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Tag: Emmanuelle de Maupassant

Opening Lines: Viking Wolf by Emmanuelle de Maupassant

It’s that time again! Settle yourself down for the latest in my ‘Opening Lines’ blog series.

This week the wonderful Emmanuelle de Maupassant is with me- and the Vikings are coming (pun intentional….)

Viking Wolf

I love writing erotic fiction and, when it comes to ‘hot throw-down action’, you can’t beat a warrior Viking! Enter Eirik, my rough-souled hero: a man who is used to taking what he wants!

The first volume in my medieval series, ‘Viking Thunder’ is free from Amazon – viewBook.at/VikingThunder

(also available as a super sexy audio book and paperback)

Volume two, ‘Viking Wolf’, releases this summer.

Captured. Seduced. Craved.
Arriving in Svolvaen, Elswyth submits to nights of passion in the bed of her hard-muscled warrior, Eirik, learning what it means to be loved by a Viking.

His to Take

Jarl Gunnolf rules Svolvaen by the sword and believes he has the right to claim any possession for his own, including any woman.

Forbidden Hunger

Elswyth desires Eirik for her husband, and the status of a true wife but cannot deny her attraction to his wolfish brother, the Jarl.

Jealousy and Betrayal

Can Elswyth escape the malicious plotting of seductive rival Faline, and the brutal lust of Gunnolf? Will she survive long enough to find what her heart yearns for?

The first 500 words of ‘Viking Wolf’

With the sun dipping to the last portion of the sky, twenty men took the oars and pulled against the current.

We’d been three days on the open sea, travelling to Svolvaen. Some places on the rowing benches were now empty, for several of Eirik’s men had fallen in the skirmish with the troops garrisoned near our village. As the longship had battled fierce winds and my stomach had heaved with the churning movement of the waves, I’d wondered if I’d made a grave error in leaving all that I knew to join these Norsemen. My thoughts turned repeatedly to my ailing grandmother, whom I’d left in the care of our neighbours. My decision had been selfish, borne of yearning for adventure, the chance to start anew, of my knowledge of kinship with these warrior men. Borne of my desire, too, for Eirik, who’d pulled me into the protection of his hard-muscled body as the ship plunged across the vast sea. At last, we’d sighted the mountains of the north.

Reaching the calmer waters of their coast, we sailed between scattered islands, the men’s eyes upon the maze of inlets, looking for their own.

Gulls and gannets whirled above, cormorants and kittiwakes, as we followed the narrow channel of the fjord, as Eirik called it, past cliffs on either side, rising steep, pocketed with caves.

Eirik’s elation was plain for me to see, and his sister, Helka’s, too; I shared in it, for I was now part of this world, although all in it would be new to me.

The other ships of the raiding party had returned some days before, survivors of the storm which had brought Eirik and his men to our coastline of Northumbria, and the rocky beach on which my former village had nestled. His people had kept look-out, horns blowing as we approached the landing piers.

What a press of bodies there was; comradery between men, as friends slapped and hugged one another, and received kisses from their wives, embraces from mothers, daughters and sisters. I no longer thought of those men as murderers, but as my kin. They’d shed blood, but I now knew my blood was also theirs. I recognized some part of their brutality as my own, for I was not as other women in the village in which I’d lived all my life. I was half-Viking, born of a wilder spirit.

Amidst the jumble of voices and the scramble of the crowd, Faline and I received little notice. We were no more than possessions, of Eirik’s concern; a curiosity, eyed briefly, then ignored. Whatever welcome I’d hoped for, in my heart, whatever foolishness, I pressed it down, and bit my tongue against my disappointment. It would take time, to earn my place here. Such things could not be rushed.

Helka guided us away from the crowd, scanning for one who wasn’t there; one who hadn’t deigned to push among the common throng, who’d waited, instead, for Eirik to come to him.

***

More about Emmanuelle

Find Emmanuelle at www.emmanuelledemaupassant.com

Sign up for her newsletter here to receive first eyes on her new releases, freebies and giveaways.

You’ll find Emmanuelle’s sexy short stories in several anthologies, including Cleis Press’ ‘Best Women’s Erotica, Volume 3’, and Stupid Fish Production’s ‘Dirty 30, Volume 2’ and ‘For the Men’.

Among her longer works is ‘The Gentlemen’s Club’ (the first in her ‘Noire’ series, and named by Stylist Magazine as a ‘mind-blowing’ read).

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Another fabulous start from a brilliant erotica writer!

Don’t forget to come back in two weeks to rad the first 500 words from Jay Willowby’s latest tale.

Happy reading,

Kay xx

Movember Foundation Fundraising: Because Beards anthology

Movember Foundation Fundraising:  Because Beards anthology

November 1st sees the launch of a gorgeous bumper-sized charity anthology, raising money for the Movember Foundation. Entitled Because Beards, as you might guess, the theme of the collection is that every man featured is beautifully bearded.

