Shermaine Williams Says...

Q) What writers do you feel spearheaded erotica as it is today?


Wow—that is a very good question, but one that is still quite difficult to answer because there are so many factors involved.

The main difficulty with the answer arises due to the sheer number of erotica writers out there. It makes it impossible to lay the credit at the door of any individual. The likes of Jackie Collins, Barbara Cartland, D. H. Lawrence and many Mills and Boon writers have opened the door to allow writers to develop the genre further.

Sub-genre is also a factor as some writers stick to one whilst others write within many, so how to you compare the contribution made? As M/M is more popular than F/F, for example, I don’t think that should mean that writers of the latter should get sidelined.

As with anything, it is a matter of opinion—some people love Shakespeare’s plays, others can’t stomach them. I think it is up to individual readers to decide for themselves who has spearheaded erotica for them. We all have personal likes and dislikes that help us find our favourite writers.


Bio
Shermaine Williams is a London-based writer of erotic fiction who has titles released with several different publishers. Her contemporary stories fall within a number of different sub-genres, such as interracial, BDSM and paranormal. Lean and Mean is her latest release with Total-E-Bound.

Shermaine Williams
Purveyor of erotic interludes
www.shermainewilliams.co.uk
www.shermainewilliams.wordpress.com

Movie Monday - Jennifer's Body

There are some parts in films that certain stars are perfect for, and I think Megan Fox nailed it on the head playing a demonic possessed high schooler eating boys. That being said, I enjoyed this movie in a purely dumb, gory-yet-funny way.

Amanda Seyfried plays Needy, a girl whose best friend, Jennifer, is a popular and beautiful cheerleader, played by Megan Fox. How these two are BFF is a mystery and yet at the same time you realize why these two girls are drawn together. Needy “needs” someone like Jennifer in her life to make her feel wanted, while Jennifer clearly uses Needy to boost her own emotional insecurity. Things change, however, when they go to the local bar to see a band called Low Shoulder.

Low Shoulder’s lead singer is hungry for fame and fortune. So he comes up with the idea of making a sacrifice to satan in the form of a virgin. Unfortunately, they go after Jennifer who is, lets face it, the least virginal person in the whole tiny town. The ritual is carried out and the band gets famous but the side effect of this whole thing is that Jennifer gets a demonic transference, one that needs to eat people to survive.

Yes, the whole movie is awful. But if you recognize and ignore that fact and embrace this film as a campy, fun horror-slash-dramady, then it makes for a great eating popcorn on the couch film while it rains cats and dogs outside. My favorite line in the whole thing is towards the end, when Jennifer gets stabbed with a big stake and is bleeding buckets of blood, she looks at Needy and says “You got a tampon?”

Clearly this film is not for everyone. I think it gets a solid four out of ten stars. But I’m not hard to please when it comes to entertainment and I really adore Amanda Seyfried. Will I be watching it again? Probably, the next time it rains.

Keta Diablo Says...

Q) Where do you find the inspiration for your super HOT men?

Thanks so much, Beth, for hosting me on your lovely blog. I'm happy 

I found you because I'm following your blog now.

Many have asked me where I get my inspiration, and the the answer is 

from several places. I'm a vivid dreamer, and believe it or not, many 

times I remember my dreams the next morning. I also keep a notepad 

on my nightstand, and yes, there have been times I've turned on the 

lamp in the middle of the night and jotted down notes about my latest 

journey in dreamland.

Another place I often find inspiration is from research. I'm a huge history nut.  

Makes sense that I write historical and at times combine the genre with 

paranormal. Last September Where The Rain Is Made was released by Decadent 

Publishing. Many times there is a story behind the books we write as there is 

with WTRIM. When my youngest son was 12, he took a sudden interest in 

the Native American tribes. This led us to the library on many occasions. We 

checked out everything available and soon my son zeroed in on the Cheyenne 

Dog Soldiers. He found their customs and beliefs fascinating and their ending tragic. 

About a year after that, he moved onto another fascination -- the Mafia if I 

remember correctly -- and here I was with all this research on the Native Americans.  

It made sense to write a book about the Dog Soldiers and put our hard work to use. 

I hope to continue my Native American paranormals by moving on to some other tribes.  

Their culture is steeped in mysticism and spirituality. 

