Marguerite Labbe's Blog, page 3

Pre OrderHaunted by the screams of the men he murdered, ex-Marine medic Riff Khora is serving a life sentence on board a prison ship. Seeking more punishment for his crime, he strikes a deal with the corrupt Captain Vidal—an exchange of pleasure and pain—and forges a new life leading the team that surveys space wreckage for salvage.

Ship engineer Zed Jakobsen’s psychometric abilities make prison a sentence worse than death, and the barrage of emotional stimuli is an unending torment. His only regret is that he didn’t kill the monster who sent him to prison, and only a glimmer of hope to escape a judgment he doesn’t deserve keeps him clinging to a brutal existence.

When they board derelict ship Pandora and discover a lone survivor, the hell of prison life plunges into abject horror. An epidemic of violence and insanity consumes their ship, driving the crew to murder and destruction. Mutual need draws Riff and Zed together, and their bond gives them the strength to fight a reality they cannot trust. But Vidal possesses the only means of escape from the nightmare, and he’s not letting anyone leave alive.


My newest release a sci-fi/horror is coming to DSP Publications on April 25th. This is a complete 180 from my sweet historical Other Side of the Line. Riff and Zed are more anti-hero than hero, bent on survival, but they forge a real bond that goes beyond need. I hope you check it out.

Hello everyone, happy October. This is my favorite time of year even if it's been raining all week. I love the view of my yard from my windows as I write and I'm listening to the boys watching sports moving between college football for my husband and soccer for my son. I wanted to share an excerpt from "My Heart is Within You," the first book in the Triquetra Bundle that came out yesterday with Dreampsinner Press. It's the first time Jake gets a glimpse of the vampire who has been stalking him for the last month. Kristair would argue that it wasn't stalking, just staking a claim, but I think he's deluding himself.

The crammed sidewalks thinned and swirled and then opened up, giving me a clear view across the street. Once again I froze, staring at the man standing just under the streetlamp. Oh god. He looked strangely normal in his jeans and cream sweater that set off the rich tone of his skin. The light above created a halo around his head and shoulders. He almost could’ve been a young working man, trying to relive his college days, but the dangerous aura around him was obvious. He was no damned angel. 


TriquetraAnd I wasn’t the only one who sensed it. His sidewalk was as crowded as mine, with drunken students trolling the avenues, searching for a party and showing off their costumes, yet as one they all parted and flowed around him. No one came close enough to jostle him, no one told him to get out of the way, as people were bitching to me. No, he was a predator. He was the predator and I was his prey. 

I should be scared. Forget scared. I should be outta my mind, shitting my pants like the time the gator got onto the pontoon while my friend and I were collecting crawfish traps. However, the last thing I was capable of feeling right now was fear. 

Enthralled, I stepped to the edge of the curb, barely registering the cars going by, as I drank him in as if I were dying and he was the last thread connecting me to this life. It was hard to make out the details of his face, but his skin was golden, his body long and lean. His eyes bored right into me and I imagined they were that shade of brown that was so deep it was like you were sinking right into them. His head was shaved and, for some reason, I couldn’t quite pin his race down. It was like he could claim any number of ethnicities, or maybe something else, long since gone. 

He was more darkly striking than the moonlight on the bayou back home, or the haunting song of the cicadas, or whatever else made me think of beauty, danger, and sorrow at once.

Buy it at Dreamspinner Press
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Pre-OrderComing on September 30th, the Triquetra. When vampire Kristair binds his heart and soul to a human vessel in an ancient ritual, he never expects to fall in love with Jacob Corvin as well. As The Syndicate moves in to discover the secrets Kristair hold, the bonded pair will discover that not even death can separate them. Unfortunately, it won’t stop their enemies from coming after them, either.Cover Artist: My Heart Is Within You Cover Artist: DWS Photography. Haunted by Your Soul Cover Artist: DWS Photography. Our Sacred Balance Cover Artist: DWS Photography. Triquetra bundle Cover Design by Alexandria Corza.
I'm excited. I loved Jake and Kristair. They were so much fun. I keep wanting to revisit them. Check in later for some excerpts and if I can my microphone to work, even one that I'll read. :D

Hello everybody. It has been a crazy, crazy couple of months. After living for 13 years in the house my son grew up in we moved to a new place. We'd outgrown our old place and the heating and air conditioning was going. The more money we poured into repairs, the more things were falling apart. So we decided it was time. Our landlord wants to flip it and sell it. A number of other houses in the neighborhood are going the same route. It's been around for a long time.

