Kimberly Kinrade's Blog, page 6

The WeeKKend Recap

Another week has come and gone. And what a week it was! Let’s go over all the awesomeness the past week contained (and a few things that it didn’t) in today’s WeeKKend Recap!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope all our U.S. fans had a wonderful, fulfilling, relaxing, delicious Thanksgiving spent with friends and family!

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When The Heart Falls had a great week!

Our critically-acclaimed contemporary new adult romance had itself a great, bestselling week! Check it out:

It also hit #11 in Amazon’s “Movers and Shakers” list!

Get When The Heart Falls on Amazon, and see what all the fuss is about!

The Seduced Trilogy is on sale for $0.99!

This is INSANE! We may have lost our minds, but through next week (and probably never again), the ENTIRE Seduced trilogy of Rose’s Story is on sale for just 99 cents! Get ALL THREE BOOKS for just 99 cents TOTAL in this omnibus edition! That’s the bestsellers Seduced by Innocence, Seduced by Pain and Seduced by Power!

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Find out why one reviewer said we have a ‘cult following’ of fans, and why thousands and thousands of readers every month are falling in love with Derek and Rose.

FORBIDDEN PASSIONS.

DEADLY SECRETS.

A LOVE THAT WILL STAND AGAINST IT ALL.

Get it for just 99 cents. Enjoy the seductive poetry of this epic love story.

Our SHOWDOWN! kept on being vamptastic

Vampire vs. vampire! This past week’s SHOWDOWN pitted two previous winners against each other.

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We have a new SHOWDOWN! every week on Monday (or Tuesday, if we have a big announcement on Monday), so swing by our Facebook page and cast your vote! We’re continuing our vampire theme this week, too!

Be our Fan of the Week!

Congratulations to Nina Ozanne, this week’s Karpov Kinrade Fan of the Week!

We’re saying thanks to our fans! With giftcards and eternal fame! Wanna get in on the action and potentially win a $5 Amazon giftcard? All you gotta do is participate and be a fan on our Facebook fan page! Comment on, like, and share ANY of the posts on the page–every comment, like, and share will automatically enter you to win a $5 Amazon giftcard and be our Fan of the Week! It’s our way of saying THANKS for being AWESOME! We announce a new Fan of the Week every Sunday evening.

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Come on and join the fun!

This week’s favorite KK product

In honor of our crazy $0.99 sale on the Seduced Saga, this week’s fave KK product features a fan-favorite quote from the books!

This–and and all sorts of awesome minion, Seduced Saga, and Naughty Live Longer gear–is available at our KK CafePress store!

What you missed on the blog…

Nothing this week! We had a pretty busy week with Thanksgiving, sales, and working on the upcoming Prince of Darkness, so no bloggy goodness this week!

Phew! What a week! Here’s to another awesome week coming up–make it a great one!

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

The WeeKKend Recap

Another week has come and gone. And what a week it was! Let’s go over all the awesomeness the past week contained (and a few things that it didn’t) in today’s WeeKKend Recap!

Coming this week: Naughty Shorts!

Parallel short stories that will titillate and entertain you!

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First, meet hottie-hot-hot Damon Deveaux, a man who knows exactly how to please women. He will give one woman a week of naughty fantasies that will change them both.

And meet his best friend, good ol’ Bart, a man who is resigned to be the goofy sidekick–until one woman sees into his heart.

Sexy, funny, deep, intelligent. PLUS NIPPLES. WOOT WOOT!

KK + ABC = NAUGHTY! Become our Facebook fan to know when these two stories are released!

It’s beginning to look a lot like…Forbidden Christmas

Are you a fan of the Forbidden Trilogy? Then you’ll love this Christmas-themed short story featuring all your favorite characters!

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At a secret school full of gifted teens, a girl who reads minds discovers the real reason Old Charlie spends Christmas alone. With the help of her friends, she gives Charlie what she will never have. A family.

Get it on Amazon!

A new cover for Forever Home

We have a new holiday cover for a short story based on the TRUE story of how Kimberly’s little sister rescued her beloved friend from imminent death: Forever Home.

This is a must-read story for dog lovers and those who support the rescue and adoption of animals. Just have some Kleenex ready!

Get it on Amazon!

Congratulations to giveaway winners!

This week, we had the pleasure of announcing winners for TWO awesome giveaways: our MASSIVE 4,000 Facebook Likes Giveaway, and our Beverly Orchid/Blood Orchid series announcement giveaway.

