Archives for March 2014

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Kelly Wyre who is celebrating the release of Fight. She wrote the book to get over having her heart broken.

“I wanted to write a book about truth: how we have to work to find our truth and how we have to fight for it. The truth, as they say, is simple, but I believe living by it and living up to it are far more difficult feats,” she explained. “Both Nathan and Fury want to be true to themselves and both men find themselves in circumstances that make that almost impossible.”

She also has a short story coming out from Storm Moon Press in May. She did a novel-length tag-team fiction piece with AF Henley called Vision Quest.

“It will soon be available for free download on Smashwords, Goodreads, and Amazon, good Lord and the little gods of formatting willing,” she told me. “I’m working on the next New Amsterdam novel, a fantasy novel here and there, a series of short stories for a BDSM line, and Henley and I are also doing an ongoing art project called, Eight Turns of Fate . that tells a story via “modern” technology means.”

She’s currently reading The Gift and Second Star to the Right by AF Henley, Doctor Sleep by King, the first in the Kushiel’s series by Carey, the Special Forces Unarmed Combat Manuel, A History of Ballet, The Real Nureyev, and Cloud Atlas. I’m what you might call masochistically addicted to multi-tasking,” she said.

Kelly Wyre is actually a pen name. She told me that when she was a little kid and people would ask her what her name was, she would always say, “Kelly!” Well, since neither her first nor middle name is Kelly, her mother was… bewildered.

“It would just baffle and embarrass the hell out of my poor mother, who had to make up all these excuses for her overly imaginative habitual liar of a child,” she remembered. “So, I figured Kelly would be a good first name, as I’d likely remember to answer to it when called. And ‘Wyre’ is in homage to Anne McAffery’s dragon ‘Weyr:’ meaning, a nest of dragons. And I’d love to tell you some fancy story involving fear of copyright infringement about why I chose to spell it “Wyre” instead of “Weyr” and, thus, forever have to explain that it rhymes with “here” and “beer” and “fear” [the] “spear” but honestly? I think I just misspelled it in the early days, and it stuck. I’m a terrible speller. Sad but true,” she confessed with a laugh.

Kelly works in her office in her house– on the main floor with a view out two windows of the backyard and tract of forest and cow pastures beyond it. The desk is in the middle of the room arranged so that she can see the door.

“I hate working where people can come up behind me or enter a room from behind me. I also face what I call my ‘Inspiro-Wall.’ I hand-painted it in blue-gray, dark blue, and magenta and it’s covered with over 50 framed prints and probably another two dozen or so other random things. I have a music box shaped like an elaborate door handle. When you turn the ‘knob,’ it plays. I have sculpture, art done by artists of my characters, slogan buttons, a sign that has a zombie chasing a farmer on a tractor that reads, ‘EAT LOCALS,’ inspirational sayings, and memorabilia from concerts and travels. And that’s just the one wall. The rest of my office is also decorated, mostly with art and gifts given to me by friends and fans, and I have research books on shelves. I also seem to collect stuffed animals, hats, and weaponry. I have a four-foot stuffed rabbit and a myriad of other fluffy friends, six hats ranging from bowler to pirate, and I have two sets of throwing knives, kendo practice swords, a 20-guage shotgun, (yes, it works, no, not loaded, but, yes, do own the shells), an air pistol, and a hatchet. I consider myself well-prepared for the zombie apocalypse.”

“What do you like to do when you are not writing?” I asked.

“Sleep. Eat ice cream. Watch selected videos involving consenting, naked adults enjoying themselves on various pieces of furniture. Take really long drives and walks. Play games, hang out with friends, watch movies and TV shows, attend the occasional BDSM event, and run naked in the rain. That last one has nothing to do with the next to last one. At least, not yet. What can I say? I’m a cheap, odd, open-minded and occasionally damp date.”

Kelly loves hearing from fans and solicits comments on free works and fanfiction she’s written over the years.

“I also get emails, private messages, notes, and even the occasional gift in the mail. I love hearing from readers and chatting with them. I’ve been warned over and over about being ‘too’ accessible, but sometimes taking risks leads to fantastic moments.

