Michael Mandrake’s Menspiration (and giveaway)!

Welcome Michael Mandrake! Michael’s doing a blog tour and super cool giveaway for his new release, I Love It! the grand prize in the giveaway is a huge pile of goodies including: 1 ebook copy of ILIR, 1 Coffee Mug, 1 Starbucks Gift Card, Bag of Beads from New Orleans, 1 All Romance Gift Card, 1 N’awlins T Shirt, Jewelry Inspired by N’awlins Exotica, Booksmarks, Postcards, and pens from Sharita Lira/Muses. Look for the Rafflecopter link after Michael’s post! -Shira

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Good morning readers and thanks for listening to me ramble today. So, what am I talking about on this stop for the blog tour? MEN! That’s right, men.

Now, I’m not trying to give any lessons here about how they smell, what they’re made of, or anything like that. What I’m speaking of is how they inspire us as writers, artists, or even you, as a reader. How you ask?

Think about a man you really like, celebrity or not. Okay, besides your husband, Jesus, work with me here. *blinks* Does this man make you all gushy inside? Think naughty things? Are you dreaming about the man bending you over the washer in the laundry room while you wait for the clothes to dry? Or perhaps you’d like to be on a secluded island with him? Maybe. Then you’ve been MENSPIRED.

No, it’s not a real word, but it means that gorgeous hottie is someone you think about during a day dream, a relaxing bath, or a nap after you’ve sent the kiddies to school. He inspires your thoughts, invades your subconscious.

As creators, a lot of us have a man in mind when we write. The characters are fictional, but we build a guy in our brain and form a personality around him. I can’t speak for anyone else but for all 4 of my muses, we scout the net looking for a specific man to play the “role.” It’s usually something specific like his eyes, his build, or if he has something distinctive that says he should play this part.

Who have been some of our menspirations? We aren’t that cliché’, picking the ones everyone wants like George Clooney or Brad Pitt. Our “actors” have been men who are models or even musicians. Some have been actual actors, but they’re ones not everyone knows.

For N’awlins Exotica, I used Shemar Moore, an actor who plays a role in Criminal Minds and by the way, just because I wrote him as an m/m character, doesn’t mean I haven’t fantasized about him. *chuckles* Another is the model on the cover named Umid, who also inspired the twins books for the paranormal side of this collection. He’s well known on the net because of that face and body but unlike Shemar, not a lot of people “know” him, per se. Still, he’s been on many covers by myself and other authors in m/m and het romance.

Now, there are many more but these are only a couple of examples. When we look for the menspiration, the appearance usually writes itself in the story and as we go along, we stop a moment to pick the person we’re thinking to visualize the action going on. Men-inspired. Inspired by a certain man, to do what we want.

Surely when you’ve had that naughty dream of Brad Pitt from Lonesome Dove , it was a thrill that made you laugh or got a little moist down below. It titillated you as a woman or man, and made you want to react. A quick round with the vibrator perhaps? Hope you got batteries. In a authors’ life it’s the same. We’ve been menspired to pen a few thousand words around a particular man and erm, we might be having a little fun afterwards too.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this fun and sexy post, and in the meantime, keep living and dreaming. Enjoy a little more info on my newest book in the N’awlins Exotica series, I Love it Rough.

Here’s the Rafflecopter link: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blurb: Livin’ in N’awlins ain’t all that easy…

Kajika Fortier loves his job, the attention he gets from onlookers, and Frankie Choteau. However, his new partner’s jealousy, mood swings, and over protectiveness drives Kajika to the brink but at the same time, excites him to no end.

To complicate things further, a murderer is on the loose looking for blood. All three of the killer’s victims are strippers which not only makes Frankie nervous about Kajika’s safety but leaves him questioning his love for being a homicide detective. Coupled with the stresses of cold cases as well as some fellow officers shunning him for coming out, Frankie is having second thoughts about staying in New Orleans. Despite the encouragement from Vance, Kenina, and Orrin as well as new chief Quinn Murray, Frankie is wondering if his life’s passion really is to catch the killers.

Will the new couple survive these new issues that impede their nearly perfect union? Or will the relationship fail, thus leaving Kajika alone and a target for New Orleans latest serial killer? Detective Choteau and Kajika’s commitment to one another is being tested in more ways than one and they only have one another to lean on.