Oh, and by the way, Where The Rain Is Made has been nominated for a Bookie 

Award by a wonderful group called Authors After Dark. You can read the five-star 

reviews on Amazon http://amzn.to/fSjyOv 

Today I'm here to tell you about Sojourn With A Stranger, another

historical/paranormal (think ghosts!). Watch for the release of Sojourn on 

Kindle in March.

Namaste, Keta

 ~ Website ~ Blog ~ The Stuff of Myth and Men ~ ~*~ Where the Rain is Made ~*~

Movie Monday - Movie Trailer Breakdown!

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil- The sequel to 2005’s Hoodwinked that stared Anne Hathaway as Little Red Riding Hood. I saw the first and really liked it, even though the animation wasn’t as sophisticated as it could have been. The new one has Hayden Panettiere as Red and it looks like the animation hasn’t come all that far in six years. I have a sneaky suspicion that the trailer has shown us all the best parts of this movie.

Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula- Yes, this really is a movie that is coming out though it was filmed in 2008. After seeing the trailer I can understand why it took three years to find a distributor! I suppose someone thought it would be cool to see the 1930’s outlaws take on a vampire…why not? Vampires are cool now-a-days. But I think that someone had a few too many drinks. This movie is being compared to Shaun of the Dean and Zombieland…uh, really?

Kung Fu Panda 2 – This trailer had me laughing out loud, which is a really good thing. All the star voices are back, thank goodness…couldn’t see Master Shifu as having any other voice but Dustin Hoffman. We got some new ones too…Gary Oldman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Michelle Yeoh to name a few. So two big thumbs up, I’ll be eagerly waiting!

The Conspirator- Okay, any trailer that has James McAvoy in it I am definitely interested! Based upon the trial of Mary Surratt, this movie takes into the days immediately following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. History shows that she and three others were hanged for the conspiracy but what really happened, eh? Directed by Robert Redford and staring Robin Wright as Surratt, this should be a great film!

Bad Teacher- Cameron Diaz stars as a teacher who is just biding her time till she can find a rich husband…enter the sub (and heir to a famous watch company) played by Justin Timberlake. Weren’t they dating at one time? Oh well, Cameron doesn’t see to go out on a stretch in this one as she goes from foul mouth teacher to one with a heart of gold. The jokes didn’t seem funny enough to merit $12.00 for a ticket…mental checklist: Netflix.

Friends With Benefits- Not to be confused with the other Friends With Benefits …wait, that was No Strings Attached…whatever! This film with Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake actually seems like it’ll be hilarious. I don’t think I’d mind shelling out the exorbitant ticket price to go see if it produces that chuckles I had while watching the trailer.

And the Winner is....Kung Fu Panda 2!!!

An excerpt from RECONSTRUCTING CHARLIE from Charmaine Gordon

In 1996, I killed my father.

Dear old Dad was great with a belt. A belt of whiskey. A belt from around his waist unbuckled when you least expected it and later I knew when it was coming and some of us escaped. Not me, not Mom. Never Mom. I’m the oldest. I didn’t want the little ones to see the okay dad turn into a monster dad on payday. Every payday.

Chapter 1
I heard the television turned up loud before I opened the door. Mom always hoped for a distraction. Maybe this time instead of beating up on us, he’d watch the Minnesota Twins beat the hell out of the Boston Red Sox. Rant over every play, curse the umpires, yell that the Hubert H. Humphrey Stadium wasn’t good enough. 1996. Not a great year so far for the Twins. On this payday, after I dropped the kids off, I raced home just in time to be with Mom.

The front door banged open hard enough to rattle dishes in the cabinet. Mom’s treasure–a painted porcelain egg–rolled to the edge, teetered for a second and fell end over end to the hardwood floor. The small egg cracked with the force of a bomb. Mom stared at broken pieces from a life she had long ago. Her face turned white, every freckle showing, and my fists clenched.

He staggered around waving a tire iron in the air; muscled from working a jackhammer for the city all his sorry life and ugly drunk. Flowers flew off the table with sprays of water and shattered glass. Cursing, he went after Mom. This time I was ready. I wrestled it out of his filthy hands and hit him good. He lay torn up, didn’t move, blood everywhere on Mom’s clean kitchen floor. I stood there looking down at my father and thought how hard it was going to be for Mom to get the blood up. And how come he was the worst father in the world scaring all of us, hurting Mom and me. I breathed too fast and almost threw up. We were safe now because I’d done this terrible thing and I didn’t know how I could live with it.

