Life is NOT a Bowl of Cherries with Lisabet Sarai with prize to one commenter!

Please welcome prolific, wonderful author Lisabet Sarai!

I don't know why it is, but when I sit down to write M/M erotic romance, I seem to end up with stories that are pretty serious. My previous M/M novel Necessary Madness featured scenes in a psychiatric hospital, attempted suicide, murder, and gruesome black magic rituals. Now I've got a new M/M book, and it's even darker – set in a dystopic near future in a United States that's been battered by natural disasters, lost a third of its population to disease, and is now governed by a shadowy totalitarian cabal called the Guardians of American Greatness. The first part of the tale is set in a bleak prison camp in the arid wastelands of eastern Oregon. Later the action moves to the half-ruined, Plague-ravaged metropolis of Sanfran, where vicious cyber-guards patrol the debris-strewn streets and no one can be trusted. 

A lot of gay romance on the market is light and playful. I have one M/M novella (Crossed Hearts) in that category. Mostly, though, when I write M/M I seem to be hyper-aware of the obstacles to happiness homosexual lovers still face. Homophobia is alive and well. Every day men are beaten, even killed, because they're gay. Every day, gay men commit suicide out of loneliness, desperation or shame. There are still countries in the world where sex with a member of your own gender is a capital crime and even in more civilized countries, gays rarely have the same rights as heterosexuals. 

I really hope my readers don't find Quarantine too dark. The way I see it, my heroes' love blazes all the more brightly when set against the somber background of post-Plague America. 

Blurb:

When love is forbidden, the whole world's a prison.

Dylan Moore will do anything for freedom. Seven years ago, a gay epidemic spread to heterosexuals, killing millions and sparking brutal anti-gay riots. The Guardians rounded up men who tested positive for the homogene and imprisoned them in remote quarantine centres like desolate Camp Malheur. Since then, Dylan has hacked the camp's security systems and hoarded spare bits of electronics, seeking some way to escape. He has concluded the human guards are the only weakness in the facility's defences.

Camp guard Rafe Cowell is H-negative. He figures the lust he feels watching prisoner 3218 masturbate on the surveillance cameras must be due to his loneliness and isolation. When he finally meets the young queer, he discovers that Dylan is brilliant, brave, sexy as hell – and claims to be in love with Rafe. Despite his qualms, Rafe finds he can't resist the other man's charm. By the time Dylan asks for his help in escaping, Rafe cares too much for Dylan to refuse.

Dylan's plan goes awry and Rafe comes to his rescue. Soon they're both fugitives, fleeing from militant survivalists, murderous androids, homophobic ideologues and a powerful man who wants Dylan as his sexual toy. Hiding in the Plague-ravaged city of Sanfran, Dylan and Rafe learn there's far more than their own safety at stake. Can they help prevent the deaths of millions more people? And can Rafe trust the love of a man who deliberately seduced him in order to escape from quarantine?

  

Excerpt (Rated X): All rights reserved. Copyright 2012, Lisabet Sarai

Somehow he and Rafe made it up to their room, tore off their clothing, and collapsed on the bed in each other’s arms. The mattress rocked beneath him like a boat pitched about by a storm. He was safe, though, held tight against Rafe’s solid chest, feeling the swell and dip of Rafe’s breathing. His legs tangled with Rafe’s muscle-corded thighs. Rafe was hard and strong, a man of ebony and steel, yet his lips were tender and pillow-soft as they nuzzled Dylan’s earlobe.

I love you,” the black man murmured. “You’re my life now.” 

Me, too.” Dylan’s words slurred but the emotions were crystal clear. “I love you too.” 

Rafe lavished gentle kisses on his eyelids, his cheeks, his jaw, licking his face like a mother cat. When he claimed Dylan’s lips, though, the usual urgency burned in their connection. 

Dylan tasted the fine whisky they’d both consumed, a sweetness edged with darker accents. More intoxicated than ever, he drank deep of his lover’s flavour. Rafe’s potent scent drowned him—long-dried sweat, ripe musk and a hint of semen from Kevin’s sheets. Blood rushed to swell his cock. Rafe’s fingers gripped his ass. He pulled Dylan’s pelvis against his groin, batting Dylan’s erection with his own massive rod. 

Dylan’s belly grew slippery with pre-cum—Rafe’s and his own, intermingled. He hooked one leg around Rafe’s thighs to draw him closer. The black man’s mouth was still sealed to his own. Rafe would back off for a moment to nibble Dylan’s lip, then plunge his tongue back down Dylan’s throat, taking full control.  

Dylan relaxed into the fierce embrace, more than willing to let Rafe take what he wanted. The black man’s cock, trapped between their bodies, felt huge. Dylan’s imagination ran fast forward to the moment when Rafe would flip him over and impale him. He couldn’t wait much longer. He could already feel the perfect, tearing ecstasy when the fat bulb pushed past his entrance, the ache of fullness as Rafe settled in his depths.

****

I want to thank Cerise for having me as her guest. This post today is part of my Quarantine blog tour, which will run  through the 24th of July. I'll be giving away an ebook to one commenter at each stop on the tour. So leave a comment – and don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you!

I'll also be choosing one commenter from the entire tour to win the grand prize – a $50 All Romance Ebooks gift certificate. Meanwhile, all comments at my own blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com) during the tour will also go into the drawing for the gift certificate. 

You'll find the schedule for the tour in my July newsletter: http://www.lisabetsarai.com/news.html

You can check out the intense Quarantine trailer here! And if you're interested in getting your own copy of Quarantine, just go to Total-E-Bound (http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=1725)! 

Bio: More than a decade ago LISABET SARAI experienced a serendipitous fusion of her love of writing and her fascination with sex. Since then she has published four single author short story collections and seven erotic novels, including the BDSM classic Raw Silk. Dozens of her shorter works have been released as ebooks and in print anthologies. She has also edited several acclaimed anthologies and is currently responsible for the altruistic erotica series COMING TOGETHER PRESENTS. 

Lisabet holds more degrees than anyone needs from prestigious universities who would no doubt be embarrassed by her chosen genre. She loves to travel and currently lives in Southeast Asia with her highly tolerant husband and two cosmopolitan felines. For more information on Lisabet and her writing visit Lisabet Sarai's Fantasy Factory (http://www.lisabetsarai.com) or her blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com).