Six of the best with Tal Valante #books

Today's guest is author Tal Valante, and she's sitting in the hot seat today to endure Six of the Best here at my spot.

You're at a party, and some random stranger finds out you’re an author. You’ve got less than thirty seconds to explain to them what Mindscape is all about. Go!

Mindscape has space battles and an intergalactic war and the courage to serve something bigger than you are. But it’s not about that. It’s about how a man sets out to win the love of his heart. And how, once that love is won, his lover sets out to fight for it against an enemy no one could have imagined. It’s about the physical world and the mental one, and how they dovetail, serving both as a battleground and as the cradle of a great love.

It’s about the small things in life, set against a backdrop of sweeping events. But above all, it’s about two people that belong together and how far they’d go for love. And yes, I can say that in 27 seconds flat.

Tell us more about Mark and Shane’s world. What do you love about the setting and how it shapes them?

I love the concept of having a mindscape: a world with scenery and life that reflects our mental states, and can be shared among two people who are in Resonance. I like the idea that somewhere in the world is a person so attuned to you that the two of you can share much more than words. It feels to me like a natural extension of what we humans already have.

I think that mental bond affects Shane more profoundly than Mark. Shane is a man of rigid masks and control, and in comes this brilliant young fellow who can – literally – see past these things. It’s a new experience for Shane, one that gives him a measure of freedom that he’s never known—the freedom to simply be himself and be loved for it.

I think I would have liked it if someone special could simply see my true self. Imagine how scary it would be, being exposed like that. And imagine how rewarding it would be, being accepted completely for all you really are.

What are some of the themes that you treat in Mindscape? Can you share a little about the story seed that sparked off this tale?

Not without completely ruining the punch line, I’m afraid. Mindscape has started with the climax scene fixed clearly in my mind. The rest was background work, though quite enjoyable. In Mindscape, I tried working with themes of the little man against a backdrop of great events, of the meaning of serving in the army (or space navy, as the case may be), and of the world as we perceive it versus the way it really is.

I also gently explore some reaches of mental instability, and the dynamics of love. It’s an interesting combination that has drawn me before (in All My Crimes) and which I love to explore.

What do you love most about the genre that you write?

The freedom. The absolute, unmitigated freedom. And the paradoxical fact that building a story is all about limiting that freedom in new, interesting ways. Without limits you only get chaos. With boring limits you simply get our world again. But with strange, new limits you can get rich and brilliant worlds that are a pleasure to explore. The more you trust yourself to your invented limits, the more real and authentic the story will read. It’s a little like the paradox of true love – you choose to be chained, and because it’s of your choice, you are in fact free.

Dare I ask about Assassin’s Creed, which you mention in your bio? What do you enjoy about the game?

Oooh, gutsy! I’ll do my best to be brief(-ish). There are two reasons I love this series of games. The first one is the plot. I always feel like I’m reading an interactive book. The first time I sat down to play Assassin’s Creed, I accidentally played it for 27 hours straight – simply because I had to know what happens next.

The third game (Brotherhood) sucked me right in. In the fourth game (Revelations) I actually cried at the end, and I’m talking full fledged sobs here. The story is gripping. The characters are brilliant. There’s a reason AC is a highly active fandom with lots of gorgeous, well-written fanfics (and tons of slash to boot).

The second reason is that I really enjoy creeping up on people and killing them.

Kidding.

Sort of.

What’s currently on the boil with your work in progress? What can your readers expect from you during the next few months?

I have a confession to make: I write slowly. Imagine a crippled snail swimming in half-dry cement. I write even more slowly than that. That’s why it’s been so far between All My Crimes and Mindscape, and why it would probably take me a good while before I finish my current work in progress: In Shadows Made.

What can you expect from In Shadows Made?

Well, it’s a cross between epic fantasy, kinky romance, and a thriller. It’s the story of a young blacksmith and a great lord, set in a world ruled by two god-kings. One story arc is “from enemies to lovers,” which I greatly enjoy writing.

Like Mindscape, it deals with what the world seems to be and what it actually is, and with the question of how far a man would go for the sake of love. It also plays with the theme of masters and slaves. That’s all I can give you without betraying critical details.

Mindscape will release on December 23.

