Hello Bethany-Kris!
Thank you so much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today! What a gorgeous cover for your release, Spray
Paint Kisses!
*waves*
Hi there! Thanks for
having me on today. And yes, the cover for Spray Paint Kisses is really great.
Sour Cherry Designs did such an awesome job with it. I was so impressed
considering my mind did a huge blank when asked what I wanted on it.
Q) How did you dream up the dynamics of your characters?
I don’t usually get the chance to dream up anything about my
characters. They are all entities of their own making inside my head. One day
they’re not there, the next, they are. When they are, they start talking. How
old they are, what they look like, and the things they like/do. That sort of
thing. They’re very insistent about having their story told the way they want
it told, right down to dialogue and prose. Every character is different, some
are more persistent than others. The only thing I ever really get to pick about
my characters is their names, and I find that to be the hardest part.
Spray Paint Kisses wasn’t much different when it came to
this. Gage was inspired by a young man in my hubby’s hometown, where the story
actually takes place, and Summer was the pretty blonde on his arm, trying to
find a place to call home.
Q) Are you, yourself an artist? What drew you to the world of graffiti art?
I think being an author of fictional romances makes me an
artist of one form. I certainly have a drive and desire to create with words,
characters, and stories. I want people to feel something, experience the world
I created, when they pick up my work. Writing is just my way of being creative
and exploring the sometimes darker places inside my mind.
Graffiti art, or street art (really depends on who you ask),
is something I’ve long since had a high respect for. When I lived in the city,
it was everywhere, and new pieces could pop up overnight. Some pieces were less
than stellar, and other tags were breathtakingly amazing. I always wondered who
these artists were behind the work, but that’s kind of the culture of street
art—or a part of it, anyway—being anonymous. Having the ability to get in, do
the piece, and get out without ever being seen. I think that’s what really drew
me in—the culture of it all. Learning the lingo and the rules, so to speak.
Artists who have been deemed by other artists that their work is exceptional
and practically untouchable are known to be called “Kings” and some even tag
their work with that title instead of their own names. You can’t be deemed a
King by just anyone, but only by another artist who has been given that
respective title. There are some other interesting things, too, like the
artists who strive to use only colors of spray paint that is no longer in
production because it gives their work that much more of an original tag.
I have a Pinterest
board dedicated to graffiti art and other inspiration for Spray Paint Kisses
that features some of my favorite pieces I’ve found while scouring the internet
for artists and their work.
Q) What are your upcoming projects?
Well, in late October, I will be self-publishing the final
book in my Russian Guns series, titled The Score. Currently I’m focusing on
getting the editing done for that and designing cover art … let’s not forget
formatting.
Besides that, not much. My third son is due mid-November,
and I’ve decided to take a couple of months break after The Score comes out to
welcome my son into the world and give him the one on one time he needs with
me, his brothers, and his father. So, a mini-vacation, I guess. From
publishing, anyway. I do plan to keep writing. I have a WIP that is almost
finished about a Navy SEAL and his estranged wife, and I also started another contemporary mafia series titled The Filthy
Three that I hope to begin publishing starting with book one Filthy Ruins in
January. I haven’t planned much further than those things. Ha ha.
Thanks so much for having me!
Spray Paint Kisses by Bethany-Kris
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance, New
Adult
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Release Date: August 20th,
2014
Length: 26k – Short Story
Blurb:
He’s left his mark everywhere.
She’s still trying to find a place to leave hers.
Gage Masselin is a graffiti artist whose life has revolved around his art, and
focused entirely on his career. He’s never needed a muse to get his inspiration
flowing, so when an unexpected blonde-haired beauty knocks him out of his zone,
he knows he’s in trouble.
Summer Davey is just a traveling girl with a gypsy’s soul. The one constant she
has is her need to keep moving on. She’s never stayed in one place long enough
to plant roots, never mind finding a man with spray paint kissing the tips of
his fingers to make her heart beat faster.
She inspires him. He’s the first thing to ever feel like home.
Sometimes the hardest things to find in love and life are the easiest to lose.
