Book Tour for Fragile Bond by Rhi Etzweiler (Promo & GIVEAWAY)

Hello and welcome, readers! My name is Rhi Etzweiler, and I’m here to share some tidbits about my latest Riptide release, Fragile Bond. Thank you to my host today for the warm welcome, it’s a pleasure to be here.

It’s a given that a romance is a love story. And we all know love takes as many forms as there are individuals. No two loves are ever alike. They spark and evolve along purely unique paths, incomparable. The qualities of one do not negate the legitimacy of another. Hamm and Marc’s romance is not, by and large, expressed in the sexual form that conventionally takes place in M/M Romance genre works. It is not so much the eros form with which most readers generally associate the romance genre. That doesn’t mean that the romantic element of Fragile Bond isn’t there. And of course, there’s no end of sexual tension zinging between them. Except that the role of pheromones and sexual attraction is more of a weapon, in their case. The lust carries a double edge, and yet the romance still exists.

The kinship and ties that form between them happen because they connect with and relate to one another on levels that are much stronger. Most prominent is the solidarity that forms between them as a result of common experiences and a shared ethos. This blend of sympathy and empathy, in my mind at least, lends greater credence to their favoring of one another than any tenuous physical attraction. Undeniably, however, it’s doubtful they would’ve been able to reach that point of familiarity and understanding without the assistance of pheromone overload blasting away their self defense mechanisms and reservations.

The concept of warrior ethos is mostly an informal one, though it’s anything but loose in definition. Despite that, it’s almost universal among military personnel. The well-known Ranger Creed is a good example; its earliest incarnation predates the formation of the United States. Every branch of service in every nation has something like it, even the Navy SEALs, although theirs had no officially recognized structure beyond “failure is not an option” and “leave no man behind” until roughly two years ago. Knights of the Middle Ages took oaths of chivalry, and samurai warriors had creeds as well. It is a something undefinable, a dedication born from blood, sweat and tears of tireless training, a fuel that powers acts of uncommon valor, above and beyond the call of duty. And it is that warrior spirit that Hamm recognizes in Marc, and it is that recognition, that solidarity, which spurs his initial decision to trust the alien. Hamm never would have risked so much for anything less than that.

There is little conventional “romantic quality” to any single facet of their relationship. Yet Hamm and Marc still qualify as a love story. Even so, perhaps it’s more “gay science fiction” than it is M/M Romance or gay romance. Or perhaps this should be taken as an indication that I’ve no conventional concept of romance, at all. I won’t apologize, and I don’t think Hamm and Marc would want me to, come to think of it. I’ve found the lack is wonderfully liberating, actually.

Sniper Sergeant Marc Staille and his trusty rifle, Mat, are on bodyguard duty at a mining operation on a backwater planet. The resource-rich valley is crawling with tawnies, the native dirt-colored predators. Huge things that hunt in packs and kill as well with tooth and claw as Marc ever has with Mat.
The rules change when a tawny uses an unexpected weapon: pheromones.
Commander Hamm Orsonna, leader of the fefa clan, is determined to chase off the invading aliens. The one he sets out to capture for intel is scrawny and hairless, not very intimidating—until it takes out his entire squad. Seasoned warriors, felled from halfway down the valley by its metal death stick.
Their sacrifice may be worth it, though. The alien male smells like he’s interested in making things right. He smells of other things too, but nobody else seems to notice. Before long, Hamm finds himself fighting off his own kind to defend the alien, who might be his people’s only hope for peace, and Hamm’s only chance for happiness.

*Read an excerpt and get your copy here at Riptide.

AUTHOR INFO:

Rhi’s formative years were spent steeped in military culture, and it influences every story—with a definitive twist. Though focusing mainly on science fiction and fantasy, Rhi enjoys spicing things up with a speculative mixture that sometimes defies an easy label. Next to Elizabeth Moon and Meredith Ann Pierce, Rhi counts Jane’s Defense and Popular Science among still-strong influences.

For Rhi, writing is how the muses tell their stories. They might begin small, but they rarely remain so. “Some of them require luring or bribery to draw them out. Usually wine and chocolate work well. Other times, all it takes is a little art. But once they realize I’m listening, they will just keep going.”

You can find Rhi on your favorite social media site with these links:

Email address: rhianon.etzweiler@gmail.com

Website  |  Blog  |  @musefodder  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads

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

This bookmark was commissioned exclusively for the promo tour. I managed to steal one of Marc’s dogtags and shipped it off to Freia Inguz Artisan Jewelry, asked her to work some magic. This custom piece also features a bead of certified white amber, the color of Hamm’s mane. And I’m going to give it away. Yep, this gorgeous one-of-a-kind shiny is for you guys!

The contest works like this: there are three questions listed below. To enter, send an email with your name and your three answers to rhianon.etzweiler@gmail.com. These questions have been specifically drafted so that the answers cannot be found in the available excerpt; you’ll have to purchase and read the book to find them! Your submitted answers must be correct in order to qualify as an entry into the drawing. You may send a replacement entry if you like (in the event that you think you might’ve sent an incorrect answer) but each individual can only be entered into the drawing once. All entries must be received before Sunday, February 24th, 11:59pm EST. Entries received after that time will not qualify. One winner will be selected at random from qualifying entries and announced on Monday, February 25th at Haus of Rhi (rhianonetzweiler.blogspot.com). If winner does not respond within 48 hours with a valid postal address, an alternate winner will be drawn from qualifying entries. This contest is open to US residents only, for shipping purposes.

Question 1: What are the names of the three humans on the C-C team?

Question 2: To what does Sierra-India refer?

Question 3: What substance are the scientists after?