I’m super excited that Margeurite Labbe is here with a little guest post, and a character interview from her new book, A Beautiful Disaster (Geek Life, Book 3). I have been enjoying this series, so this was perfect fun to read! Get a little of the sassy from the organizers of these conventions, and a little sexy. Just a ton of fun. So, check it out, and grab this series, if you haven’t. It’s light-hearted (mostly), sexy and fun!
When best friends Brenden and Dakota launch the biggest comics and pop-culture convention of their careers, they finally realize what everyone around them already knows: they’ve been in love for years.
Now what are they going to do about it?
Meticulously organized Brenden Wade and easygoing Dakota Nye turned their love of geek culture into a business, running conventions all over the Chesapeake Bay area. Now the weight of their pasts is threatening not only their friendship but their dream. Brenden fears losing his foster family when his secrets come out, and though the last thing Dakota wants is to hurt his plus one, he doesn’t know if he’s capable of settling down.
One night of passion challenges both men’s preconceptions and forces them to evaluate what they want from the future. They’re both scared, and though they’ve always been able to figure out anything together, hearts are on the line. Will taking a chance on romance lead to a beautiful disaster, or just a disaster?
Title: A Beautiful Disaster
Series: Geek Life: Book Three
Author: Marguerite Labbe
Release Date: July 30, 2019
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 275
Amazon
Dreamspinner Press
Barnes & Noble
An Interview with Brenden Wade
Hello everyone. It’s good to be here at Two Chicks Obsessed. For the last two books, I had Dakota interview the main characters for his podcast Geek Wars. So I had to continue this tradition with the final book. All of the questions were originally given to me by my friends and fellow writers on the Writer’s Block Discord channel ages ago. It’s a fun place to go if you want to talk everything about writing.
* * *
Dakota: “Welcome back everyone to another special edition of Geek Wars. If you’ve been following along then you’ll have already met comic book artist and writer Morris Proctor and his other half, chef and restaurant owner Theo Boarman. Why’d we include a non-geek again?”
Brenden: “Because Morris is your friend and that’s what friends do.”
Dakota: “God, I’m such a sucker, jokes aside, Theo’s a cool dude. Then we spoke with cosplayer Felipe Suero and game store owner Trask Briscoe. And now we’re on to the grand finale with Brenden Wade, comicon promoter, supervillain extraordinaire, and the man with the sexiest ass south of the Mason Dixon line. How’s it going, Bren? Why’re your ears red?”
Brenden with a disapproving look and bright red ears. “Please tell me that you’re not going to spend this entire interview making inappropriate comments.”
Dakota: “I but I live for inappropriate comments. So, tell me, what made you decide to start running promotions. It’s a chaotic industry and you’re a man who thrives on order. How did that come about?”
Brenden tugs on his ear. “That’s a good question. I think the answer is twofold, first it’s just about love. I love the industry. I love comic books and geek culture. I loved it when it wasn’t cool to love it and doing it made you a dork. I didn’t care, I just wanted more of it. Then it was a matter of not having any cons in our area. If we wanted to go to one we had to head to Northern Virginia. And to be honest though it sounds arrogant, I thought I could do it better.”
Dakota: “I think you’ve shown that you’re pretty damn good at doing it.” He gives Brenden an affection grin. “And for the record, you were a super dork. Now onto our first listener question, ‘What do you like?’ This should be good, surprise me.”
Brenden: “Surprise you? After this many years?” He purses his lips and looks up at the ceiling. “I like the fact that you’re a closet snuggler.” Dakota’s mouth drops open and Brenden grins. “I surprised you, so win to me.”
Dakota points a finger at him. “Let’s keep this non-mushy and PGish.”
Brenden: “Hey, you started with the inappropriate comments first, mine was tame. You’re the troublemaker, not me.”
Dakota: “No, you’re the guy who keeps all the secrets that comes and cleans up after myself which is why you’re the supervillain and I’m the minion. Next question, ‘What fears keep you awake at night?’”
Brenden: “Losing my family again.”
They exchange a sober glance. Dakota cocks his head. “You do realize that by this point there is no getting rid of us. You are stuck with Nyes for life.”
Brenden grins. “Oh, the horror. For some reason I’m attracted to noise and chaos. Blame my love of cons on learning to navigate those family dynamics.”
Dakota: “You just might have a point here. Okay, next question, ‘if you were a flavor of ice cream what would you be’ and I swear if you give me vanilla, I’ll air out some very inappropriate memories right here.”
Brenden eyeballs him and Dakota stares right back with a smirk. “For fuck’s sake, Dakota. You would too. Fine, is Lemon Sorbet an okay enough of an answer for you?”
Dakota’s smirk widens. “Tart and sweet, yeah that works, I was thinking something marshmallowy, but Lemon Sorbet does fit you better.”
Brenden narrows his eyes and points his finger at Dakota. “I am not a marshmallow.”
Dakota: “Uhhuh, keep telling yourself that. Next one, if you could pick one song for our life soundtrack, what would it be?’ But not Journey, that’s obvious.”
Brenden: “I have to admit, I’m a little surprised by that question given your disdain of couple songs.” He scratches his beard. “Home by Daughtry.”
Dakota: “That’s kinda sweet. You tell anyone I said that and I’ll deny it to my grave.”
Brenden: “You do realize this is on record.”
Dakota: “You do realize I have the power of the delete button.”
Brenden rolls his eyes. “I’m putting you on the hot seat next and then we’ll see who’s the sap.”
Dakota: “Fair enough, marshmallow.”
Brenden: “Sucker.” He points to the kitten snoozing across Dakota’s lap.
Dakota: “Hey, leave the inkblot out of it. Okay, final round, word associations with our friends. Morris.”
Brenden leans back in his chair and looks up at the ceiling, folding his hands over his stomach. “Gifted.”
Dakota: “Theo.”
Brenden: “Dangerous.”
Dakota: “Wait, what? Theo? How’s he dangerous?”
Brenden: “I think he can cook even better than Mama E. If we lived near his restaurant we’d deplete our eating out funds and my waistline would be shot to hell. I don’t know how Morris does it.”
Dakota: “Your waistline looks fine to me. Felipe.”
Brenden’s lip curls. “Trouble.”
Dakota: “I thought you two had settled your differences.”
Brenden: “Look me straight in the eye and tell me I’m wrong. I’ll admit, he’s useful to have around and maybe isn’t as bad as I thought. But he thrives on attention seeking tactics.”
Dakota shakes his head with a smile. “Trask.”
Brenden: “Deep.”
Dakota: “And me? What’s you’re one word association for me? I bet I can outdo trouble.”
Brenden straightens with a penetrating look. “Mine.”
Dakota grins. “I can’t argue with that either. Okay, that’s all the time we have for another Geek Wars, until next time, get your geek on.”
Brenden: “I still say you need a new catchphrase.”
Dakota: “Bren.”
Brenden hiding a smile. “Yes?”
Dakota: “Shaddup.”
Marguerite Labbe loves writing stories about the beauty of love and the strength of family, whether it’s the family you’re born into or the one you create. She married her next-door neighbor and best friend, and they have one son, one dog, and two cats who rule them all. She has finally converted her Alabama born husband into being a Red Sox fan and now only needs to convince her son. She runs Apocrypha Comics Studio with her husband and they often trek off to comic book conventions on the weekend where they celebrate all manner of geek culture.
Author website: http://margueritelabbe.blogspot.com/
Twitter handle: @MargueriteLabbe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marguerite.labbe.3
