Today I am lucky enough to have my friend J.A. Rock, author of the magnificent By His Rules (I gushed about it on GoodReads a while back -- before we actually met) and the upcoming Wacky Wednesday, stop by and discuss doing it.

Well, not, like it. But just, you know. That awesome feeling when you're doing it.

I'm not helping. I need some inspiration, clearly. Take it away, J.A.:

---

A big ole "Yay!" All the prizes from last week's, um, extravaganza have been claimed, so now I can recite the list of winners:

From the giveaway and interview at Joyfully Jay: Angel Flower! Hi, Angel, hope you dig Nobody's Hero. Jamie's kind of a weirdo, but he has his moments. (Or so Kellan tells me.)

From the St. Patrick's Day gc giveaway: Erica Pike! While I'm on the subject, she, K-Lee Klein, and NJ Nielsen are the brains behind the Hop Against Homophobia, so if you haven't checked that out already, why not hop on board?

And from the big Nobody's Hero giveaway, three winners, of course:

Pack #1, which contained comics and music, went to Tracy. It should get there soon, and when it does, I hope you enjoy Kellan's favorite Tossers album -- Kelly particularly recommends their version of "The Rocky Road to Dublin"... but he would.

Pack #2, which contained comics and superpowered love, went to Reneé. As I have said many, many times before, I looooove that Spidey/Torch team-up -- and so does Kellan. Can't wait for you to get the package and see it in all its glory.

Pack #3, which contained music and superpowered love, went to Panalopy. A fellow paddy rock fan, here's one more for your collection! It's not MY favorite Flogging Molly album (though I love it), but it's definitely Kellan's. We don't always agree on these things. He is stubborn like that.

Thanks again to everyone who dropped by to help me celebrate the new book. <3

Well the big Nobody's Hero giveaway has ended and the winners have been emailed. If I don't hear from them over the next 24 hours I'll let random.org go to again and give me a new answer. Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by over the course of the week! It was huge!

No really. This week has genuinely been huge. Here's a quick recap:

1. New Book!

2. Fabulous review at Joyfully Jay. I think the best thing about this story is how likable both Jamie and Kellan are and how much I found myself rooting for them to make it work. As much as Jamie is attractive, popular, and wealthy, he is also an incredibly good and kind guy. He is thoughtful and caring and generous with others and you just can't help but like him despite being the "popular guy." I could really feel for him as he found himself torn between his two worlds. ... I also really loved Kellan despite his prickly nature (or perhaps partly because of it).

Thanks to Jay for giving it a shot -- not to mention so fast after release. She totally gets my boys. Rad.

3. Interview and giveaway at Joyfully Jay. Gratz, Angel! Jay asked about superheroes, superpowered love, upcoming books, my evil doppelganger, all kinds of fun stuff. Thanks again, Jay.

4. Gorgeous review at QMO Books from Lena Grey. Written in first person, following Jamie's thoughts and feelings was often like trying to follow Comedian Robin Williams through one of his outrageously ad-libbed routines—fast, furious, witty, and absolutely brilliant. I did several double-takes with the way Jamie described the people and situations around him; marveling at the way he describes the hilarious, happy, poignant, serious, and sad people and events surround him.

Thanks so much for checking it out, Lena, and for the thoughtful, sensitive review.

5. St. Patrick's Day fun. Awwww, look how cute they are! Kellan with his supercatholic tattoos and bottle of Powers and Jamie with his I Heart My Irish Boyfriend shirt. Thanks, Astro!

Also, Kelly DJ'd St. Patrick's Day. Any time you need your Paddy Rock fix, he'll be here for you. Hurling abuse at his siblings. (Okay, mostly Finn, but Finn totally deserves it.) Some of those tracks are on the official sountrack in the back of the book, but not many. Like two, I think.

6. Lovely review from Lauraadriana at The LL's Word. They were great together and OH MY HOTNESSS....SO SMEXY!! 

I could quote more stuff because that review is super fun, but really, that line made me smile for like 12 hours straight alone. I'd kind of just like to frame it and put it on my wall.

