Loving Without Limits: Blog Tour: Alexis Duran's Matthias #giveaway #interview

Welcome all!

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Alexis Duran, author of Matthias

Hi Alexis, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

-Were you good at English? I actually kind of sucked at English. I still can't diagram a sentence to save my life. I was always several grades ahead on reading and could finish the list for the year in the first month or so, but when it came time to analyze the pieces of story, taking it apart like a mathematical equation made of metaphors, symbols, foreshadowing, irony, etc. etc. I really struggled. Storytelling always came to me intuitively, but I couldn't explain it. One year I received an A plus in the writing part of advanced English, and a D in the grammar, diagramming, analyzing part. I decided that those things must not matter and it wasn't until my writing hit a wall many years later that I had to admit I'd limited my skills and needed to learn me some grammar.

-Where do your ideas come from? This question is both easy and hard. I could just say, everywhere, but that's not terribly helpful. The truth is, ideas do come from everywhere and anything I might run across; a one paragraph newspaper clipping, a snippet of song, a weird historical fact, a funny anecdote overheard in a coffee shop, a dream. Ideas are plentiful and awesome and fun to play with. The hard part is coaxing an idea into an actual story. That's where synergy comes in. I have this swirling chaos of ideas in my head, and I have characters who I've also gathered and pieced together from life. At some point the idea and the right character collide and voila, the story begins to take shape.

-Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you? I'd rather eat worms than write an outline. I find that getting too detailed in my planning kills the juice that powers my storytelling. For me the joy of writing comes from the excitement of discovery and the amazing things that happen when you let your subconscious have its way. That said, I have to admit that with the stories I choose to actually make into novels, I've usually imagined a good deal of the story in my mind. Structured daydreaming, you might call it. If my daydream is compelling and coherent enough, it becomes my next novel. I've been working this way since I was a kid and as you can imagine, was well known for being "absent-minded". Absent in another world, most of the time.

Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors? I used to be a voracious reader but now that I'm writing three or four books a year and being published—which means tons of editing and promotional work on top of the EDJ (Evil Day Job)—I have much less time to relax with a book. However I do try to read a little every night. My current new-to-me favorites are Jordon Hawk, Astrid Amara and Rhys Ford. My forever, dear to my heart favorites are John LeCarre, Tom Robbins, Amy Tan, and a long list of others. I tend toward magical realism, historical fantasy and stories from other cultures. John LeCarre is a bit of an anomaly, being a writer of espionage thrillers, but I've adored his elegant style since I was a kid.

-What is your favorite motivational phrase? "What you can do, or think you can do, begin it, for boldness has Magic, Power, and Genius in it." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Title: Matthias
Author: Alexis Duran
Series: Order of the Black Knights #2
This is a multi-author series and all books can be read as standalones.
Release Date: November 2nd 2016
Genre: Contemporary MM Romance

BLURB

From Louisiana swamp rat to revivalist huckster to skilled con artist, Matthias Krall clawed his way out of poverty using his natural gifts of grift and manipulation to become the leader of an exclusive retreat center. Exploiting the guise of spiritual guru, Matthias seduces the rich and powerful into turning over their lives and fortunes to his control. But wealth and a small cadre of loyal followers can’t protect Matthias from the betrayal he knows is imminent. Everyone wants what Matthias has, except for one man who wants to destroy it. Dylan Connelly is a reporter who’s determined to prove the charismatic recluse is not only a fraud but a murderer.

Irresistibly drawn to Dylan despite the warnings in his gut, Matthias lures Dylan to his island retreat, determined to destroy his enemy once and for all.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | DSP | All Romance
Find Matthias on Goodreads
Find Order of the Black Knights series on Goodreads

EXCERPT

Dylan pulled the first folder off the stack and flipped through it. When Amanda had recruited him to do some legwork for her Matthias Krall piece, his heart had skipped several beats, but he’d tried to convince himself it wouldn’t be the same man. Now he knew otherwise, and the unsettled feeling returned, along with the quickening of his breath and tightening in his gut.

He glanced up and found himself staring into Matthias’s mesmerizing eyes. Not that a pixelated photo could do them justice. Still, Dylan felt like Matthias could reach right into his soul and rip out all the juicy bits. Dylan wasn’t the only who felt that way. From what Amanda could glean from the very few Rising Star members willing to talk, Matthias led private guided meditations that unlocked a person’s potential and sent them back into society even more successful and shiny than before.

Dylan snaked his hand out and clicked away from the image. Instinct told him to drop the whole thing. The story was dead. But instinct also told him Amanda was on to something. Rising Star felt every bit like a high-end cult.

And his body told him any chance to get close to Matthias was worth the risk.

No really, Dylan, didn’t we learn this lesson ten years ago?

“God, I am hopeless.” He sighed and planted his elbows on the desk, running his fingers through his hair. Back in college he’d convinced himself he was in love with Matthias even before they’d exchanged two words. He’d confused infatuation with love. At least he’d figured out that much eventually, but he’d never rid himself of the punch-to-the-gut desire he experienced whenever Matthias invaded his memories.

Matthias had run with the richest of the rich kids. Like the photos, he never seemed to be in front of the pack but always firmly in the middle, surrounded by wealth and privilege. Men and women both fawned over him, deferred to him, ogled him when he wasn’t looking. Even the professors. Dylan knew he was at the end of a long line of suitors. He had nothing to offer that Matthias didn’t have in droves. Gorgeous, rich, intelligent partners rotated on and off his arm. Dylan found it both fascinating and sickening to watch.

But young, horny Dylan couldn’t help fooling himself into believing he had a chance. Matthias had given him the look, after all. That unmistakable “I see you, and I want you” look. Dylan had been on the receiving end of the look many times from other men, but he’d never felt so powerful a tug as when it came from Matthias.

Because he was a sucker for punishment, Dylan brought back the photo of Matthias to his computer screen and allowed himself to delve deeper into the memories.

GIVEAWAY: 1x ebook copy of Gryffon Hall by Alexis Duran and $10 Amazon Giftcard

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About the Author

Alexis Duran was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. At the University of Oregon, her fascination with people and relationships led her to major in Sociology, but her main love has always been creative writing. She's worked in museums, finance, film production and for several performing arts organizations. Her favorite job so far has been inventorying the collection of a haunted Victorian Mansion. She is the author of the Masters and Mages and Edge of Night m/m fantasy series as well as several stand-alone romances. Her fiction has won several awards including the Rupert Hughes Award from the Maui Writers Conference and First Runner Up from Love Romances Cafe. She lives with one dog and four and a half cats. She is always working on the next novel and has several new ideas brewing at all times.

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