In brief...
The truth will set you free.
Mark Sayre joins the Interstellar Navy for the money – his only goal is to keep his little brother out of the colony mines that sent their father to an early grave. With concepts like duty and honour floating high over his head, he hardly expects to fall for the serious, idealistic Shane Cawley. Not to mention that Shane is his commanding officer... and his Resonance partner, a one-in-ten-thousand mental connection so profound that they can travel in each other’s mindscapes.

Shane Cawley is carrying on the family tradition by serving in the Interstellar Navy. He hardly expects to fall for the quirky, happy-go-lucky Mark Sayre. But as the Resonance between them grows, neither can deny what he feels for the other.

When war breaks out, Mark and Shane find their military training and their Resonance link tested to the edge of sanity. Shane is haunted by memories and flashbacks, and Mark becomes trapped in his own mindscape. But with help from an unlikely ally, they may be able to salvage their futures and the love they share.

The Crimson Outlaw by Alex Beecroft #review

Title: The Crimson Outlaw
Author: Alex Beecroft
Publisher: Riptide, 2013

It’s 1720 in Harghita County, Transylvania. and no, don’t expect vampires. Vali is the son of a nobleman, the cruel boyar Wadim Florescu. Amazingly, the lad has grown up untainted by his father’s generally nasty attitude – and his abuse. Vali is sweet-natured, an incurable romantic and tends to act before thinking things through.

Which is why he tries to derail his sister’s wedding to another lord old enough to be their father – a move which backfires horribly, and proves to be the final straw which drives Vali out into the world.

Well meaning but completely unprepared for the world beyond the castle’s walls, Vali quickly runs into trouble when a bandit in the forest tries to take him hostage. This bandit is none other than Mihai, who has a bit of an axe to grind with Wadim, and he reckons Vali’s going to make the perfect hostage.

The last thing Vali and Mihai expect is that they’d end up in a state of mutual fascination that runs deeper than mere lust. Of course there’s still the problem of a tyrannical lord to overthrow and a village to save, which adds an extra dimension to this blooming romance.

The Crimson Outlaw has it all: authentic world-building (you really do feel like you’re in Transylvania); plenty of well-realised action sequences, swords and all; and of course the sparks that fly between Vali and Mihai. If I can level any criticism against the story it’s that it’s over so quickly, which is a measure of how well Alex Beecroft drew me in that I regretted reaching the ending so soon. I wanted a lot more.

Vali really is adorable. You want to groan quietly at his naïveté but there’s something quite refreshing about encountering a character who has such a big heart and cheery outlook. GrimDark this is not, but The Crimson Outlaw is a highly entertaining read nonetheless that will leave you smiling. Beecroft has a light, lyrical touch with her words and her story is an absolute pleasure if you’re looking for a feel-good, historical diversion from your daily grind.

Six of the best with Heidi Belleau

Today I welcome Heidi Belleau to my world. She's the author of numerous and rather engaging titles. Go check out her author page at Goodreads.

You’ve got no more than 16 words to tell someone who’s never heard of Wallflower what it’s all about. Go!

Heidi: Shy geek with female online persona discovers being part-time girl interferes with his budding gay relationship.

(Phew! That was hard!)

Wallflower delves into the theme of gender identity. Tell us a little bit more about Robert/Bobby.

Basically, Rob is this shy, awkward guy who’s always been a loner, but online, where he presents as a girl, he’s funny, popular, and outgoing.

Getting a job at a porn store pushes his shyness to the limit, so he decides to try passing as a girl in real life too. Just for his job, at first, but then he discovers that he loves his female persona, loves the freedom and confidence it gives him... but doesn’t love the fact that it complicates his new relationship with an out gay man. Basically from a gender standpoint, it’s all about a genderqueer person figuring out who he is, how he wants to present, how to navigate his sexlife and relationships, and how he can move forward.

Also, you write non-Caucasian characters, do tell us a little more how you give them the ring of authenticity.

I write lots of characters of colour, yes. Especially for Rear Entrance Video, the series of which Wallflower is a part. It’s set in Vancouver and I wanted the cast to represent the diversity of the city. If I’d have had a bunch of white heroes, it just wouldn’t have been right. As to giving them a ring of authenticity, it’s a little bit of everything. I observe the people around me and my friends, I read forums or articles online, I watch videos if need be. And then when I write; I make sure to try and find beta readers with firsthand knowledge who can keep an eye out for glaring mistakes.

