Sunday, January 11, 2015

Talking with Cooper Davis and Celebrating their new release!

Please give a warm welcome to a new tome author, Cooper Davis who is sitting down to answer a few questions from me plus talking about their new release, King Undone.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Well, I’m Cooper Davis, multi-published author of male/male romance. I was pretty early to the m/m scene, with my first contemporary romance being published almost six years ago. I published three works, then wound up taking a hiatus because of family and professional demands. But I always knew I’d get back to writing, and as it turned out, when I did, I wound up writing my first historical period series. Of course, it must be pointed out that A KING UNDONE and the Noble Pleasures series is set in an alternative world, much like early Victorian England. So it’s not a pure historical, even as it reads like classic m/f romance, in the vein of Kathleen Woodiwiss, Amanda Quick or Lisa Kleypas.

What started your interest in writing?
Honestly, I’ve been writing since I was barely able to spell. I’m not kidding. For me, the desire grew out of a fairly lonely childhood, as I spent quite a lot of time alone due to having a single working mom. I would read books, then begin to create landscapes in my real world where I’d act out my own scenes. More than that, I spun tales in my mind, some original, some more like “fanfiction’ to movies or books. Before too long, I realized I could actually write down the tapestry unfurling in my mind. When I did that, it wasn’t much longer before I realized the best addiction in the world is when you’re in the “zone” as a writer. Best. High. Ever.

What is your book(s) about?
When I started this series, I thought it would be enormously fun to take those old school classic romances like Kathleen Woodiwiss wrote, and turn them on their head. To create that same sort of drawing room, sweeping romantic tale, but set it in a world where men could court and marry other men. A KING UNDONE launches the series with the story of a king who, after being forced to marry a woman and sire an heir, finds himself widowed. And finally daring to go for what he’s always wanted and repressed—to take a male lover. But as king, he must be discreet, and so he contracts the services of a temple that’s dedicated to providing the nobility with concubines. What King Arend doesn’t bank on is that when he brings said discreet concubine home to his palace…he gets far more than he bargained for. A beautiful, unique and captivating man who is at least as eager to share the royal bed as King Arend is to finally make love to a man. This small detail plays havoc with Arend who, after losing his one true love years ago—a prince from a neighboring realm—is determined never to love again.

What are you currently working on?
Arend and Julian’s HEA! A KING AWAKENED. I just love those two; they’re so romantic and have rapier sharp wit between them. They really assume a life all their own.

What genres do you write in?
This is my first historical-style romance (it’s an alternative world historical that’s basically akin to our early Victorian era.) But otherwise, I’ve written all contemporaries. I have the BOYS OF SUMMER series, which is a friends-to-lovers contemporary series. And one paranormal contemporary about alpha werewolves from rival clans who are forced to make.

Do you have a favorite quote from your book(s)?
I love this from A KING UNDONE: 
“Take comfort in the fact that you, at least, managed what I did not. You kept your clothes upon your person, a feat which was apparently quite beyond me.” 

Do you keep a notebook near your for when new ideas pop into your head?
I’m actually really big about writing scenes on my iphones in the notes. Then I email those, and export into word. I’ve also tried Dragon, but it comes out too garbled, so it’s iPhone notes for me!

If you write a series do you re-read your previous books before you begin the new one?
I usually do that, yes—unless I start the next book immediately. I mean, without a breath. Even so, I go back to my Kindle and re-read at night in bed because there are so many little details in a series that you want to pick up and weave in like threads to the overall canvas. 

What do readers have to look forward to in the future from you?
The HEA for Julian and Arend! Their next book comes out in September, A KING AWAKENED. After that, the third book in the series, A GENTLEMAN REVEALED comes out in December. 

Have there been any characters that started off as supporting characters, but then developed into a more prominent character?
Ah, yes! King Arend’s royal secretary, Alistair Finley, will have a book of his own—A GENTLEMAN REVEALED, which is book three in the series. He’s an unconventional hero, and I’m a total sucker for those. In this first book, he’s starchy and uptight, heavyset, and an closeted alcoholic. But there’s something wonderfully endearing about him, when he accidentally finds himself flirting a bit with Julian—and then gets flustered. And you can see that beneath his buttoned-up exterior beats a heart of a true romantic. I hope readers love him like I do, and will clamor for his book…I’m already hearing that from quite a few!

