Blurb:
In the year 2050, humanity finds out they are indeed not alone.
Massive space ships appear without warning above the capital cities of all major nations. The planet Tah'Nar is dying. Chemical warfare has reduced the once-intersexed warrior race to sterility. They need fresh DNA in order to reproduce and have an idea for a harvesting program... and so they turn to Earth.
Earth governments negotiate a lottery, and Dale Michael assumes he's safe since he's under the Harvest age limit. How wrong he is. He's illegally harvested and claimed by Tah'Narian starship captain Keyno Shou. From the moment Keyno sees Dale, he knows he must claim the spirited human male for his own. What he doesn't expect is a spitfire with a mind of his own—and a deadly disease that will require a risky procedure to cure.
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Interview:
Hey everyone! I'm so pleased to drop by and talk about my new novel
The Harvest: Taken. This is the first book of two books that cover Dale's journey through one of the scariest times in human history. But it's also a voyage of a young human male and alien who both grow, learn, find trust, and fall in love. And their path is not always easy.
I thought it would be neat to focus on Dale in this post. Dale also wanted to talk about his life now that he's mated to Keyno but also what his life was like before the Tah'Narians arrived.
~Who's your favorite horror villain and why?
Dale: Hmm, that's a hard one. I'm not much on horror movies, but I guess I'd say my favorite would be Jason from
Friday the 13th. Frankly, the first two movies were the best; I thought the rest were kind of silly. Yes, the show was gory, but it also had that... I guess you'd call it 'creep factor'. That music alone was enough to make your hair stand on end, lol.
~What's the best advice anyone has ever given you?
*laugh* To think before I open my mouth. I freely admit I don't always do this. In fact—according to my mate, Keyno, and my best friend, Chad—I rarely think before I act. But then, I can think of several situations that have happened since I met Keyno that if I
hadn't acted spontaneously, things might not have turned out like they did.
But yeah, I think the standing joke around here is I leap before I look.
~What's your guilty pleasure?
Huh. That's a hard one, too. I really enjoy fishing, but that's not a guilty pleasure. It's just a pleasure, lol. I don't feel guilty about it. Well, I may feel a little guilty when Chad and I go camping. I usually refuse to help him set up the tent. But hey! If he'd get a new one it would be much easier. Or let me spring for one. That one he refuses to get rid of is possessed, lol.
~What do you do to relax?
I like to exercise. Keyno and I work out with the
hast, which are similar to nunchuks. I like to read romance novels, and I'm pretty sure Keyno reads the books when I'm not looking.
~What is your idea of how to spend romantic time with your significant other?
*Laugh* Keyno could answer that better than I can. He's always finding things to do that are romantic. I just like spending time with my mate—just us without the usual interference of his starship duties, dealing with his royal family members, and so on. As long as we're together, that's all that matters.
~What is your favorite meal?
I guess I'd have to say fried catfish, loaded bake potato, crab salad, and hushpuppies. But honestly, I'll pretty much eat anything, and the more 'alien' foods and drinks I've tried has been good, too. *evil grin* There was this drink Ti served at the reception held for the Tah'Narians. Heh, if you read the book, you'll know what I'm talking about. Yes, I was being bad when I mentioned the drink to Keyno, lol.
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Excerpt:
I spent the next hour with the education headgear, listening and watching, learning about their culture. Finally, Keyno made a motion with his hand for me to stop.
I removed the thing from my head. "Yeah?"
"How do you feel?"
"I'm fine, I guess." Fine as I could be stuck off in space on a starship orbiting the Earth with an alien that I wasn't sure about. The smartass in me was tempted to plaster a big cheesy grin across my face and do the universal 'thumbs up' sign. I resisted the urge, barely. Who knew how long my self-control would last? "I'm a little hungry. Can we eat now?"
Keyno watched me for a moment before nodding his head. "Yes. Anything special you want, or should I just surprise you? Let me shut down the holo-comp and we can decide."
"What's that thing again?"
"It's like a computer but the image is projected."
"Oh, cool."
Keyno shut down the holo-comp and moved around the living quarters, straightening things. "Anything in particular you want?"
"I'm craving steak—and I want it rare. Which is odd, since I don't like my meat still kicking when it gets to the table."
Keyno moved around the room. It took me a minute to figure out he was doing things to keep busy—like he was nervous or something. Somehow, that made me feel better.
"Can that machine handle that?"
Keyno just gave me a little private smile as he turned away, like he knew why my eating habits were suddenly changing. "Yes, it won't take long. Why don't you go wash up? I'll bring your dinner to the bedroom and we'll eat there."
"You're really serious about keeping me in bed for the next two days, huh?" I jumped out of bed and sauntered to the bathroom. I felt fine.
"Yes, I am. I just wish the reason was different," Keyno mumbled under his breath.
Okay, that got
my feet moving. I hurried to the bathroom. I ran the sink full of cool water and seriously debated dunking my whole face in it, anything to get rid of the redness in my cheeks. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. What he said actually made me hard, and wasn't that a trip? Where had this sudden spike of sexual tension come from? I didn't want to be attracted to this alien, even if I was wearing his—well, he called it a necklace, but the word "collar" came to mind.
What was happening to me? Was it all that alien DNA they flooded me with? Okay, yes, he was good-looking, for an alien. I liked my guys big and tall... and human. Didn't I? The whole head-dunking thing was looking better and better. I stared at the mirror and tried to figure out what was happening to me—what I wanted. Was I actually attracted to him? The evidence said I was, even though my mind yelled that I was being stupid. He'd all but kidnapped me and I still wasn't happy with him over that. Okay, "unhappy" was an understatement.
I didn't want to be here—I
shouldn't be here, but here I was.
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Author Bio:
M.A. Church lives in the southern United States and spent many years in the elementary education sector. She is married to her high school sweetheart and they have two children. Her hobbies are gardening, walking, attending flea markets, watching professional football, racing, and spending time with her family on the lake.
But her most beloved hobby is reading. From an early age, she can remember hunting for books at the library. Later nonhuman and science fiction genres captured her attention and drew her into the worlds the authors had created. But always at the back of her mind was the thought that one day, when the kids were older and she had more time, she would write a book.
By sheer chance she stumbled across a gay male romance story on the web and was hooked. A new world opened up and she fell in love. Thus the journey started. When not writing or researching, she enjoys reading the latest erotic and mainstream romance novels. She can be found on
her blog,
Twitter,
Facebook, and
Goodreads!