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Book Title: Flame and Ash (Witchbane #4)
Author: Morgan Brice
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Release Date: September 5, 2019
Genre/s: Urban Fantasy, MM paranormal, MM romance
Trope/s: Second chance, established couple, hurt/comfort, monster hunting, supernatural creatures, magic, ghosts
Themes: Learning to trust, navigating a new relationship, sticking together when the going gets rough
Heat Rating: 4 flames
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This time, the hunters become the hunted when the witch knows they’re coming to get him, and has deadly plans of his own. When their lives are on the line, will love be enough?
Blurb
One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse
Seth rescued Evan Malone from one of the witches, and they’ve fallen in love despite the danger and chaos, going on the road to complete the quest and bring an end to the ritual murders. Their relationship is new, their emotions are raw, and the danger is real. It’s a challenge to find their way as a couple while they’re on the road together in the close quarters of Seth’s RV, training in magic and combat skills to fight off a supernatural killer.
In pursuit of the next witch-disciple, Seth and Evan team up with older hunters Milo and Toby as their quest to stop a century-long killing spree takes them to a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They’re ahead of the sacrifice cycle, with plans to stop the murders and kill the dark witch. Only this time, the hunters become the hunted when the witch knows they’re coming to get him, and has deadly plans of his own. When their lives are on the line, will love be enough?
Flame and Ash is the third novel in the Witchbane series. It is a MM romance intended for readers 18 years of age and older.
Excerpt
After all, Evan thought,
what value do I bring to the situation? Six months of training had improved his skills, taught him a few more rote spells, and helped him understand more about the kinds of things that went bump in the night. Despite it all, Evan knew he had a long way to go before he could match Seth’s abilities, and he worried that he could be the weak link that cost Seth his life.
The trip from Pittsburgh to Boone would take most of the day, and while Evan offered to take a turn behind the wheel, he knew that Seth preferred to drive. When he wasn’t chasing down loose ends about the Boone situation on his computer, Evan planned to doze in the passenger seat, but dark dreams woke him more than once, earning him worried glances from Seth.
“Hey.” Seth’s voice roused Evan from his thoughts. “Whatever you’re thinking—let me in. Don’t keep it to yourself.”
“I just don’t want to let you down,” Evan admitted.
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know that you’ve saved my ass more than once,” Seth replied. “And that was before we spent the last three months doing more training.” He reached out to take Evan’s hand. “I trust you. I believe in you. There’s no one I’d rather have beside me in a fight. And I love you.”
Evan’s throat tightened. “I love you, too. And I want to be here, doing this, with you. It’s just…I’m not really the action hero type.”
Seth chuckled. “And I am?”
“You were in the army. You’re a soldier. So, yeah.”
Seth sighed. “I went into the army to get away from a bad breakup. Not exactly the most noble reason. I did okay, I guess. I was lucky enough to come home. But I knew I wasn’t going to make a career out of it. Some guys, they get in, and they know that’s where they’re supposed to be. It becomes their home and family, like they were born for it.” He shook his head. “It was never that for me.”
“I made okay money, working at the bar.” Evan looked at the road instead of at Seth. “But something was always missing, you know? What I did didn’t really matter. This…” He gestured to mean the two of them, hunting, the search for the witch-disciples. “It makes a difference. Saves lives. Stops a hundred years of killing. It just seems like fate could have picked someone who was better prepared.”
Seth laid his hand on Evan’s thigh, solid and warm. “Hunting doesn’t work like that. You’ve talked to Travis and Brent and Mark. They didn’t train to be a hunter from the time they were kids. They lost people, and it changed them. And from that point on, they learned on the job,” Seth said. “Just like you.”
Evan managed a wan smile. “If this were a TV show, I’d want to skip to the finale, where we ride off into the sunset.”
“I wish we could,” Seth admitted. “But I’m afraid there’s no fast-forward on real life.”
