The Pagan Connection

By Slave Nano (Guest Blogger)

During the second week of my two week blog tour to promote my new book, Adventures in Fetishland, I’m discussing some of the diverse themes related to the book.

One of the sub-themes of the book is paganism. The book is set against a back drop of a centuries old conflict between the old religion (paganism) and new (chistianity/islam) in which the latter have usurped and suppressed the concept of female divinity embodied in paganism and subverted it with the portrayal of women as either virgin or prostitute as embodied in Christianity by the cult of the virgin Mary and portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute.

Adventures in Fetishland describes the journey of submission to the Red Queen that the main character Kim takes, a crucial part of which is related to her own past. The Red Queen, in one of the many personae she adopts through the book, is also Goddess Nemesis, who has assumed the mantle of, and is the spiritual descendent of, the Greek Goddess of fate and retribution of that name. Without hopefully giving too much away, part of her role in the story is to turn around Kim’s ‘tyche’, the Greek concept of fate, and also distribute deserved retribution. Kim’s journey is not just one of her submission to her mistress but also about the understanding of her past, her place in the strange world she finds herself and how her story is bound by the fates to that of Goddess Nemesis.

This emerges in the book in a series of stories within a story that explain Kim’s past, her relationship with the Red Queen and why she’s been brought into this fetish fantasy land to serve her. In these stories Kim gets caught in the battleground between paganism and the new faiths, which is played out in an imagined world where the forces of the new religion (Christianity) are aligned against those of the ancient pagan Goddesses.

Story Blurb

In this bdsm re-invention of the Alice stories Kim’s life takes an unexpected twist when she is taken from the massage parlour she works in to a fetish fantasy world ruled over by the Red Queen, a powerful dominatrix. There, an intense psychological drama is played out between the two women as Kim enters a journey into submission. The Red Queen assumes different characters who torment Kim in a series of trials ranging from the funny and strange to the sadistic and erotic. Kim is lured deeper into this world by hints the Red Queen knows something about her past. Why has she been chosen to serve this powerful female? Why is the Red Queen so interested in her? When Kim finally finds out the truth, it is shocking and bizarre.

Buy links

Adventures in Fetishland is available at:

Xcite Books: http://www.xcitebooks.co.uk/Book/7029/Adventures-in-Fetishland.html

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007MPYV3I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=lucyfelthouse-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B007MPYV3I

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MPYV3I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=lucyfelt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007MPYV3I

Extract from book

“You see me now transformed into another guise,” she pronounced, her voice clear and formal. “I appear before you as the Greek Goddess Nemesis, my name-sake, whose mantle I have assumed. You have passed through many trials in your journey through Nemesisland and now the time for revelation and judgement is nearly here. Have you heard of the Greek word ‘tyche’ Kim?”

Kim nodded her head. She hadn’t.

“’Tyche’ is the ancient concept of fate of which I am the personification. It is my place to administer fate and judgement. I am a goddess of divine indignation and retribution against evil deeds and also of undeserved good fortune. Happiness and unhappiness are measured out by me so I can restore the balance of the fates. For my male slaves I am the wielder of fairness and I bring balance by correcting them and disciplining them. For you Kim, this is more subtle; for you, I restore the balance of the fates for one who has been wronged, but to do that I must have your complete subservience. Do you understand this Kim?”

“Yes mistress.” Kim was not a little bemused by this speech, “I don’t know much about ‘tyche’ or fate but I get this; I do know that in my heart I want to serve you. I’ve gone through a lot and understand your power and want to submit to you more than anything else.”

Kim felt that with all her heart and soul. It was hard to explain despite all the strange things that had happened to her and psychological games played on her, but she really meant it.

Goddess Nemesis nodded quietly, acknowledging Kim’s expression of subservience, “that is good Kim; your declaration is sufficient for me to proceed with my purpose.”

“You want to be my slave girl, my special servant.”

“Yes mistress, I do.”

