Today I am so pleased to welcome Lisa Henry to Joyfully Jay. Lisa has come to talk to us about her latest release, Darker Space. She has also brought along a great tourwide giveaway. Please join me in giving Lisa a big welcome!

 

Hi! Welcome to the blog tour to celebrate the release of Lisa Henry’s Darker Space. I’m visiting some of my favourite blogs around the place to talk a bit about writing Darker Space and sharing some of my influences, ideas, and even an excerpt or two! Don’t forget to leave a comment, for your chance to win a prize!

Each comment on this blog tour enters you for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Entries close October 21, 2015, and contest is not restricted to US residents. Remember to leave your email address in the comments so I know how to reach you!

When it came to writing Darker Space, it took a while for me to figure out which secondary characters I wanted to bring back from Dark Space. And given that writing a story is all about conflict, who better to throw into the mix than Chris Varro, Brady’s interrogator from Dark Space, and also Cam’s ex-boyfriend?

In Dark Space, we don’t learn a lot about Chris. We know he works in intel, and we know he and Cam broke up because he chose that job over their relationship. We know that there were no hard feelings over the breakup. We also know, from his actions, that Chris Varro is the kind of guy who might not like torture much, but, when it comes to getting information about the Faceless, he’s prepared to overlook the use of it. Does this make him a bad guy?

When it came to including Chris Varro in Darker Space, I had to think a little more about his motivations. I had to think about what sort of guy he really was. History is full of men who’ve stood by and let bad things happen, for what they thought were the right reasons. Morality, in a time of war, is a luxury Chris Varro can’t afford to entertain. As he says to Brady:

“Torture? That was an advanced interrogation technique.”

“You can take your advanced interrogation technique and shove it up your ass.” I showed him my middle finger. “Sir.”

Chris curled his hands around the bars of my cell and stared through at me. His handsome face—and it was handsome; I would have preferred he had a face like the back end of a dog, but you can’t have everything—seemed shuttered. Then he smiled slightly. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. “It was the Faceless. Would I stand by and let it happen again? Yeah, I would. If I thought someone was hiding information about the Faceless and I had to hurt some innocent guy to find it out, then yes. And I’m never going to apologize for that.”

And why should he? Chris isn’t in this to do the right thing. He’s in this to ensure the survival of humanity.

While I was writing Darker Space, though, a different side of Chris emerged than I’d seen in the first book. Because while Chris Varro might inhabit some morally gray areas, he isn’t a bad guy. Oh, he’s the bad guy as far as Brady is concerned, sure, but that’s only because Brady is jealous of hell that Chris was with Cam first. But Chris isn’t the villain of the story. Partly because that would have been too easy, but also because of Cam.

Would Cam really have dated Chris Varro if he really was a bad guy? It just didn’t ring true to me. Because I think Cam is a good judge of character. He’s one of the few people who thinks Brady is worthwhile, after all. And I can’t imagine Cam being with someone who wasn’t, at heart, a decent guy. And I think that explains a lot of Cam’s disgust in the first book when Chris stands by as Brady is “interrogated”—Chris is supposed to be better than that.

There are other secondary characters from Dark Space who make an appearance in Darker Space, but Chris Varro took me a little bit by surprise with how much he changed the course of this story, and how much I came around to his character in the end. I hope he takes you by surprise too.


Blurb

darker spaceBrady Garrett is back on Earth. He’s living with his partner Cam and they’re raising his sister Lucy together. Life is better than some feral reffo from Kopa has any right to hope, and Brady knows it. He’s even grateful for it, most of the time. He loves Cam, even though he’s afraid that he’s not good enough for him, and he’s still having nightmares about the alien Faceless.

Cameron Rushton loved being a pilot once, and he still feels the pull of the starlight. He’s building a life with Brady now, and with Lucy. Life is good, even if it’s not without its complications. Both Brady and Cam are dealing with the endless cycle of interviews, tests, and questions that the military hierarchy hopes will reveal the secrets of the aliens who could very easily destroy humanity. They have each other though, and together they’re making it work.

But from out in the black, Kai-Ren is still watching and everything Brady and Cam think they’ve won, they stand to lose all over again.


Bio

Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.

Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

Connect with Lisa: Blog | Twitter | Goodreads


Giveaway

Lisa has brought a $20 Amazon gift card to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter.  Entries close October 21, 2015, and contest is not restricted to US residents. 

  • By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win.  The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
  • Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
  • Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
  • All book prizes are in electronic format unless otherwise specified.
  • By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
  • Readers may only enter once for each contest.  Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
  • Void where prohibited by law.
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