On 19 Dec 14 By Rhys FordIn Good News4 Comments

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have never hidden my love for Jordan L. Hawk’s writing. To do so would be like trying to keep the sun concealed under an umbrella. Not only would it be a neat trick, the umbrella would go up in flames. Just as it would trying to hide the sheer magnificence of Hawk’s writing.

Restless Spirits launches Hawk’s new series, Spirits and damn, what a great launch it is. Vincent and Henry are at odds, both philosophically, Henry is a scientist where Vincent is a spiritualist, and socially as Vincent is a Native American man during a time when being darker than a flushed beige relegated a person to the “lesser” column. However, Henry isn’t one to let social constructs guide his behaviour, not where race is concerned.

Homosexuality, during the heyday of an alternative universe’s Industrial Revolution , is a different matter altogether.

The story is a tightly knit, nearly single-room adventure reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Caught in a paranormal mystery complete with murderous ghosts and stolen bits of forbidden love, Hawk crafts a damned good tale of scientific theory, spiritualism and simmering sexuality. This is definitely an origin story of a couple of men who first are at odds and then only find their footing when working together.

I’m looking so forward to seeing where we’re taken in the rest of this series. Fantastic writing, great characters and burgeoning tension as only Jordan L. Hawk can deliver.

Order Restless Spirits on Amazon and other online book stores.

Black Dog Blues up for Pre-Order on DSPP

On 18 Dec 14 By Rhys FordIn Good News, Heh13 Comments

WOOOOOOT! Look what’s on Pre-order! Black Dog Blues!

http://www.dsppublications.com/books/black-dog-blues-by-rhys-ford-52-b

Ever since being part of the pot in a high-stakes poker game, elfin outcast Kai Gracen figures he used up his good karma when Dempsey, a human Stalker, won the hand and took him in. Following the violent merge of Earth and Underhill, the human and elfin races are left with a messy, monster-ridden world, and Stalkers are the only cavalry willing to ride to someone’s rescue when something shadowy appears.

It’s a hard life but one Kai likes—filled with bounty, a few friends, and most importantly, no other elfin around to remind him of his past. And killing monsters is easy. Especially since he’s one himself.

But when a sidhe lord named Ryder arrives in San Diego, Kai is conscripted to do a job for Ryder’s fledgling Dawn Court. It’s supposed to be a simple run up the coast during dragon-mating season to retrieve a pregnant human woman seeking sanctuary. Easy, quick, and best of all, profitable. But Kai ends up in the middle of a deadly bloodline feud he has no hope of escaping.

No one ever got rich being a Stalker. But then few of them got old either and it doesn’t look like Kai will be the exception.

hands you tissue

On 17 Dec 14 By Rhys FordIn Heh11 Comments

WOOOOOOOOOT!

On 17 Dec 14 By Rhys FordIn Good News, Heh18 Comments

WOOOOOOOOOOOT! Murder and Mayhem is to DSP!

Sighs… Sooooooon

On 15 Dec 14 By Rhys FordIn Heh14 Comments

I am at the end of a new book, Murder and Mayhem. New series. New characters. New anxieties. No, wait… same anxieties.

It’s always difficult when trying to cobble together personalities and a world, even if it is set in a modern Los Angeles. Each book has its own voice and I might start off thinking “Oh, it’s going to be funny” and then it all goes sideways. This time, it was a hell of a lot less funny and more… grit? Raw-boned? It’s hard to really quantify at this point because later today, I’m going to go back into the full document and read what I’ve done.

When I write, I rarely go back and read or edit while I’m writing. Sometimes something sticks with me and it’s like an itch I can’t get rid of. That’s usually a sign that I’ve left something out. That’s a retrofit and those I do midstream. I’ll go back and structure it back up or it’ll bug the shit out of me and I can’t go forward.

Writers talk about doing it by the seat of their pants or plotting everything out. I kind of write by a loose plot but with my gut instincts. I’ve found it best not to fight the voice as it comes out. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it’s an odd construct but it really is what comes out. The whole It Is What It Is fits here.

I also know when I’ve done too much in one day. I get a visitor. Literally, she comes and sits on me. Very demanding cat. This was last night. I guess I was done. Or so she told me.