Friday, October 2, 2015

About Writing Series with Sharita Lira and On the Run by Michael Mandrake!

Please help me welcome Michael Mandrake today as I feature his book, On the Run!



From Sharita Lira: 

Thanks to everyone for joining me. Today, I’m talking about book series and why they’re a double edged sword. Why you say? Well, for the reader they’re great! You create a world with multiple characters, focusing on them, what they do, and in romance, how they interact with one another to fall in love. I’ve heard it all. Readers love series because they want to feel like they know the characters personally as well as their stories. And they have to be long! YES, the longer the better. 200 pages plus, give me angst, drama, romance, and some hot sex to boot.

Yes, it’s great.                    

It’s awesome.

And then comes the hard part; WRITING IT.

Believe me, I’m a reader too, so I love a good book series. Sue Brown’s Morning Report, Mercy Celeste, Southern Scrimmage, Avril Ashton’s Sinners Series. Yes, I love all of these and that’s just m/m. And then I think of my own. My N’awlins Exotica and Paranormal, Under the Gun, The Wretched, and my co-Author series Wounded with Remmy Duchene, just to name a few. They’re wonderful. I’ve enjoyed writing them, but they’re a serious pain in the ass.

Why you say? Well, as much as I love all my characters, there’s a lot that goes into writing them. Remembering little details like their eye and hair color, how it was cut, was it long, short? The temperament of the characters, where they lived, what was the last thing they’d done, what do they like to eat? Are they vegetarian? I had this issue with Orrin when I finally wrote his book. Then I recalled he ate a ham sandwich in book one.

Scratch that! *laughs*

And then, making it more complicated when the characters crossover into other books, IE N’awlins Exotica where I bring Ryland there and take Kajika to Paranormal!

UGH!

There is so much work that goes into these and then, when you make them related you have to remember the backstory. What happens in the last book? What did Eli do to his last victim? What did Corey do to piss Nicolai off? I need to re-read it to find out. Yeah, now you see why the book series is a pain? Don’t get me wrong, I love em but, as I stated to Remmy, I’m going to try making them standalones from now on!

What about you? If you’re a reader, tell me about some of your fave series! Doesn’t have to be mine and if you’re an author, you can do it too, but tell me how you keep everything straight in every book? Do you make notecards on each character Have you plotted all 100 books in the series from day one?

Thanks for listening to me today!

Who would've thought that a British hit man would fall in lust at first sight with an American felon? This desire could become deadly for both.



 


Aiden Moriarty is a Florida ‘herbalist’ who developed a performance enhancing drug many athletes have used. One of them is baseball star Ivan Salerno, who was caught using the drugs and is now on the brink of getting suspended. Because of Ivan’s connections with a rogue mob boss, Aiden is taken into a witness protection program, working along with baseball higher ups until he testifies.

The mob boss, Augustine Ora, has hired former British military officer and his best hitman, Devlin ‘Brit’ Crawford, to do the job. Ora has instructed Devlin to go to Miami, kidnap Aiden and take him to the local airport to be transported to Havana ,Cuba, to be executed by Ora’s top officers.

However, when Devlin receives the email, the pictures of the blue-eyed felon catch his eye and he is moved to go in a different direction. Instead of delivering Aiden to the airport, he has thoughts of taking him away and saving him from Ora’s wrath.

This move puts him, Aiden, as well as his assistant Miranda Ashley in huge danger. Will Devlin keep Aiden safe despite the odds or will he fail, causing Ora and his men come after him?

 EXCERPT
“Um.” Aiden cleared his throat, hoping Miranda didn’t have a quick trigger finger. “I know it’s a risk what you’re doing—a huge one—but I can make it worth your while. I really can. And, uh, after the talk we had in the car—”
“You were thinking we could have something, hmm?”
Aiden swallowed hard and looked down at his feet. He clasped his hands together as if he was praying for something. “We could if you don’t deliver me to Ora.”
“Aw, isn’t that so cute, D? The American is begging you to spare him. He’s so adorable. Don’t let that overweight son of a bitch win, yeah? You need someone and hell, you’ve been saying how much you’ve wanted to get away from Ora for a while.”
“True, very true. See, Aiden? It’s not really all about you. My bird is right when she says I need a chap in my life. However, my reason for keeping you away is more about being a rebel. I haven’t been happy with the way Ora does things for quite a while. Additionally, I’d like to see that cheater Salerno go down in flames, because I don’t really like cheaters.”
“Neither do I,” Aiden responded.
“But you helped these men get ahead with drugs so, obviously, you take no real issue with it.”
“Yeah I do.” Aiden laughed nervously. “I just wanted to do something different and make some cash. That’s all. Hey, if you keep me alive, you can help me expose him and Engel, too. I’ve got no doubt the guy may be working for Ora—or even Salerno.”
“You might be right there, but the question still remains…” The man walked closer to Aiden, still mostly naked. He dragged his finger over Aiden’s forehead and twirled one of his curls around the tip. “Is the cause to bring a cheater down and have a good-looking American on my arm worth my life and the money Ora has offered me?”
Aiden’s eyes met his kidnapper’s deep brown gaze. His breath caught in his chest while he got lost in the man’s heated stare. His heart thumped against his ribs and his cock, already hard, strained in his underwear. He stuttered, “I-I’d say, yeah.”
He raked Aiden’s hair away from his eyes. “Of course you would.” He flashed a pearly white smile and swiped his tongue over his lips.
Dear God!
Watching Brit’s sexy gesture, Aiden’s erection grew more. If this man didn’t have a pistol pointed at his temple, he’d grab Brit and plunge his tongue down his throat.
“Miranda, let the man take a bath and get ready to move. We’ll be going to Miami very soon.”
Just that statement caused Aiden’s erection to deflate, and his heart sank. The thought of his impending doom made his gut twist in ways he couldn’t explain.
Miranda clicked her teeth and frowned. “But, D?”
Now, Miranda. No buts, right? This is my life on the line for someone I don’t even know. Like I said, I can get a real nice bang at home for what he’s paying me. And you never know—something real might come out of that, hmm?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Michael Mandrake pens complex characters already comfortable with their sexuality. Thorough these, he builds worlds not centered on erotica but rather the mainstream plots we might encounter in everyday life through personal experiences or the media. To find out more please visit Michael Mandrake at Wordpress

Author Sharita Lira: In one word, crazy. Just crazy enough to have 3 4 different muses running around in her head, driving her to sheer exhaustion with new plot bunnies and complex characters.

In addition to being a computer geek and a metalhead, Sharita loves live music, reading, and perusing the net for sexy men to be her muses.  She’s also a founding member and contributor to the heavy metal ezine Fourteeng.net.

For more information, please visit http://www.thelitriad.com as well as her Facebook fanpage, The Literary Triad.

Links
The Literary Triad - http://www.thelitriad.com/#!
Goodreads – Michael M https://www.goodreads.com/MichaelMandrake  


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