Really, the main thing to remember is you’re not writing a race, you’re writing a person... whose race is a part of who they are. So you can’t write “colour-blind”, but you most certainly should make characters of colour just as well-rounded as white characters. And a part of that is giving due care and attention to their identity and ethnicity and how that affects their personality, their self-image, and how they interact with others. That doesn't mean the book has to be about race – so for Rob, being Chinese Canadian is largely in the background to his gender issues, but for Dylan, it’s a much bigger part of who he is and how he relates with people. Basically? Research research research, empathy empathy empathy, complexity complexity complexity.

What was your favourite scene from Wallflower?

There’s a scene early on in the book where Rob rents a straight Asian fetish video and watches it. It was a really challenging but rewarding scene for me to write, because while it’s ostensibly a sex scene, it’s so much more. It’s a big knotty tangle of race and gender and fetish and how we perform race and gender and how watching that kind of media changes our perception and how porn is both harmful and also freeing. For how heavy it is on issues, it’s also just really sexy. In a complicated kind of way.

Was there any that you found particularly tricky?

Yes! The reconciliation between Rob and Dylan at the end of the book was very hard to get the wording right. I actually edited the dialogue somewhat after reading a review, because the reviewer had issues with the same lines I did, so I reworked them. I set up a pretty tricky conflict in Wallflower by having a gay man fall for a genderqueer person who therefore isn’t completely male, and it took a little bit of wrangling to have them talk it out and resolve that conflict in a satisfying way that didn’t compromise either of their identities.

Lastly, what do you love best about your chosen genre(s)? 

I love writing about queer people like me. I love telling stories that wouldn’t necessarily be told otherwise. Not only do I enjoy writing what I write, not only do I get a little hot writing what I write, but I feel good about it, too, which is a great feeling.

Bio
Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat, whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write.

She has a degree in history from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in British and Irish studies; much of her work centred on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with unironic papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. (Ask her about Highlanders!)

See http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/wallflower-rear-entrance-video-2
Connect with Heidi Twitter @HeidiBelleau.

Opposites attract in ‘glittering’ tale ... #review #interview

Tales involving mismatched couples are bound to result in hilarious results, and in Glitterland author Alexis Hall introduces readers to Ash and Darian, whose worlds are so far apart it’s sheer coincidence they ever met.

Hall elaborates: “I’m aware it’s a bit of a cliché, but, the truth is, I’ve always been a fan of opposites-attract stories. I think I’m generally into people who aren’t very much like me (which is probably a good thing, to be honest). I think there’s something quite romantic about two superficially different people finding common ground. I also like the idea that the essential, well, peopleness of people can cut through socially and culturally created barriers.

“I wasn’t deliberately setting out to write the two most apparently incompatible people ever or anything, but it just sort of panned out that way when I started thinking about who Darian was going to be, and who would make a suitable partner for him.

“Basically, Glitterland started with Darian and, once I realised I wanted to write about that sort of character, it was important to me that he could be taken seriously as a romantic lead and, for that matter, a human being. Which is why he ended up paired with someone so sharp and serious. Ash lives in a world that people like Darian are assumed to neither understand nor appreciate, and I sorted of wanted to challenge that.

“Once I knew who Ash and Darian were, and how let them have their voices, the story sort of told itself. I had a bit of trouble with the ending because my instinct was to make it much more downbeat, and compromisey than it actually wound up being. But my wonderful editor, Sarah Frantz, felt very strongly that it was too heavily skewed in favour of Ash, and denied Darian his desire for a declaration of love and a happy ending. And she was completely right. I much prefer the ending as it currently stands. I think one of the interesting things (interesting in the slightly euphemistic sense of difficult) about writing in first-person narration is you get completely sucked into the mindset of one person and, obviously, a romance is, almost by definition, about two (or more) people finding a space together.”

Part of the joy in seeing the contrasts in Ash and Darian comes across in their dialogue. Ash is quite “proper” – he speaks the Queen’s English rather beautifully – while Darian’s dialogue is unrestrained and heavily rooted in his regional dialect.  Hall says: “I honestly wasn’t sure how it was going to come across to readers until people started actually, well, reading it. I think mileage is probably going to vary considerably on this. Representing regional accents is really complex and I wouldn’t claim to do it with any kind of authority. But, given the first person narration and the pervasiveness of Ash’s perspective, it was really important to me that Darian have his own voice. I think one thing I really tried to bear in mind with Darian’s accent was that I was using dialect to represent sound rather than social class, if that makes any sense.”

