natkennedybooks World of Two Moons

NaNo GO! The World of Two Moons

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Tomorrow I start writing the first book of the World of Two Moons. It’s erotic high fantasy and I’ve been churning this story in my head for years. I have a fantasy cat race called the felinori, hermaphroditic and tribal. They have relationships in triads. They have a holy tree (which I had this idea before Avatar… I’m always so slow on writing my ideas down.) that they can speak to their ancestors through. A shamanistic, earth-based faith, they bury their dead, because burning them causes the sprit to be scattered on the breeze and it takes years for the spirit to coalesce.

Akani, my human, has a dark past. He’s my Xena character. As a young man he was rash and brash and was quite an ass. But he realizes his wrongs have put a country–two countries!–in turmoil and he’s vowed to do what he can to end the war.

And he needs guides. He tricks the three felinori into helping him.

Tomorrow I write my first words of this story. I’ve background and character sketches and world building files, but I haven’t written a single word of story. I’m excited to bring the World of Two Moons to life and watch Akani, Mrsharra, Thaladan and Hamnar jump off the page.

Damn, I love NaNoWriMo.

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Update – and rec: Infected Series

I’m not sitting idle, but to confess, I’ve been working on another writing project.  However, I hope to have Wielder World 3: Afflicted to the Core, out next spring, assuming the editing process goes smoothly.

I have been reading in spare snatches of time: in the bathtub, at lunch, right before bed, and I wanted to recommend Andrea Speed’s Infected series.

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Things I like: I like that the werecats are brutal animals while in cat form, that it’s not some human in animal form.  I like the fact that Roan isn’t flouncy.  He’s not stereotypical anything.  He’s just a guy, who happens to be infected and gay.  I love Paris.  I enjoy the supportive relationship between the two.

Not my favorite: It’s a world that disparages against gays.  I like stories where being gay isn’t a major plot issue.  Also, there is a gay bar that no straight guy would ever go into.  Which, I don’t get.  I have plenty of straight friends who will go to gay bars with me.  The gays don’t care.  The straights don’t care.

This is a good solid rec for me. If you like solid relationships, fun writing, and a great world, give Infected a try.

natkennedybooks Wielder World

Wielder World Update

Working on a series is a bit more of a challenge than I expected. I have piles of notes on the Wielder World, but things have changed in the writing of Edge of Desperation and Center of Deception, so sometimes my brain is still caught on that original spark, versus the updated, more logical detail.

Afflicted to the Core is coming along. A step up from the two previous stories, this one includes Bethany (Reggie’s older sister), dark shadow conspiracies, more facing of feelings, and a lot more heat.

August, Reggie and Kyle are getting in to trouble, but as they are telling me as I write this, they will do anything for each other. I like that about them.

Keep watch for more updates. Hoping for a good draft by the end of July. Fingers crossed, pen scratching away.

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Gay Fantasy – You are my Target Audience

Fantasy, in all its flavors, is by far my favorite genre. It comes from living alone in the back 40 of central Washington. I like making up worlds. It’s part of why I game and write and daydream.

Never liked romance. Couldn’t get into the cheesy, overthetopness. Often, the female leads were victims, inactive, or too full of impotent wanting, waiting for a man to save them. Not my thing. And the purple prose. So, I never read that genre much (though there were some thriller romances that were pretty good.)

I was not the target audience.

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Then I discovered amateur gay romances and erotica. Mainly on free-to-read websites. I thought to myself, why can’t I find more professional books like this? A few years back, I nosed around a bit and discovered quite a book log of gay romantic and erotic stories. Hot damn. The mother load. Further nosing, and I discovered them in the fantasy genre. Books with plot. Now, I am finally a target audience.

This. This is what I want. Gay romantic/erotic fantasy. Romance and erotica slipped into a story that is mainly focused on a plot, with a fantastical world, and active characters out on a quest/stop the bad guy/save the world/insert plot trope here. Heroes who swashbuckle and screw!

If you enjoy plotty romantic stories with gay protagonists and dashes of smut. You, my dears, are my target audience.

(though, on that note, Wielder World does have some build up in the first two novellas. Expect some heat in the third installation.)

natkennedybooks Wielder World

Cover Reveal for Center of Deception

You’ve met August Whalen in Edge of Desperation, now you can see the world from his eyes in Center of Deception!

August Whalen is the owner of The Black Castle, a bar frequented by male Wielders.  He’s driven to make his father proud and excel in business, bringing in cash from a side import/export business that’s just this side of legal.  Unfortunately, that nose for business can lead him into trouble.

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Center of Deception will be available through Amazon in June.

 

natkennedybooks Wielder World

Brands of Wielding

Only ten more days, and Edge of Desperation is available.  Thank you everyone who has pre-ordered!

An Overview of Powers

Wielders pluck the Nerve of the World, a type of webwork of strands that most Wielders see as ‘out there’.  They reach out with their Wielding senses and strum the Nerve, initiating their Wielding power.

In Edge of Desperation there are three Wielding branches: mind, forces, and enhancement.

  • enhancement Wielders, aka boosters, can enhance their own physical prowess.  Making themselves stronger, faster, tougher.  Their Tracer is a change to the air around them which others can feel.  They have to eat constantly to fuel their power.
  • mind Wielders, aka mentalists, can affect their targets mind.  Often they need eye contact.  They can read minds, or erase minds, or paralyze their target.  Their Tracer is a sound.  They must learn to drown out other distractions to use their power well.
  • force Wielders, aka benders, can manipulate physics.  They can, with invisible force, lift things, push things, pull things.  They are often labeled lifters, pushers or benders, though bender has become the overall name for that branch of Wielding.  Their Tracer is a smell.  They have to build their endurance to Wield much, otherwise they can just pass out from one use.
  • unknown Wielders.  What else is out there? Continue reading the Wielder World series and you might meet more.

 

natkennedybooks Announcement, Wielder World

Pre-Order: Edge of Desperation!

You can now pre-order Reggie’s novella: Edge of Desperation! at amazon Available, May 25. Get your copy now.

Assistant Professor Reggie Wolfe has simple goals: to help his engineering students succeed and to stop male Wielders from falling into Taint without drawing attention from the Bureau of Wielder Services. A select few can Wield the Nerve of the World. Women Wielders do so freely, without any repercussions. For men, it’s another story. They fight Taint and Corruption for the same power.

Reggie’s easy life upends when Kyle, a young male Wielder, lands at his feet, trapped in his Taint and pursued by the very criminal Wielder cults the Bureau is fighting. As the two work to control Kyle’s Taint, Reggie realizes he will do everything he can to help Kyle, even follow him into darkness.

Edge of Desperation is the exciting opening novella to the Wielder World series—gay romantic urban fantasy full of magic, suspense, and dedication born of trial and blood.

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natkennedybooks Wielder World

Edge of Desperation through the grinder

Edge of Desperation has been thoroughly betaed and is now off to the line editors. Soon, Reggie Wolfe and Kyle Landon get to see the light of day. I’m stoked to get my first published work out there. I’m hoping for a release date of early May. Then, following that, Center of Deception, Book Two of the Wielder World will be published. Working hard on this great series. I love these guys! I hope you love them too.

2016-01-002 Edge of Desperation 3D Render