Riptide Publishing Blog Tour

Riptide Publishing


Surprises (Romeo Club Series Book #1) By Brita Addams


Welcome to Brita Addams's stop on Riptide Publishing's Blog Tour. We love getting to know the authors from Riptide. Brita Addams has stopped by today to grant us an interview. Brita is so giving to our followers because she is offering one lucky person (18+ or older) who comments with their e-mail address their choice from her backlist - excluding A Minute After Midnight, An Evening at the Starlight and Romeo Club. Now, it's time to sit down and let's hear what Brita has to say about her Romeo Club Series.

Brita Addams Interview Questions
Surprises: Romeo Club #1


You have recently released a short story, Surprises, which is the first of the Romeo Club
collection. To start us off, would you like to tell my readers a little bit about the book
from your perspective?


Sure. Romeo Club is ostensibly a dating service for gay men of distinction. It's
upscale and caters to an exclusive clientele. Aaron, the blond cutie who works the
front desk, and a few other things along the way, has an eye for the special guys, and
when he senses that certain quality, he brings the man to the attention of Blake, who
owns the club.


In walks Don, who is sick of the club scene and wants something more and we have
the set up for Surprises.


The Romeo Club collection will be a set of vignettes. Each one will feature a
different client and that person's particular kink. They're short stories, about sixthousand
words each, so by definition, they get to the meat of the vignette rather
quickly. There won't be any romances involved, as these are pure erotica, meant to
get the reader all warm and excited.


Surprises focus on the activities of a private BDSM club. You also have a historical
series that takes place in a similar type of club. As an author, what is it that draws you to
this type of setting?


First, let me say that Romeo's isn't a private BDSM club. It's a private club that
caters to the sexual kinks of its clientele. BDSM is just one of those kinks.
Historically, I don't know for a certainty that such clubs existed, but sex certainly
did. LOL Hence, I created the Sapphire Club and treated the happenings there in
terms of the time in which it existed. The kinks ran the gamut, within the strictures
of technology and invention.


With respect to the Romeo Club, what fascinates me, overall, is the fact that people
really do go to such clubs, motivated by their desires to get the most out of their sex
lives. To explore beyond that which is universally considered the norm, and dig deep
within themselves to find that one element that will satisfy their inner most desires
and needs.


Creating a modern day Sapphire Club seemed a given to me. I often pay tribute in
my writing to that series, which has been very good to me. However, that is where
the two diverge. With each of the Sapphire Club stories, there was an involved story
woven in, with the club as the backdrop.


In the Romeo Club series, we'll explore a different fantasy, a different kink with
each installment. Not all will be BDSM, as a matter of fact, the second in the series,
Rubbed the Right Way, explores erotic massage.


The stories are only five to six thousand words each, and are thoroughly erotica,
which focuses on the fantasy/need/desire rather than delving into the deep reasons
why.


My intention with Romeo Club is to give the reader a hot read either over their
lunch hour or at bedtime, when time is at a premium. Each story is self-contained
and will only have the carry-over characters of Aaron and Blake in most every one,
though not all.

Rubbed The Right Way (Romeo Club Series Book #2) By Brita Addams


A second Romeo Club book, Rubbed the Right Way, is coming out on December 5. Can
you tell us more about this series? Are there more books in store after that? Will they
feature Don, Blake, and Aaron, or will you be introducing new characters?


Blake and Aaron are carry-over characters and the depth of their association will be
revealed slowly as time goes on. Don may or may not appear again, but he definitely
won't be a major player again.


Each story will have a new main character, around which the fantasy or kink will
revolve. It's all about what their desire is and how the Romeo Club can fulfill it.
I have three written, and my intention is to write twelve to fifteen, which if accepted
by the editors at Riptide, will be published over a course of time. I've proposed
several and the editors are receptive, but acceptance is subject to the quality of each
story.


I read on your web site about the process you use for choosing character names and how
you look at things like early census records and your family tree. Did you have any
special inspiration for the character names in this story?


As a matter of fact, the answer is no to that question. I don't know any Aarons,
Blakes or Dons. This story and another recent release, A Minute After Midnight,
are the only two that don't have characters named for someone I either know or
who are in my family tree.


You have quite a big backlist so obviously you spend a lot of time writing. What else do
you like to do to keep you busy?