“About three years ago, now, I got a private message from a steady commenter across a multitude of sites. It told me that she was going to be traveling with family through my general part of the country, and she was wondering if they would be getting close enough so she could stop by and say hi. She gave me her phone number, and when I called her, she was beside herself that I’d actually gotten in contact. It turned out she was driving right through my town, so I met her and her family for dinner and coffee. It was absolutely amazing. I gave her a little gift and a copy of the next, then-unpublished, chapter of a free story I was writing, and she gave me artwork that I still have pinned in my office, today.

“Another time, about a year and a half ago, a very close friend who lives in Florida was at a club one night when she runs into these two girls at the bar and strikes up a conversation. They all discover they enjoy anime and the same kind of fiction, and one of the girls looks at my friend and says, ‘Do you know [One of My Pen Names]?’ And, of course, my friend starts to laugh and says, ‘KNOW her? She’s my best friend!’

“Apparently, the girl was overcome with emotion, and my friend has to text me to tell me what’s up. I was out of town, at the time, and had actually thrown my hip out of joint. When I got the messages, I was lying on ice packs in a friend’s living room, so they were an amazing distraction. I call my friend and ask, ‘What’s going on, again?’

“‘[Girl’s name] is here and she’s read all your stuff.’

“‘What’s her online name?’ I ask, and my friend tells me, and I’m absolutely familiar with the girl and her lovely comments. ‘Oh my God, that’s [Girl’s Online Name]! Put her on the phone!’ So the girl and I got to have a very sweet conversation. It made my year.

“One last story about fan interaction… I no longer give out my mailing address, but back in the early days of even less Internet fame than I have now, (heh) I’d exchanged addresses with one of my biggest fans for a particular story. The story was one very near and dear to me, and this particular fan had become an online friend over the course of the story.

“One of the features of the story she and I loved so much were foot-tall, deranged angels who had hanged themselves with nooses and were often seen tearing off their own wings. (By the way? I also write horror. And now you know.) Well, one average Wednesday, I get a knock at the door and a package delivered. I cut open the box and inside it are dozens and dozens of origami angels made out of black paper. It must have taken her hours, but I had this gorgeous representation of the story. It was just… so cool. I still have one of the angels in my office.

“Obviously, I’ve been very lucky with my one-on-one fan time. I have to more careful, now, unfortunately, but I still try to answer emails, messages, and notes.”

“What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?” I wondered.

“I’m not sure I can speak to what most people would find surprising, but I can tell you a few things that people have told me did, in point of fact, shock them. I’m married. To a man. (The latter seems to come as somewhat of a shock to certain individuals; but that’s okay. My friends inform me that I never a member of straight society.) I’m small in stature, but I have huge feet. Centipedes and things to do with eyeballs squick me right out. I have OCD and a memory like a steel trap. Which means I’m the really irritating person who remembers you wore the purple dress with the black flats six years ago to the Christmas party at Danny’s house, and we talked about France and average penis size when you had one glass to many of red wine. I try to curb this and keep details to myself, with greater and lesser degrees of success that are directly proportional to the amount of gin I’ve consumed.”

I asked her about the weirdest thing she’s ever done in the name of research and she shared this story with me (put your coffee down now… just a word of warning).

I don’t know if it’s the weirdest, but it’s one of the funniest. I was writing a series of short stories for an online writing contest, and I had to do the writing after the day-job. So, it’s late at night, I’m worn out and brain-numb, and I have to write this intricate physical moment between my two main characters: a small (nonhuman) female slams a poor, unsuspecting bartender against a wall and pins him. I kept trying to envision it in my head, but I couldn’t quite tell if it worked, and so, without thinking, I stalk out of my office, walk across the length of the house, and find my husband brushing his teeth in our bathroom.

“Borrow you for a minute,” I mutter, not making it a question.