“You want to give yourself up totally to me.”

“Yes, with all my heart.”

“Yes, I believe you Kim. I see you have committed yourself to me. This is a cause for celebration.”

Author profile

Slave Nano writes stories drawing on the themes of female supremacy, goddess worship, bondage, domination and submission, sado-masochism and fetish, frequently in fantasy, paranormal or historical settings.

His work usually has dominant female characters and submissive males. His stories explore the tensions between dominant and submissive and the boundaries between pain and pleasure, physical and mental bondage and retribution and reward.

Slave Nano lives in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. He works full time and juggles his writing with this. His work has been published by Xcite Books and House of Erotica.

Find out more about Slave Nano at www.slavenano.co.uk

Nano facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002876113960&ref=tn_tnmn

The Lusty Month of May

Spring Night by Alphonse Mucha

New and Upcoming Releases

Greetings, readers. It's the lusty month of May, and I've got lots of news to share.

I finally have a release date for Quarantine. I'm expecting to get the cover any day, but I didn't want to hold up the newsletter waiting. Anyway, if the publication fairies continue to smile, my sci fi M/M erotic romance will be out on July 9th. I'm planning a slew of events to celebrate the release, including a blog hop with super prizes. I'll give you all the juicy details next month. Meanwhile, you can read an X-rated excerpt here.

Kristina Wright's erotic fairy tale anthology Lustfully Ever After has hit the stores. The book includes my story "Shorn", a lusty retelling of the classic Rapunzel. Haven't had time to check out my excerpt? Just click here!

Speaking of anthologies, D.L. King's steam punk collection Carnal Machiens won the gold medal for erotica in the prestigious Independent Publishers Awards. I'm thrilled to be a contributor to this fantastic book, which has received uniform praise from every quarter. I should mention that this book even received a seal of approval from Hustler magazine!

My broken leg has kept me mostly inside for the past six weeks. I'm been trying to run lemons into lemonade by ramping up the time I spend writing. I've completed Bangkok Noir, a 30K BDSM novella set in Thailand, and am now working on revisions. I also finished and submitted my tentacle story, "Fleshpot", to the altruistic erotica collection Coming Together: Arm in Arm in Arm. Right now I'm working on my multi-genre extravaganza Rajastani Moon. I've fallen in love with my sassy Rubenesque Victorian secret agent Cecily Harrowsmith - not to mention the swoon-worthy Rajah and his swashbuckling shapeshifter half-brother! This book is just for fun - though I'm hoping Total-E-Bound will agree it's worth publishing.

Other News

Are you a vampire fan? I'm editing a collection of vampire erotica and erotic romance for Coming Together, called Coming Together: In Vein. Submissions are open now. For details see (and a peek at the outrageous cover Alessia Brio has designed) see my blog. Deadline for submissions is the first of August. We're planning to release the book in December.

This week at the Oh Get a Grip blog, C. Sanchez-Garcia has provided a first paragraph and challenged us to extend it into a full story. You can read the results of my attempt here. Of course it turned out to be erotic, although that wasn't part of the specification. I can't help it!

Next week I'll be Marie Sexton's and Heidi Cullinan's guest for "Whine and Wine Wednesday" at their mouth-watering blog Cup-o-porn. If you like sexy naked men (and who doesn't), pop on over and see the daily delights these ladies serve. Oh, and I'll be giving away a copy of my M/M novella Crossed Hearts on Friday.

My May free read is a BDSM tale called Routine Maintenance. Carlos spends a lot of his free time surfing the 'net and dreaming about dominance. When he gets a lucky chance to make his fantasies real, will he dare to take it?

Finally, I want to mention that I'm going to be part of the web-wide Hop Against Homophobia taking place from the 17th to 20th of this month. Over two hundred authors of M/M fiction will be posting articles related to International Day against Homophobia. And every single one of us will be holding an associated giveaway. Click on the logo below for a current list of participating authors.

