Saturday, March 23, 2013

Author Morticia Knight talks #MMRomance and shares an #Excerpt


Hello sexy readers!

I'm really.... really excited about today. 

Why MM Romance? Author Morticia Knight Talks, Plus Set Ablaze For Only .99 Cents



Thank you for having me at your blog today Nicole. You know, Nicole and I were talking about MM erotic romance, its popularity, and what it was that made it that way. We went back and forth about doing an interview today, but I thought I would go ahead and give everyone a brief glimpse into how I ended up writing this genre. Because it wouldn’t have been my first choice.

A few years back, I was in the beginning stages of writing romance. It was what would be considered mainstream paranormal ala Christine Feehan or Karen Marie Moning. I found myself stuck at home recovering from some minor surgery, and thought I would use the time to research publisher submission calls, and so on. I came across one for Erotic Romance, and I was like, wait, what? I know, behind the times. If it weren’t for the internet and conferences, writers would have no idea what was going on, we live so much in our own worlds. Sometimes it’s so bad, I think aliens could take over, and I would be at the grocery store going, “Who are the tall gray guys?”

So then I spent several days researching, and downloading, all genres of erotic romance books. All of the shackles I felt that were placed on me writing mainstream romance instantly disappeared. IN the course of that, I discovered MM romance. While I love ménage – and started out that way – I hadn’t considered taking the chick out of the scene yet. I thought MM was by men and written for men. Wrong again.

Once I realized that the majority of gay erotic romance is written by women, and a large share of the audience was women, I felt that I needed to write it. I have unique circumstances in my life that I knew could add to the genre. I won’t go into the long story off all my close gay relationships, and what I’ve been through with them over the years as you would with any close friend; I’ll just fast forward to now.

My partner is a gay male. We have lived together almost seven years, and are co-parenting his twelve year-old daughter who looks to me as mom, as her own mother is gone. We are a family. We are each other’s closest friend. Not everyone around us is aware of all the details of our relationship, as we have grown and developed it over the years. But we realize that it is unique, and that not everyone can fully understand it. But the love we all have for one another is the most important aspect of it, and the thing that we cherish the most.

Currently, my MM erotic romance, Set Ablaze, is a #1 Bestseller over at All Romance Ebooks – which I am thrilled about. So is my partner – he is my biggest supporter and tells me every day how proud he is of me, and that means more than anything. I’ve included an excerpt from Set Ablaze, which is Part One in my Uniform Encounters series. Published by Total E Bound, it is available at all the usual outlets, but is only .99 cents for a limited time at All Romance  and Amazon. I will have the links for you after the excerpt.

In this scene, Tom the new young firefighter recruit, has arrived at the Fire Chief’s office to check in. He is beginning a new life in a new town, and is hopeful that he can make a good impression on the chief. What he doesn’t expect, is just how strongly the man is going to affect him.