First, congratulations to Laura Young, winner of our 4,000 Facebook Likes Giveaway! She won:

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Signed copies of Forbidden Mind, Forbidden Fire, Forbidden Life (http://bit.ly/HRoNB5)
Signed copy of Seduced: Rose’s Story (includes Seduced by Innocence, Seduced by Pain, Seduced by Power - http://bit.ly/HJ0GEK)
Signed copy of When the Heart Falls collector’s edition as Kiss Me in Paris (http://bit.ly/1dY9x0P)
Custom Nephilim silver bookmark
Paris gift set of bag, stationary and notepad
$10 Amazon gift card

And a big, huge congrats to the winners of our Beverly Orchid/Blood Orchid Series Announcement Giveaway, co-sponsored with co-author Anne Chaconas:

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Shannon Jones Janeczek! She gets a character named after her in the series!
WINNER OF SEASON 1 OF “WEEDS”: Pam Rosensteel
WINNER OF SEASON 1 OF “THE CLIENT LIST”: Aimée Dillon Vaassen
WINNER OF A PAPERBACK COPY OF “ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK”: Heather Stanley

Congrats to all the winners! You’ve been contacted via email–if you didn’t get an email, contact us via our Facebook page OR by sending an email to books@karpovkinrade.com.

Our SHOWDOWN! kept on being vamptastic

Are you a fan of The Originals? Then this past week’s SHOWDOWN was perfect for you.

We have a new SHOWDOWN! every week on Monday (or Tuesday, if we have a big announcement on Monday), so swing by our Facebook page and cast your vote! We’re continuing our vampire theme this week, too!

Be our Fan of the Week!

Congratulations to Kami Bryant, last week’s Karpov Kinrade Fan of the Week!

We’re saying thanks to our fans! With giftcards and eternal fame! Wanna get in on the action and potentially win a $5 Amazon giftcard? All you gotta do is participate and be a fan on our Facebook fan page! Comment on, like, and share ANY of the posts on the page–every comment, like, and share will automatically enter you to win a $5 Amazon giftcard and be our Fan of the Week! It’s our way of saying THANKS for being AWESOME! We announce a new Fan of the Week every Sunday evening.

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Come on and join the fun!

This week’s favorite KK product

Still wondering what to wear for Thanksgiving dinner? We’ve got just the thing–and it’s sure to be a great conversation starter, too!

This–and and all sorts of awesome minion, Seduced Saga, and Naughty Live Longer gear–is available at our KK CafePress store!

What you missed on the blog…

10 Very Good Things — get to know the wife-and-husband Karpov Kinrade team (warning: EPIC TRUE LOVE ROMANCE ALERT!)
What Fall Does – awesome poetry from our 11-year-old daughter, Maddie!

Phew! What a week! Here’s to another awesome week coming up–make it a great one!

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

What Fall Does

We’d like to share a few poems for you today, written by our 11-year-old daughter, Maddie Karpov-Kinrade. You might remember her as the author of the short story Twins Forever. Granted, we are her parents and inherently biased toward her brilliance, but we found these poems evocative of our favorite season. Fall.

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What Fall Does

Rustling, Bustling, that’s

what we do all day,

It’s such a bore, I

cannot stay awake

But in Fall

It’s different

It’s thrilling. It’s twisting.

It’s flying and dancing.

We are streaming and wafting.

Trying to get free

Waiting, Waiting

Waiting for the first chilly

winter breeze

to blast us off

our billowing prisons

THAT is what Fall does.

 

While Dancing

To and Fro, to and fro

dancing like a pro

It’s windy in the Fall

It’s Fall! It’s Fall!

Then I drift into a wall

and realize I’d rather stay on the tree

hanging on the looser branch

drinking in the air.

 

Photograph by Kris Radcliffe

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Madelynne Karpov-Kinrade is a story-teller, artist and all around awesome kid who inspired Maddie World and The Three Lost Kids & The Death of the Sugar Fairy in the Three Lost Kids adventures. She lives with her super awesome writer parents who love her more than anything, and her two younger sisters, who also love her.

 

 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

10 Very Good Things

If epic, true love romances make you nauseous, you might want to skip this post. As most of you know, the Karpov Kinrade name is actually two authors–the husband/wife team of Dmytry KARPOV and Kimberly KINRADE. (See what we did there?)

Yesterday we posted 10 Very Good Things you might not know about us in our Minion Army, and it was such a hit with our readers we thought we’d share it here! (By the way, if you’re not part of our Minion Army, you should really come join us. You get exclusive access to us, early peeks at book covers, chances to beta new work before it’s released ((like the upcoming Prince of Darkness starring your favorite naughty demon!)) and monthly giveaways!)

So, here you go, readers. 10 Very Good Things about the Karpov Kinrade writing team.  [image error] 1. We are happily married and MADLY in love. MADLY. PASSIONATELY. ENTIRELY. (If you saw us working in our living room, and how we are with each other, you’d tell us to get a room!)

2. We have three little girls who are totally and insanely awesome, and they have a 6 book children’s series based on their magical adventures called The Three Lost Kids.

3. While we are both introverts, Kimberly is moderately introverted and can pass as an extrovert when needed. Dmytry, on the other hand, is 100% introvert. We’re not even sure how that’s possible. But it is. (Disclaimer: Dmytry is not shy, just introverted. Think strong, silent type.)

