Today I am so pleased to welcome Ethan Stone to Joyfully Jay. Ethan has come to talk to us about his latest release, Hacked Up. He has also brought along an exclusive excerpt great giveaway. Please join me in giving Ethan a big welcome!

I’m proud of all my books but I’m particularly proud of Hacked Up. I think it’s one of my best books but it’s road to getting published hasn’t been an easy one.

When I was finished with it I wanted to try a different publisher than the ones I’d used so far. At the time Samhain was one of the best in the M/M genre and known for only taking the best. It had always been a goal to get in with them so I submitted there. A few months later came the announcement that Samhain was closing. That meant I had to find a different place for my baby.

Of course, Samhain later announced it wasn’t closing after all but I still never got a response to my submission. I suppose I could have re-submitted it but I’m not as confident in the publisher as I once was.

After some extensive online research, I found an imprint of Harper/Collins that took unagented submissions. I had confidence in the story and was sure that it would be accepted. However, even after waiting three months I still had no response. I checked with the company and was told it was being checked into. A month later I still had no response.

I took that as a sign that it was time to move on. Which meant so far more than six months had been wasted. Still confident it was worthy material I began contacting several agents. And six months later I had several rejections and even more non-responses.

That’s when I decided to go the self-publishing route. I still believe in the book and think the trials so far were just meant to make me stronger. This isn’t a book I’m going to bury or shove in a forgotten folder somewhere.

I love my baby. And I hope you do too.

Excerpt

As soon as Jamey and I entered the squad room, Molly ran up to us, her excitement apparent by the gleam in her eyes. “Where have you been?”

I tapped my watch. “We’re fifteen minutes early.”

“Sorry, I’m just so—I have something to tell you.” She followed me to my desk, tapping her fingers on a file folder.

“Jesus, Molly, how much coffee have you had today?”

“Only three cups.”

“Three? How is that possible?”

“I’ve been here for two hours,” she admitted.

I pulled off my coat and set it on the back of my chair then sat. She stood there, shifting from foot to foot.

“Okay, what is it you’re so eager to tell me?”

“I identified the first victim.”

I glanced up at her and her eyes widened. It seemed as if she was going to explode at any moment.

“Excuse me?” Jamey asked. “Did you say—”

“Yes,” she squealed, “I did it. I got the victim’s name.”

Molly handed me a file and I opened it. Jamey dashed around the desk and read over my shoulder.

Julian Ramsey, twenty-four years old, of Portland, Oregon. No criminal record. His DMV photo matched the face of the man in the morgue.

“Why didn’t we catch this before?” I asked.

“There’s no missing person report,” Molly said. “He’s a businessman who travels a lot. His wife wasn’t expecting to hear from him for a couple more days. The guy’s worth millions.”

“That age and a millionaire?” Jamey sat at his desk, leaned back, and put his feet up.

“He’s some kind of tech genius. Created an app when he was twenty that he sold to GE. Every year or so he comes up with something new. That’s why he was in Seattle. Apparently, he had meetings with several companies.”

“How did you figure this out?” I asked and propped myself against my desk.

“It hit me that he had to be from out of town or there’d likely be a missing person report. He wore Gucci jeans so he had to have money, and that meant he was most likely staying at one of the nicer hotels, so I started with the most expensive one and worked my way down.”

“You made cold calls?”

“Affirmative.”

“Wow, that’s initiative,” I said.

She beamed and held her chin high. “I called them all and sent them our victim’s picture. The clerk at The Sorrento recognized him. The victim checked out the morning he was killed.”

“Interesting,” Jamey murmured and exchanged a prideful look with me.

“Once I had a name, I went from there and called his wife, Alma.”

I asked, “Did you tell her that her husband is dead?”

Molly shook her head. “No, I said he was a witness to the crime and we were trying to contact him.”

“Give me her number, and I’ll contact Portland PD and have them do the notification,” Jamey said and reached for the phone.

After Molly handed him the number, I pulled her aside. “I was serious about what I said. That was some excellent police work. I’d say you have the instincts of a detective.”

“You think so?” She grinned from ear to ear.

“Yes, I do, and I will make sure the chief knows.”

Blurb

Seattle is being plagued by a string of gruesome murders. For Detective Peter Tao, it’s a career-making case, but he’s struggling to find a lead. How is the killer choosing his victims? What is he trying to prove?

With a long list of suspects and nothing to connect them, Peter is more determined than ever to apprehend the murderer. Then Peter gets the one vital piece of evidence that ties everything together. Now he’ll have to look beyond the obvious to identify the killer before anyone else is murdered.

Solve the mystery in this fast-moving crime thriller by Ethan Stone.

Bio

Romance on the Edge

Ethan Stone doesn’t write your typical boy meets boy stories. With a combination of love and suspense he makes his characters work hard for their HEAs. If they can survive what he puts them through, then they can survive anything. He enjoys Romance with an Edge.

Ethan has been reading mysteries and thrillers since he was young. He’s had a thing for guys in uniform for just as long. That may have influenced the stories he writes.

He’s a native Oregonian with two kids. One of whom has made him a grandfather three times over; even though he is way too young.

Giveaway

Ethan has brought a book from his backlist to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Wednesday, February 15th at 11:59 pm EST.

• 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.