Sommer Marsden's Blog, page 75

Guest Blogger: Giselle Renarde

Good morning, all! I have a guest blogger today. Giselle Renarde is here with her brand (spanking) new release Nanny State. Woohoo!
I'm happy to have a fellow Excessican here, so without further running off of my mouth, away we go...



What is Smut? (Baby Don't Hurt Me)
Are we all having mid-90's SNL flashbacksnow?  Should I sing a few bars?  And dance? Maybe Sommer will join me (or not).
First off, thanks to Sommer for lettingme crash her blog to talk about smut and my new release, Nanny State--akinktacular lesbian sextravaganza.
If you ask me, Nanny State is SMUT with acapital S (and M... and U and T).  It's astory driven by some of the kinkiest sex I've ever written, and some of themost intense discipline.  It's a storybuilt around sex and control, a stern landlady introducing university-agedSummer to extreme kink.  It's deliciouslydirty, start to finish.  To me, that'ssmut, and I rejoice in this label I've adhered to my yummy little book.
But one night I happened to refer toNanny State as "smut" in front of my girlfriend, and she was takenaback.  My Sweet happens to be a grammargeek and editor extraordinaire, so she helped me shape Nanny State into itscurrent and final form.
"Nanny State isn't smut!" shesaid. "It's fun and (something) and delightful!"  *I say (something) because I know there was aword in the middle of that statement, but I can't for the life of me rememberwhat it was.  This is what happens when Idon't write things down.
Anyway, I put up a counter-argument.  I said sure Nanny State was smut. There's sexin every chapter of this book, and the sex is what drives the narrative forwardlike a locomotive engine.  To me, that'ssmut.
Sweet disagreed.  When she thinks smut, she imaginespoorly-written wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am drivel. "There's a lot of sweet stuff in Nanny State.  There's strong characterization.  That's not smut."
This is sounding a whole lot like therecent "erotica versus erotic romance" debate that became instantlyrelevant when All Romance ebooks split its shelves between those twocategories, giving moral primacy to a very specific sort of story line narrowlydelineated by the progression of a love relationship and its culmination in thepromise of a future together. 
Strangely enough, by those standards,Nanny State fits the "erotic romance" category.  Well, if you ignore the fact that there areultimately 3 women who form this "happy couple" and one of them takeson a very maternal role over the other two. And the fact that the buddingrelationship between Summer and university peer Kira begins when Summer offersKira money in exchange for sex. 
You'd never see it in the beginning, buta strong love develops between all three women in this book.  The love comes via sex, discipline, control,rebellion, age play, and ultimately abandoning ego concerns to give oneselfover to another.
I'm pretty sure every author will tellyou every so often they write a book that seems to come out of nowhere.  They didn't plan it, it was way out of theircomfort zone, but at the same time it seemed to write itself.  Nanny State was one of those books.  I'm a pretty prolific author, but this bookgot me excited.  I remember sitting herewriting 3 words and then bouncing in my chair, clapping my hands, and saying,"Oh my god, that's so hot!"
And, to me, that's smut.  It was so hot, so dirty, so beyond my ownkink zone (especially the extreme age play--Summer and Kira even dress up asbabies and suckle Nanny's breasts) and yet so fascinating that it got meexcited.
My sense is that "smut" is aword we erotica authors are beginning to reclaim. Not all, but some, and that'salways how it starts out.  My Sweet is"of a different generation" (that's my polite way of calling her anold lady LOL) and we often come up against linguistic comfort zonedifferences.  For instance, I identify asqueer, whereas she cringes when she hears the word, because of its connotationsprior to being reclaimed.
What is SMUT these days?  Is the word well on its way to beingreclaimed, or does it still spell CRAP in most people's minds?  Does love, or even a story line, preclude abook from being categorized as smut?  Oris smut just code for hot sex in any context?
What do we think, people? 
Hugs, Giselle RenardeCanada just got hotter!---Giselle Renarde is smutifying the worldone story at a time.  Her latest releaseis Nanny State:
When Summer moves in with her mother's friend,she expects to be treated like an adult.  Fat chance!  Victoriaexerts control over every aspect of her life, protectively setting parentalcontrols on the television and demanding Summer come straight home after heruniversity classes.Everything changes the day Victoria catchesSummer watching some very kinky lesbian porn.  The landlady soon becomesthe 'Nanny', coaxing Summer into the big bed for play time.The unlikely couple embarks upon a series ofnaughty adventures, from suckling to discipline to diapers.  But whathappens when Summer wants to include a girl her own age?  Will Nannypunish the wayward girl or accept another charge into their uncommon household? Warnings: This title contains graphicdescriptions of lesbian sex and threesomes, age play, spankings, discipline,domination, and other fetish activities that may be considered objectionable tosome readers. 
Buy Now from eXcessica:http://www.excessica.com/books/index.... Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Nanny-State-Les... any number of other retailers. 
For more information, check out:http://donutsdesires.blogspot.ca/2012...

