Thursday, August 8, 2013

GUEST POST: Clovia Shaw gives us a little nibble of her new book NOGITSUNE



If you don't know how much I (heart) Clovia Shaw you aren't paying attention. SHe was here during BIG COMICS WEEK reviewing CHEW and spreading LOVE for Third Eye Comics.  Here's a little snippet (a drrrrrrrty little snippet) from her new book :




[QUOTE]
Linc rested his cheek on her head, still pressed firmly inside her, his hand smoothing up and down her quivering thigh as his stomach heaved against hers.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” he said quietly.
“I’m pretty happy with it.”
He grinned into her hair, the length of velvety tail uncoiling from her leg so slowly it felt reluctant, leaving an uncomfortable chill where her skin was now exposed. Letting her get a foot solidly down first, he gave her ass a squeeze before shifting to disengage. Delia closed her eyes for the shiversome sensation as he withdrew slowly, her hands curling against his hot sides.
“Do you trust me to do this for you?”
Delia nodded, reaching down to snag the right leg of her panties and jeans so she could put her boot back through them. She’d been expecting the flare of foxfire to destroy the condom, but it was still disorienting in such a small space while hopping on one foot.
Alerted by the squeak, Linc just watched her topple headlong into the laundry, the flames in his palm receding to a glow so he didn’t miss anything.
[/QUOTE]

 First off, let me say that picking an excerpt from a longer sex scene is hard. Heh, hard. I try very hard to craft a romantic or sexual scene so that it makes sense in the context of the story, suits the tone of the rest of the book, and isn’t in there just because I was getting bored and wanted the characters to screw already.
Wait. Back up the truck. “Length of velvety tail?”
Don’t make it weird, man. The MC in Nogitsune, Lincoln Black, is descended from Japan’s legendary fox-wives—which in my universe, means he has spirit tails. It works, shut up.

I didn’t realize this was a Romance.
It’s not. If you took the romance with Delia out and just had them work together, Linc would still have a book, though it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. My kitsune are sensualists, life-force harvesters who draw harmlessly on their lovers for a little extra afterglow buzz, and writing around that would be ridiculous.
Okay, so why this excerpt? We didn’t get to see anything!
Because it illustrates what I try to do with sex scenes—it’s easier without the distraction of hot, heaving, slick things. Physical intimacy can’t exist in its own bubble, discrete from the rest of the story. Something led the characters there, the plot rolls on around them, and worldbuilding rules still apply. Here, Linc is putting Delia in danger by having sex with her, but he’s not used to curbing his appetites. So he’s worried he’s started something he can’t stop. The bit with the condom is a window onto the local magic and the danger inherent in sleeping with another magician. Spit, blood, sexual fluids, hair—all these things can be used against you, so it’s a further trust to give, for Delia to let Linc handle the disposal for her. And lastly, there’s a casual fondness there that I think is very sweet when Delia trips bare-ass into the mountain of laundry, and rather than try to catch her, Linc just enjoys the view.

Or, you know, it’s just rude.
Foxes are habitual line-steppers, tricksters at heart, and don’t particularly care what you think of them. Linc could play Prince Charming as easily as any other illusion in his repertoire, but Delia doesn’t expect or want him to be something he’s not. It’s not like the laundry was going to eat her.

Stop acting like italics isn’t just you talking to yourself.
Fuck you, it makes me sound more personable and engaging. Or creepy and sad, but whatever.
…I spend a lot of time in my head.
Thanks to Lela for letting me rub my naughty bits all over her blog today, and for all you non-italicized people who dropped by to get a look at them. Nogitsune is available at Amazon and Smashwords, and you can come talk to me on twitter if there’s nothing good on late-night TV.

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