The Russell Connection

I've been talking here and there on various parts of FB, but decided to do one comprehensive post about the Russell Series, a master post, if you will.

The Russell Series is a contemporary family drama series with strong romantic elements, but, like Dartmoor, lacks that romance formula. There are three full-length novels and two short stories, all of which follow the exploits of a Southern family with a Robin Hood complex.

The patriarch of the Russell family, Ray, was a successful defense attorney who, after an attack of conscience during a particularly brutal case, handed over damning evidence against his client to the prosecution, losing both the case and his job. He couldn't live with himself if he continued to defend the indefensible, so he started a personal security business, and his employees became a part of his family.

The series focuses on the three Russell kids: Ray's daughter Lisa, and her cousins Layla and Johnny.

The Dartmoor Connection:

The Lean Dogs are introduced in Book 2, God Love Her.

In Book 3, Keeping Bad Company, we meet Mercy, Walsh, and FBI agent Harlan Grey - the agent who we see in Fearless.

In The Skeleton King, expect cameos from Sly, Eddie, and Agent Grey. While I think the cameos will be self-explanatory, readers are encouraged to read the Russells if they'd like a deeper understanding of these characters.

The reading order is:

1) Made for Breaking
2) God Love Her
Short) "Things That Go Bang In The Night"
3) Keeping Bad Company
Short 2) "Green Like the Water"

It's a fun series, and not a bad way to pass the time before TSK releases :)

Teaser - "Green Like the Water"

 

"Green Like the Water"
Copyright © 2015 by Lauren Gilley
5/10/15

 

The very first time Lisa laid eyes on Drew Forester, he was fighting a massive man called The Monster in a slapped-together ring in an old barn. He’d been far outweighed by his opponent, and Lisa had been riveted. During her self-imposed man-ban, the sight of him that night, in that underground boxing ring, had reached through barriers and struck a match inside her. She hadn’t recognized the fire for what it was, because she’d thought she understood desire. It had taken weeks to realize she wanted him. And then to know she couldn’t live without him. But that first moment, laying eyes on him – the taut curves of muscle and bone, gleaming bare skin, the animal focus in his dark eyes. That had been the first spark. That had been her first glimpse of the beast that lived inside him.

Cover Reveal - "Green Like the Water"

“Green Like the Water”

On St. Simons Island for a second honeymoon, Lisa Forester never expects to come face-to-face with her own mortality, but that’s just what happens one sun-soaked afternoon on the beach. A near-tragedy brings simmering tensions to a boil, and propels her stalwart, patient, devoted husband Drew into action. A confirmation of their love becomes more of a rediscovery, in this Russell Series short story about being happy with what you have.

Russell Sale This Weekend

Each of the three volumes 99cents in honor of me not caring about football :)

1) Made for Breaking
2) God Love Her
3) Keeping Bad Company

Tuesday Talking Points

Rainy day. Coincidental outfit/rain boot coordination. Unintentionally awesome. I burn through cheap rain boots like they're made of sugar; might as well be stamped with Disposable at the factory.

I'm really enjoying this album. I love her voice and half the songs put me in a good mood to write Ava and Mercy, "Fire" in particular.

Fearless Part III is underway and so far, I'm happy with the progress. By now y'all know I'm a big fan of flashbacks, but this part is all present day, and it's all new for the characters, and it's a lot of fun. In Part III, we dive into the Carpathian conflict and there's lots of good drama-filled, heavy moments with Ava and Mercy; and lots of family side-action. Don't hold me to it, but I'm hoping to have it out in about a month.

I'm also working on "Green Like the Water," my Russell short story due out in December. It's set between the end and the epilogue of Keeping Bad Company, another peek into family life the way "Things" was. Layla, Lisa, and their menfolk on a beach getaway leads to, what else, family drama. Expect the long-awaited happy ending for Lisa.

The plan is - I say plan because a certain puppy likes to mess with my schedule - for all four parts of Fearless to comprise the first novel of my Dartmoor series. I introduce a character in this novel who will feature in the sequel. The plan - there's that word again - is to keep the series going. Books for Aidan and the other guys fleshing the club out even further. There's so much potential there, so I'm excited about the prospect of it all.

As always, any feedback is welcome and appreciated. Links over to the right. I'm off to make the most of the rest of puppy nap time.

On the Horizon

I feel a little like I'm playing a never-ending Scrabble game at the moment. For the last few weeks, I've been slapping words down. I want to take a step back for a sec and line up the tiles in front of me, see what needs to be put down next.

