Tuesday, June 3, 2014

#TNTConfidential Author Interview to Sonny Zae & Unholy Matrimony #GIVEAWAY



Welcome ye folk! Today I have a new to me author, Sonny Zae, with an erotic fantasy I'm sure you'll enjoy: Unholy Matrimony. And there's also a GIVEAWAY!


UNHOLY MATRIMONY


By Sonny Zae
Publisher: Roane Publishing
Release Date: May 19, 2014
Genre: Fantasy Romance (with Erotic Theme)

Keywords: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, BDSM themes, Romantic Comedy



 Sonny is so handsome, he doesn’t need magic to get what he wants, except when he gets into trouble. And, he’ll do anything for love or money, except work. So, the thought of marriage represents the worst of all possible worlds, a danger he avoids at all costs.

His plans for getting rich the easy way—by stealing—go awry when he meets Ariella. She is not only lovely to look at, but just may be as slippery and greedy as he. Better still, she becomes highly stimulated at the prospect of helping him hijack a treasure.

But, in addition to helping him steal “goald”, the cunning Ariella might just steal his scoundrel heart.

Welcome to In A Dream Beyond, Sonny! Make yourself comfortable. As this is your first visit, I have to ask: 

When did you start writing and why?
I started about 5 or 6 years ago, if we are talking serious writing.  I felt an overwhelming urge to be creative, to express myself.
Sonny:  Sure, sure.  It was not about the money?
Author:  Is everything about the money?
Sonny:  Of course!
Author:  What about girls?  Or strong drink?  Surely life is about them, too, isn’t it?
Sonny:  Truly it is.  Do not get so upset over trivial matters, like which words to use.  Remember, money buys all those other things.
Author:  So very true.  Do you have any other words of wisdom to share?
Sonny:  A fool and his money are soon parted—so find the biggest fool in the tavern and buy him a drink or two.  Just an investment tip for you and the readers.
Author:  Any other gems of knowledge you'd like to impart?
Sonny:  Learn how to create distractions.  A person can get away with anything if everyone focuses on the distraction.
Author:  And people fall for it?
Sonny:  All the time including people who should know better.
Author:  Oh, really?  I find that very hard to believe.
Sonny:  You do not have to believe me for it to work.  Oops!  Sorry about that.  Just a little ale on your keyboard thingy, it will dry right off.  Here, let me sop it up.  Lift it up, would you?  There, I got it all.
Author:  Do be careful!  Can't you slurp your ale without sloshing it all over?  Hey, where's my wallet?
Author:  We have drifted way off topic.  Why did I start writing?  Because only in fiction writing can a person be rewarded for concocting the most outlandish lies and half-truths and be lauded for it.  Well, lawyers can, too.   But lawyers get into trouble if foolishly caught out in an untruth.  Now, hand back my wallet.
Sonny:  I do not have it!  Why do you accuse me?

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
In view of Sonny's machinations, how could I be anything but a plotter?  I like to lay the story out and know where it begins and ends.  Then I have to think up all the tricks and schemes that Sonny will pull—or try to pull.
Sonny:  I do not need any help.
Author:  Stay out of this.  A serious interview is being conducted.  Anyway, once I know the ending, then I have to figure out how to get Sonny there, including thinking up all the schemes he'll try, and how the schemes will play out.
Sonny:  It does not matter.  Remember when you had set me up to be married off by Grandpap to that old witch two villages over?  I refused—simply would not do it.  You had to change the entire story, so that the plot was then that Grandpap was tricked into agreeing, and I knew what had happened and went along with the plan only so I could get Grandpap free of the debt he owed to the old crone.  There was never any serious thought of me going through with the wedding.  I would rather be beheaded!
Author:  I can arrange that.
Sonny:  You would not dare!

For you, what’s the hardest part about writing?
Writing portions at different times and then making sure all of the portions connect together, without dropping small details or leaving loose threads.  Ensuring continuity is tricky, especially when characters don't cooperate.  And Sonny is famously uncooperative.

