Kim Fielding has a new MM paranormal book in her "The Bureau" series out - "Convicted."
Vietnam veteran Kurt Powell’s addiction almost cost him everything, but a job as federal agent with the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs helped him find sobriety and purpose. Now he tracks down dangerous paranormal creatures as well as humans who abuse their magical powers in illegal ways.
Sent from Belfast to the United States as a boy, Desmond Hughes later fell into a disastrous relationship that led to horrific murders. He’s spent seventeen years in a bleak prison with few comforts and no hope of release.
A new mission throws Kurt and Des together in a desperate attempt to prevent disaster. Sometimes what’s long been lost can still be found, but the road to redemption is never easy—and a mutual attraction may not ease the way.
For many years the United States government has been aware that Homo sapiens is not the only sentient species inhabiting the country. Some other species were native to the continent, while others immigrated along with humans. Early on, these nonhuman species (NHS) were largely ignored when they lived peacefully within human communities. At other times they were deemed a threat and local efforts were made to eradicate them. The federal government was not involved in these early efforts.
By the early 20th century, some local law enforcement agencies expressed frustration with their inability to deal effectively with the special needs of NHS. Localized incidents of mass violence occurred in several locations, most notably the Omaha Zombie Epidemic of 1908, the Manchester (New Hampshire) Melusine Drownings of 1911, and the Eugene (Oregon) Sasquatch Riots of 1915.
In response to these incidents, as well as a heightened desire for increased federal control, President Wilson created a new federal agency in 1919 called the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs. The mission of this agency was to communicate with NHS, to control them, to investigate reported dangerous actions committed by them, and to bring them to justice or eliminate them when necessary. Since then, the Bureau has been quietly active throughout the United States. Its jurisdiction has expanded to include humans who engage in magical or paranormal activities.
Over the decades, a great many dramas have unfolded among the people who work for the Bureau. The Bureau stories are a collection of these tales. Each involves different protagonists and is set in a different era, yet all focus on the adventures and struggles of the Bureau’s agents. These novellas can be read in any order.
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Giveaway
Kim is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card AND an audiobook code for book one in the Bureau series – Corruption. Enter via Rafflecopter for a chance to win:
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4795/?
Excerpt:
1993
It was fucking cold outside.
When Desmond Hughes had been a young boy in
Belfast, he used to go to the Royal Cinema to see American Westerns. John
Wayne, Glenn Ford, Randolph Scott, Alan Ladd, Audie Murphy. Des had felt as if
he knew those men as well as he knew his neighbors. He’d practiced their
accents and spent hours running around the neighborhood with friends and
siblings, pretending to be cowboys, Indians, and bandits. He’d insisted to
everyone that when he grew up, he was going to move to America and buy a horse.
He clearly pictured himself riding through those rugged, remote landscapes with
a white Stetson on his head and a six-shooter hanging from his hips. He’d
capture all the bad guys.
What he’d never once imagined—what he wouldn’t have
believed if anyone had told him—was how cold
the desert gets on a clear night. The air in his lungs feeling too thin to
sustain him. Endless stars blinking overhead like snowflakes that never fell.
And the scent of sage as brittle in his nose as thin shards of glass.
The only warmth in addition to his
government-issued orange cotton jumpsuit was a thin blanket wrapped around his
shoulders. The chill of the concrete seeped right through his cheap socks. Yet
despite the cold, Des remained outside, pacing within the confines of his tiny
exercise yard. Six strides away, four over, six back, four over. He looked up
at the sky rather than at the high concrete walls or the electrified wire that
topped them. He inhaled deeply, bringing in odors of the outdoors. When he was
lucky, he’d catch an owl’s call or a coyote’s howl. The faint sounds always
seemed as far away as the stars.
“And here you are in the American West, just as you
promised.” He had frequent conversations with himself, and he hoped they staved
off insanity rather than being a symptom of it. Or maybe insanity wouldn’t be
so bad, especially if it were a comfortable kind. His grand-aunt Molly from
Donegal, for instance, had believed herself to be a maighdean mhara—a mermaid—and had insisted on taking long baths
daily so she wouldn’t dry out. Once in a while she grew upset because she
couldn’t find the magic cap that would allow her to grow a tail and breathe
beneath the water again, but mostly she was content. She used to sit at her
open window and sing, in hopes of luring handsome men.
Des wouldn’t
mind that sort of insanity if it helped him tolerate incarceration. Of course
it would be difficult to be a merman here in Nevada, with the ocean so very far
away. He’d have to become something else instead.
