Title: Fallen Love
Author: Alex Stargazer
Series: Fallen #1
Genre: M/M Romance, Urban Fantasy
Release Date: February 5, 2020
There are many kinds of monster that walk the Earth. Some are ugly. Others speak beautiful words through forked tongues. But the worst possess the grace of angels, and the hearts of demons.
Upperclassman Conall is rich, impeccably dressed, and set for a prestigious career in the Party hierarchy. He doesn’t lack for anything—except, maybe, love.
When he finds Mark, alone, abandoned and hurt, he doesn’t expect one act of kindness to alter the course of his life forever. There is more to Mark than Conall can even dream of. The beautiful, vulnerable boy Conall knows is not human. A dark power lies within Mark—it can make him immortal... but love might be the price.
Fallen Love has dark magic, sweet romance, and lots of action.
Two dart in front of us, and for a moment, I freeze. They are creatures of nightmare: their legs are spindly, misshapen, and they seem to glide across the road. They hiss again. A split second later, they leap.
The first is incinerated in mid-air by a laser flash, and the android crushes the second. A slick, black-green substance drips from its dead body; the smell almost makes me retch.
I snap back to reality: we need to keep running. The boy is already in front of me.
“How many?” he cries.
“Does it matter? Let the android take care of them.” Despite my cavalier words, I’m close to panic. I squint, trying to make out the Upper Quarter. Not far, I think. We can make it.
The android opens fire, and at a glance I see what the boy meant: there are many, way too many. Several fall in the firestorm, but others clamour to take their place. This isn’t a lone attack; this is a swarm. And we’re right in the middle of it.
“Run faster!” I scream. “We’re almost there!”
But it’s too late.
A mutant slams into me with the power of a sledgehammer. I heave against it, fighting with its mandibles: I have to stop those fangs, so gleaming with venom, from sinking in and finishing me off.
And then the weight is off me. Through the corner of my eyes, I see it sail high into the air and into the reach of the android, but my sight never leaves the boy who saved me.
“I had to return the bleedin’ favour,” he says, hand outstretched. I don’t have time to thank him. He lifts me and we’re running again. The lights of the Upper Quarter are tantalisingly close. They shimmer behind an immense force-field, designed to keep out mutants and undesirables. Riffraff like the boy I just rescued.
Not that I have time to worry about that right now. “My ID will open the force field!” I cry, and I throw myself forward, fumbling for the ID.
With a flash of the reader, we cross the threshold. We’re in.
We breathe deeply, and I collapse against him. The mutants hiss, disappointed, and quickly slink back from the force field. A few are not so lucky, and are noticed by one of the guard towers. Machine gun fire turns the monsters into bloody smears on the ground.
Still, my interest isn’t on the monsters—it’s on him. It isn’t just the muscles, which are hard and powerful against my body. His scent is masculine, and sends a surreptitious thrill through me.
Before, I feared death; but now, I feel very much alive.
“That was fun,” I say.
“Fuck you.”
The first is incinerated in mid-air by a laser flash, and the android crushes the second. A slick, black-green substance drips from its dead body; the smell almost makes me retch.
I snap back to reality: we need to keep running. The boy is already in front of me.
“How many?” he cries.
“Does it matter? Let the android take care of them.” Despite my cavalier words, I’m close to panic. I squint, trying to make out the Upper Quarter. Not far, I think. We can make it.
The android opens fire, and at a glance I see what the boy meant: there are many, way too many. Several fall in the firestorm, but others clamour to take their place. This isn’t a lone attack; this is a swarm. And we’re right in the middle of it.
“Run faster!” I scream. “We’re almost there!”
But it’s too late.
And then the weight is off me. Through the corner of my eyes, I see it sail high into the air and into the reach of the android, but my sight never leaves the boy who saved me.
“I had to return the bleedin’ favour,” he says, hand outstretched. I don’t have time to thank him. He lifts me and we’re running again. The lights of the Upper Quarter are tantalisingly close. They shimmer behind an immense force-field, designed to keep out mutants and undesirables. Riffraff like the boy I just rescued.
