Promo Post & Giveaway with Xavier Axelson

Title: Earthly Concerns
Author: Xavier Axelson
Genre: Fiction, Paranormal, Horror, Romance, Erotica, Male/Male
Publisher: Seventh Window Publications
Ebook
Words: 25,454

Purchase Link: Seventh Window


Book Description:
Between love and loss, there is obligation… 

 It was a peaceful night when Barrett and his daughter were driving home… then something happened. Something sinister.

Between shadow and light, there is uncertainty… 

Now the only person Barrett can turn to for help is Anson, a man gifted with psychic abilities beyond reason. But Anson is also his ex-boyfriend, a man whose heart he’d already broken.

 If you can see, you have to help. 

As Anson delves deeper into the circumstances surrounding Barrett’s accident, he begins to realize that he’s not only in a race against time, but in a battle against his own broken heart and the terrifying understanding that whatever has taken Barrett’s child is a force of evil beyond anything either man has ever encountered.

And between decision and consequences, there are… Earthly Concerns

Excerpt

How could I just go over, and if I did, would I just be stumbling back into the pit of snakes I had just narrowly escaped the first time? I thought this and a hundred other dangerous thoughts until I saw him begin to stand up. I waved him down, then went over and sat down.

Apparently, I thought the best course of action was to dive right in, avoid any further uncomfortable thoughts from belching up from the cesspool that I was creating in my skull. 

“Tell me everything,” I blurted, trying to avoid looking into his eyes.

“You look good, all hot and cute,” he said, trying to maintain his smile, but the weight of his sadness was too intense. Instead, he managed a pained grimace. 

“Thanks.” I wanted to say more, return the compliment, but found I couldn’t; he was a keen listener and would be able to detect any false sentiment I might throw out. I stared down at the menu and tried to ignore my heart, which had once again taken up its incessant thrumming. 

“Thanks for coming,” he said. 

I didn’t look up, but could feel him staring at me. 

When the waitress came over, we ordered. Without the menu to stare at, I looked up and past him. 

“Anson.” He said my name like it was some sort of invocation. 

Did he believe he was dreaming? I could only imagine the nightmare of not knowing where your child is and if she would ever come back. 

“Tell me everything,” I repeated, my voice steady. I lowered my eyes and faced him; and seeing his sadness, I swallowed hard. 

“It’s unreal,” he said, this time looking away from me, his eyes glistening. “I’m not sure I know what’s happened.” 

The waitress arrived with two small cups of clear broth with some vegetables in them and refilled our waters. 

“I’m sorry,” I said, my eyes riveted on him. I couldn’t believe I was sitting across from him in the same place I had met him once before; the day he wanted to return a t-shirt I had left at his place after one of our interludes. 

Even now, looking beaten and tormented, the man somehow managed to provoke me in ways other men hadn’t. I saw him as beautiful and felt my stomach lurch. I looked at his brown eyes that I remembered looking gold in the sun, and his oddly handsome face. Not a traditionally good looking face, but handsome in a bookish, learned way. I felt my body begin to respond. 

About the Author

Xavier Axelson is a writer and columnist living in Los Angeles.  His columns include interviews with counterculture celebrities, artisans, singers, writers, performance artists, politicians, and activists.  While his writing has been called, “raw, dirty, and absolutely beautiful,” Xavier hopes to push boundaries of what is expected in the M/M erotic genres.

Where to Find Xavier Axelson Facebook, Twitter, Examiner & Website

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Giveaway

• Leave a comment on this post with your email to win Earthly Concerns
• Must be 18 or older
• Contest ends Monday April 2nd at 11:59PM EST

Lily by Xavier Axelson

Lily by Xavier Axelson
Silver Publishing

Short Novella: 93pages

Rating: 4 out of 5

Blurb:

Being a single Dad is hard enough but when Pryor loses his daughter Lily in an unthinkable event he thinks he has experienced the ultimate horror but it's when Lily returns he realizes his nightmare has only just begun...

When Pryor's daughter Lily is taken by a wolf, Pryor is convinced she has turned into the creature he sees lurking in his woods.  He swears she promises to return to him. But is it his despair and desperation making him see things or is there something more lurking in the shadows of the forest?  When he meets Ned, a silversmith who helps him with a plan to bring his daughter back into his life, he begins to live again. But can his newfound love help ease the horror that may be waiting? What if the ultimate horror isn’t when Lily was taken but it’s when Lily returns and he realizes his nightmare has only just begun...

Review:
Pryor is a lost man, after losing his daughter Lily. Even worse, he saw when his daughter was taken and dragged into the woods by a wolf. The town and his neighbours believe it was a coyote, but Pryor knows it was a wolf. He becomes a shell of a man, because he has lost the most important person in his life, and to make it matters worst he believes Lily is still out there. Still his Lily, his beautiful daughter but also something more; something frightening.

His guilt and his grief are mixed in with his feelings when he meets Ned. A jewellery designer who makes him want to feel again. Their relationship provides something good for Pryor, and makes him a character you feel sad for. Otherwise, he might have been the mad man stuck in the past and finding an unhealthy way to deal with the loss of his daughter.

The writing is rich and intense, and you can clearly picture the forest and the eeriness of the nights. The anticipation of Lily’s arrival is both creepy and fascinating; I was on the edge of my seat waiting for when she would show up, and if she would show up. When she does return, you can’t help but wonder what her life was like for the year she has been gone, because even though she looks like Lily, something more fearsome lurks behind her eyes and teeth.

Overall, and intensely captivating story about a man facing life without his precious daughter. The story is a short one, but it’s like reading a well-written novel. It’s like a nice flow of water, beautiful and provides its own lyrical flow. While reading you never forget that Pryor is a father, and being Lily’s father is the most important thing in his world. Because whether in life or in death he will always be ‘Lily’s father’ I believe that alone makes this story strong and captivating. A very well written short.

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