Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Book Tour for Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov (Guest Post & GIVEAWAY)


One of my favorite authors, Aleksandr Voinov (an author I read when I want an intense and enthralling read), is here today with his new release IncursionIncursion is an exciting read that combines many of my favorite elements, the biggest being that it's based in the sci-fi genre.  This, and the intriguing characters, kept me on the edge of my seat and ready to return to this world anytime Aleks' chooses to.  So sit back and get a sampling of this book, as well as info about an amazing giveaway taking place throughout the entire tour with a listing of stops here.

Thanks for joining me on the Incursion virtual book tour! Feeling lucky? I’m giving away three prizes to commenters on any of the blog tour stops. Comment on this post (feel free to ask questions!) and you might win! The first winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift certificate and a swag bag with assorted magnets, wrist-bands and other goodies. Two more lucky winners will receive swag bags as well. I ship internationally and will draw the winners from all commenters after the tour is over. Deadline for entry is 7/15/12. Please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you.  Enjoy!

Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov

Fighting with your back to the wall is all well and good—as long as you’ve chosen the right wall.

When the local authorities ask Kyle Juenger to hunt a shape-shifting Glyrinny spy, he can’t refuse. After all, he can use the reward to replace his paralyzed legs with cyberware, and maybe even to return to his home planet. Besides, he hates the morphs—those invasive, brain-eating monstrosities whose weapons cost him his legs.

Kyle’s best lead is the Scorpion, a mercenary ship armed to the teeth. Grimm, the Scorpion’s pilot and captain, fascinates Kyle. He’s everything Kyle lost with his legs, and he’s from the same home world. He’s also of the warrior caste—half priest, half savior. But Grimm’s been twisted by life as a merc, and Kyle’s stuck undercover as a criminal on the run.

That doesn’t stop Grimm from coming on to Kyle, or from insisting he’s more than the sum of his past and his useless legs. But Kyle has other concerns—like tracking a dangerous morph who could be wearing anyone’s face. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, Kyle can’t tell if Grimm is part of the solution . . . or part of the problem.

I have one more exclusive excerpt for you today! On the Riptide site, you’ll find an excerpt with the beginning of Incursion: http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/incursion

After that, Kyle encounters the band of space mercenaries (and the mysterious Grimm), and Grimm invites him to co-pilot the ship. In this scene, they are setting up the pilot seat and then Grimm makes his move:

**************

“Let’s set this up,” Grimm murmured, sliding his hand in between the cushioning and Kyle’s shoulder. The chair made a disapproving squeak, begrudgingly adjusting to the intrusion of living tissue between the pilot and itself. Grimm ran his fingers along Kyle’s arm, down to his hip, and across the curve of his ass. “Yeah, nicely responsive.”

Kyle glanced at him. “You wish.”

Grimm paused, then grinned. “I meant the chair.”

“Knock it off. I’m really no fun.” His standard letdown these days. Not that he had to use it often. With the prostheses, most people treated him like he’d suddenly morphed into a different species—something way too complicated to have sex with. And he’d grown to agree. He was too complicated to attempt a connection with the other species: the abled. Especially when the connection was something as fragile as sex.

“I’ll decide whether you’re fun or not.” Grimm’s hand hovered near his hip rather than making its way down his legs. “Maybe I think you are.”

Kyle swallowed. Now, Grimm was insistent. He was Tamenean, and, fuck, he was also a warrior. Shining knight on a white steed. A born and bred hero, selfless and noble. And even though Grimm had clearly made a mockery of the tattoo on his face, Kyle still felt that old reflex to take his hurt to a warrior.

Take your darkness to the warrior, for they can slay it.

“Some kind of warrior you are,” Kyle muttered.

“You’re evading the question.”

“What fucking question?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“You didn’t ask.” And it’s a no, he was about to add, but Grimm shut him up with a deep, curiously intense kiss. It wasn’t even probing so much as familiar, like they’d been lovers before, even for years, and the old spark had never withered. He tasted of electricity and copper wires and all too human. Kyle groaned with pleasure when Grimm ran his fingers through his hair. He felt more alive than he had in weeks—his scalp tingling under a touch too sensual to have come from a stranger.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” Grimm murmured.

“I’m sure Jay and Petros wouldn’t mind a third guy.”

Grimm smiled. “Not interested.”

Focus on the work. Kyle pushed the thoughts away and then the man. “You got from me what you wanted.” Pretend this is still about the stupid codes.

“Not by a long shot,” Grimm said, and it sounded like a promise.

Kyle shifted his weight as best he could to test the chair himself, but everything was in order. Just needed to do something so he didn’t have to look at Grimm or acknowledge the touch. “Give me access to the system.”

Grimm laughed, stood back and adjusted himself in his jumpsuit. “You can have all the access you want.”

Bastard. Kyle’s gaze stuck for a second to what Grimm held in his hand, and a hot-cold sensation flashed over him, a memory of arching over the body of another man, sweaty skin sliding together. He ground his teeth in frustration. Ever since the injury, nobody had been so insistent on getting into his pants; he’d overheard a nurse saying he was damn cute and it was a crying shame, but nobody had managed to get him into bed. Early on, he’d resolved that people who wanted him because of the prostheses—and there had been two or three—were fucking freaks and he wanted nothing to do with them. But he hadn’t counted on meeting a warrior so far from home.

“The system,” he reminded Grimm.

“Fine.” Grimm threw his hands up and went back to his chair. He tapped buttons and pulled levers, and Kyle’s screen came alive like his body couldn’t anymore. But he felt the current of excitement all the same. He logged on, shook hands with the system, set up his ID, and the systems recognized the other Kyle, the petty criminal. Connected again.

