Hello,
Kayla, long time no see!
Great to have you here, Douglas. I see you've brought a lovely cover and a sexy excerpt.
Thanks
for having me over to your blog. I’m here today to talk about bucket lists. I
know, I know, this is a bit of a departure from your more usual historical
posts (all of which I love reading!) but bear with me while I rant because I
have a little proposition for you and all the lovely visitors to your blog!
Exciting, huh?
The
concept of bucket lists was the inspiration behind my latest novella, imaginatively
titled (I’m sure you’ll agree) The
Bucket List. In the story, main character Kade gets dumped and his friends
write him a bucket list to help him break out of his shell and start having fun
again. Kade is a reluctant participant in this challenge, but participate he
does and it changes his world more than he ever thought it could.
I would imagine
the concept of bucket lists needs no introduction, but for those of you who
have come this far in life living under a rock, let me briefly explain anyway.
When you
write a bucket list, you write down all the places you want to go and all the
things you want to see, do and achieve before you shuffle off this mortal coil.
In doing this, inevitably you realize just how much there is out there to do
and how little time there might be to do it all in, but that’s part of the fun!
That’s the challenge of bucket lists and, I suppose, of life in general.
They say
that writing a bucket list focuses your attention on what you want to achieve
in life and, from personal experience, I can say that’s true. We all know that
it can be far too easy to get bogged down in life’s little details and end up
forgetting the bigger picture, and it’s also far too easy and oftentimes far
more comfortable just to stick to what we know instead of seeking out new
experiences.
I’m sure
I’m not the only person ever to find myself standing on New Year’s Eve with a
drink in my hand, wondering where on earth the year went and what I did with
it. In fact, that’s happened to me more than once, usually when I’ve had a very
busy year work-wise, and it’s not a nice feeling. It makes you wonder what
you’re doing with your life, where you’re going wrong and what you’re going to
do about it. And those are not the questions a person should be trying to
answer five minutes before midnight on the last night of an old year.
I was
still a student at university when I wrote my first bucket list. I wrote it to
remind myself that there was more to life than just studying. Over the years, I’ve
returned to it, rewriting it or retyping it whenever I’ve felt that I’m losing
sight of all the things I want to achieve and, you know something? The years
where I’ve paid extra special attention to my bucket list have never ended with
me looking back and wondering where all the days have gone, as the chords of Auld
Lang Syne start to ring out. Sure, I’m still aware of time passing by, far too
quickly for my liking, but at least more often than not it feels like I’m
managing to cling on for the ride.
You can
probably guess what my proposition is. I challenge you, each and every one of
you, to take a pen and a scrap of paper and have a go at writing your own
bucket list. Unlike Kade in my new novella, I can’t promise that it will turn
your world completely upside down, introduce you to the sort of Australian
surfer-guy that dreams are made of, and generally set you up on a path that
might lead to a hot, exciting new life, BUT, I can promise that it will make
you think.
Take an
hour. Go to a coffee shop. Order your favourite drink and arrange some sheets
of paper in front of you. First things first, do what all good writers do and
spend the next twenty minutes staring out of the window, procrastinating. Then,
start writing. List down all the places you want to see, even if you have no
idea how you’ll ever be able to afford to travel there. Write down all the
things you want to do and learn and own and achieve. I promise you, you won’t
regret it. If you’re anything like me you’ll realize that there’s a lot more
that you want to do than you expected there to be, and you’ll also see that if
you make a few changes you can begin to understand how it might just be
possible to start ticking a few things off that list. Take my word for it:
that’s an incredibly exciting place to find yourself in!
Oh, and
if you’re in need of inspiration, might I suggest you could do worse than to
have a little glance at The Bucket List?
Blurb:
When
Kade Doherty gets dumped, he expects sympathy from his friends. Instead, he
gets a bucket list. His friends want to help him enjoy life again, but Kade
isn’t convinced a list of outlandish leisure pursuits will help much with that.