Not that I have time to worry about that right now. “My ID will open the force field!” I cry, and I throw myself forward, fumbling for the ID.
With a flash of the reader, we cross the threshold. We’re in.
We breathe deeply, and I collapse against him. The mutants hiss, disappointed, and quickly slink back from the force field. A few are not so lucky, and are noticed by one of the guard towers. Machine gun fire turns the monsters into bloody smears on the ground.
Still, my interest isn’t on the monsters—it’s on him. It isn’t just the muscles, which are hard and powerful against my body. His scent is masculine, and sends a surreptitious thrill through me.
Before, I feared death; but now, I feel very much alive.
“That was fun,” I say.
“Fuck you.”
What is the biggest influence/interest that brought you to this genre?
Hmm, this is a tricky one as I write in a lot of different genres and have been influenced by many authors. I would say that the most important influences have been Cassandra Clare and Lauren Kate, who write exactly the kind of urban fantasy that I was aiming for in Fallen Love. Karen Marie Moning and her Faefever/Darkfever books were another source of inspiration, plus Alexandra Adornetto’s Halo, which perfectly encapsulates the words “young adult angel romance”.
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process(outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
Writing the plot has to be my favourite part. Outlining and researching are perhaps the most boring; editing can be fun. I also enjoy re-writing a scene to make it more effective.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
Fantasy. I’m a die-hard fantasy fan, and while I enjoy a well-written romance or science fiction novel, if it doesn’t have good world-building elements, it doesn’t work for me.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
I’m not sure about this one! Co-authoring is tricky to get right, and I prefer to write alone. Maybe Christopher Paolini?
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
I wrote my first novel, the Necromancer, at 14. Writing definitely came early to me! Nor do I have any plans to give up; there are many stories I still want to tell. It’s the money side I’m working to get right—I can’t pursue writing without some financial backing. I’m planning on exploring different sources of growth, such as writing serialised short stories and monetising my poems on Patreon.
Hmm, this is a tricky one as I write in a lot of different genres and have been influenced by many authors. I would say that the most important influences have been Cassandra Clare and Lauren Kate, who write exactly the kind of urban fantasy that I was aiming for in Fallen Love. Karen Marie Moning and her Faefever/Darkfever books were another source of inspiration, plus Alexandra Adornetto’s Halo, which perfectly encapsulates the words “young adult angel romance”.
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process(outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
Writing the plot has to be my favourite part. Outlining and researching are perhaps the most boring; editing can be fun. I also enjoy re-writing a scene to make it more effective.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
Fantasy. I’m a die-hard fantasy fan, and while I enjoy a well-written romance or science fiction novel, if it doesn’t have good world-building elements, it doesn’t work for me.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
I’m not sure about this one! Co-authoring is tricky to get right, and I prefer to write alone. Maybe Christopher Paolini?
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
I wrote my first novel, the Necromancer, at 14. Writing definitely came early to me! Nor do I have any plans to give up; there are many stories I still want to tell. It’s the money side I’m working to get right—I can’t pursue writing without some financial backing. I’m planning on exploring different sources of growth, such as writing serialised short stories and monetising my poems on Patreon.
Alex Stargazer is an author of dark, fantastical tales that snare you in with epic world-building—and keep you reading with funny anecdotes and beautiful love stories. He currently hails from rainy Scotland, but he can be found all over Europe. Since publishing his first novel—the Necromancer—at 14, Alex has released two short stories and an upcoming new novel, named Fallen Love. Sign up to his newsletter to stay up-to-date.
When not establishing the finer points of magecraft or the peculiarities of dragons, Alex is working hard on getting a Master’s degree in boring topics like economics. In his spare time, Alex enjoys exploring the wilderness of Scotland—though Austria, Italy and the Nordic countries fascinate him most. If he really needs to blow off some steam, Alex will shoot zombies in his favourite shooter, Left 4 Dead 2.
Alex can be found on Twitter or on Facebook at Alex Stargazer Writes Books. You can also get a free short story on his website.