4. Our dear friend and publicist, Anne Chaconas, always imagines Dmytry with a stern Russian accent. Kimberly finds this highly amusing. (He IS, however, a 6’5″ Russian with a name that sounds like a badass assassin, so her perceptions are entirely justifiable.)

5. Dmytry has the sexy mussed hair look that Hollywood stars spend a lot of time and money trying to emulate. He has it naturally.

6. We often dye our hair the same color to match. Because we’re nauseatingly cute that way.

7. We met online and moved in together the night we met in person for the first time. We have been together nearly every moment of our lives since then. This is literally true. We work together EVERY DAY ALL DAY, so there have been very few times we have been apart, and we are still MADLY IN LOVE and happy.

8. We’re almost as naughty as our characters in our books (and sometimes even naughtier!)

9. We love writing, but also have big plans for screenwriting and directing someday!

10. We are living the life of our dreams and couldn’t be happier. It really is a blessed life to do what you love for a living, with the person you love most in the universe, while raising three amazing children who will undoubtedly take over the world someday. 

So there you have it, 10 very good things. Did we miss anything? What else would you want to know about us as a couple, our family, or us individually? Maybe we’ll make a thing of this, eh?

And don’t forget to become a Minion for more perks!

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

The WeeKKend Recap

Another week has come and gone. And what a week it’s been! Let’s go over all the awesomeness this week contained (and a few things that it didn’t) in this week’s WeeKKend Recap!

Beverly Orchid is coming (+ get your name in the book)!

It’s time for a new kind of heroine! This week, we had a BIG reveal. An exciting reveal of a co-written project we are doing with fellow wordsmith Anne Chaconas (ABC). One that features a true antihero of the female persuasion.

Please say hello to Beverly Orchid! Says Kimberly, “Bev is a complicated character who is motivated to act when others might sit back and let someone else handle the dirty work. I love her for that. I think fans will love that they can relate to her. We’ve all had those moments where we WISH we could act on our most base needs of revenge and blood justice, and that is what she does. She grabs her life by the balls and squeezes. Hard. She doesn’t always make the morally right choice. But she makes the right choice for her and her family. She does what has to be done, and she’s not afraid to get blood on her hands to do what she thinks is right.”

Blood Orchid, book one in the Beverly Orchid series, is coming in Spring 2014. Here’s what it’s about:

Beverly Orchid is out for blood.

When her twin sister ends up beaten and in a coma after taking Bev’s place at a charity event, Beverly will stop at nothing to find her sisters’ attacker and make him pay.

But this seemingly random mugging takes a sinister twist as she’s pulled deeper into the dark world of human trafficking and discovers a shocking lead in her investigation.

The attack wasn’t random. And Beverly was the intended target.

As the trail goes cold and the police give up, Beverly is forced to make a choice between what is right–and what is just.

Darkly humorous, dangerously addictive, full of mystery and ethical conundrums, Blood Orchid will have you questioning what you would be capable of when faced with the worst kind of evil humanity offers.

Add  Blood Orchid  to your Goodreads to-read list!

Want to achieve immortality and have a character named after you in the book? Check out this post and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom! There are a bunch of other great prizes up for grabs, too! The giveaways ends Friday 11/22.

MASSIVE 4,000 likes giveaway!

To celebrate reaching 4,000 likes on our Facebook page, we’re having a huge, swaggalicious giveaway!

One lucky winner gets over $100 in autographed books and swag:

► Signed copies of Forbidden Mind, Forbidden Fire, Forbidden Life (http://bit.ly/HRoNB5)

► Signed copy of Seduced: Rose’s Story (includes Seduced by Innocence, Seduced by Pain, Seduced by Power - http://bit.ly/HJ0GEK)

► Signed copy of When the Heart Falls collector’s edition as Kiss Me in Paris (http://bit.ly/1dY9x0P)

► Custom Nephilim silver bookmark

► Paris gift set of bag, stationary and notepad

► $10 Amazon gift card

To enter, share this post on our Facebook page, and comment that you shared! Easy as that!

Giveaway ends on Wednesday November 20 11:59pm EST. Winner announced Thursday, November 21.

Seduced by Darkness is officially a 7-book series!

Last week, we announced a new spin-off in our Seduced series, featuring everyone’s favorite demon, Blake! This series is now officially a seven-book phenomenon, and we are aiming to have the first book, Prince of Darkness, available by the end of the year.

Want to know more about this new series (including exclusive cover reveals weeks ahead of time, opportunities to beta-read the series, and one-of-a-kind swag giveaways)? Join our Facebook Street Team–become a minion! We give our minions exclusive access and lots of previews!

Our SHOWDOWN! took on your main undead squeeze

Are you a Vampire Diaries fan? Then this past week’s SHOWDOWN was perfect for you.

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We have a new SHOWDOWN! every week on Monday (or Tuesday, if we have a big announcement on Monday), so swing by our Facebook page and cast your vote! We’re continuing our vampire theme this week, too!

Be our Fan of the Week!

Congratulations to Juli Huber Hall, last week’s Karpov Kinrade Fan of the Week!

