Books and Bunnies

So...I have a blog post to write and my brain is blank--more blank than usual. Plot bunnies jump out to throttle me at every opportunity, but blog bunnies? They're rarer than hen's teeth.

Again the fall back is my stack of reference books, piled up there to the left. There's nothing immediate that jumps out at me. I doubt a romance post should be about the Fortress Monasteries of the Himalayas (though seriously, the plans and drawings in this book are lovely and just begging for a fantasy set behind their walls...see what I mean about the bunnies?). Or there's Medieval Hunting squished up against Magick and Rituals of the Moon (another serious bunny forming!)

It's fairly plain that there's no order to my books. At all. I like to be surprised and often find books I have no memory of buying. I think they breed in the dark corners of my bookshelves...

One book I distinctly remember buying is How to Start a Kinky Relationship. Mainly as a writer, naturally *grin* because it's packed with really handy worksheets. Go to the look inside feature on Amazon. It's what sold it for me :D

The Appendix has useful things such as the Ideal Parter profile, the Role Play Worksheet, the Fetish Consent sheet, asking questions such as for role play, who turns you on, which clothes or fabrics do, how should the encounter end and listing ideas that could be the jumping off point for a detailed scene. For building characters, a scene, even simply dipping into the worksheet and thinking 'yep, I've love to write a story around this idea' I've found it very useful.

And yes, from flicking through this book...I have more bunnies *sigh*

---------------------

Kim Knox brews sex, magic, darkness and technology in a little corner of North West England. She writes erotic science fiction and fantasy romance for Carina Press, Entangled Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Cleis Press and others.

Website || Blog || Twitter || Facebook

Sneaky peek at Agamemnon Frost and the Crown of Towers

The last book in the Agamemnon Frost series, Agamemnon Frost and the Crown of Towers, is only weeks away --it comes out 14 October. So here's a sneaky look at the first page, via some photoshop fun :)

Book three of Agamemnon Frost

Edgar Mason is losing Agamemnon Frost despite everything they've been through—the passion, the torture, the heat. Frost's fiancée, Theodora, is back, and Mason can feel his lover gravitating toward her. Every day he sees them together, it tears at his heart.

Frost feels raw himself. His brother and sister-in-law are missing, and his guilt about failing to save Theodora from Pandarus eats at him. His feelings for Mason, whom he has put through hell twice already, just twist the screws tighter.

On top of that, Pandarus and the Martians are back to make their final push to Earth, and Frost and Mason are duty bound to fight them. People are vanishing. Bodies are turning up burned beyond recognition in the slums. The bleak, human-less future Frost and Mason saw in the hollow ships has nearly come to pass.

And in order to prevent it, each man will have to make a final choice: lose his lover or doom the world.

Find out how it began in Agamemnon Frost and the House of Death.

If it's a little too small you can go here to see a bigger version. Blogger won't let me resize :(

Superstitions and...beards...

All of the wall next to me on the left is packed with books. I'm a reference book junkie and at some point I will probably need an intervention... 

I did a lucky dip amongst the books to see what I could post here today. :D It's fun. Whatever book I find, whatever page I open onto I write about. (I also find a lot of plot-bunnies this way) Today, it was my fairly fat Book of Superstitions.

Opening it, my finger landed on 'Beards'...which conveniently gives me the opportunity to post the cover for AGAMEMNON FROST AND THE HOUSE OF DEATH...and Mr Frost's nice bit of scruff :D

Anyway, beards.

They've been a sign of ungodliness, faithfulness and personal strength through the ages. Elizabeth I taxed them, which meant they disappeared during her reign--though Edmund Blackadder sported a rather nice one. A beard's renewal led to the ancient belief that facial hair was some divine gift and shouldn't be cut. To do so--and for your enemy to find the trimmings--would give them power over you.

Modern superstitions are that men with beards can't be trusted (look at the mirror universe in Star Trek...) and throughout Europe a man with a red beard can't be trusted at all. And finally I do like this odd little US rhyme:

Beware of that man

Be he friend or brother,

Whose hair is one colour

And moustache is another.

A stone by any other name...

I'm in the middle of a writing a paranormal romance packed with magical artefacts, witches and dragons...so naturally the research is interesting.

I love reference books. I collect them on mass and stack them mostly here so in the hunt for an artefact to protect my heroine, I was skimming a symbols book and found a hag stone.

A hag stone is a stone with a natural hole formed in it. The body of the stone is said to represent the material world, the hole forming a window into the faery or spirit world.

I love the idea of a hag stone. Its name and symbolism are a plot-bunny in the making.

Oh and my heroine? She ended up with protective iron rings. :)

-----------------

Kim Knox brews sex, magic, darkness and technology in a little corner of North West England. She writes erotic science fiction and fantasy romance for Carina Press, Entangled Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Cleis Press and others.

Website || Blog || Twitter || Facebook

DARK DEALINGS...out now from Carina Press "Ava is riveting...Knox keeps the pace moving and the plot thickening even as the potential romance between these two balances on the thinnest of knives." 4 stars ~ RT reviews

Plots and Bunnies and Books, oh my!

After a long while, I'm coming to the end of writing a serial. I only have the edits on the last book to go and my brain is already itching to discover what's next.

And the next thing seems to want to be a series.

One look at my back list and it's blindingly obvious that I'm not a series writer. Not even a little bit. But as I grow as a writer, able to write longer works, I'm learning how to push my own limitations.

Dyslexia makes my brain simply go *pffft* at anything approaching analysis, ie breaking a story into its constituent parts or building one up from little blocks. I can't 'see' grammar or explain it. But I can feel it. I have to approach a story by instinct. I often let my fingers do the typing, or my pen the nasty-ass scrawling--my handwriting is atrocious!--and it surprises me what comes out.

