Welcome to the Mad Lizard Mambo Tour! Our FIRST stop today is HERE! Today’s Giveaway on my blog is… your very own garage dragon (okay more like a shelf dragon) and a signed copy of Mad Lizard Mambo.  Leave a comment below to enter (If International, I’ll be giving a $20 USD gift certificate).

Our second stop (Part 3) is at The Blogger Girls with their $20 USD Gift Certificate Giveaway.

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That Time Kai Rescued A Shoe (Part 2)
“You know Medical can probably do that for you, kid,” Jonas rumbled. “Because that’s kind of… deep.”  He swayed a bit for some reason, odd considering I was the one sipping alcohol to numb the pain but he was definitely unsteady. I didn’t need him to fall over, mostly because he was a big guy and if he landed on me, it was going to hurt. I already had sliced my arm open to try to get it to heal better, I didn’t need any more bruises.

I studied the gash. It was pretty deep. I could see clear down to bone and the meat was slow to heal, probably because of the iron dust from the flats blew into the wound. It’d bled all the way down from Temecula and while the skin closed up, it’d been hot to touch. A quick slice and a sluice brought me a rush of iron-scented watery blood and an almost clearly bitten through piece of wood I’d shoved between my teeth so I could ride out the pain. All that was left was the stitching which for some reason turned Jonas’s face an odd ashy colour.

I snorted. “Almost done. And well, Medical.”

He knew better. We all did. No amount of money or cajoling would get Medical to take me in. We’d all learned that lesson after I’d broken my leg bone clear through and had to depend on Sparky to shove it back into place. Settling on the couch, I untangled the needle from its thread nest then stuck the pointy end into the flesh under the cut, pulling the meat in so I could get a clean stitch line on my skin.

“What’cha need?” I hit a nerve ending and hissed, letting the needle go so I could take a sip from the whiskey bottle I’d left on the table. “Unless you just came by for dinner or something.”

“You know that kind of shit disturbs me, boy,” Jonas growled at me. “And I came by because you’re not answering your damned link again. The Post just put out an all-points contract out for the undercity. Seems like there’s a newt roaming around down there and it’s gotten big enough to be swallowing dogs. And you know what that means.”

“Yeah, I do.” I took a large mouthful of whiskey and swallowed, willing its burn to carry me through the rest of the stitches. “Big enough for a dog, big enough for a kid.”

“Yep, and the bastard’s apparently already gotten one.” Jonas grimaced when I hurriedly stabbed and pulled short jumps of thread through my arm. “Best you hurry that up, boy, before that thing gets another one and I lose my damned lunch.”

Somehow, I’d lost Jonas a few hours ago. He probably wasn’t really lost. Hard to lose a man built like a sequoia and carrying an assault rifle. It was more that he zigged when I zagged and it was especially difficult to stay together in the outer edges of Old San Diego’s ruins. I wasn’t concerned. Not about Jonas.

The understreets were crawling with people either hunting the newt or hiding from it. I’d stopped one guy from staking a stray dog out in a field to lure the monster in so he could club it with a baseball bat.

I’d cut the dog loose and well, the guy was going to need some assistance getting that bat out but I was good with my life decisions.

I was going to have to get to someplace a little bit wetter than where I was standing. Thing was, we’d been dry for the past couple of months so there wasn’t a lot of rainfall or run-off trickling down from the upper levels. I’d spotted a few kids running by earlier, kicking a soccer ball back and forth a few times before coming to a dead stop when they spotted me.

Stalkers were issued badges just like any other LEO or SoCalGov agent but that was pretty much where our similarities ended. While we were required to openly wear our badges while on official duty, we didn’t have a uniform or a set type of weapon. I’d seen a Stalker walk the streets to look for a bounty jumper wearing head-to-toe pink camo while wielding a flame thrower. It took all kinds to be a Stalker and mostly it seemed like the insane were the most drawn to the craziness of being a SoCalGov meat puppet.

So it wasn’t my black jeans, old leather jacket and sawed off shotgun that drew their notice. Or the badge clipped to my belt. People weren’t ever surprised by a shield and a weapon. No, chances are the kids stopped and stared because I definitely wasn’t human. Nice of them to notice.

Still there was an upside to kids being nosy little bastards and if there was one thing I’d learned, it was never to overlook a source of information.

“Hey! I’ve got a five for whoever can tell me where they’ve spotted the newt people are looking for,” I called out, holding the bill up for them to see. Their eyes were wide open, nearly bulging out of their heads and I frowned, trying to take into considering they’d probably never actually seen an elfin anywhere other than vids. I tapped at my badge and waved the bill again. “Come on, guys. You can buy a lot of shit with five bucks. Don’t you want it?”

“Yeah, I do, mister,” said a lanky Asian kid as the others took off running, leaving him behind with the ball. “But not enough to die for it. Damned thing’s right behind you and it’s going to eat that little girl.”
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The tour will be three Kai original short stories serialized in order over the blog tour. When Kai Fell in Love, When Kai Discovers He Does Not Bounce, and That Time Kai Rescued A Shoe. Hope you enjoy the stories as they unfold on the tour and enter to win a $20 USD Gift Certificate at the e-retailer of your choice at every stop!

Follow the Mad Lizard Mambo Tour at these fantastic review sites:
Sept 6:             The Jeep Diva
Sept 7:             Prism Book Alliance
Sept 8:             It’s About The Book
Sept 9:             MMGoodBookReviews
Sept 10:            Sinfully Gay Romance
Sept 11:            The Novel Approach
Sept 12:            Oh My Shelves
Sept 13 Bonus: Rhys Ford
Sept 13:            Blogger Girls
Sept 14:            Joyfully Jay / http://joyfullyjay.com/

(Link to series page)

Mad Lizard Mambo
by Rhys Ford, from DSP Publications

Kai Gracen has no intention of being anyone’s pawn. A pity Fate and SoCalGov have a different opinion on the matter.

Licensed Stalkers make their living hunting down monsters and dangerous criminals… and their lives are usually brief, brutal, and thankless. Despite being elfin and cursed with a nearly immortal lifespan, Kai didn’t expect to be any different. Then Ryder, the High Lord of the Southern Rise Court, arrived in San Diego, Kai’s not-so-mundane life went from mild mayhem to full-throttle chaos.

Now an official liaison between the growing Sidhe Court and the human populace, Kai is at Ryder’s beck and call for anything a High Lord might need a Stalker to do. Unfortunately for Kai, this means chasing down a flimsy rumor about an ancient lost Court somewhere in the Nevada desert—a court with powerful magics that might save Ryder—and Kai’s—people from becoming a bloody memory in their Merged world’s violent history.

The race for the elfin people’s salvation opens unwelcome windows into Kai’s murky past, and it could also slam the door on any future he might have with his own kind and Ryder.

Purchase Mad Lizard Mambo at these and other fine book sites:
DSP Publications
Amazon Link