The Movember Foundation Team

We want to keep our men healthy, and the Movember Foundation can help achieve that, with our support.  ALL proceeds from the sale of this anthology go towards supporting prostate cancer research and treatment, and other critical men’s health initiatives.

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Twenty-one authors have donated stories for this sizzling collection, which is priced at just 99p/99c to allow everyone to take part.

You can feel good about having made your donation to this great cause, and receive a bumper 500+ page e-book into the bargain (there’s even a print edition on its way for those who prefer their sexy reading on paper).

One of the authors donating a story to this fantastic project is Emmanuelle de Maupassant: best known for her debut novella, The Gentlemen’s Club (named by Stylist Magazine as one of the sexiest reads of 2015).

Emmanuelle’s short story, Highland Pursuits, is set in the 1920s, featuring defiant debutante Ophelia, as she navigates life, love and lust, in the wild highlands of Scotland. Her leading man is enigmatic Hamish, auburn-haired, rugged and passionate. With a cast of eccentric characters, an ancient castle, a villainous French count, and some scorchingly hot sex scenes, it’s not to be missed!

To tease your tastebuds, here’s a snippet from Emmanuelle’s story.

He gave her a smile that could have been any man’s smile, given to any woman: a smile that went back into the forest and its shaded dells, into the granite almost. It was the same smile men have been giving to women for centuries. His smile was one of complicity, of intimacies shared, and of remembrance of touch. A flood of heat threatened to overwhelm her. Her body, an archive of desire, remembered everything…

Discover more about Emmanuelle de Maupassant via her website www.emmanuelledemaupassant.com

Visit her Amazon author page or pop over to find her on Facebook

because-beards-cover

Because Beards is priced at just 99c/99p, to allow everyone the chance to donate to this fundraising event.

You can pre-order your copy via these links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Later this year, we’ll be updating everyone on how much money we raise for this wonderful charity.

Could we reach US$1million? We’ll see!

Don’t miss this great Your Tube video-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJFLvNGJf24&w=560&h=315

Please do spread the word wherever you can.

ready-for-a-beardgasm-because-beards-anthology

Everyone involved in Because Beards has given their time, resources and talent free of charge, so that all proceeds from this anthology reach our charity.

 

The AMAZING team behind this anthology comprises not only our 21 authors, but cover designer Jessica Hildreth, photographer Wander Aguiar and model Jacob Rodney. Thank you to the many book bloggers who are helping spread the word about this anthology, and to Heather Roberts and Jenny Flores for their super PR work.

Because Beards is written by: Alexis Alvarez, Faith Andrews, M. Andrews, Jeannine Colette, Hayley Faiman, Angelita Gill, Ace Gray, Ruthie Henrick, Scott Hildreth, Evie Lauren, Jerica MacMillan, R.C. Martin, Emmanuelle de Maupassant, Leslie McAdam, Maria Monroe, Adrienne Perry, J. Quist, Renee Rose, Kacey Shea, Martha Sweeney, and Tom Sweeney.

Goodreads fans can add the anthology to their ‘To Be Read List’ here. Your support (and reviews) will help make this project a success.

Thank you.

 

My First Time: Emmanuelle de Maupassant

Today it’s time for another in the ‘My First Time’ series- and I’m delighted to welcome Emmanuelle de Maupassant to my blog today for a cup of something and a chat!

Over to you Emmanuelle…

First Time

My First Time

Can you remember writing the first story you actually wanted to write, rather than those you were forced to write at school? What was it about?

About 11 years ago, I was living in one of the former Soviet states and began researching old, pagan superstitions and customs, including folk mythologies. I felt a compulsion to write my own tales using my findings: not retellings of existing Russian fairy tales, but something original, combining elements from various sources. These were early drafts of stories which now feature in my Cautionary Tales. They were more bawdy than erotic, and focused on the darker side of those old superstitions. It was a full decade before I returned to them in earnest and polished them, with the help of my editor (Adrea Kore).

 Cautionary tales cover Emmanuelle de Maupassant erotic horror

What was your first official publication? Was that erotica?

My first works in print were travel guides, commissioned for the Culture Smart! series and for Dorling Kindersley’s Eyewitness series. Before that, I’d written travel articles for various journals including The Times.

I had no idea I’d be an erotica writer – it just came from nowhere! Was writing erotica something you intended to do, or was it a bit of a shock?

I was chatting with a friend and, somehow or other, we pretty much dared each other to write something ‘naughty’. From there, ‘The Gentlemen’s Club’ was born: a rather provocative tale set in 19th century London. I began writing without any clear plot direction, but guided by a definite desire to write about sexual obsession. My fingers almost had a life of their own and, one month later, my first draft was complete.

Emmanuelle de Maupassant The Gentlemen's Club erotic literature fiction Victorian inspired London

What affect did that have on your life?

I’ve never been happier. I have license to write into ‘dangerous’ places. There’s no point hiding anything, or pretending.

Does your first published story reflect your current writing style?

My first novella is set in Victorian London, so I evoked 19th century language and a fair amount of historical detail. My latest release has a very different voice, using dark humour and elements of the grotesque. It’s called Cautionary Tales and is a collection of macabre folktales tinged with erotic horror. I’ve blended eroticism with a sense of creeping dread for what lurks in the shadows.

