Tuesday 29 October 2013

"Saving Sonny James" Road Trip Blog Tour...Viva San Antonio!



 I am SO excited! 

If you know me, you know two of my favorite fictional characters are the creations of the fabulously talented author, Lou Sylvre. And those fellas are Luki Vasquez and his husband, Sonny James from the "Vasquez and James" series. 

Well...giddy here, please forgive me...Lou and the boys are stopping here on their blog tour, and I---yes, me, the Zampzter---get to tag along with them to San Antonio! 

So let's begin the trip! We're all yours, Lou Sylvre!

 * * * *

 Hi! I’m Lou Sylvre. Let me wave to Carol Zampa before I do anything else, and say thank you so much for letting the guys and me visit your state and your beautiful, classy blog.

I am presently touring with Luki Vasquez and Sonny James, a husband-husband pair that usually live in my Vasquez and James series books. The most recent suspense adventure, Saving Sonny James, was released a couple weeks ago—10/18. I am afraid I put them through hell in the pages (or pixels) of that book, and once they’d survived, they decided they needed a vacation—a road trip in Sonny’s Mustang, which was mostly Sonny’s idea. I agreed to it, as long as I could ride along in the backseat and chronicle the affair. Luki grumped about that quite a bit, but, because I’m the author, he really had no choice at all.

Alas, I think fate had other ideas. 

They started in France (where Saving Sonny James ends), took the Chunnel train to Ashford, Kent, England, and from there to London, where they got to meet up with friend (and future love interest of Luki’s nephew, Jackie) Brian Harrison. So far so good, and the flight to Providence, RI, where they picked up the Mustang, and a brief visit to New Hampshire all went well, But, then…

On their way to Ohio on I-90 Westbound they hit some kind of anomaly in the time-space continuum, and found themselves deposited sans car in the future Yellow Knife of Elizabeth Noble’s Sentries world. Fortunately, Todd and Nick Ruger (Sentries in Elizabeth’s books) helped them out, and they made it back to I-90. But then…

As soon as they got the car started, another disturbance occurred and they found themselves, again without the Mustang, wet, cold, and tired on a beach in New Zealand. They were once again fortunate, because vampire  (and supernatural agent for good) Simon, and his human partner, Ben, who will greet the world in early 2014 as characters in Anne Barwell’s Shades of Sepia, rescued them. After a little cock-crowing by Simon and Luki, they capitulated to the good sense of their sweeties, and everyone got in the car for a drive to Anne’s house in Wainuimata (no, no typo). So then…

Anne contacted me on chat. We decided that since the four men involved were all fictional characters, the best way to get them where they needed to be was to write them there. Kind of like magic only with keyboards and pixels instead of Wolf’s bane and stoat’s belly. We thought about having them fly back to the States, but we were worried that the anomalies might keep happening, so instead we utilized Luki’s superstitious nature. Like this:

Lou: Luki, ask St. Christopher to help you.
Luki: What the hell are you talking about now, Ms. Sylvre?
Anne: Don’t be disrespectful, Luki! You might be a badass, but she can write you down to size!
Luki: (Somewhat sheepishly, but rolling eyes.) I beg your pardon.
Sonny: But, honey, listen! That’s a good idea she has! He’s the travelers patron, right? And you’ve got this… connection thing with him. Try it!

So Luki did, holding his St. Christopher medal in his hand, then putting the chain over Sonny’s head and letting it fall down to lay over his heart. Then he pulled Sonny close, and though he didn’t say anything at all, we all knew he was… hooked up somehow with his saint. Finally, he just said, “Please, St. Chris, Sonny is dying out here without the Mustang.”

Sonny kissed him, and Luki thought it probably was in appreciation, but I (the author) happen to know it was mostly to shut him up… well and also, Sonny finds Luki’s thick, rich, curvy lips completely irresistible.

Now, as authors go, I sometimes am admittedly tough on Luki and Sonny, but I’m not without mercy. They’ve been through hell. So after a few chatted lines and scenes, Anne sent her boys back to their (weird) home in Flint, and I got Luki and Sonny back to the Mustang.

“What about you, Ms. Sylvre?” Luki pretends he doesn’t care, but he does. “I thought you wanted to go on this road trip, too.”

“Tell you what, Luki,” I said. “I’ll let you and Sonny have some time together to enjoy your trip, and I’ll meet you in San Antonio.”

“I’ll take pictures, Ms. Lou, okay? Then you’ll have something to blog.”

Luki rolled his eyes again, and we parted ways. The guys made excellent time travelling South and West, stopping only for hamburgers, a few hours of sleep, and occasional roadside surreptitious and inappropriate touching. Then they got to San Antonio, met up with Carol Zampa’s characters Honor C and his ultra sexy partner Jorge, and Candy G with the more-badass-than-he-looks Carlos. They stuck together, the six of them, for off-color jokes, drinks, and dinner at Las Canarias on the Riverwalk, and then Luki and Sonny set out on their own to explore the Riverwalk while dusk fell and the lights came on.

They held hands, stopped for kisses in a quiet spot…



Lost themselves in the rainbows of a million lights…




And finally retreated to a fabulous, warm, not-too-soft bed in the hotel La Mansion del Rio, where there was lots of sweet touching, none of it inappropriate or surreptitious at all.



* * * * * * *



 Ahhhh.....Luki. Sonny. Oh, man. Did you enjoy hanging out with them as much as I did? 

Coming down from my Cloud No. Nine, let me give a huge thank you to Ms. Sylvre for sending the boys our way and letting us spend some time with them. And...let me give point you in the direction for Luki and Sonny's latest adventure, Saving Sonny James

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4269
Click on Link to Purchase

The Blurb....


Luki Vasquez and his still newlywed husband are back home after pulling off a harrowing desert rescue of their teenage nephew Jackie. But the events of the last couple of years have begun to catch up with Luki—loving Sonny James and letting Sonny love him back has left gaps in his emotional armor. In the gunfight that secured Jackie’s rescue, Luki’s bullet killed a young guard, an innocent boy in Luki’s mind. In the grip of PTSD, memories, flashbacks, and nightmares consume him, and he falls into deep, almost vegetative depression.

Sonny devotes his days to helping Luki, putting his own career on hold, even passing up a European tour of galleries and schools—an opportunity that might never come again. But when Luki’s parasomnia turns his nightmares into real-world terror, it breaks the gridlock. Sonny realizes what he’s doing isn’t working, and he says yes to Europe. Enter Harold Breslin, a dangerously intelligent artist’s promoter and embezzler whose obsessive desire for Sonny is exceeded only by his narcissism. When Harold’s plan for Sonny turns poisonous, Luki must break free of PTSD and get to France fit and ready in time to save his husband’s life.




 What are you waiting for? I've got my copy! Go get yours!