Excerpt:
“Isn’t
that illegal?”
Gage
Masselin nearly dropped the aerosol paint can when he heard the feminine voice.
Whenever he was in the middle of creating a tag, he was in the zone. There were
no sounds but the constant whoosh of the spray paint can’s nozzle and his
rhythmic breathing. No distractions took him away from his art.
Well,
usually.
Turning
on his heel, Gage forgot about the black and white bandana he still wore around
his lower face as a shield from the paint fumes. The material muffled his
surprise as he came face to face with the prettiest damned thing he’d ever seen
in his twenty-two years of life.
Long
waves of golden hair were tied off to the side in a messy braid, falling over
her front. There wasn’t a lick of makeup on her clear peaches and cream
complexion. Standing in gladiator style sandals, ripped up jean shorts, and a
faded band T-shirt, the girl could have been just about anyone.
Except
she couldn’t. Gage’s tiny New Brunswick hometown was a blink
and you’d miss it kind of place. Growing up in Plaster Rock gave him the
ability to know everyone, even if he didn’t officially live there fulltime
anymore. Thing was, people moved away, new people didn’t move there.
Everybody
knew everyone else, or they thought they did. Gage didn’t know this girl.
“Uh
…”
The
girl smirked before waving in Gage’s direction. “Your face.”
His
face?
What?
“My—”
Instantly,
Gage realized what the girl meant. The bandana still covered the lower part of
his face, including his mouth. He probably looked like some little hoodrat
hiding in the alley, tagging the shit out of the high school library’s wall.
No
wonder she thought he was doing something illegal.
Tugging
down the bandana so it rested around his throat, Gage offered the girl a shrug
in explanation. “Sorry, habit to wear it. I usually don’t have company when I’m
painting, so no reason to have my mouth free to chat.”
“You
mean an accomplice, right?”
“No,
I mean company,” Gage replied with a smile.
“I
didn’t realize graffiti had become legal.”
Oh,
this girl had balls, or she just liked breaking them. Either way, Gage liked
that.
“It’s
not. That’s probably why I spent two years in juvenile hall.”
“Wouldn’t
be juvie now, though.”
“No,”
Gage said. “It’d be the pen. Good thing it’s legal. I’m not looking to spend
any more time in a lockup.”
The
girl still didn’t look convinced.
“Honest,
sweetheart. See …” Gage pointed at the piece of official paper taped to the
brick wall. If a cop happened to stop by, all he had to do was refer to that
permit. “Gives me the right to be here slumming up this wall with my work. The
school commissioned me to do the piece. It’s all on the legal side of things,
promise.”
A
small hand rested on her jutted out hip. The action caused Gage to let his eyes
wander down the expanse of her creamy thighs and wonder if they felt as smooth
and silky as they looked. They probably did. He bet she’d taste like salt,
skin, and sin.
Shit,
how short were those jean shorts of hers, anyway?
Short
enough that they made Gage’s mouth a little dry just from staring.
Fucked,
that’s what he was, and he didn’t even know her name.
“If
you say so,” the girl mused.
Gage
couldn’t help but tease. “What would you have done if I said it was illegal?
Call the cops?”
“Nope.”
“That’s
it?”
She
smiled a blinding sight. “That’s it. It is pretty.”
“Uh,
thanks?”
“You’re
welcome.”
With
one more glance at the bare bones of the mural just beginning to take form, the
girl turned to leave. Gage was positive his heart leaped into his throat,
creating a lump his words couldn’t make their way by.
“Wait!”
The
darkened blue of her eyes glittered as she stared back. “Yeah?”
Gage
forced himself to swallow the nerves beginning to form in his throat.
Nervousness wasn’t like him at all. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
“You
didn’t tell me yours, either.”
“Gage.
It’s Gage.”
“Summer.”
Buy Links
Author’s Bio
Bethany-Kris
is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother of two young sons, two cats,
and two dogs. Between barking dogs, snuggling cats, playing children, and a
spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when
she can find the time.
Author Links
