Jordan L. Hawk's Blog, page 27

I’ve neglected the blog lately, mainly because I’m trying to get through the first draft of Threshold and proof the print version of Widdershins at the same time. So I’m just now getting around to posting a link to an absolutely hilarious video I came across a few weeks ago. “The Common Cult” is a short series about a group of 30-something friends trying to summon a dark god and bring on the apocalypse, while still trying to juggle the mundanities of everyday life: turning 30, proposing to your girlfriend, having to admit you still don’t know how to properly sacrifice a goat…

My short story “Heart of the Dragon” is out today. Besides being a short story, it’s a bit different from my normal work.

At the end of last October, I was gearing up for NaNoWriMo. I had the book I was going to write all planned out. Then, on October 31, my 16-year-old cat and constant companion, Bean, died unexpectedly.

I sat down a few days later, but my heart wasn’t in it. I couldn’t summon up the will to write something at all dark or even edgy. With my NaNo plans scrapped, I cast about for something else to work on, before remembering an idea I’d had for a short story while at the RenFest a few weeks earlier.

It was exactly what I needed: sexy, fun, and fluffy, and mercifully free of angst. So over the course of the next few days, I wrote what became “Heart of the Dragon.” (Then I went on to write Master of Ghouls. I still haven’t gotten back to the novel I’d originally scheduled, but I will eventually.)

All of which is simply to say: I hope you enjoy “Heart of the Dragon.” Most of all, I hope it makes you smile, or at least makes your day a little brighter and your sorrows a little lighter.

Master of Ghouls will be out in less than a month, so I thought I’d share a little excerpt here today. In this scene, John and Caleb have been out clubbing, only to have their evening rudely interrupted when Gray scents a nearby demon.

***

The trail of corruption beckoned the way down the street, past a swanky hotel and into a parking garage. A normal human wouldn’t have been able to sense the smell of stagnant water and cold stone mingled with the sickly sweetness of rotting flesh. It made Caleb want to gag, but to Gray it might as well have been warm chocolate chip cookies or a sizzling steak. His mouth filled with drool, his teeth ached, and Gray wanted to run, damn it, run and hunt and—

Stop! Caleb stumbled as he fought to hold back. We’ve already freaked out John enough, don’t you think?

“The demon will escape. He would not wish it to.”

It was hard to argue the point, and he’d already left John behind by a couple of blocks anyway. Giving in, Caleb raced down the ramp to the parking garage; thank goodness, the tollgate was automatic, which meant one less person to get caught up in this if things went bad. He’d never in his life been at all athletic, but now he jumped the gate with ease. One of the perks of being possessed, along with no longer needing to wear glasses, seeing in the dark, and instant healing.

Not to suggest it made up for the weirdness and terror. Not to mention the fear of being completely subsumed, while Gray walked off wearing his body like an off-the-rack suit.

“You are distracting us from the hunt with your foolishness.”

The trail led down, past the wooden cross arm, before spiraling back up through the levels of the garage.

What kind of demon is it? Because he really didn’t want to end up in another fight with a lycanthrope.

A deep breath, tasting the scent of nitrous decay. “Ghoul.”

Which…didn’t make a lot of sense, actually. Not that Caleb knew fuck-all about demons, other than to not make deals with them, which still hadn’t kept him from getting possessed. Even so, he was pretty sure ghouls stuck to underground places when they could find them, or the lower floors of abandoned buildings when they couldn’t. A nightclub and a parking garage didn’t fit the profile.

“You are correct.” Flashes of memories flickered behind his eyes, like an old black-and-white film, which had jumped the sprockets. Centuries of encounters: in caves and catacombs and great cities of the dead.

You don’t seem concerned.

“There is no reason to be concerned. Ghouls are weak. We will feed.” Desire there, bordering on lust, because feeding was…different…in a living body.

The scent grew more intense as they climbed. Caleb struggled to spot any shadows lurking between the cars. Despite Gray’s indifference, he still felt nervous; what the hell was a ghoul doing up here?

There: movement…in a sedan, weirdly enough. Two women, one of them starting the engine, and the other slumped in the passenger seat, apparently passed out. And all around the vehicle, the thick scent of ghoul.

The driver glanced up—and froze as she caught sight of them in the mirror. Her eyes widened in fear. Did something inside her sense Gray, or was her panic human? The backup lights flared white, and an instant later the car hurtled backward.

Caleb yelped and jumped to the side. The car came to a halt inches from another vehicle, then, tires squealing, took off toward the exit.

“It cannot escape!”

Caleb didn’t know what was going on, but Gray was right. He took off after the sedan; under normal circumstances, it would have left him far behind. But there was nothing normal about Caleb’s circumstances anymore.

