Author Name: Michelle Osgood Book Name: The Better To Kiss You WithRelease Date: April 21, 2016
Pages or Words: 182 pages
Categories: Contemporary, Lesbian Romance, Paranromal
Blurb: Deanna, the moderator for Wolf’s Run, an online werewolf role-playing game, wanders the local forest with her dog Arthur and daydreams about Jaime, the attractive, enigmatic woman who lives upstairs. When threats from an antagonistic player escalate, Deanna wonders if her job could be riskier than she’d ever imagined—and if her new girlfriend knows more about this community than she had realized.
Excerpt: “I think I know blood when I see it,” Deanna pointed out. “It was definitely blood.”
Beside her on the floor, Nathan leaned his head back against the couch and, behind the black frames of his glasses, rolled his bright blue eyes. “I’m not saying it wasn’t blood. But just, like, blood happens.”
“‘Blood happens.’ You sound like a tampon commercial.”
“Not true.” Nathan snickered over the top of his glass. “They never use the word ‘blood.’”
Deanna choked on a mouthful of wine.
“Anyway,” Nathan continued, “it was probably just a dead animal. Dogs love that stuff.”
“He wasn’t happy, though. He was scared. Something scared him. And Arthur’s brave. He doesn’t scare easily.” Deanna wiped the Pinot Gris from her chin and they both leaned forward to look at Arthur, who was sprawled artlessly on top of his dog bed and snoring loudly. Deanna smothered a giggle with the back of her hand and grabbed the bottle of wine.
“Just don’t confuse fantasy with reality. I think your job is messing you up.”
Deanna snorted. “Wolf’s Run is a just game, Nathan. I haven’t forgotten that.”
“Really? Because you’re talking about mysterious bodies torn up in the woods, and if that doesn’t sound like werewolves…”
Deanna gave Nathan a shove. “Ha, ha, very funny. I’m not like that weirdo who thinks that werewolves actually exist. It’s role-playing. Playing being the key word.” For the most part, the players of Wolf’s Run were a good crowd—with the exception of one user who seemed to think that he actually was a werewolf. Apparently, he took offense to the game’s depictions of “his species,” considering them inaccurate and insulting. The rants had been going on for months, and the situation would have been laughable, except that in the last few weeks his posts had taken on a more threatening tone.
Every time Deanna deleted his posts and blocked his username he simply created another account. The Wolf's Run team didn’t want to block his IP address because IP addresses could be shared by a large number of people, and doing so might block legitimate players from the game. Besides, it was child’s play to circumvent a block by logging in from a third-party app or web service, or just logging in from a different location. Deanna could only shut him down and hope that this time he finally gave up.
“Well, then just accept that Arthur found a bunny rabbit or something and decided it would be a good idea to roll around in its mangled corpse.”
Deanna shook her head. “You didn’t see him. It was a lot of blood.” It had taken two desperately unpleasant baths and an entire bottle of shampoo to get Arthur clean. Deanna had had to scrub her bathtub three times before she’d felt comfortable using it again.
Nathan grabbed her hand with his long, thin fingers. “Listen, you’re my best friend, and I love you, and I’m sure that it was really terrifying, but I’m also one hundred percent sure that you are blowing this way out of proportion. No more fantasy werewolf role playing nonsense for you.”
“Until my shift starts in…” Deanna tapped the screen of her phone. “Ten hours.”
“Until then,” Nathan agreed and clinked their glasses. “Now, tell me more about your hot neighbor.”
Deanna buried her head in her hands and groaned. “It’s awful. She’s gorgeous. And I can’t think around her. Or speak. I turn into a spluttering sixth grader with her first crush.”
“That’s disgusting and adorable. Tell me more. What’s her name?”
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Interlude Press (Paperback):
Michelle Osgood lives in Vancouver, BC, with her partner Elizabeth and their two cats. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and has been reading, writing and blogging in online communities for five years. She likes to read romance novels, speculative fiction and feminist pop culture critique.
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Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: Monika Gross
Interview:
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Michelle Osgood author of The Better to Kiss You With.
Hi Michelle thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hi, thanks for having me! I’m a writer who lives in Vancouver, BC, with my partner Elizabeth and our two black cats. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and have been fascinated with storytelling for as long as I can remember. The Better to Kiss You With is a paranormal romance about Deanna, the moderator of an online werewolf role playing game, who falls for the mysterious woman living above her.
1) How do you feel about e-books vs print books?
My personal preference is always to read, and buy, the print version. I love the accessibility of e-books, they’re cheaper, require less storage, and allow authors don’t want, or are unable to, publish through traditional means to get their stories out there, and that’s so important! But for me, nothing beats holding a book in my hands, and later displaying it in my bookshelves.
2) What process did you go through to get your first book published?
I lurked around Interlude Press’ social media for a year. I had been writing fanfiction for about two years when they went public with their press, and from the beginning I knew that they were people I would love to write for. When they announced that they were accepting submissions for original novels in June of 2015, I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance! I had about four months to pull something together, and from that, The Better to Kiss You With was born.
3) How do you find or make time to write?
I consider myself lucky because other than a full-time job I don’t have that many responsibilities to take up a lot of my time (no kids, no dependent parents, no dog that needs walking). Other than socializing with friends, or spending time with my partner, I have a fair amount of free time outside of work, so it’s just a matter of balancing how much person-time I need as an extrovert, and how much working time I need as a writer!
4) Name one person who you feel supported you outside of your family members?
Do I have to name just one? I had so many friends who really had my back throughout this, and their support and pride absolutely made it possible! But, since you’ve pressed me, I’ll say my friend Katelyn. No matter how stuck I was, or how silly the question, or what time of day, I knew I could always count on her to text me back and reassure, berate, or discuss with me.
5) Tell us about a book you’re reading now.
I am currently re-reading Gone With the Wind. I have my grandmother’s copy, which is so old that there are two columns of text on each page, like a bible, and it has her maiden name written in the front of it. I read Gone With the Wind (and this same copy!) as a teenager, so it’s something I’m revisiting. The writing is amazingly descriptive, and I’m hoping it helps me with the project I’m working on right now…
Tour Dates & Stops:
21-Apr: BFD Book Blog, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Hearts on Fire, Bayou Book Junkie 22-Apr: My Fiction Nook, Kirsty Loves Books, Inked Rainbow Reads, Happily Ever Chapter 25-Apr: Oh My Shelves, Foxylutely Book Reviews, Louise Lyons, A.M. Leibowitz 26-Apr: Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Havan Fellows, Open Skye Book Reviews 27-Apr: Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Butterfly-O-Meter, Prism Book Alliance 28-Apr: Nephy Hart, QUEERcentric Books, Emotion In Motion, Unquietly Me 29-Apr: Chris McHart, Velvet Panic, Book Reviews and More by Kathy 2-May: Charley Descoteaux, Love Bytes, Bonkers About Books 3-May: Alpha Book Club, Cathy Brockman Romances, Rednecks and Romance, MM Good Book Reviews 4-May: Dawn’s Reading Nook, Divine Magazine, Molly Lolly
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Thank you for having me!
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