Q&A with Morgan
Brice on Flame and Ash
Q: Do you like music or silence when
you write?
A: It depends on where I am in the
process. If I’m actually writing new words, I like instrumental music
(Classical, New Age, Swing, Soft Jazz). If I’m editing or doing administrative
stuff, then I’m fine with pop, classic rock, oldies. And if I’ve just come back
from a big convention, I really love a few days of silence!
Q: Do you outline or do you just
write?
A: I have to outline. It keeps me from
wasting time going down dead ends and having to rewrite. Also, since I tend to
write series, I need an outline so that I can make sure I’m not contradicting
something that happened in a prior book. Outlines help me think through the
plot without tying me down too much, so there’s still plenty of room for
surprises!
Q: Do you prefer pen and paper or
computer?
A: I like to do the initial outline in
pen on paper, and then type it up and add too it. I do all the actually writing
on computer.
Q: Do you write as routine or do you
write when you feel like it?
A: I’m a full-time writer and this is
how I make my living, so I have a daily goal and a production schedule, and I
do my best to stick to it. It’s how I pay the rent!
Q: What do you love best about your
current book?
A: Flame and Ash is the third book in
the Witchbane series (there’s also a novella, Burn), so the characters are old
friends at this point, and it’s fun to slip back into working on their story
after I’ve been away working on other books. One of the things I love about
this book is that we get to see Seth and Evan interacting with Milo and Toby,
Seth’s mentors, and older gay married couple. So we’re seeing a side of them we
haven’t seen before, and the interaction can be really funny!
Q: What is your next project?
A: Next up is Inheritance, which is
the new Deadly Curiosities novel under my Gail Z. Martin name. (All of my urban
fantasy novels either as Gail Z. Martin or Morgan Brice cross over with each
other and the characters know each other, so many of my Morgan Brice readers
are familiar with the Deadly Curiosities crew.) Then I’ll be working on Loose
Ends, which is the next in my Badlands series, followed by another Witchbane
book—hopefully all yet this year!
Q: What are five things you learned while writing this
book/series?
1. There are a surprising number of places in the US that are
reputed to have a hell gate.
2. Every region and state has local monsters/cryptids and
their own version of ghost stories.
3. Books and websites about the weird/strange/haunted places
in a state are a great starting point for research.
4. Pinterest photos of abandoned places are wonderful
inspiration (check out my boards at www.Pinterest.com/Gailzmartin)
5. Museums and historical archives have digitized all kinds of
amazing things—maps, pictures of items in their collection, documents—it’s a
treasure trove!
Be sure to check out the LGBT Romance
giveaway that I’m part of as one of the Featured Authors at GayRomanticLit
(GRL) Retreat 2019! And if you’re going to GRL, make sure you come say hello!
Here’s the link to the giveaway: https://claims.prolificworks.com/gg/rIu8BvYf550LBItMdQhG
I’d also love to invite you to join my
Worlds of Morgan Brice group on Facebook—it’s where I share cover reveals, talk
about what I’m writing, show pictures that inspire the people and places, and
do fun giveaways! www.Facebook.com/groups/WorldsOfMorganBrice
About the Author
Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy male/male paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic fantasy and urban fantasy, and together with co-author hubby Larry N. Martin, steampunk and comedic horror, all of which have less romance, more explosions. Characters from her Gail books make frequent appearances in secondary roles in her Morgan books, and vice versa.
Other books include Witchbane, Burn, Dark Rivers, and Badlands, Lucky Town, and The Rising, plus Treasure Trail. Watch for more in these series, plus new series coming soon!
I’ll be a Featured Author at GRL in October and also at Coastal Magic in February!
Join my
Worlds of Morgan Brice Facebook Group! Get the early scoop on upcoming books and new series, see new covers first, enjoy insider news and special contests and giveaways! Plus it’s where I get my beta readers and launch team!
Author Links
Giveaway
Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win one of three $10 Amazon gift cards
