Thursday, June 30, 2011

Taboo Tens: Day Thirty FINAL Karenna Colcroft

Greetings fans!


Welcome to the final day of the Taboo Tens Month.


Again, this has been a big success. All the writers coming together, giving you, the fans, the opportunity to learn a little more about their writing as well as getting some awesome books!


Hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have. Maybe again next year. *grins*


We end it up with Karenna Colcroft. She has a new book out from MLR called Salad on the Side. 


What a great cover, huh? Please give her your undivided attention! One lucky commenter will win a PDF copy!





Mates, Soulmates, Really?

I used to have an issue with shifter stories. Most of the ones I found seemed to have to do with mates. Someone the main character was irresistibly drawn to, and had no choice about. My problems with that idea were twofold: First, the whole irresistible drawing to someone seemed pretty impossible to me. Love at first sight didn’t exist as far as I was concerned.
And not having a choice? Bleep that. I didn’t have any time for anything that didn’t involve choice. Being forced to love and sleep with someone because they’re your mate—whether you want them to be or not—seemed far too close to complete lack of consent to me.
Then I met my husband, and suddenly the idea of love at first sight didn’t seem quite so far-fetched to me. The moment he and I set eyes on each other, something clicked for both of us. Within half an hour, we were finishing each other’s sentences. By the end of that night, we were starting each other’s sentences. It took him a month to tell me he loved me, but we both felt it that first night.
That started me looking at the “mate” idea in a new way. Maybe when a shifter finds his or her mate, it doesn’t take away their choice. Maybe they choose to be with that person because the emotions are so strong.
I explored that a little with my new M/M novel Salad on the Side. Salad is a few firsts for me. It’s my first M/M romance. I had no idea how it would turn out; I started writing it because Kyle Slidell, the narrator, took up residence in my brain and wouldn’t shut up until I told his story. It’s the first thing I’ve ever written involving shifters. And Kyle does find his mate.
It takes Kyle and Tobias Rogan, the man who turns out to be his mate, a while to realize they’re actually mates. For one thing, Kyle’s human at the beginning of the story, and then has to recover from a werewolf attack and from the discovery that Tobias is not only a werewolf, he’s the pack Alpha. The second thing that keeps them from figuring out they’re mates is—well, they’re both guys. Kyle’s been openly gay since high school and has no problem with the idea, but Tobias, as an Alpha, has resigned himself to acting heterosexual, even if he doesn’t feel it.
But the fact is that they are mates. And when they finally get the clue, they realize they would have chosen each other anyway.

Salad on the Side was released on June 22, 2011 by MLR Press. http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=KC_SALAD

Blurb:
Since moving to Boston, Kyle Slidell has met only a few of his neighbors, including Tobias Rogan. Kyle is very interested in Tobias, and is ecstatic to learn that Tobias wants him too. But his neighbors have a secret: They're werewolves, and Tobias is the pack Alpha. When one of the wolves attacks Kyle in the neighborhood garden one night, Kyle learns the truth in a hurry. Now he's a werewolf too-and since he's vegan, he refuses to eat meat. With Tobias's help and love, Kyle must adjust to his new life and protect himself and his friends from a neighboring pack.

