Kim Knox's Blog: ...darkness and romance..., page 14

New release: ENERGY – Book 4 of Planetary Bodies

Book four in the Planetary Bodies series.

Callie Thiago lives for gossip. And her crew aboard the CMC Theseus provides her with enough lurid tales of sex to keep her lonely nights warm. It sates her curiosity. Mostly. She has no experience of her own to draw on as shyness plagues her…until sheen smashes into her ship.

Now she's stuck on a small outpost with Aaron Blane, a man she's wanted for all her adult life. But she knows sheen can't work through her as it does others. She's different. And it's this difference that Blane is more than eager to explore.

Buy here from Ellora's Cave

You can also read an excerpt here

At my website there's a little sneak peek behind the series, Planetary Bodies

Energy is part of a linked series. Books 1, 2 and 3, Magnetism, Friction and Current, can be found here.

Filed under: Ellora's Cave, New Release, Planetary Bodies, Writing [image error] [image error]

What not to wear…when you're a street spy

I wasn't sure where to place this post, either here or Preternatural Bites. It's useful stuff for a number of genres.  And mainly I simply like knowing this sort of thing. What's worn is only one aspect. The huge tome I have on covert surveillance covers so much more.

Following a target on foot, usually in a team, means that they can't all be dressed the same.  They'd stand out and it'd look like a gang on their way to a convention. In suits, the urge to 'Reservoir Dogs' it would be beyond temptation…or is that just me?

Avoid contrasting colours like red against green, basically dark and light colours. Black against white will stand out.  Minimise contrast in a suit with a darker shirt instead of a white one, for example.
Avoid military style, practical outdoor clothes and military accessories.
Be prepared and dress for the weather.  You'll be noticed if you're the only one getting soaked.
If it proves necessary, dress for the occasion–this is probably the part that the James Bond dinner suit would actually fit in. (Gadgets from the Q Department optional) You have to blend in, no matter what.
Also dress for your vehicle.  It'll stand out if your smartly dressed–in your Bond suit–and climb into a beat up old banger.

A target is going to see you.  That can't be helped. Whether he notices you is another matter. The aim is that he shouldn't be able to remember you or describe you to someone else. You're shadowing someone, so you become indistinct. Grey.

Ref: Surveillance Tradecraft

Filed under: Cosmic Chatter, Writing [image error] [image error]

Useful omens

Research has dragged me off into divination. Yes, I'm a shiny information magpie.

Divination–the art of getting future information in the present–works, as does other magics, on the idea of synchronicity. Carl Jung called it '…an ever present reality for those who have eyes to see.'. Synchronicity rejects the idea of coincidence. As in events happening at the same time could reveal something about each other.

In divining, questions have to be precise. Writing them down enables an easier comparison later. And there are numerous ways to seek and find those answers.

Lunar Divination is a simple form. Stare at the moon, pose the question in your mind and keep staring, until the answers and inspiration come.

The I Spy Oracle needs a touch more preparation. It's a Scottish spell that can only be performed on the first Monday of the month, before sunrise, on an empty stomach and with bare feet.

Walk sunwise–clockwise–around the house, with your eyes shut until you're back at the entrance again. With your eyes still shut make a circle with your finger and thumb and put it to your eye. Open your eye and the omen is the first thing you see.

Hmm, I could see that one being open to abuse… Yes, I am actively ignoring the plot bunny.

Of course there are a plethora of love oracles. The classic is  "He loves me. He loves  me not."

My favourite has to be asking your love question from Apple Peel. The skin is cut away in one, long coil. If not complete, start again. When finished, the peel is thrown over the left shoulder without looking.  When it lands, the shape of the peel should offer inspiration to the love question you asked.

And I really like the idea of Tongue Stones. I think it's the name. It simply brims with possibility… These are small meteorites, strange rocks or found artefacts. The stones are sacred and not meant for trivial use.

Finding an answer involves smearing the stone with animal fat at nighttime.  Then bury the stone under a mound of grass and earth. Pee on the little hill and let the tongue stone rest over night. The next morning, dig it up.

If the stone is greasy, whatever you have asked an answer for should be a success. Dry and rough and it won't succeed.  Reddish marks would show that your plan is dangerous. And if muck and grass stick, then whatever you plan will find success, just not in the way you thought…

I think my heroine will have a tongue stone. I can't resist it. Not the classic type, though. Possibly something a little more sentient…

Reference: Enc. of 5000 Spells

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

Sale! FREQUENCY to Ellora's Cave

[image error]Ellora's Cave have contracted the final book in the Planetary Bodies series, FREQUENCY.

Here's the unofficial blurb:

Zev Vertinen has a problem. She lusts after the one man she can't have, her captain, Frederick Jannes. They have a past—ritualised and uniquely sexual—but for her to remain a pilot aboard the CMC Theseus, they can never touch each other again.

