Virtual Tour: The Live Oak Series: Dark Love; The Bear, the Witch, and the Web; and Hunter Moon and the Red Wolf by Stephen del Mar ~ (Author Interview, Excerpt + Giveaway)
Book Information:
Author Name: Stephen del Mar
Book Names: The Live Oak Series: Dark Love; The Bear, the Witch, and the Web; and Hunter Moon and the Red Wolf
Series: The Live Oak
Should be read in order
Release Date: Book 1: Spring 2015, Books 2 & 3: May, 2015
Buy The Book:
About The Live Oak Tales
“Slay me,” said the dragon. is a tongue-in-cheek look at a romantic encounter between a dragon and a slayer. It sets up the mythology of dragon shifters that runs through the rest of the series.
Dark Love, a metaphor for gay love, takes us from the ordinary world of the Bennett Bay, a Gulf-side tourist town in Florida, to the tiny, backwater village of Live Oak. Dieter Reinhold, the proprietor of a trendy café in Bennett Bay’s Spanish Quarter travels back to Live Oak to deal with the death of his great uncle, the man that raised him as a father. While there, he learns there are more interesting creatures in the woods than he ever imagined. He discovers that magic, witches, and undying love are real.
In The Bear, the Witch and the Web, Innes Callahan and the circle of witches we met in Dark Love are facing a number of crises. The greatest of which is that the faeries are missing. In fact, all the enchantment seems to be gone from the Jumble, the wild woods adjacent to the farm. They need to find the faeries and discover who the new Witch of the Wood will be.
The final book in the series, Hunter Moon and the Red Wolf, finds the Circle still in disarray as Janos Pac tries to come into his own as the new Witch of the Woods. This is complicated by a plot by the dragons and wolves returning to Florida after nearly a hundred years, but are they really wolves?
These books are on the lighter side of the paranormal spectrum with a fair bit of humor. However, they do touch on deeper issues. Dark Love explores loss, grief, and what it means to hide one’s love. The stories also explore what it means to make hard choices about our path in life; and, an overarching theme is the changing nature of family as we move through life. How we move from our family of birth to the family we create with friends and lovers.
Pages or Words:
“Slay me,” said the dragon: 45 pages
Dark Love: 398 pages
The Bear, the Witch, & the Web: 153 pages
Hunter Moon & Red Wolf: 249 pages
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy. (Book two also includes an older main character.)
Excerpt:
Excerpt from Dark Love: Book 1 in the Live Oak Tales
Setup: Dieter is alone at the family’s old farmhouse after the death of his uncle. His ex-lover and still good friend Innes comes over to comfort him. Innes finds the mysterious silver box Dieter found out in the barn, which seems to have human ash in it. Innes warns him that it might be dangerous. Innes is a witch and Dieter thinks magic is bull. Innes calls in his mentor, Flora May Crawford, to help him convince Dieter there is danger afoot. It doesn’t work. Later, Innes calls back with another warning for Dieter. It doesn’t make him think Innes is any less crazy.
*****
Of course that was the moment my phone made the little nose-twitch tinkle-tinkle. I sighed, go with the flow and remember you love him.
I picked up the phone. “Hello, Innes.”
“Didn’t you get my text?” He sounded flustered.
“No. I haven’t looked at my phone. I’ve had other things on my mind.”
“Oh. Right. Well, what are you doing?”
“Sitting naked in the kitchen having soup and a sandwich.”
“Why?”
“Because I was hungry. What do you want?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. I heard the creak of a screen door and the chirping of frogs. He must have moved outside onto Flora May’s front porch. “Look,” he said, “Flora May just got back from the faeries.” He paused like he expected me to comment. I had nothing.
“She’s not telling me a lot. Said they’re pretty agitated about the whole thing.”
Again the pause. Again I was silent; although I was worrying my grip on the phone would reach its crush point.
“Dieter, you gotta promise me to take this seriously.”
Actually, I didn’t have to promise him anything.
“Dieter?”
“Yes?”
I heard him swallow. “Tonight is a full moon.”
“So? It happens every twenty-eight days from what I understand.”
“Fuck.” He was agitated. “Listen, whatever you do, don’t jack-off in that box under the full moon.”