Mom’s thick auburn hair came loose from her bun and she looked so pretty bending over him, a finger pressed to his neck as if she was a cop. On tiptoes, she pulled the ceiling fan chain and her sleeve rolled back. Black and blue marks covered her arm. I counted them. Mom had a lot more than I did. The breeze felt good. Then she wiped my fingerprints off the tire iron and replaced them with hers.

I watched Mom change from quiet refined Liz Costigan to someone I didn’t know.She reached in his pants like a pickpocket and came up with a handful of dollars and coins. Handing me the money, Mom said, “I guess he drank the rest of his pay. Sorry it’s not more. Let’s get you packed.”

She was in charge, this new mother, and I didn’t question her. Icy cold inside myself, Mom dragged me along to my bedroom. I kept looking back expecting him to come after us.

“Reach up high on the top shelf, Charlie. Bring the suitcase down.”
Mom’s hands caressed the leather case I’d never seen.

“I packed my clothes and ran away sixteen years ago,” she said. “I was wild, out-of-control.”

“Were you ever sorry, Mom?”

“I have you and Jimmy, and my little girls. Take a shower. I have things to do.” She pushed me toward the hall.

I heard Mom opening and closing drawers, knew she’d be too busy to worry about me for a while and crept back to the bloody mess to make sure he really was dead. His dark eyes had turned to an empty stare.

Shivering, I ran for the bathroom. Even a hot shower couldn’t warm me and blood refused to wash off. Words spun around in my head. ‘Out, out, damned spot.’ I scrubbed ’til it hurt. Lady Macbeth, that’s me.

Wrapped in a towel, I watched Mom empty my clothes into her suitcase.
I couldn’t move. He’s dead in the house and she packed my clothes for what? Mom added a dress hanging at the back of the closet, folded and placed it on top. The sound of the zipper closing on the suitcase startled me into action. I pried up the board in the closet, removed my money, and secured it into a money belt I’d bought in a second hand shop. Mom nodded approval.

“Wear this,” she said, handing me jeans and a long sleeved tee shirt. I dug some underwear out of the suitcase and dressed.

Unfastening a gold locket on a long chain she wore around her neck, she said, “Hold up your hair, my girl.”

We stood face to face, her hazel eyes looking into mine. I heard a tiny click when the clasp was in place around my neck. She kissed the locket and let it slide under my shirt.

“What’s in the locket, Mom?”

“Two sisters, my dear Charlie. One wise. One foolish.” Mom smiled the saddest smile. She held my face in both hands. “Yes, I have a sister, your aunt Eleanor. Now listen hard. Money and education. Most important. And one more thing, precious girl, don’t let boys catch your scent. Keep clean. That’s something I forgot.”

Scared and bewildered, I wasn’t used to her making fast decisions. Any decisions.
“I’ll call the police after you’re gone. It was self-defense. There are hospital
records of abuse for years. The Union will take financial care of us. Your job is to make a new life. Catch a bus to Chicago. My sister is there.”

She pulled a box out from a drawer in my small desk and opened it. Fancy stationery paper, the old fashioned kind with the scent of flowers. Taking a deep breath, mom wrote in her perfect handwriting. I always believed mom had a lot of secrets. Now I got a peek at some just before I was leaving. Not fair and I felt like my little sisters when they stamped their feet against the world. I didn’t want to leave. She tucked two sheets of paper in a matching envelope and added an address.

“Don’t lose this, Charlie. It’s your passport to a new life.”
I couldn’t speak. Somehow words got stuck in my throat so I read the name Mom had written. Mrs. Stuart Alfred. I unzipped a side pocket on my backpack and placed the envelope in with care.

“Don’t let her turn you away. She’s my older sister. She hated your father.”
I never saw her cry before and when tears fell, she brushed them away.

Panic set in. “What if she’s not there?”

“She’ll be there, same as always. I’ve kept in touch with her. Not often. Just enough.”

“Charlie,” Mom looked in my eyes so deep as if she was taking a picture, “don’t call. I’ll call you when I have something to say. Now hurry. It’s not too late to catch the bus.”

Mom hugged me and I ran.

-"Reconstructing Charlie" by Charmaine Gordon

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Charmaine Gordon Says...

Q) What is the best thing about writing?