As we were packing and shifting my husband fell ill and was bedridden for a few weeks. So it was a stressful time. But we're in our new home now and he's on his feet again and we're looking forward to our new lives.

In other exciting news, DSP Publications contracted "Pandora." It'll be out April 2017. I'm working on submitting ideas for the cover art now.

Now that things have settled. I hope to update more often.

Hey everyone. I know it's been forever. This last year has been crazy with my parents' move to South Carolina and a huge renovation at work. We've been clearing out more than a decade's worth of attorneys stuffing every paper they ever collected into any hidey-hole they could find. My floor was finally finished in March. Now there's only one floor to go. So I'm hoping for a much calmer year.

On the exciting news front and not the boring EDJ side. I submitted my sci-fi/horror novel Pandora last week. Keep your fingers crossed. This is an intense one. :D

     Haunted by the screams of the men he executed, ex-Marine medic Riff Korra is sentenced to life onboard a prison ship. Seeking more punishment for his crime, he strikes a deal with the corrupt Captain Vidal, his payment an exchange of pleasure and pain, and forges a new life leading the team that surveys space wreckage for salvage.
    For ship engineer Zed Jakobsen, his psychometric abilities make prison a sentence worse than death, and the barrage of emotional stimuli are an unending torment. His only regret is that he didn’t kill the monster who sent him to prison. His only reason to live is to find a chance to escape a sentence he didn’t deserve.   When they board a derelict ship, and discover a lone survivor, the hell of prison life plunges into horror. An epidemic of violence and insanity consumes their ship, driving the crew to murder and destruction. Mutual need and attraction draw Riff and Zed together, and their bond gives them strength to fight the hallucinations. But Vidal possesses the only means of escape from the nightmare, and he’s not letting anyone leave alive.

Caleb Hudson and Hal Zimmer became best friends the day they stood up against the schoolyard bully together. Life’s complicated enough with their friendship crossing racial lines in 1960s Charleston, South Carolina, but as time passes, they realize it’s more than their friendship that sets them apart from other kids. At first, Caleb denies his feelings for Hal could be more than companionship. He supports his friend when Hal admits he’s gay, but Caleb isn’t ready to face his own truth.

Hal becomes a staunch antiwar protester, and the divide between them widens after Caleb is drafted. But when Caleb returns from Vietnam, the time for denial is over. His homecoming sets off a series of events that force Caleb and Hal to confront their desires and what lines they’re willing to cross to get what they truly want out of life.

"Other Side of the Line" is out at Dreamspinner Press today! Leave a comment about what you liked about the story, or a favorite character, or a memorable moment that made you laugh, cry, or get mad and be entered in a contest to win a beautiful sweetgrass basket from the Charleston Market! The contest will run for the next 30 days. You can leave the comment here on the blog, or on my Facebook or Twitter. All comments count as an entry.

And from the 18th-20 "All Bets are Off" (including French & Italian translations), "Ghosts in the Wind" and "Make Me Whole" are only $0.99 at Dreamspinner. Enjoy!