Almost an hour had gone by since he’d arrived, Keri had given him several forms to fill out, and he felt a little restless. He’d obviously picked the worst possible time to show up—the chief was meeting with some pretty intense-looking guys. He wanted to make sure he made a good initial impression, so he planned to be brief, polite, and get out of the man’s way as quickly as possible. If he was professional and respectful of the chief’s time, he had a better chance of being considered should a long-term position come up.
The chief’s door flew open, and the two guys who had been meeting with him were standing and shaking his hand, still talking about something. Tom couldn’t care less what they were saying—he couldn’t take his eyes off Chief Anderson.
Holy shit…
The chief was a big slice of hunk heaven. Tom didn’t typically go for overly muscled men, but this was a man who wore it well. Tall, probably six-foot-four, he was bronzed with a golden halo of short, wavy hair and beautiful, pale blue eyes. He looked late thirties, early forties with a natural air of confidence about him, and he was all man. It was like seeing a Norse god standing before him.
Not good. Not good at all…
He could not be attracted to his new boss. This was not part of the accepted plan. Tom shook his head as if he could clear the picture of the glorious vision before him.
“You must be Tom Sherwood?”
Tom looked up and into the eyes of his new dream man. He was suddenly like some goofy little schoolboy, all jelly legs and awkwardness. He couldn’t even think what to say. What had he asked?
Oh right…
“Yes, yes, I’m Tom.” He went to stand up and dropped the forms he’d finished filling out thirty minutes before all over the floor.
Idiot!
“Here, let me help you.”
Tom stood almost transfixed as the chief leaned over and started gathering up the scattered papers. He wore a short-sleeved T-shirt that clung to every perfectly shaped muscle on the man’s torso, and Tom thought he might become hypnotised by biceps flexing as the chief picked up the forms. There was one paper that had flown almost to the other side of the room. The chief noticed it, walked to where it was, and bent over…
Oh my God…
“I hope you handle a hose better than you do papers.”
Tom almost choked, as little beads of sweat broke out at the top of his upper lip.
“Keri—I think our recruit here has finished up the forms.”
As the chief passed the doorway to her closet of an office, he handed her the papers. When he turned back around to the still-mute Tom, he gave him a little wink.
“Let’s talk in my office for a minute, shall we?”
The chief indicated towards the open door.
As if on some sort of time delay, Tom finally found his voice. “Sorry, Chief Anderson.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. Please come in and sit down.”
Tom took a seat in one of the chairs on the other side of Chief Anderson’s desk. The office was much bigger than Keri’s. It was almost the size of the waiting room. There were a few cacti, a couple of framed black-and-white photos of early Mesa on the wall, bookshelves and file cabinets—what one would expect. But what jumped out at him was a picture of the chief with a lovely blonde woman and a younger man who must’ve been his son—the resemblance was striking—in a frame on his desk. He stole a glance at the chief’s left hand as he looked through a file he had in front of him. There was a tan line where a ring should have been. Either he was getting divorced, or he was a player. Or maybe he’d just taken it off for whatever reason. Either way—a straight guy.
What the fuck am I doing? I can’t afford to think like this about this man. I’m here for a new start, not to get myself in another mess.
“Well, Tom, it looks like we’re very lucky to have you, even on a temporary basis. I see two commendations here and several good remarks from your former chief in his recommendation letter. You also have your national EMT cert, which is great. We’re placing a larger emphasis on our medical services these days, as many of our calls involve med assistance. As a matter of fact, we recently renamed the department Mesa Fire and Medical. Your CPAT is up to date, so obviously you’re in tip-top physical shape.” The chief looked up at Tom and smiled after that comment, which only served to make Tom’s cheeks flush hot again. “Is there a particular reason you left behind a good position for one far from home that isn’t even permanent?”
Eric looked up at Tom again, those stunning blue eyes threatening to steal his speech once more. Tom took a breath and focused on forcing himself to keep it together.
“Essentially, I lost a close member of my family, and I felt it was time to move on. There’s no one left to keep me in Austin anymore.”
“I see. And you have someone in Mesa?”
“No, actually I don’t. I guess I was feeling adventurous. Mesa seems like a really nice city. I looked online before I came here, and I see there’s a lot of good hiking trails and such. It’s a little smaller than Austin, but not by much.” Tom laughed a little. “Half a million is still pretty healthy.”
Eric chuckled in response. “Yes, well, we’ve had quite the growth spurt in the last couple decades. I remember a much smaller city growing up. It’s slowed down a bit since the economic downturn, but I think we’re regaining our foothold. We’re still a nice, clean city with a lot to offer. I think you’ll like it here. I’ve been to Austin once before, and there’s a few similarities.”
“So you’ve been here your whole life?” Tom found himself talking to the chief the way he’d sworn he wouldn’t—he was getting too personal. It was dangerous. Even if there weren’t the professional considerations—a big deal—messing with straight guys was always a disaster to be avoided.
“Born and raised. I love Arizona. I love the history, the weather, the hidden beauty of the desert. And, like you, I love a good hike. You’ll find the Superstition Mountains a great place to go, but for the occasional weekend trip there are a lot of national parks you can get to. Even the Grand Canyon isn’t too far out of reach.”
If this were any other situation, any other, Tom knew he’d be falling in love.
Fuck me sideways—so unfair.





BIG thanks to Morticia! It was such an honor to have you!
Happy Saturday everyone!
XXX
N.

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