Sightlines (The Community #3) by Santino Hassell Virtual tour | Spotlight, Excerpt, Author Interview & #giveaway @RiptideBooks @SantinoHassell

Grab a cup of coffee and hunker down, we have a lot to share in the post today.

Santino Hassell stops by on his Sightlines tour to share the new release, an excerpt and an Author Interview. Oh, right, there's probably a giveaway somewhere too.

Will they finally be able to take down the Community once and for all? 

Chase Payne is a walking contradiction. He's the most powerful psychic in the Community, but the least respected. He's the son of the Community's founder, but with his tattoo sleeves and abrasive attitude, he's nothing like his charismatic family. No one knows what to make of him, which is how he wound up locked in a cell on the Farm yet again. But this time, the only man he's ever loved is there too.

Elijah Estrella was used to being the sassy sidekick who fooled around with Chase for fun. But that was before he realized the Community wasn't the haven he'd believed in and Chase was the only person who'd ever truly tried to protect him. Now they're surrounded by people who want to turn them against their friends, and the only way out is to pretend the brainwashing works.

With Chase playing the role of a tyrant's second-in-command, and Elijah acting like Chase's mindless sex toy, they risk everything by plotting a daring escape. In the end, it’s only their psychic abilities, fueled by their growing love for each other, that will allow them to take the Community down once and for all.

Available now from Riptide Publishing | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Excerpt...

* * * * * * *

When Chase opened his eyes, he was immediately aware of a few things.

The first was that Frick and Frack, the Farm’s asshole psy-kid siblings who’d replaced Six as head of the guards, had sedated him after Richard had summoned them to the silo.

The second was that he was in a room he’d never seen before, so fancy he could have never imagined it. In all the years Chase had spent on the Farm, he’d always been . . . confined. Held in either a tiny cell in the silo, where Jasper could poke and prod at his leisure, or allowed to sleep in a slightly larger room in the silo with no windows save for a thin horizontal strip near the ceiling. He’d thought that had been a luxury and a reward for good behavior. But this bedroom, with its dark wooden walls and heavy beams across the ceiling, the golden glow of designer lamps, and fancy throw rugs, was a palace.

The third thing he realized was that all his psychic brain bits seemed to be intact, but he was pumped full of psy suppressants so those bits were close to useless. They’d put him back on them three weeks ago—when they’d first brought Elijah to the Farm.

Chase gritted his teeth and stared up at the ceiling. He should have been used to their methods of controlling him. As a kid, they’d programmed him to fear everything. Fear leaving the Farm, fear people from other parts of the city, fear voids, the government, anyone who could hurt him if they knew what he was.

Then, he’d gone out into the world and decided . . . a lot of that was bullshit. His talents allowed him enough insight into the people around him to discern whether they truly had bad intentions, and most of them didn’t. The people who wanted to do harm were there, but more folks than not couldn’t have given less of a fuck about whether he lived or died. Apathy was humanity’s biggest crime. Not murderous intent.

But even as he’d gone into New York City to learn that Jasper and Richard had mind-fucked him into being afraid of his own shadow, the Community’s early programming had kept him steady in their ranks. He knew there was more to the void world than they’d let on, and he knew his father and Jasper were taking advantage of the Community and even the rest of the board, but he could never force himself to do anything about it.

It was a mental stranglehold created by Jasper to control their Super Boy even after Richard had demanded his son be turned loose into the world. Chase would be out in the city, but the very notion of leaving the Community or defecting had caused his throat to close up and his body to all but shut down. Of all the Pavlovian responses that could have been programmed into him, Jasper had chosen to make Chase think—really think—he’d die if he left the people who’d raised him. It was all Jasper could do since he hadn’t been able to strip Chase of the talents that had opened his mind to the rest of the world, and there was no way to pump him full of drugs while Chase was running around the city.

Mind control had been the only way Jasper was able to exert his control on Chase, but now that Chase was back at the Farm . . . there were all the other ways as well.

