Sunday, April 24, 2016

Book Spotlight~ Scotty Cade's Knobs

Book title:  Knobs
Author:  Scotty Cade
Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press
Release date:  April 22, 2016-01-31

Buy at: 

Angus Conrad (Gus) McRae is a privileged Charlestonian following family tradition and attending the Citadel, harboring big dreams of a military career. With the infamous hell week behind him, he quickly realizes being a Knob (a freshman cadet) is just as tough—especially for a man like Gus who must keep his sexuality a secret. Then a sudden dorm reassignment places him in a room with one of the football team’s top players: working-class jock Stewart Adam (Sam) Morley—and life gets increasingly complicated.

Gus can’t imagine a man like Sam as gay, yet there’s something between them—exchanged glances, the occasional innuendo. Sexual tensions rise, leaving them more than friends but less than lovers. Gus and Sam know there’s too much to lose and they must keep their attraction hidden. If they fail, they risk destroying their hopes and dreams for a prosperous future in a military world that’s not yet ready to accommodate masculine gay men.

Excerpt:

“Are you gonna come in and close the door behind you?” Gus asked sarcastically. “Or are all the cadets going to get to see me in my underwear?”


Sam was sort of standing there more for effect than anything, but his eyes were glued to Gus’s body. His stomach was ripped, and the muscles in his thighs were visible through the legs of his boxer briefs.
“Okay,” Sam said. “If I close the door, will you at least talk to me?”
Gus shook his head. “I really don’t think you want to hear what I have to say right now.”
“I think you’re wrong about that,” Sam said, stepping in and allowing the door to close behind him.
Sam removed his cover and tossed it onto his bunk. He was tired of this cat-and-mouse game. Instead of untying his shoes, he brought his left foot up and tugged at his shoe until it came off. He tossed the shoe into the bottom of his locker, making quite the thud, and removed the right one much the same way.
He turned and rested his hands on his hips. “Are you gonna talk to me now?”
Gus didn’t respond. He went to his closet, removed his toiletries bag, and headed for the door. Sam took two steps forward, put both hands on Gus’s shoulders, spun him around, and backed him up against the door.
Their faces were so close Sam could feel Gus’s warm breath against his face.
Sam slammed one hand against the back of the door while leaving the other one on Gus’s shoulder. “Fuck, Gus! Yell at me. Curse me out. Do something. Don’t just give me the silent treatment. You’re not leaving this room until you talk to me.”
Gus smiled incredulously. “So, what? You’re gonna hold me hostage now?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Sam said.
“Fine! You want me to talk? Here goes. You are the most selfish bastard I’ve ever met. You’ve treated me like shit since the first day we met, and I’m not going to be your punching bag anymore. Please go to the Academic Officer and ask for a transfer. Tell him we’re incompatible. I’ll back you up on that one.”
“I don’t want a transfer,” Sam said, his lips now inches away from Gus’s.
“Why not?” Gus said quietly through clenched teeth, just in case there were any stray cadets roaming around in the hall. “You’ve done everything possible to offend me and my family. Why not move on to another cadet? Go ahead, man, share the charms of Stewart Adam Morley with the entire Citadel, one cadet at a time.”
Gus glared at him, the normal bright silver-gray of his eyes now a dark, gloomy gray. “Furthermore, you can fuck with me all you want, but leave my crazy family out—”
Sam had heard enough. Before Gus could finish his sentence, Sam covered Gus’s lips in a crushing kiss.

Meet the Author

This is where you really get to know Scotty Cade, the person. There’s probably more information here than you’ll ever want to know, but here goes:

I started my life in the city of New Orleans, better known as the Big Easy and was raised along with my two sisters in a very small neighborhood along the mighty Mississippi River. I was undeniably a momma’s boy and enjoyed a lot of alone time with my stay-at-home mother before my younger sister was born, while my older sister was at school and my Dad was at work.

I spent fun days with my mom around the house doing chores riding on the back of her canister vacuum cleaner while we listened to musical greats such as Etta James, Dinah Washington and Brenda Lee. I truly believe this is where my love of music was born.
When the chores were done, we’d settle down for story time which is where my love of reading and eventually of writing was also born. But all that came to a horrible end when my baby sister came into the picture and I no longer had Mom all to myself. Then another horrible incident struck — my sixth birthday and the first grade. Oh boy, did I hate going to school. I went, but not without kicking and screaming literally every morning until I was seven. My poor mother.

