Hi everyone! Today I am super excited to welcome Anne Tenino to the blog, along with one of my all time favorite animal characters, Miz Horse from 18% Gray and Anne’s newest release, Turning Tricks, which I reviewed here earlier today.  And Anne has generously brought along a copy of Turning Tricks to give away to one lucky commenters.

I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have them both here today! So please join me in giving a big welcome to Anne and Miz!  

Anne’s Interview with Miz Horse

My second Task Force Iota book, Turning Tricks, was released by Dreamspinner Press on May 30. The first book in the series is 18% Gray, also from Dreamspinner. Both of these books feature the same main characters, Matt and James (note that later books will feature other couples who need my help getting together). However, for this blog post, I thought I’d interview a favorite supporting character, Miz Horse. Miz can’t exactly “speak” in the books—although she can communicate telepathically with James—but for the interview, I gifted her with the ability to speak.

As the author, this magical ability is at my fingertips. 😉

I invited Miz Horse to my backyard one nice afternoon last week for the interview. She seemed secretly delighted with the invitation, but made a point of not showing it. There was a lot of grumbling and sighing. But when she arrived, I realized how seriously she’d taken this. Miz showed up wearing a horse-sized pearl necklace and sporting freshly manicured hooves.

Welcome Miz! I’m so glad you made it. And wow, do you look beautiful.

Oh, this? *blinks coquettishly* It’s nothing—just my normal look. Certainly not something I did especially for you.

Of course not. Well, can I get you anything before we begin?

How about a bucket of tea and some biscuits?

Uh. . . any particular type of tea?

Oat straw tea, please.

[I had to send the husband to the feedstore for oat straw. Meanwhile Miz wandered around my yard looking at stuff.]

What in the hell would you want to keep rabbits for?

Mostly we keep them for their poop.

Good God, woman, why?

It’s great fertilizer for the garden.

Oh! Want some more? I could make a deposit.

No, uh, it’s doing pretty well as it is. We’re covered, but I really appreciate the offer.

*wanders over to the garden plot and inspects it, then steals some pea vines*

Miz! That’s so rude!

*snorts boogers* You’re the one who didn’t have refreshments to offer me. Suck it up. *steals another pea vine* So, do the rabbits taste good?

You’re an herbivore, if you don’t recall.

Well, yeah, but it just seems like once you had enough poop, you could do something more useful with them. I’m trying to help you out, here.

[Fortunately, the husband showed up just then with a steaming bucket of tea and alfalfa pressed into a biscuit shape. He gave me a look that assured me I’d be making this up to him, later.

Finally, Miz is settled and the interview can begin.]

Miz, can you tell me how you feel about Matt?

Meh.

That’s it? “Meh”?

Pretty much, yes.

Umm. . .

Oh, he’s fun to fuck with because he takes everything so seriously, but his reactions don’t vary much. He never seems to catch on that I’m just messing with him. Truthfully, I’m a little concerned about his social intelligence. At any rate, it gets boring screwing with his head after a while. Truthfully, I sort of pity the poor guy.

But James tells Matt you love him. Is he lying?

Well I do love Matt, in a superior-older-sister-to-snotty-younger-brother kind of way. Mostly I just want him to stay out of my room. Certainly, if he were ever in real danger I’d help his sorry ass out. I have done that in the past, after all. And, you know, I suppose sometimes I like to hang out with him. On rare occasions.

*to self* Moving on. *to Miz* Okay, how about James? How would you describe your feelings about him?

*squealing* I love James! If I weren’t a horse, and James wasn’t gay, I’d—

Miz! This is a family interview!

No, it’s not.

Well, that’s TMI, then.

Eh, I’d actually like it better if James were a stallion, anyway. What kind of stallion do you think he’d be? I think he’d be white with a long, flowing mane, and of course he’d be hung like a horse.

Being a horse and all.

Now you’re catching on.

*sigh* Speaking of horses, what do you think of the cover image of Turning Tricks?

Oh, that horse they found to portray me, she’s very attractive. The resemblance to me is striking, don’t you think? Well, her conformation isn’t quite up to my standard, and her coat is missing that certain sheen, but other than that it’s a good likeness, isn’t it?

Definitely.*nods convincingly*

But that white blaze on her nose, I don’t have one like that. I really don’t have any white, I don’t think. Except . . . hey, can you check my hindquarters for white markings? Why are you rolling your eyes like that?

Why don’t you ask the rabbits instead?

*eyes me suspiciously* Just ask your next damn question.

Okay, can you tell me what happened during that two or so weeks it took you to find James after he left Idaho at the end of 18% Gray?

Seventeen days. Shit, that was exhausting! There are a lot of damn hills in eastern Oregon. I’d walk up one hill, get to the top, see all the freaking hills in front of me, then walk down the stupid thing only to start up another. What a fucking nightmare.

Miz, you’ve been fired at, had your rider shot off your back, hidden from multiple robotic aircraft, and done God knows what else in your life, but walking up and down hills was a nightmare?

Well, the other stuff was interesting. That was boring.

Oo-kay. Can you tell us how you found James and Matt?