And what that means for a series is writing it all out at once. Crazy, I know. But I think this is what I need. I'm trying it after writing my Agamemnon Frost serial. Luckily I had two synopses to work from so the final books made sense. But they took an age to write. I think being able to build up all three new books at the same time will quicken the writing process. Maybe. Perhaps...

Wish me luck ;-)

Dark Dealings out now!

DARK DEALINGS released from Carina Press yesterday. It had been so long since I'd played with magic...and this story has it in spades. Oh, and a hero that makes my knees weak ;-)

There are monsters in the city. And one of them is her…

Ava Kalle's empty soul devours magic. And her hunger is deadly. She's sharp, quick and can live in shadow, making her work as a spy for the Mages a natural choice. She lives on the fringes of society and likes it that way.

When the man she loves takes another woman for his mate, the darkness in her heart unravels and she'll do anything to get him back. She makes a dangerous deal with a fire elemental, Heyerdar, who has a vested interest in agreeing: together they'll use forbidden magic, harnessing their sexual energy to drive the couple apart.

But soon their pact pushes them both into a dark sexual obsession. One that Ava may not be able to control…

Carina Press || Amazon US || Amazon UK

Amazon de || Barnes and Noble || ARe

Here's a naughty excerpt:

Ava’s mouth dried and the slick heat of her need pulsed heavily within her. “Your first time, Heyerdar.” She swallowed as his mouth brushed over her nightgown, his tongue curling against the thin linen and wetting a line to the curve of her breast. “I only...”

Something scary-beautiful...

My inspirational dragon, because he's scary-beautiful...and my head on cold meds is a fruity fudge basket of fluff. Best to stay silent. ;-)

Kim

-----------------

Kim Knox brews sex, magic, darkness and technology in a little corner of North West England. She writes erotic science fiction and fantasy romance for Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Cleis Press and others.

Website || Blog || Twitter || Facebook

SYNTHETIC DREAMS and BITTER HARVEST are available now from Carina Press. 

AT THE SORCERER'S COMMAND and DARK DEALINGS coming soon

I love me some steampunk chic...

This series of images popped up on Twitter yesterday. (Thank you, Ella Drake and Hailey Edwards!)

Prada does Steampunk with seriously glowering actors.

Gary Oldman has this whole Industrialist/Kaiser/Lenin thing going on. Seriously the bunnies just bounce off him.

The Tor link has more images and a brief filming of the photo shoot and there's a youtube of the catwalk show. Tim Roth appears at about 1 minute in, absolutely grinning fit to burst.  Gary Oldman, of course is broody and hot.

There is something about the power of steampunk clothing, especially tailored to this quality, that makes me love it. It speaks of the might of an age, of influence and wealth and also makes you consider  the inverse, of the poverty on which that wealth was built. These could be the men at the top of the Victorian class pyramid. And everything about them makes you very aware of it.

Ooh, I want to finish my non-quite-a-steampunk trilogy now. Thank you, Prada! *bounce*

It's strange that my last post here was about clothes too. And Gary Oldman. I haven't got an obsession. Honest *twitch*

Oh and the Prada women's collection for Autumn/Winter 2012? No. Just don't go there. Don't...

-------------

Kim Knox brews sex, magic, darkness and technology in a little corner of North West England. She writes erotic science fiction and fantasy romance for Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Cleis Press and others.

Website || Blog || Twitter || Facebook

SYNTHETIC DREAMS and BITTER HARVEST are available now from Carina Press. 

AT THE SORCERER'S COMMAND, DARK DEALINGS and UNDER A LION'S CURSE coming soon

An Unchanging Costume

I was drooling over my copy of Harry Potter ~ Page to Screen (I imported it from the US as it's out of print in the UK. This is a crime, btw) and I was caught by the attention to detail of the costumes. A little spark went off in my head about how the actors and the costume designers formed the characters from the clothes they wore. (Yes, the writer in me never switches off. It's quite sad, really... ;-) )

For instance, how Harry--who the costume designer Jany Temine saw as a loner and not happy in his skin--would wear greys, black whites, because he didn't want to be noticed. Or Hermione not really having the urge to be fashionable, or seen as a 'girl' as she thought her intelligence was her greatest asset. Or Snape, with his cloak that's split up the back so the two forks slither behind him. Also, apparently, Alan Rickman can really work a cape... *grin*

This idea has given me a new angle to think about as I create my characters. It's also serendipity as I'm creating a character who has the mask of a fop and a dandy and a man far too attached to his tailor. It's little touches, like Snape's cloak, or the numerous eyes that appear cover Professor Trelawney's tunic, that speak of the character's nature and occupation.

And there's body art too. Sirius Black is not tattooed in the books, but this incredible sketch from Rob Bliss of Sirius' runic prison tats is simply...whoa. 

The reasons why he would carve all of these into his skin simply pushes too many ideas through my head. Or maybe that's just me. (This image is in the book too. That particular page is worn thin ;-) )

Now I'm away to look at Victorian tailoring--petting Sirius one last time *grin*--and fabrics. And I'm wondering how other writers tackle clothes...or you could simply join me for some Snape and Sirius love... <--so glad I'm not a fanfic writer, because...yum :D

*The title quote is from Alan Rickman, from his explanation of why he agreed to play Professor Snape.

-------------

Kim Knox brews sex, magic, darkness and technology in a little corner of North West England. She writes erotic science fiction and fantasy romance for Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing, Cleis Press and others.

Website || Blog || Twitter || Facebook

SYNTHETIC DREAMS and BITTER HARVEST are available now from Carina Press. 

AT THE SORCERER'S COMMAND and DARK DEALINGS coming soon