The Weekend in Pictures...

Which means I am lazy. But it was fun. You'll see. What you don't see is a dog walk and vegging out in front of a show I have waited ages and ages and never seen. And reading a great book. And hanging out. Even a bit of writing.

Good news! Tomorrow I have a guest blogger coming and then Tuesday as well. Busy week here at Unapologetic Fiction. Very excited! Stay tuned :)

XOXO
Sommer

                                                       outside my house it looks like Spring


                                                      Gluten free cake donuts

beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos
                                          snow peas, zucchini, eggplants, rainbow carrots, cucumbers, beets


                                                             Stir fry (yum)

So many words, so many words...

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I really had planned for this super secret selfish project I'm working on to be about 18-20,000 words when I started mulling it over last year. I was actually pretty darn worried about hitting my 18-20K. So, as I was squeezing in the end of a chapter and the beginning of another this morning before some chores, I was a bit surprised to see I'm at roughly 48,000 words. Surprised and excited. This project will be far more exciting than I even thought. I had planned on breaking a few current 'rules of thumb' for publishing. But I never expected it to be a full blown book. Now I'm extra stoked! The goal is to meander through this thing while hitting other deadlines and commitments and hopefully have it wrapped up and ready to go by the end of the year. I am FORCING myself not to rush on this one. And some days I give myself a super hard time.

 It's Friday and I'm feeling decent. I'm thinking I might give a glass of wine with the man a go tonight. I've only tried wine a few times in the last month+. And it did not work. It's been over two weeks since the last time. But I'm hoping I can sit down with him and at least have a glass to relax. I miss that little ritual of ours. I mean, come on, body...you can't let me have just one! Cross your fingers for me and have a great weekend!

XOXO
Sommer

Up to no good...just the way I like it...

I'm a few days late on publicly saying yay!

My grandmother always teased me about having that look of being up to no good. I think mischief is in my blood. ;) I am very pleased to be a part of the Mischief line's new erotica collections and knock wood, throw salt, something longer of my own in the near future.

Mischief books are available on Kindle, Nook and at the line's HOME SITE.

More news on that longer work and more appearances in these awesome collections soon!

XOXO
Sommer

Besides this AMAZING artwork...

(click it. it gets bigger. heh) I wanted to say happy birthday, to you, "the man". :) I've always known I was lucky, but the last few weeks (post surgical bullshit and horrors included) have proven me wrong. I am not lucky. I am whatever lies beyond lucky. Whatever lives just past blessed. And I love you and have no words to pinpoint it, despite doing this word thing all day long. I could keep talking, but that pretty much sums it up.

Hope we make your birthday whatever lies beyond joyous and fun and memorable. :)

XOXO
me
p.s. yes, reader, you guessed it, it's the man's birthday. say howdy if you want. I'll be back to normal work bloggage tomorrow. xoxo
p.p.s. Yes! I did do that AWE-INSPRING ART. All by myself. What do you mean you believe it?

see you...