A few future things:

Fearless Part II: Crossing Lines is coming within the next week or two. Almost up to 250 pages at this point, pre-editing. This section concentrates on the "Five Years Ago" part of the novel, an important set of occurrences that needed hashing out in full. Lots of drama and sex and such. I'm letting my mom read it as I go - she always gets first dibs on reading before it goes off to editing, and she offered up that Mercy was - wide eyes - "badass." I'm psyched to turn it loose. I'll be announcing it on FB, Twitter, and here the moment it's ready.

Fearless Part III: All-American Monsters will be released sometime closer to Christmas, depending on how much writing time I have. I think there's been a little confusion about the book, that it's all written and I'm just chopping it up for fun. Rest assured, I WISH it was written. I won't do this publishing-as-I-go thing again. Price of Angels will be written in full beforehand.

"Green Like the Water": Another Russell short story set after the events of Keeping Bad Company is due out in December. I loved writing the first oneshot, and wanted to do another one.

My Amazon page got a little facelift. Very streamlined.

Have a great weekend. You know what I'll be doing.

dog for a Dog

I wrote this line today:

“Ava,” Ghost said, voice taking on a new tension, a foreign strain she’d never heard before. Slow, biting off each word: “Call him off.”

One of those scenes I'd been building to, and needed a little mental break afterward. And during that mental break, I had myself a fun little trip down Memory Lane. One of the things I've always sort of laughed at is the whole biker nickname thing. I like a good nickname. I appreciate them wholeheartedly. Sometimes, I shake my head a little over typing Ghost, Tango, Jaeger, Sly...but mostly, I love it. And usually, those nicknames are near and dear to my heart.

"Sly" belonged to one of my very favorite horses before it belonged to Layla's hubby. A seventeen-hand chestnut Quarter Horse gelding built like a tank, as versatile as an ATV on trails, an old pro jumper, a dressage horse in a pinch, trained western. You could literally shoot a gun off his back (it happened). And he would tote around my students, tiny little girls up to full-grown men, steady, smart, level-headed, always in charge in the pasture, a true leader. When he kicked, you better believe it was with both back feet. He was never mine, but I loved that horse; broke my heart to hear of his passing.

Then there's Tango the horse - a dressage boy, a "dancer," like the Dogs' dear Tango.

Jaeger the dog, a little brindle boxer I used to know.

And Ghost the dog, the shepherd cross, old and arthritic when I met him, unfailingly loyal, a stray before he became a farm dog. He followed dutifully out into the pasture; you could pick the horse you needed, point, and say, "Go get him, Ghost," and off he'd go to get him. Such a great dog, with that tawny coat and graying black muzzle, all sweetness and wisdom. A boss dog. He had to be my LDMC president.

I went looking for pictures recently, but couldn't find any. They're all lost amid the jumble of old Eckerd's developments in shoeboxes somewhere in storage. I like to think they won't mind that I used their names; that some of the mystique rubbed off on the paper, and gave the characters a certain depth.

You're probably laughing at me by this point - you named that guy after a horse?? - but for me, there is so very little inspiration in the shallow, immediate scattering of current reality. They may never look like it from the outside, but my stories have the bones of animals, of historical figures, of classic golden literary moments. You build yourself a sturdy skeleton, and the skin you lay over it - it'll shine.

A Tale of Two Book Covers

I'm sure by now you've noticed that I have two novels with dog paws on the covers. It started with Keeping Bad Company, and it was a bit of an accident. I was thinking very different thoughts about the cover, and was just sorting out some old pics on my computer, when I found this unedited shot of Riddick's paws.

I didn't realize, at the time, that I would lose him to heart failure before the book was ever released, but then the cover became even more important. From cool, to special. Baby Boy immortalized. And how very appropriate, given the Lean Dogs, and how important the club's name and symbol and mythology is to me.

So when it came time to pick a shot for the cover of Part I of Fearless, I decided to forgo the initial idea of a motorcycle in favor of another black dog. A dog for the Dogs. This time it's little baby Viktor's feet on the cover. Like I said before, it just felt right. I happened to be snapping pics of his feet, and swapped the camera over to black and white on a whim, and here we have his little-big feet on the pavement.

Every book cover of mine is a happy accident. Always, I was working toward a different vision, and the whimsical, accidental, freak shots are the ones that always look best and end up the final cut.

I'm working on the ultimate, final cover of Fearless now, but each individual part will have its own black/white/chrome cover. Up next it's this...

And it's coming right along. Won't be too long now!

