“Romance – Behind the scenes” guest post on Just Contemporary Romance

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a celebrity? How it feels to have hordes of fans and media adoring you and following your every move? And how, in this mass of hysterical people, you can possibly find true love?  Aren’t relationships bound to be tainted by superficiality—the very backside of stardom?

I’ve always wanted to go behind the scenes and discover who these colorful, super-talented and holier-than-thou individuals are and how they cope with life on a pedestal… what they do in their free time, what they eat, how they sleep on the road, who they like to spend time with, how they deal with constantly being recognized, and how they see their situation. I’ve wanted to know their influences, dreams, struggles… and their heart’s desires.

One day, I decided to write the tale of a bass player and founder of a groove rock band as seen from his perspective. What a challenge it was to dig deep into the mind of such a mythical person! Like with every story I write, I needed his to be realistic yet original, and did a thorough research (I’m not going to elaborate on the procedure, he he).

Developing my rock star character was so much fun. I could make him as gorgeous, raunchy and untouchable as I liked and have girls—and maybe even guys—squeal for him. At the same time, I could give him a unique personality and show my readers that even the most famous of people can have a poignant past, a bad conscience, a lonely heart, and a normal life beside the sex, drugs and rock ’n roll circus.

These are the premises of the erotic contemporary romance My Biggest Fan. Whether true love was in the cards for my boy or not, you’ll have to read to find out. Enjoy—and Merry Christmas!!

Check out the full blog post on http://www.justcontemporaryromance.com/

NEW! Fantastic review of Wild Hearted

I can only be humbled by the following words:

“Reading a book such as this is generally a once in a life time experience. But what if you then go and read it three times in a course of a few weeks? To me, it was implausible to find such a book that would stay so strongly with me after the first reading and then not lose its intensity with the second one. Yet, rereading this one proved to be an enjoyable pastime.

Our story begins with a male protagonist Tomor, unique specimen of manhood and a seasoned, devil-may-care crime lord of Hellhole, unredeemable inner-city area on the north side of the town, who after an unplanned brush with the law in south inadvertently sets himself on the path of Luz, a young naive woman with lots of pluck.

Grievously maltreated and rejected as a child by the very people who were supposed to give him their understanding love and support, Tomor grows into an emotionally stunted man of twisted morals. Having to fight for all he’s got in his youth and learning to enjoy no other options, he became belligerent and fierce, and feeling himself scorned by his surroundings later takes a purposefully aloof demeanor and makes an conscious effort to be authoritative and condescending to those around him,  shunning all emotional contact. After many years, Tomor’s world then starts to open after the encounter with Luz, a young woman in whom he seems to recognize a kindred spirit.

During the course of the book you can see this man with a troubled mind growing as a individual after being secluded all his life in a narrow worldview of malice, bitterness and grit. Tomor at first becomes intrigued with Luz and as crude and obnoxious as he was she returns a favor and sets on finding him out, drawn in by his vigour and passion for life. Their mutual and at that point in time still somewhat inexplicable attraction grow only stronger and fervorous after each subsequent meeting.

To say that at the end of it all I was utterly bewitched by Tomor would be an understatement. His is one of the best characterizations in the book and saying that he’s pairing with Luz is unfair is somewhat justified. More often than not I’ve felt that Luz, as a female protagonist and Tomor’s counterpart does not possess the same depth of character as him and that her sole purpose in the book is to act like a foil to Tomor, facilitating a motive for his character development. It would be far for me to say that she is a flat character, but the one who benefits the most from their union is Tomor, while Luz for great part remains the same individual well into the second half of the story and matures as a character at the very end.

Sadly, this being not your typical love story, Tomor and Luz are never left at peace to fully cultivate their relationship and are time and time again alienated by the very differences of their prospective environments and upbringing. As a contrast to their budding romance and assorted cast of meaningful side characters, this story offers you their broken souls and shattered dreams, disturbing images of bloodshed and carnage, brutal torture and abuse, and sets in motion events bound to tear Tomor and Luz apart for good.

Those of fainter heart may undoubtedly cringe at some parts in this book, but my advice is to not drop it just yet and continue reading till the end. The open ending leaving our protagonists with only bleak, unknown fates may disappoint some, but that in itself leaves space for a sequel and I at least am happy with that possibility. With all this said so far, I only have to add that it was truly a roller-coaster ride!”

Wild Hearted cover

Encouraged by critiques

I have put my soul on display in the writing group Scribophile for about 1,5 year and still get my hands smacked on by fellow critiquers. Writing is a difficult craft to learn, especially in a foreign language. But once in a while, I am astonished and humbled by words of encouragement such as “I forgot to breathe”, “I was picking at perfection”, “You write imaginary too freaking well”, “The writing is top-notch and impressive”, “The chapter totally sucked me in”, and “You make me feel it all and hate feeling it all”. What more can an aspiring author ask for?

Today, a kind heart left me this message: “This is writing which I would classify as powerful realism, and unlike much of that genre, this piece is tasteful, eschewing mere shock value or vulgarity in favor of well-crafted prose to achieve its aims.”

Thank you!!

Excerpt from the thriller WIP Carnivora

Chapter 5, First Kill

“When I open my eyes, face down in the dirt, it’s still too dark to be morning.

Looming silhouettes of boulders and trees surround me, animated by the soft swing of hanging branches. The river noisily swooshes by a few meters away, bringing a constant humidity that impregnates everything from the pores in my skin to my too-thin clothing.

Roots and stones scattered in the hard soil press against my stomach and chest, but after endless hours of lying on the biting cold riverside, I’m so numb I could care less. Regular shivers run through my body, the only signs of life beside the small fogs of breath escaping my nose. And the painful cramps stiffening my legs every now and then, that I wait out until the hurting muscles relax and soothing warmth washes over.

But I’m so tired of breathing, tired of fighting to live.”

fog