Riptide Publishing Blog Tour Stop-Rhi Etzweiler

Riptide Publishing is celebrating their grand opening in style. A three month long blog tour with their amazing authors and today we have Rhi Etzweiler joining us at the Reading Nook.

Take a look at all the wonderful books and authors at Riptide Publishing-  http://www.riptidepublishing.com

Today's prize is First Wave Winner’s Choice: Pick any one backlist book from Rachel Haimowitz, Aleksandr Voinov, L.A. Witt, Brita Addams, or Cat Grant (“Frontlist” books, i.e. Riptide releases and newest non-Riptide release, are excluded, as are the Courtland Chronicles).

**Please make sure to leave your email address with your comment in case you win**

Contest closes Dec. 16th, 2011.

Why Riptide—Joining the Wave

Rhianon Etzweiler

I’ve always had an affinity for water. I recall splashing in rain puddles as a kid, when the years-long drought of the 80’s finally broke in Texas. Over the years, I spent summers more in the water swimming than actually getting a tan. Yes, I was one of those that hated the harshness of the sun but loved the water too much to let it keep me away. My astrological birth sign is an air-water cusp. If there’s anywhere I’m truly at home, it’s in water.

I’ve never been one fond of making waves, though. Much more likely to duck under the surface and swim submerged until I’m clear of the disturbance and back on course, than try to battle my way through it. I leave it to others, or let the current carry me.

I recall the one time I ever visited the beach while living in New Jersey. It was a trip with a youth group, and after a while I got tired of my fellow teens. Went swimming out into the ocean, and just drifted on the waves a while. The constant rhythm, the peace of being surrounded and alone at once.

A bank of fog rolled in and the chaperones became so concerned when they couldn’t see me, they sent a jet-ski lifeguard jock out to play retriever.

The dolt almost ran me over, passed within inches of my arms as I was treading water.

“Are you okay?” he called.

“I’m fine, you didn’t hit me.”

He stared. Revved the jet-ski.

Seeing that my solitude was irrevocably shattered, I headed back to shore. Much to the relief of everyone, except me.

I’m much the same way when I’m writing. I can get lost in a story, the characters, the world I create. When the muses chatter and the words flow, it’s a Zen thing. Everything else ceases to exist or matter, in those times. I get irritated when I’m interrupted. I don’t want to feed the dog, mow the lawn, do the dishes, pay the bills, or trudge off to the day job.

I just want to be left alone so I can write, ride the current, and feel the rhythm. You splash me, I’m just going to slide beneath the waves and vanish.

That mentality is something I know about myself. It makes me grateful I’ve found a publisher like Riptide. A current that’s going the same way I am, after a fashion. I don’t have to sit and explain why my story isn’t written following a conventionally accepted formula, to fit the existing business model and conform to the genre standards, the statistical definitions of “what sells.” Why it won’t work that way. Riptide Publishing’s staff are artists as well, every one, and they can see the depth and currents without having to toss a cork in and watch it bob around. They understand the importance of artistic freedom, and the limitless benefits that result from encouraging and supporting that. Not just for the span of a book, but the career of a writer.

Those two aspects are what drew me to “join the wave.” Riptide isn’t a publisher that’s simply snatching up a book they know they can sell. They haven’t just contracted me on. They’ve invited me to engage in a long-term working relationship with them, a mutually supportive symbiosis. I’m a new author, have little experience in the publishing industry itself, but I’ve been poking around a good bit since I sold “Dark Edge of Honor.” I wanted a single publisher who’d give a home to everything I wrote, regardless of how unorthodox and genderfucked it happened to be. Sadly, though the M/M genre is still growing and expanding, still largely in its infancy, and demonstrates just how far the romance genre has come in the past decade – it has its socio-cultural limitations. Places it will not go. Not unless you push against the current. Hard.

So when I venture to do so, it’s a problem. I’m not a big name. I’m a nobody. A writer with a book, banging my head against a wall in a masochistic act of futility. 

Thankfully, that’s not the case at Riptide. Though a small press, it consists of a collection of industry figures—both in the business side and the author stable, not to mention the artists—that share the same mindset and passion.

When a bevy of likeminded individuals all push together, against the current, in the same direction…

Well. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And I’m looking forward to contributing to the momentum. And watching what happens.

Join the Wave. Turn the Tide.

 Here's the blurb from my Riptide release, Blacker than Black:

Apparently, my twin and I are two of York’s most notorious criminals. We’ve been Nightwalkers in the blue-light district since the vamps took over the world. Don’t know how many years it’s been. Long enough that a stream of fellow ’walkers have come and gone. Most don’t last long selling their chi. End up face-down in the gutter, or worse.

For us, one night and one sale change everything.

Monsieur Garthelle is the first john to hunt me down. He calls me a chi thief in one breath and offers absolution—servitude—in the next. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I like living and breathing. Strange that such a powerful vamp would show leniency to a mere human. And something’s not right with the chi I took from him. It won’t go away.

Neither will he, and he’s forcing us to spy on his peers. Then a vamp turns up dead, and we go from playing eyes and ears to investigating a murder. This isn’t what I signed up for. All I ever wanted was to sell a little chi, maybe steal some in return. I should’ve kept my damn hands to myself.

This is my story. Look through my eyes.

You can read an excerpt and purchase Blacker than Black on Riptide Publishing.

Fan contact: Rhianon.etzweiler@gmail.com

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