Hello everybody. Four Days and Counting Down! I can’t believe it before “Other Side of the Line” will be released from Dreamspinner Press. Caleb and Hal meet when they are eight years old and throughout their lives they faced many rough moments that they weathered through the strength of their friendship. But what happens when distance threatens that closeness? Hal’s dad has been transferred back to New York and Hal and Caleb are forced to say goodbye just as they’re discovering more about themselves and how they feel about each other. I hope you enjoy. Excerpt:They lounged in silence, the stuffy heat in the fort worsening as the sun rose higher. As hot as it was, Caleb didn’t want to let go. If only they had more days together like this, more mornings when they could slip away to the fort to be alone. A thought flitted through his head. What would it be like to kiss Hal? His heart did a funny flip. He’d thought about kissing Theresa and never had that reaction, but then again, he hadn’t had that reaction with another guy either. Just Hal. “You know how strange I was acting toward the end of the school year?” Hal asked, lifting his head. Caleb found himself staring into his gray-green eyes, and the sense that there was only the two of them in the world grew stronger.“I think we were both acting strange.” Caleb remembered how he’d treated Hal with a wince of regret. They’d both been hot and cold, one minute pushing each other away, the next seeking each other out again. He wished now that he’d talked about it with Hal, even if he didn’t know how to phrase all the conflicting emotions. “I was afraid you’d notice I wasn’t into girls, and I felt bad because I had a secret. I’d never had a secret from you before. I wanted to tell you, but….” Hal trailed off, and Caleb had a gut instinct there was more to it than Hal’s attraction to boys, something unsaid. Caleb had to look away because he became vividly aware of Hal’s body pressed against his own.Caleb had never thought about it that way, but he supposed he had a secret too. Now with Hal getting ready to leave, Caleb wasn’t sure what to do about it either. With the way Hal’s dad screwed with his head and Hal’s uncertain temper, how could Caleb tell him as his parting words, “Hey, you made me uncomfortable, so I thought the only way to handle it was by keeping my distance”? Just the thought of talking about it made his palms sweat and his stomach churn.“I don’t blame you for feeling like you couldn’t tell me, not with the way I was acting,” Caleb replied.“I just wish….” Once again, Hal trailed off, but this time there was no doubt what he meant, because Caleb also felt it.“I know; me too.” He wished they had more time. He wished he had the courage to say what was in his heart, to hear what Hal had to say. He wished they could be free to be themselves without the world trying to dictate who they should be friends with, who they should love.“Hal? Hal! I know you’re up there.” Lily’s voice called from the clearing. “Dad’s pitching a fit. He wants to go.”Caleb closed his eyes as his heart thumped painfully against his ribs. “I’ll write you.”“I know,” Hal whispered, his voice lost.It wouldn’t be the same. If Caleb had something he wanted to share with Hal, or if he’d had a bad day and needed to confide in him, it would be days before those letters would get to Hal and even more days before he got a response. Caleb wanted to comfort him with words, but his throat had tightened too much for speech. He hadn’t cried in years, but the aching in his chest and eyes warned him he was perilously close.“Hal?” This time Lily’s voice floated up from the base of the tree. “Please don’t make me go to New York without you.”Tears pooled behind Caleb’s eyelids. He kissed Hal’s cheek and let his arms fall away. Hal stared at him for a long moment and then his lips brushed near Caleb’s, like the breath of a ghost, leaving them tingling. Before Caleb could react, Hal swung down through the trapdoor.
Contests:I’m giving away a signed free copy on Goodreads. The contest ends the 18th.
Also, next month I’ll be running another contest and giving away a beautiful Charleston sweetgrass basket. Check back later for more details.