We’re saying thanks to our fans! With giftcards and eternal fame! Wanna get in on the action and potentially win a $5 Amazon giftcard? All you gotta do is participate and be a fan on our Facebook fan page! Comment on, like, and share ANY of the posts on the page–every comment, like, and share will automatically enter you to win a $5 Amazon giftcard and be our Fan of the Week! It’s our way of saying THANKS for being AWESOME! We announce a new Fan of the Week every Sunday evening.

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Come on and join the fun!

This week’s favorite KK product

Not all KK minions are human. Some like to howl at the moon.

This–and and all sorts of awesome minion, Seduced Saga, and Naughty Live Longer gear–is available at our KK CafePress store!

What you missed on the blog…

This past week, we did a bloggalicious tag team with Anne Chaconas, taking on the topic of female heroes and anti-heroes in life, literature, and the silver screen, culminating the announcement of our Beverly Orchid series! Check out the posts on the Karpov Kinrade website, and don’t forget to stop by ABC’s online home and check out her hero-antihero posts, too!

Let’s hear it for the anti-hero!
Success: It’s Not Just For Men
Why Women Need To Be More Than The Madonna or the Whore
Our Heroes Have Fallen: We Need an Antihero
Are you ready for a new kind of heroine?

Phew! What a week! Here’s to another awesome week coming up–make it a great one!

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Are you ready for a new kind of heroine?

All week we’ve talked about the antihero and how it relates to women and the representations of women in literature, film, television and media. We’ve teamed up with Anne Chaconas (ABC) to provide four days of back and forth blog posts on our thoughts on this. Need to catch up? Scroll to the bottom for a list of all the posts.

But today… well, today we have a BIG reveal. An exciting reveal of a co-written project ABC and I are doing together. One that features a true antihero of the female persuasion. (And one of which YOU can be a part–check out the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of the post!)

Introducing Beverly Orchid

Who is Beverly Orchid?

KK: Bev is a complicated character who is motivated to act when others might sit back and let someone else handle the dirty work. I love her for that. I think fans will love that they can relate to her. We’ve all had those moments where we WISH we could act on our most base needs of revenge and blood justice, and that is what she does. She grabs her life by the balls and squeezes. Hard. She doesn’t always make the morally right choice. But she makes the right choice for her and her family. She does what has to be done, and she’s not afraid to get blood on her hands to do what she thinks is right.

I’m incredibly excited about exploring a darker character in contemporary fiction. Of all our books published to date, my favorite characters have often been the villains who become antiheroes because of some redeeming moment or quality. (The Seeker in Forbidden Fire, Blake in Seduced by Pain and Seduced by Power) In fact, the antihero Blake, from Seduced: Rose’s Story, is getting a 7 book series because he’s so fucking badass and epic. Blood Orchid will give me a chance to not only work with one of my very best literary besties (ABC), but to tackle darker themes and characters in a contemporary setting with a female protagonist who has the kind of life from the outside that most of us can relate to.

I truly believe this series, which is 50% mystery and 50% thriller, will be 100% EPIC!

ABC: I can’t fully pinpoint why I’m so very excited to dive headfirst into the world of Beverly Orchid. I don’t know if it’s because she’s fully badass. I don’t know if it’s because she does shit that I wish I had the balls to do. I don’t know if it’s because I wish I knew her in real life, or because, on the surface, I could be her in real life. The thing about Bev is that she really could be that mom you see at the playground–no make-up, hair in a messy bun, wearing yoga pants and a baggy sweatshirt. Pushing her kid on the swing. Smiling in the sunshine.

Packing a 9mm in her purse. Getting ready to set things right.

Beverly’s tough, funny, smart as a whip. She doesn’t apologize for her choices. She is, however, sorry she’s not sorry.

She’s also vulnerable, confused, and frightened.

She’s real. Writing her will be a bitch, because she’s human. She’s got all those foibles and peccadilloes and contradictions. Her motives aren’t always good, and her actions don’t always make sense. Sometimes she does one thing and sometimes the complete opposite (and feels they are both okay). Just. Like. Us. 

Writing her will be a bitch–but I have a sneaking suspicion both KK and I are up for the kickass, groundbreaking challenge.

Coming Spring 2014:  Blood Orchid

Beverly Orchid is out for blood.

When her twin sister ends up beaten and in a coma after taking Bev’s place at a charity event, Beverly will stop at nothing to find her sisters’ attacker and make him pay.

But this seemingly random mugging takes a sinister twist as she’s pulled deeper into the dark world of human trafficking and discovers a shocking lead in her investigation.

The attack wasn’t random. And Beverly was the intended target.

As the trail goes cold and the police give up, Beverly is forced to make a choice between what is right–and what is just.

Darkly humorous, dangerously addictive, full of mystery and ethical conundrums, Blood Orchid will have you questioning what you would be capable of when faced with the worst kind of evil humanity offers.

Add Blood Orchid to your Goodreads to-read list!