Contests!

Thanks to all of you who entered my Cat Toy contest. Cathy was my randomly chosen winner. She gets a ten dollar gift certificate to the ebookstore of her choice.

For my newsletter contest this month, all you have to do is answer a couple of questions.

1. Do you own and use a smartphone?
2. What kind? iPhone, Android phone, or something else?
3. If you have a smart phone, would you be interested in a free "author" app that let you read excerpts, get news, view covers and generally keep up with what an author is up to?

Send an email with the answers to these questions to contest [at] lisabetsarai.com, using the subject line "Smartphone Contest". In the middle of June I'll randomly choose one winner, who'll receive her choice of a print or ebook from my backlist.

Lisabet's Pick of the Month

My Pick of the Month for May is Lily Harlem's blog. Lily writes absolutely incendiary erotica and erotic romance. I just finished her novel That Filthy Book (co-authored with Natalie Day) and I'm still sweating! (Review coming on my blog soon!) Lily is also amazingly prolific, so she always has something new and sexy coming out.

REVIEW: Transported

TRANSPORTED: EROTIC TRAVEL TALES by Sharazade

Fanny Press, 2010

Why does traveling turn us on? Maybe I should amend that to “turn some of us on”, since I know a few people who find the experience of traveling completely devoid of any sort of pleasure. For me, though, and clearly for author Sharazade, airports and foreign cities, remote beaches and forest hideaways, constitute the ideal settings for erotic adventures.

Part of the charge derives from anonymity. When nobody knows you, you're free to become someone different than the normal self you left at home – someone more sensual, passionate, and daring. You become less concerned about consequences. Meanwhile the world of a traveler is populated by other strangers, any one of whom might turn a chance encounter into a treasured erotic memory. Foreign travel, especially, puts me in a dream-like state – a confluence of expectation and exhaustion – that makes me highly susceptible to amorous suggestion.

Transported presents nine short stories more or less closely connected to the theme of travel. Some (e.g. "Just Browsing") involve meetings with strangers. Others (e.g. "Schipol") revolve around long term lovers, sometimes couples who are separated by circumstance and thus limited to relatively brief liaisons when their travel schedules happen to coincide. One tale (“After Dinner Show”) concerns two work colleagues on an Alaska retreat cum sales conference. In their everyday world, they've tried to hide their sexual relationship, but away from home base, they end up doing just the opposite.

The most original tale in the collection is the deft, funny and delightfully bawdy “Sales Pitch”. The narrator, a man who works in one of those airport stores that sell travel supplies and electronic gadgets, notices a decidedly sexy older woman undulating on the massage chair demonstration unit and decides to show her some other items of merchandise. Although he's considerably younger than his victim – I mean, customer – he has the skill to raise sexual teasing to a true art form.

“Flaws” is another one of my favorites. The female narrator takes a forty seven hour trip on Amtrak from Portland to Chicago for a job interview. She knows she's a smart woman and has an engaging personality, but she's preoccupied with various physical flaws: sagging nipples, a scar on her chest, a roll of belly fat, asymmetric pussy lips.

I hate all those magazine articles that tell you flaws don't matter, that all you need to do is believe in yourself. “Men respond to confidence! Just carry yourself like a supermodel, and guys will fall all over you!” In fact, I know it's right. I've seen some awfully plain women who act like they're totally hot, and somehow they carry it off. But how do you get there? It's so unfair! To be pretty, all you have to do is think you're pretty, but if you don't think you're pretty (and I don't), then you won't be pretty, and therefore you won't think you're pretty, because you actually aren't.... It's a vicious circle. No, a vicious spiral, all the way down.

Then the narrator meets Simon, a handsome businessman who actually does seem to think she's attractive – and then Simon's companion Matt ... Gradually, the two men succeed in distracting her from her perceived flaws, and finally, in making a lasting difference in her self-image.