7. Hung out at a TRS party and dropped some hot excerpts all over the place. I crossposted two of them to my tumblr (A Stolen Moment on the 4th of July - Libido Override at the Copy Machine so they'd be constantly available, but one of them, the steamiest of all, will disappear eventually, once TRS lets it go. Check in now for a "shut up and get naked, Jamie" moment, or -- well. It's in the book. (That and a looooooot more after.)

And that's just the Nobody's Hero related stuff! I also had fabulous guest authors drop some inspiration on me. And I FINALLY got to see Kasabian! My inner Malory is so pleased.

As pleased as Malory ever gets. But more on that... later...

Thank you to everyone who stopped by for this wonderful week here at the old Superpowered Love blog. I'm going to go sleep for like 24 hours now. Well, no, because I need to be awake for Spartacus tomorrow. But, um, 20 hours, definitely. Loooooooove!

I actually grew bored of blogging about myself sometime at the beginning of March, but! As it turns out, Nobody's Hero dropped a week earlier than we originally (maybe) though it (kinda) would. Which is a good thing, but it screwed up my plans to do another fun inspirations post and give it the proper attention it deserves -- which is to say not sharing a day with me trying to give crap away. Because the character inspiration stuff I have collected this time?

Awesome.

So here we go, in the same vein as The Inspired Part 1 post -- now with new authors!

First off, the lovely Cara Bristol -- who, for the record, is currently up for "best BDSM" at TRR, so check her out! When I was digging around for author inspiration for this post, Cara found a piece she'd written earlier in the year about Reckless in Moonlight, her latest release from LI.

The post is called Behind the scenes: what you DON’T see in this erotic romance, and it has some fabulous bullet points. I love the stuff about how she was inspired by growing up in Southern California (I am SUCH a sucker for a book where the setting becomes a character of its own and infuses the whole thing). Also interesting: the bits about her favorite parts.

(She does not say what inspired the kitchen sex scene. That's okay. I'm sure it's inspired enough by itself.)

Next up, a great, if vaguely scary, post from K.C. Burn. Trompe L'oeil has been on my to-read list since it dropped because -- well, okay, for one it looks super hot. But also, hey, art history nerd. Cannot help myself.

So imagine my excitement when she directed my attention to Sources of Inspiration: The Hellhole Apartment on her blog:

My first apartment was a hole, for various and sundry reasons. But I’m a writer… which means it also gave me a lot of inspiration (when I wasn’t cowering in the corner thinking I should call the cops or wondering just how many cockroaches qualified as a public health hazard).

Yeah, like that old saying, "Bad things don't happen to writers; stories happen to writers." Also, cockroaches. Ew.

Really, though, check out the post. The way she tells the story is just magnificent.

Allie Ritch was also kind enough to provide some fun inspiration for me, which -- I mean, come on, she writes books about Alien Sex. You know I'm all over that like white on rice. She mailed me this fabulous bit:

Like most writers, the inspiration for my stories can come from anywhere. I got the idea for my first erotic sci-fi romance, Switching Positions, from a conversation with a friend. We were discussing how hard it is to be a woman in today’s society. It got me thinking. Men don’t exactly have an easy time either. How would I feel if I were the one expected to make the first move, pop the question, serve as the main breadwinner, etc.? Today, women are taking over a lot of these roles, but these tasks are still predominantly expected of the men. Well, next thing you know, I’m writing a story about a planet where gender roles are reversed. Like a domino effect, I then got the idea for my Alien Sex Ed series from a passing comment I made in Switching Positions about a Sex Ed class the heroine took in school. What would a Sex Ed class on another planet be like? Voila, more ideas and more books. Now I’m currently drafting a new paranormal work that was inspired by a wildlife documentary I saw on T.V. So you see, you just never know. Inspiration can be found in the oddest places.

Preach, sister. Though I would like to throw in that it takes a particularly devious and lovely mind to come up with an alien take on the subject. Which makes me gleefully happy to know you, Allie.

Last up this time around, an excellent series of posts recently started by Missy Welsh. She recently announced some very cool news about her new short story series with Amber Allure. (I KNOW OMG.) Since then, she's been doing these fabulous "Inspiration behind the story" posts about it.

