Jordan L. Hawk's Blog, page 26

Today, May 17, is the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia. As some of you know, I live in the US state of North Carolina. In this state:

A parent’s sexual orientation can been used to deny custody and visitation rights
Assaults based on sexual orientation or gender identity are not considered to be hate crimes
You can be fired from your job for no other reason than being gay or trans
A little over a year ago, an amendment to the state constitution was passed outlawing marriage equality, because the original amendment one worked out so well (our state motto: “We Don’t Learn from History!”)

It makes me angry–furious–but I don’t want to write an angry screed. So instead I’m going to write about someone I almost never talk about: my dad.

My dad was casually homophobic (and racist) in the manner of most southern white men who came of age in the 40′s and 50′s. I remember him being concerned about the length of my nephew’s hair – what if people thought he was queer? I was only slightly older than my nephew at the time, and young enough to ask what that meant. What I got in return was a vaguely disgusted rant that answered nothing, least of all the next obvious question in my mind, which was “so what?”

Fast-forward to the 1990s. Gaps of years went by where I never heard from the man (which was the way I preferred it), so I can’t say exactly what happened to him, other than he bounced around to my sisters’ houses, getting thrown out one at a time, until he ended up running one of those little diner/convenience store combos that pop up near colleges. He was telling me about it during one of his unexpected, unannounced appearances on my doorstep, and in the course of things threw out: “We were mentioned in The Advocate not too long ago.”

Me: “Um, what? Why?”

Him: “Oh, you know, it was in an article about places gay people could hang out and not get hassled for holding hands or kissing or whatever.”

At this point, my eyes were about to pop out of my head, because I would never have expected this from him in a million years. “And you’re okay with that?”

Him: “Well, they’re just people like everyone else, aren’t they?” And then he went on talking about other things, and that was the whole of the conversation.

I relate this as a counterpoint to the list at the top of the blog. People can–and do–change their minds. Even crotchety old men. And if people can change, society can change. Some day history will look back on this time and wonder what the hell was wrong with people, just as we look back on the Jim Crow era and wonder the same thing.

As Dr. King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

To thank you all for coming, I am giving away not one but five ARCs of Threshold (Whyborne & Griffin 2). Or, if you win but haven’t read the first book yet, I will substitute a copy of any of my backlist. To enter, please comment below. You must include your email so I have some way of contacting you. Winners will be chosen via random.org on May 28.

To read the other blogs participating in the hop, please go to the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia main site.

Those of you subscribed to my newsletter saw this last week, but for everyone else, here’s an excerpt from the first chapter of Threshold. Enjoy!

Click here for the excerpt!

Grr. Argh.

Just a quick “hey, I’m not dead, just hiding!” post, along with a little bit of what I’m doing.

Threshold (Whyborne & Griffin 2) is with my lovely editor. It is with great trepidation that I wait to find out what word I’ve managed to horribly over-use this time. Seriously, you guys have no clue the insane things I type without ever noticing. Like using the word “whimper” twenty times in a 7,000 words story. Of course the beta doesn’t notice either, so I don’t feel like quite as much a dumbass as I would otherwise.

I should have the Threshold blurb polished and up sometime soon as well.

In the meantime, I’m getting right to work on Reaper of Souls, the third SPECTR book. I think this one is going to come in a bit longer than Master of Ghouls but I’m not entirely sure.

Here’s a song from the SPECTR writing soundtrack I’ve been listening to obsessively:

Oh, and I’m working on a print version of Hainted. So lots of stuff going on right now, but hey, I love to stay busy!

I’m very honored to announce I was invited to contribute to a new fiction anthology: Allegories of the Tarot. The anthology consists of twenty-two writers, each of whom chose one of the Major Arcana cards to inspire the theme of their story. I chose The Tower, because who doesn’t like a good cataclysm?

There is nothing phallic about this image at all.

There are a ton of amazing authors in this anthology, and I’m super excited to read their stories. But the anthology is being crowd-funded via Indiegogo, and won’t be made unless we reach our goal.

What’s in it for you? Some amazing perks, my friends! Depending on your donor level, you can get not only the anthology when it’s completed, but some terrific books and swag. Or, if you’re the writerly type, there are also professional edits and critiques available as perks.

Click here and take a look! Because I really, really want to be able to write this story.

Woot! The second book in my SPECTR series, Master of Ghouls, is now officially out!

