When To Hold Them virtual tour by @gb_gordon | Spotlight, Excerpt, Author Interview & Giveaway { @RiptideBooks }

Doran Callaghan doesn’t know when to fold ’em. His gambling has landed him in debt and in jail, and now it’s got him stuck in the sticks in a reintegration program. He wants to turn his life around, but old habits come knocking, and some creditors are harder to shake than others.

Xavier Wagner cares more about the National Park he works in than the people around it, until a stranger awakens desires he didn’t know he had. Doran’s natural submissiveness turns Xavier’s ideas of how to treat a lover upside down. But Doran doesn’t seem to know about boundaries—or even to have any—and Xavier’s not sure that Doran will say no if he needs to. Which means someone’s going to get hurt.

While Xavier struggles with his principles, Doran’s past comes calling. Trusting each other is suddenly a matter of life or death, but Doran has to decide whether counting on Xavier—or himself—is a gamble he’s willing to take.

Buy link: Riptide Publishing 

Excerpt:

Doran tried not to check the clock every few seconds. He had a website to finish and no time to go off daydreaming about a guy who didn’t even know he existed.

He was quite familiar with the content management system by now, but by no means a coder, and it was always hard not to get distracted with Jace’s phone chatter at the front counter, the ticking of the clock on the wall, the ads for bus tours and cruises playing on the TV screen above the waiting area. He struggled to tune it all out and concentrate on not screwing up the Bluewater Bay Tourist Information’s website.

His fingers itched to check completely unrelated stuff, like his DeviantArt account, or how the Rainiers did last night, or if the weather was going to warm up anytime soon. Well, at least the weather was something he needed for his job, so it wasn’t blocked on his computer.

Sometimes he was sure that the internet lock kicked him out of his groove worse than being able to check a piece of news, or his account, or the game. But then, of course, the lock wasn’t about those pages as much as about TexasHoldEm.com, or FreePoker.net, and others like them.

“Hey, Callaghan,” Jace called over after she’d hung up. “Wanna do lunch?”

Doran watched her log out and turn her desktop off. When she looked back up, he shook his head. “I’d rather finish this, before I lose my train of thought.” He tapped his finger against his temple. “Squirrel brain. But thanks.” Only half the truth. There was no way he was leaving now. For reasons. He couldn’t wait for her to go. Not that she wasn’t nice, but he wanted the next half hour to himself.

Jace shrugged into her jacket and wrapped her scarf around her neck. Which, since it was on the scale of a boa constrictor, took a while. “Don’t starve yourself.” She grabbed her car keys and purse. “Lock up behind me?”

He walked her to the door, exchanged the usual Bye-see-yous, and flipped the door sign to Closed. Outside, the sky hung low and gray over the roofs, a few flurries mixed in with the drizzle.

Only when Jace was out of sight did he dare a quick glance at the Gas’n’Sip across the road. Even though it was only noon.

The Tourist Information was still operating on winter hours, Saturdays and Sundays, ten to twelve only. Jace was handling the walk-ins and phone.

The director didn’t let him talk to customers, much less handle any cash. Not that he blamed her. He was grateful for the whole reintegration program, and that she, or the council or whoever, had agreed to be part of it and given him this job. And she was nice about it. She covered her back, but she didn’t make it awkward, and she hadn’t told Jace about him. She’d even offered him free rides on the bus tours. Doran preferred to explore the town on foot and by himself. Still, he’d lucked out on this one.

But if he wanted to keep the job, he had to show them he was worth the effort. And he really needed for them to keep him beyond the probation period. He was not going back to jail. So he was putting the new accommodation guide together, both for the print brochure and the new website.

He retreated back behind his desk, but moved his chair over to the corner, from where he had a better view of the gas station across the road. Ten past noon. Almost time.

As if on cue, the white Silverado with the green stripe along its side and the National Park Service’s arrowhead on the door pulled up in front of the pump. Doran watched the driver unfold himself from behind the wheel and, with a smile, tip his cap to ancient Mrs. Larson, who drove her behemoth of an antique to church and back at about five miles per hour every Sunday. Doran might be new, but everyone in Bluewater Bay knew Mrs. Larson.

Damn, that man’s smile. It had burned itself into Doran’s brain the first time he’d seen the ranger six weeks ago, just after New Year’s. His first week in town and on the job. He’d been idly watching the cars come and go at the pump when six feet something of relaxed confidence in a ranger uniform had gotten out of that truck, sending uncontrollable shivers up and down Doran’s spine.