My mind kicked into neutral and spun its gears as it tried to make sense of the string of words it just received. Because they didn’t make any sense and they kept coming.
He continued. “I mean it. Whatever you do, do not mix your semen with that ash in the full moonlight.”
Some emergency back-up system took over. My thumb slid over my phone and ended the call. I stood up, opened the fridge and pulled a beer out. I twisted the top off and dropped it on the table. I pushed my way through the swinging door into the living room. As I fell back onto the couch, I tried to imagine a world where the idea of masturbating into a box of human ash existed, let alone the need to warn someone not to do that. Ohhh, I’m gonna cum, make sure the drapes are pulled and the lids are on all the urns, ‘cause we don’t want our spunk and ash and moonlight to mix! ‘Cause that will start the zombie apocalypse or something.
Author Interview:
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Stephen del Mar author of The Live Oak Tales series. Hi Stephen, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Thanks, I’m very excited to be here. This is my first blog tour. Basic stuff about me: I’m a 54 year old gay man living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I have a background in media production and attended seminary for a while.
I’ve just finished and released “Hunter Moon & the Red Wolf,” which is the last book in “The Live Oak Tales.” This series is a fun and, at times, a quirky take on contemporary/paranormal fantasy. We have witches, faeries and a number of shifter folk all trying to do the right thing and live together. All of this is set in the Bennett Bay area on the Gulf Coast of Florida. A fun little place I’ve made up. I wanted a place where I could condense all of Florida into one county with a tourist town and backwater villages. I’ve been very influenced by the southern literary traditions and setting is always one of my main characters. A strong sense of place is a must for southern fiction, as is a bit of spirit, in whatever form that may take.
Why did you choose to write M/M stories?
Aha, the genre question. I’ve wrestled with this in my mind for awhile now. I think I write gay fiction. I like to have romantic elements in my stories because I think the need and quest for relationship it a primary part of being human, but romance isn’t usually the main plot. As I understand it, M/M is a sub-genre of Romance which has “rules” about endings and what not. I’ve had a lot of M/M fans read my stuff and enjoy it so I think there is an overlap. Romance rocks, just not my main focus.
I chose to write stories with gay characters because I didn’t see much of that when I was younger. I wanted stories that reflected the diverse lives of gay men and our friends. And have diverse gay men in them!
What inspired you to write your first book?
I wanted to tell a good old fashion ghost story set in the swamp with gay characters. And you know, there is romance out there in the swamp. (wink)
When and why did you begin writing?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer, well at least since high school or early college. Just couldn’t sneak up on it until a few years ago. Things came together in 2013 and I just started. It helped that I learned that “pantsing” or “discovery writing,” where you just start writing without an outline is a thing. Outlines freeze me up and all of my teachers always said you had to start with an outline. That kept me from writing for 30 years! “Just write,” was the best advice I’ve ever had.
What are you current projects?
I’m currently working on “Of Paradise and Purgatory.” It’s set in southern Arizona and the main character has to return to the small town he grew up in. I’m enjoying writing about mature characters. Victor finds that his boyhood crush is now the parish priest. Looking forward to seeing how this all turns out. Of course, things will be blown up, people will die and the school bully is still a bully and up to no good. Lots of faith and religion in this one.
Off topic: What secret talents do you have?
Well, if I tell you, it won’t be a secret will it? <grin> Most people don’t know one of the things I do in real life is video production. I’m a real visual guy and I really see my stories as a video and convert them to narrative form as I write.
About the author:
Stephen del Mar is a fresh voice in Southern Gay Fiction. His Bennett Bay collection of books and stories explore life in that unique corner of the American South known as Florida. He also writes fantasy and science-fiction. Del Mar lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida and enjoys Key Lime Pie and mango margaritas, but not at the same time.
Where to find the author:
Tour Dates & Stops:
1-Jun
2-Jun
3-Jun
4-Jun
5-Jun
Rafflecopter Prize: Ebook copy of Dark Love, Book 1 in the Live Oak Tales
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting me. I be stoping by if anyone has any questions.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephen! Congratulations on the new release! Looking forward to reading it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie. :)
Deletehello stephen and congrats
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Delete