The first one is, appropriately enough, about what I believe will be the first of the AA stories to drop, Inspiration Behind the Story: What. I really like the way she describes how this picture of Joel Rush (unf those tattoos! Yes, I have a thing. No one is surprised.) hit her with the idea, so I'll just let her tell it. But it's gorgeous. The second is Inspiration Behind the Story: Come Cuddle Me -- and anyone who has seen some of the lovefest that can happen on tumblr will completely sympathize with how this one happened. (Also: adorable. Oh my god.)

So obviously I am now stalking Missy's blog to get more of these little tidbits when she allows us. And also, to stalk the release of these stories because mmmmmm short fiction.

Wow. So this post is all over the place. Which only goes to show that Allie's on the right track about finding inspiration anywhere. Hopefully I'll be able to convince more authors to do this in another month or two with me, because after only two, these are already my favorite blog posts ever. Partly, I confess, because they make me feel a little more sane -- or at least like I'm in good company. Mostly because of how they're exploding my to-read pile due to sheer awesome.

Signing off til tomorrow -- thanks again, rad authors!

He does not like me tacking "DJ" onto the front of his name, but I'm the boss, dammit!

Okay, I'm not, but I can pretend.

That's right, it's now officially St. Patrick's day, so if you're looking for some mood music, why not let Kellan Shea, paddy rock aficionado and Jamie's hero (wait, no, Jamie's his hero. Anyhow!) help you out. Throughout the day, once an hour, my tumblr will spew forth loud, obnoxious -- okay, occasionally very pleasant and melodic Irish-inspired tunes. Don't do tumblr? It's cool. Check in on my twitter if you like, though I'm sure I'll interrupt the music with my own inanities now and then. Even better: hit up the DJ Kellan tag every now and then, and the music shall be yours sans interruption.

And I'll be up around noon to see who won the gift card from the blog hop. And start on the Guinness. And turn up the volume.

Sláinte!

Kellan: Hold fucking still -- you're messing up my angle!
Jamie: You keep fellating that bottle and I will do anything you say.
Kellan: Shit. Spilled.
Jamie: I can always lick it off.
Kellan: It's the right thing to do. People who waste whiskey go to the special hell.
Jamie: You're adorkable.
Kellan: ... You pronounced it wrong.
Jamie: No, baby. I really didn't.

Okay, okay, before you get up on me about stereotyping my own by having an Irish-American character who likes to (responsibly!) get wrecked sometimes, let me just link my rant from this post on my tumblr on this very subject. Better yet, check out what Cracked.com has to say, paying special attention to the awesome bit on drinking. Ha!

Kellan watched the fire build, teeth clacking absently against the mouth of his beer bottle. Was he mad at Finn? Did he care that Ken wound them up like that? Or was he just so used to it all that he didn’t even notice anymore? Was he remembering this same party, years ago, when he was as young as the stooges and running around in bare feet screaming and wrestling? 

 Was he sorry he’d brought me? 

 Why was I even thinking that? What the fuck was wrong with me today? 

 “Okay.” Ken held up something like a smallish guitar -- no, wait, that was a banjo. When he had most people’s attention, he said, “Where are we starting?” 

 “‘Rocky Road to Dublin’!” Finn announced, disentangling himself from the girlfriend and making his way toward a guitar case. He pulled Tara away from her college boy and dragged her to the front with him. 

 I looked at Kellan. “You’re kidding.” 

 “Nope. And I apologize in advance for how much this will weird you out, but you might as well get the full experience.” 

 And so I did. Several tries at “The Rocky Road to Dublin” ended in chaos and laughter, but the rest of the impromptu program worked out a little better. The kids ran around and danced and babbled; the grownups stood and sat in clusters, sucking on their beers, intermittently singing along and talking amongst themselves.

So hey, cool things to do in celebration today:
1. Enter the big Nobody's Hero giveaway. Comics, paddy rock, and beer paraphernalia up for grabs. Oh yeah, and superpowered love, naturally.
2. Head over to Joyfully Jay, where there's not only a fabulous review of Nobody's Hero from yesterday, but there will also be an interview with me later today [ETA: interview! Yay!] where I'm giving away a copy of the book.
3. Comment right here, right now, on this post, and be entered to win a a superspecial St. Patrick's Day bonus giveaway. From now until 12 noon tomorrow, March 17, one person who comments here will win a $10 gift card to Amazon, ARe, B&N, or Loose Id -- winner's choice. Just remember to please leave some way to contact you if your email isn't in your profile, or I'll have to give it to the next person.
4. Visit all the other blog hop spots and hit up their giveaways! Every comment on every blog hop post is also an entry to win one of our two grand prizes:

Grand Prize 1: Winner's Choice of a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
Grand Prize 2: Winner's Choice of a $90 Amazon or Barnes&Noble Gift Card.