As for giving his characters the breath of authenticity, Hall adds: “I watched a lot of The Only Way is Essex – which is a kind of British reality TV show set in Essex. I’m not sure that really counts as research because I’ve always quite enjoyed it. Similarly, the character of Darian was quite strongly inspired by an X-factor UK contestant called Rylan Clark, and so obviously I watched a lot of his interviews and appearances. Embarrassingly, I did rather more research on Essex than I did on bipolar depression, which makes me sound like I’ve got my priorities completely wrong, but, for various reasons, I’ve always been quite aware of mental health issues so my base-line level of knowledge was a lot higher.”

And as for who Alexis Hall, author, is, Hall adds: “I’m quite a private person so I tend not to talk about myself very much. I’ve only been Alexis Hall, author for about a year. I’m vaguely in the vicinity of thirty, I live in the south east of England, I have a full-time job that actually pays the bills, and I write books in my spare time, basically because I enjoy it. I’m kinda nerdy, so I read a lot, and play a lot of video games, and study 17th-century smallsword fencing.”

As for what we can expect next, literature-wise, Hall concludes: “I’m quite a flighty person so I tend to have several projects on the go at once. Truthfully, I’m nervous about works in progress just in case I talk loudly and publicly about something then my publisher decides they don’t want it.

“That said, I do have another book coming out with Riptide in December. It’s called Iron & Velvet, and it’s the first in an f/f paranormal detective series. I’ve always been quite into that sort of urban fantasy about arsekicking heroines surrounded by hot, supernatural creatures who all want to do her, and I thought it would adapt well to a queer framework. Basically, the idea was to take the genre convention that all your major power players want to get into the heroine’s pants and, well, be less heteronormative with it. So, yeah, it’s very different to Glitterland. It’s a high-energy romp with vampires, and werewolves, wizards and zombie nuns.”

And now, for my official review:
Title: Glitterland 
Author: Alexis Hall
Publisher: Riptide Publishing, 2013

When the Riptide review coordinator told me the editors were gushing about Glitterland, my curiosity was immediately piqued. So I requested a copy, even though this is not my usual genre. My verdict: I’m so glad I took a chance on this novel, because I was not disappointed. In fact, if I have to award any author the prize for “Best Dialogue Between Characters for 2013” it’s Alexis Hall.

Because Glitterland has it all – it’s sometimes cringe-worthy, occasionally snarky and often laugh-out-loud funny. Considering that there’s loads of dialogue written in what must possibly be the most horrendous Essex dialect, this is no mean feat, babes.

We meet Ash Winters, a reclusive manic depressive author whose love life is reduced to the occasional anonymous one-night stand with complete strangers. He doesn’t feel he deserves anything more than that and, in fact, he’s convinced himself he cannot handle anything more than that. With a botched suicide behind him, as well as stints in and out of mental institutions, he’s a bit of a basket case – to put it mildly. The only thing he has going for him is his career as a well-known writer of pulpy crime novels.

The absolute last thing he expects is to get romantically entangled with his rather fabulous “glitter pirate” as he calls Darian – one of his anonymous conquests that finds a way into his heart. Ash and Darian couldn’t be more contrasting as characters. Where Ash is reserved and somewhat aloof, Darian is a flamboyant model whose naïveté and genuine niceness wedges open a crack in Ash’s shell.

Through his contact with Darian, Ash learns to overcome his crippling depression, let his hair down and live again. This journey is, however, filled with bumps; Hall spins this tale masterfully, though at times I’d have liked to have kicked Ash hard. Darian’s honesty is, however beautiful. On the outside, he might seem like a facile creature, but he has a way of looking at the world that often allows him to make insightful observations.


Perhaps what makes this story for me is the way Hall effortlessly brings the characters to life in such a way that if we were to meet them on the street, we’d recognise them instantly (and it’s not just the way they talk). At times playful, and others quite poignant, Glitterland maintains a careful balance between its moods with a joyfully exuberant pace. And hell, I was sorry to turn the last page on this story.