 Emmanuelle de Maupassant quote - Twitter sized

What are you working on at the moment?

Volume Two in my Noire series, which is set in Italy, in 1899. Lashings of gothic mystery, a vile villain, a cunning seductress, and a host of eccentric characters. It should be ready for release by late summer.

Buy links-

 To my first published story: The Gentlemen’s Club

viewBook.at/Gentlemensclub

and to my latest book: Cautionary Tales

viewBook.at/CautionaryTales

quote from cautionary tales Emmanuelle de Maupassant erotic fiction literature

Bio

Emmanuelle de Maupassant lives with her husband (maker of tea and fruit cake) and her hairy pudding terrier (connoisseur of squeaky toys and bacon treats).

 Other links – you can follow Emmanuelle at:

https://twitter.com/EmmanuelledeM

https://www.facebook.com/erotiquemuse

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Many thanks hun- wonderful interview.

Kay xx

Why I Write Erotica by Emmanuelle de Maupassant

Today I am delighted to welcome Emmanuelle de Maupassant to my blog to discuss a question which, I imagine, is one we all get asked on a regular basis- Why do you write erotica and not something ‘proper’? (seethe…)

Over to you Emmanuelle…

Why I write erotica

I want. I want. I want so many things.

I want to explore what might be or might have been.

I want to rewrite the past and create whatever future I choose.

I want to reshape ‘the truth’, to view the world from inside other skins.

Emmanuelle de Maupassant erotic fiction author

As Sylvia Plath said: ‘I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life.’

Like many writers (I suspect), I have a laptop stuffed with snatches of writing and story outlines, ideas I’ve been exploring, thoughts I’ve spilled out, tens of thousands of words as yet unseen. Some of my most brutal writing is there: my resentments; the pain scraped from my bones and the pit of my belly; desire pushed from the slow ache of my cunt.

When you start writing from that deep place it changes you; all the creatures you’ve kept hidden in dark corners come creeping out.

It’s damn liberating!

When I write, I don’t need to hold back. The greatest challenge is only that I be honest with myself, writing what I want to rather than what someone else might think I should be writing. I’m often asked why I don’t write a ‘real’ book (in other words, one that doesn’t include sex).

Emmanuelle de Maupassant 1

Bizarrely, exploring sexuality and desire on the page isn’t celebrated in the same way as the exploration of other human themes, such as grief or unrequited love. No matter that literature exploring sexuality often does so in the context of far wider human experience. Think of Jeanette Winterson and Fay Weldon; they cover it all. They aren’t looking to someone else for permission as to what they write. They just bloody well do it.

There are things that won’t let me rest, themes I keep returning to, unpicking the knots. For me, it’s the desire for freedom, to be less constrained by social conventions, to speak my mind, and to speak the truth of my body too.

Other authors’ works which draw me back time and again explore, overtly or covertly, the themes of madness and imprisonment: as in Sarah Waters’ Affinity, Fingersmith and Little Stranger, in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and the novels of Wilkie Collins. What is it to be ‘mad’ and are our minds ever ‘free’? Angela Carter and Michel Faber, in their gorgeously rich prose, tackle these themes too.

Emmanuelle de Maupassant author of 3

In my case, this search for freedom finds expression in wanting what society tells me is ‘forbidden’, and that has led me towards the erotic genre.

When I began, I remember feeling as if I were hacking off the outer layers of myself.

It felt dangerous. I was standing on a cliff edge, and that sense of stepping off the precipice made me feel sick, but also elated. I felt alive. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to turn back, because how can you when you’ve tasted freedom?

You’re pulling the words from where they resist being found but if you lock them away, they’ll squash the life out of you.

Everything I write draws on something from within myself. Yes, it’s fiction, but the heart of the story always reveals my preoccupations. My fears prowl the pages, as well as my fantasies.

I want to explore the bittersweet; those things we rarely dare look at, things intense and wild and violent and unexplainable. On the page, I can play out anything my heart desires, explore anything, be anything.

emmanuelle de maupassant erotic fiction 2

Bio

Emmanuelle de Maupassant’s latest work is a collection of tales combining eroticism, bawdy humour and horror, inspired by Slavonic folk customs and superstitions (Cautionary Tales: Voices from the Edges). She is also the author of the Noire series, set in the late 19th century.

She lives with her husband (maker of tea and fruit cake) and her hairy pudding terrier (connoisseur of squeaky toys and bacon treats).

Her works are for sale from Amazon.

You can find her on Twitter and Facebook

https://twitter.com/EmmanuelledeM

https://www.facebook.com/erotiquemuse

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Many thanks, Emmanuelle, for such an excellent blog. I agree with everything you say. For me, the best thing about writing erotica is the freedom it gives. The ability to be whoever you want to be is truly addictive!

Happy reading,

Kay x

(All images are reproduced with kind permission of Alex, and comply with the common use license)

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