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An Interview with Eve Summers

Alex Beecroft — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:38:33 +0000

We’re talking to Eve today on the eve of her new release, ‘Slave of my own Desire’.

What upcoming project of your own are you most excited about?
I’ve done contemporary, I’ve done science fiction, so I guess it’s time to move on to historicals. Two periods in history have always fascinated me: Ancient Rome (that’s approximately 2000 years ago) and the time of the Witch Hunts.
While doing research have you ever done anything really exciting or
strange?
Oh, that would definitely be a yes. For example, when researching the world of prostitution for one of my books, I went to speak to The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC). Those were the early in my writing career, and I felt it would be boastful to say I was a writer, so I pretended I was considering supplementing my income by working part-time as a sex worker. What can I say? The things we do for the love of writing….

Who is your favorite fictional character created by someone other than yourself?
That would be Sawyer from LOST. I have a huge crush on the actual Bad Boy character in the story, but it doesn’t hurt that the actor looks like Josh Holloway!

Who is your own favorite character?
I’m in love… ok, make that in lust… with all my male protagonists. They are confident in life and fabulous in bed. They may be naughty but they know love and friendship.

What are you enjoying reading at the moment?
“Knights & White Satin” by Cash Cole. It’s m/m erotica, with lots of beautiful moments.

What works in progress have you got on the go at the moment?

I’m putting the final touches on a hot interracial romance, “Fiji on fire, Fiji on ice”. The heroine is an Ice Princess, the hero is pure fire, hence the book’s title. I’m having a lot of fun with this one, because every chapter’s heading is a name of a cocktail, like “Little White Lie” or “Double Trouble” or “Flaming B J”….. And, of course, the cocktails themselves are “fire” and “ice” too.
Tell us about the books you have out
“A Slave of My Own Desire”, an erotic Halloween romance, has just been released by Red Rose Publishing (www.redrosepublishing.com). One reviewer has dubbed it “The electric mix of Hot Chocolate and Cool Vanilla”.

Here is the blurb:
Clare’s ex-fiancé treated her like a queen: he was kind, attentive to her needs in bed and b-o-r-I-n-g. He never made her do what she wanted him to make her do.
From the moment Clare sets eyes on David at a Halloween party, her hormones go wild with desire. His arrogant smile promises something darker, deeper and more intense. He is Trouble – with a big, big T. And yet, the mistake of letting him would be even bigger.
David believes love is not worth the pain it brings, no matter how divine Clare looks in her goddess costume. To him, she is just a rich white girl bored of vanilla sex, and he is happy to show her a good time. So why does he melt inside every time their eyes meet?

If your book became a big Hollywood film, who would you cast to play your characters?
Him: Isaiah Washington (Preston Burke from Grey’s Anatomy)
Her: Julie Delpy (“Three Colours: White”, “Before Sunrise”)

Alpha males, do you – (a)love them? – (b)think they should be shot? Why?

I love alpha males. There is something very sexy about arrogant successful men, and it’s not only their yachts. I guess deep inside I’m a cave woman who wants to be dragged by the hair to my mate’s lair, LOL, and it takes an alpha male to do that in today’s politically correct society….

Do you enjoy TV and movies? If so, what are your favorite shows/films? Do you find they inspire your writing?

If you divide people into those who like books and those who like the silver screen, then I’m definitely a book person. Having said that, most of my male protagonists these days are charming bad boys like Sawyer from LOST, and they have the brains of Michael from Prison Break. I also love the humour in Weeds and the quirkiness of Eureka. How’s that for somebody who claims never to watch TV?

Use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.

I’m one of those weird people for whom words are reality. Not in “The Secret” kind of way where it is enough to name your wish and the universe provides it. More like hypnosis, or a self-fulfilling prophecy. If somebody tells you on a daily basis that you are stupid / capable / a great lover… then chances are, you will begin to act that way. So, I love words. They are my greatest aphrodisiac and my erotic romance books rely on witty / hot dialogue to stoke the passion.

For erotic books by Eve Summers, please see:
• www.redrosepublishing.com.
The Red Rose Publishing website is running a contest between now and December 2008. You can win real diamonds! Check it out.

For crime fiction, romance and poetry, please see:
• http://yewalus.kiwiwebhost.net.nz/
• www.amazon.com
• www.fictionwise.com

My blog: http://yewalus.blogspot.com/

Fantastic review of Captain’s Surrender

Alex Beecroft — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:55:48 +0000

I’ve just got to squee about this fantastic review of ‘Captain’s Surrender’ from a reader who loved it so much she’s almost written an essay She says:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1602020892/ref=cm_arms_pdp_dp and scroll down.