The Left Hand of Calvus by LA Witt #review

Title: The Left Hand of Calvus
Author: LA Witt
Publisher: Riptide Publishing, 2012

Saevius is a veteran of the arena, but as a gladiator, he’s not master of his own fate. When he’s sold to a Pompeiian politician to work as a bodyguard, he’s cautiously optimistic about his future. But this good fortune doesn’t last, as he soon finds out that Calvus is playing a dangerous game, which might have fatal consequences for Saevius. Caught up in the sticky web of intrigue, Saevius is tasked to discover with which gladiator Calvus’s wife is having an affair.

Saevius now finds himself acting as an agent for Calvus in the ludus of the lanista Drusus, who has a reputation for being cruel. Yet Saevius is unaccountably drawn to the master on whom he’s been employed to spy. No man can serve two masters, and at some point Saevius will have to betray one of them. But making that decision is not going to be easy.

While this is ostensibly a m/m tale, if you’re looking for scenes of hot, pumping action, you’re going to come away empty-handed. (No pun intended, LOL.) What you will get, however, is a story brimful of tension, and that is, in itself, a reward. Also, kudos to the author for dumping a huge reveal later on in the story. I totally did not see that one on the horizon and it put an entire different spin on the tale that left me grinning like crazy.

Most of all, I loved Saevius as a character. He’s been there, done that, and bears the scars. He’s a man who gets on with the job and has realistic expectations about people and situations. Much of his conflict is related to loyalty. Scenes where he has to get over being the new guy in the ludus and wins the grudging respect of his fellow gladiators – that was awesomely done. Also, the careful dance he has keeping both Calvus and Drusus happy – nerve-wrecking.

LA Witt makes me feel like I’m *there* in the story, that these things actually happened to *real* people. Which means that you’re not going to find larger-than-life characters here with epic stories of derring-do. Everyone’s got flaws. Everyone’s got issues. Pompeii is dirty and full of perils for the unwary. And Saevius is a man who’s trying to do the right thing while keeping his head on his shoulders, almost literally in some situations.

In any case, if you’re a big fan of historical stories set during ancient times, be it watching Spartacus on telly or reading classic Mary Renault, then this story will possibly bite you in all the right places. I am loving the living hell out of Riptide’s Warriors of Rome series, and this title just underscores the fact that they’re onto a very good thing. More please!

Quid Pro Quo by LA Witt and Aleksandr Voinov #review

Title: Quid Pro Quo
Authors: LA Witt and Aleksandr Voinov
Publisher: Riptide Publishing, 2013

The more I read the Riptide offerings, the more I absolutely adore what this publisher is bringing out, and in Quid Pro Quo, LA Witt and Aleksandr Voinov are in top form, their writing bearing the hallmarks of the confluence of sex and power in a heady short story.

Lines like this:
“Help me, I’m trapped in a Harlequin novel titled The Billionaire and His Rentboys,” Jared muttered under his breath.

Well, *that* just made me laugh out loud and pretty much summed up the entire premise quite succinctly. Quid Pro Quo doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It’s raw, hot sex, with our rich boy known only as Rolex, paying *a lot* to see our two dah-lings get it off.

And if you finished reading this and did *not* squirm just a little and fan yourself, there’s no way in hell you still have a pulse. So, there’s not going to be much more to this review than a big thank you to the two authors for offering me some cheap thrills, and writing great gay erotica in a way that makes even this slightly bi woman get a bit hot and bothered.

Mark of the Gladiator by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane #review

Title: Mark of the Gladiator
Authors: Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane
Publisher: Riptide Publishing, 2012

I’m going to freely admit here that my love for all things Rome at present can firmly be blamed on watching the TV series Spartacus. So, yes, I was very much primed by the time the request to review Mark of the Gladiator landed in my inbox. And Heidi and Violetta do not disappoint in this offering, Mark of the Gladiator showing all the hallmarks that make all the Riptide Publishing tittles of a consistently high standard. This novel offers a heady combination of narrative, danger and sex, all in equal measures, in a way that feels like everything has its place and time.

Firstly, I’d like to praise the authors. Not once was I jerked out of the story nor could I tell where one author left off and the other began--their writing blends seamlessly. Also, I’m a bit of a history junkie, so hats off to the pair for immersing me into what felt like an authentic setting.

In Mark of the Gladiator we follow from the point of view of Anazar, a slave and gladiator better known to Romans as Cyrenaicus. But he’s a wounded soul, and his years of captivity have to a degree dulled his spirit. He is very much entrenched within his role of slave, and seeks to please his master in everything.