Keeping Bad Company

I've been talking about this one forever, huh? It's here!! Head on over here to download your copy. And Fearless Part II: "Crossing Lines" will be out next month.

Happy reading.

Hopping The Pond

It's release week! There's so many terrifying things going on in the world right now that a person could lose major sleep worrying. So I'm going to try to focus on the positive things - the things to be excited about. And I'm so excited to release the third volume of the Russell Series this week.

One of my favorite things about this novel, in particular, is that I got to "send" some of my characters across the pond to London. It's someplace I'd love to visit. The motherland calling me home, I suppose. I love the imagery of this city, the aesthetics. And I especially love that it was appropriate to name one of the Lean Dogs' haunts Baskerville Hall.

 

All photos courtesy Pinterest

 

If you want to catch up before Friday, the Russells can be found in Made for Breaking, God Love Her, and "Things That Go Bang In The Night." And if you won't hold it against me, you'll probably be able to download KBC a day or two early. I just can't wait to share it.

Workshop Wednesday - Playing It Safe

The Lean Dog

If you read my blog, you by now know how much I adore Sherlock Holmes. My favorite adventure being The Hound of the Baskervilles - or "The Hound of the Baskervilles" if you're watching it. Long have I been fascinated by the black dogs of British folklore, the spectral dogs - the crossroads demons, the hellhounds, the heralds of death - who haunt the moors and back roads of the Isles. The legend of the black dog is pervasive; there's been a concentration of sightings on Dartmoor, but they are said to haunt other quiet places. In Hertfordshire, the malevolent spirit of a huge black dog with glowing red eyes, said to be the spirit of a chimney sweep hanged for murder, haunts a roadside where a gibbet once stood, sinking into the road when anyone lays eyes upon it. Locally, it is known as the Lean Dog.

I love the sound of that: Lean Dog.

I love that it resides in Hertfordshire, the setting of my all-time favorite literary novel, Pride and Prejudice.

I bring up the legend of the Lean Dog because I have some news regarding my Russell novels and my upcoming Friday release. When I first wrote God Love Her in 2008, I knew I had to name the motorcycle club "The Black Dogs," my special tribute to sinister folklore and Sherlock, too, if I'm honest. I searched online, and could not find an outlaw club by that name. But I didn't publish God Love Her then; it was only released last year, and the copyright stands only from that point forward. I've recently realized that there now exists a law enforcement MC that has copyrighted the name "Black Dogs MC," one founded before my book was released.

Crap.

What are the odds a club would care about my books? About me using the name? I asked myself. But I've been thinking on it all week, and I realized something: the name of the club in my novels isn't as important as being respectful of other people's copyrights. It's just not.

In my writing life, I've had the bejesus plagiarized out of my stories. It's a terrible feeling. I never want to do that to anyone else. I never want anyone to think I stole something from them.

So, moving forward, The Black Dogs of my novels are still the Dogs - they are still steeped in mythology and folklore and the bar in Keeping Bad Company is still called Baskerville Hall, but their name will now be the Lean Dogs Motorcycle Club. They're still black dogs, and bear them proudly on their cuts; they're just not Black Dogs.

I hate the idea that this might cause any confusion, but it's something I felt was important. I have already gone back and adjusted the name in God Love Her, will do so for KBC, and Friday's release is ready to go as the Lean Dogs.

So, the Black Dogs are now the Lean Dogs, and all the novels should now reflect that. Sorry, everyone. I thought it best to rectify the matter before going any further, especially since Friday's release is so chock full of Dogs. :)

New Faces

Happy Sunday, everyone. I hope it's not as muggy where you are as it is here. So much for autumn rolling in - it's hot! A certain baby boy doesn't "do" the outdoors when it's muggy and hot. I tell you, Dobermans are born spoiled rotten. So we're having to play with toys indoors, being careful not to mess up the wrapping on his freshly posted ears. I'll have before and after shots soon.

So Keeping Bad Company hits the market September 12. It was my greatest hope to have it ready for an August release, but with my computer troubles, that just wasn't possible. I've got my final proof, and am doing one last run-through. I think all the edits will make it well worth that wait. I'm so excited to share it.