Ah, well, I, ah, write. That's the truth of it. I spent many years playing at it, raising
my family, and putting creative writing on the back burner. Now, it’s one of my
driving forces. I spend as much as eight hours a day writing, revising, and editing,
but always something to do with the craft.


In the evening, I watch a couple hours of television with my husband and daughter,
then retreat to read for an hour or two before I go to sleep.


I'm never at a loss for something to do and I positively loathe the word "bored." My
children knew never to say that word in my presence because they knew I could
always find something for them do. I often joke that if I'm ever bored, it's by design.
But, alas, I can honestly say, I'm never bored—quite the contrary. There aren't
enough hours in the day to do all I want to do.


Do you find you like to read similar books to what you write? What genre do you most
enjoy reading?


I love historical, het or m/m, though sadly, there aren't a lot of m/m that are worth
reading in that sub-genre. I'm picky, I suppose.


I'm very drawn to m/m these days and have been for quite some time, starting with
my reading of everything in Aleksandr Voinov's bag of tricks. He's damn brilliant
and I simply love his work.


I love biographies and just about anything historical in any genre. I read a little
contemporary romance, but not much. I'm not much for the "Hey, baby, wanna
f**k," bar line and I find that all too often in the contemporaries I've read or shall I
say, attempted to read. The guys don't have to work for it, if you know what I'm
saying, and that doesn't appeal particularly.


Romeo Club, you'll notice, aren't romances. The purpose of the visit to RC is to
satisfy a sexual need. However, in a romance, I want some romance and not just
excuses to get it on.


I am extraordinarily grateful for Riptide and their attention to detail. I'm looking
forward to reading my fellow author's work. If the experience I had is indicative of
what everyone goes through in the editing process, (and I've heard from the other
authors that indeed it is harrowing, but satisfying), Riptide is about to turn the m/m,
gay fiction genre on its ear.


None too soon, from my standpoint. Sad to say, I have more "I Couldn't Finish,"
books in that file on my Kindle than I have in the "Read" one. I crave quality, good
editing, and believable characters.


Here’s the blurb from Romeo Club #1: Surprises:


Are you willing to put yourself in our hands?
Smart, successful, handsome, and thoroughly sick of the club scene, Don ventures
into a popular upscale dating service. Aroused and intrigued by the boldfaced
sexual queries on the Romeo Club’s application, he finds himself embellishing
one answer after the next. Don thinks he’s taking control of his fate, but when
he’s done, he ends up turning over a lot more than just his questionnaire to the
dominant Adonis who runs the service.


In a private back room, beneath the snick of handcuffs, the slide of silk over his
eyes, and not one hot mouth but two upon his skin, Don learns just how much
more than matchmaking the Romeo Club has to offer a guy who doesn’t mind a
few surprises.
This title is #1 of the Romeo Club series.


You can purchase Romeo Club #1: Surprises at Riptide Publishing.


Romeo Club #1: Rubbed the Right Way is available for pre-order. Your order will
gain you an entry in Riptide’s Free Books for a Year contest.


Thanks so much for taking the time to answer all my questions! If folks want to know
more about you or your books, how can they find you?


It seems I'm everywhere. Here's all my haunts:


Email address: britaaddams@gmail.com
Website
Blog
Twitter: @britaaddams
Facebook
Goodreads Page:

Thank you so much for coming! You are welcome back any time!

Riptide Publishing Blog Tour

Riptide Publishing


Grown Men By Damon Suede

Welcome to Damon Suede's stop on Riptide Publishing's Blog Tour. We love getting to know the authors from Riptide. Damon Suede has stopped by today to guest post for us. Damon is so giving to our followers because he is offering one lucky person (18+ or older) who comments with their e-mail address a copy of Hot Head. Now, it's time to sit down and let's hear what Damon has to say.

Action Pact by Damon Suede
(why some “sexy” books just aren’t)

All of us have had the misfortune to read erotic romance that, y’know, isn’t. Ugh. What’s worse?

In theory the characters look hot, the setup seems charged, the intercourse pushes every kind of
blistering sexual boundary but in the end… meh. How does that happen? When does taboo and
carnal become tedious and comical? How can something salacious become a snoozefest? Like
comedy, sexiness that falls flat can actually kill the enjoyment of an entire romance or even
doom a book to the will-not-finish pile… and yet erotic romances need a certain amount of
sexytimes to merit the name, right?

