Author Day with Raven ShadowHawk

Please welcome author Raven ShadowHawk today as we talk about their upcoming release, Sugar Dust.

So tell us about your latest or upcoming release. What is this gem about?

My upcoming release is Slippers & Chains: Sugar Dust, first in a four part series following ‘normal’ BDSM couple Karen Owusu and Daniel Scotney. Karen is busy working on a PhD and Dan is a social worker but behind closed doors they enjoy a D/s dynamic in which Dan is Dominant and Karen is submissive. Their relationship is comfortable and established prior to the start of the novella but it quickly becomes plain that one of Dan’s ex-submissives is casting a shadow over them, one that Karen isn’t sure she can get around.

How often does your muse distract you from day to day minutiae?

Thankfully not that much. I have two young children and if I’m not focused on them it’s quite likely that something is about to be broken (or shoved into the DVD player). I find the muse most distracting at night; just when I should be bedding down. Then my brain lights up and I either have (very) interesting dreams, or a night interrupted by scrabbling to find my notebook in the dark.

If you could be any paranormal creature what would you be?

Vampire. I don’t even need to think about this twice. My ‘other half’ writes fantasy fiction and her focus on those fabulous creatures has rubbed off. There’s something very dark, sexy and sensual about a vampire. Enough that I’ll eventually be writing about them in some form.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Sleep? Ha, no, I do a little more than that these days. I have (slightly) more free time than I used to and my boys are part time at nursery now. I’m actually an avid (rabid) gamer, so I crack out the board and card games as often as I’m able. I also enjoy LARPing and table top RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder when I get the chance (yes, I AM a geek). Failing that, I’m part of a local roller derby team, meaning I get to zip about at high speeds, on quad skates once a week.

Are any of your characters like you?

I feel the need to answer this question cautiously though I don’t know why. ;-) I guess Karen is a little like me. We both love our men with a fierce and passionate loyalty and enjoy physical displays of affection. She has a much sharper tongue than me though. And I tend to swear more.

Do you have a favorite quote from any of your book(s)?

Actually yes and it’s from neither Karen nor Dan which I thought was odd. Karen is talking to her best friend Cindy about the Slave Library of which she is part. Still suffering from self-denial about how she actually feels about it, she tells Cindy that she likes all the other girls Dan plays with. Cindy’s response is ‘classic Cindy’ and, in my opinion, should be printed on a t-shirt: ‘And I secretly love cock.’ I suppose it’s not funny unless I tell you that Cindy is as gay as they come and, in previous edits of the novella, spent a fair amount of time hitting on Karen in an attempt to make her give up Dan.

If a movie or TV production company chose to produce your books into a series of shows or movies, who would your ideal cast be?

First off, how epic would that be? I’d looooove that and play this game all the time. Just the same I have a hard time filling in these roles as these characters are so English in my head and yet most of the actors I know are American. Ho hum. This is what my cast list looks like anyway:

Adelayo Adedayo as Karen (she’s a bit young, but she could pull it off… she’s got the sass).

Sam Trammell as Dan (he had that lovely salt n pepper grey going on all the way through True Blood and that’s exactly Dan’s look in my eyes. Helps that his built!).

Seth Rogan as Pete (sweet in a kinda dopey way, but he’d have to play the role slightly straighter than he plays some others).

Jennifer Lawrence as Cindy (simply because I feel she would have fun with a role like this: a foul mouthed lesbian with an innate dislike for clothes and fierce loyalty to her bestest, best friend).

Julie Andrews as Maxine (she could pull off snooty but likeable in just about the right quantities I reckon).

John C Reilly as Julian (I believe he could do justice to his long suffering married to a woman like Maxine, despite how much he loves her).

Sugar Dust

Slippers & Chains Book One

Breathless Press

BDSM/Kink Contemporary

Available on January 23rd, 2015

After an unwelcome family visit highlights romantic insecurities, Dan takes Karen to exclusive fetish club, Sugar Dust. Will the trip rescue or destroy their relationship? 

Dan loves submissive women and longs to build a harem of willing females to fill what he lovingly calls his "Slave Library." He shares his plans for sexual bliss with Karen, the first of his submissives in both his mind and his heart. But when an unexpected visit from his mother leads to uncomfortable questions about his ex, Dan realizes that past mistakes are catching up to him, faster than he can run.