“Onsen” is also wonderful. I'm sure I loved it as least partially because I've been to Japan myself a couple of times in the last few years. Sharazade is pitch perfect describing the fascinating but bizarre aspects of Japanese culture. She also does a fabulous job portraying what it's like to travel with someone who's not exactly in sync with you.

Finally, I have to mention the delicious story “Layover”. The narrator, who lives in San Francisco, receives a call from her lover and master. She'd known he'd be changing planes at San Francisco airport but never expected to see him. Now, with his flight delayed by five hours, he calls her to come to him. Her half-naked trip on BART is almost as erotic as their abandoned coupling on an unused check-in counter.

My one caveat is that the majority of these stories use second person – that is, the narrator refers to his or her lover as “you”. I know some readers object to this convention, and I personally would have preferred more variety in the “voice” of these stories. However, this is a relatively minor quibble. If you find travel to be arousing – even in your imagination – get a copy of this book.

Sunday Snog: Domestic Goddess

My snog today is from my D/s short story "Domestic Goddess", which has been published in various collections including Rough Caress. 

Elizabeth's a natural submissive, devoted to her Master. However, when he loses his job, he also seems to lose all interest in dominating her. Finally she decides that her only option is to turn the tables on him.

Don't forget to visit Victoria Blisse, read her delicious excerpt, and then follow the links to all of today's other sexy snogs.

*************

Gently, she reached for his arm, which was resting on his thigh. He didn't resist. In one swift motion, she fastened one cuff to his wrist.

"What the hell...?" he sputtered, finally startled out of his gloomy reverie. He didn't react quickly enough, though, to prevent her from capturing his other wrist in the leather bonds, so that his arms were linked behind the back of the chair.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing?" His voice sounded irritated, but when she looked at his face, she saw uncertainty, fear, and definitely, the beginnings of arousal.

She swiveled his chair around to face her, lifted his chin with one finger and tried to stare him down. "You know exactly what I'm doing. I'm taking control, since you seem to have given up in that regard."

"Elizabeth..."

Before she even knew that she was going to do it, she slapped his face.

"Silence, slave. No complaints. No excuses. You need this, I know you do." A splotch of red bloomed in the shape of her palm.

He shut his mouth, but his eyes moved over her, finally registering her costume, and her exposed cunt below it. He licked his lips. She noticed a stirring in his crotch.

"I didn't say you could look at me, did I?"

He shook his head, obeying her command not to speak.

"Eyes down." He complied. She felt euphoria rising in her chest, bubbling through her veins. She could do this. In fact it felt easy, almost natural.

"And for the rest of the afternoon, at least, you will address me as 'Mistress'? Understood?"

Head bowed, he nodded.

"Let me hear you say it."

"Yes, Mistress." His voice was gruff, as if he had a difficult time forcing the words out. But the bulge in his trousers continued to grow.

"Now," she said, "it's about time you did something useful. All this silly computer stuff." Rolling his chair away from the desk, she pushed his monitor and keyboard back toward the wall and moved aside the piles of CDs and papers jumbled about on either side. Then she hoisted herself up to sit on the edge of the surface, and spread her legs.

"Turn around," she ordered.

He used his feet to roll the chair back to face her. His eyes widened at the site of her ruddy pussy, drooling only inches away from him. Then he remembered, and lowered his gaze, before she could remind him.

Good. He was more pliant that she had expected.

She watched him for a moment, full of love and some other feeling, something with a nasty edge. His erection looked distinctly uncomfortable, trapped in his trousers. All the better.

She saw his nostrils flare as he took in her scent, noticed the pulse in his temple, beating fast. His breathing was quick and shallow. Clearly he was was beginning to wake up, to enjoy playing this game.

She felt suddenly giddy, drunk with her own powers. But she couldn't allow him to see this; she must still play the role of the harsh, angry mistress.

Splaying her thighs even wider, she put one booted foot on each arm of his chair. Her hungry, swollen cunt gaped at him. "Eat me," she commanded.