To keep the peace he goes along with the plan and in the process, he meets
Blake.
Blake’s Australian accent and
surfer-boy looks are the stuff of sexual fantasies and Kade surprises everyone
– including himself – when he wastes no time making a move.
Kade goes with Blake into the
Scottish highlands, but just as he is beginning to get used to life with his
very own Mr. Australia, reality comes knocking. Kade’s newfound happiness falls
apart when his abusive ex demands they meet. Blake senses something is wrong
and he wants to help, but Kade knows he can’t confide in Blake.
After all, Kade hasn’t exactly
been honest. He might feel like a different man when he’s with Blake, but Kade
knows he’s still just an accountant from Glasgow with slight obsessive
compulsions and a bucket list that someone else wrote. He knows Blake won’t
hang around, let alone help, when he finds out the truth.
Or will he?
Excerpt:
Kade
made his way slowly over to Blake, keeping close to the relative calm of the
curving bar. He stepped in beside his Mr. Australia. Blake didn’t turn to look
at him.
Kade
assumed that, even given the circumstances, it was still acceptable to start
with, “Hello.”
Blake
turned his head, and Kade felt that warmth he had felt with his back to the
fish tanks in the Asian supermarket. “Hi,” Blake said, his voice deep enough to
carry against the music.
He
turned, opening up his body and inviting Kade to step closer. Kade did. He
wanted to, wanted to see if that strange connection he had felt earlier was
still there between them.
“Who’s
your friend?” Kade asked.
Blake
just shrugged. “Don’t know. Just some kid. Art student, apparently. He was a
good dancer, though.”
“Not
a good kisser?”
Blake
looked Kade up and down, taking his time doing so. Kade had always thought the
idea that someone could undress you with their eyes was a concept fit only for
the cheap romance novels his mum used to read, but he couldn’t think of a
better way to describe what Blake’s eyes had just done to him. The words needed
to describe how that made Kade feel wouldn’t be fit for polite company. Not
that Kade was really in polite company.
“I
wouldn’t know. Didn’t want to kiss him.” Blake reached out and stroked his hand
down Kade’s right arm, from his shoulder to his wrist. He left it there for a
few moments, holding tight, and then he pulled Kade’s wrist toward him. Kade’s
hand landed on Blake’s hip, his thumb teasing Blake’s tight, strong stomach
muscles. When Blake let go, Kade didn’t move his hand away.
“Why
didn’t you want to?” Kade couldn’t stop staring into those bright blue eyes.
Blake
shrugged and wrapped the hand that had been around Kade’s wrist around Kade’s
neck. “He’s not my type. And I was hoping I would meet someone else here
tonight. I thought it was a long shot, but I didn’t want to take the risk and
ruin my chances.”
Despite
his recent drink, Kade’s throat felt dry. He didn’t even care if that was a
lie. Blake’s strong fingers rubbed Kade’s neck just below his hairline.
“Who
were you hoping to meet?” Kade asked.
Blake
tugged him in close so their bodies were pressing together. Kade’s hand slipped
around to Blake’s back, holding on tight as Blake put his lips to the side of
Kade’s neck.
“You,”
Blake whispered. They were so close to the loudspeakers that the word should
have been lost, but Kade heard that loaded syllable and felt it translate like
heat through his body, like he had just stepped into a hot bath.
“Are
you here with somebody?”
Kade
shook his head. He felt Blake spread his legs. There was barely any distance
left between them.
“Then
would you mind if I did this?”
Kade
turned his head to find Blake’s lips less than an inch away from his own. He
smiled and tried for one of those winks he was so not used to giving, and then
let Blake close the distance between them.
Author Biography:
Douglas
Black was born and raised in bonnie Scotland. An archaeologist by trade,
Douglas started writing MM erotica - as a means of avoiding starvation at
university - before returning to the genre in 2012.
Welcome
to your fantasy.
Author Links
Twitter: @DBlackErotica