The first D/s relationship to blend comfortably with her vanilla life is the one Karen shares with Dan. She treasures the freedom in the act of submission and wants nothing more than to share it with her Master for as long as possible. Why then does he insist on bringing other women into their beds? And why can’t he say he loves her?

As Dan battles his inner demons, Karen hopes a sexy mini break at the exclusive fetish club, Sugar Dust will allow them time to relax and reconnect. There she meets Beth, the personification of Dan’s past, storming in to demolish her present. Can Karen show Dan that their relationship is strong enough to break the chains of his past, before Beth drives an immoveable wedge between them with her tales of what once was?

Teaser:

"I was trying to figure out what to do for you and last night I figured it out. I've booked us a holiday. Just you and me."

The twist made Karen pause. She hesitated, wavering between pleasure and frustration as he missed the point completely. Again.

"What? When? What about work? I've got research to do." She clutched the sides of the sofa. "Why didn't you check first? I'm at uni next week, I can't just run off." Dan's chuckling only fanned her temper. "Do you know how much this PhD is costing me? I can't vanish for a week and screw it up."

"Who said anything about a week?"

"You said—"

"I said 'holiday'. You assumed how long."

Shuffling in her seat, Karen twisted her fingers in her lap. "Fine. How long? And where are we going?"

"Sugar Dust."

She sat bolt upright. "What?"

"You heard."

"Say it again. I need to hear it again."

"Sugar Dust, licensed fetish club and themed hotel for adults of an adventurous nature." Dan's smile widened. He puffed out his chest and flicked imaginary fluff off his shoulders. "I booked it this morning. Two nights, from tonight."

"For real?"

"Yep."

Karen squealed. All thoughts of the conversation carefully planned on the drive over, disappeared. She leapt to her feet. Whirled in a tight circle. "Sugar Dust! We're going to Sugar Dust!"

A leap took her across the room to land in Dan's lap. Grabbing his face with both hands she rained kisses on him. "How? I thought they were booked for months. This is incredible."

"I'm glad you're happy, Kaz."

She grinned, staring deep into the large brown pools of his eyes. She bit her lip. "Sugar Dust, I've always wanted to go, but I have to tell you something first."

Dan leaned forward and nipped her bottom lip. "How grateful you are? How pleased? How horny?"

"Yes, but—"

"Why don't you show me?" He ran his hands down her shoulders, cupping her breasts briefly before running his hands over her ribs and down to her hips. Grip tight and just shy of painful, he held her in place while tilting his hips into hers. Still grinning, he nibbled her bottom lip again then slid his lips down the side of her throat.

The hot press of his mouth and the flick of his tongue made her groan. She wanted to wait, to push him away and keep talking, but already the details were hazy. He licked a wet path down the side of her throat, teasing the site of last night's bite.

"I've already packed," he whispered against her throat.

"Really?" A pleasurable jolt shivered over her skin, gathering in her stomach where a tingling sensation billowed out and sank downward. "What did you pack?" Though she made her voice as neutral as possible, she couldn't quite keep the smile off her lips. A smile that grew wider when Dan next spoke.

"Sugar Dust is a special place. You need special clothes."

About the Author

Thirty-*mumbles* year old Raven ShadowHawk lives in Leicester (UK) with her twin sons (Sprog1 andSprog2), her partner (The Funk Master) and a stubbornly barren dwarf lemon tree.

She turned to writing erotica when she realized that many of the stories told by her friends were just too good not to share (and after realizing, after seven years, that working in finance was far too boring and far too comfortable a career to maintain forever).

Raven's unique humor, sauciness, well-observed realism, and unforgiving sass, gives her a brand of erotica she calls Smut With Brains.

Under the series title Meeting Each Other, Raven has released a mini series of six short stories through her imprint Little Vamp Press. Future projects include fantasy and/or horror based collaborative efforts with her “other half” Ileandra Young.

Find details of Raven's other works on her website (http://ravenshadowhawk.wordpress.com) and for monthly updates and regular freebies, join her mailing list (http://eepurl.com/0yKNj). If you fancy a chat, find her lurking on Facebook, (http://www.facebook.com/illyandraven) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/ileandraXraven) sharing—or arguing—with her other half.