Catch up!

Wondering exactly what kind of real life antihero hero we’re crafting? Check out this week’s back-and-forth tag-team blog posts, and we think you’ll get a pretty good idea.

MONDAY

Let’s hear it for the anti-hero! – KarpovKinrade.com
I am an anti-hero. – AnneChaconas.com

TUESDAY

Boys vs girls vs heroes vs antiheroes vs THE WORLD – AnneChaconas.com
Success: It’s not just for men – KarpovKinrade.com

WEDNESDAY

Why women need to be more than just the madonna or the whore – KapovKinrade.com
WOMEN: Be the change you want to see – AnneChaconas.com

THURSDAY

Antiheroes: The new heroes – AnneChaconas.com
Our heroes have fallen: We need an anti-hero – KarpovKinrade.com

Get your name in Blood Orchid!

Enter the Rafflecopter below–the grand prize is having a character named after you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Our Heroes Have Fallen: We Need an Antihero

[image error]Well-behaved women seldom make history… ~Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

If you’ve stuck around this whole week, then you know that we have teamed up with Anne Chaconas (ABC) to do a series of posts and replies talking about antiheroes in literature and film, specifically the role (or lack thereof) of the female antihero, leading up to a BIG reveal tomorrow and two weeks of giveaways!

Today, in Antiheroes: The new heroes ABC argues that we need an antihero to root for. And as usual, she is NOT WRONG.

What we need is to be shown the way by those who have lived it previously, made the tough choices, taken the rockier roads. And perhaps not come out squeaky clean at the end. What we need is reality, as opposed to Photoshop.

What we need–what we all need–is an antihero.

What is the draw of them? Why an antihero and not a hero? I think because the world feels darker for so many, and we are drawn to the real, the gritty, the non-Disney, non-photoshopped protagonists who are NOT ALWAYS GOOD. They are bad, dark, angry, sometimes selfish, but they are redeemed by something. By brilliance or love or charm. And they often use that to do one strikingly unselfish thing that saves someone else. Because when a character you know is in it for himself really gives that up for someone else, that one act redeems all of humanity for all of us. Because then we know, if THEY can do it, so can WE! Because most of us won’t ever be Superman, but we can probably do as well or better than Severus Snape or Jay Gatsby.

And because, as ABC points out, the ‘heroes’ of our current world order leave much to be desired. If the Kim Kardashians of the world are the new standard of hero, if Honey Boo Boo is the new pop culture god, then the antihero HAS to be the new hero, because all of our heroes have fallen. Our antihero is Zorro. Our antihero is Robin Hood.

And I would say we specifically need a FEMALE antihero. Because we actually have lots of male antiheroes already, in television (Dexter, Walter White, Damon, the entire cast of The Originals, House, Sherlock), in literature (Jorg in The Prince of Thrones, Dr. Gideon Box in Bad Doctor, Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Lucifer in Paradise Lost, Severus Snape in Harry Potter), in movies (Eric Draven in The Crow, Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Man ((God bless Robert Downey Jr)), Sherlock ((Again, bless you, RDJ)) and so many other.)

In the lists I used to research antiheroes, I would say roughly 99% of them were male.

Where are our badass female antiheroes? Where are the women who have broken through the walls of life, torn up their skin, gotten dirty, and shown their flaws? Where are the non-photoshopped women who aren’t perfect, but are relatable? Who aren’t always good, but are redeemable?

This. THIS. Is what we need.

Because right now with the Kim Kardashians and Honey Boo Boos and Paris Hiltons, we have a cast of heroes who would have been the antiheroes in the paradigms of old. Or not even that, they wouldn’t have been ANYONE in the paradigms of old. But now they are. And they are whitewashed tombs that are photoshopped to a shine on the outside but are rotting on the inside, and are bringing that disease to our culture.

We need a Robyn Hood. A Zorra. A Dextora. (Okay, I’m just making shit up here now, but you get the idea, right?)

We need more counter-cultural antihero females to rise against the photoshopped, whitewashed newly risen gods of our modern era.

After all, well-behaved women seldom make history.

Tomorrow you’ll meet one. Are you ready to embrace her?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Why Women Need To Be More Than The Madonna or the Whore

[image error]With the focus this week on antiheroes, and specifically female antiheroes and the portrayal of women in fiction, it got me thinking about why it’s so important for us to have a range of female characters in books, television and movies. Even villains and antiheroes. Even female characters we really don’t want to be anything like, and certainly don’t want our daughters emulating or sons marrying. Why would we want to present the less than ideal version of women, for fear that future women will aspire to less with these role models in place?

Here’s why. Because if we don’t give fictional women the full range of human frailties and foibles, then we are setting women up to be pin-up objects, to be seen as a thing for sexual use or servitude. Villains, antiheroes, unconventional heroes that break the mold of what we’ve come to expect from females-these kinds of characters break open the glass box women have been in for far too long.

When we can climb out of the roles of mother/caretaker (Madonna), or seductress/sexual object (Whore), then we can finally be REAL. ALIVE. FULLY HUMAN.

And our children will grow up seeing this. Our girls will know that it’s okay to make mistakes. That they can be mothers who love sex. That they can race cars and jump out of airplanes or run a business or whatever. They’ll know that whatever is out there to be had, they can have! That their power comes from more than just their breasts and vagina.

And our boys will see that women are as varied and unique as men. That they can do and be anything. That they can be good and bad and likely a mix of both. That they are flawed and can be ugly or beautiful or both. And that it’s okay!

We kid ourselves if we think that we’ve come so far from our past that these aren’t issues anymore. In an effort to illustrate this, I want to show you some ads from the 40s to 60s. Keep in mind, these ads were totally okay back then, and that was only 50-60 years ago. That’s NOT THAT LONG AGO. This is how women were depicted in relation to men. And the irony is that men were declared as ‘better’, ‘smarter’ and ‘stronger’. But women are still held to a higher standard of perfection in morality, behavior and beauty. Go figure.

So check out these ads and let me know what you think.

 

 

 

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Horrible, yes? But certainly that’s not how it is today. Except it is. Business Pundit points out that

According to the Center for American Progress, 97 percent of working women employed full time in occupations logged by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are paid less than their male equivalents. Men receive higher salaries than women in all but seven of the professions listed, and male chief executives take home, on average, $658 more each week than females in similar positions. Many, often insufficient, theories have been put forward about the pay gap in the US and UK, but its existence seems to be an indication that gender discrimination is far from dead in the workplace.

As well, women report having been demeaned or harassed at work by their male colleagues – and of course they may also be subject to sexism outside of the work environment. The portrayal of women in advertising is frequently said to reduce them to sex objects and make individuals insecure about their bodies.

And check out these modern ads. Some of which appeared on the linked article to Business Pundit.

Because nothing says equality like a man’s foot on your neck.

And nothing sells mens’ clothes like a naked woman doing their ironing.

Good thing we have the curves. How else could we get our way in life?

 

We can easily be bought by a rock, right? Good thing we have those curves with which to barter.

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I don’t even know what to say about this Ford ad. Who is the target demographic for this, exactly?

The world would be a better place if every woman looked like this, had no face, and could be had by all.

Who needs a face when you can have the sex and the car AT THE SAME TIME!!??

Nothing says the holidays like a Victoria Secrets’ model cooking your turkey with her legs spread. Because this is what we should ALL aspire to, women!

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We are furniture.

But it’s okay, because at least we have sports. As long as we don’t get dirty, are sexy, and dressed in our underwear while playing. You know, just like the menfolk. Right?

So, have we really come so far after all? It’s time to break the glass boxes, ALL OF THEM, and let our inner villains, our inner antiheroes, our inner HUMANS out! It’s time to stop conforming to this very narrow idea about what it means to be a woman, and start living our lives and showing the world what it means to be human, in real life and in fiction.

That’s what we’re aiming to do, the KK and ABC team. Will you HELP US? Will you celebrate the dark side of humanity with us?

Today in response, my partner in literary crime, ABC (Anne Chaconas), challenges us with this. WOMEN: Be the change you want to see. Because here’s the thing. Most of those ads wouldn’t be possible if women hadn’t participated. (Except for the nuts one, and honestly, nuts, I expect more from you than this sexist bullshit. We all do.) Go read her post, and let’s do SOMETHING about this! And don’t forget to enter our giveaway because on Friday we have a big reveal for a new project we think you’ll love.

Which ad did you find most shocking?

 

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Success: It’s Not Just For Men

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As a girl, you can climb a mountain, but only if you look sexy doing it. And DO NOT emote. It will make you ugly, thereby invalidating all other contributions you might make to humanity.

Growing up I wanted to be a boy. Scratch that. I didn’t want to be a boy so much as I wanted the freedom that boys inherently had, and still have. By the authority vested in their penises, they are given inalienable rights not afforded girls in our (or most) cultures.

The right to unbridled ambition.

The right to be unapologetically confident and aggressive.

The right to be funny (vs. sassy, as this post talks about).

The right to be an asshole and still be respected and even liked.

The right to be FLAWED and still rooted for.

The right to put ourselves and our needs first.

This week, we’re talking about antiheroes in life, literature and film. Over at ABCs (Anne Chaconas) blog, she wrote today about how it’s hard being a girl. And she is NOT WRONG.

In a fun synchronicity, NYT Best Seller, Maggie Stiefvater, also talked about this in a blog post yesterday entitled “So. I See I’m A Girl. :/” And no, we didn’t even coordinate this with her! It was a happy accident of fate that all of us kickass girls are talking about this.

And what is ‘this’? ‘This’ is the double standard we as women live under daily. It is the invisible cage we are confined to because of our breasts and vaginas. It is living in a world that will talk about a man’s ideas and a woman’s wardrobe, even if they hold the exact same political office. ‘This’ is the sad truth that if you look at how we talk about men vs. women in media (people who are in the exact same jobs/roles/etc.) and you changed the pronouns used in those articles, you would laugh at how ridiculous it sounds to discuss the man in the same way we discuss the woman.

As this study points out, there are behaviors, such as succeeding–SUCCEEDING! as in NOT FAILING–”that are sometimes considered attractive in men but not in women.”

As Maggie wrote in her posts, it’s not that there aren’t strong women, it’s that there are not female equivalents of the male heroes and antiheroes around us.

When they appeared as secondary characters, they were the rocks the tempestuous men tied themselves to. They were the helpmeets and the scholars, the ones who did their homework and the ones who appeared with solutions at the last minute. And as narrators, they were often plucky and fearless and capable. But they were never just a female version of any of the people on my list of Dudes I Wished I Was. Where was the woman I wanted to be?

Recently, a story broke about how the head Disney animator for Frozen stuck his foot in his mouth when talking about how hard it is to draw females. It’s the because that really says it all.

Historically speaking, animating female characters are really, really difficult, ’cause they have to go through these range of emotions, but they’re very, very—you have to keep them pretty and they’re very sensitive to—you can get them off a model very quickly. So, having a film with two hero female characters was really tough.

Okay, I get it now. WE ARE harder to animate, IF we have to look beautiful, and by beautiful of course I mean doe-eyed, button nosed, tiny and white, every time we emote. Yeah, I can see how that would make it hard to draw the Frozen sisters side-by-side, in the same frame, looking unique and all, when they are the same person with different hair colors.

THIS is the problem of why female antiheroes are hated on while their male counterparts are idolized. THIS is the problem of why females in general are given such a narrower range of options in life and fiction.

Because we have to look beautiful above all else, and we are not allowed to step foot off this pedestal or beauty, grace, decorum and perfection and actually, you know, be a fucking human being. There’s simply no way, in this current mindset, for women to be the rogue character, or to be ambition and self-serving and funny and SUCCESSFUL, while maintaining the image of the proper wife and mother. Women are expected to be nurtures. To put others first. To be nice above all and make others comfortable around them. We are trained into these roles at an early age by everything around us.

While boys play with guns and cars, we have babies and mini kitchens and tiny brooms and grocery carts.

While ‘boys will be boys’ in high school, we are expected to keep our legs crossed and be ‘good girls.’

While boys are never for a moment judged for going after what they want, we are the default homemaker, and if we choose something different, it is with great struggle as we swim against the stream of convention.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that caring for a home and children, or being a good wife and mother are bad things. Not at all. Just as it’s not bad for a man to be a good father and husband and care for his family. I’m suggesting that we should destroy the pedestals these bizarre social contracts have placed us on and start getting dirty with the boys.

I’m suggesting a new paradigm for girls is in order. One where we don’t have to be ‘ladies’. Where we can walk with a swagger and make bold (and sometimes horribly BAD) choices and get up and dust ourselves off and try again. One where we can confidently and unapologetically grab our lives by the balls.

And squeeze.

Because right now, unless we conform to a very narrow framework of appropriate female responses, we are the villains, EVEN WHEN we are the heroes.

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Go ahead, tell her she belongs in the kitchen. I dare you.

And this shit, it needs to change, and fast! We need better female heroes who aren’t hated on for every goddamn thing they do or don’t do, and we need better female antiheroes who are allowed to be flawed and unattractive and human.

And the KK-ABC team are ready to rumble with some kickass women (and men) who break the mold and do shit that is morally questionable, for morally questionable reasons, sometimes.

We’re ready for some antiheroes worth rooting for. We’re ready to let women be fully human, in all facets, with all the scars and pimples and bad habits of their male counterparts.

Like this clip right here from the show Scandal. I haven’t seen this show, but after seeing this clip of Lisa Kudrow’s character, Congresswoman Josephine Marcus, dressing down a sexist reporter, you can bet I’ll be looking it up.

Who’s with us?
Question:

Let’s look at our own prejudice today. What’s a behavior that you deem okay in men but not women?

If you are fully enlightened and can’t answer this because there are none, YAY! Answer this instead, what behavior in yourself have you either held back or been criticized for because it was deemed a behavior of the opposite sex and thus not appropriate for YOU? (This is for women AND men!)

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Let’s hear it for the anti-hero!

Who doesn’t love the bad boy? They are often the most interesting characters.

Most of us grew up rooting for the ‘good guy.’ Cheering on the hero. Imagining ourselves in the role of saving the world and defeating (or riding) the dragon! But the bad boy (or girl) is equally worthy of our time and discussion (and possibly, very likely, MORE worthy of our naughtier fantasies) as the antihero.

This week, one of my literary BFFs, Anne Chaconas (affectionately known as ABC because THOSE ARE ACTUALLY HER INITIALS), and I will be tag-team writing a series of posts about the antihero in literature, television, film and real life, and on Friday we’ll be doing an exciting reveal of a new project that explores just this topic. So stick around, because it’s going to be a FUN WEEK!

Oh, and did I mention the giveaway? Yup, there’s a giveaway. Three winners will receive a female antihero prize (first season of Weeds, first season of The Client List and a print copy of Orange is the New Black, the novel the hit Netflix series is based on.) And the Grand Prize winner will also get their name in… (stick around until Friday to find out because it’s going to be LEGEND—wait for it—DAIRY ((and if you don’t get THAT reference, you aren’t nearly as cool as we thought you were!))… )

First, what is an antihero?

The short definition is that an antihero is a protagonist who does not exhibit heroic traits. That clears it all up, right?

The longer answer is a bit more complicated. There are many types of antiheroes, but the gist is that these are characters who are fighting against an antagonist, but are often found with less than ideal character traits and ethical compasses. They might be engaged in criminal activities, or harbor selfish, lustful, greedy motivations. (Find out all about ABCs antihero & criminal tendencies on her confessional blog post today right here!)

Here are a few bullet points from WritersDigest that give some perspectives on the differences between the hero and anti-hero.

A hero is an idealist.
An antihero is a realist.
A hero has a conventional moral code.
An antihero has a moral code that is quirky and individual.
A hero is a modern version of a knight in shining armor.
An antihero can be a tarnished knight, and sometimes a criminal.
A hero is motivated by virtues, morals, a higher calling, pure intentions, and love for a specific person or humanity.
An anti-hero can be motivated by a more primitive, lower nature, including greed or lust, through much of the story, but he can sometimes be redeemed and answer a higher calling near the end.
A hero simply is a good guy, the type of character the reader was taught to cheer for since childhood.
An antihero can be a bad guy in manner and speech. He can cuss, drink to excess, talk down to others, and back up his threats with fists or a gun, yet the reader somehow sympathizes with or genuinely likes him and cheer him on.
A hero can be complex, but he is generally unambivalent; an antihero is a complicated character who reflects the ambivalence of many real people.
An antihero’s actions and ways of thinking demand that the reader think about issues and ask difficult questions.

Let’s talk about these good guys that love to be bad.

There’ve been a lot of them on television lately. We don’t actually have a television (we use our computers), so I know I’ll miss some (feel free to comment below with other great examples), but here are a few favorites of late.

Walt Whitman in Breaking Bad. Probably the most popular anti-hero around, right next to Dexter, who is next on my list!

In Breaking Bad you have a chemistry teacher/husband/father turned meth cooker/dealer/murder, and though he does despicable things, you kinda, sorta root for him.

And who doesn’t love our favorite killer of serial killers? Dexter redefined the serial killer genre by giving us a bad guy that kills even worse guys, thus redeeming himself.

Every single character in this show is an antihero.

In the paranormal world, the previous Big Bads of The Vampire Diaries have now gotten their own show because they were so popular. The Originals are a huge hit with fans, despite none of them being particularly good.

On the lighter side of anti-heroes, we have the dark comedy, Weeds, starring Mary-Louise Parker as a widowed housewife turned drug dealer. Following this trend is Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character in The Client List. Another single mom who looks for the answers on the wrong side of the law to make ends meet. This time, it’s in a sexy massage parlor where she finds out how good she really is at being bad.

Some might argue that these last two examples aren’t true antiheroes, as they are still likable characters who are generally nice and good, but they do make ethically questionable decisions that most of us probably wouldn’t if put in the same position.

For example, I too was once a broke single mom with few options, and yet I never sold drugs, cooked meth, or gave out hand jobs for cash. Though I did get a job offer as a phone sex operator, but that’s a story for another post! So those choices put them in another category, and yet they are still characters we can relate to. We like them and we want their lives to work out, even if we don’t agree with what they are doing.

These antiheroes draw us in, because they offer us a slice of the naughty side of life. They allow us to play in a world that is taboo and scandalous, without us having to risk our families and freedom to do so. This is a huge appeal.

We experience a vicarious thrill as we are let in to the secret underbelly of criminal life, be it in drugs or sex or murder. If we can at least a little bit understand why the characters are making the choices they are making, then we can justify it in our minds and give ourselves permission to enjoy the dark adventures they offer.

Lately, Dmytry and I have been drawn to these characters, both in our own reading and in our world building of new story ideas. We are currently working on a new Seduced series (The Demon Within, Book 1 of Seduced by Darkness) that takes a redeemable villain from Rose’s Story and makes him the antihero of his own epic journey! (Anyone remember Demon Blake?? This incubus demon is getting a LONG SERIES of his own!)

Stay tuned for more on that, but in the meantime, stick around this week for more excitement as we talk bad boys and bad girls and why we them so.

Who is your favorite antihero in literature, television or movies? Why?

Don’t forget to read ABCs “I am an anti-hero” blog post and comment. She’s freaking hilarious! And watch for more posts from us daily as we banter back and forth (sometimes with swearing), about the antihero!

 

 

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!