INTERVIEW ~ Beside the Darker Shore by Patricia J. Esposito #Excerpt #Giveaway #Interview
✨ INTERVIEW ✨
What was your first published work?
My first published work was a short story about a woman who encounters moths in her house. She mixes vinegar and molasses in a bowl, sets it on the kitchen table, then watches as moths become ensnared, white wings laced with gold, spreading on black molasses. She begins to feel like the moths, and there begins her surreal descent. The story was accepted by a journal called Wicked Hollow. That was when my husband started saying, I have to sleep with one eye open around you.
Why do you choose to write in the paranormal genre?
I guess I don’t choose as much as fall into the paranormal. I read mostly literary fiction, but every time I begin to write, things turn a little weird. My brain enters a different zone—the world distorts; the impossible happens. A positive outcome of this fall is that I feel bolder when writing in the speculative genre. Writing in a point of view farther from myself—whether it is a vampire or ghost or alien form, or even just using a male perspective—helps me take risks I’d shy from in my own voice. Oddly, I often get to a more authentic place in doing so.
Are you a plotter or a pantster?
A pantster. I don’t know where I’m going until I start writing. The words on the page are like the ignition in a car, the gear shift, the tires rolling, the headlights following a road. I have to write to find out where I’m going. My intention at the start often gets twisted by characters or events I never expected, but, fortunately, the results often feel truer than the ideas I had at the start. In Beside the Darker Shore, I wanted to explore abstract ideas, but my plans to espouse the value of reason over passion got thwarted when an unexpected character, Arturo de Rosa, came in and shook up everything.
What does success mean to you?
Success is finding other people who think my story works. Very simply, that’s what I want to know. Does it work? Or am I not yet there?
What is the most heartfelt thing a reader has said to you?
“I’m in love with Arturo de Rosa.” I’m not sure anything feels as good as a reader loving a character I love too.
What are you working on now, and when can we expect it?
I’m currently working on a sequel to Beside the Darker Shore, which follows the vampire Arturo de Rosa’s life as he recovers from his regretful actions at the end of this novel and finds himself falling newly, humbly in love. Meanwhile, my novel The Past Breathes Through, about psychic shadow exchanges and a twin’s ghost that won’t let him rest, is complete and circulating among publishers. I also have short stories finding homes in anthologies.
Beside the Darker Shore
by Patricia J. Esposito
Release Date: Tuesday, October 10 2023
Publisher: JMS Books
Length: Novel / 87,310 Words / 316 Pages
Primary Plot Arc: Romance
Pairings: MM
LGBTQ+ Identities: Gay
Main Genre(s): Mystery-Thriller, Paranormal, Romance
Sub-Genres: Paranormal Romance
Tropes: Antihero, Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Love, Love Can Heal, Love Redemption
Keywords/Categories: vampires, forbidden love, vampire politics, vampire love, vampire communities, gay romance, mm romance, gay, mm, paranormal, paranormal romance, PNR, new release, announcement, antihero, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, love can heal, love redmeption
This book was originally published in 2011 under the same title. This second edition features a new cover and is available as an ebook.
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To forsake all that is good, to dive into desire…
Blurb
What might the ethical Governor David Gedden give up for one man’s exquisite beauty? It’s terrifying to consider when the man is a destructive blood prostitute and David is responsible for the state’s peaceful vampire community. Blood sales in Boston are up, blood taxes support a thriving new nightlife, neighborhoods have been refurbished, and deaths by vampires have plummeted. David is assured reelection.
However, the blood addict Stephen Salando has returned from exile with one unalterable plan: to turn the good governor into a vampire. Stephen is an immortal dhampir, whose beauty obliterates reason, who rouses in David a fierce desire he’s ignored his whole life. But for David to have Stephen, he must ally with an ancient vampire, the community’s seductive archnemesis. To have him, he must become a killer himself.
Will David hold on to his ethical public life? Or will he follow what he most desires, a kiss with a killer to become a vampire himself?
Excerpt
Wetness enveloped him. It was exhilarating, this deep lake submersion. David hadn’t been told about the effects of water. Here, in this water, he wasn’t sure he even needed blood. He wasn’t sure he needed anything. He dove under and swam toward Stephen.
His body cleanly cut the surface, and he emerged before the bound liveblood. Blood streamed from a gash in Stephen’s chest. The vampires dipped white fingers in his blood, licking them. No one had bitten him, and his eyes held none of the ecstasy of bloodletting. They stared darkly at David.
“You’re an irresistible pleasure,” David said.
The black rock shone glassy, Stephen’s skin a warm contrast. David placed his hand flat on the bloody chest. He sniffed Stephen’s neck, up his cheek. His hair was cold satin. Water lapped at Stephen’s chest, drinking him. One of the two vampires bit into Stephen’s arm, making him gasp. But still he didn’t drink. They were waiting.
