Permanent-ly delighted-With Megan Slayer's Tory and River

Today is Friday the 13th, but I think it may be a lucky day. My guest today is Megan Slayer, alter ego to one of my favorite authors, and let me tell you, her books are just as hot as her 'other side'. Before we get into what made her decide to add a second name to her repertoire, let's take a quick peek at her 'bio'. And remember, Megan is offering a $10 Changeling GC to one lucky commenter on her tour. Now, let's meet Megan Slayer.

 When she's not writing the stories in her head, Megan Slayer can be found luxuriating in her hot tub with her two vampire Cabana boys, Luke and Jeremy. She has the tendency to run a tad too far with her muse, so she has to hide in the head of her alter ego, but the boys don't seem to mind.

            

When she's not obsessing over her whip collection, she can be found picking up her kidlet from school.

She enjoys writing in all genres, but writing about men in love suits her fancy best.

Currently hanging out every Wednesday and Friday at the Menagerie Authors site, hunting Hotties for the Saturday posts, and working on the next great story brewing in her head!

http://www.wendizwaduk.com/indexMegan.htm

www.menagerieauthors.com (Megan's current site)

http://theauthormeganslayer.blogspot.com(Menagerie Blog)

http://menagerieauthors.blogspot.com/ (Megan's personal blog)

http://twitter.com/#!/MeganSlayer(Megan on Twitter)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000938063999 (Megan on FB)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Menagerie-Authors/180690948613536 (Menagerie Fan Page)

Now that we know a bit more about Megan, I want to see what she has for us today. I asked Megan and her alter ego why she felt the need to be someone else and she gave me an interesting insight into her dual identity.

You’re Not the Same!

I wanted to first and foremost thank Nancy for having me. This stop is always a favorite and I love the readers who come out to chatter with me. Nancy, you’re a peach, but you ask hard questions and come up with great topics.

So what was my topic? Why I needed to take a second name.

Once I got back up off the floor – I never thought about it being a big deal, having another name – I really thought about the topic. Why have a second name? If someone finds my Wendi work, they may or may not find my Megan work and vice-versa. Am I cutting off my nose to spite my face?

It came down ultimately to this: Mom had a fit. Really.

My mom is actually pretty cool with what I write. She keeps asking me to write something she can talk about at church, but with characters like mine, there’s no behaving. (And why would they want to?) But the moment I told her I’d had talks with a couple of my characters that were both men, she pretty much fainted dead away.  When she came to, I got “you can’t do that. Your grandparents will disown you.”

Do I think I’d be disowned? Not really. Would they be upset? Probably. I can see my biological grandmother, one of the people I responsible for my slightly off-kilter sense of humor, cackling wildly and shouting “you go girl!” Mom’s not quite so cool with it, but oh well.

But I had a discussion with a couple of other writers and I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to write a MM story, it wouldn’t be all that bad to have a separate name to write it under. There are those souls who won’t read MM. I get it and respect them for it. I don’t particularly care. There are subgenres within the romance heading that I can’t fathom or stand – but that’s another post. I didn’t want those who read the more mainstream stories to be turned off by a MM story. I also didn’t want MM readers turned off by the idea that I wrote mainstream, too.  I’m not trying to make people happy , but I realize what one likes does shape what they will read.

So why Megan Slayer? There’s a funny story behind that. Megan is my middle name, so it was rather easy to pick that. I’ve been called Meg as long as I can remember, so answering to it isn’t a hardship. But why Slayer? It’s like this: I finally got a laptop. I’d done my early writing on a PC and drove DH crazy. He broke down and gave me the green light for a laptop. It took me about six months to crash it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only time I managed to crash it. I was teased that I managed to slay the demon computer. I don’t know if I slayed it or if I managed to destroy the thing, but the goofy name, a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer, stuck. I was asked to join the Menagerie Authors blog. Well naturally, I needed a name. Wendi Zwaduk would work, but I had my own blog.  So, after many talks with my BFF/CP, I came to the conclusion Megan Slayer was the name for my MM. It stuck and I’m glad. I just hope that now the readers will like my work and encourage me to write more.

Thoughts? Questions? Bad jokes? I know it’s not the most exciting story and reasoning, but I try. I’d love to hear what you think. Let me know!

I want to thank Megan/Wendi for this visit, and if anyone wants to ask questions, just pop on in. this could get really fun, and if you like Wendi's sense of humor, guess what? She will be back next Friday with more 'pearls of wisdom' a la Zwaduk.

Now for a peek at Permanent, Megan's M/M with two sexy and sometimes vulnerable heroes, River and Tory.

Sometimes love just ain’t enough...

 River Cortland trusted the person he loved. His faith couldn’t protect him from the bitter sting of a cold-hearted Domme. If he’s going to learn to trust again, he’s got to deal with his past.  His roommate and best friend, Tory, has seen the physical damage and hasn’t walked away. Can he deal with the emotional scars as well?

Tory McClellan wanted the carefree life...until one night with River changed everything. There’s more to the shy art teacher and Tory wants to know everything-how he tastes, the scent of his skin, the feel of his body as they make love. What terror lies behind River’s brown eyes? Better yet, how can Tory make the sadness go away and be in River’s life, permanently?

I had a tough time picking just one excerpt, but I decided on this one, for a quick trip into River and Tory's lives.

"Are you watching that? Or you just rubbin' one off?"

River opened his eyes. Trust Tory to think he'd been jacking off to a damn chick flick. Sure, the guy on screen was hot, but not approachable hot. River wanted the one man he couldn’t have. Maybe it was finally time to make his desires known.

“You could pick better scenery. He’s too hairy and walks like he’s got a stick up his ass. I’ll bet Snow doesn’t even like him.”

River blanched and rolled his eyes to cover his surprise. Duh, Tory knew River occasionally played for both teams. But he’d never told him the kind of man he considered his ‘type’. River would have to admit he wanted something other than friendship. He’d have to confess he was more than a little infatuated with Tory McClellan. Sounded good to him.

"So what's the verdict?"

Damn. What a loaded question. “No verdict to render, man. I’m here and she’s wherever she is.”

Tory plopped down next to Snowflake. “Hi little girl.” He handed River a fresh beer. "You’ve pouted for almost three months now. It’s time to move on. Plus I can hear you clack that piercing against your teeth clear in the other room.” Tory took a long pull from his bottle and tapped the amber glass against River’s bottle.  “To hell with women?”

The cat hissed and swatted at Tory.

“I meant, with the exception of you, your highness.” Tory gently scratched Snowflake behind the ears. “She wouldn’t be so grumpy if you hadn’t given her such a ridiculous name.”

“She was the prettiest snowflake in the snow drift.”

“She’s black.”

“So?”

“Fair enough.” Tory clinked his bear bottle with River’s. “You up for a piece of ass?”

Frowning, River shifted his gaze for a split second and wriggled his brows. “Are you offering?”

“If you’re in, I’m in. Women aren’t worth the hassle." He grinned and rested his hand on River’s thigh. “You seem overall happier. I like it.”

I want to say a big thanks to Megan/Wendi for once again bringing her skewed sense of humor to my place. Feel free to pop in with questions, and stop back to get the answers. Remember, there is a $10 Changeling Press GC out there waiting for someone-it could be you!! And I may throw in a surprise or two as well.