Eagerly anticipating her instructions, he began to lean towards her even before she finished speaking. She stopped him with the spike of her heel, pressing it against his still-inflamed cheek.

"And if you don't do a good job," she murmured, putting a little sugar in her voice to counteract the violent gesture, "you know that I'll make you very sorry."

"Yes, Mistress," he mumbled, his mouth already full of her flesh.

He applied himself to his task with commendable diligence. His tongue slithered snake-like among her folds, swimming in her juices. He sucked and licked, nibbled at her clit, plunged his nose as deep into her cleft as it would go.

With her arms behind to brace herself, she pressed her pelvis forward, forcing his face into her cunt, as if to smother him. Or perhaps drown him would be more appropriate. Between his saliva and her own secretions, there was quite a puddle growing on his desk.

He certainly didn't seem to mind.

With his arms fastened behind the chair, he was in a bit of an awkward position. He had to bend forward from the waist and lean over at what must have been an uncomfortable angle. She felt a brief pang of sympathy; she hated for him to suffer. But this was what he needed, what he wanted. Wasn't it? She hiked herself up further on the desk, away from him, so that he had to work even harder to keep his mouth on her sex.

"More," she said. "Harder."

**************

Want more? You can read the whole story on my website!

Don't Let Politics Get in the Way!

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Writing in the Shadows

Thirteen years ago, I published my first novel. I still recall the incredible thrill that swept over me when I opened that box from Black Lace/Virgin Books and picked up one my author's copies - a physical book, the product of my imagination and sweat, with my name, or at least my pseudonym, on the cover! I wanted to tell everyone I met on the street: I'm a published author! Look! See here? That's me! I wrote this, all two hundred eighty one pages, and a well-known company actually bought it! Paid me an advance and everything! I wanted to send autographed copies to my friends and family, and urge them to spread the news to their friends, acquaintances, relatives. Buy Lisabet's book! I wanted to shout the news to the skies.

I couldn't do that, though. My celebration was restrained and private, just my husband and me. I shared the book with my two siblings, but I didn't dare send a copy to my dad, even though he and I had been bound all my life by our mutual love of the written word. I knew he'd feel proud, but uncomfortable, too, because Raw Silk, my pride and joy, wasn't just any old book. It was an erotic book. And not just a sensual love story, but a kinky book, which featured desires and activities even some adults might find disturbing.

A dear writing friend claims that we don't pick our genres - they pick us. When it comes to me and erotica, I have to agree. I've been writing fiction, poetry and drama since I learned to hold a pencil, but I didn't seriously try to publish anything until a Black Lace book from another author triggered my ambition to create something in the same general style: intelligent, diverse, edgy fiction that explored one woman's search for her sexual self. The book flowed so naturally that I wondered why I'd never tried this before. I didn't really believe it would be accepted - I sent it to the publisher almost as a lark - but after the fact, I wasn't as surprised as one might expect. This may sound conceited, but I knew that it was a good book, because it grew out of the fevered heart of my own fantasies.

Since Raw Silk I've produced six more novels and four collections of short stories. I've contributed to more than three dozen anthologies. With one or two exceptions, everything I've published is either erotica or the closely related sub-genre erotic romance. My name is strongly associated with arousing, explicit fiction. And because of that, I have to write in the shadows.

I have a highly "respectable" day job. Furthermore, I live as a guest in a foreign country. If anyone were to associate the outrageous Lisabet Sarai with my real world persona, I'd have serious problems. So I have to think very carefully about the content of every blog post, every promotional email, every marketing push. I don't want to give too much away. At the same time, readers (understandably) want to know about the lives of their favorite authors - and I certainly don't want to lie. So I walk a tightrope between self-protection and self-disclosure.