Well, I write erotic romance, so I think about this problem constantly. When I’m reading or
writing, I’m always tracking how stories gets under our skin the right and the wrong ways. After
20 years writing for film and theatre, here’s what I’m learned about hotness on the page:

Actions fascinate people; activities bore them to tears.

That almost sounds like a tautology, but it ain’t.

Readers connect to characters making choices and making change happen in and around their
lives; they always pay attention to specific actions focused on a goal which must overcome
friction. Two naked people rolling around sticking parts of themselves into and onto each other
may be titillating for a couple minutes of rubbernecking, but what engages the reader beyond the
wet spots is the ways that the interaction transform the people involved or the events around
them. Action arouses interest, provokes desire, and sparks empathy. On the other hand, activity
defines tedium: a task or motion repeated without consequence or alteration. The only difference
between the two is the will of the person involved. As Gilda, Rita Hayworth seduces in order to
survive and in order to keep her secrets buried.

Specificity is the source of everything great.

THIS is the reason that Jane Austen can make you hold your breath when hands brush or eyes
meet. Charged by the strictures of Regency Britain, her protagonists risk ruin every time they
speak too candidly or allow intimate improprieties like a lingering glance. The tension allows
actions to occur in maddeningly subtle and seductive ways. Contrariwise, Showgirls will always
be a piece of flaccid sophomoric trash entertaining for all the wrong reasons, no matter how
much groping/grabbing/grinding goes on. Even with the relentless nudity and “kinky”
shenanigans, all of the incessant repetitive activity affects nothing, changes nothing, means
nothing; Wall-to-wall candy-colored sleaze and it cannot even succeed as softcore porn! Yikes.

Readers pick up romance with certain expectations. At the most basic level, they want to
experience the unfolding of a relationship that ends positively. Fair enough. But if the
protagonists hop in the sack on page two then squirm and squirt for 200 pages without sense or
consequence, it will have the emotional and erotic impact of a re-grouting a tub.

Since Hot Head came out, I’ve gotten anywhere from 40 to 50 fan letters focusing entirely on the first kiss between my heroes. That scene is ten pages long and not by accident! I’ll admit, I LOVE kissing and I know that fetish crept into the writing of that scene… but I believe the reason that liplock nails people is because there are about four actions occurring at that exact moment their mouths meet. Those actions infuse the kiss with thermonuclear friction and so it sticks in people’s minds. The readers remember the heat and
charge of that moment because of the actions woven through it.

There’s an old chestnut about Hamlet being this amazing tragic hero who does nothing. This is,
of course, complete bullshit. Hamlet never stops doing things for a moment: he argues with a
ghost, pretends to be insane, stages a play, attacks his friends, insults his family and sullies his
innocent lady love with some very nasty innuendo, murders and betrays and wrestles with cant!
Hamlet’s actions in the play never STOP; in fact the only thing he doesn’t do until the gory
finale is take his justified revenge… but all of those other actions lead inexorably and ineffably
to that perfect bloodthirsty finale.

Okay, so fair enough. Shakespeare knew his shit. Big whoop. How does that translate to the juicy
bone-dance you have planned for your protagonists?

Action or activity? Any activity can be elevated to an action, if the stakes escalate and the
context carries enough charge. And any action can be made into a boring activity if the author
removes the stakes and context. The simplest way to test a love scene? Ask yourself after the
characters climax: what changed because of the intimacy that just occurred? If the answer is
“nothing” then you’ve just wasted time reading (or writing) an activity which fits the story like a
concrete swimsuit.

In essence, readers trust authors to provide action that sustains the story and rewards the time
spent inhabiting its world. The author’s tacit promise to provide action separates pros from hacks
(and prose from pablum). This responsibility to provide action is the basic contract between
entertainment and audience. It’s the root of the overworn “Show don’t tell” criticism from
English 101 classes across the world. It’s a relentless reminder to professional authors that
writing is a job and not a hobby.

