The author hot seat specials are designed
to help readers get to know both popular, and up and coming authors, a little
better. The questions are broken into sections - About your writing, about you,
fun stuff and finally. Some of the questions are easy, other may need a little
more thought and some may cause our author friends to hesitate before answering—still, they all
answer.
Today we welcome Janine Ashbless to the hot seat as she talks about her new release, Fierce Enchantments. So let's get started.
Welcome Janine, please tell
us about your latest book. What was your inspiration for writing it, is it part
of an ongoing series, the characters, the genre etc?
Fierce
Enchantments (published by Sweetmeats
Press) is my third volume of erotic short stories, following on from Cruel Enchantment (2000) and Dark Enchantment (20009). Ten
deliciously dirty yet literate tales, all fantasy of one sort or another -
fairy tale, historical, zombie apocalypse, mythological, even SF. Most, but not
all, are pretty dark and there are a lot of BDSM elements.
About your writing:
How many books
have you written during your career so far and which is your favorite?
I’ve had three volumes of short stories and eight
novels out in paperback so far, along with loads of short stories. I love them
all – it’s very hard to pick. My latest is always my favorite, which is a
healthy way of looking at it, I guess!
Have any of your books received negative reviews and how did you handle the situation?
All books receive negative reviews from someone.
I’ve had a few reviews of my erotica saying I’m too filthy and even sick in the
head. My response is to laugh and post the worst rants online as badges of
honor – it’s way better than being considered bland and just the same as every
other writer.
Do you believe in writer’s block and if so, how do you overcome it?
I don’t believe in writers’ block. I believe in
writer’s procrastination.
What is the one genre you would never write and why?
Chick-lit. It bores the ever-living crap out of
me. But that’s okay – we all like different things and that’s just fine.
Have you ever
written a book that you’ve regretted publishing and why?
I sometimes wish The King’s Viper had been longer. I deliberately wrote it as
a tight and focused novella … but I think I could have taken it further if I’d
put my mind to it, and it has one of my favorite heroes.
.
If a reader
said they wanted to write a book, what advice would you give them?
“So what’s stopping you? If you want to write, do
it. Don’t waste time asking for advice.”
About you:
Tell us what a
typical day in your life is like?
In theory I write full time, working from home. On
an ideal day I’ll get up and make a cup of tea, write for a couple of hours in
bed, get dressed, walk the dogs, do Facebook/blog/e-mail things, write some
more in the evening. How I long for days when that actually happens…
What sort of things put you in a bad mood?
Anything going wrong with my computer will send me
into a frothing panic – I feel so out of control when it comes to computers and
web stuff. They are some weird form of tech-magick.
Do you have a bucket list and what’s one thing you still want to do that you haven’t done?
I do have a bucket list. I’d love to go to Burning
Man!
What makes you
laugh?
“Q.I.” Do you get
that in the States?
What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?
I’m not telling you!
Do you like to read and what are
you reading at the moment?
I like to read travel books in particular, but don’t have
much time to do it. I’m currently
reading “Collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive” by Jared Diamond.
It’s brilliant but unnerving.
If you couldn’t
write anymore, what would you do instead?
That’s not a question I want to contemplate. One of the
things writing does for me is hold off my natural tendency to depression. I’m
pretty sure I wouldn’t survive without writing.
Fun Stuff:
If you could go out with one famous person who
would it be and why?
Gerard Butler,
for a torrid one-night-stand. He looks like he could cope.
Do you have a habit that drives your
partner/friends/family nuts and what is it?
I don’t dare
ask, but …. I can never find my glasses when it’s time to leave the house. That
must be pretty aggravating.
In your opinion, what makes a person attractive?
Intelligence.
Long hair and a bit of a beard too, if it’s a man.
What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
I’ve been to Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant for lunch, and
ALL of the food there was magically strange – I remember the bright green snail
porridge. And a cup of tea that was cold on one side of my mouth and hot on the
other!
Would you rather have a classic 1969 convertible Mustang or have the
use of a beach side condo any time you want?
Oh, the condo, easy. I’ve no interest in cars.
And finally:
Would
you rather survive an apocalyptic event (yes, even a zombie apocalypse) or die
instantly without knowing what happened to your family and friends?
Wow. Interesting question! My
willingness to survival an apocalypse depends entirely on the survival of my loved ones, I believe. I don’t think I’m
motivated enough to opt for survival on my own. Yep, I’ll pick a quick death.
Thanks for being here and answering the hot seat questions, Janine. Now let's have a look at Fierce Enchantments.
Blurb for “Fierce Enchantments”
Inside the covers of this, Janine Ashbless’ third collection of erotic short stories, you will find delight and terror and lust - and perhaps even unexpected tenderness.
The wayward daughter of Shakespeare’s sorcerer Prospero; a runaway slave who becomes king only for as long as he can stay awake; a servant girl whose three dead lovers return for one last tryst; vampire-hunters haunted to the point of madness by what they have been through; warriors in a desperate future war for the survival of humankind – and one very dangerous frog prince – all appear in this collection of erotic stories that will take you to the edge and then pull you over into the glittering darkness beyond.
Weaving worlds of fantasy, Janine Ashbless draws from fairy stories, history, myth and the darkest depths of her imagination to bring you tales of passion and desire that will enchant, shock and dazzle you.
