Deanna Wadsworth: Cocktails and Cock Tales with Raine O'Tierney and two giveaways!

Today we have Raine O’Tierney at the cyber bar. Raine is an always-writing, boundlessly enthusiastic, exclamation point addict! (!!!) She is known for declaring every day “the best day EVER!” and every thing her “all-time FAVORITE!” Despite this (obnoxious?) exuberance, she still somehow manages to have a wonderfully encouraging husband and writing partner, Siôn, and an amazing group of friends and colleagues who continue to support (read: put up with) her. Raine spends her days working as a library lady, fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom.

What we are Drinking

Chocolate Donut:

1 part Kahlúa

1 part Glazed-Donut Vodka

Deanna: Welcome, Raine!

Raine: (((giggles))) Sorry I made you say such ridiculous things about me, Deanna!

Deanna: But it was all true! And I muct confess, I am known for saying “This is the best song ever!” so I think we must be kindred spirits or something! LOL Now, for some real spirits. What yummy cocktail did you bring today?

Raine: A Chocolate Donut! This was a totally accidental recipe. I like sweetness in muh stories as well as my drinks and this one is definitely sweet…. Maybe a little too sweet, not for everyone. We call it the ‘Chocolate Donut’ and there’s nothing I love more. (((pours them both a drink)))

Deanna: (((samples it then throws it back like a pro))) Wow! That is yummy!!! I’ll have another! (((holds out glass which is promptly filled))) Now for the folks at home, where are you, and what are you wearing?

Raine: (((Looks at self))) Oh, good. I have clothes on. I’m in my super elegant writing gear. Puppy pajama pants, a Mumford and Sons t-shirt from their Guthrie Stopover last year, and, of course, one of my many, many, many hats. And this, m’dear, is my writing cove in my apartment which may or may not be (but probably is!) slowly sliding into the ravine behind the complex.

Deanna: (((pours them both another round))) Cheers! And great hat BTW!

Raine: (((tips her fascinator))) Thanks! It’s one of my favorites—looks like something a fashionista would wear to a funeral!

Deanna: Now that we’re comfy, tell me about your new book? (((sips on her cocktail)))

Raine: Sweet Giordan, Please Remember… I wanted to explore the question of: how would you navigate your world if all you remembered was your name and your talent? So Giordan Stone, the title character, has come out of a 5 year coma with no memories beyond those two things. He uses his talent—art—to delve into his subconscious. It’s his lifeline to reality. I think the resulting story is a little bit like a Romantic painting.

Deanna: Where did the idea for this story come from?

Raine: So, I started in M/M rom in 2004 right? And the first thing I did was build this whole town of characters with family trees and complicated back stories and whatever… (((sips chocolate donut))) And I carried them around with me. Seriously. For like 10 years, just letting them percolate. It’s been so long I don’t know exactly where Giordan came from anymore…more like he’s always been there.

Deanna: What was the hardest part of writing this story for you?

Raine: (((sighs))) I struggled with Giordan’s journey. I love him so much, I wanted to reach into the pages and make it all better. I knew I could. I was in control of the keyboard—but it wouldn’t have been right. So, I had to let my chara hurt, knowing he’d find strength and happiness in the end. (((pours them another round)))

Deanna: Boy, these things are tasty!! Now, what was the easiest thing about writing Sweet Giordan, Please Remember?

Raine: Chlo-e-Dev-er-eaux…Dood. No, seriously… (((sips and giggles))) No, seriously. Dood. Love that lady. Love her accent. I wish she was my mom. (((Frowns))) Why isn’t she my second mom, Deanna?

Deanna: No idea, but I think these donuts are going to your head. Here (((refills her cup))) have another. So, Raine, what is your dream story, your opus, if you will? The one you dream about writing but haven’t don’t it?

Raine: (((polishing off her drink quickly and holding out her cup for another refill))) So…I’m a library lady. I’ve been with the library for the last seven years and I have a bajillion library stories. So, of course, a library story is the perfect fit! It’s been in my queue for a long time now but it keeps getting pushed back for (((exasperated sigh))) responsibilities.

Deanna: Responsibilities suck! (((toasting newly filled cups, sloshing a little coconut donut)))When did you first discover you were a writer? (((Licks the alcohol from her fingers—waste not want not!))) Were you like sitting on the toilet and just said, “Ya know, I think I’m gonna write a book.” Or was it more profound?

Raine: (((snortlaughs))) Toilet……….Oh, sorry. I sometimes become a little boy, giggling at potty humor.

Deanna: Me too!!! Hahahahaha!!!!

Raine: (((still giggling))) Uh, what was the question? Oh, writer! 3^rd grade. (((nods empathically))) I wrote a story, about bubblegum, on my mother’s typewriter and I’ve never stopped.

Deanna: Awesome! What helps you when you are stumped on a scene in a manuscript? I usually have a cocktail … or three…LOL But that’s just me.