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in a few. Lot going on here and I have very little to say at the moment as far as blogging. I've noticed in the past that the thing to jump start my urge to say things on my blog is saying that I shan't say anything on my blog! I am a pain in the ass that way. So I'm going to be forcibly quiet for a few days to percolate.

That being said, What are you reading!? Any good suggestions to share? I am just wrapping up Aloha from Hell: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey. An awesome series I (thank goodness!) fell ass backwards into. I'm looking for more. I prefer horror, mystery and the 'new'* Scifi/Fantasy/Urban Fantasy thing (*meaning not what my one girlfriend used to read. The books were the size of bibles and had sentences like "He was the high elf of Aqokjncoing and his name was Yeonohgohniogn. His father had been a Y'pjnong and had won the great war" (that is when I start drooling)). So if you have a stellar book that is just too good to even put words around, tell me. :) I will check in to post any suggestions throughout the weekend.

XOXO
Sommer

And we wrap up the tour with...

[image error] Janine Ashbless who has titled her blog today SOMMER HAS ANGRY SEX! (ha!). And that's a fair statement considering the blog is about how much of me is in my characters and how much of my characters might be in me. And that mom's do...alert the media...wait for it...have sex (gasp!)

Final stop on the tour. Thanks to all who've popped in to peek and especially to those who have been along for the whole angry ride. You're super. :)

XOXO
Sommer
p.s. As an aside, I recently (yes, yes! I know I've had my contributor copies forever, but that is how I work, randomly pulling books down and reading stories when the mood strikes) Janine's story "Gold, on Snow" in Alison Tyler's Alison's Wonderland. Wowza! If you have not read that particular take on Snow White...do it.

Stop 5...a bit serious for self...

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~Everdingen, Caesar van - Four Muses and Pegasus on Parnassus - c. 1650

I don't really do a lot of serious blogging. Or uber sober stuff. I think the world is full of that stuff as it is. I usually hope to make people laugh or just smile if anything. Sometimes folks ask me to write on a topic that makes me accidentally sober (as in tone not lack of wine. Which I am lacking wine. I have not had wine in a very long time. Alert the media...and the Coast Guard). Stop five on the Angry Sex tour is at Chocolate Scotch. It's about what creativity is to me. Some of it, I wasn't really aware of until I wrote if if you must know.

There you have it! Stop 5. If you're reading along, thanks. If you've bought and read the book (as some have), thank you! And if you have anything to say or ask or just a howdy, please have at it. :)

XOXO
Sommer

Angry Sex stop 4...and food!

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Okay, so the catch is you have to make the food, but if you're game, there's a recipe for my ridiculously easy GF chicken soup over at Teresa Noelle Roberts' blog today. Along with a fresh excerpt from ANGRY SEX .

This soup is very much what was in my mind when Adam made dinner for Luna post...um...bedroom activities.You can make it GF (gluten free) like me or you can break the rules and use regular noodles. Also, while you're there, check out Teresa's blog. She's like some garden goddess, earth angel, writer person. I feel the urge to go plant things. Immediately. When we start our no dig garden this year, I will pop over to her place for visual inspiration.

XOXO
Sommer

don't judge a book by it's cover...

Unless it's one of Willsin's. *Heh*.

I'm over at Willsin Rowe's blog today for day three of the Angry Sex Book Tour. Stop by and see what I think about his covers, how he does it and how awesome he is and see, seeing as this is Willsin, a few of his amusing comments peppered within.

Thanks to those of you gushing about my cover and title and all that jazz. And yes, even the book. You've given me a warm fuzzy and that's not nearly as dirty as it sounds. To see Angry Sex's first review, which happened to be a five star, just scroll down.

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone! Be green. Be wild. Be crazy. But please be safe.

XOXO
Sommer