When and where do you like to write? Are there any favourite places you like to go?
I can be shockingly adept at writing in loud, distracting places. Airports, bars, coffee shops. At home, I even like to write with the Weather Channel on. Sometimes, to be honest, too much quiet is a huge distraction. For the most part, though, I have a fabulous leather recliner, and that—plus the television on something mindless in the background—is my magic mojo.


About King Undone

Sometimes you have to risk everything, to follow your heart…

Noble Pleasures, Book 1

In a world where gentlemen openly court and marry fellow noblemen, the threat of scandal still lurks behind every velvet drape for kings and princes. Such has been the fate for King Arend Tollemach, forced to sacrifice his heart on the altar of regal duty.

Now that his wife is dead and his royal obligations are at an end, he’s ready to take an unthinkable risk. King Arend seeks a concubine from Temple Sapphor, a secretive, gated world where he will finally shed his virginity—as least as it pertains to making love to a man.

Julian never thought he’d spend ten years on the temple shelf, passed over again and again. Just when he despairs of ever finding placement in a nobleman’s bed, Arend walks into the temple. A lonely eyed, beautiful king who could easily steal his heart.

Arend discovers he has no problem opening his bed to the exquisite concubine. The problem lies in finding the key to his long-shuttered heart.

Warning: Contains a beautiful, virgin king desperate to bed another man, a concubine who fantasizes about being claimed and revered by a strong monarch, and a sea of scandal set against a sensual, palatial backdrop.
 Teaser Excerpt:

The servant glanced up into Arend’s eyes, and they shared a strange look that caused a fluttering deep within Arend’s belly—a tingling awareness of his own sexuality, of desire and longing, and of what another male could profoundly stir in him. The servant’s full, sensual lips parted on a sharp inhale, and still the pair of them stared, wordless, unmoving as if caught in a butterfly net together, drowning in heat and summer-warm awakening.
At last, the servant broke that dazed spell. With a beseeching smile, he lifted his heavy ring, laden with some dozen keys of various sizes. Arend swiped the damnable thing, turning it over in appreciative study.
“Good blazes above! How many locks are required, precisely, to protect all the fine manhood dwelling behind these walls?” With a quick glance at the gate, he counted padlocks then spun to face the other man anew. “Three. Three corroded locks? ’Tis that all they think of your merit and beauty?”
Cat Eyes tucked one errant wave behind his ear, a gesture so sexual it might as well have been a pleasuring stroke between Arend’s parted thighs. “At least, sire,” the man told him demurely, “I should never ride past thieves, taverns and highwaymen unprotected—were I a king.”
“Were you a king, I daresay you’d do whatever the devil you wanted, as you strike me as a most independent, free-spirited fellow. But to our point at hand”—Arend slid his gaze down the man’s lean, muscular form—“I wonder if even three locks would keep the lusty lads away should they ever learn of you. Frankly, I rather doubt it.” And then, with a gleam in his eye, Arend slowly raked his gaze back upward in unabashed appreciation. “No, I am quite certain now. Even ten iron locks would prove utterly useless in barring the fellows from the lovely likes of you.”
A brandy-rich laugh escaped the male’s full lips, but he gave no further reply.
Arend studied him for a moment. “Ah, so this time you’ve no clever rejoinder for your king?”
“Seems as I do not. Except”—the male smiled at him, a wavering beam of beauty that Arend was barely prepared to handle—“should I not fasten these gates directly, my king might witness something quite ugly.”
“Oh?” Arend lifted one eyebrow.
“Yes, a gang of randy toughs might, in fact, make off with me in the manner of lusty highway bandits.” The male shook his head with exaggerated concern. “Not for royal eyes, my king.”
“I’m not so sure. I’m having a moment where I imagine you kicking some wicked male’s broad backside.”
“No, sire.” The beautiful man smiled most charmingly, then cracked his knuckles in a display of raw manhood. “I’d knee every last one of them in the balls. See, I’ve dealt with unwanted suitors before.”
Arend gave him an openly admiring look. “And won, no doubt.”
“Whyever else do you imagine they finally locked me behind these temple walls? Wasn’t for my own protection, I assure you, although I prefer not to tangle with any overeager temple marauders. Even with my strong knee.”
Arend barked a laugh and returned the key ring with a valiant flourish of his hand. “By all means, secure your safety.”
The servant cast a glance at Arend’s present, unmoving position, then looked squarely at the gate. “The king yet bars me from my task.”
Arend gazed down at the male, desperate to reach out and drag him into a possessing, ravenous kiss. “The king,” he said, moving much, much closer, “pledges to use his signet ring to dash the teeth of any randy male who moves upon your astonishingly lovely person.” Arend stepped back abruptly. “But please, proceed, good sir, and I shall impede you no further. For now.”
At last the drawn-out process with the locks and jiggling keys was finished—including one huffing moment when the servant had to throw his hip into the whole business, exposing a lean length of leg—and the man spun to face him. That robe, unfortunately for the servant, did not, having been caught upon the heavy gate. As the man stepped forward, the fabric lifted ever higher until Arend saw that, beneath the flimsy garment, Cat Eyes wore no other adornments whatsoever.
Once the male realized his predicament, he became vexed, pulling at his robe and twisting his torso in reddening agitation until Arend stepped forward gallantly. “There now, allow me.”
The peeved fellow grunted, still trying to pivot so he could free his robe. “I am positively mortified,” he groaned.
“I, by contrast, will admit to being positively delighted by your misfortune.” Arend stilled the male’s fingertips against the padlock, then gently set to loosening the fabric. “And I’m even managing to come off as valiant in the bargain.”
“Yes,” the servant breathed, still straining and fretting, “for it is the very definition of valiance to revel so in my shameful quandary.”
“Perhaps not, but it is most male of me, given that your predicament has exposed a winning view of a handsome—and very bare—muscular backside.” The male gaped at him over his shoulder, but Arend urged him face-forward again, laughing as he worked and chattered. “And I am quite partial to dainty moles, especially when located just so upon the buttock. That you possess two such beauties along that dimpled cleft only doubles my fascination and gratitude that you’ve landed in this bare-arsed mess.”
At those words, Cat Eyes shouted and lunged forward like a powerful, manly gazelle, an action that finally dislodged his robe from its entanglement, much to Arend’s biting disappointment. Once the fellow had placed some distance between them, he spun to face Arend, aghast. He smoothed the front of his robe, reassembling himself quick as he could. “I am not ordinarily such a lummox, my king. Never am I, so please do not assume me clumsy or-or…”
Arend brushed off his hands. “You are most winning when aggravated. Has anyone ever observed that before? All feisty and golden flushed—especially when another man is all but disrobing you in broad daylight.” Arend gave him a guileless smile, unable to help himself, despite how frothed up the poor fellow had become.
The male gaped at him, blowing a curling blond wisp out of his eyes with a soft whoosh of breath. “You are not a gentleman.”
Arend couldn’t help laughing and downright uproariously. “Of course I am! I live in a palace and reign as king of this full and mighty realm.”
“Those two aspects,” the man advised him with downright deadly calm, “are hardly definitive of polite behavior, and I wish to become concubinary to a gentleman. Do you suppose you could manage to behave like one, were I to enter your service?”
Arend whispered back to him, just as softly. “So very, very cheeky.”
The servant’s lips parted, and he gave his head a stunned shake. “Something has…overcome me, sire. Apologies.”
Arend gave him an equally astounded glance. “Accepted. Fully.”
“And see? You are a gentleman, quite so.”
Arend swallowed, trying to find his breath. Trying to still a swamping, leveling dizziness that had enveloped him from the very outset of the interaction. “It would be astoundingly easy to set about pleasing you with some regularity, I should think. Which probably qualifies me as the gentleman you seek, but likewise terrifies me in the main.”
The blond male shook his head as they each stepped toward the other, seemingly drawn that way. “No. Do not be afraid—not that. No, no. You are the king, and I but a temple servant.”
Arend pressed a trembling hand to his brow and dabbed at perspiration. “’Tis a wonder but I forgot that fact for a moment. You seem to do a remarkable job of making me lose my head.”
“Take comfort in the fact that you, at least, managed what I did not. You kept your clothes upon your person, a feat which was apparently quite beyond me.”

BUY LINKS –

AUTHOR BIO –

Cooper Davis first discovered the allure of m/m storytelling when she watched My Beautiful Launderettewith a college roommate. Later, her passion for stories about men falling in love and finding their HEA together was stoked by online slash fiction. After years as an avid fan of m/m and slash, Cooper finally decided to try her hand at penning her own stories about same-gender romance and love.

A voracious reader across all subgenres of m/m fiction, Cooper is particularly fond of courtships set against the breathless backdrop of scandal and intrigue found in period drawing rooms. She is thrilled that her first historically themed m/m romance series debuts this December with A KING UNDONE (Samhain).


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