Hi everyone– Happy Thanksgiving Yanks and happy Friday everyone! I hope your day was wonderful I told you–great week for guests! Welcome one of our favorite visitors around here, Kay Berrisford. Kay has a super new book with her own unique style of magic and sex. It’s called Simon, Sex, and the Solstice Stone.
To launch it, Kay is giving away to one lucky commenter a copy of either Bound for the Forest or Bound to the Beast, her wildly popular MM, BDSM historical fantasies! So get your comments in.
And Kay will tell you about her imaginative new book. Here’s Kay —
Writing a story about Thanksgiving – how hard can it be? Well, if you’re British like me, the answer might well be – “pretty much impossible.” What if I got my version of one of the most important dates in the US calendar wrong? I might not realize my mistake before it’s too late, but any American readers would sure as hell spot it fast.
That was my natural response when presented with the challenge of writing a story encompassing two dates in the forthcoming holiday season. Christmas and New Year I could obviously deal with and Veterans Day I know well enough as Remembrance Day. But Thanksgiving had me running a mile, right as far as…well, the winter solstice. Here, conjuring images of the midwinter sun, Stonehenge, and ancient ritual, I felt far more comfortable.
I decided to write a story set between the solstice (21stof December) and Christmas. But now I had a new problem. Three days isn’t much time for my MCs to fall in love. Indeed, seeing as one of them, Aubrey, was a lost time traveller from 1647 and the other a shy student with his roots firmly in the 21st Century, I figured they needed a little bit more of a “getting to know you” period—not to mention the time to unravel the mysteries of the circle of stones and work out how to get Aubrey back to the English Civil War! I figured they wanted about a month, but if you rewind a month from the winter solstice…oh look, 22nd November, we’re back at Thanksgiving.
I decided to bite the bullet. After all, I don’t flinch at writing stories set in distant historical cultures I’m never going to visit, so why should Thanksgiving intimidate me? I’m going to Washington DC next year! Besides, it was also the perfect opportunity for pouring on the angst. What if my shy student, Simon, had always celebrated Thanksgiving with family in New York till this year? Stuck in rainy old England on a normal November day, even a trip to his favorite stone circle isn’t going to cheer him up without a miracle, or at least something very strange happening…
In the end, I had great fun researching Thanksgiving, reading loads of stories and historical accounts, though a mere fraction of what I learned made its way into the story. Only the opening part is set at Thanksgiving, and then the narrative launches right through the month to the solstice and Christmas. But I’m glad I took the time. After all, now for the first time, I have a good idea what I mean when I wish all you American readers – HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Simon, Sex, and the Solstice Stone (published by Loose Id, m/m, paranormal, time travel, 45k).
Blurb: Simon’s holiday season is looking grim. His boyfriend’s dumped him, and his self-esteem is rock bottom. Stuck in the UK where nobody celebrates Thanksgiving, the shy, geeky student drowns his sorrows at an ancient stone circle. When a gorgeous stranger, Aubrey, shows up and attempts to seduce him, Simon is flattered but also freaked—especially when Aubrey claims to be from an historic sex cult who’d uncovered the true powers of the circle. It’s a time machine. Aubrey intended to travel back three hundred and sixty-five days, but an error propelled him forward three hundred and sixty-five years into a world alien to him.
Simon reluctantly takes the lost time traveler under his wing, and Aubrey teaches Simon the ways of sex, love, and magic. Simon’s never felt so alive, but as their bond grows, Aubrey remains determined to perform a dangerous ritual and return home at the winter solstice. Fearing he’s no more to Aubrey than a sexual sacrifice, Simon must discover the dark secrets of Aubrey’s pagan past. Only then can Simon choose between risking all for the man he loves or a lonely Christmas without him.
Excerpt:
They crumpled to the shower floor, Simon boneless in Aubrey’s arms. They panted as one. “Sweet heavens,” murmured Aubrey at length. “I have never known such fire. I don’t quite know what possessed me.” He planted a kiss on the top of Simon’s head. “Apart from you.”
“Mmmmm.” His afterglow fading, Simon clung to the pleasant feel of Aubrey holding him. For a few minutes it satisfied.
But then all that blood rushed back from his cock to his brain, and he tensed.
“Are you well?” asked Aubrey. Gently he touched Simon’s chin, urging him to look up. “Was I too rough?”
“No, I’m fine.” Simon’s headache came thundering back, though he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with Aubrey. The man had given him nothing he hadn’t wanted, but now a certain question begged harder than ever. He forced it out.
“Aubrey, I need to know. Were you trying to travel back in time to save a lover?”
“No.” Simon sagged into him with guilty relief. “A little before the last harvest, some soldiers came to our farm. I was away, fighting for the very same side, but they accused our people, who’d never harmed a soul, of witchcraft. Of devil worship.”
Simon’s jealousy felt suddenly wrong. He extracted himself and rose, wrapping himself tightly in a towel. “I’m so sorry.”
“So am I. They took away many of my friends. I must warn them. You see why I have to go home?”
Aubrey’s words ripped into him, raw and real, leaving him bewildered. He could only start to imagine what awful fate Aubrey’s companions had met. Torture, a stripping to search for the mark of Satan, or maybe a lashing. Possibly they were bound, then plunged into a cold, icy river, and the end result had probably been a slow, lingering death by hanging. Simon might not want to live as the Gildskipe had, but he doubted they deserved such a fate.
No wonder Aubrey had taken the risk of going back. So much for the frightened puppy Simon had rescued this morning. The man was a bloody hero.
A horrible feeling of inadequacy rose within. “I better get the food. Come down when you’re ready. We need to talk about the winter solstice, right?”
After drying himself and dressing in his room, Simon rushed downstairs. He located a bottle of decent Bordeaux
Fuck it. What does that matter? I enjoyed it. He seemed to enjoy it too. Maybe I’m not quite as useless a lover as Pete made out.
But it didn’t make things any easier. What might he not be able to refuse this man next?
All the same he found himself keener than ever to please. He divided the turkey meal onto two plates, with the additional vegetables and some quick-cook Yorkshire puddings, only slightly charred, and arranged all of it neatly on a large tray. He carried the dinner to the coffee table in the lounge. Aubrey had dressed and sat waiting on the sofa, his long legs stretched out beneath the table.
Well, it wasn’t the Thanksgiving Simon had anticipated, but hey, he wasn’t alone. He just hoped Gran would forgive him his choice of predinner entertainment.
Buy it now links for all my books:
All Romance: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Kay+Berrisford
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/kay-berrisford
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So you have a lot of great reading material to keep you busy this long weekend! Thank you so much for coming by! Remember to leave a comment to enter to win either Bound for the Forest or Bound to the Beast! And remember, my MM paranormal, Brush with Catastrophe, is still bestselling at a reseller near you! LOL And if you would like to try a little MF romance, check out Be Bad, for Goodness Sake at Amazon.
Have a great holiday weekend! : )