“Captain’s Surrender is a romance for those of us who are unabashedly romantic at heart and know a good love story when we read it. From first glance, Joshua falls head over heels with Peter, and so did I…

One particular appeal of this novel is that it does have its unpredictable twists. Just when you think it will go a certain way, it goes another, and keeps you reading to find out where the new path will lead. All the characters, including secondary ones, are so well-rounded, I could easily visualize them and understand what drove each one, even when their mindsets led them to choices that were maddening or exasperating…

One other thing I must mention–if you love lyrical prose and description that makes another time period come to life all around you as you read–then you will thoroughly enjoy this book. I adored the descriptions of time and place. The author can turn a phrase with that kind of rare beauty that makes you want to stop for an instant and re-read just to savor the way it is written…

The intimacy in Captain’s Surrender is tender, sexy, sweet, and just exactly right.”

And that’s just selected highlights!
I don’t know who grrluknow is, but I think I like her a lot! If it’s you, thank you so much!!

Witch’s Boy squeeing

Alex Beecroft — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:59:20 +0000

How can I not have posted this?! My only excuse has to be that this week has been beyond manic with the launch of the Britwriters’ blog, which took off absurdly and needed fifty times more administration than I thought it would. I haven’t even had time to squee about this fantastic review for ‘The Witch’s Boy’! from Val at Obsidian Bookshelf

“As all the plot threads wind closer together, The Witch’s Boy builds towards its powerful and satisfying conclusion. Throughout, we get treated to some absolutely beautiful writing…. Fans of homoerotic fiction will have to look elsewhere for gay romance because that is not the focus of this novel. However, The Witch’s Boy is probably like nothing you’ve ever read before, and should provide an unforgettable experience. Plus the cover is subtly beautiful.”

Full marks for black_hound‘s cover, which earns a place in Val’s gallery of top covers And I’m personally thoroughly delighted with the fact that Val liked my elves “I found the author’s take on the elves especially fascinating.” Squee! As you may know, there’s nothing I hate more in a book than elves who are too human, so I’m really happy I managed to avoid that one

Thank you so much, Val, for such a lovely and insightful review! I may not have mentioned it before, but it made this week of mad blogging stress all worth while

Free read – Insubordination

Alex Beecroft — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:49:02 +0000

I have a short story out as a free read. It’s set somewhere in the middle of ’Captain’s Surrender’, though it’s more of an erotic read than the book itself. Some comments had lead me to believe that some readers saw Josh as a natural ’bottom’, so I wrote this in reaction

By: Alex Beecroft | Other books by Alex Beecroft
Published By: Linden Bay Romance, LLC
ISBN LBRFREE000003

Word Count: 2975
Heat Index 5

Available in: Adobe Acrobat, HTML
Price: $0.00

download link here

About the book
For the sake of their lives and careers, Josh and Peter agreed to put their need for one another behind them. But then a luxurious and sensual dinner together becomes foreplay, leading Josh to an act of insubordination that Captain Peter Kenyon will never forget.

An excerpt from the book
“I confess I have regretted we did not have longer together. Did not do all the things I would have liked to try. I have dreamed… No. No, I won’t even say that. God knows we neither of us need any encouragement and I will not…”

“Take advantage of me?” The smile has grown until his cheeks are aching with it. He shoves his chair back from the table, stands. He’s been planning this ’one last time’ for weeks, and he knows exactly what to do.

The politenesses of society are so ingrained in Kenyon that he rises in echo, and stands, looking bemused and helpless and rather lost before the gold and red drapery of the Pellegrini above the mantle. Slowly, but firmly, Josh takes him by both wrists and backs him into the wall, where he stands, rigid with a mixture of terror and desire—very still, but his chest heaving. “I don’t want to risk your life,” he tries to explain. “Josh, we were going to…stop…we agreed this was…”

“Peter,” says Josh, carefully removing the powdered wig and setting it on top of the globe of the world, where it looks appropriate but rather undersized. “Shut up.” Peter looks at him then, really looks at him, startled, his eyes wide and dark with outraged dignity and arousal.

Josh loosens the knot in Peter’s cravat, undoes the two little buttons beneath and leans in, touching his mouth to Peter’s skin, the collarbone hard against his lips.

Squee! I’m in Print :)

Alex Beecroft — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:51:06 +0000

And so early too! I got this in my in-box this morning:

Anyone who wants a signed copy (though I can’t imagine why anyone would ), just say and we can sort something out. (It’s all complicated by the Atlantic Ocean, but I’m sure we can get around that )

Squeeeeeee!!!