Sharing my mother with my newborn sister and attending school left us very little time together and I truly felt deserted. But I really showed her. I jumped ship into my Father’s world. I was the only boy, so it was the logical next step. He was delighted and I was again happy to be the center of someone’s attention, I soaked it up everyday.

My father raised quarter horses as a hobby and some of my fondest memories surround that time in my life. When we were older, on weekends the entire family would pack up the horses and head to local horse shows where, my father, my younger sister and I would compete in barrel racing and cutting. But my most cherished memories are of my father and me taking long horseback rides along the levies of the Mississippi enjoying lunch prepared by my mother. We spent long summer days riding and jabbering about this or that or just enjoying a comfortable silence. It wasn’t really the conversation or the silence that was important to me, but the interest he took in my life that forty-five years later, still makes my heart swell.

After my brief and unsuccessful marriage, one of those special moments is where I found the nerve to come out to my Father. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. He did much better that I and in the end, wanted only my happiness. He was nothing but supportive and non-judgmental. I am such a lucky guy.

Unfortunately, the lights in my life dimmed when my loving mother died of colon cancer and dimmed yet again when my Father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Luckily, he never forgot who I was but he did forget that I was gay and in a long term relationship with Kell, whom he adored when he was healthy. The sad thing was every day when we talked, he would ask about a girlfriend and each time I would have to tell him I was gay. The first two years we went through this routinely but each time he seemed to take it a little harder, so I finally gave up and allowed the disease to win. I simply told him no girlfriend yet and moved the conversation along. That was difficult for me.

One morning he slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness. After several days taking nightly shifts at his bedside it was my turn to stay the night. Long after my family had left, the aid came into the room and gave him a bath, combed his hair and powdered him up. He looked so relaxed and peaceful and ready to move on I couldn’t help myself. I crawled into the hospital bed with him and told him it was okay for him to go. He’d been a great father and husband and his wife, my mom was waiting for him on the other side.
After a long moment I eventually slipped into the chair next to his bed and watched his stomach go up and down until it stopped. That night he passed away with me at his bedside. My parents were both wonderful, accepting and loving people and I will remember their love as long as I live.

Oh boy! Enough of the sappiness. Let’s talk about my favorite subject. Me.

I attended Louisiana State University, majoring in Marketing with a secondary in Business Administration, but was lured away from LSU before graduating by the offer of a job to manage a large well established furniture store in New Orleans. I went for it. I stayed with that company for five years and started making my way up the corporate ladder. I joined a high-tech company in New Orleans and was transferred to Atlanta where I met the love of my life. Kell and I have been together over twenty years now and we’re still going strong.

I’ve worked for a total of six companies throughout my twenty-five-year career and ended up as the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Public Relations for a very large company based in Atlanta. Throughout my career I focused my writing capabilities on Marketing materials, Annual Reports, Press Releases, radio scripts, broadcast media, and the likes, but always had novels running rampant in my mind.

Over ten years ago, Kell and I gave up the corporate rat race and bought a small hotel and restaurant on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Can you imagine two southern boys ending up in New England, on an island no less? What a culture shock – for us and for Martha’s Vineyard. About three years into our venture, we hit burn-out and hired a general manager to run the business while we took a year off. That is when I started my first novel, Final Encore, and I haven’t stopped writing since. After that first year off, Kell and I enjoyed our freedom so much that we purchased a forty-two-foot motor yacht called “One Mo Time,” which is now where most of my writing is done. And yes, “MO” stands for homo in case you were wondering. We travel up and down the eastern seaboard biannually with our Shetland Sheepdog, Mavis ending up in the South for winters and back up North for the summers.

Luckily, the ideas for books keep coming and sometimes my fingers are just not fast enough to get it all down. So I dance the dance between my fingers and brain on a daily basis and can only hope for the best. As a southerner who was raised to value commitment and fidelity, my characters always find their way to long healthy relationships, however long it takes and however difficult the path. I believe that in the end, the boy should always get the boy. After all, I got mine.


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