One of the most popular medicine on the market is http://frankkrauseautomotive.com/testimonial/bought-a-2008-f250/ levitra properien. And about Kamagra, you need to be rest assured of its successful functionality. / Kamagra Oral Jelly permits utilizing the well-known non specific of frankkrauseautomotive.com cialis 40 mg in another structure: gel for oral organization that is expended specifically from the sachet or by dissolving in non-alcohol mixed refreshments.This type of the medication in the body. The contraindications also cialis 5mg cheap include the use of illegal drugs, tobacco or alcohol. But most men actually know very little about phallus and that why today I will straight from the source cipla cialis online raise the curtain from the 10 things you actually didn’t know about human phallus. “Mmmkay-eerk!” he says as I drag him out of the bathroom and throw him in the vicinity of the bedroom wall. I then proceed to put an arm across his throat and pin one of his hands at his side with my knee.

“Can we talk about this?” He asks around the brush, and I don’t bother to answer, completely focused on what I need for the story. I make a couple of adjustments, mumbling as I go, and then abruptly set my husband free.

“Thanks,” I remember to say, halfway out of the bedroom.

My husband pokes his head out the bedroom door, toothbrush in hand and mouth covered with foam, and he says, “Feel free to use me for your nefarious needs anytime, sweetie!”

A tolerant saint, that one.

Enjoy some of Kelly’s favorite quotes, many of which are probably on her Inspiro-Wall:

“Fear profits a man nothing.”
“Never let fear decide your fate.”
“What a strange and curious journey it is.”
“That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be.”
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
“It will be all right in the end, and if it’s not all right, it’s not the end.”
“Energy created cannot be destroyed, only transformed.”
“Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be Chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish to the crowd.”
“Harm none.”
“And the Lord said, ‘Let Vengeance Be Mine.'”
“I will eviscerate you in fiction.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“Regret is a one-way, dead-end street.”

To celebrate the release of my novel FIGHT I’m running a contest! It’ll begin on release day, MARCH 4th, and run until midnight EST on March 25th

Three lucky winners will receive:
♠ A free e-copy of the book
♠ An MP3 audio file of Yours Truly reading one of the… juicer… bits of the novel

And if that’s not enough, one contestant will be eligible for the GRAND PRIZE:
♠ Ebook copy of FIGHT
♠ MP3 audio file
♠ Lego Nathan and Fury as featured in the video below!

Audio file will be in MP3 format and sent straight to your email addy along with the ebook. Figurines will ship for free worldwide.

Comment on any blog post in the READY FOR FIGHT BLOG TOUR to win. For more details and other ways to enter, see the entry on my website:

http://kelly-wyre.blogspot.com/2014/02/ready-for-fight-blog-tour-video-contest.html

About the Author:Kelly Wyre enjoys reading and writing all manner of fiction, ranging from horror to romance. She used to work in advertising but is now happily chained to her writing desk. Kelly relishes the soft and cuddly and the sharp and bloody with equal amounts of enthusiasm. She’s a coffee addict, a workaholic, a chronic night owl, and loves a good thunderstorm. Currently Kelly resides in the southeastern United States.

To Nathan Hunt, honesty is anything but the best policy. Telling the truth has gotten him nothing but heartache and pain; so lying about who he is and what he wants seems to be the only path to job security and friends. Hell, it even brings him a hollow kind of happiness.

Except, that’s not much of a life for any man. Especially one with Nathan’s passions. Desperate to cure his self-made misery, Nathan agrees to go along with a con that will score cash for Nathan to start over. There’s just one problem: lying is getting harder by the day. And a con who can’t lie, is a con who gets caught.

Nathan’s attempts to distract himself from his moral quandary lead him to a mysterious, intoxicating man named Fury. The Mixed Martial Arts fighter knows a thing or two about lies and pasts better left buried. He and Nathan have something else in common – they both want to be with someone who lets them be themselves.

Together, they undertake a journey that proves honesty is more dangerous and more difficult than either of them could have imagined. And as they combat addiction, thugs, guns, and their own inner demons, Nathan and Fury can only hope that their battle to be together will be worth the bitter fight.