Interview: Sugar Dust: Slippers and Chains by Raven ShadowHawk

UFI welcomes Author Raven ShadowHawk. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview? 

That’s a tricky one. Hmm. That wouldn’t show up in another interview, eh?

Well I touch-type. It’s something I learned in secondary school and I can say, quite honestly, that is the ONLY practical skill that I value above all the knowledge I attained. My brain moves so fast that I can’t keep up with a pen, the only way to keep pace with the madness of my brain vomit is to type it. That’s why I always write my first drafts straight onto a word processor.

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

What’s downtime?

Heh, I’m only half kidding there. I have two young children, so true downtime is a thing of the past. But I do enjoy catch up with old TV shows. Buffy is the most recent one. I realized that the show first aired when I was 13 years old. 13!!! And I still love it. Yes the acting is poor and the effects are dated, but who cares?! It’s about a tiny blonde girl who kicks the crap out of bad guys and doesn’t need help from a man. What’s not to love?

What is your Favorite part of writing? 

The first draft. That utterly free and limitless thrill of putting my fingers to the key and letting my brain go. Yes, I utilize outlines these days (I have to with all the projects I have on the go) but it’s still very open. Earlier I called my words ‘brain vomit.’ Gross as that sounds, it really is the best way to describe my writing because before the editing begins, that’s exactly what it is.

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write? 

I have a very strict editing process that involves multiple reads on different platforms (computer screen / hard copy / Kindle). But there are small things I do like play a certain music track while working (it’s this www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlP2o41Qxw if you’re curious) and having the curtains closed to the outside world. Small things, but when I set those things up around me, I know that it must be writing time.  I’m even getting better at ignoring the Facebook ‘ping’ and the Twitter ‘tweet’ while I’m working. Yey me! ;-)

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres? 

I guess I’m going to spout all the clichés now but I adore Laurell K Hamilton and anything at all by Kelley Armstrong. Anything by these two is on my ‘Love’ list or ‘About To Be Loved’ list. I’m yet to read a book by either I didn’t enjoy.

How would you pitch Slippers & Chains: Sugar Dust to someone who has not heard of it before? 

I love this part. Okay, I’ve been working on this for a while and if I were stood beside someone in the queue for the ladies’ loos I would pitch it like this:

Do you like Fifty Shades? Do you like Friends? Do you like Eastenders? Okay, imagine all of those mashed together and you’ve got the Slippers & Chains series, the funny, the mundane and the sexy, all mashed together into series of four novellas. 

Ha, go me. ^_^

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that Sugar Dust is set in? 

Unlike many of my other projects, it really is just the world we live in today. Contemporary Leicester (East Midlands UK) with all the things that go along with it: modern TV, family feuds, occasional over-attempts at political correctness and a vibrant kink scene. Honest, visit Leicester any time in the next few years and it won’t be too much different to what you’re reading about.

Do you have a favorite scene in Sugar Dust? 

Actually yes. ^_^

Karen is talking to her housemate Cindy about her relationship with Dan. She and Cindy are completely open with each other so there’s no need to beat around the bush when discussing the BDSM aspects of the relationship. Cindy is low and depressed because her girlfriend insists that she comes out to her parents and Karen is low and depressed because Dan won’t say he loves her.

The scene includes a fabulous line by Cindy where she expresses her caring nature in the only way she knows how: "No, he's hurting you. And if he keeps it up, I'll break his legs. But talk to him first, okay? Sam can't keep blagging me out of trouble."

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about? 

My favorite has to be Cindy. She’s just so crass and foul mouthed and fun. I often feel guilty about all the swearing in my books, but not when I write about her.

Hardest to write about was Dan. Though I have a reasonable grip on the dynamics of a BDSM relationship, I don’t for a moment believe that every relationship is the same. So I know that my portrayal of Dan as a Dominant figure won’t match the expectations of some. Nor will my portrayal of Karen as a submissive. I guess the hardest part is knowing that I can’t possibly please everyone.

All I can do in that regard is be as honest with the characters as I can and I do that by staying true to the people I know them to be, regardless of the BDSM dynamic.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you? 

Next up on my ‘to do’ list is the second Slippers & Chains story called Second Base. Karen and Dan up the stakes by changing their living arrangement and discuss bringing more people into their relationship. Then, under the name Ileandra Young I’ll be working on a trilogy of vampire books that mingles adventure in contemporary Leicester with events in Ancient Egypt at the time of Cleopatra VIII and Mark Antony in 36-30BC.

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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 and for monthly updates and regular freebies, join her mailing list. If you fancy a chat, find her lurking on Facebook, or Twitter  sharing—or arguing—with her other half.

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 Sugar Dust

Slippers and Chains #1
Buy Link

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?

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Excerpt:

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?

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