Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews: Strength In Numbers by Brad Vance - Blog Tour with Author Interview and Giveaway

Author Name: Brad Vance

Book Name: Strength In Numbers

Series: The Game Players

Book: Two

Series should be read in order.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6886454.Brad_Vance

Publisher: Brad Vance

Cover Artist: Brad Vance

Release Date: February 10, 2016

Blurb:

They’re back! In their first adventure, Marc Julian, software billionaire, and Jesse Winchester, hacker extraordinaire, survived the evil plans of the Krom Brothers and Jesse’s first lover, Chip. But Jesse has old debts to pay to Russian gangster Leonid Ivanov. Now Leonid is calling in those debts, demanding that Jesse find a great treasure for him, and a new game is set in motion…

The mysterious “Satoshi,” creator of the cybercurrency Bitcoin, has been hiding $400 million worth of the currency for years. But now, he has chosen to start a quest for the keys to the Hoard, and he who controls the keys controls the fortune. And this will be a quest that will test the strength, the will, and the character of those who pursue it.

But Marc and Jesse aren’t the only ones on the hunt, as old enemies resurface to try and beat them to the treasure… And even if they reach it first, they must ask themselves – do they really want to give a Russian gangster $400 million to pursue his deadly enterprises? And what would be the consequences if they don’t?

The pursuit will take them through the museums of Tokyo, the streets of Buenos Aires, and the coast of Mexico, in a desperate and dangerous race to keep the fortune in digital gold from the hands of all their enemies…

Pages or Words: 50,000 words

Categories: BDSM, Contemporary, Crime Fiction, Erotica, Fiction, M/M Romance, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

Excerpt:

Marc smiled as he made clinking sounds in the galley of his private jet. He already had the black slacks on, so it was the work of a moment to take off his polo shirt and slip into the white epauletted button-down short-sleeve shirt of a steward. The wings were already attached to the lapels, and he’d even had a name tag made.

“Here you go, sir,” he said as he handed Jesse his drink on a tray. Jesse was already involved in something on his phone, and he absentmindedly reached for it.

Then he paused, sensing that something had changed. He looked up to see Marc dressed as an airline steward, his eyes dancing with heat.

Marc didn’t smile as he said, “Is there anything else I can get you, sir?”

Jesse swallowed. “Maybe a warm blanket.”

Marc took the drink from his hand. He pressed a button on the side of Jesse’s chair.

“The seat fully reclines into a bed, sir. Let me make you comfortable.”

As the seat back flattened and the base lifted Jesse’s feet up, Marc pushed another button, and the chair’s arms lowered out of the way, which gave him room to straddle Jesse’s hips.

He put his hands on Jesse’s chest, and Jesse reached up to finger his collar. “How did you earn those wings, steward?”

Marc idly stroked Jesse’s hand where it lingered on the wings. “Oh, those, sir? For achieving membership in the Mile High Club. Are you a member?” Marc began to grind his ass against Jesse’s crotch, feeling the transformation below his slacks.

“You know, I am not. I’ve never been invited to join.”

Marc leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Let me be the first to welcome you, then.”

Buy the book:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BMJ64U2

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Brad Vance, author of “Strength in Numbers,” the second book in the “Game Players” series, after “Would I Lie to You?” Hi Brad, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Thank you for having me!

1) Favorite thing about building your own world?

I love doing the research, even when I’m writing a “fantasy” world like I did with Werewolves of Brooklyn. I dug into the Civil War, the slums of old New York, the gentrification issues today. All romance is fantasy, but the more genuine the world you put your characters into, the more believable the romance, for me. I did lots of research on Bitcoin and cryptography for Strength in Numbers, and the challenge there was deciding how much of that research to leave in the book, and how much to take out. You don’t want to bore or confuse the reader with too much, but you can’t simplify it so much that you get it wrong.

2) What inspired you to write your first book?

The absolute certainty that the first thing I wrote would make me rich, to be painfully honest. My first book was terrible. I was just 20 years old, and I was a clerk at a Federal bureaucracy dealing with Federal lands in the US West. I wrote a love story about a cowboy who falls in love with…a clerk at a federal bureaucracy! It’s long lost now, but it was a learning experience. My first attempt at putting my fantasies on paper, I see now.

3) Do you have a specific writing style?

Definitely. I like things clean and clear. I hate florid language, the “cult of the sentence,” purple prose, anything that feels like there’s more garnish on the plate than food. I live by George Orwell’s maxim on writing: “Good prose is like a window pane.” No complex metaphors or analogies there – good prose is like a sheet of clear glass, it lets you see what’s out there, no tint to it, no elaborate frame or “window treatments.”

4) Who are some of the authors that influenced you to write?

I was always a voracious reader as a little kid. But one book that stands out above all is The Annotated Alice, a big hardback with both Alice in Wonderland novels, with all the Tenniel illustrations and copious scholarly notes in the margins. I could hardly understand half the notes or allusions, but Alice taught me that the world was how you saw it, even if nobody else saw it that way.

5) What are some jobs you’ve held? Have any of them impacted your writing? How?

I’ve had lots of jobs in the technology sector – software tester, tech writer, instructional designer. There’s so much blah blah and bullshit in tech writing. People get paid by the hour or the page, and so you get manuals that say “In order to accomplish the very important task for which this program is developed, it is critical to follow the steps as seen below in order (See Figure 1, Accomplishing Steps In Order).” Instead of just saying, “To do this: Step One…” I learned to be a ruthless editor when this kind of thing got handed off to me! I made a lot of enemies that way too, by calling bullshit, which is why I’m glad to be out of Cubicle City. But, it definitely improved my own writing, and helped me sharpen my editing skills.

Meet the author:

Brad Vance writes gay romance, erotica and paranormal stories and novels, including the breakout hits "A Little Too Broken" and "Given the Circumstances." Keep up with Brad at www.BradVanceErotica.wordpress.com, email him at BradVanceErotica@gmail.com, and friend him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/brad.vance.10

Where to find the author:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/brad.vance.10

Blog: www.bradvanceerotica.wordpress.com

Twitter: @BradVanceAuthor

G+: https://plus.google.com/u/1/+BradVance/about