Unholy Matrimony is an erotic fantasy. Is this your favorite genre? What do you like best about the fantasy genre?
No, I can't say it is.  Unholy Matrimony was the first erotica I have written, and it came about by accident.  I had written Unholy Matrimony as a fantasy short story, one of several based on my full-length novel Wizard Seeking Trophy Bride.  It was a bit sexual, but only a very minor component, overall.  I found the call for submissions from Roane Publishing for their erotica anthology "Bad Boys Rock" and thought I'd submit Unholy Matrimony, as Sonny is an exemplary medieval bad boy.  But it was only two days before the closing date for submissions and I had to add to the story to meet their minimum word count requirement.  I didn't have the time to add erotica.  But after working frantically on it, and after realizing I didn't have the time to juice it up, I submitted it anyway.  Roane Publishing properly rejected the story as not being erotica, but expressed an interest in the story if I were to sex it up and make it longer.  So I did.  Then I gave it to a couple of fellow writers, with a few of the fellows being women.  They have me strange looks and asked if I had any experience writing erotica?  No, I had none.  Had I read any erotica, then?  Again, no.
The strange thing is that I believe it came out better without any knowledge or expectations on my part of what erotica was or should be.  At least, that is what I keep telling myself.  Sometimes ignorance can allow one to take chances and try to tell a story with a lot of naughty bits.  Maybe that isn't so strange, though.  But what is strange is that all of my beta readers still return my calls.
As to what I like best about the fantasy genre, I can make up any outrageous characters, physics, or worlds and no one can argue with it.  A talking cat that falls in love with Sonny?  Sure, why not!

Did you have to do any research to write Unholy Matrimony? What was it like? 
Yes, I did.  Mostly the research was into proper terms and words to be used, in order to create a medieval feel.  I had to avoid modern terms and slang.  And I had to refrain from names or expressions that could not have been known or used in Sonny's world.  One challenging aspect was in finding sexual terms that could be used, and used appropriately  Unfortunately, most thesauruses and other reference books shy away from listing archaic terms for bonking, humping, and other similar activities that we all love to engage in, yet are typically loathe to commit to paper.  And even if a good equivalent word is found, it has to be generally recognized by the majority of readers in order to be effective.  How many people will see the terms cozening, coition, houghmagandy, algolagnia, tribadism, grass sandwich, clicket, blow the grounsils, boff, or thromble and know what it means?  (Okay, I made that last one up.  But it should be a sex term, shouldn't it?)  Or rush to their dictionary and look it up?  Yes, I know most people will google the word, but how many will bother with even that miniscule effort?
Then there are words that sound naughty, but really aren't, words like sextillion, sexdigitate, sexivalent, sextan, sexton, sexangular, sextolet, or sexagesima.  I may not be able to resist temptation in the future and turn them into something dirty and disgusting.  Then there are words and phrases that are just too tasteless to actually use, even though readers would understand them, like sexual congress (everything is dirtier if you add "congress" to it).

Tell us something about the novel that doesn’t appear in the blurb or the excerpt.
Sonny, as a person, in all of the stories so far, is shallow and doesn't learn much from his mistakes.  Nor does he care about the feelings of the women he romances and dumps.  This story is the first time he has truly fallen in love, and he falls hard for Ariella.  He is being sincere when he professes a desire to marry her, and harbors no doubts about pledging he heart to her.
But unfortunately for him, he has chosen the wrong woman to fall for.  However, it is not that she is intending to do him wrong, but merely that she has all the same faults that he possesses.  Even worse, they amplify each other's faults, creating a crisis that grows in magnitude even as they try to spend time alone together.
Then, due to his Grandpap the wizard's interference, events tare manipulate against Sonny's wishes and in a way that ensures Sonny cannot learn from the experience—even if he wanted to, and even if it would be good for him in the long run.