Captain’s Surrender

By: Alex Beecroft
Published By: Linden Bay Romance, LLC
ISBN # 978-1-60202-088-7

Word Count: 60229

Click here for the print version

About the book

Ambitious and handsome, Joshua Andrews had always valued his life too much to take unnecessary risks. Then he laid eyes on the elegant picture of perfection that is Peter Kenyon.Soon to be promoted to captain, Peter Kenyon is the darling of the Bermuda garrison. With a string of successes behind him and a suitable bride lined up to share his future, Peter seems completely out of reach to Joshua.But when the two men are thrown together to serve during a long voyage under a sadistic commander with a mutinous crew, they discover unexpected friendship. As the tension on board their vessel heats up, the closeness they feel for one another intensifies and both officers find themselves unable to rein in their passion.Let yourself be transported back to a time when love between two men in the British Navy was punishable by death, and to a story about love, about honor, but most of all, about a Captain’s Surrender.

An excerpt from the book

“No!” One got used to Peter being still, measured, even stiff, and forgot that he could also swoop into movement like a hawk. Josh found himself seized by both elbows before he’d even registered the beginning of the lunge. “Is that why you follow me? Out of a kind of self-blackmail? Out of fear? I thought…” He swallowed, looking almost sick with nerves. “I thought there was something more.”

Josh breathed in—a breath that seemed to take forever, while his heart paused, frightened, above the great abyss of the future. How easily he could ruin the modest happiness he had attained as Peter’s friend by misinterpreting, by leaping out unsupported into the pit.

“I thought you wanted to gloss over the incident,” Josh said, wiping his hands nervously against the skirts of his coat. Had he missed something? When they came to shore and took lodgings together, they had had a gentle, fearsomely embarrassed conversation about the unfortunate fate of Peter’s rather too well beloved tutor, Mr. Allenby, and then nothing. A few days’ awkwardness and then friendship returning like a balm. But had he read it wrong?

Had the awkwardness been in fact an inept, unspoken invitation? He fought off hope and guilt together. “Frankly, sir, when you kiss a superior officer without invitation you feel unreasonably fortunate even to be allowed to let the matter drop.”

Unexpectedly, Kenyon smirked. “I’ll remember that, next time I accost the admiral.” And Josh laughed, sure that he could now turn away, hide his flushed face in the shadows and let the moment pass, leaving him on an even keel again.

But Peter had not let go. It would have taken a saint to struggle against the grip of those long fingered, elegant hands—and Josh was no saint. Though elbows did not normally feature prominently in his erotic daydreams, when they were separated from Peter’s skin only by a layer of cotton so thin that he could feel the roughness of rope burns, the callous left by a small-sword, he found himself obsessed by them, unable to concentrate on anything else.

“I admit I was a little…taken aback, at the time.”

They moved; Peter’s hands moved, sliding from elbows to biceps, and Josh had to bite his lip against the rush of illicit pleasure, the maddening desire to take the one step forward that would enable him to press himself against Peter, hot and tight together. God, he shouldn’t have thought of that!

“But the more I reflected on the matter, the more I confess I found myself…” Peter’s eyes had a trick of holding the light, as the sea will when the sun is bright, and Josh—oh how he wanted to swim. “Curious.”

No protestations of undying love. It was unsettling—it was almost real. “Curious?” Josh managed in a constricted, breathless voice that was as good as an admission of guilt. If Peter had any sensitivity at all, he must know how far he was pushing; he must have the sense to back off now, before it was too late.

“As to what you are willing to die for. I should like to know.”

There were a number of objections Josh could have made, and he did try. He honestly did. With his blood singing and his mouth gone dry he did say “I…don’t wish to…mistake your meaning.”

Kenyon’s right hand stroked over Josh’s shoulder, came to rest on the back of his neck, the thumb moving slightly, raising the hairs on his nape in a shiver of delight. By themselves, his eyes had half closed, his face tilted up in mute offering, primed and waiting. He made a last ditch defense. “I don’t want you to do…anything you’d…regret.”

And Peter closed the distance between them. They were touching, Josh could feel the planes of that hard chest, was surrounded, invaded by Peter’s heat, his scent. Peter was looking down with wide eyes, his own breath coming ragged now, as Josh’s fever infected him. “I should like to kiss you,” he said, decidedly. “Unless you object?”

Even the man’s voice was like being coated in molasses and licked clean. How was anyone supposed to object to that? “Christ no!” Josh leaned in, surrendering. “I mean yes, sir, kiss me. Oh, yes. Yes, please!”

Two new reviews

Alex Beecroft — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:53:46 +0000

Five cups from Coffee Time Romance Reviews

“Even if you have never read a gay romance before, you simply must read Captain’s Surrender!”

Read the whole review HERE

~*~*~*~

Recommended Read by ‘Joyfully Reviewed’

“In Captain’s Surrender,
the bounds of honor, loyalty, fidelity and love are all tested
and divergent paths and possibilities are explored for both
Joshua and Peter. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look
forward to more from Alex Beecroft.”