He kept up with the vehicle easily, as long as it was forced to slow down to make the turns leading out to the exit. But the moment it hit the straight stretch in front of the hotel, it would surely leave him behind.

“We will not let it get far.”

Gray had noticed a shortcut, and tried to angle them toward it. Caleb stumbled, feet tangling as they fought, his every instinct screaming Gray’s idea was crazy.

Gray strained against him, a feeling Caleb couldn’t have even begun to describe to anyone else, something inside him trying to push him out of the way. It was either go now, or risk losing control of Gray.

Trying not to think, just move, Caleb leapt onto a parked car with a single, easy jump. Even as its alarm went off, he jumped again, over the low wall its bumper snugged up against and into the night air.

The car had been parked on the second floor; Caleb landed on the pavement below like a cat. From behind him, there came the sound of shattering wood as the ghoul’s car hit the wooden cross arm of the tollgate and came roaring out of the parking garage and through the hotel lot. Caleb lunged to his feet and ran to intercept, waving his arms like a madman in hopes of forcing the driver to swerve into some of the parked cars.

Instead, the front bumper smashed directly into him.

Earlier this month, we made our yearly pilgrimage to ShevaCon, which is a wonderful little science fiction and fantasy con in Roanoke, VA. Here are some pictures we took while there!

The convention took place in Hotel Roanoke, which was built in 1882:

Whyborne would feel right at home.

The gorgeous bar served as an officer’s club during WWII:

Check out that pine paneling!

The 501st were out in force:

There were also a few furries:

If you’re in the area next year, be sure to check it out!

What about you? Ever been to an s/f con, comic con, or just a fun retreat? Tell us about it or point us to your pictures in the comments.

Happy Monday everyone! Here’s the cover for my upcoming release, Master of Ghouls, which is the second novella in my SPECTR series.

My short story “Heart of the Dragon” will be released on March 5, so I thought I would post a little excerpt here today. It was originally titled “The Dragon, The Virgin, & Their Knight,” so if anyone is confused, it’s the same story with a new title.

First, however: Are you subscribed to my newsletter? I send them out very infrequently, but I do like to give subscribers first access to news and excerpts when I can manage it. I’m planning on sending out one this week, with some Widdershins news and a first look at SPECTR #2: Master of Ghouls, so if you’d like to receive it, just click on the link in the menu at the top of the site!

Now for the excerpt:

Sebastian blinked. The dragon was…talking to him?

Maybe he’d fainted. Maybe this was a hallucination. But the dragon’s heat and the scent of cedar and burning sage rising from its scales certainly seemed real. Not to mention the heavy manacles on his wrists.

“I’m your virgin,” Sebastian said by way of explanation.

“My what?”

“Virgin sacrifice.” Sebastian wetted his lips nervously. “So you won’t attack the town, or eat all the cattle, or…anyone else.”

The dragon snorted. It settled down, belly against the ground, its forepaws folded neatly under its chin. “I see. So, in return for not harming your town, I get to…what exactly? Devour you?”

“Well…yes.”

“One lean young man, in exchange for herds of fat cattle? That doesn’t seem like much of a trade. Even if I did eat people, which, just to clarify, I don’t.”

“You don’t?” Sebastian sagged against his manacles in relief. “Oh, thank the gods! Then you won’t harm the town?”

The dragon’s tail twitched. “Well, that depends. Did you volunteer for this?”

Heat crept up Sebastian’s face. Now that he wasn’t afraid of being eaten at any moment, he wished he had a heroic backstory to give the dragon. “Um, no. There’s a bit of a virgin shortage, you see.”

“I’m sure there is,” the dragon said dryly. “So let me get this straight. They dressed you up—the silk shirt is very nice, by the way, quite fetching—dragged you here, and chained you to this post. Which they planted in my doorway, thank you very much—with the expectation I would eat you. And this is supposed to make me less upset? Is logic a foreign concept to you people?”

Sebastian felt he should stand up for his hometown, but he couldn’t really think of a compelling reason at the moment.

The dragon sighed, and a few curls of smoke gusted out of its nostrils and trailed over Sebastian. The warmth felt good; with the setting sun, it was getting rather cold on the cliff. His nipples poked the thin silk of his shirt, and he started to shiver.

The dragon noticed. “It’s going to be dark soon. Let’s get you free, shall we?”

It rose to its feet, tail lashing. Violet light suddenly swirled around it, like ephemeral fire. To Sebastian’s shock, the dragon began to change. It grew smaller and smaller, its wings and tail absorbed into its body while the muzzle shortened and horns vanished. The lovely scales gave way to golden skin some shades darker than his own. Sebastian watched as the dragon’s eyes took on an almond shape, but their color remained the same. Except now they were set in the face of a very handsome man.

