Kim Knox's Blog: ...darkness and romance..., page 13

Want Han Solo wrapped in gold? Yes? Then step this way…

Yes, I'm giving away a copy of GAMBIT on Lex Valentine's 30 Days of Christmas.  Lex is also giving away a paranormal title from her back list.

Captain Chae Beyon is a hustler, a mercenary pilot, a wounded woman who prefers her men to be easily thrown aside.

Daned Traern is a first-caste Ladaian bound by tradition and DNA to protect his race. He's willing to align himself with the hot space captain if she'll transport him home in time to ensure the right candidate is crowned—and thus prevent a bloody war.

Disguised as Chae's sex toy, Daned is erotically bound to her through living gold, alien tech designed to increase pleasure. When he frees himself, their passion only increases…but succumbing to temptation will bind them together—permanently.

But there's more at stake than their needs. As Chae is dragged into a world of insane princes and sentient stones, hired killers hound them across the quadrant.

And then, as only her lousy luck would have it, Chae must choose between the good of the galaxy and her own heart…

Oh and the Han Solo reference comes from the idea that spawned this book.  I was watching Return of the Jedi, with Leia in her little gold slave bikini and was thinking how much better Han Solo would look wrapped up in gold. With a leash… And Daned Traern was born

And there's more free stuff!

Back in October, my story, RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW made it into the Just One Bite contest.  All the entries are available now as free read anthologies.

The above little story is in this anthology:

Contributing authors:

By: Kim Knox | Shermaine Williams |  Lauren Hawkeye | Elaine Lowe | Barbara Elsborg |Rosalie Stanton | Raven Corinn Carluk |  Jocelyn Michel | Randi Alexander

You can find the other books here.

Here's a snippet from RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW:

"Red suits you."

His voice was little more than a growl and it warmed my skin, fluttering excitement deep into my belly. Shadows surrounded the high backed chair in which he sat. Flickers of light from the fireplace caught his sharp profile, shifting, lighting the burn of his silver eyes. My mark wasn't quite human, I was sure of it. The remote hall, the obvious wealth, the secrecy. He had to be one of the rare preternaturals.

"Thank you." I didn't know what else to say. My being in the hall, in this starkly empty room with him was…hazy. The reason was important, I felt it down to the bone and something about that made me glance at the red silk of my cape. It was the only thing I wore. I frowned. I didn't remember driving up to the hall, slipping out of my street clothes, changing… Heat from the fire warmed the silk, distracting me and the material brushed against my bared legs like the kiss of a lover.

I forced a smile to twitch across my mouth and lifted the thick sheaf of paper in my hand. The splotch of a broken seal gleamed along its edges. Not that I remembered snapping the seal open. I glanced at the heavy copperplate lettering that simply stated my name, a time and that day's date. "The…agency hasn't given me your name."

"Balthasar."

"Balthasar…?"

"My last name isn't important." He sat forward and firelight licked his features.

My chest tightened and I stared. I hadn't expected him to be quite so…beautiful—all hard male planes and those silver-edged eyes that burned into me. His black shirt clung to his chest, his muscled arms, bare, browned and dusted with hair. Strong hands flexed. A dark ring gleamed on his right hand.

"So…" I took a step towards him, my bare feet soundless in the deep pile of the rug. I wet my lips. "What do you expect of me?"

His gaze drifted down over the length of my body and made me too aware of the brushing silk of my long cape. "I expect to fuck you."

Filed under: Carina Press, Christmas, Free Read, Gambit, Just One Bite Contest, Pimpage, Red in Tooth and Claw, Writing

Six Sentence Sunday: Biopunk

And still with the lurgy this week, so Fury has hardly moved. Here's a 6 from my biopunk I was playing with earlier in the week…when I should have been writing Fury. Bad me..

Sarah sighed against his neck, hot but pliant. He needed her to be…human as one of the masked keepers aimed a scanner at them.  The heat of the beams cut over his face and he shut his eyes against it.  Only for a moment.  He had to watch. Had to be ready.

 

As always you can find more sixes here.

Filed under: Six Sentence Sunday, Writing

Six Sentence Sunday: Fury

Lurgy slowed the writing down this week–yay, for the neverending cough–but there's a still a little more of FURY to share:

Heyerdar pushed her back against the cold wall.  He loomed over his, his face flickering with the light of his magic. "No." His hand cupped her jaw and his thumb stroked across her lips, parting her mouth.  His low voice filled the silence. "No, we'll never be like them."

As always you can find more six snippets here.

Filed under: Six Sentence Sunday, Writing

Beautiful dust…

I have a weakness for nebulae, which is not something you get to say every day. The latest reason to look at them has to do with my biopunk and how I imagine the sky forming over my little biopunk colony.  Really, this isn't work, is it? *grin*

NEBULAE: A nebula (from Latin "cloud" ;pl. nebulae or nebulæ) is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionised gases.

