Andrew Q. Gordon

Hi, everyone! I want to thank Andrew for inviting me to the blog. Curiosity Killed Shaney is my first published novel and I am thrilled to share this story with all of you.

This blog tour got huge fast! There are awesome prizes to that will be given away at the end of the tour. At the end of this post, you will find a link to enter!  Check in at www.jcwallacebooks.com for links to all of the blogs in the tour and you can enter as much as you like!

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Hey, everyone! Shaney here. JC’s busy with getting more stuff together for this blog tour.  I can’t believe my story has so many stops, like 26 or something. I kind of feel important. JC said I had to pull my weight by doing a couple of these blogs for him. He said to talk about something from my story, so I chose to talk about Champ, the infamous Lake Champlain monster!

In my story, I mentioned Champ. Yes folks, there is a Lake Champlain monster. Most call him Champ, or Champy (if you want to get all cutesy). First, here is a map showing where I grew up and now live – Tupper Lake, New York (A) – and also Port Henry (PH) on Lake Champlain.

Port Henry is where I spend summers with my family and where many sightings of Champ have been reported in what is called Bulwagga Bay. Port Henry is really big on Champ, which you will see in the following facts about Champ:

• Champ is a member of the elite group of creatures called cryptozoological animals, which include dragons, unicorns, Pegasus, Sasquatch, Yeti, and of course, Champ’s “cousin”, the Loch Ness Monster. Cryptozoological animals are those whose existence on earth has never been proven or disproven.

• It is purported that Samuel D. Champlain saw the Lake Champlain monster, however this was misreported in a 1970 article and is most likely untrue.

• Documented sightings of Champ predate those of the Loch Ness Monster by fifty years.

• The Iroquois and Abenaki tribes in the area have legends of this creature.

• The first modern day sightings of Champ:
  • 1819 by a “Capt. Crum” in Bulwagga Bay, who  reported seeing a black monster resembling a seahorse with three teeth, large eyes, a white star on its forehead and a red band around its neck

• 1883 Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney reported seeing a gigantic water serpent twenty to thirty feet in length.

• In the late 19th century, P.T. Barnum offered a $50,000 for Champ, dead or alive.

• Many people think that Champ is a prehistoric creature such as a plesiosaur (same as the Loch Ness Monster) or a tanystropheus.

• Below is the famous Mansi photograph taken in 1977. This is the most documented sighting of Champ. The creature was reported to have surfaced for about four-seven minutes, then turned slightly, and submerged. The picture, examined by several experts, been reported as not being tampered with.

• In 2003, a team from Fauna Communications Research Institute (doing research for the Discovery Channel) visited several areas of reported sightings of Champ on Lake Champlain. They used high tech equipment to record sound underwater. On three separate occasions, they measured an echolocation sound (which is only used by whales and dolphins) however, this signal was not from any known creature. Was it Champ? Maybe.

• Champ has been featured in many television reports and on shows including ABC News, the Discovery Channel, Japanese television, The Today Show, Unsolved Mysteries, Fox Network’s Sightings and several hundred local TV shows.

• The Vermont House of Representatives passed H.R. 19 in April 1982, protecting Champ “from any willful act resulting in death, injury, or harassment.” The next year, New York State legislators followed, protecting Champ against death, injury, or harassment, and encouraging report of sightings.

• Sightings of Champ are recorded on a sign in Port Henry, NY

• The first Saturday of August is Champ Day in Port Henry. There is a street fair with vendors and entertainment to celebrate Champ. Here is the Champ float, which appears in local parades.

             

• The Vermont Lake Monsters (previously the Vermont Expos) is a minor league baseball team in Burlington, Vermont, with Champ for their mascot

So, there you have it, some info about the famous Champ – who I have yet to see. I told Hudson we needed to get some sonar and a boat and find that monster. He just kinda gave me that look he usually does whenever I suggest anything. I tried to get JC to go, but he grew up on Lake Champlain and has his doubts about any prehistoric animal living there. I believe he said something about people having too much to drink in the hot sun…Just don’t tell him I said that!

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow, the blog tour will visit the blog of Cia Nordwell, and JC will try to get Hudson and I to finish our interviews! Hope to see you there!

 

 

Available at   

R&P Publishing      Amazon       Barnes and Noble

ARe       BookStrand

 

Blurb: Shaney’s curiosity is always getting him into trouble, including stumbling into a ritualistic circle and being imbued with an energy that will eventually tear him apart. He soon finds out that Hudson, a man he cares for deeply, might be responsible for his misfortune. Add in the betrayal by his best friend Todd and the desire of a demented occultist named Silas to control the energy inside of him and there seems to be no way out. Can Shaney find a way to rid his body of the nefarious energy before he dies a horrible death?