He stood taller than average, with a chiseled jaw, full lips, and a cascade of thick, black hair which tumbled to his shoulders. As for the rest of him…well, Sebastian could see quite clearly, since he was completely naked.

Heart of the Dragon will be released March 5, 2013!

I have a confession to make: you know those painful scenes in a novel, where one of the characters inadvertently (or even on purpose) breaks the other’s heart? I love writing those. I know, I know, it’s awful of me, but I enjoy the drama, the tension, the angst. At least on the page.

In real life, it’s not half so much fun. We all remember the first time we got our heart broken. For me, it was in sixth grade. I was completely in love with the cute, slightly stocky boy with the dark hair and eyes. He was so sweet and easy to talk to, and we loved hanging out on the playground. Clearly, we were meant to be together!

Then came the day. The day he asked a girl to “go with him” (which when you’re eleven basically means sitting together at lunch, but whatever)…and she wasn’t me.

Oh the drama! The angst! I was crushed–we were supposed to have a love for the ages, darn it, and instead he chose some other girl?! I went home and drew pictures of broken hearts all over my notebook, because clearly such deep despair could only be expressed through art. I might have written an emo poem while I was at it. Then I made the mistake of telling my mother, who rolled her eyes and told me I’d get over it. Thanks for the support, mom.

What about you? Do you remember the first time someone broke your heart? Tell me about it in the comments! One randomly-chosen commenter will win a $5 Amazon Gift Card. Please note: you must leave your email address in order to win!

But that’s not all….

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

 Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

Click here to view a complete list of participating bloggers!

Hunter of Demons, the first book in my SPECTR series, is now available! And to celebrate, I’m having a party over at The Novel Approach blog. There’s an interview, an excerpt, and a chance to win Widdershins, so please come on over and chat!

In the meantime, Hunter of Demons is available at these fine retailers (Nook version on its way!):

This weekend, I’m participating in the Backlist Blog Hop! (Which I keep trying to type as the “blacklist” blog hop – no, brain, that’s something very different.) Which might seem silly for someone who only has two books out so far, but I haven’t had a chance to give Hainted some love for a while.

Hainted was my first venture into the world of writing m/m romance outside of fanfic. It was something I’d thought about for quite a while, but not in a serious way. Oddly enough, I’d had the basic components of the book in my head for almost a decade by that point: the southern setting, Dan raising his two siblings after their parents died, the gothy city boy/love interest showing up to ask for help. But none of it had ever gelled for me.

Then one day in the summer of 2011 a very random-seeming though popped into my head: “Oh! The two guys in question are neo-shamans who have to lay the violent dead!” Keep in mind I hadn’t even thought about this story for years, at least not consciously. Within a half hour, I had five pages of notes. After that, I never looked back.

So to celebrate my very small backlist and show my first book some love, I’m giving away a copy of Hainted to one random commenter. Or, if you already have the book, I’ll instead send you a copy of the not-yet-released Hunter of Demons. You must be over 18 to win, and you must also leave your email address in the comment so I know how to get in touch with you.

And don’t forget to check in with the other blogs participating in the hop, all of whom have more great prizes you can win! Click here to see a full list!

After the wild days of the eighties, which saw the reinvention of the vampire in the cultural psyche, there seemed to be a general trend toward making them more and more human—and harmless. Vampires no longer feasted on the blood of either the innocent or the guilty, but snacked occasionally on willing donors. They lived in societies with rules and regulations, and didn’t seem to be doing anything with their long lives other than pretending to be just like everyone else.

Eternity had suddenly become the equivalent of a never-ending boardroom meeting.

Enter what I like to call “the Buffy factor.” Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series launched in 1997, and has had a profound impact across all types of media. In creating vampires for Buffy to fight, Whedon did something I found very interesting.

Although he employed some of the tropes of the Dracula-type vamp and the 80’s bad boys, they’re largely a coat of varnish overlaying the original folklore: demons possessing dead bodies. Various episodes make it explicitly clear that once the body is dead, the human soul leaves and the corpse animated by a demon. Memories and the old personality remain in a highly-distorted form: Angelus’s massacre of his own family is straight out of the old stories, where the demon-inhabited corpse starts its murder spree by preying on those closest to the deceased.

Nor does the demon simply vanish, in the cases when the human soul is restored. In the second-season episode “The Dark Age,” a different demon tries to take possession of Angel in the ultimate battle—and is promptly fought and killed by the demon already animating him!

So what’s next for the enduring myth of the vampire? Only time will tell. My take on the myth releases next week with Hunter of Demons, the first of a series of interlinked novellas. Until then, keep your stakes and garlic close at hand.