My question to you is: how do you plan to keep the sex active rather than an activity. What does
the act of sexual intercourse do, get, or make change in their relationship that drives the story
forward? As an author, you have to move beyond the mechanical porno model (“time for
another cumshot.”) towards character. How is THIS sex scene different than the last or the next
sex scenes? How do the intimacies build upon each other and refract in the characters’ lives? In
life people have sex for any number of reasons, but only some of those offer the kind of drama
needed to sustain a narrative. Having sex for revenge, having sex to heal, having sex to cement a
bond are all clear, playable actions for a character. Activities that will kill the story or cripple it:
having sex to scratch an itch, having sex because you’re bored, having sex because the editor
said, “It’s been 30 pages.”

Of course that’s not just sex; EVERY scene in your story flourishes with action and buckles
under activities. Unfortunately love scenes in particular tend to become literary quicksand if
nothing’s going on but the smoosh. As Hollywood has often observed, any sex scenes on screen
stop your film dead for the three minutes it takes to run a montage of body parts over a song.
Most popular film and television treats love scenes voyeuristically…as boring, static,
inconsequential activities; small wonder that popular fiction does the same.

Bottom line: if you give your readers permission to skim they will. Agatha Christie knew this,
she provided new information on every page. Readers couldn’t skim or they’d be lost. Sex
scenes need that kind of precision and context. No two couples make love the same way; sexual
intimacy is (and should be) as singular as the people involved. Why would any author waste an
opportunity to flesh out these subtle gradations in a character by foisting generic hokey-pokey
onto their readers?

A book is a promise.

When a reader trusts me enough to plunk down hard-earned money to buy something I made, I
believe I owe them something. Labeling a book “erotic romance” establishes a pact with our
audience, and we flout it at our peril. I have a novella called Grown Men coming from Riptide
on October 30 and in many ways it’s raunchier and riskier than my first novel.

In a sci-fi universe which encourages genetic modification and franchised sex
resorts, things were gonna get a little kinky and carnal. An eight-foot giant presents certain…
umm …challenges and opportunities to a normal-sized human lover. My two heroes demanded a
different kind of eroticism, and the vast disparity between their sizes made certain things
possible and other things scary. The eroticism needed to be specific or it would have sucked
asteroids. Discovering the intimacy between them allowed me to map the relationship between
them on their terms. They made the love, I just caught it on paper.

So, the next time you pick up an erotic romance, get specific! Pay attention to the sex. Is
something happening during the scene or does everything stop so they can insert tab A into slot
B enough to punch the meter? Distinguish between actions and activities. Learn to spot activities
when they crop up. Don’t put up with them in your own writing or anyone else’s. Does sexiness
only appear when literal SEX is occurring or do they build sexiness into the characters’
transformations and the world of the book. When and how does it turn you on? If you eliminated
a scene of intimacy how would that affect the story if at all?

Hold all your erotic scenes accountable, those you write and those you read. Are your characters
doing the deed, having sex, or making love? Invest your intimacy with meaning and context to
wring every drop of possible power out of each moment.

Action is a pact all books make. As writers, it’s a promise to our readers, a bargain with our
characters, and an discipline we owe ourselves.

Here’s the blurb from Grown Men:

Every future has dirty roots.

Marooned in the galactic backwaters of the HardCell company, colonist Runt struggles to
eke out an existence on a newly-terraformed tropical planetoid. Since his clone-wife died
on entry, he’s been doing the work of two on his failing protein farm. Overworked and
undersized, Runt’s dwindling hope of earning corporate citizenship has turned to fear of
violent “retirement.”

When an overdue crate of provisions crashes on his beach, Runt searches frantically for a
replacement wife among the tools and food. Instead he gets Ox, a mute hulk who seems
more like a corporate assassin than a simple offworld farmer.

Shackwacky and near-starving, Runt has no choice but to work with his silent partner
despite his mounting paranoia and the unsettling appeal of Ox’s genetically altered
pheromones. Ox plays the part of the gentle giant well, but Runt’s still not convinced he
hasn’t arrived with murder in mind.

Between brutal desire and the seeds of a relationship, Runt’s fears and Ox’s inhuman past
collide on a fertile world where hope and love just might have room to grow.
This title is #1 of the HardCell series.

You can read an excerpt and purchase Grown Men at Riptide Publishing.

BIO

Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon
as it was legal. Though new to M/M, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two
decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his
demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who
keeps whispering in his ear, year after year. Get in touch with him at:

Website
Goodreads
Facebook
FB Fanpage
Google+