Giveaway, Guest Post & Excerpt Healing by Grace R. Duncan

Title: Healing 

Author: Grace R Duncan

Series; Pandemus Chronicles (#2) 

Genre: 

Publisher: 

Release Date: 

Blurb/Synopsis:

When Duncan stumbles into a pharmacy in search of something to fix his broken leg, he’s surprised to find someone else there. Like the rest of the post-pandemic world, it appeared empty. Instead, he discovers Mark, a former nurse who walked away from his profession after losing too many patients to the virus. Despite swearing he’d never practice medicine again, Mark patches Duncan up over Duncan's protests. He even finds an abandoned house in the tiny town, and they settle in until Duncan heals enough to look out for himself. Much to the chagrin of both, they find themselves caring for each other. Duncan welcomes it, thrilled at finding someone he can trust. However, he’s well aware of the shadows in Mark’s eyes and understands Mark’s reticence as he learns the story. But as he’s starting to do things for himself again, Duncan realizes he doesn’t want Mark to leave. He’s not sure if can get Mark to let go of his fears so they can stay together and love. But Duncan’s damned sure going to try.

Five Things I Learned Writing Healing

Dystopian may be my new favorite genre. Okay, maybe that’s not really new news to me. Stephen King’s The Stand has been my favorite book for many years now. But how much I like this genre really came home to me while writing this. I mean, Healing isn’t the first story in the world. I wrote Celebrating You for the Dreamspinner Press holiday anthology in 2013, but the world was really a tiny part of that story. Being able to write more in Healing really opened my eyes to how much I love being able to play with a clean slate of sort

Sci fi really does scare the crap out of me. While researching for Healing, I found myself delving into parts of science that went way over my head. I spent a lot of time reading up on diseases and viruses and medicine and I was reminded why science was never my strong subject in school. Readers are smart and I was scared to death that I’d write the virus the wrong way or not get something right when I talked about the broken bone and make one of my readers made. This, in itself, isn’t sci fi. But it reminded me of how scary science is and how I’m going to have to have a science genius (or two) with me if I ever get further into it.

I can actually write a story without a lot of sex. I know, this shocked the hell out of me, too. I mean, I look back on everything I’ve written, even 1000 word shorts, and there’s sex in it. In all of them. So, to discover that, when all was said and done, the only sex that ended up in a 25k novella was a masturbation scene, well, color me shocked. But it showed me that it is possible to focus on other elements. Worry not, I’m not likely to abandon sex altogether anytime soon. I likes my mansex too much for that!

Google Maps does, in fact, have limits. Google Maps has been the savior for many an author. Most of us can’t afford to fly off to Seattle to wander around downtown, taking pictures, making sure we know what sits where, or what kind of view we might get out of this building or that one. So, we often rely on good old Mr. Google. Well, while writing a scene in a Seattle hospital, I discovered that I can’t actually see everything from Google Maps! I was scarred! Scarred, I tell you! My faith in all things Google was sorely shaken!

I can pants a story after all… and they’re usually a lot shorter. I make no secret of the fact that I am a plotter. Choices, Deception, No Sacrifice and my current WIP, What About Now were all plotted. Even the YA I submitted a short while ago was all plotted out. Healing? Totally pantsed. It started out at just under 18k for an anthology submission but was accepted separately for a standalone novella. Turns out, I can fill in 7k, and still make it all cohesive without an outline. Surprise! Though, I’ll probably stick to plotting for the most part…  

 Buy link:

  Amazon  ~ ARe  ~  Dreamspinner Press 

 Excerpt 

 He should have known better. Under normal circumstances, it was a stupid move, but right here, right now, “stupid” didn’t begin to cover it. Duncan glared at his leg for another moment, then leaned his head back against the wall. He needed to keep moving. It hurt like hell, but he had to keep going. It wasn’t going to get better on its own. The gash needed to be cleaned and bandaged, and even if the break wasn’t bad, it should at least be braced. And it wasn’t like he could call an ambulance. Or even go into an emergency room. Well, he supposed he could go into an emergency room, if he was in the city. But like a lot of other people, he avoided the cities whenever possible. And when it wasn’t, he stayed as far on the edge as he could. But even there, it was a dangerous risk. As corrupt as the cities were now, the price of anything was higher than most could pay. He’d heard rumors that, in some of the worst cities, people simply got shot if they couldn’t pay what the thugs in power wanted. It was all rumor, but rumor he wasn’t about to ignore. So he did his damnedest to stay away. He’d been stupid to jump off the ledge. Even at only a couple of feet higher than he was tall, the risk hadn’t been worth it. He’d have thought, after nearly three years, he’d learned how to be more careful and not take those kinds of risks. It wasn’t the first time he’d fallen and hurt himself—though, thankfully, the last one hadn’t involved a broken bone. Maybe it should have; he might have learned his lesson then. “Really fucking stupid, Dun.” Duncan steeled himself and pulled to his feet, grimacing when the sharp pain shot up his ankle and through his leg. “Fuck,” he muttered, breathing hard through his nose. When he finally focused past the pain, he looked up and noted the position of the sun, the only real indication he had for the time, and figured he had another good hour or two of light. If he was right about where he was, he wouldn’t need all of it. He tucked the stick he’d found under his arm, grimaced when it dug into the soft flesh, but then leaned on it and hobbled along again.   

  Grace’s Bio: Grace Duncan grew up with a wild imagination. She told stories from an early age - many of which got her into trouble. Eventually, she learned to channel that imagination into less troublesome areas, including fanfiction, which is what has led her to writing male/male erotica. A gypsy in her own right, Grace has lived all over the United States. She has currently set up camp in East Texas with her husband and children - both the human and furry kind. As one of those rare creatures who loves research, Grace can get lost for hours on the internet, reading up on any number of strange and different topics. She can also be found writing fanfiction, reading fantasy, crime, suspense, romance and other erotica or even dabbling in art. 

 Grace’s website: http://www.grace-duncan.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GraceRDuncan2 Twitter: @GraceRDuncan    

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