As an actor, I cherished every word in the script with respect to the playwright never

thinking one day I’d be a writer. A mother hears her child say, “Read me a

story, Mommy.” Read becomes“Tell me a story, Mom.” And here I am with a

publisher, Kimberlee Williams-Vanilla Heart Publishing who calls and says,

“Write a new story.”  


The best is using the powerful gift of imagination. An idea wakes me from sleep. In the

morning I write. Think of what the writer can do with a story. You create a

situation, two people meet, maybe fall in love, a misunderstanding, obstacles

you throw in their path to prevent an easy solution and at last, love wins. OR

an evil presence, a parallel story to collide, illness, death, destruction,

misunderstanding and love wins OR. . .Possibilities are endless. The author is

in command OR is she? The characters take over as they often do. The author

loses herself, cries, laughs, and writes until The End. You weep some more

because your baby has grown up and you want to show her to the world. Then the

real work begins. Promotion, marketing. Oh my. All you want to do is write.
  
Years of experience as an actor on daytime drama. Stage, spokesperson and commercials plus writing sketches for

Air Force shows helped prepare me for the wonders of a writing career. Of

course, I didn’t realize it at the time when immersed in the written words of

others, that I was like a sponge, soaking up how to construct a scene, write

dialogue, and paint the setting.
  
I kissed my acting career goodbye, leaving on a high note with the lead in an Off

Broadway play, “The Fourth Commandment” author Rich Knipe. It was great fun and

time to move on. Movies like “Working Girl”, “Road to Wellsville” and having

the pleasure of Anthony Hopkins company at lunch, working with Mike Nichols in

“Regarding Henry” and singing outside with Harrison Ford, crying with Gene

Wilder over loss on another set, When “Harry Met Sally” with the whole gang

singing It Had to Be You. Lots of fond memories. My first job as

stand-in leg model for Geraldine Ferraro in a Diet Pepsi commercial with Secret

Service men guarding her and her daughters. A sweet time.
 



**Charmaine has given me permission to post an excerpt from her novel

"Reconstructing Charlie"!  Check back on Friday to read this totally

engrossing sneak peek!

Movie Monday - Sucker Punch

There have been some negative reviews on this movie, and I think they come about from not truly understanding this film. Yes, its part anime, part video game, part fantasy, part steampunk, and part over-the-top drama, but at the core of it, Sucker Punch delivers a helluva ride.

The film starts out in a tech-noir type feel with Babydoll’s mother dying, leaving behind two daughters with a stepdad that is a lecherous old man. He goes after the younger sister, locking Babydoll away, but our heroine is fearless and brave. She shimmy’s down the drainpipe, runs back in the front, finds the stepdad’s gun and bravely goes to save her sister, only to accidentally shoot and kill her sibling.

Babydoll is taken away to a mental institute where the stepdad buys off the orderly to “send her to paradise” via a lobotomy. Babydoll has five days. Thus sends her off into a fantasy world to escape, literally, the crazy house via a journey of collecting five things that will help her in her quest for freedom. Babydoll transports her mind into a world where she has been sold into a brothel and she must dance to survive. We never see these dances but we know they enchant men who watch her. While she “dances” she goes into a fantasy world of WW1 trenches, fighting a fire breathing dragon, and stealing a bomb from a train. These fantasies are larger than life, including the four women who join her: Amber, Blondie, Rocket and SweetPea.

Now, this is where I think a lot of critics don’t understand who these women actually are and here’s my two cents…these friends are actually a personification of Babydoll’s psyche. She takes them with her on these fantasy journeys to escape the reality of being locked in a mental asylum with the threat of a lobotomy hanging over her head. I won’t divulge the ending, I don’t want to spoil it, but suffice to say that it is both tragic and sweet at the same time.

This movie wasn’t perfect. There were several things that could have been changed to make it a great film, and again, I can’t really go into it because that would reveal too much of the ending. But how can you not love a film that has badass girls wielding katanas and machine guns dressed in corsets and black leather? It was fun, it was entertaining, and it gave my imagination a jumpstart. I recommend seeing this film in the theaters to give the CGI and sound mixture its proper due, but don’t sit in the front row because you’ll give yourself a headache. And don’t be expecting an Oscar worthy script, like I said there are flaws and there are holes, but do expect to leave the theater thinking you’ve seen a helluva ride!