Chase curled his hands in the plush blanket beneath him. One shift, and he felt the bed molding beneath his aching back. These motherfuckers straight up had memory foam beds while he’d lived almost a decade of his life sleeping on a hospital bed? Out of all the things they’d done to him, somehow this was right up there at the top of the list as the biggest slap in the face.

He rolled to the side and got to his feet, wincing at the sudden motion. All his mental pieces were in place, but his body was still a mess. His shoulder ached, and he could catalog a sprain in his ankle, his wrist, and a herniated disc in his back. Or two. After Frick and Frack had shot Elijah, he’d put up quite a fight.

“How are you feeling?”

If you want more, head over to Riptide Publishing to read this excerpt in its entirety.

What inspired you to start writing?

As a kid, I wanted to recreate my life. I wrote stories and poems and songs that were reflective of my life, but different. I always wanted the optimistic and happy endings that weren’t possible in the real world.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing for almost twenty years, almost fifteen of which has been me posting online, and 3 of which has been professionally.

What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?

Don’t give up and keep writing. It’s easy to get discouraged and think you can’t do it, but persistence is the key.

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?

I often do in times of high stress. Reading books in the genre I love can usually inspire me to get back at it.

What Authors in the genre do you read?

SO MANY. Recently, my faves are Robin Covington and Molly O’Keefe.

What comes first, the plot or characters?

For me it’s the characters. Romance is about two people trying to find their way together despite barriers in their lives, so knowing who those people are is pretty key to the rest of the story.

Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell us about?

I’m writing book 6 in the Five Boroughs series which is about an angry gay dancer with a battered heart, and the guy he unexpectedly falls for (who starts out as his enemy). They’re both dancers, both really intense people with interesting pasts, and there is a LOT of flirting and UST before they give into their desire. I’m also planning my first M/F series.

Describe the perfect writing space.

A room isolated from other people with access to nice aesthetics and good music.

Do you do research for your books? If so, what does that entail?

Usually I’ll buy books depending on the topic. For The Community, I read up on psychic abilities and psychic blogs. Sometimes I’ll travel to a location, watch documentaries, or read memoirs.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

Ummm… 17? My favorite is probably Down by Contact and Sunset Park. I love the characters and their dynamics!

Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say?

Yes! Especially in my facebook group Get Hasselled. There’s a lot of goofing around, but also an overall positive vibe where we can have fun.  

About The Community Series

What lies beneath the surface of the world you thought you knew?

Secrets and lies have twisted an underground community founded by psychics escaping persecution. Blackmail, sex, and social climbing in the name of power has created an irreparable rift.

In the eyes of the founders, there are two sides: loyalists and everyone else. Surely no one would emerge from their tightly woven webs. And they certainly wouldn’t sow the seeds of rebellion within the heart of the Community’s only queer night club.

Now an outcast, a scion, and a runaway are leading a revolution to save not only the men they love, but the entire Community.

Check out The Community series! https://riptidepublishing.com/titles/series/community

Santino Hassell was raised by a conservative family but grew up to be a smart-mouthed, school cutting grunge kid, a transient twenty-something, and eventually transformed into a grumpy introvert and unlikely romance author with an affinity for baseball caps. His novels are heavily influenced by the gritty, urban landscape of New York City, and his desire to write relationships fueled by intensity and passion.

He’s been a finalist in both the Bisexual Book Awards and the EPIC Awards, and was nominated for a prestigious RITA award in 2017. His work has been featured in BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Washington Post, RT Magazine, and Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Connect with Santino:

• Website: www.santinohassell.com
• Blog: santinohassell.com/blog
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/santinohassellbooks
• Twitter: twitter.com/SantinoHassell
• Tumblr: thatdudesantino.tumblr.com/
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/santinohassell/
• Instagram: instagram.com/santinohassell
• Google+: plus.google.com/u/0/+SantinoHassell/
• Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/santino_hassell

To celebrate the release of Sightlines, one lucky winner will receive a $15 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 14, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!