AUTHOR BIO:

Aleksandr Voinov is an emigrant German author living near London, where he makes his living editing dodgy business English so it makes sense (and doesn’t melt anybody’s brain). He published five novels and many short stories in his native language, then switched to English and hasn’t looked back. His genres range from horror, science fiction, cyberpunk, and fantasy to contemporary, thriller, and historical erotic gay novels.

In his spare time, he goes weightlifting, explores historical sites, and meets other writers. He singlehandedly sustains three London bookstores with his ever-changing research projects and interests. His current interests include World War II, espionage, medieval tournaments, and prisoners of war. He loves traveling, action movies, and spy novels.

Visit Aleksandr’s website at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com, his blog at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.blogspot.com, and follow him on Twitter, where he tweets as @aleksandrvoinov.

26 comments:

  1. Love how persistent Grimm is! :) And this scene makes me want to hug Kyle so much.. Ask Grimm to do it for me? :D
    Hah, I really can't decide which one of them I like best. This is rare, I say!

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    1. Aleks left this comment, but for some reason it only showed up in my email. So here's what Aleksandr Voinov said......

      Gotta love a guy who knows what he wants. :) Personally, I think they are matched really well - I'd definitely go have a drink with both of them.

      posted by The Scarf Princess

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  2. Grimm shut him up with a deep, curiously intense kiss. It wasn’t even probing so much as familiar, like they’d been lovers before, even for years, and the old spark had never withered.

    I loved this! I think we all want that ;)

    Kassandra
    sionedkla@gmail.com

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    1. I certainly wouldn't mind getting kissed like that. :)

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  3. Another great excerpt, thanks for sharing with us Aleks!

    ashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com

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    1. Hi Ley, thanks for commenting. I'm hoping all the excerpts are not too confusing. Do check out the long one on the website - it's the whole start.

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  4. They all sound very appealing as characters...it would be a nice change of pace from the usual m/m stories.

    vitajex(at)aol(dot)com

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    1. Anon - Yes, I'm a bit of my own niche in m/m, which is quite funny and sometimes a little weird. Can feel at times like I'm just hanging on to the outer rim of the genre by my fingernails (and teeth). Thank you for stopping by!

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  5. First kiss! One of my favorite milestones in a romance. :D

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  6. Val = Absolutely! I'm currently working on a story where the guys fuck way, way before the first kiss. I think that's the point where things get "serious" - there's always a lowering of defenses and bridging of trust issues, so a kiss is a huge turning point. (My main character basically thinks a kiss means admitting he might be interested in the other guy...)

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  7. Very insightful! Yes, a kiss is romance whereas everything else is just someone's high sex drive, so to kiss is definitely lowering the guard and admitting to something!

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    1. Especially for my alpha guys who are always trying to hide their soft inner cores...

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  8. The interplay between Grimm and Kyle was fun to read. There is definitely chemistry there, especially with Kyle allowing a kiss and not saying No first.

    Jess1
    strive4bst at yahoo dot com

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    1. Jess1 - I just love denial and the push-pull. It's half the fun of writing romances. Thanks for commeting.

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  9. Alexs - Your comment about being a little bit in your own niche interests me. Could you please elaborate about that if you don't mind?

    I'm fairly new to eBooks in general and trying to catch up as fast as I can with the authors and stories etc. I've read various types and know there are different styles etc.

    Jess1
    strive4bst at yahoo dot com

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    1. Jess1 - Absolutely. I do what I'd describe as "plotty, gritty romance", and many people really don't like grit at all (which is fine - there's no bad or wrong about either fluff or grit or fluffy grit or gritty fluff). I also often use things that go back to history (or even military history), and that's pretty rare, too. So my brand is usually "intense and gritty", which can be an acquired taste, but it's what I like reading, too, and I can only write what I have inside me, so I'm not making excuses for that but embrace it and write for those people who like what I do (and myself - I always have to entertain myself first). I'm blessed with awesome readers and friends though, so I'm very comfortable in my niche.

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  10. Incursion was a great story- one of my favourites this year already. :)

    AV is definitely my go-to author when I want a good and intense story.

    alyssa (at) alyssalinnpalmer.com

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  11. I just wanted to say THANKS to Aleks for being at my site today and for writing such a fabulous book! I have to know....will you be revisiting this world in the future? I feel like there's plenty of story yet to tell with the political intrigue swirling throughout the storyline.

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    1. Thank you for hosting me (somehow, my first set of comments didn't take, but might have been my work computer). That was great fun, and I'm very glad you enjoyed the book that you part-inspired. :)

      There's definitely potential to look at the Glyrinny going up against the Doctrine, but I'll have to wait for a plot to show up. First the historical novel, then I'm definitely open for more. :)

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  12. Thanks for the excerpt and the chance to win! Sounds like a really good book!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

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    1. Hi Natasha - thank you for stopping by, I'm glad it caught your attention. Good luck on the draw!

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  13. I love your books Aleksandr, but I must admit, this sounds like your best one to date. I can't wait to read it, thanks for the giveaway!!

    tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com

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    1. Emily - I always delude myself that the one I'm working on can't be as good as the last one (I was nervous about Scorpion and Counterpunch and Dark Soul like woah) - in the end, every book teaches me something slightly different, but I have to say I've had a very good run in the last ~12-18months. That's the period in my life where I think I've been writing pretty well. (But a lot depends on a great editor, too, and both Kristen and Rachel did outstanding jobs on this one - it's always great to see how much an editor can tickle out of you). Thanks for commenting!

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    2. Well, this is looking like one of your best, so you can quit deluding yourself, LOL :P

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    3. Emily - That delusion is sadly chronic. It keeps happening. :) (But I see the value of it, too. It keeps me on my toes and humble...)

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