Author Name: A.M. Arthur
Series: Perspectives - Book: Two
Can be read as a standalone
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Pages or Words: 283 pages, 83,000 words
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Cover Artist: Lyn Taylor
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, M/M
Romance, Romance
Blurb:
Love knows no limits…but fear could keep them from seeing it.Gabe lives a double life. As Gabriel Henson, he works multiple jobs to support his remorseless, alcoholic mother. As Tony Ryder, he does internet porn for extra cash and regular safe sex without complications.
Yet when he encounters a scared young man freaking out in a night club, he’s compelled to reach out. Ever since then, the memory of that young man has haunted him.
Tristan Lavelle lives his life thirty minutes at a time. After a traumatic brain injury three years ago, he gets through his day recording his life in spiral notebooks and sticky note reminders.
A month after Tristan’s embarrassingly public meltdown, another chance meeting with Gabe sparks a warm, emotionally fulfilling email relationship. Both men crave more, but fear of the next step stands between them.
Until Tristan gets the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial that could improve his memory—if the side effects don’t kill him. But for Tristan, the possibility of a real life with Gabe is worth any risk…
Excerpt:
The late hour didn’t diminish the sweltering August heat, and Tristan worked up a good sweat walking. Shane and Noel both looked crazy sexy in their club clothes, and even sexier walking side by side. He was happy for Noel. Happy his best friend was in love and enjoying himself.He was also stupidly, insanely jealous.
He stuck close with his stupid, insane jealousy because the streets were teeming with people of all ages, heading into and out of the different restaurants and clubs. They turned down a quieter side street that was more like an alley. Halfway down the block a few guys hung out against a stone wall, most of them smoking cigarettes. An industrial door with no sign or markings was being guarded by a big, burly bear of a man in a black leather vest.
“Hey, Officer Carlson,” the bouncer said. He had a deep voice to match his broad body. “Nice to see you again.”
“Hi, Mr. Henson,” Noel said.
“Bear, son. Everyone calls me Bear.”
“Right. This is my friend Tristan Lavelle.”
“A right pleasure.”
Tristan shook Bear’s hand, surprised by the gentle grip. “Hi.” He glanced at Shane, who didn’t seem at all annoyed at being left out. “Um, that’s Shane. Noel’s boyfriend.”
Bear grinned. “Yeah, I know that one all right.”
“You do?” He reached for a notebook he didn’t have, then looked at Noel for answers.
“Shane dances here once a week,” Noel said. “He got the job through Bear’s son Gabe.”
“Oh.” He didn’t bother asking if he’d already been told that. Probably. Every single piece of information that was mildly important to his life had been repeated to him at least, oh, eighteen times. Minimum.
“Enjoy yourselves, boys,” Bear said. “First drinks are on the house.”
“Thank you,” Tristan replied.
Noel pulled the door, and what had been a distant bass became an impressive thumpa-thumpa in Tristan’s chest. The interior of the club was wide and deep, with a high ceiling decorated in strands of red and blue lights. Strobes and other lighting flashed around the dance floor, which seemed to make up most of the floor space. A small U-shaped bar stood to the right. In the rear were what looked like raised platforms. Two hot guys in red short-shorts were gyrating together on one of them.
This is the kind of dancing Shane does? Shit.
He was probably twenty kinds of hot up there.
Someone jostled past them, reminding Tristan to keep moving forward. Noel was hustling them straight for the bar. Tristan couldn’t drink alcohol because of his antidepressants and anxiety medications, and Noel was driving so the only person able to drink much was Shane.
Lucky bastard.
Not that Tristan was going to mourn his dry night. Men. Everywhere around him, a sea of hot men. All kinds of eye candy. Every age, height, weight, shape and body hair amount. He observed and mentally drooled over the flesh on display. The air smelled of liquor and sweat and sex, and good Lord he was starting to get lightheaded from it all.
Noel nudged them closer to the bar. A middle-aged man with gray hair and a pink sequined vest gave them all a big, toothy smile. “Noel and friends,” he said. “Richard Brightman, pleased to officially meet you, Tristan.”
“Hello,” Tristan said. Officially meet you implied they’d interacted before, but the man’s name meant nothing to him.
“I’m Bear’s husband. We own the place.”
“Oh. It’s a great place. I’m pretty sure this is my first time. I like it.”
Noel flinched.
Okay that was wrong. When was I here before?
“So what are we drinking tonight?” Richard asked. “First round on the house. Samuel Adams for you, Shane?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Shane replied.
Richard knows because Shane works here.
“I’ll have a vodka tonic,” Noel said. “Tris?”
“Virgin margarita,” Tristan said. He loved margaritas, and while a virgin wasn’t as good as one with Patrón, he couldn’t mix with his meds.
“Coming up,” Richard said.
The music changed to a faster, sharper beat. Tristan’s hips rolled in tiny motions, instinct bringing out his love of club dancing. Of getting into it with another dude, all writhing bodies and gyrating hips. Arms and legs. Sweat and heavy breathing.
Wonderful arousal stirred in his gut, heating his blood already. He might not be getting laid tonight, but damn it, he was going to have some fun.
“Hey, you guys made it,” said a sexy, sultry voice.