Many of my online author friends write in non-erotic genres: mystery, science fiction, young adult, sweet or inspirational romance, historical fiction. In some ways, we all face the same challenges in producing new work, selling it to publishers, and getting the word out to readers. To be honest, though, I think it's harder to be an author of erotic fiction. I can't hand out bookmarks or business cards at the supermarket checkout. I can't do readings or signings at my local bookstore. I can't post excerpts on some lists or blogs - including this one. I have to be constantly on the alert so as not to offend or shock the casual passerby. And I have to endure the scorn and disgust of some readers who condemn my fiction without ever having read it, just because it deals with sex.

My brother and my aunt tell me that I'm an excellent writer and want to know why I don't write a "serious" book. My husband has urged me to try my hand at a mystery. Personally, I'm tempted by science fiction, a literary love that goes back to my childhood. I know myself, though. Any attempt I'd make at another genre would end up being liberally laced with erotic content. Nothing intrigues or inspires me as much as the multifaceted experience of desire and the way it shapes our lives.

I don't mean to complain. I love writing. I'm proud of what I produce. I accept the fact that I need to be extremely particular about who I expose to my work, for my own sake as well as theirs. Occasionally, though, I wish that I could come out and openly claim my tales, without fear of repercussions. People I care about don't realize who I really am, or what I can do. I have to keep a major part of myself hidden away.

It's safer here in the shadows. But it's a bit lonely.

The Challenge of Writing Science Fiction

By Leah Petersen (Guest Blogger)

I imagine the challenges of writing sci-fi will depend a lot on the writer. Every writer has their strengths and weaknesses, regardless of genre. Some struggle with dialogue, some with pace, some with relatable and complex characters. Sci-fi writing just adds more possibilities, and more ways to go wrong.

The biggest challenge for me is that I’m not particularly “into” science. I excelled in the language arts through school. I did well in science, but it wasn’t my “thing.” I wanted to imagine up fantastical worlds but wasn’t much concerned with how they worked. Sure I read and watched lots of sci-fi, but I let my mind skim over the details.

Well you can’t get away with that once you’re actually writing for an audience, especially an audience that is more likely than others to care about how it works, and to know when you’re wrong. Yikes! Talk about pressure. Wikipedia’ing it just ain’t gonna cut it.

How did I make it worse for myself? My main character in FIGHTING GRAVITY is a physicist. A physicist a few hundred years from now. A cutting-edge physicist who discovers things people then don’t know about, much less now. Well WTF do I know about that?

So, for me, the research into science and technology has been what keeps me up at night.

I think, though, that this works for me too. As much as it gives me the cold sweats thinking a physicist might pick up my book and tell me I’ve gotten it completely wrong, I think it helps my less-than-geeky readers. When I refer to a concept or piece of technology I’ve struggled to understand, I’m not even slightly tempted to get all info-dumpy about it and wax long and eloquent on how it works. Even sci-fi readers don’t often have much tolerance for that. Besides, it always slows down a novel’s pace.

What I really want to be the focus of my stories, what I read for, what I write for, is people, relationships, characters I hurt for and squeeeee for. It think that’s what’s most important in any genre, because that’s the core of the human experience, it should be at the heart of any novel too. It’s why FIGHTING GRAVITY is, first and foremost, a love story.

At the end of the day, I’m content that I’ve written science fiction in which my science and tech isn’t “wrong” or impossible according to what we know today. (Improbable I can live with, even court. That’s the point of writing speculative fiction, isn’t it?)

What about you? If you were (are) a writer, what would be (is) the biggest challenge for you to write in your chosen genre?

BLURB:

When Jacob Dawes is Selected for the Imperial Intellectual Complex as a child, he’s catapulted from the poverty-stricken slums of his birth into a world where his status as an unclass is something no one can forget, or forgive. His growing scientific renown draws the attention of the emperor, a young man Jacob’s own age, and they find themselves drawn to each other in an unlikely, and ill-advised relationship. Jacob may have won the emperor’s heart, but it’s no protection when he’s accused of treason. And fighting his own execution would mean betraying the man he loves.

