There is at least one scene that will have long time readers sit up and take notice. Was that planted for a future storyline perhaps?
Ryan: You never know.
Josh: I think there’s a good possibility. Our books are very character-driven, and we don’t usually do things for no good reason.
Ryan: The scene you’re referring to also has a tie-back to a previous book, and to an astute reader might explain some things that happened before.
Josh: That particular character will be back, one way or another. No question about that.

What inspired the witty bantering between Blake and Sako? Was that on the fly, or did you have inspiration for it?
Josh: More than anything, it was us. We banter quite a bit.
Ryan: I don’t think we’re ever ruthless about it, but we both have good senses of humor, and it gets boring if your only conversation is completely lovey-dovey.
Josh: We don’t use hockey chirps, of course, as Blake and Sako sometimes do, but we have fun giving each other a little hell sometimes.
Ryan: We’ve always tried to inject humor into our books, but never as much as we did this one. The characters’ banter was a good way to help that along.

There were some fun hockey pranks in this book. How did you decide which ones to include? Were there any that were cut out?
Ryan: We’ve both been part of situations where people play pranks, though never to the degree as in Ice Devils. It’s given us a good appreciation for that kind of levity.
Josh: We’re lucky to have some special pre-readers who helped us come up with some real doozies. It was fun choosing which ones to include, and then figuring out how to write about them so the action was clear and the humor came through.
Ryan: There were certainly some left on the cutting room floor. We’re thinking about putting together some bonus material from the ones that didn’t make the cut. We’ll see.

Did this book inspire you for any future stories?
Josh: I think every book inspires us with thoughts about future stories. That’s one reason we continue writing about the Bethesda Barracudas. The characters are too good, too deep, not to explore.
Ryan: A couple of scenes, in particular, could be harbingers of books to come. One almost certainly will inspire another book, and the other may well do so.

This makes your 5th hockey book. Will you continue to write hockey books, or are you looking to change gears for the next book?
Ryan: We have no current plans to stop. We love the sport, and as long as our readers continue to like the books, there’s every reason to continue.
Josh: That isn’t to say every book we write will be a hockey book. In fact, we have a burning idea for a book that would have little if anything to do with the sport.
Ryan: The hockey stories will continue to evolve. Ice Devils differs from the preceding books in many ways, and we’re eager to continue to explore. Hockey players are human beings with complex lives, and there are far too many possibilities to limit ourselves to one kind of storyline.

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Excerpt from Ice Devils

By Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood

Blake

The locker room was empty when I got back there, and I dressed quickly. I was standing in front of my stall, buttoning my shirt, when someone called my name. Looking around, I was surprised to see Sako standing in the doorway. His hair was a mess, his face was sweaty, and his eyes were wide. The tank top he had on was soaked, and the way it stuck to his torso emphasized the hard muscle underneath.

I looked away, determined not to stare. “I didn’t know you were still here. Been in the gym?” I slipped on my loafers.

“Yeah.” His voice was low and husky. “I needed to ride the bike and clear my head.”

“Did it work?” Unable to resist, I turned my gaze back on him.

“No.” His hands were at his sides, and he opened and closed them repeatedly while his eyes darted around the room. “Anybody else still here?”

“No. You all right, Mark?”

Instead of answering, he rushed toward me and grabbed my hand. “Come here.”

He tugged, but I stayed put. “What?”

“Come with me.” He tugged harder, almost pulling me off my feet. I was too shocked to say anything as he dragged me into a small room used to store spare equipment and closed the door. Meager light filtered in through ventilation panels, and after he turned to face me, I looked into dangerous dark eyes while his thick musk filled the air.

He licked his lips and smiled. “I’m glad you’re still here.”

“You are?”

“Yes.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine before backing his head away to look at me again.

I was too shocked to move. “Mark?”

“I’m really glad you’re still here.” He caressed my cheek and smiled again.

“What’s going on?” I whispered.

He wrapped his arms around me, and my legs turned to jelly. “What the hell are you doing? This isn’t—”

He shut me up by pressing his mouth against mine. I wanted to tear away, to yell at him to go to hell, but I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back instead. I didn’t understand what the fuck I was doing. Sako and I weren’t even friends. In fact, we were probably enemies. We certainly weren’t the kind of people who kissed each other.

Pulling away from my lips, he licked the corners of my mouth. Even as my brain cried foul, I hugged him tighter, not wanting the moment to end. He kissed me again, but when his tongue probed against my lips, I pressed them together. I didn’t want Sako’s tongue in my mouth. But if that was true, why did I relax enough for him to sneak inside? I may have hated the bastard, but the thrill of him possessing me that way shook my world.

I deepened the kiss, and my tongue dueled his until I found my way inside. His smell, sweaty and sharp with need, ignited an explosion of desire, and I shoved him into a wall of boxes stacked against the storage lockers. Trapping his hands, I probed every corner of his mouth while he moaned. Time stood still until he grunted and jerked his hands free. He swiveled me around like a rag doll until I was the one pinned against the boxes with my hands clamped under his. Fire shot through me when he moved his hips against mine and our cocks ground together.

“Stop!” I yelled. “I hate you!” Just as quickly, I called out again, “Don’t stop! Please!” He didn’t react at all, and I realized the voice had been in my head. We were locked in a kiss that had my mind doing somersaults, and I wondered if we’d keep playing bump-and-grind until we both came in our pants.

ICE DEVILS: Copyright © 2022 Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood. All rights reserved.