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Friday, March 1, 2013
Blog Tour: "Soul Avenged" by Keri Lake (Guest Post/Excerpt/Giveaway)
Welcome to our Virtual blog tour stop of "Soul Avenged" by Keri Lake.
Writing Sex Scenes
Before I ventured into writing romance, I used to think of the novelists of this genre a bit like Mary Fisher in She Devil. Haha! Oh man, was I off … not that I was hoping for this lifestyle when I pursued romance, mind you. You’ll never catch me wearing frilly pink anything unless someone knocked me out for the sole purpose of changing my clothes. But I imagined these writers remained suspended in this constant state of inspiration osmosis and wafted sex vibes like my grandmother’s perfume in church.
Let me give you the down and dirty of how I write romance.
First, in all fairness, I write paranormal romance and urban fantasy. The very nature of these genres suggests a much darker style than that of the bodice-ripping writers out there. Maybe they’re the ones who treat it as an abstract art, a lonely craft that no one else could possibly understand. That sure as hell ain’t me.
Here’s how I do it.
With a husband and two young kids plus a job, it’s not easy to find hours in the day to write. I typically wake up at about four (sometimes three) in the morning to get my writing time in. And I can assure you, I’m not drifting out of bed in my sexy, skimpy lingerie, sauntering across the room to lounge across a chaise with my laptop at the ready. Ha! More like stumbling along in my pajama pants and a t-shirt with a cup of coffee in hand, hair pulled back, making my way to a desk that looks like it scarcely survived a Post-It war.
Next, after I’ve crawled out from the depths of Zombieville and returned to the land of the living, is setting the tone.
I don’t know about you, but the alarm clock blaring in my ear at four o’clock in the morning is not the kind of wake-up that leaves a girl feeling all hot and frisky. In fact, you might want to stay the hell back lest you find yourself staring into the eyes of a demoness who’ll suck out your soul and spit it back in your face.
Good morning!
Once coffee is within reach and I’ve settled into my chair, scene pulled up, hands on keyboard ready to go, I slip on my headphones, rub my eyes, pick out a nice sexy song, yawn and close my eyes, doing my best to channel the characters I’m writing about. Sex scenes can sometimes be like eating the same take-out night after night. The assumption being, if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. How many times can a writer possibly describe the act, right?
This is where channeling the character is essential and more important than the scene itself. For example, my character Ayden is a no-nonsense female who enjoys kicking some ass to blow off steam. Her dark and seductive approach, like a prowling black cat, is going to be worlds apart from some prim & proper damsel who finds herself at the mercy of a muscled meathead. Add some resistance—a fight preferably—and a little kink and Ayden might be willing to ride. It’s these attributes that give the scene its own unique style. In that way, even if the acts are similar, the reactions and emotions can give it a totally different spin.
Couple that to an equally fleshed out male character and you’ve got a whole world of fun. I find this the most gratifying part of writing these scenes and it’s what keeps me engrossed—upholding their true personalities even in these intimate moments.
Yeah, it helps to have a pretty excitable (if not restless) muse, but it isn’t always about summoning the powers of Aphrodite and offering ourselves as the conduit to her every desire. Okay … maybe it is just a little bit. But you still won’t catch me wearing pink frills while I’m
doing it.
Soul Avenged
(Sons of Wrath #1)
By: Keri Lake
Publishing Date: 2/6/13
Publishing Date: 2/6/13
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance/Dark Urban Fantasy
Source: Provided by Author
ISBN: 978-0-9848517-3-7
Number of Pages: 533
ISBN: 978-0-9848517-3-7
Number of Pages: 533
Description:
Passion is blind in vengeance and love … Ayden’s suburban home was invaded by a pack of Lycans. The brutal attack is the only memory she carries of her former life. Now, one motive burns in her soul:
KILL THEM ALL. The Sons of Wrath—a brood of vengeance-dealing warrior demons—band with Ayden to hunt the Lycans on Detroit’s most deadly feeding grounds.
Kane Walker should’ve been her easiest kill.
