New release - Soul Infection - Katerina Ross

"...awesome world building, just enough to hook the reader and leave you wanting..."

I am tremendously happy to have Katerina Ross back on my blog today, because I just can't wait to delve into her books, which sound downright wonderful! 

I let her do the talking about her new release, Soul Infection, an Editor's Pick at Evernight:

"Thank you for having me on your blog today with my M/M novella “Soul Infection”. It’s the first story in my paranormal series “The Sons of Gomorrah”, but it can be read as a stand-alone as well. What will you find in there? A lonely magician, an unusual shifter, some light BDSM, a secret of how magic really works, and a very picturesque setting—I think Prague is an ideal city for dark romance with Gothic and Baroque elements and a Slavic flavor :)"
It certainly is, Katerina! 

Tristan Todorov, formerly one of the best scholars at the legendary and sinister Scholomance school of magic, was cast out and now travels alone through Eastern Europe offering discreet services as an unlicensed magician. In a luxurious hotel in Prague where he’s been invited to investigate a suspicious series of suicides, he’s about to meet someone who will make him remember the darkest secret of his past.

Will a night of lust soothe Tristan—or will it stir up something evil and dangerous, something he’s tried so desperately to forget?

Be Warned: m/m sex, bondage

 

Excerpt:

...Jarek slid off the bed, the coverlet still loosely draped over his shoulders and trailing behind him like a king’s cloak. In the gap between the folds, Tristan could see everything he wanted to. Jarek was a better version of him, unscarred, untainted. His erection, rising from a thatch of pubes, mirrored Tristan’s. What would it feel like, touching it? It must be like reaching out for a reflection—and finding warm flesh instead of cold glass…
“Don’t move,” Jarek told him softly. “Keep your hands to your sides.”
And Tristan obeyed.
“Interesting,” Jarek mused, trailing a finger along his collarbone.
Tristan sucked in a deep shuddering breath, but stayed still. It felt odd, letting this happen. Jarek slipped his hand lower, casually brushed it across Tristan’s perked nipple on the way, and then traced a path down his chest and over the muscles of his abdomen. Tristan’s abs went taut at the feather light touch, and Jarek laughed quietly.
“Sensitive.” Jarek stated the obvious. He let the coverlet slip from his shoulders—an effortlessly seductive gesture, probably well-practiced, like Tristan’s trick with snapping his fingers. A slow, crooked smile made the expression on Jarek’s face all the more lascivious, which was most certainly the intention. “I think I know what you need.”
Tristan looked down pointedly and then up, with a hint of sarcasm. “Well, that’s kind of apparent.”
He still felt nervous, but not as much as when he’d thought of being pitied or rejected.
Jarek quirked an eyebrow at him. “Is it? Hmm. We’ll definitely come to that, but why rush things? I’m here to take care of your wishes, even the ones you’re not sure you have. Why not try something new, something unusual?” He leaned in, very close, and Tristan felt Jarek’s warm breath on his lips when he whispered, “Just let me take control for a while, and you’ll see how good I can make you feel.”
The next moment, Jarek backed off, to Tristan’s disappointment, but maintained eye contact, and Tristan felt unable to look away, as if mesmerized. The tips of Jarek’s fingers now rested lightly on his hipbones, almost where Tristan wanted them most but not moving closer.
“Say yes,” Jarek coaxed him in a low voice. “Say you give in to me tonight. It’s easy, giving in.”
“Yes,” Tristan breathed out, not sure what he’s agreeing to and not caring in the least...

Get it at Evernight

or on Amazon!

 

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Editing pains

"It gave me one more wrinkle in my arse, however: which is to the good,no doubt," said one of my favourite characters in one of my favourite books (Barret Bonden in the Aubrey-Maturing series, by Patrick o'Brian), meaning that he had learned a new thing the hard way.

Well, I earned a major wrinkle in my arse while editing WaaFL, which is that while books can be quoted (with due credits) with relative impunity (there is at least a wide grey margin to the concept of fair use), song lyrics are not, absolutely not, to be touched. Even very old songs (up to 95 years) that have been sung and resung to within an inch of their life by any number of artists. Apparently the copyright on song lyrics, unlike the laughable joke that "protects" the rest of us, is a real thing.

Ok, I am not here to complain about the state of the world (I'd never finish!), but just to ruminate on the pain of editing a perfectly crafted story (if I say so myself, but then WaaFL is an Editor's Pick at Evernight, so it can't be just me!), which was fairly interwoven with songs, tiny snippets of songs which carried so much of the characters' moods, thought processes, association of ideas...

We are told, as writers, to show, not tell, and it seemed a good idea at the time, to pinpoint these things through songs that were relevant at the time for the characters. You know how some songs "sing louder" to you at certain times of your life... and tell something about you, and where you are in your journey.

Well, removing this quotes however minuscule, was a truly painful bit of surgery, and it often required some serious rethinking of how to signpost the characters' emotional path. I owe a milion thanks to my awesome editor Karyn for holding my hand through my major freak out, and helping me through the upheaval with infinite patience and simpathy, not to mention with good ideas and genius insights.

Sometimes the title of the song alone (which, unlike the lyrics, can be lawfully used) was enough to carry the meaning, but sometimes a paraphrase of the text had to be crafted, more or less successfully, or a whole quote had to go entirely, and its place in the narrative had to be taken by more or less considerable bits of narrative.

Some of these changes came out surprisingly well, which goes to show that sometimes a challenge can bring out good things. Some are less smooth, but all in all, I think, now, that the story will survive. I could have taken the song theme out entirely, but I think it was so deeply rooted in the nature of the characters that it would have been to much of a blow to the story. It's a bit of a compromise, but I hope it still works.

I certainly will not use songs again, though.

I was fairly certain, when I got the dreadful news that the lyrics had to go, that the whole MS was dead and buried.
Big edits require a bit of a grieving process. It takes some weeping and ranting and weeping again before you can accept the fact and be constructive and go on with life. Well. It is done now, and life goes on.