**May flowers and May…*


Mayhem. Tell us something crazy you´ve done:
Quit my job to make a living as a writer.
Sonny:  That is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard!  What do you think will happen if you do not make it big as a writer?
Author:  End up destitute.
Sonny:  Exactly!  What will happen if you end up destitute?
Author:  Oh, I don't know, maybe a certain mooching medieval bad boy will move along, will find someone else to pester for awhile.  Get the picture?
Sonny:  Um, mayhap I shall go find someone else to talk to.

Favorite flower?
Purple jonquil

A book to read this month—
John Scalzi, Agent to the Stars, a hilarious science fiction book about a Hollywood agent contacted by aliens to help reveal them carefully to the human race.  Funny and outrageous.

Strangest habit—
None.  I am 100 percent normal, 100 percent of the time.

A song to dance to—
Queen, Death on Two Legs

Favorite spring attire--
A white, long-sleeved shirt with frilled cuffs and collar, a broad-brimmed felt hat with long feathers stuck into it, a purple jerkin over the white shirt, satin trousers with fertility symbols embroidered thereon, and polished leather shoes with uppers of silver fox fur.  Oh, and with big heels to heighten me up even more, so I can look down on people both figuratively and literally.
Author:  Sonny, they meant me.  You, well, you dress like a pimp.
Sonny:  What is a pimp?  Is it some type of fancy bird?
Author:  It is someone who dresses like you do.
Sonny:  Do many people dress like me?
Author:  Only a few, but that's enough.



Available at:
Goodreads ||
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble (Coming soon)
KOBO (Coming soon)
Smashwords
Unholy Matrimony



~~~~Excerpt ~~~~



"Tell me where you hid the amulet." Her lips touched my ear lobe and I almost lost control of my spleen. "Confess your theft, and I will reward you, will complete the passionate interlude left unconsummated last night."
"For you, my dear, I would confess anything."
"Go on, do tell."
"I confess my desire for you, my passion is aroused by your touch."
"That is not what I want to hear. Confess you took the amulet, and tell where you hid it."
"I will." My heartbeats pounded in my ears. "But first, caress my trouser weasel, stroke it as you were doing last night."
"Oh, no," she cooed into my ear. "You tell me where the chicken foot is, and then you will be rewarded."
I smiled to myself, despite my predicament. Such moments in life were few and far between, moments when fools thought they had the better of me, then discovered they needed to curry my favour, instead of the other way around. "My dear, I will confess nothing. Abler men than you—well, men, at least—have tried to break my spirit, and all have failed."
"Where is the chicken foot?" she hissed, grasping my ear and twisting it. The pain was sharp and delicious.
"I do not know!" Strangely, it was true.
"Liar! Tell me, or I shall kick you."
"Kick me if you must, but I refuse to tell you." I fervently hoped she would carry through her threat. "What will you do with the wedding gifts? I shall tell the people of your village it was all your idea."
"Oh, my! Dear me!" Ariella responded, mock fear dripping from her lovely lips. "Do you think they will believe you, a stranger, over a beautiful and innocent young girl?" She punctuated the question by kicking me in the gut.
"That did not hurt," I lied. "Throw your whole body into it. Do you have a pair of pointy shoes? Kicking me with pointy shoes might at least discomfit me…while you are kicking, at least. The pain fades almost immediately and you shall never get the truth out of me at this rate."



Giveaway

 To celebrate the release, we’re giving away an eCOPY of UNHOLY MATRIMONY, as well as a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


About Sonny Zae: 

Sonny Zae lives in a small town on the edge of reality.  His only remarkable characteristic is imagination.  He ignored his grade school teacher's repeated admonitions to stop daydreaming and get to work.

Sonny's book WIZARD SEEKING TROPHY BRIDE, is also available on Kindle.  It is a story about the exceptional difficulties involved in finding love and happiness for an elderly and strange wizard, not to mention the difficulties of dealing with an elderly relative—an elderly relative who is also a wizard.




 

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