And come back for St. Patrick's tomorrow if you can. Kellan's going to be DJing. Let's hope he's more lucid than I plan to be.

(I haven't figured out how that's going to work, yet. Ahem.)
[ETA: hop stuff removed, since the java was tweaking out my computer after a few weeks!]

Thank you, this contest is now closed!!

To celebrate the release of Nobody's Hero, let's have another giveaway! This time around we'll do some awesome comics, some paddy rock, and a little something to keep your furniture safe while you read... and drink. Oh, and a few copies of the book, too. Be sure and read the prize pack contents carefully, because all three have different stuff and you can only enter for one.

Here's how it works:
-Choose a prize pack -- you can only enter for one, and each has its own page.
-Comment on your chosen pack page (not on this post) with some contact information to let me know that's the one you want. Please be willing to email me your mailing address, if you win. I'll write you a very sweet letter on pretty paper, if you do. Note: this giveaway is international -- anyone, any continent is welcome to enter.
-I'll number the comments and let random.org choose the winners at 11.59 p.m. EST, March 22.
-Profit.


Click through for visual aids, links to the booty, and, of course, to enter!

Prize Pack #1 (Music & Comics!)
-Spider-Man and Human Torch "I'm With Stupid" by Slott and Templeton. (Digest-sized paperback collecting the whole team-up.)
-The Tossers - On A Fine Spring Evening. (Audio CD.)
-Guinness coaster. (Cork-backed official Guinness gear)

Prize Pack #2 (Superpowered Love & Comics!)
-Nobody's Hero by Katey Hawthorne. (Or, if you already have it/are going to buy it, Riot Boy or Equilibrium -- your choice! EBook delivered via email.)
-Spider-Man and Human Torch "I'm With Stupid" by Slott and Templeton. (Digest-sized paperback collecting the whole team-up.)
-Guinness coaster. (Cork-backed official Guinness gear)

Prize Pack #3 (Superpowered Love & Music!)
-Nobody's Hero by Katey Hawthorne. (Or, if you already have it/are going to buy it, Riot Boy or Equilibrium -- your choice! EBook delivered via email.)
-Flogging Molly - Within a Mile of Home. (Audio CD)
-Guinness coaster. (Cork-backed official Guinness gear)


Troubleshooting:
If Blogger won't let you comment on your chosen page, send an email to kate AT kateyhawthorne DOT com, letting me know which prize pack you want. I'll comment for you, and you will be entered in the proper order, I promise.

Some notes on the booty:
- Don't fear the comics -- it's a tiny little self-contained story about these two teaming up and snarking at each other and being generally ridiculous. Very easy to jump into with no prior knowledge. Want to know why it's in this giveaway? Try the nerdflirt snippet.
- Both these CDs can be very loud and... uh, brash. But they're Kelly's favorites from two of his favorite bands, so yeah. Want to know more, check out the blog on St. Pat's -- he'll be DJing.
- These coasters are awesome. There are pictures on the pages so you can see which comes with what pack!

And there will be a few other giveaways going on over the week -- one for the St. Pat's bloghop and one over at Joyfully Jay -- so watch for those too. But this one will be here alllll week.

Questions, comments, accusations? This post is the place!

Thank you, this contest is now closed!!

Nobody's Hero is now available from Loose Id!

It'll become available at various resellers throughout the day tomorrow and then the rest of the week, and I'll keep the situation updated on the book's page and over there in the sidebar.

I don't know what else to say but: YAY! It's here! So happy!

Exclamation points!

Wellll maybe a Jedi craves not these things, but I guess I do. (Oh yeah, that was a Yoda joke. I am so, so sorry -- little bit wound up this week.) Loads of excitement going on over here -- which I suppose goes without saying since, you know. Nobody's Hero. Tuesday. Woo! For anyone who might like to drop by and/or play along...