But during my laptop hiatus, I had some time to reflect on some things, and some time to play around with a story I wasn't sure I'd ever bring back to life. I ended up doing a lot of writing by hand, and some writing on my old iTunes-only computer. I had a bit of a revival, if you will. The Russells might not return until next month, but this Friday, I have a super secret project to share, one I am so excited about, and I hope my readers will enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

To get ready for it, you need to meet two new faces. If you've read the first four chapters of KBC, you've met Walsh. Now meet Mercy:

From Keeping Bad Company

Copyright © 2014 by Lauren Gilley

 

~*~

All the guys were up in the clubhouse, ranged around the common room’s centermost tables. Johnny spotted the two new faces right off: a tall, darkly tan guy with shiny black hair pulled back into a short bun, sleeves cut out of his shirt, and an unassuming dark blonde with scruffy cheeks and narrow blue eyes who couldn’t have been taller than five-nine. He was even shorter than Jaeger. Both wore cuts. The tall dark one had the Black Dogs dog tatted on one impressive bicep, surrounded by a series of tribal swirls that flowed down to his elbow. The blonde wore a chambray shirt with a collar that stood up, a pack of smokes rolled into one sleeve. The tall one glanced over as Johnny entered with curiosity. The blonde’s expression was too guarded to tell.

            “Preppy,” Danner greeted from his perch on a table. “Come be social.”

            Rev stood. “Johnny, this is Mercy” – the big one – “and Walsh” – the smaller one. “Boys, this is Johnny Russell. They’re from our New Orleans chapter,” Rev continued, motioning to Mercy. “And Knoxville.” That was Walsh.

            Mercy stepped forward first. “You’re Ray Russell’s nephew, huh?” His accent was flavored with New Orleans, warm and Cajun. He extended a massive hand that swallowed Johnny’s and gripped hard. “I like Ray. Lawyer turned outlaw.” He laughed.

            Johnny tried not to wince as he retracted his hand and flexed his fingers. “Yeah. That’s me.”

            “They call you Preppy?”

            He plucked at the collar of his American Eagle t-shirt and twitched a half-smile. “Yeah.”

            “They’re real creative, huh?” Mercy winked.

            “Sure.”

            “Ain’t none of ‘em ever got my name right. It ain’t Mercy. It’s Merci.” His accent spiked the word, highlighted the French version of it.

            “Thank you?” Johnny asked.

            “By the time he gets done with someone, they say ‘thank you’ for the kiss of the knife,” Doc explained with a grin, dragging his finger across his own throat to demonstrate.

            “Only the rednecks can’t ever say it right,” Mercy explained, still grinning a wide, white grin. “So I’m ‘Mercy.’ It ain’t so bad.”

            Johnny was half-impressed, half-intimidated. He glanced over to Walsh, who jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and said nothing, just kept staring with those strange, light eyes of his.

            “Walsh is our money man,” Rev explained. “He sets up businesses for the club. The whole club.”

            Recognition dawned; Johnny had heard talk of him. Originally from the London chapter, he was ex-air force and a genius with financial planning. Anywhere within the Dog sphere, if there was a startup happening, he was called in to consult.

            “They’re gonna take over the Elephant for us for a while. Get things rolling with Quinn and his crew.”

            Coffee churned in Johnny’s empty stomach. He nodded. “Okay.”

            “And you’re gonna help.”

            “I am?”

            “Yeah. There’s not anything to do around here today. Go load the van and be ready when they’re ready.”

            Mercy slugged him on the shoulder in an affectionate, friendly gesture.

            Walsh lifted a foot and studied the underside of his boot, finding something he plucked out of the treads with careful fingertips.

            Johnny wished he’d run into a telephone pole on the way over.

Keeping Bad Company - First Four Chapters

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday, and that you enjoy the first four chapters of Keeping Bad Company. It's almost here! Early next month sometime. I just can't wait to share it with you all.

To get all caught up with Sly and Layla, check out my free 5-star rated short story "Things That Go Bang In The Night" on Amazon.

1

 

            “DO they have girls in Tennessee?”

            Walsh twisted around on his perch on a barstool beside the entrance of Le Femme. “We’ve got more women in Tennessee than you’ve got dentists in the UK.”

            “Then why’ve you got no old lady, and crooked teeth?”

            He touched his tongue to his bottom front teeth out of reflex. They were only a little bit crooked. In a charming way, he liked to think. He didn’t get any complaints – not about the teeth anyway.

Well Hello

Something arrived in the mail yesterday. I was pretty excited about it.

 

A Story for Your Holiday Weekend

It's live. Pop over to Amazon to download the Russell short story "Things That Go Bang In The Night." Amazon Prime members can borrow it for FREE!

Six months after the events of GOD LOVE HER, Layla Hammond struggles with a lingering fear, the sense that her rose-colored view of the world as safe has been shattered forever. What’s a Russell girl to do, though, but find a way to overcome that fear? And look after her family. In this Russell series short story, travel to Savannah, GA with Sly and Layla on a much-needed late honeymoon, as they seek to reclaim the night as their own.