Unfortunately, the newly bitten Lycan has something she wants—clues that may finally lay her past to rest. To reach them, she must be willing to submit to the sensual pleasures awakened by his touch.
Time is running out.
In seven days, Kane will become what Ayden despises most. She can halt his transformation but the antidote requires the ultimate sacrifice. As the beast takes hold, Kane becomes more of a threat.
Ayden must choose between her lust for revenge, or surrender to her enemy and discover a horrible truth.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Soul Avenged Page on Keri Lake’s website: http://www.kerilake.com/book/soul-avenged-sons-of-wrath-1/
CHAPTER ONE
Ice water.
The frigid sensation sliced through Ayden’s
veins, leaving a numb trail in its wake as she stepped through the remains of
the abandoned factory—one of many havens for the crack addicts and prostitutes.
The old Packard Plant had become no more than a ghostly haunt for tormented
souls.
Shitholes were cropping up everywhere, much more
rapidly than ever before. Detroit, once a thriving city, brought to ruins. Gray
and lifeless like the suffocating overcast that loomed during daylight.
A vile stench assaulted her nose, a potent blend
of piss, sex and rotted meat, as garbage crunched beneath her boots. Foundation
had collapsed all around where she stood, crumbled as if the building would fold
into the depths of hell.
The graffiti spattering the walls gave the
impression that gangs were the real threat—‘We don’t die, we multiply.’
Right.
Like gangs own any part of this city, anymore.
A Beretta, loaded with silver bullets and a
silver parrying dagger rested at one of Ayden’s hips, a silver bullwhip at
another, as she moved past comatose bodies and decaying corpses.
Feeding
grounds, like a bait pile.
Deadened eyes slowly tracked her movement in the
darkness, squinting, as though craving the light that hers didn’t need to see.
Humans so strung out on drugs, they failed to recognize the half-eaten carrion
were once their own kind.
Not that knowing would stop them. They’d
apparently chosen to face danger rather than kick their addiction, roaming the
streets every night in search of their next high.
Lambs.
They were already dead. Death just hadn’t come to
collect yet.
The blissful sigh of a hopped-up junkie reached
her ears. She snarled her lip. “Enjoy it while it lasts, asshole.”
It’d be one thing if they were homeless. Hell,
she might’ve fired a warning shot to evacuate.
The homeless didn’t come here, though.
Neither did the police—making it the perfect spot
to get wasted and hustle some money.
Shots fired would’ve been nothing more than a
momentary distraction before their minds slipped back into their ignorant state
of euphoria.
Screw
‘em.
For any other girl, the place promised very bad
things—an opportunity for a sadist to live out wild fantasies without ever
getting caught.
For Ayden? Humans posed no threat. Their fragile
bodies would shred like paper dolls against the work of her hands. Luckily for
them, she sought something else to sate her thirst for bloodshed, something far
more threatening than their most psychopathic criminal—and she’d tracked it
right to the surrounding cornucopia of human flesh.
A thin, black mesh hoodie beneath her jacket
concealed her face while the shiny black leather covering her body acted as a
beacon in the moon’s light.
Full moon.
It didn’t matter.
Contrary to the fairytales and movies, they
didn’t need a full moon to change.
Werewolves,
some called them—like a supernatural Bigfoot on the loose. Nothing more than
fodder for the tabloids, not to be taken seriously.
Lycans is
how those ‘in the know’ referred to them.
The bastards could transform at will. In the
middle of the day, if they wanted. Though, like a true predator, they’d evolved
throughout the centuries, eluding humans by hunting them at night, catching
their prey in their most vulnerable state.
Ayden reached a door in a darkened corner. The stubborn
panel held stiff against the push of her palm, giving way only beneath one
heave backed by exceptional strength. Beyond, a spiral of stairs wound above
and below. Visuals flashed through her mind as she imagined the stairwell
bustling with men in suits who passed each other with carefree visages—every one
of them ghosts that roamed the destruction.
A quick scan showed no movement.
She tipped her head back and inhaled the
repugnant scent the beasts had left behind.
