Today Ruby Red, the extended and re-edited version has released! Whoot!
Today, I'm being hosted by the QueerScifi Blog. You can also find me on the QSF FaceBook Page and Gayapolis.
I've gotten the question a couple of times from those who've read the original story a few years ago. Has Ruby Red been expanded/re-edited? Yes! The original story was around 22k and this version is around 50k. The timeline and events have been rearranged and all the telling was switched over to showing. The story backtracks to when Diego was a preteen and we see his relationship with his best friend, Denise. You get to meet Diego's brother, Hector, and be there when Diego and Beck met. So much better than the original. The essence of Diego and Beck is the same with Diego struggling with his feelings for Beck. I love the end result of expansion and I think you will, too. ~Lexi
Title : Ruby Red Booty Shorts and a Louisville Slugger
Author: Lexi Ander
Categories: Gay / Paranormal / Urban Fantasy
Series: #1 of I.O.N.
Blurb:
Eager to escape the shadows of a tragic loss, Diego built a new life
with his best friend, Beck. When he finally decided one night to admit that
he's in love with Beck, that new life takes a new, hot and happy turn. But
happiness is easily shattered, as he's learned all too well, and this time it's
ruined by the arrival of a mysterious package and then men bent on violence.
Memories of a dead brother and an untouchable drug lord rise inevitably to the
surface, and Diego dreads that the man he loves is mired in the world that
Diego tried to escape. But Beck's secrets aren't so simple, and neither is the
world in which Diego has been living...
Buy Links:
Excerpt:
CHAPTER ONE
Diego walked the dreaming. Not the normal everyday imaginings of deep
sleep, but the type of dream his abuela whispered of, where the veil of time
drew back to show him the future. Unlike a normal dreamscape, where the colors
were flat and the people one-dimensional figments of his imagination, here in
the dreaming he'd one day be able to walk the scape as events unfolded around
real people.
He was barely twelve years old and this was his very first dreaming.
Abuela would be proud, and even though he wanted to run and tell her, he had to
put his enthusiasm aside and do his duty well. Until the veil dropped back
down, he wouldn't be able to pull away from the dreaming. But why would he want
to? This was a blessing from the Gods. His responsibility was to watch and
learn, but more importantly, he had to remember.
A heavy fog caressed his skin as the mist slid past him. The cold touch
caused a shiver to work its way up his spine. He stood in a warehouse, and the
concrete had a layer of grit that clung to the bottom of his bare feet. The
smell of old oil burned his nose and coated his tongue. No matter how many
times he swallowed, the rancid taste clung to his mouth. People clustered
around a painted circle in the open area of the floor. Diego recognized many of
the gangbangers that belonged to The Man who ruled their streets of East L. A.
with an iron fist.
A lead ball formed in Diego's stomach. No one looked at or acknowledged
him, but they moved out of his way all the same. Diego's toes butted up against
the broad white line. The mark wasn't painted on the floor as he'd first
thought, but was chalky, like the powder used to mark a baseball diamond. The
noise of the crowd unnerved him. He could see faces of the people, mouths
moving exaggeratedly as they spoke, but their voices were odd: their slow,
slurred speech made the words almost intelligible. The laughter, though—the
eerie cackling skirted over his skin and filled him with dread.
On the other side, the crowd hoisted someone above them. He rode the
outstretched arms until he reached the edge of the circle and then they set the
person on his feet inside. Diego's brother, Hector, appeared alternatively
nervous and excited as he bounced around the interior of the ring on the balls
of his feet. Five years older than Diego, Hector was the tallest person in
their family, just shy of five foot ten. Diego wanted to have a strong body
like his brother's when he was older, but his madre told him Hector spent too
much time at the gym and not enough time on his studies to make good grades.
Hector claimed he had to be strong to protect their sisters from the vatos.
Diego couldn't deny how proud he was when people stepped warily away from the
line when Hector bounced close, yelling excitedly at the crowd. His hermano had
a reputation for ruthlessness when he defended the familia, and the vatos had
learned the hard way to keep space between them and Hector.
Something—someone—stepped into the circle, the figure blurred and
wispy-thin as if they were a ghost and not a solid person. Hector halted before
the apparition, his expression sobering, his pinky tapping nervously on his
thigh. Who would make Hector anxious? Hector was fearless; no one scared him.
Well, perhaps there was one person. The Cadillac Man. Now that Diego thought
about it, the sensation pressing against his skin wasn't caused by the crowd,
but had always been caused by the nearness of the Cadillac Man.
"Hector Emmanuel Hernandez," Diego flinched, shocked Hector
had given someone his full name. Their abuela warned to never do so. Names had
power and could be used against them. The raspy quality of the voice caused
Diego's hair to stand on end. "Do you vow your service unto me, do as I
bid of your own free will, and will you be loyal to me in exchange for the
safety of your family?"
Hector bobbed his head at each question, bouncing in place. "Yes,
sir."
Black smoke drifted from the blurred figure, the tendrils snaking
around Hector's ankles. "No," Diego breathed. Something was wrong—he
had to stop Hector. He went to step over the line and an electrical current
zapped him as he ran into an invisible wall. Blue webbed lines spread out from
where he frantically struck the barrier again and again, ignoring the sharp
pain in his fists.
"Will you accept the gift of the jaguar, willingly submit to the
way of the warriors of old?" The grating voice held an air of expectation.
Diego slammed his fist against the wall. "Hector, no!" he
shouted.
"Enter your blood into the book of binding." The apparition
held out a large weathered tome several inches thick.
Withdrawing a pocket knife from his jeans, Hector sliced his palm over
the yellowed pages. He squeezed blood from his fist while Diego yelled and
screamed for Hector to stop. Couldn't he feel the wrongness of this place, in
the people surrounding him? Did Hector not see the darkness of the person he
was vowing himself to?
"It is done." The finality of the statement was like a punch
to Diego's gut.
Thank you for stopping by and reading!!