Doran had stared. He hadn’t been able to help himself. The guy looked like Luther flipping West from Resident Evil. Or what West might have looked like if he wasn’t fighting zombies.

After that, he’d seen the man drive up to the pump every Sunday, just after noon, and watching him had become an obsession. The long legs that made even those stupid green pants hot, and that looked still better in jeans; those fantastic shoulders. About the only complaint Doran had was that he didn’t wear the Smokey-the-Bear hat with his uniform, but preferred a baseball cap or woolen hat with the NPS logo.

He was trying to screw up his courage enough to get a sandwich at the same time as the ranger paid for gas. Or a bag of M&M’s. Anything, really. He’d been trying for weeks. C’mon, Callaghan, you can do this.

He checked his cash: five bucks and change. Not exactly plump. He’d get his pocket money for the week tomorrow night, but he’d still need to eat and buy the bus fare today. Shouldn’t have bought those stupid lottery tickets. And a sandwich at the gas station wasn’t exactly cheap. Ah, hell, if any gamble was ever worth the risk, this was it. He grabbed his keys and let himself out, then, in his hurry to cross the road, almost ran in front of a car. Bonehead.

Author Interview: 

Tell us about your recent Riptide release. What was the inspiration behind it?

For When to Hold Them the inspiration was the setting of Bluewater Bay.

Olympic Park basically screamed 'park ranger' at me, and Xavier just strolled in, in full, glorious 3D; with Doran, a little more shadowy at first, behind him. Both guys were talking (they don't always), and the story fell into place in the most beautiful way imaginable; it practically wrote itself.

What can readers expect when they read a story from you? What would you like potential readers to know about you and your books?

I hope they can always expect real people. Full-fledged characters with all the faults and potential grace of the human condition. And I'll always explore a topic that interests me deeply, that tugs at me and won't let me go until I've written it out. I'll always be 100% involved in what I write, and pour my heart and soul into it. No shortcuts.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself while writing your latest release?

That I can write a book in six months. Seriously, that has never happened before. It was a streak of good luck that seems to have used up all my writing karma points, because the current one is fighting me tooth and nail. ;)

How long does it take you to write a book?

It's less the writing that takes time than the shaping in my mind. Usually a book needs to percolate through my conscious and subconscious mind for a few months before I can actually start to write, before it's well-rounded and interconnected in theme, plot, and motivation. Up to now I would have said that makes it at least a year with all rewrites and edits. Go figure.

Describe your workspace.

I write my first draft on a portable keyboard that I drag everywhere - outside on the deck, in the park, in the coffee shop, in front of the fireplace ...

Everything else I do at my desk with shelves of references and dictionaries within easy reach, half a million browser tabs open, and Scrivener up on the Mac.

I usually have headphones on, with music that to me fits the book I'm currently writing. My playlist is a big part of putting me 'in the zone'.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do to cure it?

Not sure I believe in writer's block as such. If I'm reluctant to go back to a manuscript, or I find myself staring at an empty page not knowing how to continue, it usually means that something doesn't work, and that I have to take a long, hard look at my planning/plotting/character motivation - that sort of thing. I'll either take a long walk on which to do some pondering and free association (aka day dreaming), or I'll sit down with a roll of paper and some crayons to puzzle things out with a generous amount of arrows, underlinings and circles.

What can readers expect from you in the future?

I'm currently working on another Bluewater Bay novel, and after that I plan on returning to the world of Santuario to see what Tom and Matti are up to. I eventually want to get back to Alex and Bengt as well. I love them too much to let them go, and their story is not completely told just yet.

Do you have a favorite quote?

I don't know about favourite, but I quite like this one by Neil Gaiman:

"When writing a novel, that's pretty much entirely what life turns into: 'House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.'"

G.B. is Riptide's Featured Author for August!

G.B. Gordon worked as a packer, landscaper, waiter, and coach before going back to school to major in linguistics and, at 35, switch to less backbreaking monetary pursuits like translating, editing, and writing.

Having lived in various parts of the world, Gordon is now happily ensconced in suburban Ontario with the best of all husbands. Santuario is G.B. Gordon’s first published work, but many more stories are just waiting to hit the keyboard.

Connect with Gordon: 

Website and blog: gordon.kontext.ca

Twitter: @gb_gordon

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a $15 Riptide store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on August 22. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your email so we can contact you if you win!