I Love You, Asshole!

Okay-- so Marcus and Phillip start out as relatively minor characters in Vulnerable. We know Adrian is the leader of the vampires, Marcus and Phillip--on-again, off-again lovers--appear to put a face to the the vampire masses, besides Grace, the hill's resident den-mother, of course. (Note to long time fans-- you know this, but I'll say it again: Marcus was supposed to be a school teacher and Phillip was supposed to be a stock broker--in the revised version of Vulnerable, that's how it reads. In the original, however, this is still reversed. However, all of the subsequent stories have that detail corrected:-)

In Wounded, when Cory has been (unknowingly, really) evading her responsibilities as the vampire Queen, it is Marcus and Phillip who show up while she's healing to help her establish a connection with the kiss that was bequeathed to her by Adrian by his last thought. In Bound, as she's becoming more and more involved with the vampires, we see them more up close and personal-- we learn that Phillip can channel Cory's raw power, and that he's enough of an egocentric bastard to love it. We learn that Marcus takes care of him when he's out of it, and that there is a bond between the two men-- and even if they're constantly sleeping with women, they're also constantly sleeping with each other.

In Waiting, we hear Phillip say that he was just surprised, that's all, to hear that the love of his life would have pecs instead of tits.

In Rampant, we see exactly how deep this goes--we see that Phillip isn't the bastard he paints himself as, and we see that Marcus would do anything to protect him, and that Phillip would kill anything that tries to come between them. We also see that Marcus tops--which surprised the hell out of people, and made people absolutely rabid to know more about them.

I Love You, Asshole! I did what seemed almost impossible at first (and I don't deny, I got off on the challenge) and that was to piece together all of these moments into a cohesive love story. The result is sort of a supernatural Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Or, in this case, Marcus and Phillip are UNdead, really. Fans of the series will KNOW the major events that this romance plays against. Grace's introduction to the hill, Cory's introduction to the hill, Adrian's death, Cory's absence, Cory's return, Jack and Teague's introduction-- all of these events were in the foreground, all of these stories have been told. But in the background were Marcus and Phillip, the hill's good soldiers, having their own painful, often (I hope) hilarious awakening as they learn to live with the facts of death as they now know it.

Phillip was not a nice guy. Marcus was not the most assertive of people. Together, they have a lot to learn before they can be a couple, and when it comes down to it, they're perfect for each other because they drive everyone else in the hill absolutely batshit apart. That's what drives this story--and whether you've read the other stories in the series or not (hopefully, you have) that's the focus I hope you'll see.

I hope you enjoy it. I hope, if you haven't already, it makes you want to read the other books, but mostly, I just really hope it stands on it's own and entertains you whether or not that's true.

It goes on sale tomorrow morning--or, as most of you know, tonight, if you buy it through DSP. If you do read it, let me know if you enjoy it, okay?

And for those of you who have met Jack and Teague, and who love them, here is the cover for Reaching--I'm still a lot in love with these covers-- you'll have to let me be gleeful:-)



And for those of you who are wondering how Squish and Zoomboy are doing?

The other day, while Chicken, Mate, and myself were all in the living room, watching recorded television episodes, the following was overheard (at top volume) from the bathroom:

"NO I *DON'T* HAVE A PEE PEE! AND *NO* NOBODY CUT IT OFF!"

Chicken and I looked at each other with big eyes, and then our shoulders started to shake and then I said, "Did she really say that?" and Chicken said, "Omigod, she really did!"

Mate (who had been simultaneously watching television and surfing his phone at the same time) looked up and said, "What?" We told him and he grimaced.

"I'm not sure how, but I think this is your family's fault."

And since my Grandpa Harold was the one who used to tell my step-brother that the scissorbird was going to get him if he didn't zip up his fly, I'm pretty sure Mate's right.