Buy links:
Excerpt
from “Fierce Enchantments”
(from the story A Man’s Best Friend)
“Rest with our ancestors, husband, and be
at peace,” she whispered, setting the blue pot among the others. Xhai stood and
moved away, giving her space to pray. He looked out across the darkening
landscape and the blue gloaming. Early stars were emerging in the west. The
evening was still, no breeze stirring the grass. He could feel his heartbeat,
thudding in his chest.
When Tsulin had finished, he helped her
replace the grave slab. Her face was pale in the shadows, but he had heard no
weeping. They walked away a little.
“I didn’t know you’d had children,” he said
softly.
She ran her hand across her head. “They
were both born too early, and only half-made. One the second year, one the
next, and then the soldiers came and took him away for the Emperor, so I never
had a chance to give him another.” Her voice sounded hoarse. “I must have
spoken to a widow-woman when I was small, my mother says, and been stricken
barren. Now I have passed the widow’s curse on, to my children. To my husband,
who is dead of it.”
The weight in his chest was jagged now.
“No!” he protested. “You did not kill him; war took him. It is an insatiable
thing. I have seen a thousand thousand men dead upon the battlefield—do you
think your little curse did that?” He wanted to grab her and shake her. He
wanted to seize her face and kiss it. “You did not curse him. Liwan spoke of
you often, and always with love. He longed to return to you. You were a joy to him.”
Tsulin turned to him in the blue dusk. He
could hear her breath, fast and shallow. She laid a hand on his breast and his
heart crashed against it. She tangled the fingers of her other hand in the
still-damp ends of his long hair. He clasped her around the waist, before he
could think about it, and she pressed against him, panting. His blood was
roaring in his veins, and he was filled with both delight and the terror of
teetering upon the edge of doing her a terrible wrong. The scent of her hair
filled his head, driving out thought. Her body was pliant under his hands and
he couldn’t tell if he was pushing her away or pulling her to him.
Then she reached down and grabbed his cock
through his trousers, and his whole world fell apart. He didn’t need to see
clearly to clasp her face and lift it, covering her lips with his kiss. She
moaned into his mouth, her open palm writhing across the hardness of his shaft,
and he staggered, pushing her back across the grass. Both her hands were
suddenly at the drawstring of his trousers, pulling frantically, as he kissed
her and kissed her and the breathless dusk whirled around them.
It was only when she bared him that he
really believed it. Only then that he knew what he was doing. He laid her down
in the long grass and yanked open her jacket to reveal those luscious breasts,
soft as peaches. The scent of her skin was intoxicating; the ripe swell of her flesh
beneath his mouth and the stiff pucker of her nipples drove him out of his
senses. He sucked upon her even as his hands tore at her trousers, jerking them
down over narrow hips, pulling off one of her boots and hurling it away in his
haste to open her legs.
He found her sex, moist and open and soft.
There was no question of finesse. Her hands scrabbled at his cock and balls,
pulling him to her, squeezing his shaft like it was a spear and she was ready
to kill someone with it. So he stabbed her to the core and felt her gasp and
heave beneath him. Her heat was all around him, wet and slippery and exquisite;
her legs embraced his hips. For a moment he froze, not daring to move. He felt
her arch her spine, and heard her growl as she bit at his jaw.
“Yes!” she gasped.
It was like a fight to the death. Her body
heaved beneath his. She was slighter and softer and so much weaker than him,
but she refused to go limp. He was thrusting with all his weight, but still she
fought him, her body growing more and more rigid as he drove in and out. And he
didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want to defile her, but he couldn’t stop,
couldn’t tear himself away from the hunger of her mouth, and the fingernails
that bit into his clenching buttocks, and the wet hot incredible need of her
sex, the need of her body, the need of her lost days and her stolen love.
Until she start to shake, clamped rigid and
locked around him, and she jerked and cried out like something dying, and then
for a moment he paused because he thought that somehow he was hurting her, and
then he knew he was going to die too; he could feel his death pouring through
him like a red tide from his balls all the way up his spine. It was coming,
coming, coming—he jerked out of her, desperate to spill on the green grass, but
he’d lost control of this long ago and he erupted all over her belly and
thighs.
Oh, he thought, as he fell through a star-filled void. I had forgotten what it’s like. How good.
About the Author:
Janine Ashbless is a writer of fantasy erotica
and steamy romantic adventure – and that’s “fantasy” in the sense of swords ‘n’
sandals, contemporary paranormal, fairytale, and stories based on mythology and
folklore. She likes to write about magic
and mystery, dangerous power dynamics, borderline terror, and the
not-quite-human.
Janine has been seeing her books in print ever
since 2000, and her novels and single-author collections now run into double
figures. She’s also had numerous short stories published by Black Lace, Nexus,
Cleis Press, Ravenous Romance, Harlequin Spice, Storm Moon, Xcite, Mischief
Books, and Ellora’s Cave among others. She is co-editor of the nerd erotica
anthology Geek Love.
Her work has been described as: "hardcore and literate" (Madeline
Moore) and "vivid and tempestuous
and dangerous, and bursting with sacrifice, death and love." (Portia Da Costa)