=Superpowered Love Adventure List=

Saturday the 10th: Another inspirations post! I have some great stuff gathered from fabulous writers discussing their character and story inspirations. I want to do these more often, so writers, hit me with yours any time. Also, I get to have lunch with the awesome DC area crew again. *fist bump*

Tuesday the 13th: New book! Nobody's Hero! These guys are really near and dear to me, so I'm even more excited than usual (which is saying a lot) to send them out into the world. So happy. Gah.

Thursday the 15th: Week-long giveaway begins. There will be comics. Music. Beer paraphernalia. Oh yeah.

Friday the 16th: St. Patrick's day blog hop -- PLUS I get to hop over to a certain awesome blog for an interview and stuff alllll about the new book. And superheroes. And things. There will be extra prizes in both places!

Saturday the 17th: Join me for St. Pat's with lots of beer DJ Kellan! Yeah, that's right, I'm handing things over to a fictional character and letting him DJ the whole day. We'll just see how that turns out.

Tuesday the 20th: Kasabian! ... oh wait, y'all can't come with me. Well, I have tickets to go see Kasabian, which is really exciting since I've been trying to hit a tour of theirs for years, so wooo!

Thursday the 22nd: A TRS release party. I'll be dropping new excerpts here and there and just generally mingling and, uh, if it's anything like the last one I did, buying a ton of books myself. Because I can't help it, seriously, all those delicious excerpts and scripts just taunting me...

SO. Maybe this isn't your idea of excitement, but it is mine. Hope to see you around!

PS: Super-sweet review of Equilibrium at Night Owl the other day too. Awwww, thanks Daisiemae!

Happy, happy author, who has another beautiful PL Nunn cover. She's so wonderful! Jamie and his "I am going to eat your face off... in the good way" eyes and Kellan with his superadorkability. Happy cover day, boys. (You can click the cover to go to the NH page and see the big version, if you like. Even better.)


And I reckon it's pretty safe to say that this is meant to happen on March 13. Woohoo!

I do actually write stuff other than comic-style superpowered folk. I know, this is ultra shocking, but it's the truth. Earlier this year, the other me had a dark (really dark...) fantasy novel drop, featuring some of my favorite creepy creatures, the fae, and this year I'll have one with my other favorite creepy creatures, vampires. Woohoo! You probably won't catch me writing anything but some fantasy sub-genre -- while I love to read it, I get bored writing if I can't have magic of some kind -- but that's about the only restriction I have.

But there will come a time when I get to bust out some other stuff as Katey Hawthorne, too. I already have a couple of... mmm, they're sort of fae, but more magical realism than straight up fantasy. (Yeah, I know, but it's different, really!) In this spirit, when it came time for the M/M Romance group at Goodreads to do their "Love is Always Write" event, better believe I snapped up the incredible fae prompt from the mind of Miya Kressin. I mean, check this image? How could I NOT?

And then, um, I sat down and wrote it in two days with very little concern for food or water or other silly little human concerns like that. So I guess the moral of this story is that I am at the mercy of the voices, and it's hard to say what's going to wake them up. But it's a pretty good bet that if someone:

1. Can light things on fire with their brain
2. Can be classed as one of the endless permutations of fae
or
3. Likes to drink blood

I'm probably in. Bonus if I get to write wingsex. Which, for the record, is not sex with the actual wings, but sex with someone who has wings. Yeah, I've had an Angel obsession since I was a kid, what can I say...

Hey though, new free read coming up this summer, so that's good news! There will be a fae boy. With really pretty wings. Also a human boy. With, um, a nice happy trail? Also, magic. Weee, thanks Miya.

Aaaand as a little update, the cover for Nobody's Hero is in production (rawr!), the page is added to the Loose Id site (empty for now, but there!), and release is going to be sooner rather than later. As in -- and please don't hate me if it doesn't happen -- within the next, oh, two weeks.

Hell yes.

Sadly, Nobody's Hero does not contain anyone lighting things on fire with their brain... but it does have a side character who can. And our PoV boy, Jamie -- he's pure electric.