However, the opportunity to become a freedman presents itself when Anazar’s master loans him to another master in order for him to train a team of female gladiators, and Anazar does what he can to please his new master, Marianus. But what should be a relatively trouble-free situation, serving a master who seems to be near perfect, is muddied by the fitful presence of Marianus’s brother, Felix.

Rome wouldn’t be Rome without oodles of intrigue, and Anazar soon finds himself in a predicament, and his loyalty called into question. Much as on the sands, mistakes can prove fatal, and he finds himself fighting hard, not only for his own survival, but for the spirited women he has to train so that they too can stay alive. And dare he grasp out, against expectations, for the hope of love offered?

The characters in this novel are all too human, showing their virtues and flaws. The authors soon had me caring deeply for the fates of all involved. If you have a love of ancient Rome, then don’t hesitate in adding this one to your “to be read” pile. And the question that’s on my mind right now is will Heidi and Violetta give us another tale in the same setting? More please!

Read my interview with Heidi and Violetta here...

In conversation with Heidi and Violetta

Recently I've been going through a bit of a phase of reading historical settings. Not quite sure what prompted this but I've been getting total kicks from ancient Rome and Greece. When Mark of the Gladiator (Riptide Publishing) by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane landed on my virtual desk, I totally gobbled it up.

Naturally, I had to have the ladies over for a little Q&A... So a big welcome to Heidi and Violetta!

Ancient Rome... How much research did you conduct to give your tale a ring of authenticity?

Violetta: This was a very research-heavy book. We didn’t mind that at all; in fact, that’s one of the great bonuses of writing this kind of fiction. It’s like being in a perpetual classroom... for free. I already have a bit of a background in terms of ancient literature from when I was in academia. I own some books on related subjects, such as Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome and The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans. We used a lot of great online sources, as well, and list some of them in the back of the book.

Anazar has been a slave for so long that he's lost a lot of his spirit. When you looked at his development as a character, what were some of the obstacles he had to overcome?

Violetta: Oh, nothing much. Just leaving behind his wife and most of his family, traveling across the known world to fight in a war not of his choosing, seeing most of his friends, male relatives and fellow tribesman dying in battle or executed after defeat... and that’s just the beginning. Like most people in that situation he went into survival mode, with very little space for much else. But the fact that he survived and is still capable of making moral choices means he has the capacity to rebuild his identity. I’ve read a lot about slavery in the ancient world and in the Americas, and one thing that’s clear is that many people were determined to survive and make moral choices. A lot of slaves in the ancient world did actually kill themselves, which is also a choice, in a terribly sad way.

So far when I've encountered writing duos (and trios even) the divisions have been quite clear-cut, in most cases with each author taking turns with a character each. This is not the case with Mark of the Gladiator, as the entire novel is told only from Anazar's point of view. How did this work out within your writing partnership?

Heidi: Well actually, even with novels where we do utilize multiple points of view, we both share all writing duties. We’ve never traded off in any organized way, although sometimes one person will take charge of a certain scene with minimal input from the other. So for example, had Mark of the Gladiator had both Anazar and, say, Felix as a POV character, we’d have both written both, versus Violetta writing Anazar and me writing Felix. We share chapters, pages, scenes, even sentences. On our blog tour for our co-authored novel Hawaiian Gothic, I actually broke down our process. (And it’s colour coded!)

You mention Mary Renault as one of your influences (okay, I admit that totally sold me), so tell us more about how you perceive the dynamics between your main characters within a historical context. I picked up a fair amount of power play between the characters. What are some of the considerations to bear in mind when writing historical settings?

Violetta: In terms of the kind of relationship you see in The Persian Boy, the central relationship in Mark of the Gladiator is nothing like that. There’s a Greek and then similar Roman model of approved relationships between older dominant penetrative men and submissive youths, the erastes/eromenos dyad—our hero doesn’t really fit this model, and he’s aware of that, and confused by it as well. He has to come to terms with his sexuality and the fact that his lover definitely falls into several wrong categories.