Of course that doesn't stop Zev lurking to catch a glimpse of Jannes naked, or making him the star of every one of her fantasies. Then sheen engulfs the ship. And the rules that have dictated their lives are changed. Jannes has changed them.

Now he will fulfil another ritual. Hunting her down and making her his. No matter the cost.

Planetary Bodies was my first ever series.  I will admit, now it's over with, it didn't seem so bad.  Just remind me I said this when I think about another one…

Filed under: Planetary Bodies, sale! [image error]

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention…

I am the first person to admit I an very bad at mathematics. I couldn't hope to achieve any sort of serious grounding in the 'hard' sciences, but it's the power of scientific concepts that grab me. Which is probably why I write science fiction romance

I was looking at quantum mechanics and quantum probability recently to help me underpin a story. I needed more depth…but, wow, it's a subject that makes you stare off into space and frown. Hard.

The quantum world is a weird and slippery one. Erwin Schrodinger got tired of its weirdness and proposed a thought experiment. His most famous one. He shut a cat in a box.

In with the cat is a device that can deliver a lethal poison and a radioactive atomic nucleus. The particle emitted when the nucleus decays releases the poison and kills the cat. The moment of decay can't be predicted, the only certain outcome is that at some point in time it will decay. When the lid on the box is closed, the cat is alive and the atom undecayed. They become quantum superpositions. The atom is in the state of being both decayed and undecayed. The cat both alive and dead.

Until the lid is opened, until the observation, the measurement is made, the cat exists in the probability of both these states. Surprisingly, with the lid lifted, they never seem to find zombie cats…

I have to say I play quantum probability in real life too. The pause before a lottery email is opened, where the answer exists in a probable state of me both being a millionaire and not.

I'm still trying to open the lid on me becoming insanely rich.  I can count zeroes

Filed under: Cosmic Chatter, Writing [image error]

Six Sentence Sunday: Fury

I'm also playing with my fantasy romance, FURY. Yes, I flit…

His thumbs teased along the sensitive inner sides of Ava's thighs, teasing up the edge of her nightgown.  Darkened eyes held her.  He leaned forward, forcing her back, forcing her to dig her fingers into the warm blanket behind her.  The grip on her legs twisted into more than a bite of pain.

His voice became a low rumble.  "I broke into her room too."

As always you can find more sixes here

Filed under: Six Sentence Sunday, Writing

Six Sentence Sunday: Frequency

Yes, I'm a chop and changer   The Biopunk is resting as my brain percolates the rest of the plot.  So I finally finished FREQUENCY –last of the Planetary Bodies books–and subbed it.

Here's a very short, sneaky peek six:

Zev stopped breathing. His lips brushed her ear. "I catch you. I fuck you." A hard smile curved against her skin. "Run."

As always, there're more sunday sixes here

Filed under: Planetary Bodies, Six Sentence Sunday, Writing

Voting's open for Red in Tooth and Claw!

RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW was chosen as one of the 32 entries in ARe's Just One Bite Contest.

How can a wolf resist a woman in red?

The voting is open.  I'm part of pair #8 if you want to vote for me.  Voting is here. (You have to register with All Romance Ebooks to see and vote for the stories)

Here's a snippet of 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: All Romance ebooks, Just One Bite Contest, Red in Tooth and Claw, voting

Six Sentence Sunday: Biopunk

Wow, it really has been a while now!  I've been editing 4 books since July, so my brain has been in complete edit mode for all that time.  But as BITTER HARVEST–the last of the 4–is going in for copyedits, I'm getting some of my writing brain back.  And I started a new wip.

Further down in my blog is a little post about what the SF subgenre Biopunk means to me, and here's the 6 sentences from the wip I finally started a few days back:

West ran his fingers through Sarah's silver-blonde hair and kissed her jaw.  "You want to do more than watch?"

"Perhaps."  Locke knocked back the rest of the glass and hissed against the burn of the gut-rot alcohol.  "You have somewhere we can go that's private."

It wasn't a question.

Oh, and I've fallen before the m/m bug again…

You can read more sixes here

Filed under: Biopunk, Six Sentence Sunday, Wips

New release: CURRENT from Ellora's Cave

Book 3 in the Planetary Bodies series.

Alexandra Syato has complete control of her life.

She's rich and has Captain Rhearden Lawe as a delicious friend with benefits.  Her life couldn't be more perfect.  Until the mysterious force known as sheen turns her world upside down.

It changes Lawe in a way she doesn't expect and now her easy-going friend has become a dark and brooding stranger, determined to take her control. She can't fight their new, blistering attraction.  But the price for having him may break her. Completely.

Buy here from Ellora's Cave

You can also read an excerpt here

At my website there's a little sneak peek behind the series, Planetary Bodies

Current is part of a linked series. Books 1 and 2, Magnetism and Friction, can be found here.

Filed under: Current, Ellora's Cave, New Release, Planetary Bodies