They’re close.
Her feet took light steps, hardly making a sound
against the concrete as she descended further into the pit of hell otherwise
known as the lycan’s lair.
With each step, she wished her heart would pound
wildly in her chest, or that her pulse rate would surge—both human reactions to
fear. Neither of them did.
What fragments of her human soul remained had
been stripped bare the night the Alexi made her one of their own. Even that, as
tortuous as the unrelenting pain that seared through her body while it
underwent its transformation, was a memory she could hardly summon anymore.
Only a silent blackness dwelled in the place where snapshots of her life would
have roamed free, a void that she couldn’t see beyond, separating her present
from past.
She’d become one of them: an Alexi soldier. A
cold and remorseless killer designed to eradicate in one sweep.
A noise piqued her sensitive ears.
Two
flights below.
It could’ve been the skittering feet of a mouse
beating against her skull like a base drum.
The thirst for blood moved like a dark storm
cloud through her veins, a mix of raw adrenaline and something else—the something
that came with her transformation.
Destroy.
Her feet moved on impulse, carrying her closer to
whatever it was, rendering it nothing more than a thread-width away from its death.
In the corner of a landing, he sat hunched over
on himself, body convulsing.
A grin skated across her face as she approached
her first kill of the night.
Keri Lake is a married mother of two living
in Michigan. She writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy and loves a
good, tragic love story. Though novels tend to be her focus, she also
writes short stories and flash fiction whenever distraction manages to suck her
in to the Land of Shiny Things.
When she isn’t toiling away on plots and
protagonists, she enjoys reading, music and travel. If she could create
mystical powers for herself, she’d have the ability to flash to anywhere in the
world. And if she could flash to anywhere in the world at this very
moment, she’d be staring at the ocean from her adirondack chair on the shores
of North Carolina.
Soul Avenged Blog Tour “Fire & Ice” Giveaway Info:
(If you decide to host a giveaway)
Grand Prize:
(Valued at approximately $280)
1-Kindle Fire HD (approximate
value $199)
1-Signed Paperback Soul
Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1)
1-Sons of Wrath t-shirt
1-Sons of Wrath coffee mug
1-Soul Avenged Notebook
1st Runner-Up: (Valued at approximately $75)
1-$25 iTunes giftcard
1-Signed Paperback Soul
Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1)
1-Sons of Wrath t-shirt
1-Sons of Wrath coffee mug
1-Sons of Wrath notebook
2nd Runner-Up: (Valued at approximately
$35)
1-Signed Paperback Soul
Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1)
1-Sons of Wrath t-shirt
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8 comments:
Dang it I don't remember what question you ask us to answer but I wanted to say I'm interested in reading this book and can't wait... would Love to win but if I don't that is fine to because I will still be reading this book!!!Thank you for this giveaway and Congrats on the release!!!
angelalove@uwmail.com
I love stories about shifters and have an affinity to the feline ones. Paranormal romance and urban fantasy are my favorite genres, so mixing up the creatures of the night in those tales interests me in the novel. sdylion(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks so much for hosting a tour stop!
And thank you Angela and SdyLion for the kind comments!
Thanks so much for hosting a stop on the tour!
And thank you Angela and SdyLion for your kind comments!
Wow, I can't imagine waking up and 4 in the morning and forming a coherent sentence let alone writing a book!!!! I am still enjoying the hell out of following your tour and really look forward to this series!!
I find a lot of the time I look at the front cover,get intrigued by the beautiful art,thus taking the time to read the back cover. Must say the cover to Soul Avenged is awesome. I'm also always looking for new authors to add to my tbr list. Love Paranormal Romance books,so there is another bonus.
email:
trinitydarkblade at yahoo dot ca
A cover to a novel draws me in first,then the description of what I have to look forward to while reading it also pulls me in. Always in search of new authors to read and add to my tbr list.
email:
trinitydarkblade(at)yahoo(dot)ca
I literally have a crush for paranormal books, anything that involved werewolves or vampires and I'm lost!