 

Excerpt

Shaney peered cautiously around the aisle of junk peddled on late night television as items that that no one could live without. Yeah, right, Shaney snorted to himself. With anything but suave subtlety, he looked for his target through the open racks of clothes and tall shelves filled with shoes. Well, tall for him. Yes, he was short for a man. Hell, he was short for a pre-pubescent teenager. And in one of the cruelest twists of fate, at five feet six inches, Shaney was the shortest of his three siblings—three sisters, actually. Oh, yeah, as if that hadn’t been a wonderful childhood.

He sighed, reminding himself that he’d long ago come to terms with his lack of verticality—sort of. Silently, he slipped around the end of the shelf, moving slow and smooth, like the aforementioned cat. He worked his way toward the first rack of haphazardly piled shoes. Of course, he should straighten those up later. He stopped about ten feet from the rack, not daring to get any closer. As he peered through one of the shelves, he caught just a glimpse of his target’s red shirt. The man was rifling through the rack of sweatshirts.

If he could just get a bit closer, get a better look…

Shaney froze as the man—and, oh, what a man he was—walked out from behind that rack of shoes, a black sweatshirt in hand. Maybe if Shaney remained still, he wouldn’t be spotted out there in the open, drooling, because that was what he did when faced with the most gorgeous specimen of man known to humankind. The hunky man’s spiky black hair was longer on top and shorter on the sides. He had a five o’clock shadow at ten a.m. covering a strong jaw with—oh, hell—a dimpled chin and intense crystal blue eyes centered by the straightest, most slender nose ending over mouth-watering lips that were just waiting to be sucked and nibbled. That red T-shirt covered wide shoulders and biceps. Black jeans hugged a slim waist and caressed every single muscle with each confident, I-own-the-world step he took in black work boots. And talk about tall!

Shaney stopped breathing as Mr. Tall, Dark, and Hunky came down his aisle. The man’s blue eyes scanned the store looking from something or…someone?

Me?

Time ceased and the world narrowed as those eyes penetrated straight into Shaney’s soul, connected with his very essence, and awakened Shaney’s cock within his pressed chinos. Those forceful eyes were staring and, wait…frowning, as the man came straight at him! Panic seized Shaney’s body. Oh, fuck! He saw me staring and now he’s going to kill the cat! Damn, Todd for being right! Unable to break from the intensity of that unyielding gaze, Shaney started to scramble backwards with no regard for direction—just away from Mr. Tall, Dark, and Angry.  Shaney sprinted in reverse as the man raised his hand and pointed a finger.

“Hey. You.”

Even faced with imminent death, the man’s voice vibrated through every nerve in Shaney’s small frame. If he had to die, let his death be at the hands of this god.

“Stop!”

Every cell in Shaney’s body followed the forceful order, but not before Shaney slammed into the shelf behind him. He gasped, the breath knocked from his lungs. He grasped for anything solid to hold onto as the useless treads of his sneakers slid on the waxed floor. Items rocked on the shelf, some toppling, others just threatening.

This is gonna hurt, Shaney thought and cringed until his hand finally grasped a shelf, and his other hand found purchase as well.

The enormous display shelf settled as Shaney struggled to steady his feet. He closed his eyes, sucking in large quantities of air. His hands vibrated against the steel of the shelf, unyielding in their death grip. The whoosh of blood in his ears cocooned him in silence and he almost forgot about…Shaney’s eyes popped open, and he jumped back in surprise to see Mr. Tall, Dark, and Angry right in his face. And next, as is standard humor in classic Saturday morning cartoons, something heavy fell out of the sky, landed on Shaney’s head, brought him to his knees, then flat on his face. The only thing missing were those annoying little chirpy bluebirds circling his head. He’d have to settle for stars.

Curiosity Killed Shaney Blog Tour Giveaway!!

Shaney is so excited about his story being told that he is giving away some great prizes!

P.S. He’s really excited to give them away!

Prizes:

1- $25 Amazon Gift Card

2 Curiosity Killed Shaney Ebooks

2 of Maximus’ “Duct Tape” T-shirts

3 “Freeze Warlock” Coffee Mugs

2 $5 Amazon Gift Cards

Click here for pictures of Prizes

You can enter daily along the blog tour, as often as you like!

Enter Shaney’s Giveaway!

About JC Wallace

I have been writing all of my life, however it was just this year that I ventured out to be published. In my day job, I am a behavior analyst. At night and on the weekends, I write about all things men. I believe there is nothing hotter than two men finding and loving one another, whether for a night or forever. An avid reader of M/M romance, I love a good twist of a plot, HEA, HFN, or tragic ending.

I am owned by three kids, one grandchild and one on the way, two dogs and one cat. I live in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in Northern NY

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