Discovering New Authors in Anthologies

By Kristina Wright (Guest Blogger)

I’m thrilled to be a guest at Beyond Romance. “Beyond romance” is what I’ve always written. Even when I envisioned myself to be a horror writer, I somehow managed to romanticize my stories. (Why, yes, she did kill and dismember him, but she still loved him!) I’m a romantic at heart—I really do believe in true love and soul mates—but what is romance without the passion? Even when I wrote my first romance novel for Harlequin, I managed to put too much sex in it and was asked (told) to edit out three love (sex) scenes. Oh, those were the days!

Romance comes in an abundance flavors now, many of them erotic. In the past three years, I have had the privilege and pleasure of editing a number of erotic romance anthologies for Cleis Press. In that time, I’ve been introduced to a wide variety of phenomenal authors who are going beyond romance into the erotic, whether it’s writing fairy tale erotica for books like Fairy Tale Lust and Lustfully Ever After, or paranormal erotica for Dream Lover or steampunk erotica for Steamlust. Blending genres, going “beyond romance” to deliver hot, sexy stories, is what erotic romance is all about.

Thanks to this amazing job I have of editing anthologies, I’ve discovered authors like Delilah Devlin, Saskia Walker, Shanna Germain, Charlotte Stein, Lucy Felthouse and Michelle Augello-Page. Authors whose writing styles are vastly different, yet each capture my imagination with their erotically charged fiction. People often ask me why they should read anthologies—why read several short stories when you can read a novel? And my answer is this: a novel is a main course, you need to have the appetite for it in order to be able to finish it. We all have our favorite novelists, the “automatic buys” that we make without reservation. And we save those books for when we have time to read them, enjoy them, savor them. I may write and edit short fiction, but I do adore novels!

On the other hand, an anthology of short fiction is like a buffet of small plates. Appetizers meant to tease and tantalize, each story a delicious morsel to enjoy. You may know the author and devour this bit of her work, or it may be someone new you’ve never tried before—and you will discover a favorite new treat. On the other hand, there is always the chance you might come across something not to your liking and in that case, you still have quite a variety of other tidbits to choose from. And should you find a new favorite author among the offerings of an anthology, there is always the joy of discovering a backlist (as so many short story authors are also quite prolific) of which you can make an entire three course meal!

There is room for both novels and short fiction, and times when each may be more suitable to your frame of mind (and attention span). And so I continue to take great pleasure in discovering new authors and reading wonderful stories. My latest release, Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance is a collection of short fiction centered around the theme of military personnel. It was a particularly challenging collection to curate, but the end result is a book of which I’m quite proud. The stories in this anthology include different branches of the U.S. military, as well as several international militaries, and a variety of foreign, and even historic, settings. It is a book with a range of authors—from those who have never written a military-themed story before to those who have actually served in the military. I am hoping readers will be as intrigued by the stories in this book as I was when I selected them.


Blurb

The only thing stronger than the call of duty is the call of desire! This anthology of military erotic romance serves up a team of hot-blooded men (and women) from every branch of the military who serve their country and follow their hearts wherever they might be stationed. When the mission is done, the unit is recalled or the ship pulls into port, they set their sights on a new target—the pursuit of passion and love. In and out of uniform, stateside and abroad, these military warriors meet passion and danger head on. All’s fair in love and war—in and out of uniform. Edited by Kristina Wright, wife of a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, Duty and Desire includes stories of soldiers, sailors, aviators, Marines, Special Forces, and many more. Uniforms have never been sexier!

With contributed stories by Delilah Devlin, Connie Wilkins, Shanna Germain, Craig J. Sorensen, Ericka Hiatt, Kelly Maher, Lucy Felthouse, Catherine Paulssen, Anya Richards, Sacchi Green, Elizabeth L. Brooks, J.K. Coi, Charlotte Stein, Christine D’Abo, Mercy Loomis, Lynn Townsend, Michelle Augello-Page, and Kristina Wright.

Editor Bio

Kristina Wright (kristinawright.com) had no idea what to expect from military life when she married an enlisted Navy sailor after a whirlwind long distance courtship just three months before the first Gulf War. She can say it may not be for everyone, but it’s been one hell of a ride. Kristina received the Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense for her first novel from Romance Writers of America and she has edited the Cleis Press anthologies Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women; Dream Lover: Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance; Steamlust: Steampunk Erotic Romance,  Lustfully Ever After: Fairy Tale Erotic Romance and the Best Erotic Romance series. She holds degrees in English and Humanities and has taught Composition and World Mythology at the college level.  She currently lives with her husband and two little boys in Hampton Roads, Virginia, home to the legendary SEAL Team Six and the largest naval base in the world.

Links:

http://www.kristinawright.com

http://ohgetagrip.blogspot.com