Caleb Jansen’s old life is in ruins after being possessed by the vampire spirit Gray. Now all Caleb wants is for Gray to be exorcised so he can adjust to living as a registered paranormal. Instead, District Chief Kaniyar of SPECTR offers him a new choice: be locked away for public safety, or come work for the very agency he’s spent years trying to avoid. The only good thing to come from Caleb’s possession is his relationship with federal exorcist John Starkweather, but even that seems doomed to end before it can really begin.

John’s newest case is a nightmare: someone is summoning demons and forcing them to possess women and boys snatched from the streets of Charleston. If his team can’t find the summoner soon enough, the possessions will become permanent, transforming the victims into ghouls. To make matters worse, he barely prevents Gray from feeding on their only lead.

Can John shield his heart from Caleb, who only seems interested in a temporary hook-up? Can Caleb keep Gray under control while they hunt for the summoner? Or will the cost of solving the case be higher than any of them could have guessed?

Because the master of ghouls has set his sights on a new target: Gray.

Find it on:
[image error]

(Barnes & Noble link coming when they get around to uploading it!)

And if you missed book one, Hunter of Demons, you can find it here:

The second book in my SPECTR series, Master of Ghouls, releases next Tuesday! So I thought this would be a good time to post an excerpt. In this scene, hotshot federal exorcist John accompanies possessed hottie Caleb to the headquarters of SPECTR, the agency in charge of registering and tracking people with paranormal abilities. Caleb is less than thrilled.

***

The interior of the garage elevator also looked like stainless steel, as if its designer’s top priorities had been durability and ease of cleaning. While John swiped a card reader to unlock the controls, Caleb edged into one corner, as far away from the doors as possible. His pulse pounded in his throat, his palms sweated, and his stomach roiled with sudden nausea.

There was no reason to be afraid, was there? Sure, he was going to be registered, but like John said, a lot of other people were too and lived normal lives. It wasn’t as if someone was going to lock him up, beat him with a nightstick, or try to kill him. There was no reason to be scared shitless.

But SPECTR had been the boogeyman of his life too long to just turn off the fear.

“You okay?” John asked, as the elevator began its descent. Like an elevator to hell, Caleb thought, and barely managed not to laugh. Fuck, he really was panicking.

Gray stirred, reacting to his alarm. “We are in danger?”

Oh no, this was not happening. No. It’s like John says. No reason to be scared.

“But you are.”

Caleb’s sense of Gray’s presence grew sharply stronger, and, for the first time, it occurred to him maybe Gray didn’t really understand being afraid without a real, concrete reason that could be mauled into submission. It’s fine! I swear; I’m all right. Nothing bad is going to happen.

Bafflement.

It’s all right. Trust me. Because how could he explain humans could be afraid of a nebulous future, or even of things which had no existence outside their own minds? If we’re truly in danger, I’ll let you know.

“Very well.”

“Caleb?” John asked softly.

Damn it. “Fine,” he said hastily. “I’m fine. What’s going to happen?”

John didn’t seem any more convinced than Gray, but he went with it. “First we’ll see Kaniyar and find out what she wants. Afterward, I have to read over Ms. Sheffield’s statement and exorcise her. You can watch if you’d like.”

“I figured you’d have exorcised her first thing last night, like you did with me. Tried to do with me, anyway.”

John’s lips thinned, and he turned his gaze to the floors ticking past. “Something strange is going on, and I needed to find out what.”

“First, Gray is something you’ve never seen before, now this. You guys are pretty much making it all up as you go along, aren’t you?”

John shot him an irritated look. “No.” But he didn’t elaborate, so Caleb figured he’d been right after all.

Coming April 2, 2013

Add  Master of Ghouls  to your Goodreads TBR List!

And if you haven’t read Book 1, Hunter of Demons, you can find it now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords.

I finished the first draft of Threshold (which also ended up including the first revision pass–don’t ask) last night. Whew! Now it’s on to more revisions, then to my beta reader, then to my editor.

I haven’t written up a blurb yet, but in the meantime, here’s some cover art to celebrate.

I’m still beating Threshold into submission, so in the meantime, here’s a link to the hilarious reviews on Amazon for a 55-gallon drum of water based lube (comes with its own pump!). Hysterical. Although I must admit wondering who actually buys lube in that quantity. Porn companies? Eh, maybe it’s best not to know.

I’m currently racing to get the first draft of Threshold (W&G 2) finished, but I wanted to poke my head out of my writing cave long enough to let you guys know Widdershins is now available in a lovely print version! So if you enjoy having physical books on your shelf, you can now get a copy either on Amazon or CreateSpace.