Influences
Aka: Am
I a chicken?
Hello everyone. First of all, thank you for having me here
today to talk about the final book in my Heavenly
Sins trilogy. It has been a long
time in coming, but it is finally available for those who want to read the
conclusion of Tristan, Mac and Alastor’s story.
First of all, I have to warn that this blog
post contains spoilers for the previous two books in the series. I’m sorry, I do try to avoid putting spoilers
in my blog posts, but for this book there is very little I can say about it
that won’t reveal at least one
spoiler. It won’t reveal any major
spoilers for the final instalment of the trilogy however.
One piece of advice writers are given is to
write the story that you want
to. To write for yourself and not for
the readers/market. It is easier said
than done.
When I was writing the final book of the
Heavenly Sins series I came across a blog post on the well-known Jessewave
site. What I read there from the
original blog writer and the readers who commented convinced me that the story
I was writing had to be changed. As a fairly new writer in the genre and one
who does not have a following of fans, I couldn’t do anything else after I read
that post.
Now, you may be wondering what it was that
I had read that convinced me to take a scene from my story and re-write it
totally. It was a post about the role of
women in MM and MMM fiction.
It seems that there is no real role for
women in the genre. No matter where you
put them in a story someone, somewhere, will complain.
If you put in an ex-girlfriend for one of
the men then she has to be absolutely perfect.
The slightest hint that she is not 100% nice, then you get your book
dumped in the category of the evil ex-girlfriend and the complaints start to
come in.
Then there is the female friend of one of
the men. The character Summer in
Forbidden Waters is one of those. As a
non-love interest or ex-girlfriend you would think she would be safe from
criticism, but no. She apparently
annoyed one reviewer recently, which made me feel pretty bad since her
personality is based largely on my own.
Nice to know I am that
annoying.
But the worst thing you can do – by far –
seems to be to have any female in a MM or MMM book doing anything of a sexual
nature.
In the first draft of Between Life & Death I was writing a scene which did that exact
thing. The original incubus and succubus
play a part in the final book of this trilogy and in their first scene they do
their best to test Tristan’s powers by using their own on him. In fact they still do this, but their roles
have been reversed to a certain extent.
In the original draft the female succubus
played a far more extensive role during their attempts to seduce Tristan. The reason behind her taking the larger part
in the scene was because they are well aware that Tristan is gay, and they want
to know how powerful he is.
Is Tristan powerful enough to withstand a
demonic seduction of a man who he finds attractive?
Or is he so weak that a demoness can make
him come, even when he does not find her sexually attractive?
Does he have the power to stay faithful to
his lovers?
Or is he weak enough that he could be
easily manipulated or overthrown from his precarious position in the
Underworld?
My first instinct after reading the blog
post about females in the genre was to remove the succubus entirely, not only
from the scene, but also from the story.
It quickly became apparent this was not the
best course of action. The incubus and
succubus are the two main demons of seduction in my series. To have one without the other was not only
impractical, it annoyed the hell out of me to alter my story to such an extent
based on the opinions of readers who would probably never pick up any of my
books anyway.
So I went back to that first scene and
wrote Ardat Lili back in as a bystander.
It still didn’t work. To
ascertain the extent of Tristan’s powers it is essential that both the male and
female demons have their turn at testing him.
Finally I took the decision to write her
back into the scene for the final version, albeit in a lesser role than she had
played in the first draft of the scene.
I decided that despite the fact that it
would annoy some readers – who probably won’t get past the first chapter of the
final book – I would not completely re-write (and potentially ruin) the story I
wanted to write, merely because of the opinions of those who only seem to be happy
when they are criticising and picking fault with others.
Even so, I am still rather nervous about
the reactions of even the most open-minded readers when they realise I have
dared to include a half-naked female in the story. If you are brave enough, there is a taste of
the scene in question below.
Blurb
With one of his lovers imprisoned in the Underworld,
Mac has no choice except to go where most angels fear to tread.With Tristan imprisoned in the Underworld, the ménage is broken. Angels are forbidden to enter the demonic domain and while Mac has been breaking rules in recent months, he doesn’t have the power to enter the Underworld.
Alastor is still unsure about his position in the relationship following recent revelations, but he cannot walk away when he is the only real link between his two lovers. Splitting his time between Mac and Tristan, he hopes they can soon find a way to reunite the two men in his life.
As time moves on, Alastor realizes he is struggling to satisfy Tristan’s thirst for sex. His lover needs more than he can give him and craves Mac in his bed.
Mac still believes he can complete his mission to save his two lovers, but with one of them out of his reach, it is going to be far from easy.
During their time together they have made plenty of enemies, including one who would seek to separate them forever, even if it means biding his time until Alastor and Tristan are at their most vulnerable, when even the love of an angel can’t save them.
Excerpt
The
two demons drew closer as Tristan watched them intently. Something about their
movements set his pulse racing. The incubus wore a kilt which reached to his
knees. Tristan could see his erection even from halfway across the room. The
succubus was even more scantily dressed, her beaded skirt reaching her ankles,
though covering very little. She wore a necklace which hung between her bare
breasts and her arms were adorned with golden bands. Other than those
ornaments, her upper body remained entirely naked. The two of them gracefully
glided across the room and sank to their knees. Beneath his tunic, Tristan’s
cock hardened in response to their presence.
“Talented, aren’t they?” Lucifer
commented. “They can turn you on with
only a glance.”
“Can you make them stop it?”
“Why would I want to do that? I find being in their
company most pleasurable.”
“I find it quite inappropriate myself.”
“You’re a sex demon. Showing your virility is a good
thing, especially since there are already rumors flying round the Underworld
about your impotency.”
“I’m not impotent.”
“As everyone will see when they approach you,” Lucifer
pointed out with a grin.
The
two demons before him kept their heads bowed and remained silent the entire
time during Tristan’s telepathic exchange with Lucifer.
“Well, say something, for goodness sake,” Lucifer
ordered.
“Like what?”
“Thank them for coming, ask how they are, exchange sex
stories for all I care, but say something so
they know you’re aware of their presence.”
“Um,
hi,” Tristan mumbled. “I’m Tristan.”
Ardat
looked up from her place at his feet and smiled. “One of our kind has never sat
on the throne before. Today is a momentous day for all sex demons. May I
approach you?”
Tristan
nodded and the succubus stood up. When she reached the throne, she immediately
straddled him and ran her hands down his chest, tweaking his nipples through
the thin fabric of the tunic and flicking them with her nails.
“Er…”
Tristan began. Would it be an insult to her to say she really wasn’t his type?
“I
know exactly what you’re thinking right now,” Ardat whispered in his ear. “It
makes no difference if you prefer to share your bed with men. I can make any man come with just the right touch.”
Buy
Links
Coming to other online stores in January
2015.
Bio
L.M.
Brown lives in England, in a quaint little village time doesn't seem to have
touched. No, wait a minute—that's the retirement biography. Right now, she is in
England in a medium sized town no one has ever heard of, so she won't bore you
with the details. Keeping her company are numerous sexy men. She just wishes
they weren't all inside her head.
L.M.
believes there is nothing hotter or sweeter than two men in love with each
other… unless it is three.
L.M.
Brown loves hearing from readers so don't be shy.
Links
Where to find L.M. Brown
Website & Blog – http://lmbrownauthor.wordpress.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/L.M.Brown.author
Twitter - @LMBrownAuthor
