We're so pleased to have the Heart 2 Heart Charity Anthology authors and Vibrant Promotions visit with their blog tour today. Authors May Archer, Charlie Cochet, Alison Hendricks, Sloane Kennedy, Lucy Lennox, Ruthie Luhnow, Lily Morton, Chris Owen, Poppy Dennison, Hailey Turner, and A.E. Wasp all contributed. Learn more about the charity anthology today, all proceeds will go to 3 charities!
Author A.E. Wasp stops by for an interview and delivers an exclusive excerpt!
Plus you could win a paperback copy of the Heart 2 Heart Charity Anthology ! Enter below, good luck!
See our 4 <3 review of the anthology HERE!
HEART 2 HEART ANTHOLOGY
May Archer * Charlie Cochet * Alison Hendricks * Sloane Kennedy *
Lucy Lennox * Ruthie Luhnow * Lily Morton * Chris Owen *
Poppy Dennison * Hailey Turner * A.E. Wasp
M/M ROMANCE
RELEASE DATE: 02.07.18
COVER DESIGN: AngstyG/www.angstyg.com
ANTHOLOGY EDITOR: Leslie Copeland
BUY LINK: http://getBook.at/Heart2Heart
BLURB
Once upon a time, a bunch of authors wondered… What if a dating app that guaranteed you a love match broke down just in time for Valentine’s Day? What if you found yourself on a blind date with a random guy who might be your opposite in every single way? It could be a
disaster. Or…
When the code breaks down, fate just might take over.
Eleven of your favorite gay romance authors have joined forces to light up your Valentine’s Day with a collection of
sweet, sexy, silly, and hot short stories, featuring a wacky cast of characters chosen from
your reader suggestions! Morticians and magicians, superheroes and spies, lawyers and lobstermen, will all learn that love has nothing to do with algorithms… and sometimes you find it in the least-likely places.
And the best part?
All proceeds from this collection will go to the authors’ favorite LGBTQ charities, to ensure that love in all its incarnations will be celebrated and protected every single day of the year!
It will only be available for 90 days, so Tuesday, May 8th will be the last time you can purchase this anthology.
Over 162k words total, contemporary MM romance
AE Wasp
The Magician and the Mortician
Can you tell us a little bit about your characters?
Alberto (42) is a jaded magician who hasn't had any magic in his life since his long-time partner died five years ago. Mikey (29) is a mortician who finds magic and meaning in life through his work with the dead and their families.
Was writing this story easy for you to do? Or was it a little bit outside of your normal writing zone?
Writing is never easy for me, but once I realized why the characters were perfect for each other, the story happened. Writing a short is difficult for me. I tend to write long.
What were some of the reader submissions that stood out to you, and why?
I was happy to see one person mention a Native American man and someone with Asperger's. The only reason I didn't do that was that I felt I would need a longer story to do it justice. And a 'heartbreakingly beautiful assassin' that I really want to write one day.
Since the anthology is only available for a limited time, (90 days) do you have any plans for your story after that?
I expect these guys to make an appearance in a new project that May and I are working on for the fall!
What do you think of the line-up of authors? How does it feel to be in such great company?
I am fangirling like crazy! It's a dream line up, and I am so impressed with how genuinely wonderful everyone has been. It really made me want to write the best story I could.
Other than your own, do you have a favorite story (or two) in the anthology?
That's so mean to make me pick.
Have you ever set someone else up on a blind date? If yes, how did it turn out?
I didn't, BUT, a long time ago, pre-1994, I did have a guy friend over, and one of my girlfriends dropped by. When she left, Pete said, "I'm going to marry that girl." And he did, and they are still married. So I know the things we write about can happen!
If Heart2Heart were to match you with someone, who do you think you'd get paired with?
OMG. Are we talking functioning app or the wonky one we wrote about? Whoever it is, they'd better know what they're getting into dating a writer, and someone who will call me on my crap. Stockard Channing? That would be nice.
Is there anything else that you think would be fun to talk about?
I love to hear everyone's worst and/or best dating experiences.
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
It wasn’t until Mikey turned to thank the waitress that Alberto felt like he could exhale. How was this man real? Maybe he was having a hallucination.
He should probably tell himself to slow down, get himself together, but he had zero desire to do so. He wanted to know everything about Mikey. He wanted to meet his family and talk to them about life and death. He wanted to go on long car rides across the country and visit the World’s Biggest Ball of Twine, or Carhenge, or anything.
Never in a million years had he ever thought he would meet someone so fascinating and he was going to
carpe the hell out of this
diem.
Noctis? Nocturn? What was the Latin for night? Whatever. It didn’t matter. He was going to seize it all. All of Mikey’s days, nights, afternoons, mornings, and evenings.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, could this be love at first sight? Was that actually a thing? If it was, how terrifying would that be?
He took his salmon with the barest of thanks, paralyzed by the thoughts in his head.
“So what made you want to be a professional magician?” Mikey asked him. “Besides the fact that it’s super cool, obviously.”
Okay. He could answer that. Small talk. This was good. Normal for a first date. “My
abuelo was an amateur magician. He owned a magic shop that I more or less grew up in. I thought he was the greatest guy.”
“How about your father? Is he into magic, too? Is it your family business?” Mikey’s eyes lit up, and he groaned as he took a bite of his steak. “Oh, my god, this is so good.”
Alberto shifted in his seat as Mikey’s groan went right to his cock. “No, my dad is definitely not into magic. He’s an engineer. He was so disappointed when I didn’t go to college. But he grew up pretty poor, and he just didn’t want his kids growing up like that.”
“Kids? Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“One brother, eleven months younger than I am. Freddy is an engineer. And straight and has already provided grandkids, to my mother’s delight. Though she’s always open for more.” Alberto smiled. Luckily, he and Freddy got along great. Freddy was Alberto’s biggest fan, and Alberto doted on his three nieces.
“Did you ever want kids?” Mikey asked, toying with his sautéed string beans.
Truth or what he thought Mikey wanted to hear? Truth. Easier to deal with. “No. Not really. I like being an uncle well enough.”
Mikey sighed and sagged in his chair. “Oh thank god. I don’t either. I feel like gaybies are the newest fashion trend. Seems like every guy I date wants a baseball team of them, and they look at me like I’m a monster when I say I never wanted kids.”
“Let’s toast to a kid-free future, then.” Alberto tapped his wine glass against Mikey’s.
“Glad that’s out of the way,” Mikey said almost to himself as he cut more steak.
The feathered thing in Alberto’s heart fluttered. Mikey was thinking about the future, too. He might be crazy, but at least he wasn’t alone.
CHARITIES
We are pleased to be donating 100% of our proceeds to 3 wonderful charities:
The Trevor Project:
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
Bisexual Resource Centre:
http://biresource.org/
One n Ten:
http://onenten.org/
We encourage all readers to learn more about these groups and consider making a donation of your own. Every little bit helps.
BACKGROUND/TITLES
What began as a random idea quickly turned into a collaborative and completely voluntary effort from 11 authors, more than 130 readers, cover designer, 2 proofreaders, and one cat herder to keep it all together.
Readers were asked to submit ideas for characters, both typical and off-the-wall, and from that list, each author picked 2 seemingly mismatched guys and helped them find love.
Lucy Lennox - The Uber Drive and the Phone Sex Operator
AE Wasp - The Magician and the Mortician
GIVEAWAY
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