”
“How naive do you think I am?”
According to Cellica, the man was short, slim, and young-looking. Conri had been thirty-one when he’d become king, and he’d ruled this city for eleven years. When Cellica had said young-looking, he’d assumed the witch was in his early twenties—a pup. Someone he could intimidate and control. The months leading up to this day had told him the witch wasn’t easily intimidated. “Open the door.”
“I think not. Calling the cops now.”
Conri growled. “I’m the king.”
“I don’t care.”
For a second, anger flared in his chest, then he pursed his lips. “You’re not human, which means you belong to me.”
“I’m human. Now go away.”
A second later, Conri heard the witch talk on the phone, informing someone—the police most likely—there was someone trying to break into his apartment.
Conri growled. “I’ll be back.” He gave the door a soft knock before slinking down the stairs and out on the street. He walked to the back of the building and counted the windows. The tiny balconies didn’t look sturdy enough to carry his weight, but it was worth a try.

Buy The Blood Witch: JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/TheBloodWitch

About The Blood Witch

The Blood Witch cover

Nick Adore has been in hiding for six years. He does his best to pass himself off as human and only wants to be left alone. But one day, he walks in on a robbery. Instead of quietly walking away, he reveals himself as a blood witch, and now the werewolf king demands to see him.

Conri Biast is king. He has been the king of Norbridge for eleven years, but someone is trying to take him down. For months, he’s known there’s a blood witch in his territory who refuses to pay his respects, and that puts him on the top of his list of suspects. But when he goes to confront the witch, things don’t turn out the way he’d planned. The witch is his mate.

 Nick doesn’t want to be anywhere near Conri. Being close to kings always ends with him getting hurt, but he finds himself sucked into the power struggle. Conri doesn’t know who he can trust, but he knows he needs Nick by his side. Together, they’re strong, but are they strong enough to keep the throne?

Gay Paranormal Romance: 43,009 words

Buy links: JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/TheBloodWitch

About Holly Day:

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.

Connect with Holly on social media:

Website :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest :: BookBub :: Goodreads :: Instagram

Release Day! Out of Focus

Ta-da! Today is the release day for Out of Focus and here’s a bit about it!

Enemies to lovers, a broken wrist, hurt-comfort and pining. A short contemporary gay romance set in a little Welsh theatre.

Out of Focus. Gay romance, Welsh theatre, hurt-comfort, enemies-to-lovers.

It’s the first of a new series, although it’s not actually a series because that would imply they are going to be in order. Instead I’m going to have a collection of different novellas about different people in the same small town, with the focus being the Theatre Fach or Little Theatre.

Welcome to the fictional town of Llanbaroc, on the north Welsh coast between the sea and the mountains! There’s a decent tourist trade, but there’s also a very close-knit local community, including resident hoteliers, the theatre/community centre, the hospital, the college, the hospital and the donkey sanctuary. There’s a livestock and produce market every Saturday and it’s a centre for the surrounding farming community.

Alex and Luke are well-liked employees of the theatre and have lots of roots in the town—Luke more-so than Alex, because he’s been there longer. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Out of Focus

Cover - A. L. Lester - Out of Focus

Alex has never quite believed he’s good enough. Not as a person and not as a lighting technician. He hates that however hard he tries he can’t get his boss, Luke, to like him. In the two years he’s been in the job it’s become a Thing with him and he’s got a huge crush on the man. He needs to move on for his own sanity and his career and he’s just about to accept a job at a bigger theatre when one of the volunteers he’s bedded and dumped pushes him off a ladder.

Luke likes Alex a lot and has done since the day he walked through the door of Theatre Fawr two years ago. He doesn’t date his staff though, or do casual—and Alex is the epitome of casual. So Luke keeps his distance despite Alex’s constant flirting.

Will Alex’s injury give Alex and Luke the push they need to open up to each other? Or will Luke’s inadvertent discovery that Alex has a secret job offer push them further apart?