Read the whole review HERE

In unrelated news, I’ve started the first edit on ‘Secrets’ in which I’ve practically re-written the first chapter. In obedience to various editors’ advice, I’ve carefully taken out occurances of ‘to be’ in all its forms, and strictly limited character thinking/brooding. Admiral Saunders no longer appears in flashback. John writes in his diary instead of brooding. In addition he has a new life-threatening problem to take his mind off his pushy over-amorous lieutenant, and hopefully things are a little more dramatic now. I like it better, at least!

Captain’s Surrender available now in ebook format

Alex Beecroft — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:46:11 +0000

Captain’s Surrender

By: Alex Beecroft
Published By: Linden Bay Romance, LLC
ISBN # 978-1-60202-088-7

Word Count: 60229

Available in: Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, Adobe Acrobat, HTML

About the book

Ambitious and handsome, Joshua Andrews had always valued his life too much to take unnecessary risks. Then he laid eyes on the elegant picture of perfection that is Peter Kenyon.

Soon to be promoted to captain, Peter Kenyon is the darling of the Bermuda garrison. With a string of successes behind him and a suitable bride lined up to share his future, Peter seems completely out of reach to Joshua.

But when the two men are thrown together to serve during a long voyage under a sadistic commander with a mutinous crew, they discover unexpected friendship. As the tension on board their vessel heats up, the closeness they feel for one another intensifies and both officers find themselves unable to rein in their passion.

Let yourself be transported back to a time when love between two men in the British Navy was punishable by death, and to a story about love, about honor, but most of all, about a Captain’s Surrender.

A Good End (to the year)

Alex Beecroft — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:34:53 +0000

After the toil and less than overwhelming success of the chat, I was ready to feel sorry for myself at the weekend. However, today makes for a great end to a year in which I had my first book accepted for publication.

Why? (I don’t hear you say )

Because today I got a fabulous review of Captain’s Surrender from Val Kovalin at Obsidian Bookshelf:

When you finish this succinct book (which is slightly under 200 pages) you will be amazed at the range of emotional and physical territory covered by Captain’s Surrender… which is the best gay novel I’ve read this year.

Read the whole review HERE

And because 90% Proof – the story whose saga begins with ‘sweet rejection’ and continues with ‘LOL!Editing’ – has been accepted for the Freya’s Bower anthology. So the year ends with a contract for a short story, and next year begins with the release of ‘Captain’s Surrender’.

It isn’t the impressive multiple publishing list of some writers, but it’s a landmark year for me!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Invitation to an author chat

Alex Beecroft — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:36:25 +0000

To celebrate the imminent release of ‘Captain’s Surrender’ – ebook out on the 1st of January and print soon after – I’m having an all day chat at Beth Wylde’s yahoo group HERE on the 28th of December. That would be tomorrow

There will be a competition to win a free copy of the ebook, and numerous excerpts so that you can decide whether you fancy it at all and I would *love* to see some of my friends there. It’ll be going on all day, starting at 10am ish UK time and going on until I go to bed, so please drop in at any time and say hello.

Thank you!

Alex

Captain’s Surrender is reviewer’s choice at NOR

Alex Beecroft — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:23:52 +0000

Captain’s Surrender by Alex Beecroft

Score: 4.75 / 5 – Reviewer Top Pick

Reviewer: Vee of Night Owl Romance

Online: http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/reviews/Review.asp?ReviewId=1033

Joshua Andrews and Peter Kenyon are two gay men who are forced to bunk together aboard Captain Walker’s naval ship. Captain Walker, a sadistically cruel man who revels in beating and killing, has made it clear there are spies among the crew and any show of passion will be dealt with in a gruesome and lethal manner.

Thus sets the backdrop of Captain’s Surrender. While Josh and Peter escape death at Captain Walker’s hands, there is the societal and biblical damnation that fosters in Josh a deep-seated self loathing. And there’s the expectation that Peter take a wife and ‘make’ heirs for his family.

While each works up the ranks of the Navy to become captains themselves, they have stolen, intense and passionate moments. After a battle with the Colonists that sinks Josh’s ship, he awakens in the arms of a Native American man. As Josh recuperates, the Indians who are caring for him show him a different outlook on gay men. They revere them as being special and better. This helps Josh accept his nature and his love for Peter.

The conflict in Captain’s Surrender and the forbidden nature of the romance between Josh and Peter is probably the strongest and most realistic that I’ve ever read. Ms. Beecroft is unflinching in her portrayal of the volatile society in which they lived.

However I had a very hard time stomaching the cruelty dished out by Captain Walker and admit that after reading a couple of very vivid passages where men were beaten, I didn’t want to continue the book. I was greatly relieved when the pair were no longer under the captain’s thumb.

The truth is the feelings of revulsion I felt are a compliment to the author’s writing. She managed to invoke the sense of despair and dread the men felt. The love/lust scenes were equally as good showing at their paradoxical nature.

I felt Ms. Beecroft’s prose, setting of time and place, and historical accuracy were excellent.