Here's my favourite:

 

Filed under: Cosmic Chatter, Writing

Six Sentence Sunday: FURY

And I'm back to FURY I've chopped and changed what I was going to post, but I've settled on this:

He stretched.  Firelight licked around him, moving with the slow ripple of the muscles in his back. Her deep teeth marks lined his shoulders and bruised his upper arms. The taste of his skin, the hint of flesh and the sweet stickiness of his blood still lingered on her tongue.

Everything about him was delicious.  It was fucking irritating.

As always, you can read more Six Sundays here.

Filed under: Six Sentence Sunday, Writing

The making of magical money

I've been looking through my books on magic again. I think this post is more bunny fodder than something I'm going to use in my fantasy romance world building. Still I thought I'd share.

(I will admit to The Enc. of 5000 Spells being addictive…as well as weighty )

This time it's tips to work into money spells that caught my interest:

Colours: Green and Gold.  (I think this being a US book, it's defaulting on cash colour.  For a Gaslight Romance would it be white, for those vast sheets of white fivers? )

Numbers: 2. To hold the idea of doubling and increasing.

Planets: Jupiter. As the planet of good fortune. The Moon. As the body of magic and wish fulfilment. Mercury. For the Roman god of prosperity.

Timing: Spells should be performed under a waxing moon.

And now I have the start of another bunny. Damn those white fivers…

Filed under: Preternatural Bites, Writing

Hump Day News: Cover love

I can finally reveal my cover for SYNTHETIC DREAMS:

Isn't it pretty? It's a creation of the wonderful Frauke at CrocoDesigns.  She also created GAMBIT (another cover that I love)

Here's the unofficial blurb (The novella is due out 27 February, so the cover copy is still being polished )

With no past to turn to and no hope for the future, Vyn Somerton does what she always has: she survives on her skills, hidden away from the prying eyes of the Corporation. Until now.

Vyn has created the ultimate in illegal gear, simulacrum, the perfect virtual lie.  It's untraceable, untouchable, and until recently, impossible to create. She has plans to make herself rich beyond her wildest dreams…that is, until the Corporation turns her life upside down.  Again.

Paul Cross is a part of that upheaval.  Catalyst.  Corporate Mercenary.  Incredible and forbidden. He's been watching Vyn, knowing that she's the key to finding and rescuing his brother, a brother the Corporation he works for has replaced with a stranger. She's a means to an end.  But watching her, moving though her life, he finds his thoughts becoming unexpectedly…carnal.

With their enemies closing in, Vyn's life is in chaos.  Can she trust Paul or is he the key to the destruction of all her worlds?

In wip, news, FURY has crawled kicking and screaming over 44k. It's feeling like the endless wip…always 20k before it's done. I also got whapped by another bunny–paranormal romance this time. I wish they were still little bunnies. This one is another series (Me? Series??).  Evil things.

Filed under: Carina Press, Writing [image error] [image error]

When bunnies attack…

I have a slight reputation amongst my follow chatterers at writechat.net of attracting plot bunnies.  They do seem to appear from the most innocuous things.  But when I read the likes of the following from Project Boreas my brain explodes with them:

'…spring [on Mars] might be advanced if the polar ice caps were destabilised, for instance by reducing their albedo with a layer of dust of plants. More speculatively, the planet's precessional cycle might be adjusted with an artificial moon.'

I don't think the science the first idea was based on stands up anymore, but it doesn't mean you can make a planet that would react in that way. I love terraforming. Or better yet, altering people to survive in a particular environment…

And creating an artificial moon?  Whose brain went straight to the Death Star?

The idea of life aboard the moon at various stages…though I have to admit, the idea of the moon at the end of its life, past its prime is fun.  Having to keep it going on limited resources when their work is vital to maintain the health of the planet they serve…

Nope. I am ignoring you, Bunny…

Filed under: Cosmic Chatter, Writing

Six Sentence Sunday: ENERGY

ENERGY released this week, so here's a snippet from that

"Was I a pleasant fuck?" She twisted against him, hating his strength and the fact that she could still taste him on her tongue, feel the ghost of him on and in her body. "Did you enjoy the fact that I knew nothing about sex? That I slavered over you. How shitty was it for you? Really?"

You can read the blurb, excerpts and links for ENERGY here

And as always there are more sixes here

Filed under: Ellora's Cave, Planetary Bodies, Six Sentence Sunday, Writing [image error]

What do you do again…?

On my hunt to flesh out a fantasy city, I need to people it.  I need trades and jobs from the past, which will make it sound more authentic.  Here are a few I've come across in my hunt:

Malkin: A medieval female kitchen worker.

Skep Maker: A maker of beehives.

Puggera: One–usually a child–who treads clay into paste.

Cutty: A wanton and/or short woman.

Lidster: A dyer

Fistic: A bare knuckle fighter.

And the one I'd most like to be: Concher: One who smoothes chocolate.

Ref: A Dict. of Old Trades, Titles and Occupation.

Filed under: Preternatural Bites, Writing [image error] [image error]