A 17,500 word short story in the new Theatr Fach universe.

Amazon US : Amazon UK : Everywhere Else: Goodreads

Read a snippet!

Luke was furious. Bloody furious. His theatre. His crew. Alex.
He’d got back after a leisurely look round a potential new supplier of scissor-lifts and harnesses followed by a pub lunch with the business owner to find the theatre in uproar. Alex had tipped over on the zargees…which was bloody ironic given it was the approaching new height restrictions about using ladders to rig that had sent Luke on his errand.
He’d gone straight to the hospital and found Alex about to check himself out against the doctor’s advice. Bloody Alex, as well. 
Alex had been a thorn in his side since he’d started in post two years ago. It was a tiny theatre and the chief technician was responsible for anything with a plug on it as well as showing the film programme and doing the lighting and sound for shows. They’d done a panel interview and Luke, a couple of members of the board and Lacey the theatre manager had seen half a dozen people. Alex had come out head and shoulders above the rest. 
He’d walked in on his first proper day on the job and looked at Luke from underneath his ridiculously long eyelashes and smiled and said something perfectly professional that Luke hadn’t heard, because he was gone. Gone, gone, gone. His heart had given a big thump, he’d flushed from his chest to his hairline and he’d taken an actual physical step back because otherwise he’d have done something stupid.
Everyone on the circuit knew about Alex Tilsom by reputation. Not his professional reputation, although that was solid. His unprofessional reputation, as Luke privately thought of it. 
It was a small industry. 
Luke had seen whole companies explode because people fell into bed with each other and the detonation when they fell out of bed again meant they couldn’t work together. He’d been at Theatr Fach for a long time now and although there were no actual rules against it, his personal tenet was to keep his professional relationships professional. 
So he let Alex’s good natured flirting roll over him, he didn’t respond like he wanted to and he never, ever commented or ribbed him like the others did about his latest conquest. It was worse because strictly speaking he was Alex’s boss. He tried very hard not to be the older creep who letched on his staff.
Newsflash. In this case he did not always succeed. 
It made him feel uncomfortable and itchy inside his own skin. Alex was a funny guy. He worked hard, he was good at his job. He charmed passing crew and volunteers into bed and out again with no drama before or after. He’d be gone in two or three years…he was the sort of person who saw Theatr Fach as a stepping stone to something bigger and more challenging. 
All Luke had to do was hold on to that thought and not smile back.
He’d thoroughly fucked that up in the last twenty-four hours, hadn’t he? It was his job to go and see what was going on at the hospital. And he supposed he could argue it was his job to stay with Alex overnight if no-one else could, if the stupid arse wouldn't stay in hospital like he should have. 
It wasn’t his job to mostly fail to sleep in the armchair in the corner of the man’s bedroom and creepily watch over him all night. Or was it? Was that on the right side of the line? Fuck it, who knew any more. 

Amazon US : Amazon UK : Everywhere Else: Goodreads

Out of Focus. Gay romance, Welsh theatre, hurt-comfort, enemies-to-lovers.

#AmReading

This week I’m all about the gay. A contemporary MM, To Take a Quiet Breath by Fearne Hill, a fantasy YA with a queer background romance (or is it NA? I’m never sure, I am neither and it was right in my ballpark, regardless) Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora and a fantasy MM with dragon shifters, The Dragon Hunter’s Son by Hanna Dare.

To Take a Quiet Breath by Fearne Hill

To Take a Quiet Breath by Fearne Hill

I have a secret yen for books with ex-cons-gone-straight MCs and this fulfilled it perfectly. Guillaume killed a man who was abusing his younger sister and has done his time. He is befriended by Marcel, a high-up in the government department responsible for prisons, when Marcel meets him on an information-gathering exercise. Marcel is a chronic asthmatic and this is so well represented in this book. Stories with good disabled rep are another not-so-secret yen of mine. Disabled people are entitled to happy endings too.

This is perfectly realised in this story–the author doesn’t paper over the difficulties and challenges Marcel faces, but they don’t rule out his desire for (and right to!) love and intimacy. It’s book three of a series and I haven’t read the others yet, but I’m going to. I really enjoyed this.

Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora

Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora

This is a YA dystopian. The main character is Nate, who is sixteen. He’s also genetically engineered and needs the eponymous ‘remedy’ at regular intervals to prevent his body breaking down. This is hard to get hold of, as he lives in the lawless slum he escaped to as a young child to avoid being harvested for his organs.

This has everything you want from your dystopian read. Brilliant characterisation, a gritty plot and an interesting social set-up. The cast is a racially diverse queer found family with good trans rep. It’s plot-heavy with a background romance that chugs along nicely. Highly recommend!

The Dragon Hunter’s Son by Hanna Dare

The Dragon Hunter's Son by Hannah Dare

I’m a Hannah Dare fan from her Mind-Metal-Machine series, so I was predisposed to like this one from the start. It’s about Philip, who is the son of Jaxon the dragon hunter. Jaxon is, quite frankly, a jerk. I hated him. We’re supposed to hate him, so that’s okay–the author has done a brilliant job making that possible! Philip is kind and a bit bewildered by life, but toddles along behind his father because that’s what his dying mother asked him to do. He falls for Ejoler when they stop at a town Jaxon rid of a dragon decades ago. Ejoler is, of course, a dragon.

This was such a lovely take on the shifter trope. It’s a sweet low-heat romance and I thought Ejoler was wonderful, particularly his take on gathering jewels and precious things. It’s a lovely low-drama comfort read and I recommend it.

That’s the lot for this time!

Guest Post: K. L. Noone, Demons and Rock-stars!

Today K. L. Noone is here to talk about her new box set, A Demon in Love!

Hi there! A.L. Lester was kind enough to let me pop in and share some exciting news with you – so glad to be here, and thank you! (You’re most welcome and any time!)

K. L. Noone. A Demon in Love box set.

I’m K.L. Noone, and I write a lot of LGBTQ romance – often m/m, but occasionally f/f, or m/f with bi main characters, or even m/genderfluid fairy-person! My first-ever published novel, back in 2018, was A Demon for Midwinter, which went on to have a few (all right, eight – which is more than a few…) bonus stories and stories for side characters…and that’s the subject of today’s post, in fact!

Specifically, this month JMS Books has released the beautiful A Demon in Love box set, with all new cover art, and all the stories in one place – including the brand-new flash fiction short “A Demon’s Very Good Morning”! (You can buy that one separately if you already have the rest – no worries!)

When I wrote Demon, it was very much a love letter to…well, lots of things in my life: paranormal and urban fantasy, romance, queerness, hurt/comfort, pizza, Filipino desserts, and the history of rock-and-roll. It’s about famous-but-getting-older rock star Kris, and his manager-turned-eventual-boyfriend (and secret half-demon) Justin, and the two of them falling in love. It’s also about being lonely, and about not wanting to be lonely anymore, and about trying hard to be a good person, to be there for someone, to help when they’re in trouble.

It’s also got many many sneaky rock band and song references, especially if you happen to like seventies and eighties punk bands – but there’re others, too! (If you think you’ve caught them all, let me know…)

Since Demon first came out, I’ve written more in that universe – like the historical prequel, and the Justin & Kris wedding story, both of which’re included in the box set – and I’ve written other stories too, some high fantasy, some contemporary, some more paranormal, some longer and more complex and more personal in other ways. (Magician, for instance, which lived in my head for a decade!) But your first published novel is always special, I think – there’s a joy about it, a sense of sheer look what I made, I get to do this, this is real! delight, in that first cover art, first paperback, presence of your own book in your hands (or your computer screen; but you get the idea). So Justin and Kris will always be special for me, and I love that people are still finding them and loving them and their love story.

And now we’ve got this luscious new box set, with everything collected, so you can read them all start to finish – all the happy endings, all of Justin’s cheerful noisy family, all the quiet moments of Kris and Justin sitting together and learning how to touch, and of course all the music!

I’m so excited to share this new version (and the new final story, set on a sunny morning, at home together) with you – and thanks again to A.L. Lester for letting me drop by! I hope you enjoy A Demon in Love – I know I will.

Buy A Demon in Love

JMS BooksAmazon : Barnes & Noble

Meet K. L. Noone

K.L. Noone teaches college students about superheroes and Shakespeare by day, and writes romance – frequently paranormal or with fantasy elements, usually LGBTQ, and always with happy endings – when not grading papers or researching medieval outlaw life. She lives with the Awesome Husband and a large black cat named Merlyn, who demands treats on a regular basis.

Twitter : Instagram : Blog (I’ve utterly failed at actually updating the book list on here, but the blog gets updated!) : Facebook : Amazon author page : JMS Books author page

#AmReading

I haven’t done an #AmReading post for a while, largely because my reading has consisted of doomscrolling on twitter and a deep-dive in to the fanfic excellence of AO3.

However, I have begun to surface into actual, purchasable books again over the last couple of weeks and the first one I want to tell you about is a re-read of FF historical The Covert Captain by my dear friend Jeannelle M. Ferreira. I include this to indicate that I am biased! Jeannelle is working on the sequel and I did a reread so I’d be ready. This week I also talk about contemporary MM The Other Boyfriend by Darien Cox and The Green Man’s Challenge by Juliette E. McKenna

The Covert Captain by Jeannelle M. Ferreira

The Covert Captain by Jeannelle M. Ferreira is a f/f regency and I had forgotten how delightful I found it the first time round. Eleanor Fleming (Nora) comes home from war…where she has spent the last decade or two fighting Bonaparte as Nathanial Fleming. She falls in love with her commanding officer’s sister, Harriet. Hijinx of the ‘gosh I didn’t realise you were a woman!’ variety ensue.

I love the historical detail in Jeannelle’s stories (you should check out Your Fingers Like Pen and Ink if this is your catnip, it’s a free transcript and/or podcast) and The Covert Captain is no exception. I felt immersed in the eighteenth century as I was reading—the day to day detail reminds me very much of Dorothy Dunnett’s style.

I should add…this is not a trans story. It’s a woman dresses as a man to survive story. And it’s perfect. Highly recommend.

The Other Boyfriend by Darien Cox

The Other Boyfriend by Darien Cox

Darien Cox is one of my favourite authors and I was delighted when I realised I’d missed a release. The Other Boyfriend should probably be described as a romp. It’s got an unusual plot where our main characters Jonas and Lee, the younger boyfriends of two brothers, work out that actually they don’t hate each other after all. I don’t think I can tell you much more than that without massive spoilers.

I really enjoyed it…it’s a light read with positively Shakespearean undertones. Recommend!

The Green Man’s Challenge by Juliet E. McKenna

The Green Man's Challenge. Juliet E. McKenna

Another wonderful Green Man story. This one is set in White Horse Country in the south of England. Dan is called to the area both by a night-time visit from the Green Man and a phone call from Fin, his river-ecologist, swan-maiden lover. She just happens to have seen a giant on her way home from a job in Wiltshire. As you do. I love the magic in these books. It’s very strongly tied to the earth and to English myth and it resonates really deeply with me. The giant isn’t a force for good in the world; but the white horses that populate the chalk hillsides of the area are. This book also introduces good witches that turn into hares, which is brilliant. It’s set in the summer of 2020 or 2021, in the pandemic, and it’s very well done–there in the background, with Dan’s worry about his elderly father, he and Fin’s confusion about whether it’s safe for them to sleep together, all those little things. But it’s not overwhelming or intrusive. The way the real world and the magical world are interwoven is superb as usual.

This is definitely worth your time.

That’s the lot for this time!