Excerpt (PG-13 rated):
This week I’d already placed my grocery order so going to the store wouldn’t happen. Although it occurred to me that I hadn’t ordered any pasta and having some on hand might be a good idea. The one thing I actually cooked well was spaghetti with homemade meatless sauce. That would be a perfect meal to serve Tobias. Spaghetti, homemade sauce using vegetables from the garden if there were any yet. Maybe strawberries with whipped topping for dessert.
The fact that I didn’t know whether any vegetables had grown in the garden at this time of year bothered me a little. I lived beside the garden; I should know what we had in it. The salad we’d had the night before had supposedly been made with garden vegetables, except some of the veggies hadn’t looked like anything that would grow this far north.
For someone who’d been vegan since high school, I knew remarkably little about fruits and vegetables. At least how they grew. I went to the grocery store or studied the produce selections online, purchased what I wanted, and that was that.
So maybe I would spend part of my day exploring the garden. After splashing some cool water on my face to help wake me up, I stumbled into the kitchen, wearing nothing at all since that was what I’d gone to bed in, to start a pot of coffee.
A face appeared at the kitchen window.
“Fuck!” I dropped the coffee pot into the sink and ran back into my room to put some clothes on. Apparently I’d been wrong about being able to walk around naked in my own apartment.
I yanked on a clean pair of boxers, glancing uneasily at my bedroom window which sat on the same side of the building as the kitchen. Someone had been looking in from the garden, which wouldn’t have been a problem if I’d been wearing anything. Though it did disturb me a little that one of my neighbors had found it necessary to spy on me.
Over the boxers I put on a pair of gym shorts—a laughable name for them since I hadn’t been to a gym in over a year—and topped it with a faded Penn State T-shirt. Then I returned to the kitchen and discovered that in my shock, I’d dropped the coffee pot hard enough to crack it.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I yelled toward the window. Whoever had been peeping had robbed me of my morning coffee, which just plain pissed me off.
“If you say it louder, it might happen!” someone shouted from outside.
Recognizing Tobias’s voice, I couldn’t help but grin. I opened the garden door, which was in the kitchen in my apartment, and found him standing beside the window, beaming like he’d won some kind of prize. I forced my face into something approximating anger and demanded, “You get your kicks being a peeping tom?”
“Only when there’s something nice to look at.” He winked. “Sorry. I didn’t think you’d be naked. Actually, I didn’t think you’d be in there. I was just curious about what room that was.”
“You made me break my coffee pot.” I pretended to pout. “You owe me coffee.”
“Well, I’d certainly hate to deprive you of your caffeine. Feel like taking a walk to Dunkin?”
Hands on my hips, I glared at him. Of course, I didn’t really feel angry with him. Actually, I was a little flattered at his interest. The way he’d walked off on me the night before I hadn’t been sure whether he’d talk to me again at all, let alone be interested in spending any more time with me. Apparently I hadn’t scared him off. Maybe he really had had a good reason for bailing the way he had.
“It had better be a large coffee,” I warned.
“As large as you want. One of their fancy latte things, maybe. With whipped cream.” He paused. “Wait. Scratch that. With whatever you want in it. How do you take your coffee, anyway? When we were there the other day, you had cream in it, right?”
“That’s my lone exception to veganism,” I admitted. “Here at home, I use nondairy creamer, but they don’t seem to have that at Dunkin. Their coffee is worth giving up my principles for once in a while. Note that I only have coffee from there when I’m desperate or when someone else is buying.”
“So are we going? Because I think both conditions apply. You’re desperate because I made you break your coffee pot and I’m buying.”
“We’re going.” I looked down at myself. “As long as you can put up with me being a slob.”
“I’m not inspecting your clothes,” he assured me. “Though my mind may wander a bit to what you have under them.”
A delicious little shiver ran through me when he said that and I grinned. “You had your chance to find out last night and you blew it.”
“I didn’t blow anything.”
 ****

What a great post and excerpt!

I feel the same way. Even though me and S/O took more than a moment to fall for one another, I understand the business about soulmates. 

It looks awesome Karenna. Thank you so much for sharing. Readers, please comment so you can win a free e-book!

And that, ladies and gents will conclude the greatest month in Tabooindeed history. Lots of great posts, wonderful comments and Ebooks given away. On Friday, I will be posting links with all blogposts, stats, a congrats to all winners, and a big sloppy thank you to all participating authors.

Thank you for all the lovely support and don't stop visiting now.

Tomorrow, Rachael Haimowitz will be stopping in as we return to regular programming.

XOXOX to everyone and enjoy your Thursday!

12 comments:

S.Lira said...

Thx for being a guest!

Erica Pike said...

This sounds awesome. I've still been sticking to contemporaries, but recently I've been reading blurbs on shifter stories (in YA I almost only read paranormal/fantasy novels - I don't know why I haven't read a single one in GLBT literature).

Karenna Colcroft said...

Thanks for hosting me! I hope readers enjoy Kyle and Tobias. I'm working on their sequel!

Erica, I also write YA under a different name, and it's always seemed odd to me that in YA, I write almost exclusively paranormal/urban fantasy, but in romance, I've been writing mostly contemporary. Now I'm starting to cross over. LOL

Lucia said...

I've read a lot of shifter stories lately, and I really like your idea of mates, it's a new way to look at it :) And a shifter that is a vegan, that must be something! Really like the excerpt because of the playful talking between Tobias and Kyle.

Tara Lain said...

There they are again, Kyle and Tobias, following me around! LOL. Yep, i see what you mean about bossy. Sounds like a great story, Karenna. : )

S.Lira said...

TY for visiting Tara and Lucia!

Karenna Colcroft said...

Thanks, Lucia :) I think Kyle and Tobias are my favorite couple that I've created, because they can be playful with each other like that.

Tara, yep, they must be after you! LOL. Thanks!

Kellie Kamryn said...

Awesome story about your and your SO. Something I hope to find myself again some day! Love the excerpt and great interview!

Anonymous said...

I was reading the blurb for 'Salad' at work yesterday and broke up laughing at 'vegan werewolf'. I've outed myself to the gal I work with as a m/m reader and after the vegan comment, I think I may have interested her in reading a bit of m/m! A convert, yay! I'm really looking forward to reading it myself!

Bobbejean@msn.com

Karenna Colcroft said...

Thanks, Kellie!

Anonymous, LOL about work, and I'm glad you're looking forward to reading this!

S.Lira said...

Thank you all for visiting and happy bday Karenna!

Unknown said...

I love shifter stories and I felt the same way when I saw my husband for the first time! I can't wait to try your book--and I love M/M! Kyreadinggirl(at)yahoo(dot)com