Cupping water, David raised it to Stephen’s face.
“You’re moonlight caught in darkness, but see how it slips away.” The water slid over his palm. “What are you sacrificing on these rocks?”
Placing both palms on Stephen’s chest again, David felt the hard cavern of chest bone, smoothed his hands over the satin skin to the round nipples shocked at the touch. He could take this body he desired, take it and leave it. This blood was promised to him. He heard Stephen’s heart beating warmly even in this cold water.
“David,” he whispered.
With that, David froze. His heart that had calmed in the water became erratic again. Stephen’s skin blurred like a warm brown sheath over David’s eyes. His throat closed, and the vampire laughter around him grew muffled, like he was underwater.
One word, one plea from Stephen and David couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t look at those eyes, couldn’t say what he needed to say. Fear clenched his stomach. Stephen’s breath burned David’s cheek.
Cold water slid between them.
And then Stephen lunged forward, and David felt the pain of blunt teeth on his neck. Stephen grabbed hold of him, biting hard, ripping David’s skin.
“No!” He shoved Stephen off. He didn’t have to do this. He wouldn’t be slave to this kind of need. The water had been healing; he’d felt at peace until seeing Stephen. David slammed Stephen back against the rock.
His legs quivered in the water. He backed away, letting water rush between them, and then Elena broke through, turning the water electric.
“Are you with me then?” she asked. “Can you see there is but one point to him?”
David scraped his leg against sharp rock as he backed away; seaweed twisted around his feet.
“No,” Stephen said. David couldn’t look at those eyes that pleaded with him. Stephen had propelled him to this point, whether deliberately or not. How much more could he make David do? He had to leave. He had to stay far from Stephen.
“David,” Stephen called, but his voice faltered. Pushing tendrils of wet hair from Stephen’s neck, Elena sunk her teeth into him. Then David did look up, as Stephen closed his eyes, as he succumbed to what he couldn’t resist.
David’s chest hurt, as if his ribs and chest bone had turned to iron mail. Clouds drifted across the moon, and Stephen’s face fell into shadows. He heard Stephen’s voice in his head, words he’d said three years ago, “Exile,” he’d said back then. “When did you go into this exile?”
Long ago.
David turned away, but Arturo was there, blocking his way. “You leave so soon?” Hate bruised his usually welcoming eyes. “When the festival has just begun?”
“Whatever you do to me, Arturo, I won’t let you live through me or love through me. I’ve found where my joy and peace are.”
“In water, like Alexandros?”
“Not like Alex. I need to kill, and the only way I can find peace with that is in solitary existence. I can’t be both mortal human and vampire. Maybe Alex can’t stand to be anything but what he was, a human. I think I can only be a vampire. I don’t want human connections. Consider your fledgling a success as a vampire. That’s all that’s left for you.”
Arturo’s hand slapped David’s chest in an icy brand. “No, that isn’t all. You think you need the kill, but you know nothing of need if you can’t love.”
Pain seared David’s chest, a raw burn that shuddered through him. Arturo had cut him. His hand slapped again, and another slice tore through to David’s ribs. The pain was silent in his throat, blocked by the rush of blood, his legs buckling. Blood poured.
“You bleed,” Arturo whispered. “You bleed into your healing water. Water loves blood. It will drain you.”
Around his waist, the water warmed and thickened. For a moment he thought how short-lived his vampire life had been, and then his body swayed with the pain.
About the Author
Patricia Esposito lives by the notion Luis Alberto Urrea once expressed: When the world is so dark and bloody, be brave enough to broadcast innocent joy. Dare to be naive. She has written edgy paranormal fiction for most of her life, but always finds beneath it a romantic heart. Her most recent fiction and poetry reflect that enduring quest for love and joy beneath the human struggle.
Patricia has received honorable mentions in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror collections, is a two-time winner of Rhino’s Reader=Writer award, and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. With a Master’s degree in English, she edits law books and textbooks for income and tries to keep up with a retired husband and enjoy time with her two adult daughters—when she’s not off exploring the intoxicating realms of the imagination and chasing muses.
Beside the Darker Shore is her first full-length work of fiction. She welcomes the chance to meet other writers and readers through her website or Facebook page.
Author Links
Giveaway
Patricia is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour.
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Thank you so much for the interview and for spotlighting my novel Beside the Darker Shore today. I appreciate your time and space and hope to hear what others are enjoying reading right now and what they think about the value of writing, and reading, in the paranormal genre.
It’s my pleasure! This book looks fantastic, and I’ve added it to my cart over on the JMS site. ❤️
Thank you so much! I just saw that you have a couple vampire novels. I just purchased The Recruit and am eager to read it; I love the cover. I like your blog title too! Best to you.
Oh wow, thank you so much! I think we have the same cover model for our vamp books. ❤️
Ah, no wonder I was immediately attracted!