Heidi: Well, I think if you’re doing a story in Rome, especially one that heavily features the interactions of people from different classes, and between freedmen and slaves, you really have to deal with that power imbalance head on. One thing that was really important to us was not to just play the “power play” aspect purely for titillation. Not to say we don’t like power play as a sexual kink (especially in a consensual BDSM context--more on that later!), but with Mark of the Gladiator I really believe we needed to do oh-so-much more. Especially since this is a historical, we had to find that right balance between the sexuality of the romantic/erotic scenes and the grim reality of slavery.

In that regard, I’m really proud of the development of Anazar’s relationship with his master Marianus Lucius. (Spoilers!) At the beginning of the book, there’s this balance between desire and performance and coercion, where Anazar basically must service his master but also enjoys it, in a way . . . then as the book progresses and Anazar’s opinion of Marianus changes, the performance becomes difficult and the coercion becomes a new and terrifying thing, which flips that titillation dynamic into something sinister. Which is the reality of consent in that dynamic: it’s ultimately an illusion. If you can’t really refuse consent (as is the case with a master and slave), can you ever truly give it?

And this is the absolutely annoying question I know authors get asked endlessly... But in this case I was dying to know. Can we expect more in a historical setting from you?

Heidi: Hmm, not in the near future I don’t think! Right now we’re both working on solo projects, and we’re doing a joint project that’s a mixed-orientation contemporary BDSM series with a lot of comedy and a lot of unconventional sex. We’re hoping that even without the historical intrigue, our readers will still enjoy this series for its complex character dynamics and twisty subplots!

Then, in short:
Where's your current favourite holiday destination, and what draws you there?

Heidi: Probably Ireland. My husband is from there, so we go every couple years to visit his parents, and I always have a wonderful time. Surprise, surprise, I’m a history geek, and Ireland has locales and items of historical interest in spades.

Violetta: The Pacific Coast of Mexico. It’s one of the most bold and beautiful landscapes I can imagine, the people are wonderful and the food is to die for.



What book are you constantly recommending to people?

Heidi: That depends on the person! For M/M readers, I love The Island by Lisa Henry. For non-romance readers, basically anything by Sherman Alexie, who writes stunning and powerful short stories.

Violetta: The Flat Earth series by Tanith Lee.

And the film you save for rainy days?

Heidi: Moulin Rouge!

Violetta: El Topo.

LINKAGE
Heidi:
http://www.HeidiBelleau.com
Twitter @HeidiBelleau

Violetta:
http://www.ViolettaVane.com
Twitter @ViolettaVane

#review Dark Soul Volume 1 by Aleksandr Voinov

Title: Dark Soul Volume 1
Author: Aleksandr Voinov
Publisher: Riptide Publishing, 2011
Buy link

I’ll kick off by saying that Dark Soul literally kept me on the edge of my seat and I devoured it in two sittings. Simmering tension underpins the relationship between our viewpoint character, Stefano, and the very intense Silvio.

Being gay if you’re a part of the Italian mafia is tantamount to a death sentence, and Stefano has lived his entire life thus far by keeping up the all-important facade that goes with being a self-made man. But he’s also been lying to himself, and although he is happily married to a beautiful woman, whom it’s clear he loves, it’s also evident that he has dark desires.

Silvio doesn’t seem to care what his peers think. As the indulged heir to a retired mafia boss, he does pretty much what he wants to, when he wants to. He oozes a raw sexuality that flies in the face of conformity, a challenge that grabs Stefano’s attention. He’s also damaged goods, who is fully able to submit and immerse himself in what others might find to be degrading situations.

Without giving spoilers, I’ll hint that Voinov has written what I’ll term as “That Scene” quite early in the story that had me swallowing drily and honestly wondering what the hell would happen next. This author understands how to ratchet up tension. And he masterfully understands how temporal power is often inextricably linked with sexual domination games.

In addition, Voinov doesn’t shy away from exploring the concept of what can be considered the forbidden, and he handles it with authenticity. There’s a raw honesty to his prose that makes me look forward to reading the next instalment. I love the fact that he doesn’t sugar coat.

As an exploration of complex layering of sexuality linked with power, within the complex world of the Italian mafia, Dark Soul hits all the right buttons with me. I find myself fascinated by Silvio, and appreciate that Voinov has not played his entire hand yet—and the suggestion that there still are quite a few secrets to be revealed. Stefano himself is set on a path of self-discovery, which is delicious to watch, and all this is spiced with the tension that external threats will still play an important role in developing this tale.