Buylinks: Amazon, All Romance, Smashwords

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EXCERPT:

Kajika stepped out of the tub, grabbing the towel nearby to dry off. He’d been looking forward to spending the night and the early part of the day with his man, but duty called, causing Frankie to run out the door without saying anything more than ‘I’m gone’ and ‘I love you’.

Damn job.

Sometimes Kajika wished Frankie worked a nine to five instead of the dreaded detective position he held at the police station. They hadn’t had much time with the workload being so large due to shortage of staff, and it affected their relationship more than Kajika would’ve liked. At first he thought he could handle it; the excitement of his hot homicide detective out in the streets solving murders. Such a dangerous career but with it came nice money and accolades. Although Kajika was scared to death of blood and dead bodies, he loved hearing about some of Frankie’s cases, including the more intriguing ones that had yet to be solved. Tonight though, he would’ve traded all that in for his Frankie to be by his side.

In bed with me, where he should be.

Kajika finished wiping down and wrapped himself in his terry cloth robe to get ready for bed. He’d thought about staying up and watching some television, hoping that Frankie might return sooner than later, but he knew the truth. When called in, detectives don’t make it back home within a couple of hours. More like a few hours, or even half the day, would pass before he’d see his man again. As long as he came home safe, Kajika would deal with the amount of hours he spent away from their warm bed in Kenner, Louisiana.

On the way to the bedroom, Kajika wrapped his hair in the towel, drying his long strands. He glanced at the clock on the wall and grimaced when he noticed the big and small hand hovering over the two.

“Shit. Now I know I won’t see you until breakfast.” Kajika clicked his teeth and stomped on the trail of rose petals, angered by their night being interrupted. He pushed their bedroom door closed and leaned against the wood. “Damnit. We haven’t done a whole lot other than late night cuddling, quickies in the bathroom or on the kitchen floor. I need more than that, Frankie…I need−”

A long buzz sounded from the dresser, and Kajika moved quickly to see who was calling.

Frankie.

Frankie, or at least Kajika hoped it was, calling him with the news he’d be returning home sooner than expected. Although farfetched, Kajika could still wish his husband to be back early. He gulped hard and said a little prayer before clicking the connect button. “Hello?”

Silence then a sigh. “Babe, it’s me… I… I got some real bad news to tell you, sweetheart, but I’d rather you hear it from me as opposed to anyone else.”

Kajika released a deep breath and shrugged. “Are you okay, love? Something bothering−”

“Naw, I’m good, boo, but−” Frankie stopped a moment and blew hard through the phone.

Kajika plopped on the bed and crossed his legs, wondering what the heck his man was talking about. Bad news? What could it possibly be? Kajika nibbled on his bottom lip while he toyed with the frayed threads on his housecoat. “What is it, lover?”

“Babe, the murder I got called in for was…” Frankie ceased speaking again and sounded a little choked up about it.

Kajika held his breath and blinked twice in succession. “Who Frankie? Come on, just spit it out, right…who…”

“Lana Miles, babe. Lana’s been strangled to death.” Frankie spoke quickly to get the words out.

Kajika stared straight ahead, and his heart caught in his chest. Oh my God! Unable to cope with what he’d just heard, he dropped his phone and immediately the tears welled under his eyelids. Lana? Oh my God, who killed her? She was a good person…she…

“Kajika? Babe, you there? You okay, love? Talk to me, honey.”

Michael Mandrake pens complex characters already comfortable with their sexuality. Thorough these, he builds worlds not centered on erotica but rather the mainstream plots we might encounter in everyday life through personal experiences or the media. To find out more please visit http://tabooindeed.blogspot.com.

Author Sharita Lira: In one word, crazy. Just crazy enough to have 3 different muses running around in her head, driving her to sheer exhaustion with new plot bunnies and complex characters. This happily married mother of two beautiful children loves music, computers, reading, and still enjoys reading and writing fanfiction. She’s a proud member of the Erotica Readers & Writers Association, as well as an advocate for rights of LGBT citizens. She’s also a contributor to the heavy metal ezine Fourteeng.net. For more information, please visit http://www.thelitriad.com as well as her Facebook fanpage, The Literary Triad.

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Blog stops for the I Love It Rough Tour

2/22 Mantasy Remmy Duchene

2/23 The Rainbow Studio

2/24 Wednesday Briefs Site