Monday, Monday

Look at that. That thunderhead deserves its own free verse poem. It stormed yesterday, and then rained again this morning; while I was waiting for the downpour to pass, I got to get some writing done before I fed the horses. Sometimes that's the most peaceful, perfect time for writing - when you're up before you expected to be. I always write in the morning - which is why I don't post on here every day; some days my mind is just too tangled to handle this place too - but before the horses, that's almost unheard of.

I worked on the short story I've been talking about, "Things That Go Bang in the Night," this weekend, working on my old music-only computer and listening to this song more times than necessary. I really love working on short stories - or oneshots, as this one is. I love, love, love character-building sets of scenes without having to worry about moving the plot along or keeping up with those tiresome, tangling loose threads. A oneshot is a chance for me, as a writer, to say, "Hey, I can write that if I want to."This one started as a way to beat writer's block, and developed into an exploration of things that need discussing between God Love Her and KBC. I want to release it this weekend, a fun little holiday read.

I'll keep you posted.

Things That Go Bang in the Night

Hopefully, "Things That Go Bang in the Night," my Russell short story featuring Layla and Sly, will be available soon. Here's a little peek.

Happy, Friday, y'all. I intend to be fully thankful that my book is done!

From "Things That Go Bang in the Night" Copyright © 2014 by Lauren Gilley

**

Cheryl tapped on the window, from inside the kitchen, and when Layla glanced up, she saw her aunt gesturing for her to go back around front and sit down in a series of pantomimed actions that would have been hilarious at another time. Layla just nodded and headed that way, doing as told, when the toe of her sandal caught on something in the ankle-high grass. It was a little rectangle of hammered tin. She knelt and turned it over, brushed away the dirt with her fingers.

            It was a garden sign, forgotten and rusting. Etched into the tin were the words Bless Our Happy Home.

            That’s what this house had been for some other family: a happy home.

            She’d stood in the sun, tracing the letters with a fingertip, remembering Sly on that first day with his hands on his hips in front of the white brick hearth. Yes, he’d bought this place for her, and yes, it was a wreck, but the best things seemed to be born in the middle of messes. She’d decided then to make this their happy home, no matter how grueling the process.

            Now she stood in front of the second-hand refrigerator, trying to decide if she could stomach the leftover broccoli tomato salad she should eat, or whether her craving for cheese dip was too strong to ignore.

            She glanced at the microwave clock. Sly would be a while, yet. The swank cocktail party he was working security for wouldn’t be over for hours. It was a client of Cheryl’s; those fifty-something former debutantes partied harder than any frat boys ever could.

            “Cheese dip it is,” she said to herself, and grabbed the clear plastic container.

            Bang.

            The container fell out of her hand, the top burst off, and white cheese showered her feet and the ugly linoleum. Her heart lurched up her throat, lodging against her voice box; her pulse went from a standstill to a gallop; she was lightheaded, dizzy, out of breath in her sudden fright.

            “What?” she asked herself, trying to get her heartbeat under control.

            It had been a loud, sudden sound, a sharp punch of something striking another something. Not a gunshot, she realized with a modicum of relief. She knew what gunshots sounded like, now.

 

**

Done

Workshop Wednesday is coming, I promise, but please excuse me while I take a moment to cartwheel through the room (I can't actually cartwheel, I never had any gymnastic skills) because I just typed the very last line of Keeping Bad Company and I am DONE!!!!! Bring on the editing, the rewrites, the beta reading, the release-planning. Bring it all, 'cause I'm done, and I'm so excited about that. I hate it when people brag, but this one's going to be good, y'all. I mean, really and for serious.

That's all.

Soon

Short story coming.

Some KBC Things

“My name is Arlington, because I am the cemetery of all her dreams.”

The new female protagonist of Keeping Bad Company is named after my late grandfather, Arlie. I love that name; I always thought it would be cute for a little girl. It's a little obscure. When in doubt, always go with the obscure, I say.

This novel is a family drama, more than anything else. Part thriller, part romance, part mystery, no formula. It's by far the bloodiest of the Russell books, and it sets up two offshoot novels that may or may not ever see the light of day. The more books I complete, the more I know I don't want to write genre fiction; this is a big, action-packed novel that I hope people will want to get lost inside.  It is, above all else, about family.

Johnny's story has been a blast to write, in part because I have such a soft spot for secondary characters. Secondary he is no longer.

Release date coming soon. I'm thinking about 8 weeks.