Hi guys, we have Sarah Madison stopping by today with the stunning new cover to her upcoming re-release Unspeakable Words, we have a fantastic guest post, a great excerpt and a brilliant giveaway, so admire that gorgeous cover, enjoy the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

Unspeakable Words

Sarah Madison

Special Agent John Flynn is everything that Jerry Parker is not: dangerously handsome, coolly charismatic, and respected by his peers. Special Agent Parker is dedicated and meticulous, but his abrasive personality has given him a reputation for being difficult. When new information on a cold case appears, Parker is assigned to work with Flynn, and sparks fly as their investigative styles clash. Contact with a strange artifact changes everything when it bestows unusual and unpredictable powers on Flynn…and the two men must learn to work together before a killer strikes again.

First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2010.

Sarah Madison

Why revisit an old story?

I’m sure I’m going to hear this a lot—why revise and expand on a story written in 2010—almost seven years later?

First of all: holy crap. Has it really been seven years? Okay, more like six since we’ve just entered 2017, but the fact remains, Unspeakable Words was released at the end of 2010, so why go back?

There are a lot of reasons, to be honest. Unspeakable Words was the first major story I subbed for publication. I’d been told my whole life how hard it was to get published—I was fully prepared for a rejection letter. So when it was accepted by Dreamspinner Press, I was both gratified and surprised. So surprised, my initial instinct was to take it back and clutch it to my chest, to tell Dreamspinner it wasn’t ready, that I’d submitted it on a whim and never expected it to be accepted. I was such a newbie I was afraid if I did that, Dreamspinner would kindly pat me on the head and ask me not to trouble them anymore, as I obviously couldn’t make up my mind to be a published author or not. I decided to roll with the story as written. So despite the polishing of the story I’d sent them, I’ve always wished I could have expanded on the story I had in my head.

Then there’s the fact that there was a long lag time between my writing Unspeakable Words and the next installment in the series, Walk a Mile. I had reasons, most of which had to do with family, health, and work, but truth be told, I’d also lost my faith in the series for a bit. I wasn’t sure I should carry on with the paranormal/supernatural aspect of the stories, and wasn’t sure what direction to take them in. Eventually I came to realize that I had to trust my gut with these stories and write them as I envisioned them. The very differences that made them not your typical FBI-guy stories were the things that made some readers love the series.

But what that lag time meant was that when Walk a Mile was published, no one realized it was novel length while Unspeakable Words was technically a novella. As a result, the subsequent books in the series so far, Walk a Mile and Truth and Consequences, were available in both digital and print form, whereas Unspeakable Words was only available in digital format. I didn’t realize what an issue this was for some people until I attended a convention and watched as dozens of readers passed on buying print copies of my books because the first in the series was only an ebook.

So I went to Dreamspinner and asked to expand Unspeakable Words—filling in those scenes I saw in my head but left on the cutting room floor. Happily, Dreamspinner said yes, and then suggested a revamp of the series look as well, with new covers by the talented L.C. Chase. I’m delighted to share the new look of the Sixth Sense series here today with the first book, Unspeakable Words. The fourth and final installment of the series, tentatively titled Deal with the Devil, is being written now. I couldn’t be more excited!

Excerpt

He sensed Flynn’s presence behind him before he heard him speak.

“Something smells good in here.”

Jerry turned to say something offhand but then completely lost track of what he’d intended to say. Flynn was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, wearing a towel slung low around his hips so that his hipbones showed. The hair on his chest was not too much, just right in fact, tapering down his long torso until it disappeared beneath the towel. He was drying out one ear with another towel, his hair standing up in startled spikes. On the chain around his neck, he wore a simple, tiny silver cross, the kind that a preteen girl might wear. His left shoulder bore the ugly, puckered mark of a bullet wound, the shiny scarring of skin suggesting that the wound wasn’t all that old. Jerry knew from his record that Flynn had been shot in the line of duty about six months ago, but the record didn’t say much more than that.

Flynn had shaved, but his jaw still held the suggestion of a beard. It was probably as close as he ever got to being smooth-cheeked. A hint of soap and the smell of clean, damp skin and aftershave wafted in Jerry’s direction before being lost to the smell of coffee and bacon. The combination of odors struck Jerry viscerally with a little bolt of lust that surprised him.

“Breakfast will be ready in a minute,” Jerry said tersely, turning away to get a second mug down from the cabinet.

“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Flynn said, slinging the towel in his hand around his neck.

Jerry shot him a look. He wondered what kind of game Flynn was playing here. He obviously was aware that Jerry had checked him out; it was evident in the little smile that played around his lips. Was this his way of saying he was so secure in his sexuality that it didn’t bother him? Jerry suspected that was the case.

“Oh. Right. Never mind. This is how you always start the day. What’s in the oven?” Flynn looked amused, something subtle in his eyes that suggested it was at Jerry’s expense. He also looked completely comfortable there in his stupid towel with his hairy legs and his bare feet.

“Frittatas,” Jerry said crisply. He blamed the heat of the oven for the flushing of his face.

“That’s some egg thingy, right?”

Jerry found his gaze drawn to a single bead of water dripping from one of Flynn’s sideburns, making its way in a crooked line over his collarbone. He swallowed before speaking. “Philistine. Yes, some egg thingy. Best eaten hot. You’d better get dressed.” He cleared his throat.

Flynn gave him a little half smile and left the room. Jerry watched the way the damp, soft terrycloth of the towel clung to his ass as he walked away. He took a sip of coffee and made a face as he realized he’d forgotten to add cream. Yep. It was going to be a long day.

About Sarah

Sarah Madison is a writer with a little dog, a big dog, an even bigger horse, too many cats, and a very patient boyfriend. An amateur photographer and a former competitor in the horse sport known as eventing, when she’s not out hiking with the dogs or down at the stables, she’s at the laptop working on her next story. When she’s in the middle of a chapter, she relies on the smoke detector to tell her dinner is ready. She writes because it’s cheaper than therapy.

Sarah Madison was a finalist in the 2013, 2015, and 2016 Rainbow Awards. The Boys of Summer won Best M/M Romance in the 2013 PRG Reviewer’s Choice Awards. The Sixth Sense series was voted 2^nd place in the 2014 PRG Reviewer’s Choice Awards for Best M/M Mystery series, and 3^rd place in the 2105 PGR Reviewer’s Choice Awards for Best M/M Paranormal/Urban Fantasy series.

If you want to make her day, e-mail her and tell you how much you like her stories.

Website | Amazon | Dreamspinner Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | E-mail: akasarahmadison@gmail.com

Giveaway!

Win a backlisted ecopy of one of Sarah Madison’s titles (excluding Unspeakable Words)

Sarah’s Question: When you’ve had a crappy day at work, what’s your favorite type of story to read to get away from it all?