Hi all! I’m so delighted to welcome fellow Dreamspinner author, B.A. Tortuga, to the blog. It’s her first visit, so say hi if you have a chance. This new book sounds so good! I think you’ll be as inspired as i am. So to quote B.A., just keep readin’ ya’ll.

Busting the Stereotypes in Terms of Release

Hey, y’all! I’d like to thank Tara for hosting me. I love the sense of community we’ve all built and I appreciate the spot. I have a new book coming out March 24, 2014 from Dreamspinner Press. It’s called Terms of Release, and it’s all about Sage, who made a stupid mistake as a teenager, and who pays for it most of his young life. Then he meets deputy Win, and finds out there’s more life out there than he ever dreamed of.

I love this book, y’all. Love it. I explore my Northeast Texas roots a lot, and one of the ways I do is by pounding down the stereotypes that haunt all the characters in the book. One of the things people ask me the most about writing gay romance is how do I deal with all the stereotypes, and creating characters who don’t adhere to them.

So, I have to admit I went a bit wild in this book, busting folks free of preconceived notions. Sage is an ex-con who went to prison as a teenager. Prison leaves most folks with two ideas. One is that anyone who goes in for something like manslaughter has to be a hardened criminal. The other is that once you’re released for good behavior, you’re out. The end. Story over. Exploring how Sage is a good guy who made a dumb mistake and is now ashamed and scared of the world was tough. It made me cry. But I thought it was important. Just like I figured it was important to make sure folks knew that even guys who pay their debt to society don’t have it easy when they get out. A felon can’t vote. Can’t ever be bonded and insured in a job. Can’t leave the state without permission while on parole. And God help a small-town boy like Sage when he goes home to all the people who tried and sentenced him worse than a judge and jury ever did.

Win, my sheriff’s deputy, is just as likely to get stereotyped. People expect him to be the quintessential Texas movie cop. A drawling, bigotry spewing hayseed. Or they’ll expect him to be a hero, wearing his superman undies and never making a mistake. Win is way more than that. He’s human and conflicted. He’s a good guy who loves Sage but who isn’t sure he can handle someone who isn’t pissed off about that bad hand life has dealt him. And he has a family who blames Sage for all the world’s evils.

My favorite secondary character is a biker named Bulldog. Everyone thinks of gangs and bitch seats, of leather and gasoline with bikers. Sure, Bulldog is an ex-con and a tough man, but he takes his grandkids trick or treating, does Toys for Tots every year and is a fierce defender of Sage and Win’s right to love each other. I based him on my babysitter when I was wee, who was president of the local Hell’s Angels chapter.

 

I had a ball turning stereotypes on their ears with this book. I think I also did a pretty good job of writing a love story. I sure hope y’all do, too.

 

Excerpt:

 

Sage hopped down and walked to the barn, whistling loud enough that the critters and Daddy could hear him and not be surprised. He looked out over the pasture as he went; the grass was browning, proving it was just on the other end of vicious Texas summer. Late September could be deadly—hot and humid, with air that felt like syrup in your lungs.

Daddy was singing, the words stuttering a bit but sounding loud and clear. Sage joined in, singing old Bob Wills songs like he had just come home from the store a half hour ago, not damn near eleven years ago.

Daddy’s head whipped up, but Sage saw no censure, no disappointment, nothing there but a huge grin, and they rolled into the big finish together, yodeling like fools.

The horses tossed their heads and snorted like they were singing right along. Silly things.

Daddy came and pounded on Sage’s back when they were done. “Son!”

“I’m home.” For what it was worth, he was home.

“You are, and it’s about damned time.”

“Yes, sir.” It was. “Momma says supper’s in thirty. What you need me to do?”

“I need that bale moved, and I’ve got about a thousand little things.”

“I’ll get on it.” He set to working, the motions and rhythm of this so deep in his bones that no time could rust it. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched his father, those gnarled hands shaking now, the tremors obvious. God was a mean, vicious scorekeeper, and Sage thought He cheated more often than not.

They finished up the work in time for supper and made for the house, the wind picking up.

“Sounds like it’s fixin’ to storm.”

Daddy nodded. “You ain’t got one of them fancy-assed phones to tell you what the weather’s going to do?”

“No, sir.” He couldn’t afford one, and he didn’t have no credit. He had a pay as you go from the Walmart.

“Good.” Daddy spit into the dry ground. “Rosie’s asshole husband has one attached to his fucking palm. Worthless piece of shit.”

Sage shrugged. His knees told him when it was going to be really bad. That was his one truly painful souvenir from prison. At least he’d been given a choice—teeth or knees. He’d reckoned no one could do worse than what a horse could, and he’d been right. He could cowboy up.

His teeth had cost his momma and daddy too much money to let someone knock them clean out….

Momma opened the front door and he forced himself to simply walk in, pretend like he belonged. Christ on a crutch, not a goddamn thing had changed, at least at first glance. The floors were still wood, and the walls in the mudroom still frog green. Pairs of rubber boots still sat in the old wood milk crate that Momma had bought at the First Baptist Christmas Yard Sale and Craft Show when he was eight.

Somehow it smelled the same too—like salt pork and beans, cornbread and chili.

As they walked in, he noticed the little things that were different—there were pictures of cousins’ babies where his and Rosie’s school pictures used to be, and the console TV cabinet had a little flat screen on it.

It made him breathe, finally, and made him smile. Time did march on.

 

The Terms of Release is releasing March 24, 2014 from Dreamspinner Press and I’m proud enough to bust. To celebrate, I’m going to give away a $20 gift certificate to Amazon. I hope y’all check me out.

 

Official Blurb:

 

They say a man can always come home. So after doing hard time, Sage Redding heads to his family’s northeast Texas ranch to help his ailing daddy with the cutting horses.

Adam (Win) Winchester is a county deputy and the cousin of one of the men killed in the incident that sent Sage to prison for almost a decade. While Win’s uncles, Jim and Teddy, are determined to make Sage and the entire Redding family pay for their loss, Win just figures Sage has paid his dues and maybe needs a friend. Maybe he needs more than a friend. In fact, Win’s counting on it.

No one’s denying Sage is an ex-con who went to prison for manslaughter. Regardless of the love he has for his father, he’s returned knowing things will likely go badly for him. Maybe a man can always come home, but he may not be able to stay.

 

Paperback buy link (first 20 copies come signed): http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4820

 

Ebook buy link:

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4776

 

Where to find BA:

 

http://www.batortuga.com — website

batortuga.blogspot.com – blog

@batortuga on twitter

https://www.facebook.com/batortuga

 

Thank you for coming by! : )