“Ah, but
you’d still be a prisoner, Des. This place is full of creatures, and none of
them any freer than you.”
He never
saw or heard any of his fellow inmates, but he knew they were there: Monsters
too dangerous to allow in public but not so threatening that the Bureau of
Trans-Species Affairs needed to destroy them. And humans who, like Des, had
become involved in things they shouldn’t have. Larry had told him about this
prison, probably to frighten Des and keep him close. Nobody who’s locked up there ever gets out.
Now Des
shivered hard and tried to turn his thoughts to slightly better things.
“Remember
your first Fourth of July, Des?” He’d been only ten years old when his mother
sent him away to live with distant relatives in America, virtual strangers
living in a small house in suburban Chicago. Although they were strict about
many things, including early bedtimes, that night they’d barbecued hamburgers
and let all the kids sit on the front lawn, ready to watch the nearby
fireworks. Des had been delighted to get his first look at fireflies. “And you
ate so many Popsicles that you were nearly ill.” He traced fingers over his
bristly cheeks and chin in recollection of the sweet stickiness that had once
been there.
“I wonder
what the date is now. Doesn’t matter, I suppose. I’ve even lost track of the
year, and that particular Fourth was a long time ago.” He was seeing more
threads of gray in his long dark-blond hair, and he supposed there were lines
on his face as well.
Still
circling the inside of the exercise yard, he was in the midst of recalling his
first American Halloween when the light outside the doorway blinked twice. When
he’d first been imprisoned, he ignored the signal and remained outside—a small
attempt at independence. But a hidden guard had shot him with a tranquilizer,
and hours later Des had awakened in his cell with a pounding headache. And
naked, because they’d removed his clothes and blanket—as well as his mattress
and books—as punishment. Many days passed before those comforts were returned,
and he hadn’t been permitted outside again for… weeks? Months? He hadn’t been
sure.
Abandoning
his memories of the past, Des hurried through the doorway and the metal door
slid closed. The lock engaged with a decisive thunk.
Hi! This is Kim Fielding, here to
celebrate the release of Convicted.
It’s Book 5 in the Bureau series, but as with the other books, you can read it
as a standalone.
Do you like road trips? In Convicted, Kurt and Des travel across
the United States by car. Their journey isn’t for vacation—it’s part of a
mission to avoid magical mayhem. I’m not sure what got into my muse, but she
insisted that a good part of their trip take place in the Southeast, much of it
in states I haven’t visited.
That was especially perverse of my
muse because I have driven across much of the US, especially Western states. A
couple of years ago, one of my daughters and I drove from California through
Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming to Nebraska, then up to South Dakota, and then back
through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and finally California
again. Ten states and 4500 miles. We saw a lot of wildlife, landmarks such as
Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower, and stopped at unusual attractions such as
Carhenge and a concrete Stonehenge
replica. It was a lot of fun.
I love road trips because they
allow for more spontaneity than other forms of travel, and you really get to
see the landscape. If you take them slowly enough and venture off the
interstates, you can see all sorts of hidden treasures. On that trip with my
daughter, for example, I loved passing through the sparsely populated Nebraska
Sandhills. You get to sample regional foods and see how people really live.
Because you see so many details
while in a car, I find that road trips truly inspire my writing. The ideas for
many of my books came from these journeys. Rattlesnake
from a late-night ride through the Mojave Desert. Motel. Pool. from a family trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.
The entire Stars from Peril series from that time in the Sandhills. As I roll
along I get to wondering about the people who live in a particular place… and
my stories come from there.
There are only two parts of the
United States I haven’t yet driven through—New England and the Southeast—and I’m
eager to do them someday. In the meantime, I let my characters do some of it
for me.
Do you have a favorite road trip
experience?
Author Bio
KIM FIELDING is very pleased every time someone calls her eclectic. A Lambda Award finalist and two-time Foreword INDIE finalist, she has migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States and currently lives in California, where she long ago ran out of bookshelf space.
She’s a university professor who dreams of being able to travel and write full time. She also dreams of having two daughters who fully appreciate her, a husband who isn’t obsessed with football, and a house that cleans itself. Some dreams are more easily obtained than others.
Author Website: http://kfieldingwrites.com/
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites
Author Twitter: @KFieldingWrites
Author Instagram: @KFieldingWrites
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4105707.Kim_Fielding
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/kim-fielding/
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kim-Fielding/e/B006FN2T78
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