Friday, August 10, 2012

Welcome Belinda McBride & a Contest

Give a warm welcome to Belinda McBride as she celebrates her new release, The Bacchi, with us.

CONTEST INFORMATION: Belinda is going to give one lucky reader a pdf copy of her release, The Bacchi or if you already have that, a book from her backlist to one lucky reader. Contest runs till August 13th and you must leave a comment with your email address in the comment message to be entered. International entries are welcome. Winner to be announced on this post on August 14th.


Can you please share with us a little about yourself?

There’s not much to say really. I am a full-time caregiver for my disabled niece and now for my mother, so I spend most of my time at home writing. When I can, I get out and go to dogshows or to conventions. My hobbies seem to require travel. J  I have two daughters, one is completing college and the other is a private chef. (fun fact, she was Johnny Depp’s yacht chef for a couple years) I have six Siberian Huskies, two are my active show dogs.

What is your most interesting writing quirk? 

Well…I tend to use ellipses quite a lot…LOL! Also, I do a lot of inactive composition; I sit and think. I go lay down and think. I’ll walk and I’ll think. I’ll think for days before actually sitting down and writing. Once things are clear in my mind, I can write very quickly.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)? 

Sure. My latest is a m/m science fiction romance called The Bacchi. It’s set in the Coalition Universe which also hosts Belle Starr and the Uncommon Whore books. It’s an odd couple story about a flamboyant prostitute who decides to seduce a straight-laced police inspector. The characters are both alien species…Lefi (the Bacchi) is a Somian, which is a colorful, sensual twin species. He’s a twin orphan…his sibling died and he feels like only half a person now. His love interest is Afton, who is a Valoran, which is a hermaphrodite species that is very intellectual and cerebral. He identifies as male and is stunned to find himself falling for another man…a Somian at that. He’s also estranged from his family and people. They are two very complicated men.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

Since the Coalition series was populated with various “alien” species, I was writing shorts to give me an idea of their species traits. The Valoran and the Somian species are polar opposites, and it seemed a fun way not only to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the two species, but I really wanted to dig into the depths of the seemingly shallow Bacchi, and to free the hidden sensual nature of the Valoran.  I actually started this a few years back but was afraid of the reader’s reaction to an intersexed character. So far, everyone loves him. J


Who is the one author that you would love to meet someday and why? 

That tends to be a rotating list, depending on who I’m currently infatuated with. Luckily, since I go to a lot of events, I’ve met a lot of my favorite authors. I’ll be honest, I had a real fangirl crush on ZA Maxfield after reading her story “Drawn Together.” To my delight, we ran into each other at RT a few years back and she’s been one of my best friends since. Kate Pearce’s books had a big impact on my writing and I’ve been lucky enough to tell her that in person! And someday I’d like to do the same with Morgan Hawke.  Her stuff is so well-done, yet over the top. I love it!

What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone that wants to get into writing? 

Learn the craft. Its one thing to be able to think up great stories, but to be able to write them is the lion’s share of the job. If you don’t have a grasp on basic writing, take a course on grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and so forth. Then move on to the elements of writing within your genre. You can’t break rules effectively if you don’t know the rules to start with.  Don’t rely on your editor to fix everything for you.

Can you share with us something off your bucket list? 

I want to go on one of those big ole bungee swings. Not bungee jumping, but those ginormous bouncy swings you see at amusement parks.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

I’m holding off on buying Kate Pearce’s Simply Voracious. That’s my carrot for finishing my current book. J I’m also dying to read Patricia Brigg’s ‘Fair Game.’

Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress? 

Sure. I’m working on Dream Hunter, which is the latest Arcada book. In this story, Lukas Blacque’s younger brother Travis falls for a dangerous older man. A much older man. <g> He’s a fae assassin who hunts his prey in their dreams.  I’m also working on an untitled book that is the follow-up to the Truckee books in the Doms of Dark Haven anthologies. This one is about Destiny, the bodacious receptionist at Dark Haven. She’s being thrown to the wolves and the wolves are getting a little more than they bargained for!

If we asked your muse to describe you in five words, what would they say about you?

Eccentric, procrastinates, eclectic, confused, curious.

Anything else you want to add? Links?



The Bacchi by Belinda McBride
Loose Id Publishing
LGBT Futuristic Science Fiction/Fantasy
Buy at http://www.loose-id.com/the-bacchi/


The Bacchi Lefi Dhrahn lives a life of luxury and decadence, but is tortured by memories of a lost love. He survives the pain by surrounding himself with sex, beauty, and all forms of self-indulgence. When he meets the alluring Inspector Afton Teris, Lefi believes the detective will make a very nice addition to his string of conquests. 
Afton Teris is a Valoran hermaphrodite, and like all members of his species, is stern, cerebral and disapproves of the frivolous prostitute. Afton orients as a male, but the beautiful Lefi Dhrahn stirs him sexually, making him question everything he knows about himself. To further confuse his emotions, Afton finds himself tempted by the forbidden pleasures surrounding the Bacchi.
When a kidnapping ring strikes close to home, the two go undercover on a brothel barge to investigate a slavery operation. There, Lefi is confronted by painful memories from his past, while Afton is faced with a horror that threatens his future, and perhaps his very life. Their survival lies with one another, but only if Lefi can set aside his pain and listen to his heart.
Publisher's Note: While primarily a male/male love story, this book contains one or more instances of male/female interaction. It also contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that some readers may find objectionable: exhibitionism/sex in public, male/male sexual practices, violence.

