Riptide Publishing Anniversary Celebration

Guess who's having a birthday???  It was one year ago that a new and exciting publisher of LGBTQ fiction, romance, and erotica took the reading world by storm!  Riptide Publishing was created by some of the best M/M authors out there and they bring readers the most imaginative stories, pristine editing, and gorgeous book covers along with introducing us to exciting new authors.  Today, and throughout the rest of the month, there's a celebration going on!  Visit a slew of blogs learning about Riptide's new book releases along with commenting to earn the chance at winning a Kindle loaded with every one of their 2013 releases.  A list of tour dates can be found here.  So let's get this party started and learn more about Heidi Belleau, author of Cruces de Caminos and the new release The Flesh Cartel #1: Capture (co-written with Rachel Haimowitz).....

What draws you to romance? M/M romance?

I just love passionate heart-stopping stories of people falling in love and getting their happily-ever-after. As for M/M (and other LGBT romance I haven’t quite gotten to writing yet!) I’m queer myself so I like to see everybody get that happy ending, and see all sorts of relationships represented, not just the heteronormative narratives I grew up with, which made me feel so very alone sometimes.

Have you ever written outside the romance genre? If not, do you ever plan to?

Yes. I took Creative Writing in college and did a lot of short literary biofiction pieces. I’ve also written some urban fantasy both with and without a romantic subplot.

Do you write het stories too?

I have in the past, but nothing I’ve published. I’m really happy with M/M so far since I’ve still got a fair few stories to tell in this genre, but I hope to eventually branch out.

What do you think is sexy?

Slow burn sexual tension that has you squirming in your seat, absolutely PANTING for that scene of consummation. The longer I wait, the hotter I get.

How do you make your characters so sexy?

Are they sexy? Um! I just write guys that I would be attracted to in one form or another. I don’t write any single “type”, but every type I do write, I have the hots for in some distinct way. I figure if I’m attracted to my heroes, somebody else must be, too.

What’s your own sexiest feature?

If you asked any of my ex boyfriends they’d say my boobs. They are pretty great.

What’s your hidden talent?

I’m not sure I have one! I’m very good at annoying the hell out of my husband, does that count?

We know you’re a romance writer. What’s your day job?

Well, technically I’m a high school Social Studies teacher by trade, but I’ve basically quit to stay home with my daughter and write.

What would you do if you weren’t an author?

Before I decided to dedicate myself to writing, I was a pretty serviceable artist. Maybe I’d have pursued some form of graphic design?

Do you write under a pen name? Why or why not? Will you tell us your real name?

Yes, I do, because of the high school teacher thing. Just in case. Heidi was actually my mother’s second-choice name for me, after my real name, which is why I picked it.

What was the very first romance novel you read?

It’s actually a novel you can buy from Samhain’s retro romance line! I bought it for ten cents off of a charity bookshelf and um . . . I suppose I haven’t looked back, have I? Although my tastes have certainly changed from those days. LOL

What did you think?

Honestly I barely remember it! I don’t think it was quite titillating enough for my teenage tastes. Now, ask me about when I got my 14-year-old hands on Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. . .

Do you believe in Happily Ever After?

Yes and no! Do I believe people can have fulfilling life long relationships? Yes! But “Happily Ever After” to me implies once you’ve found ‘the one’ your journey is over, you’re together, finito. I guess if Happily Ever After is defined as a lifelong commitment to work at it and face challenges together and just constantly be putting effort into your relationship, then yes!

Speaking of online hangouts, where are yours? Where can your readers find you?

Number one spot would be twitter, where I’m @HeidiBelleau and chatting constantly. Secondly, Goodreads, where I have an author account and like to write status updates and reviews of the books I’m reading, and love to read other peoples’ reviews, too. I also blog at http://HeidiBelleau.com or you can add me on tumblr: http://teacupnosaucer.tumblr.com, or check out my taste in (mostly) gay porn: http://fleshquake.tumblr.com. Other than that, I have a somewhat neglected facebook account.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write. She has a degree in history from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in British and Irish studies; much of her work centred on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with unironic papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. (Ask her about Highlanders!) When not writing, you might catch her trying to explain British television to her newborn daughter or standing in line at the local coffee shop, waiting on her caramel macchiato.

You can find her tweeting as @HeidiBelleau, email her atheidi.below.zero@gmail.com, or visit her blog: http://heidi-below-zero.blogspot.com.

**********GIVEAWAY**********

As a thank you for helping us celebrate, we’re also giving away $10 in Riptide store credit to one lucky commenter at every stop! Simply leave a comment below by 11:59pm on Sunday, October 7th to enter. Be sure to check out our complete tour schedule to find out where else you can enter to win—one Grand Prize winner drawn from commenters at all the stops will also win a Kindle that we’ll load with every book we publish in 2013!