Ringing in the New Year with Skye Dragen!

skyedragen@outlook.com

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About

Born to write legends in manlove, Skye is a full time writer living in an ivory tower. Though no dragons currently occupy the space, three werecats, an irritatingly chipper parakeet, and a very understanding partner in crime provide endless entertainment. You can usually find her curled up in the den, watching bad reality TV, and dreaming up her next set of heroes.

Journey to Nowhere

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Forest has been on his own since the world came crashing down months ago. Trusting someone was never on his list of things to-do but finding his sister definitely is. His trip to New Orleans is filled with peril but it’s about to get even more interesting when he meets a new friend and protector on the causeway.

Manny never expected to play bodyguard to a beautiful blond with more than a few submissive tendencies. With demons of his own to battle, it’s been hard fighting off Forest’s as well. However, he hears about a place where they might finally be safe enough to deal with their issues.

Camp Purgatory offers security and a new way of life. However, it is not what is in the brochure that they really have to worry about.

Excerpt

Forest extricated a bottle of water from his backpack, where he’d gotten the military duffle was anyone’s guess. Manny had a regular old Jansport himself.  He untwisted the top and then took a long swig. “It’d be nice to see someone else that isn’t dead.” Forest offered him a small teasing smile. “So, is your cousin as hot as you are?” 

“No.” Mine. For some reason even the idea of Forest being attracted to his cousin made him angry enough to tear someone’s head off. He knew he was teasing but the image of Forest crying out in pain and pleasure for someone else did dangerous things for his self-control.

Something must’ve showed on his face because Forest got really quiet. 

“Oh.” 

Say something nice, idiot. “Uh, you have collected a lot of condiments packages today.” That was nice?

Enthusiasm returned to Forest’s expression. “Yeah. We have a nice stash. It’ll last for a while.” He kicked a rock with his shoe. Those blue Nikes were on their last leg. They’d have to drop by a Rack Room and try to find him a new pair. He’d seen one that didn’t look too wrecked on the way through town.

“If those things didn’t eat them all, my cousin had some livestock the last time I was here. We might actually get some real food.” He didn’t dare let himself hope for that much but it still made his stomach cramp with possibility.

Forest groaned, the sound wrapping around his balls and squeezing them tight. “Oh God. Eggs?”

Manny shrugged, discreetly adjusting his hardening cock so that it didn’t stick out like a flag pole. “Maybe. We’ll have to see what he’s got.”

The small farm house came into view. It wasn’t much, a two bedroom with peeling white paint and a porch that had seen better days, but it offered a sort of sanctuary. A quick glance at the back fields showed that only one had been hit by meteors. The other was filled with a mixture of green and yellow crops. Ricky must’ve had issues getting them enough water.

He mentally shrugged. Not that Manny would know how to fix anything here. His parents had moved into the city when he was three. He was a quick learner though. If Ricky gave him a chance, he would prove that.

“Should we knock?” Forest asked as they reached the bottom of the porch steps.

They’d seen a few of those things sleeping in another abandoned house only a few miles up the road. It had been concerning but it was too late to turn back now.

“Yeah.” Manny pushed past him and climbed up, hesitating only a moment before giving three hard knocks.

Silence greeted him.

“Aw, shit,” Manny cursed, banging louder. “Ricky! It’s Manny. Where you at, man?”

“Doesn’t look like anyone is home.” Forest gnawed on his thumbnail, biting it down to the quick like he usually did when he was nervous.

“We can try the back door. Even if he isn’t here, there could be something we could use.” They could stay the night here easily enough. It was too long of a walk to go back and he highly doubted Ricky had hauled his mattress with him wherever the hell he’d gotten off to.

Forest nodded, trusting him. As weird as it was, knowing Forest looked to him for guidance shot adrenaline through him that was almost as satisfying as sex. Almost.

They went back down the stairs and circled through the high grass to the back yard. The barn was visible from across the field in back but no cattle appeared to be in the accompanying pasture. The chicken coop looked empty as well. They were bad signs.

“So much for eggs,” Forest muttered, looking as disappointed as Manny felt. He reached out and tugged on Manny’s arm. “Hey, wait a second.”

Manny paused, turned. “What’s up?”

“You want me to go first?” Forest asked gently. His skin portrayed his fear though. It had a pasty pallor. “It’s hard, you know, seeing it.”

Poor guy was probably reliving the moment when he walked through his sister’s open front door into the living room. Manny would give anything to go back and spare him from the carnage therein. No bodies but plenty of blood. It looked like something out of a horror movie. The smell alone had made him wretch for days afterward.