EXCERPT:

“Happy birthday, by the way,” I said one evening almost a week later as the emperor accompanied me from the dining hall to the lab.

“Thank you,” he replied. “To you as well.”

“How did you know it was my birthday?”

“Oh, there’s not much I don’t know if I choose to,” he said with a smile.

“OK, I should have known that. I suppose I mean, why do you know?”

“In my position, I’ve found curiosity to be an asset. I don’t believe there is such a thing as knowing too much.”

That wasn’t a comfortable thought. How much he could know. How much he knew.

“I’m older,” he added after a long silence. I raised my eyebrows. “Only about six hours, but it counts.”

I had to laugh. “You’re one of the most powerful men in the galaxy and it matters to you whether or not you’re older than me?”

He shrugged. “Wouldn’t it matter to you?”

“That’s not the same thing. There’s a huge power differential between us. At least age would be something I’d have over you.”

“I get the feeling that power doesn’t mean that much to you.”

“Unless you mean as a function of energy.” I grinned at him. “No. I have no need for it. It would get in the way of my work.”

“What did you do for your birthday?” he said after a pause.

“Radiation measurements.”

He laughed. “No party?”

“With whom?”

“Haven’t you made any friends aboard ship? I know it’s only been three weeks, but you don’t seem to be the kind of person who would have trouble making friends.”

“Maybe you don’t know me very well. In my experience, there aren’t many people who are interested in being friends with me.”

“Maybe it’s they who don’t know you very well.”

I frowned, puzzled. When I looked at him again he was watching me. “And what have you concluded?” he asked.

“About what?”

“You look like you’re trying to decide something. My guess is you’re trying to figure me out.”

I thought about that before I replied. “You’re confusing,” I conceded.

He grinned. Reaching into his pocket, he produced something and handed it to me. “Here. Happy birthday.”

He’d given me a small box. I looked at him, surprised, but when he said nothing further I opened it. Inside was a pair of platinum cuff links with a raised imperial crest on them. “I thought they might be less objectionable than a ring.”

I frowned. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“I assure you, I don’t need anything.”

“Neither do I. That’s not the point.”

He shrugged. “It’s the thought that counts. We’ll just say you gave me something.”

“I’m sure you can say whatever you want, but I never thought of giving you anything.”

He stared at me in shock and then started laughing so hard he had to stop walking. We stood in the middle of the hallway and I watched both directions as I waited for him to get control of himself. If someone came along and saw him like this, it wouldn’t go well for me. When he caught his breath he said, “You never thought of giving me anything.” He repeated it as if it was the punch line to a good joke. “Not even just now, when I gave you something?”

“No,” I said. “I can’t imagine what I would get you.”

“Well, whether you realize it or not, you’ve been giving me a gift for the last ten minutes,” he said.

I grimaced. “You’re not going to say something weird like ‘the gift of your company,’ are you?”

He doubled over with laughter again. “No,” he answered when he’d composed himself. “No, I was going to say that we’ve been talking for more than ten minutes and you haven’t called me ‘Excellence’ once.”

I startled. “I’m sorry.” It occurred to me that I should have said “Excellence” just then.

He was grinning. “Don’t be. Isn’t that what I just said? No one’s ever done that to me before. It’s very disrespectful. I like it."

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Leah Petersen lives in North Carolina. She does the day-job, wife, and mother thing, much like everyone else. She prides herself on being able to hold a book with her feet so she can knit while reading. She’s still working on knitting while writing.

FIGHTING GRAVITY is her first novel.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/LeahPetersen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LeahPetersenAuthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/leahpetersen
Google+: http://profiles.google.com/leahpetersen
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lpetersenauthor/

PRIZE INFORMATION

The author will be giving away a prize pack containing these items hand knit by the author: a hat, a replica of the symbol of an important institution referenced in Fighting Gravity to TWO randomly drawn commenters during the tour.