reviews_and_ramblings | In the Spotlight: Naomi Clark

I’m pleased to be part of the Virtual Blog Tour for the release of Silver Kiss by Naomi Clark started yesterday February 22.

While I’m familiar with the shifter themed novel in the Gay Paranormal genre, it’s not the same for the Lesbian one. So I asked to James Rasmussen of QueerEdFiction if there is the same interest:

The shifter/paranormal/urban genre is massive with all readers, it's probably one of the biggest flagships of publishing today--just look at the number of urban fantasies that regularly top the bestseller lists. I would say that while Silver Kiss carries the flag for GLBT--what QueeredFiction Press is all about--it is also fundamentally a great urban fantasy.

Blurb: Ayla Hammond has come home.

After years as a lone wolf in a self-imposed exile she´s rejoining the pack and trying to mend fences with her parents.

She´s convinced them to accept her girlfriend, but can a lone wolf change her ways? As if homecoming wasn´t hard enough, Ayla also can´t help getting involved in a missing person case. With pressure to solve the case mounting from the pack alphas, Ayla is starting to question where her loyalties lie - and if a return to the pack she left behind is really what she wants.

I asked to Naomi Clark to tell us about the book, the process to write it and so on. And also if the shapeshifter paranormal genre is so popular in the Lesbian fiction as it is in the Gay one. Remember that this is a guest blog and so, if you comment, Naomi Clark will be glad to answer you ;-) And you will also have the chance to win the ebook!

“If you look back at the folklore and legends that feed into modern werewolf stories, you´ll notice there are lots of ways to become a werewolf. You could wear a wolf skin, like one of the characters in my short story, WOLF STRAP. You could make a deal with the devil, or drink water from a wolf´s footprint. You could even smear yourself in the fat of a freshly killed animal, mixed with anise, camphor and opium, and see if that worked. Or, if you were very brave (or maybe foolhardy) you could let yourself be bitten by a werewolf.

In my novel SILVER KISS there are no shortcuts to becoming a werewolf - either you´re born one, or you´re not. And no amount of potions will change that. But why would people want to become a werewolf anyway? I suppose there are the obvious benefits - all that extra strength and power would be pretty nice, right? And there´s a certain allure in throwing off the manners and constraints of humanity and running wild as a werewolf - that´s definitely something my werewolves enjoy about shapeshifting!

Personally I think I´d enjoy seeing the world through a different set of eyes. The way a werewolf looks at things must be completely different from the way a human does. I´ve tried to show this in SILVER KISS through the heroine, Ayla, by showing how her mindset changes between woman and wolf.

I´ve got a great contest for everyone. There´s an ebook for a winner at the end of today and everyone who enters now will also be in the running for winning a signed print copy of SILVER KISS drawn at the end of the week. Just answer this simple question in your comment to be entered into both competitions:

What would you like most about being a werewolf?

Follow the SILVER KISS BLOG TOUR (http://www.queeredfiction.com/silverkiss.htm) for more chances to win. Check out the itinerary and join me on the next step of the tour. And there are even more prizes on 1st March, the official SILVER KISS release day and I´m live for a Twitter Release Party #silverkiss.”

Visit the Silver Kiss page at http://www.queeredfiction.com/silverkiss.htm for a reading as Naomi Clark reads from Wolf Strap! (Released in parts over the course of the blog tour!)

About Naomi Clark: A former army brat, Naomi is now happily settled in Cambridge, living in a converted cowshed with a tank full of catfish. She has been writing stories ever since she learned to write. A lifelong fascination with dragons, monsters, magic and ghosts eventually lead her to urban fantasy. Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of ezines and she also writes a monthly horoscope column for a local magazine.

Find out more at www.naomiclark.net.

Naomi's writing is strong, vibrant and engrossing. She creates complex characters with very human strengths and weaknesses; her world in Silver Kiss is well crafted and bound by clear set rules. She has a fresh and easy style that guides a reader quickly and effortlessly into her world. James EM Rasmussen