Charleston, SC—November 6, 1963
Caleb’s teacher paced across the front of the classroom, leaning on his cane, his white hair gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. “Now can anyone name a hero from the War of Northern Aggression?” He paused and focused on Hal in the front row. Hal had just started in their class on Monday, coming all the way down from New York. “That would be the Civil War for those of us who might not understand… given their unfortunate origins.”“Oooohh!” Hal’s hand shot up. He talked funny, fast and with a strange high accent. He liked to try to answer all the questions, and sometimes he stared at Caleb too much, but he never seemed mean about it, only curious. At least his eyes didn’t slide away as if Caleb’s skin was covered in rancid oil, and that made for a welcome change. Mr. Gibbons looked around the room to see if anyone else wanted to volunteer, and his gaze lingered on Caleb for a moment. Several answers crowded his mind, and Caleb sifted through them trying to think which answer would please him the most before settling on General Beauregard. Still, Caleb remained silent and prayed he wouldn’t be called on again. He wasn’t too fond of the teacher’s method of asking questions. It made him feel small and ignorant.Mr. Gibbons focused on Hal again. “Well, Hal?”Hal straightened, his shoulders squaring with pride. “William Tecumseh Sherman.”The classroom fell silent, not a rustle of a page or a rattle of a pencil to be heard. Caleb’s mouth fell open as Mr. Gibbons’s face turned a mottled red, and his hand tightened on the cane. Hal seemed to sense how deep he’d stepped into it, because he looked around the room, his little freckled face drawn together in confusion.He caught Caleb’s eye, and Caleb couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Amen,” he mouthed, and Hal smiled back.“Stupid Yankee,” James snarled under his breath, breaking the quiet. Caleb glanced at him, saw the way his hands had tightened into fists and how his gaze glittered through dirty-blond hair. There would be trouble later on.Mr. Gibbons pounded the floor with his cane, his bushy brows coming together in a fierce frown. “Sherman was a war criminal,” he thundered. Hal turned to face him, his shoulders sagging. “Stand up! Tell me and your classmates why you think a man who burns his way through enemy country, depriving its citizens of food and shelter, should be called a hero?”Hal stood reluctantly and glanced around at the rest of the class for support that wasn’t there. “Umm, I guess that wouldn’t be very heroic, sir.”“Do you think a man who tries to break the spirit of a people in the name of conquest should be called a hero?”“No, sir,” Hal said again, his voice even quieter now. He stared down at his feet and flinched when James snickered. Caleb felt the pang of remembered humiliation when he’d been in similar situations. It was mighty painful to be the object of everyone’s attention when Mr. Gibbons had his irritation focused on you.“Speak up, young man! Don’t mumble.” Mr. Gibbons jabbed his cane in Hal’s direction. “I cannot abide a child who cannot make themselves understood. They have no place in my classroom. Answer the question.”“No, sir!”“You need to reexamine your definition of a hero, now sit down and remain silent until you have something positive to offer.” Mr. Gibbons pounded his cane again for emphasis. One of the pictures Lynette Michael posted for inspirationHal dropped into his seat, the nape of his neck turning a fiery red. He remained quiet for the rest of the afternoon, his head bowed, his whole body hunched. Caleb felt another one of those little pangs. He’d been in that same exact position too many times to count, afraid to meet Mr. Gibbons’s gaze, and forced to hear the other students whispering about him. It was horrible.James especially made his opinions about Hal known with several vicious comments pitched low so Mr. Gibbons, with his worsening hearing, wouldn’t catch. Hal certainly did hear them and curled in even tighter. Hal was sure in for it now. He probably didn’t realize how bad though. Caleb should be glad James’s attention was turned from him, at least for now, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for Hal. It wasn’t going to be pretty when Mr. Gibbons released them for the day.
If Caleb was smart, he’d be long gone before that happened. Maybe he’d get a chance to warn Hal to get himself home fast, though that would only delay the inevitable. Sure as the sun rose over the Atlantic, James would make sure to get his licks in whenever he could.
Coming September 18th from DSP

Available at AmazonPANDORA by Marguerite LabbeSentenced to life on board a space salvage cruiser, Riff Korra and Zed Jakobsen find themselves drawn together out of mutual need. But when an epidemic of violence and insanity consumes their ship, will their bond give them the strength they need to escape?
BOARDED by Annie NicholasLiaison Sadie Beckit must accompany the mysterious Ambassador Nual to Central Station. Sounds easy enough, but the lawless void of space holds many dangers. To make things worse, Nual seems determined to make Sadie lose her professional control.
FORSAKEN PLANET by Elise LoganLuci has gone, literally, to the ends of colonized space in order find some peace.  Marooned on a desolate planet with limited supplies, Luci needs to learn to trust her team leader, Sakir Khyne. Together they must take out hostile forces and try to survive.
DARK IMMORTALITY by Kim KnoxCaptain Andros: pirate, vampire, all-round bastard. When he takes Madelen Ariel as his own, his crew sees an opportunity to mutiny. They’re about to find out just how much of a bastard he really is.
FREEKER by Ella DrakeOn the run, convicted murderer Chara stows away on a ship piloted by a big, sexy alien. Warrant puts the safety of his brothers above all else but the violent and sensual Chara makes him question the price of risk. 

Cover Art by Catt FordCaleb Hudson and Hal Zimmer became best friends the day they stood up against the schoolyard bully together. Life’s complicated enough with their friendship crossing racial lines in 1960s Charleston, South Carolina, but as time passes, they realize it’s more than their friendship that sets them apart from other kids. At first, Caleb denies his feelings for Hal could be more than companionship. He supports his friend when Hal admits he’s gay, but Caleb isn’t ready to face his own truth.
Hal becomes a staunch antiwar protester, and the divide between them widens after Caleb is drafted. But when Caleb returns from Vietnam, the time for denial is over. His homecoming sets off a series of events that force Caleb and Hal to confront their desires and what lines they’re willing to cross to get what they truly want out of life.
I guess I spoke too soon the other day, the cover is already here for Caleb and Hal's story. I'm so excited about this one. C.M. Torrens helped me to come up with the concept for it and Catt Ford did such an amazing job bringing it to life. Her attention to detail blew me away. If I ever get a chance to meet her, I'm going to hug the heck out of her. :D All of the elements capture the heart of the story. I couldn't be happier!