Tristan glanced over his shoulder to see who the voice had spoken to, only to find himself staring into a pair of kind, dark eyes. Kind, dark eyes belonging to a stunningly handsome face. Black hair. Tan skin. Tall and well-built. A walking wet dream who was smiling like they were old friends.
Holy fucking hell, he’s gorgeous.
“Hey, Gabe,” Shane said.
Gabe.
Those kind, dark eyes never broke from his, and Tristan couldn’t look away. Gabe was a stranger, and yet somehow familiar.
His eyes. The eyes I see. We’ve met.
“We’ve met,” Tristan said before he could think twice.
Gabe’s eyebrows twitched. “Yes, we have. Do you remember that?”
“I remember your eyes.”
Sales Links: Amazon ARe Barnes and Noble Kobo Samhain Publishing
About the
author:
A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone's throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland. She's been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn't been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories.
When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she's an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments. Contact her at am_arthur@yahoo.com with your cooking tips (or book comments).
When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she's an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments. Contact her at am_arthur@yahoo.com with your cooking tips (or book comments).
Q and A
with
A.M. Arthur
At the same time, I’d been publishing under another name, and that wasn’t going well, so I was like, let’s try something new. So I write an original m/m novella, submitted it, and it was, to my great shock and delight, accepted! I’ve been writing m/m ever since, and it’s been so freeing.
2. Where do you find your inspiration ?Everywhere. For example, The Truth As He Knows It was inspired by a photo I saw on Tumblr of two men holding each other in a very intimate, comforting hug. I kept staring at it and thinking “Who are these guys?” “What happened that they need each other so much?” So I wrote their story.
Sometimes inspiration comes from wanting to use a specific trope. No Such Thing was a product of wanting to write a shy, inexperienced virgin hero who falls for a reformed bad boy. And that’s exactly what I wrote. I’m always watching and listening.
3. What is for you the perfect book hero?That’s a tough one. I think when it comes down to it, he needs to be generous but not a push-over, faithful but not blind, and kind but also willing to protect what’s his. I’m also not a fan of the alpha-hole trope. Jerks are not my thing, in real life or in a book.
4. When you start a book, do you already have the whole story in your head or is it built progressively ?Every book is different, but for the most part they are built progressively. I’ll often start knowing both heroes and knowing the big obstacle they’re facing. Sometimes I’ll already know what their crisis point is, sometimes not. Stand By You (Belonging #3) was one of the few books that I had in my head from the start. I knew exactly how Romy and Brendan’s story was going go, and it was one of the fastest first drafts I’ve ever written.
5. Do you pay attention to literary criticism?Of my own books? Yes. I like knowing what readers did and didn’t like in my books. Can I change anything after the fact? No. But it’s kind of fascinating to see the difference of opinion. How one person can adore everything about a book, and another thinks it’s horribly written and derivative. But I know better than to respond to criticism.
6. The days are 25 hours. How do you spent that extra hour?Sleeping.
7. What is the book you would bring with you on a desert island?Watership Down, by Richard Adams. That book is so long, and so rich with narrative that you can read it over and over and never get bored.
8. When and why did you begin writing?I started writing down stories when I was twelve years old, and mostly I did it so I could share the stories with my sister and best friend-at-the-time. They were awful, of course, but I enjoyed it, so I kept at it. I’ve tried it all—novels, short stories, novellas, screenplays.
9. What inspired you to write your first book? I wanted to write the Next Great American Novel. No joke. I started writing that one in high school, and it was….well, not a bad book. I still have it saved on a memory stick someplace. But it wasn’t a great anything. I did, however, show me that I could write to novel length and have it make sense. So I wrote another book. And another one.
Not all first (or second, or fifth) books are publishable, and I’m kind of glad Amazon’s self pub wasn’t around back then, or I’d have probably uploaded a lot of crap before finding the right gems.
10.What are your current projects?The Heart As He Hears It (Perspectives #3) is coming out with Samhain Publishing in April 2016. This is Jon “Boomer” Buchanan’s story. You briefly met him in book one, and he has a bigger part in book two (Gabe’s BFF and workout buddy). His hero’s name is Isaac and he’s a character who, like Tristan, you just want to wrap him up in a soft blanket and feed him cookies until the hurt goes away.
I have a new series that I’m working on for Carina Press, tentatively called “All Saints.” Still in the Wilmington area, this series is going to be NA and center on a group of young people who are involved in an LGBT youth homeless shelter. The first book is finished, and I’m really excited about it. It should release sometime next year.
Also on the books for next year is a brand new series with Swerve, a digital-first imprint of St. Martin’s Press. Body Rocks, Steady Stroke and Hot Licks are the titles of the first three books in the “Off Beat” series, and they will all center around musicians. This is the Sekrit Project I teased on Twitter all summer.
Giveaway !!!
Tour
Dates & Stops:
20-Oct
20-Oct
21-Oct
22-Oct
23-Oct
26-Oct
27-Oct
28-Oct
29-Oct
30-Oct
2-Nov
3-Nov
4-Nov
5-Nov
6-Nov
9-Nov
10-Nov
Cathy Brockman Romances
11-Nov
12-Nov
13-Nov
16-Nov
Nephylim 
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete