K.J. Bennett's Blog, page 3

Lacey Dearie's Tangled Web: This Changes Everything

Lacey Dearie's Tangled Web: This Changes Everything

Someone's life changed in the matter of minutes. Please read Lacey Dearie's blog post.

Book Review - The Missing

The Missing by Karl Vadaszffy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well this is a book with a mixed bag of reviews on Amazon UK: some slate it, some praise it: some are downright insulting to the author.

I rather liked it.

Be under no illusions: this is not a pleasant book; it is about a serial killer who focuses on women. They tend to be nasty characters that do nasty things to women. I had to laugh at one reviewer who decries the violation of women as portrayed in this book, and another who criticises the lack of loving sex. Hmm, if only twisted serial killers converted to indulging in loving sex: they’d all be cured.

OK, the police procedure is not realistic, but then who believes that Morse, Frost or many other fictional detectives are realistic? This is a work of fiction. Live with it.

In reality, there would be a specialist squad investigating the killings but, as with those other top ’tecs, DS Kate Neilson is on her own. Did the elusive Jennie ever exist, or is the sadly lovelorn John Simmons deluded about her existence and killing all these women? Or is the killer a fellow detective (the DCI has issues)? What is the involvement of the Wongs?

The first half of the book moved at a reasonable pace, the second half thundered along. Not all of it was to my taste, but I did enjoy it overall.

I don’t disbelieve the earlier reviews that mention many typos and errors, but I didn’t notice more than a couple, which means either I’m half blind, the story was good enough to make me not notice them, or they’ve been corrected.

Overall, a very worthy 4 stars.


View all my reviews

Fiction meets fact

In a change from the usual ‘me me me’ kind of blog post, today I am really pleased to welcome two guests to Bennett Towers.
First up is the wonderful Miss Anya Breton. 

Anya is the author of numerous books, some erotic and some for young adults. Her urban fantasy ‘Lore’ series so far stretches to 11 volumes, and her latest erotic offering Alpha Exposed will be released tomorrow.
My second guest is far less distinguished. Born in 1955 he still only 24 years old and should be singing his heart out in the late 1970s. However, he crossed a ruthless biker gang, became embroiled in a drug smuggling racket, was entrapped by the Greek secret police and the KGB, and was used as a guinea pig in a quantum experiment sponsored by a Greek drugs baron. Nothing out of the ordinary, then. Oh, did I mention that he may have murdered his father? No? How remiss of me. You can read his tale in RathboneKydd – sex’n’drugs’n’quantum stuff .
So, here to interview Anya Breton is Mr Rathbone Kydd.

============
RK: Thank you, KJ, thank you. It’s kind of you to have me here today, and I see you’ve lain on a hot chick for me to get my teeth into. Lovely. Er, so, er, Anya, chick: I hear you write that erotica stuff, eh? Wanna tell be about that?
AB: Yes, recently I’ve tried my hand writing erotic romance. It’s the softer side of erotic books, the side that is concerned with love and relationships while still featuring salacious sex scenes that hold little back.
RK: Sorry, babe, I was just examining your assets there. What’s the name of the new book you’ve been hand-writing?
AB: *adjusts her top so it covers more* Alpha Exposed is the next book due out.RK: So what’s the plot, assuming is not just about the sex? Not that there’s Anya-thing (tee hee) wrong with just the sex, know what I’m saying, eh? *Drools*
AB: [stares for a moment] The plot is Samantha’s sister is missing. The one person who can help find her sister wants a steep price for his services—sex in public with the only woman to reject him. The only woman is, of course, Samantha. I can’t give away too much more without ruining the plot, but yes, there is more than sex. It is a love story, after all J This love story just happens to feature Air witches and Alpha weretigers. Mmm, Alpha weretigers *goes glassy-eyed*
RK: Wow! Rejection. Must be a real bummer. I sorta sympathise with that guy. Hell, who am I kidding? He’s a loser. Rejection? Never happened to me. So ... air-witches: are the like sandwiches with a low fat centre?
AB: *wipes a little bit of drool off her lower lip* He’s actually quite lovely, at least in the end. Yes, Air witches and no, they’re not like sandwiches, unless you know of low fat sandwiches that can conjure tornadoes and speak telepathically. I dunno about you but I’d run for the hills if I came across any entrée that could do that!
RK: I don’t know of any telepathic sandwiches, but I do remember this guy back in Exeter (that’s in Devon, England) in ’78 who had this real bad acid trip and thought he was a sausage. So me and the guys from the band were chasing him round town yelling, “Knife and fork, knife and fork!” Don’t know if he ever got out of the institution, or anything. So how many books have you published?
AB: I’d have been yelling “spork”. It’s the superior utensil. How many published? Er, not counting self-published titles, this book will be number 3. Counting self-published titles, it’s *thinks hard* 14? That’s not including a few free short stories here and there.
RK: Hell, that’s way more than KJ. Guess you make him feel inadequate. Quite right, too: he is.  So you’re a millionaire authoress who writes sexy books and looks hotter than a very hot thing? Wow. I’m in lurve...
AB: *snorts* Millionaire, nah. I still have to work a day job. As far as the second part there, considering some “very hot things” I’ve seen, yeah sure, I look hotter than a pizza burnt to a crisp.
RK: Don’t do yourself down, babe, I am partial to burnt pizza. But you are far from that. Now do you feel your erotic literature reflects real life? I mean, is it possible to get into these situations for real?
AB: This book? Maybe parts. A big portion of the plot has to do with the supernatural so, in that aspect, no you can’t get into the situations for real. In my Randy’s Diner series, I suppose you could get into those situations for real if someone created a naughty diner like that. By the way, the idea is available for franchising ;)
RK: See, I thought it was all unreal, ’cos there’s no way guys can even talk to girls in most cases when they all have those music players – erm, pPods? – stuffed in their ears. Got any good tips to get over THAT obstacle?
AB: Are you asking me for advice picking up chicks?
RK: Hell no! No way. Dy’a think I need it?
It’s just that music player stuff. I mean, I went to a pub the other night and met this real cool chick – sleek and slinky, thick brown hair, a real babe. After a few drinks we ended up at her place, and she wasn’t really a conversationalist, y’know? I mean, I can handle myself in most situations so it didn’t matter too much, but she had these, erm, these m-pod-3 earplugs things in the whole night and it’s kinda off-putting, especially that tinny over-spill when she turned up the volume right at the moment of glory. I mean how the hell’re you s’posed to get those things away from a chick? Call me old fashioned, but I like at least some chat – not necessarily dinner and a show, but “thanks for a good time” would be nice. All I got was a chorus “Umbrella-ella-ella” and a slammed door.
AB: I hope you promptly lost her phone number.
RK: Well, no. She was rather a babe.
Still, enough of this stuff about my very active sex life: tell me about yours. Oh, hang on. KJ’s just passed me a note. Hmm, it says, “Ask her about the real Anya Breton – who she is, what she likes, what makes her tick ...” Wow, that’s deep. Didn’t think he was like that.
So, tell me about the real Anya Breton.
AB: What makes me tick? Oxygen. This whole line of questioning reminds me of that Anger Management movie— [adopts her best Nicholson impression]  “Dave, I don't want you to tell us what you do. I want you to tell us who you are.”
Um, I’m a goofball and a nerd. I like loads of things. Oh, for example, I’m an Apple fangirl. So I love those iPods [emphasizes the “I”] Remember when if you wanted to carry 5000 songs around with you, you’d have to have a lorry? Now you just need one of these thin little babies with the pretty colour screen. *holds one up and strokes it*
RK: Hell, I’m a rock singer, I carry 10000 songs around with me – in my head! OK, so some of them sound the same, but still ...
Is Anya Breton your real name, or a gnome-dee-ploom, or whatever the fuck spelling that’s supposed to be?
AB: Nope. Next question ;)
RK: You’re a tough cookie, you know? Maybe I should ask more direct questions, ’cos you just confused me there. Is it an assumed name?
AB: Anya is my nickname. I started using it in high school. Breton is not my surname but it is my family’s name. It’s a long story that isn’t amusing. Trust me when I say you don’t want to hear it ;)
RK: I know what you mean about those name problems. I mean, keep it just between you and me, and promise not to tell a soul, but my full name is Basil Rathbone Kydd. Yee, the crap I had to put up with at school with that name. It was the initials – BRK: bark. They used to call me Fido.
Anyhow ... I hear you have thing about rubber chickens. Care to explain?
AB: If it helps, I love the name Basil. It’s a respectable sort of name.
RK: I'm not the respectable type.
AB: About the rubber chickens, I was a clown in high school. Literally. But I couldn’t afford a rubber chicken. I’d always wanted one. So when I got a real job, I started collecting them.
RK: So these rubber chickens: not euphemisms for some kinky sex toys in your books?
AB: *laughs* No. But if you like that sort of thing, I suggest reading ‘Clown Girl’ by Monica Drake.
RK: Right. I hear that the ‘Lore’ series is classed as ‘young adult’. Do you get any of your younger readers buying the wrong books and complaining? (Actually, they probably wouldn’t complain, but their daddies might).
AB: Erm, ‘Lore’ is most definitely, definitely not a young adult series. In fact a reviewer over on Shelfari has marked the later books as erotic (I don’t agree with that, but whatever). And book 1 features a lesbian scene soo…no, please, if you’re a teen, do NOT read my ‘Lore’ series. Frankly, the Lore series isn’t that good. I went a little crazy with the characters and plots as the series progresses. And it’s not professionally edited.
‘Time’s Daughter’ is my only young adult book so far (it too suffers from not being professionally edited). So far none of the teens have bought the other books and complained (mostly because that requires buying, and Time’s Daughter is free from most retailers).
I’ve considered a second pen name. If I release any other YA books, I’ll probably do it with a different name.
RK: WOW-wow-wow: ‘Lore’ is NOT YA? Excuse me while I punish KJ for poor research. Back in a few secs .........
... And I suppose I’d better rethink the Christmas gifts I was gonna get for KJ’s teenie daughter, then. Oh, and I’d better call for an ambulance. His nose looks broken ... and his leg.
AB: Again? The poor thing! [hands over a bar of fancy chocolate] Make sure HE gets this!
RK: Right, Anya. I suppose we’d better end on a high note. You’ve got just enough time before the medical services arrive to tell me why people should buy your book.
AB: Um..because there’s public sex?
I’m really bad at selling myse…er, my books. I never think they’re good enough. But this one, this is the best one I’ve ever released…so far. It’s a short read, it’s fun, and it’s sexy.
RK: Anya Breton: thanks very much for coming here, and good luck with Alpha Exposed .
Right. Can I interest you in a night of passion ... ?
AB: I’m always interested in nights of passion…with my amazing significant other. Sorry, darling, I’m spoken for. But you’re a doll. Just keep doing what you’re doing and I’m sure those mPods will fall right out of those ears. *tries to hold a straight face as she gets up*
RK: That’s OK. Not a rejection ... just testing your fidelity quotient ...

 ++++++++++
Book Title: Alpha Exposed
Date available: October 5 2012
Genre: Erotic romance (paranormal)
Blurb:
When Samantha’s sister goes missing, all signs point to supernatural foul play. Her fellow Air witches won’t help, leaving her with one miserable choice—to beg for assistance from Dion Hebert, the odious weretiger Alpha she shot down months ago. In front of his pack. What’s a witch to do?

Dion can’t believe Samantha has the nerve to come begging after she humiliated him in front of half the supernatural Underground. He agrees to help in exchange for the one thing he’s always wanted—Samantha Avira. Naked. Wrapped around him in every delectable position he can imagine. But since the witch humiliated him publically, Dion wants the sex to be public too.

The thought of getting naked with Dion turns Samantha on, as much as she tries to deny it. The thought of getting naked with him in front of everyone leaves her part aroused and part horrified. When Dion makes good on his end of the bargain, Samantha’s deepest, darkest desires are unleashed. And the result is pure, sexy magic that can’t be tamed.

Buy link: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10416-alpha-exposed.aspx
Excerpt: http://www.jasminejade.com/productspecs/9781419941016.htm

What's so special about October?

SPECIAL OFFER On the subject of  Rathbone Kydd – sex’n’drugs’n’quantumstuff , until the end of October, and only on Amazon, you can get the Kindle edition for $0.99. £0.99, or €0.99. It can still be bought from other outlets, but only at the full price.
Please note  – the £ and € prices have the addition of VAT, so will be slightly above 0.99. Buy now from Amazon on these links -
UKUS/IndiaESFRDEIT


SPECIAL EVENT Coming up on 4 October 2012 is a guest interview. I will be really pleased to welcome to my blog, Miss Anya Breton.
This is no ordinary interview: Anya is an author and Twitter friend and writes erotic novels. But she didn’t want to be interviewed by me, oh no! Why be interviewed by wrinkly of K J Bennett when she can be interviewed by the far younger, much better looking, slimmer, sexual beast that is Rathbone Kydd, the main character in my most recent book Rathbone Kydd – sex’n’drugs’n’quantum stuff?
Find out what happens when Fiction meets fact – on this blog, 4 October 2012.

Book review - Dream On

Dream On by Terry Tyler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OK, I'm a bloke, I do do this romance stuff, ordinarily.

This isn't ordinary.

I bought this book on Kindle after an exchange of Tweets with the author on Twitter. I shall not repeat here what was Tweeted. I was not actually expecting to enjoy it  - Terry Tyler is a romantic novelist, after all. I was very much mistaken.

The prose is a joy to read. Ms Tyler gradually sucks the reader into the world of would-be rock star Dave Bentley - the man who never really grew up. It is, primarily, his story, but we also follow several others' paths to fame, fortune and misfortune. I've read other reviews where it is said there are laugh out loud moments:I found only one, as I found most of the humour to be gentle; it often brought a smile to my face on the London Underground. (I apologise to the attractive young lady who sat opposite me today and who thought I was leering at her, by the way.)

All I can say is that Terry Tyler is a damned fine writer and this is a damned fine book. Although very different, it reminded of the film 'Love Actually' in the way the different threads if romance and mishap are woven together.

Go on chaps: give it a go.

View all my reviews

Swearing? Not bl**dy likely!

A Twitter friend and fellow author, L K Jayhas written an interesting blog entry titled Dropping the ‘C’ Bomb , about when to use swearing in writing. It’s interesting because I’ve never really considered this.
My current release, Rathbone Kydd – sex’n’drugs’n’quantum stuff (just issued on Kindle and with a 5* review already  – go on, buy a copy!) is riddled with swearing from the mild stuff, through the copious F words, and right up to the C Bomb (seven of them). Part of the book is a first person narrative by the main character, a 1970s rock singer: if he didn’t swear he’d have to come from the Cliff Richards school of music, “Uh, yah!” As it stands, Rathbone’s Amazon and Smashword pages carry content warnings, because, as direct contrast to Rathbone, there is no swearing whatsoever in my previous book, Pike’s Quest , there just wasn’t the need. I didn’t make a conscious decision because the question just never arose.
So, L K Jay, m’dear, I think, for me the question of when to use swearing in my writing is answered with, “Only when necessary.”
Check out L K Jay’s Amazon page here, and see my book listings and purchase links here.

RELEASED!

Today’s the day: Rathbone Kydd - sex'n'drugs'n'quantum stuff is out as an e-book on Amazon and Smashwords.
"Time will reveal everything. It is a babbler, and speaks even when not asked.” Euripides, 480-406 BC
February 2012: Detective Superintendent Derek Burridge is shocked to learn that his estranged wife, Vicky, has been involved in a serious car accident, knocking down a woman and narrowly missing a man. He is even more shocked to learn that the woman is inexplicably in a coma and the man, Rathbone Kydd, thinks he has travelled through time. Derek launches an investigation into Rathbone’s claims, many of which are made  whilst he is a compulsory patient in the mental health department of Plymouth Royal Infirmary. When Derek checks into the alleged suicide of Rathbone’s father in 1972, he seriously considers the possibility that Rathbone is telling the truth.
Derek and Rathbone soon uncover a conspiracy of, quite literally, quantum proportions.
A would-be 1970s rock star; a renegade biker gang; international drug smuggling; a Greek crime lord and his man-eating daughter; the Russian and Greek secret services; British Military Intelligence; quantum physics and a modern day detective all combine in a thriller like no other.
For full details, including samples, click here.
CONTENT WARNING: Contains sexual references, drugs and bad language. Not suitable for those aged under 16 years.

Decency

I was going to blog about decency a few days ago, and then this happened ...
Tuesday 18 September 2012, Manchester, England: Two female police officers were called to report a burglary at an unoccupied house. On arrival, they were shot multiple times and then blown up with a hand grenade. The officers, young mother PC Fiona Bone , aged 32, and PC Nicola Hughes , aged 23, were killed. They were unarmed, other than the usual protection equipment and a Taser. Probably, had they been armed, the result would have been the same. They were lured to an ambush and would probably have had no time to shoot back and defend themselves: it has been reported that a Taser was found on the ground next to them, indicating that this was so.
That was bad enough: two unarmed women ambushed for no reason other than a person who may have psychopathic personality wishing to make a name for him-/her-self. But then the Facebook pages emerged, the one praising the actions of the killer. In my book, these trolls are as bad as the killer.
OK, the police aren’t perfect, and many people don’t like them as an organisation, but the vast majority of officers joined for the right reasons and do their best in trying circumstances, often without support from their managers and certainly in the face of massive attacks on their pay and conditions by politicians. Add to that the assaults they suffer, the abuse they take, etc.
Not every officer is a Simon Harwood, or gets embroiled in allegations of corruption following a  major tragedy - most get on with the job of helping people and solving crime.
Look at the faces of these two women: does anyone really think they deserved to die, simply for donning a uniform?
And now to what I was originally going to write.
The Duchess of Cambridge: I am not prudish, as a read of my new novel, Rathbone Kydd – sex’n’drugs’n’quantum stuff may reveal, and it’s not often that I get on my high horse about the Royal Family, but this has got me well and truly mounted.
As has been widely reported, a photographer has been sneaking around with a long lens, taking images of the former Kate Middleton in a state of partial undress. The duchess was sunbathing on a private balcony of a private property with no public access and at least 500 meters from the nearest road. Some might say she was naїve to bare her top when she was so obviously the subject of press interest, but those who say that, I say “sod off”!
The now suspended editor of the Irish Daily Star justified the publication with words to the effect that the duchess is a celebrity and “right up there with Rihanna and Lady Gaga”. Does he really think that? Really?
Think about what Rihanna and Lady G do for a living: they sing, they dance, they wear skimpy clothes for the titillation of others and they go out in public wearing very little. If they wish to do that, good on ’em. They’d be the last to complain when they appear in the celeb gossip pages having been photographed in public. BUT, if they wish to bare their parts in private, no one has a right to see that unless they are invited by the good ladies.
Everyone has the right to privacy: it is enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights. It matters not whether the subject of the photographs is a pop star, a stripper or the world’s scummiest whore: if she wants to take off her top in private, she should be able to do that without having her nipples plastered all over the press.
In my opinion, the Duchess of Cambridge is gorgeous, and I’m sure that many red-blooded men (and some women) would love to see her naked body, but they have no right to do so. OK, she’s privileged and destined one day to become Queen, and many people object to the existence of royalty, but that gives no one any right to play peeping tom and intrude on her private moments. It is voyeurism, plain and simple.
I hope the palace continues to seek injunctions and to hound the publishers of these images, and that the photographer responsible is prosecuted under the French privacy laws.
I think that these totally unconnected events demonstrate a general erosion of decency, and I don’t like it. 

Something for nothing ...

People: use the link below to sign up for a freebie paperback copy of Pike's Quest. 

If you are not already a member of Goodreads, why not? It takes only a few seconds to join and it costs nothing, plus you can get all sorts of free books and e-books.

So get on and do it, and enter the giveaway. You can win  one of only 17 copies of the book to bear the old cover, as displayed below. It will also be autographed unless you request otherwise.



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Goodreads Book Giveaway Pike's Quest by K.J. Bennett Giveaway ends September 30, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win Go on, what are you waiting for?



Pike's QuestMultiple Five Star Reviews on Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
In a future where horses are revered as gifts of the gods, and sheep and hounds are the beasts of burden, ancient magicks have been rediscovered. But there are those who wish to uncover the technology of the past and take control of the world for their own evil ends. Now, more than ever, the world needs a hero.

In the tiny hamlet of Ooze, a hapless, fish-faced, flaky-skinned youth named Pike is about to commence a quest: to win the heart of the fair maiden at the Pit of Zidor, and to release Moorlock the Warlock from the captivity of his mortal enemy. Accompanied by a garrulous sparrow and a belligerent horse, Pike is captured and then employed by the lisping Lord Nairey du Well in his sheep-drawn carriage, and then pursued by the deadly huntress, Scarlet Deadnight - du Well’s partner in tyranny.
Pike discovers:   - that fair maidens are not always female,   - that they can prove to be deadly foes, and   - the true value of a good moisturiser!
This comic fantasy turns the genre on its head and is a must for readers of all ages.

A late update

Well, I’ve not posted on here for a while.
After three months off work (the one that pays, not the authorly one) following my Achilles tendon operation, I resumed to find an atmosphere of despondency had descended upon my department and, that with only six months to go before my retirement from public service, I am told the funding for my post has ceased and I must move to another department. More than that I am not permitted to say, due to the nature of my work.
On the plus side of things, my next book release – Rathbone Kydd: sex’n’drugs’n’quantum stuff – is still in line for a Kindle and paperback release in mid September. It will also be available on Smashwords, as will Pike’s Quest .
The two books will appeal possibly to quite different audiences. PQ can be enjoyed by readers of all ages: one reviewer on Amazon UK read it to his grandchildren and describes it as “one of the best adventure/fantasy books I’ve read in a long time”.
RK is a thriller and an adult read, or at least, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under 16 years. It contains sexual references, violence, drug usage and drug smuggling, along with some quantum stuff. Here’s the book blurb (it may alter slightly before publication):
Rathbone Kydd sex’n’drugs’n’quantum stuff
“Time will reveal everything. It is a babbler, and speaks even when not asked.”Euripides, 480-406 BC
February 2012: Detective Superintendent Derek Burridge is shocked to learn thathis estranged wife, Vicky, has been involved in a serious car accident, knockingdown a woman and narrowly missing a man. He is even more shocked to learnthat the woman is inexplicably in a coma and the man, Rathbone Kydd, is claimingto have travelled through time.
Derek launches an investigation into Rathbone’s claims, many of which are madewhilst he is a compulsory patient in the mental health department of PlymouthRoyal Infirmary. When Derek checks into the alleged suicide of Rathbone’s fatherin 1972, he seriously considers the possibility that Rathbone is telling the truth.Derek and Rathbone soon uncover a conspiracy of, quite literally, quantum proportionsinvolving a ruthless biker gang, rock’n’roll, international drug running, theGreek secret police, the Russian KGB, and British Military Intelligence.
They discover that secretive government agencies can be just as ruthless as the wildest biker gang, and that time will, indeed, reveal everything.

You can read a few samples on the RathboneKydd micro-site, and follow @RathboneKydd on Twitter if you don’t mind his arrogance!