“I’ll be okay. Me and Ricky weren’t close.” They were family which didn’t quite equate to the same thing as what Forest and his sister had. It was plain in the way he’d fallen apart that he and his sibling shared a bond that Manny didn’t have an inkling of understanding about.

Forest swallowed hard. “Okay. Can I wait out here then?”

Manny gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Of course.” If nothing else, the situation with Cody had taught him patience and compassion for his current travelling companion. Better late than never.

He turned and continued toward his destination. A smaller set of steps led up to the back door, rusted with age on the hinges. The farm house had definitely seen better days.

He jumped the steps two at a time until he was standing on the landing. A piece of computer paper in a protective cover was taped to the surface. Ricky’s scrawling handwriting looked the slightest bit rushed.

This place is filling up with those creatures so don’t stay here long. There is a safe place. Fort Hood. Killeen, Texas. They have answers, supplies, survivors. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be there. If you need any supplies, help yourself to what I couldn’t carry. If this is Roman, I’m so sorry. I love you.

Rick

Manny read the note again. Survivors. Answers. Those things seemed too good to be true. Ricky must have thought they were though. No way would his level-headed cousin head off into parts unknown when he had a perfectly good place here to bunker down. No way in hell.

“Hey, Forest!” Manny called over his shoulder. The sun was beginning its descent and they needed to get inside. Now that he was fairly certain that there was nothing in there that would give Forest nightmares, he needed to get him settled.

Blog Post

Another New Year has rolled around, a time to reflect on the past year and to make plans for the upcoming one. As a writer, I take a moment to look at what I’ve done well and what I could do better. I think that the biggest New Year’s resolution I can make is to actually finish all the WIPs on my desktop. What does that mean for all of you? Lots of fun goodies for you to play with in the near future. What does that mean for me? Countless hours of working a craft I love. I hope you enjoy 2014!  

CODE WORD: Journey

Behind the Scenes

Q. How did you come up with the title?

A. I’ll be honest, I am TERRIBLE with titles. I usually have to call on friends for some assistance with them. Journey to Nowhere is no exception. I had major help from friends

Q. Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers walk away with?

A. I definitely want the readers to walk away feeling like love conquers all, no matter what the obstacle.  

Q. Name one person you feel supported you outside of family members.

A. I have to say my partner in crime is definitely Zayne Michaels. Zayne is the person who I can call with a problem who immediately either smacks some sense into me, fixes it for me, or tells me how to fix it. Someone like that is definitely awesome to have in your corner. I’m very cosmically blessed to have her for a friend.

Q. Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

A. Forest is a pretty awesome guy. I don’t know if it’s special but he collects ketchup packets as his way of saving up for the end of the world. I tried to tell him that they weren’t survival necessities but he really didn’t believe me.

Q. How much research do you do?

A. I’m a little bit of a research nerd. If I don’t know about it, I have to look it up and waste several hours buried in whatever tidbit of info I can find.

Q. Have you written any other novels in collaboration with other writers?

A. Well, I don’t have any novels in collaboration but I have a series that I’ve collaborated on called Welcome to Purgatory.

Q. Why do you write?

A. I don’t remember a time I didn’t. The Muse is a very demanding animal sometimes and I have to feed it or else I can’t get the energy out. Really, I write to stay sane. That’s the best answer I have for that.

Flash Round

Q. How do you feel about being the center of attention?

A. Please, God, no. It’s really vastly uncomfortable. I’m always flattered to be the center of attention but I’d much rather share the spotlight than hog it. I turn into even more of a awkward nerd kid.

Q. What makes you blush?

A. Porn. Don’t judge me. There is something about seeing sex live that embarrasses me.

Q. Do you have any irrational fears or phobias?

A. I have the irrational fear that my house is mostly trying to kill me. The fact that I know so many statistics on household accident rates is a tidbit insane.

Q. How deeply does your job / social role define you as a person?

A. I’m pretty proud of the fact that I am a writer. I have to say that’s probably the excuse for any weird/quirky tendency I have and the excuse for why I work a lot. I enjoy it thoroughly so I probably make it more a part of my persona than most people do when it comes to their jobs.

Q. What are you the most hopeless at?

A. I seem to possess the inability to make anything with a battery or a plug-in work properly.

Daily Contest: Skye Dragen is giving away an ebook copy of Welcome to Purgatory: Journey to Nowhere. Ends January 21st at Midnight. Please leave a comment with a valid email address to enter. Don’t forget to also enter the Grand Prize Rafflecopter with the code word found above! Come back every day to get a new code word and match it with the author's name! Each author has a unique code word.

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