I followed James’s brain signal or whatever. His mind.

All the way from the Idaho border? That seems like a long way to pick up signals.

Yeah, well I usually had to wait until they were going at it. He broadcasts a lot farther then. Once I got close I could pick him up from pretty much any high point. Those damn hills were useful for something.

As an aside, do you feel left out when James and Matt are “going at it?”

*looks at me blankly* No. Why would I? I’m in James’s brain.

Well, that’s a bit disturbing.

Don’t ask the questions if you can’t handle the answers.

Noted. Let’s move on to the next question: what was your life like with the RIMP—Red Idaho Mounted Police—before you met James and Matt?

Pretty interesting, actually. I was slated to be sold to the rodeo, did you know that?

No.

Yeah. I guess I wasn’t “cooperative” enough. So I bit a few of the guys I didn’t like, and maybe threw the occasional rider off, big deal. Bunch of babies. I was trying to toughen them up.

So you bit and bucked riders off for their benefit?

*snorts* Hell no. I was bored. That was just a bonus for them, the unappreciative bastards.

Wait, you said before your life with the RIMP was “pretty interesting.”

How do you think I made it interesting? Get a clue.

Wow. Shocking they wanted to sell you to the rodeo.

I know! They didn’t recognize a good thing when they had it. Anyway, I was confined to the horse barn when this emergency search was called, and every officer available came in. That was the search for James and Matt, in 18% Gray. I was the last horse available when that Roberts showed up. He didn’t want to ride me. Weenie.

It didn’t turn out that well for him in the end.

That’s not my fault. That’s all on James.

Oo-kay. Um, you mentioned your room before—

I did?

Yes, when you said you wanted to keep Matt out of it.

Oh, yeah. Well, it’s all right when he’s out there shoveling my manure. I don’t mind him then.

How generous of you. So, what do you think of the new house as a whole?

Eh, it’s ugly, but it makes us all happy to have our own place. I love my new stall, which is the former garage. They had to take out the mix-crete floor for that, you know. Matt’s cousin Jude came over and set all these little explosions to break it up. Very interesting.

The demolition was interesting? Wouldn’t explosives make the structure unstable?

Um, hello? It’s the future. No, it didn’t make the structure unstable.

The interesting part was watching Jude mess with Matt. I took mental notes. Maybe he’ll be more fun to mess with now, if I implement some of the things I learned from Jude. But anyway, my stall—that’s lovely. More space than I’ve ever had to myself before. Really luxurious. I can completely stretch out, and I can open and close the door to the outside myself. Makes Matt nuts. He’s always yelling, “Close the damn door! Were you born in a barn?” *neighs laughingly*

Well, Miz, I really want to thank you for the opportuni—

Wait! Don’t you want to hear about the latest book, Turning Tricks? I’m the star.

Miz, you know I wrote the book—I think calling yourself the star might be a slight overstatement.

Well, it should have been about me. I don’t know why you felt you needed Matt in there at all.

You know what? Let’s just present the blurb and call this interview over.

Whatever, dude. Your call.

Blurb

James Ayala thought life would be smooth sailing once he escaped from a Red Idaho reeducation camp and returned to Blue Oregon. He was supposed to get answers about the biocybernetic chip that made him empathic, face the man who implanted it, and then ride off into the sunset with his new boyfriend, Matt Tennimore. Life, however, has other plans: the bad guy dies without giving them any answers, they left their horse in Idaho, and Gramma Anais finds a parasite on James’s implant—one that forces James into isolation.

Matt just got James back to Oregon where he wanted him, and extraneous brain hardware or not, he has no intention of letting him go. But James hesitates to move in with him. Despite his hurt, Matt has to man up and do his job, leaving James behind, while the rest of the team struggles to find the real mastermind behind the implant and the parasitic “Trick”—before it takes over James’s brain. But will it be too little, too late to save him?

Buy Link

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2959

Bio

Raised on a steady media diet of Monty Python, classical music and the visual arts, Anne Tenino rocked the mental health world when she was the first patient diagnosed with Compulsive Romantic Disorder. Since that day, with her trusty psychiatrist by her side, Anne has taken on conquering the M/M world through therapeutic writing. Finding out who those guys having sex in her head are and what to do with them has been extremely liberating.

Anne’s husband finds it liberating as well, although in a somewhat different way. He has accepted her need for “research”, and looks forward to the benefits said research affords him. He thinks it’s kind of cool she manages to write, as well. Her two daughters are mildly confused by Anne’s need to twist Ken dolls into odd positions. They were raised to be open-minded children, however, and other than occasionally stealing Ken1’s strap-on, they let Mom do her thing without interference.

Anne’s thing is writing gay romance and erotica.

Wondering what Anne does in her spare time? Mostly she lies on the couch, eats bonbons and shirks housework.

Check out what Anne’s up to now by visiting her site: http://annetenino.com

Giveaway

Anne has brought a copy of Turning Tricks for one lucky commenter. Get your fill of all things Miz (plus a great story about Matt and James!). The contest closes on Thursday, June 7, at 11:59 EST.

  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay and leave your email address if it is not in your profile.
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