Brien Michaels Does Rent Boy with a Difference! "As Long As You're Mine." Great Stuff for You!

Hi everyone--
A great week for great guests! Welcome my pal Brien Michaels (who i will be seeing at GayRomLit in two weeks! Yahoo!) Brien is bringing us some sexy college studs in a new release called As Long As You Love Me. Plus, he has some great giveaways for a lucky commenter, so be sure to leave a comment with your email! I'll let Brien tell you about it ------

I’m baaackk! Thanks again to the ever lovely Tara Lain for having me back on her blog today. Just a heads up that I’m running a couple contests here. Firstly, you can comment for a chance to win the first book in my Stories of Us series, Can’t Make You Love Me. Then, every comment you leave enters you into a contest for a $25 Amazon GC at the conclusion of this here blog tour.

Now that the formalites are out of the way...

I’m here today to talk about my sordid love affair with musicals. It’s kind of scary, actually. It all started, I think, when I started working at this movie theater when I was sixteen and the Movie Tunes CD we had to listen to every single day had songs from the Wicked soundtrack and a song off the Grey Gardens soundtrack. And then a later CD introduced me to a song from Legally Blonde. At first, they were irritating because you didn’t have a choice but to listen to them as long as you were on shift. But pretty soon, they started to grow on me, to the point that I’ve purchased the albums for Wicked and Legally Blonde, along with Hairspray and that one particular song from Grey Gardens. I’ve also seen Wicked, Legally Blonde, and Hairspray multiple times live, both on Broadway and on Tour.

What does this have to do with my new release, you ask? Well, As Long As You’re Mine is a song from the Wicked Original Broadway Cast Recording. I’d been wanting to do a Rentboy story for awhile, but didn’t want to do it the same way it’s been done a thousand times before. So I started thinking and the entire story grew out of one line: “What if I paid you?” That line never actually made it into the book, but it did give me a jumping off point. My boys wound up thrown together on a duet assignment for their acting class. One where they had to sing As Long As You’re Mine and convince the entire class that they care for each other, cuz that’s what acting is all about right? Convincing.

By the time I’d finished the book, it actually lined up pretty well and I’m really proud of it. And it’s on sale from Loose Id RIGHT NOW!!! Very very excited/ Wanna read the blurb? How about an excerpt?

Who isn't a little bi-curious in college? Wade Criss has always known there was something a little...off about him, but he hasn't been able to admit it until now. He wants to sleep with another man. But not just any man. He wants his geeky, sexy acting classmate, Zac.

Zac has been watching Wade all semester, waiting for the moment the other man would renounce his straight boy ways and fall into his bed. But when the two of them are paired together for the final exam, Zac isn't sure how to react. What if Wade finds out his secret?

Zac is an Adult Phone Entertainer, and it's that knowledge that turns Wade on more than anything. After all, there's nothing hotter than the anonymity of phone sex. But it doesn't matter how hot the sex is; everything always gets more complicated once feelings get involved. And Zac and Wade's relationship is far from the exception.

Excerpt:

Zac’s heart raced, and he reread the name scrawled across the top of his paper several more times, hoping it would change. God, why did Cassie have to hate him so much? Not only had she given him a song to perform from the most amazing musical ever, it was by far the most intimate song in said musical, and she’d paired him with the hottest guy in the entire class. He didn’t think he could do this.

He’d been getting ready to march down to Cassie’s office and ask for a new partner, but when he looked up, Wade was strolling toward him, hands stuffed in his pockets. Zac swallowed, his breath deserting him as he drank in Wade’s muscles, the plaits in his hair, the darkened caramel complexion of his skin.

“Hey,” Wade said, looking almost as nervous as Zac felt.

“Hi.” Hi? Seriously? He couldn’t think of anything cooler to say than hi? He was such a fucking dork.

“You got a few? We could go over this.” Wade held up their song lamely.

“We’ve got a few weeks,” Zac said, shrugging. “We don’t have to do this now if you don’t want.” He stood up and pulled his bag onto his shoulder.

“Well, I don’t know anything about this. Like at all. So we can at least talk about it now and start rehearsing it later.”

“Sure.” Zac nodded and led the way out of the classroom, his stomach in knots.

“What time’s your next class?” Wade asked once they were out on the quad.

“Not till five. I’m more of a morning person, so I try to get all my classes then, when I can.”

“I’ve got another hour, so let’s talk.”

“Do you know anything about the play at all?”

Wade shook his head. “Only that it’s about the Wicked Witch of the West. And what you did earlier.”

Heat flooded Zac’s cheeks. He hadn’t thought Cassie would go for him turning a song into a monologue, but she hadn’t stopped him once he’d gotten started, so he just kept going. The whole performance, he’d put his focus on different parts of the room so he wasn’t staring at Wade the entire time.

“Yeah. It’s about the Wicked Witch. Well, it’s more so about how she’s not as wicked as everyone made her out to be. How she’s just this really clever, idealistic young girl who wants to make a difference in the world.”

“That sounds interesting.”

“Oh, it’s amazing. There are flying monkeys and giant talking heads and love triangles, and at one point she…flies.” Wade eyed Zac, this lopsided grin painted on his face. “Sorry,” Zac said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I get kind of excited sometimes.”

“No, it’s cool.” Wade chuckled. “So, uh…where does the song come in?”

“It’s what they sing when Elphaba and Fiyero finally admit they love each other. It’s so intimate and can be really amorous if the actors do it right.”

“Really what?”

Zac stopped, cursing himself. “Amorous. It can be a really sexy, sensual moment if the actors do it right. Not that we have to play it that way or anything,” he added quickly.

“I’m fine with playing it like that if you are.”

Zac stared. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. You heard what Cassie said. It’s our job as actors to make her believe it. But we get extra credit if we make her feel it.” Silence fell between them for a moment. “I mean, it’s just for the grade, right?”

“Of course,” Zac said. “For the grade.”

*********************

 Thanks again for having me Tara!

Here's where you can find Brien!

Brienmichaels.com

Brienmichaels.blogspot.com

Twitter.com/brienmichaels

Goodreads.com/brienmichaels

Facebook.com/brienmichaels

 You guys please leave a comment and you may win a wonderful book and a chance at a $25 GC! Very cool. And i love blog followers!  : )