Today I am so pleased to welcome Morgan Brice (aka Gail Z. Martin) to Joyfully Jay. Morgan has come as part of the Coastal Magic Convention Blog Tour to talk to us about her latest release, Burn (which I reviewed here and loved). Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Love, Ghosts, and Danger

I’ve loved ghost stories since I was a little kid. I’ve also loved classic monster movies, cemeteries, and pretty much anything paranormal. Other little kids used cardboard boxes to make race cars and spaceships. I made a coffin and rose from it (I think I was about six. My favorite TV show in pre-school was Dark Shadows). The first story I ever ‘wrote’ was when I was five. I had to dictate it to my grandmother, because I couldn’t spell yet. It was about a vampire.

If there’s a storyline that sounds good, I’ll think it sounds even better if you add something spooky and supernatural, because that’s like hot fudge sauce and a cherry on top for me. What’s better than an adventure story? One with ghosts and creatures. What makes a romance even better? Supernatural stuff!

When I was in elementary school, my mom was a teacher, and she had to stay after to grade papers. I was allowed to wander (small town, different times), and there was a big, beautiful old cemetery a few blocks away, so I spent many hours meandering among the huge trees and century-old monuments. One of my favorite ways to amuse myself was to make up stories about the people based on their epitaphs. There were so many delicious hints about the lives and loves of the people from long ago, and I would imagine what they must have been like with their old-fashioned names and the clues they left behind.

For the last dozen years, I’ve written epic fantasy, urban fantasy, steampunk/alternate history and comedic horror as Gail Z. Martin. Those books are 95% action/adventure and about 5% romance, with plenty of magic, monsters, and supernatural surprises. Magic works differently in each of the epic fantasy series (Chronicles of the Necromancer, Assassins of Landria, Ascendant Kingdoms, and Darkhurst), and there are plenty of spooky creatures. For my urban fantasy series (Deadly Curiosities, Sons of Darkness, and Spells, Salt and Steel—co-written with Larry N. Martin), there’s a shared magic system—because characters make cameo appearances between books—and lots of cursed objects, haunted places, and legendary monsters. Even in the steampunk/alternate history Iron & Blood and Storm & Fury series (also co-written with Larry), magic and technology war for control, and monsters haunt the smoky back streets of Victorian Pittsburgh.

When I also write urban fantasy male/male paranormal romance as Morgan Brice, the books are 50% action/adventure and 50% romance—and there’s still plenty of sexy supernatural suspense. In my Witchbane series (Witchbane, Burn, Dark Rivers) Seth Tanner uncovers a cycle of ritual killings that feeds the power of a dark warlock, and he’s hell bent on stopping Jackson Malone from becoming the next victim. He’s used to risking his neck. He never intended to risk his heart. And in my Badlands series (Badlands, Lucky Town, The Rising-coming in 2019), psychic medium Simon Kincaide teams up with skeptical cop Vic D’Amato to stop supernatural killers in Myrtle Beach.

In real life, I love going on ghost tours and visiting of haunted places when I’m in new cities, I still adore touring historic cemeteries, and I’ll find the creepiest and weirdest stuff in any museum I go to like I’m drawn by a magnet. My adult kids buy me books of regional ghost stories for Christmas, and I am a huge fan of the TV show Supernatural. I love meeting new people, so I’m really looking forward to coming back to Coastal Magic! Find me and say hello!

When I’m not writing, I’m hanging out with my husband and co-author, Larry N. Martin, spoiling our two fluffy dogs, and reading a spooky story!

Find Gail/Morgan on Twitter @MorganBriceBook, on Facebook at The Worlds of Morgan Brice https://www.facebook.com/groups/143333126341151/ and at www.MorganBrice.com. Also @GailZMartin on Twitter, www.Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms on Facebook, www.pinterest.com/gzmartin and at www.GailZMartin.com. Never miss out on the news and new releases—newsletter signup link http://eepurl.com/dd5XLj

Blurb

One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse.

Seth uncovers a cycle of ritual murders that feed the witch-disciples’ power, and he saves Evan Malone, one of the warlock’s potential victims. Neither Seth nor Evan expected to fall in love, but when the dust settles, they find themselves on the run and on the road together, heading toward Pittsburgh, on the trail of the next killer.

Seth wonders whether Evan will come to regret his choice to stay together, now that he’s living the reality of Seth’s nomadic life and the risks that come with it. He wants Evan to stay, but he’s afraid that Evan would be better off without him, living a normal life. Evan’s whole world has been upended, but there’s one thing he’s sure of, his love for Seth. Evan worries that he’s a liability, not yet able to hold his own in Seth’s rough-and-tumble world, but determined to do whatever necessary to have Seth’s back. On the way to face the next warlock, supernatural threats abound, forcing them to learn to fight as a team.

Fate and danger threw them together. But once the adrenaline fades, will love last?