11 comments:

Patricia Nelson said...

I would really like to win a copy of your book.

Mary said...

I enjoy your books very much. I just finish Bacchi love it. There were three words in it that I thought just did not fit in the book other than that is was well written and a very good read!
MFierydrgn@aol.com

Tina Marie said...

Please include me in the drawing. tmadamski(at)msn(dot)com

Lana A said...

I love the cover!

anzuazura at yahoo dot de

Midia said...

I'd like to enter the giveaway. It seems awesome.

midiamuniz@yahoo.com

Pommawolf Emeraldwolfeyes said...

Great Interview! Thank you for sharing a bit of your yourself and your writing.
I love your stories Belinda, and just recently finished your Blacque/Bleu. I fell in love with both MC, and was just dreaded coming tot he end of the book just because I wanted to to continue. All great books do that to me..lol.
Definitely have your Bacchi on my must have list, and would love to win this book!

Thank you!

Darcy
pommawolf @hotmail.com

Michelle said...

One of the few of Belinda's books that I don't have! Please count me in, Thanks!
chellebee66 at gmail dot com

ParanormalRomanceFan said...

Hello Belinda,

I am a BIG Fan of your writing & own many of your Books, which I LOVED!!!!! Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to spend with your Fans; sharing about yourself, your writing & your new release in a Great Interview!

I can't wait to read your new LGBT Futuristic Science Fiction Fantasy Release, "The Bacchi", it sounds like an Excellent Read, as all your Books are. Thank you also for the Teaser Blurb ;) & sharing your Gorgeous Cover Art, now I am even More excited, if that is any possible, :) for your new Book to be a MUST Read!!!!

I would very much appreciate the opportunity to be considered in your very generous giveaway of a pdf copy of “The Bacchi”.

Take Care & Stay Naughty,
PaParanormalFan (Renee’ S.)
paranormalromancefan at yahoo dot com

Paula said...

But, but, but, intersexed characters have been around a long time--the chieri in Marion Zimmer Bradey's Darkover books, dating back no later than the 1970s or 1960s, maybe even back into the 1950s, being one of the examples that jumped into my mind. (Others--a book by Melissa Scott from around the 1980s I can't remember the name of, probably Jack Chalker's books which around page 53 the protagonist grows a tail and switches gender doesn't count but..., the god Tungit in Jo Clayton's work and the group of people who raise one of the protagonists of one of her series, Bel Thorne (not a major character, but...) in Lois McMaster Bujold's Nexus series, the entire planet's inhabitants in Ursula K. LeGuin's Hugo-winning novel The Left Hand of Darkness except for the ambassador from Earth (early 1970s)... the late 1960s and the 1970s had fiction which was focusing on gender issues and transgedering. I think the election of Ronald Reagan and the backlash written about by Susan Faludi, stomped on a lot--not all, but a lot of the exploration of issues and themes, and the mishandling of the spread of HIV exacerbated the situation (it got for the first several years Handled not the way that the Public Health Service developed to deal with the spread of syphilis and gonorrhea relatively early in the 20th century (a friend of mine's grandmother was an MD involved in that)but as divine punishment to homosexuals (I remember e.g. Jerry Pournelle flaming about "the myth of heterosexual transmission of [HIV]."...

It's a quite different in -some- ways world today--same gender marriage is mostly unremarkable in Massachusetts except for the vicious legal inequalities (the Chronicle local focus TV show yesterday on WCVB focused on that, including a married couple of a US citizen and his Kuala Lumpur native husband, explaining that the first time the husband needed to get a visa renewal, he got stuck waiting in Kuala Lumpur for six months for the US Government to get around to granting him a new visa, keeping the couple separated for those six months. They're facing another visa renewal, and afraid the same thing is going to happen--the visa renewal has to be done outside the USA. They're going to Canada for it, and hoping that there isn't another delay. If the husband were a wife, there would be no such problem, and there would be a path for US citizenship along with permanent residency based on marriage to a US citizen....)
p a a l at g i s dot n e t

DawnsReadingNook said...

Michelle is the winner of Belinda's The Bacchi. Congrats Michelle. Thank you all for commenting on Belinda's day here at LR&M Reviews.

Yvette said...

Would love to be included. I have Blacque/Bleu and adored both men...what a wonderful book.
Yvette
yratpatrol@aol.com