Tai Chi: Martial Arts or Gentle Exercise?

by Chris T. Kat

Hello, I’m Chris T. Kat, visiting the lovely Blogger Girls again. 🙂 I’m here to talk about my new release, Swordplay (A Jeff Woods Mystery). Swordplay is the third and last book in the Jeff Woods Mysteries series, and was published by Dreamspinner Press on December 22nd.

In Attachment Strings and Sacrifices, the first two books in the Jeff Woods Mystery series, Jeff, his boyfriend Alex, and Alex’s brother Sean lived in Atlantic City. In Swordplay, the whole family moved to Washington DC. Alex is still unemployed, and to occupy his time he starts tai chi lessons.

Jeff is all for Alex having fun, especially if it keeps him from another hair-rising escapade like in Sacrifices, but he’s not so sure about tai chi. Jeff considers tai chi to be for elderly people to relax, a sort of gentle exercise. It took him a while to grasp the concept of tai chi as a martial arts sport. Alex had to explain this to him—quite often. In Swordplay, Alex and his teacher train in Chen style.  Most modern styles, often referred to as Yang style, show slow, soft moves, whereas Chen style also include fast and explosive moves (plus the use of various weapons). Here are two short video (second one is performed with a sword):

http://youtu.be/WoHF2Pc7s-M

http://youtu.be/DnEUQ7Dz22w

I don’t do tai chi myself, but my husband does, and I know more of tai chi and its principles than I ever wanted to know. On the other hand, it’s a really stunning sight when he trains and wields his sword, so I’m all for enabling him to pursue this hobby. 😉 After watching him numerous times, I knew I needed someone who exercised tai chi in one of my next books, plus I really wanted a sword to make an appearance, and voilà! There you have Swordplay.

Do you have a hobby that’s important to you? How did you find it?

About Swordplay

After leaving his dream job as an Atlantic City detective, Jeff Woods has moved to Washington DC with his life partner, Alex Fisher, and Alex’s disabled little brother Sean. Parker Trenkins, Jeff’s ex-partner on the force, has made the move as well, along with his significant other David. Jeff and Parker partner up once again, but in a new way, as owners of their own detective agency.

Life is difficult at the best of times. Sean loses sight in one of his eyes, a direct result of being pushed into the Atlantic by a homicidal maniac a year ago. In his struggle to deal with everything, a restless Alex enrolls in tai chi classes at a nearby school.

As it happens, a murder case Jeff and Parker take involves the head of that very tai chi school, Charles Cooper. Cooper is a suspect in the murder of a financial corporation official. He appears to have motive. Jeff and Parker’s investigation arouses the real killer’s interest, and if they don’t uncover his identity soon, it may be too late for them.

Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon

An Excerpt from Swordplay

As I walked to the door leading to our apartment, the soft chimes of calm Chinese music filtered through. I cautiously pulled the door open and stuck my head inside.

Alex had cleared the space in the living room so he could exercise. He was still wearing his blond hair long since we’d both had realized we liked it this way best. Well, I’d been a bit dense and only realized it after a haircut a couple of months ago.

I leaned against the doorframe, watching him. He was wearing gray sweatpants, soft shoes, and nothing else. Perspiration was visible on his upper body. He moved in short but graceful steps accompanied by hand gestures. Not for the first time, it struck me how agile he was.

At first I hadn’t been sure why he had to take tai chi lessons instead of karate or taekwondo.. I’d believed tai chi to be for elderly people to relax, a sort of gentle exercise. Alex had explained to me the various tai chi styles. He was training in Chen style, the source for all other tai chi styles. Most modern styles, often referred to as Yang style, showed slow, soft moves, whereas Chen style also included fast and explosive moves—I really liked the cannon fist—and the use of various weapons. But as Alex had also told me, “ten thousands forms and one principle,” so whatever style chosen, it was all good.

My mouth went dry when he pushed his hands out, the ropy muscles on his arms showing off his power. The sweatpants bulged around his knees when he made a couple of fast-moving steps, and he twisted where I could admire his chest and abdomen. A moment later, his lips curved upward, and he asked, “What are you doing here? Other than drooling all over me?”

I pushed off, kicked the door shut, and advanced on him. “I’m not drooling.”

“Oh, you were. Only thing missing was your panting.”

“Feeling cheeky this morning?” I asked.

I grabbed his hips and kissed him hard. He laughed and scurried away. I shucked my jacket and threw it on the sofa. Alex picked up a towel and dried himself off, all the while watching me. Hunger lurked in his dark eyes.

Sure, I was here to talk to him about Cooper, but right now my cock demanded action and overruled my brain. I advanced on him, and Alex met me halfway. We collided, and both of us grappled for a secure hold on the other. I slid my hands into his hair, yanking his head back so I could pepper his throat with sharp nips and firm kisses.

Alex grasped my shirt, and he let out those delicious sounds of arousal that always brought my cock to full erection within seconds. It was no different this time. I ground my crotch against his, eliciting a shudder from him.

When I looked at his face again, his eyes were closed and his lips parted. I slipped my tongue into his mouth. I tasted a mix of coffee and chocolate. “White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino?”

Alex’s eyes fluttered open, and he smiled sheepishly. “I needed something sweet this morning.”

With gentle hands, I cupped his face and pressed a kiss on the tip of his nose. I understood. Anything to take his mind off Sean’s impending sight loss, even if it was just a drink. He dug tighter into my shirt, crumpling it, at the same time trying to pull me closer to him.

“Something else you need?”

“You,” he replied without hesitation.

About Chris T. Kat

Chris T. Kat lives in the middle of Europe, where she shares a house with her husband of many years and their two children. She stumbled upon the M/M genre by luck and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between work, her family—which includes chasing after escaping horses and lugging around huge instruments such as a harp—and writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as mystery/suspense, paranormal, and romance. If there’s any spare time, she happily reads for hours, listens to audiobooks or does cross stitch.

Find out more about Chris on her Blog, Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook or Amazon Author Page.

Chris is giving away a set of all three books in the “Jeff Woods Mystery” series (Attachment Strings, Sacrifices and Swordplay) as paperbacks to one lucky winner! Comment on any of the Swordplay blog tour stops for your chance to win.

Here’s the list of participants:

December 23rd: The Novel Approach

December 27th: Love Byte Reviews

December 30th: The Blogger Girls

December 31st: Joyfully Jay

Chris will pick the winner on January 3rd and contact the winner via e-mail. Winner has 48 hours to respond.

Don’t forget to check out Nikyta’s review of Swordplay to see what she thought of it!

Good luck!