Raine: (((Pours another drink, shaking the almost empty pitcher))) Dachshunds. Specifically my dachshund, Klaus. More specifically, walking him around the neighborhood. I have so many thoughts while walking a dachshund. Also, showers. Showers and dachshunds. I have not tried showers with dachshunds. (((giggles))) That might be too much awesome thought-explosion for my brain.

Deanna: OMG!!! Have you seen the video of the laughing baby and the wiener dog in the tub? You gotta watch it. http://youtu.be/bN4XrWXHG8k

Raine: I love it! Let’s watch it again!

Deanna: (((laughing))) Ok, let’s get back to this interview, we’re supposed to be serious, not surfing the net, LOL So most of my stories have a theme song, do you do that for your characters?? If so what is it?

Raine: I do make playlists for stories…I don’t think Sweet Giordan had one, but the weird west M/M story I’m working on with muh hubs, Siôn, has a whole playlist. Off the top of my head, I remember Rox in the Box by the Decemberists and The One That Got Away by The Civil Wars and Woman King by Iron and Wine. But there’s like 50 more songs on there.

Deanna: That’s a LOT! I love the Civil Wars BTW. Tell us about a scene that you have written then afterwards, when you read it, you shocked yourself? You know I want a dirty answer (((hint hint)))

Raine: (((Laughs hysterically))) I once got a li-i-i-i-i-tle tipsy and the word “sphincter” may have entered a really weird scene which…whaaaaa? I read it the next morning and ZOMG. Delete—delete—delete, but not before my beta saw it. I still get calls and texts that just say “sphincter.”

Deanna: (((laughing uncontrollably))) You said sphincter!!!!

Raine: I did!! (((giggling like crazy)))

Deanna: On that note, I think we better have a last call! And let’s share with everyone an excerpt of Sweet Giordan, Please Remember. And don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter thingy!!!! Raine is giving away two FREE copies!!!

Sweet Giordan, Please Remember

by Raine O'Tierney

Giordan Stone is lucky, all things considered. Sure, he spent five years in a coma only to wake with a right leg that’s practically useless and no memories other than his name. But now he’s under the care of sassy southern surrogate mother, Chloe Devereaux, spending his days painting and healing. Giordan wants for nothing at all… until he looks out the window one morning and sees Chloe's gorgeous son, Shane, standing there. Something very familiar stirs in Giordan.

When he sketches, Giordan is able to go into an “art trance” where pieces of disjointed memory come back to him without time or place. More and more of these flashes are of Shane Devereaux and the intense, intimate experiences they shared together. Even though Shane keeps his distance now, Giordan is convinced his flashes are real. But he doesn’t have the whole story. Giordan is determined to fill in his memory blanks and convince Shane his feelings are genuine.

Excerpt:

Self-consciously, he glanced up, but Chloe was walking away from the truck, giving him privacy to do what he loved. With no eyes on him or his paper, Giordan laid the sketchbook down and carefully took an eraser to the light age lines on Shane’s face. He softened the look in his eyes, trimmed and then erased entirely his beard, and made him smile—just a little. The effect was so utterly charming that Giordan sank lower into the bed of the truck, more a boy with his first crush than a grown man.

Another clean page. He drew Shane’s face again. This time with more detail, taking special care to get the shape of his ears, his nose, his mouth—a wicked grin on his face—just right. He looked like Chloe in some ways—same green eyes but lighter skin—a blending of Chloe’s coffee and Mr. Devereaux’s cream. Shane’s jaw and brow were his father’s, but his well-defined cheekbones, full beautiful lips, and deep dimple came from some unknown ancestor. To say he was merely attractive was to do him a disservice.

“It’s going to rain.” A voice purred in Giordan’s brain, a deep, seductive, slightly familiar voice.

“We should go back in,” Giordan whispered down at the paper. He sketched Shane’s nostrils, his eyelashes, the intricate lines of his ears, all those hidden, beautiful things.

“Not a chance. I finally get you out here. You think I’m going to let a little rain stop me?”

“We’re going to get caught,” Giordan insisted. He was speaking out loud as if reading a script, and he could barely see the paper anymore. Was he making this all up? He could hear the voice so clearly in his head. “Your parents are—”

“In France. Be with me.”

“Okay.”

It started with silliness. They were supposed to have a picnic. Sandwiches and wine in the shade of the new green leaves. But then Shane hoisted him up into his arms and carried Giordan to the grove, a wicked grin on his face.

“I’m not a princess,” Giordan, much younger then, reminded him with a fake look of disapproval. He kicked two good legs. “I don’t need to be carried!”

Shane had put out a blanket and laid Giordan down on it. “Maybe I just want to carry you. Whether you need it or not.”

Wind rustled the leaves of the trees, and a sweet smell filled the air. It was definitely going to rain.

“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” he murmured.

“I don’t know why. We’ve done it a hundred times before.”

“Not outside we haven’t!” Giordan protested.

“No one’s going to see,” Shane promised.

“Someone might.”

“Well, then maybe I don’t care whether or not anyone sees.”

Buy links:

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Amazon

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