“No.” I stare down at Ax
from where's he perched on the beat-up futon—my bed. “We're not a team until we
get some shit straight.”
Ax's jet black eyebrow hops to his hairline. “Baby—”
“No,” I say, waving a palm in his face like a railroad arm
coming down over a track. “Don't you baby me.” My eyes shoot sparks, and
he leans back with a grunt.
“You clobbered Chet.” I cross my arms.
“Yeah-huh.” He gives his short hair a rough scrub. “And
Chump was deserving, Kik.”
I stomp my high heel. “Maybe!” I stab the air with my
finger. “But you nailed him from behind, and now he's, I don't know, dead or
broken somewhere.”
Ax shakes his head. “I've looked into Chet-buddy, and his
rich ass can take care of its own self.” He wags a finger and leans back again.
I pace as if the energy is pouring off me. I whirl and
point at him.
His eyes narrow on my hot pink nail tip.
“You have a closet full of chick’s clothing,” I say.
Ax shrugs, giving my once-pristine outfit an eye rake. “I
see you made use of it.”
“Why, Ax?”
His expression is unreadable, not the open face I remember
so well. “The Crawl isn't my only business, Kik. I have some others.”
“What do you mean?” I search his face, and a flicker
skates across his dark gaze. “Don't bullshit me, Ax. It won't work. I'm a
fucking hard-charging broad. You know this.”
He grins, white teeth slashing across his face. “Oh, I know.
Damn, girl, do I know.” He chuckles. “This isn't where I normally hang. In
fact, this is just a little lily pad I hop on to sleep over once in a while.
Sometimes employees from my other businesses need somewhere to crash, and I
give them a boost.”
“How much of a boost?” I'm aware my voice has just dipped
into suspicion.
“Kik…” His eyes meet mine, and they're not remotely soft,
but hard as flint. “Why do I feel you're coming down hard on me when I've been
doing nothing but helping you? Let me count the ways of my awesome.” He winks,
ticking off his great points on his fingers. “I took you in when Chump was
admiring his own dick.” I roll my eyes, and he continues. “I haven't put the
moves on your hotness.”
Oh.
Guest Post:
Colorblind and Loving It
What race are you?
Amazon has begun adding categories I couldn't have dreamed
up if my life depended on it. Yes, on goes my obsession with categories, which
I've touched on before (give me as many subs as you can!).
This is where it gets good. Now, I have a spot for my men
and women of color.
That's right.
Non-caucasian people want love, hot sex and all the other
trappings of being human! Who knew? This is such an obvious thing, saying it
feels like putting on a pair of shoes that fit badly. Why do we even need
categories for such things? Because most of the literature does not speak to
the racial diversity that is exploding across America (I'll stay to that
country because that's where I live).
Do I plug certain characters into my books to be
diverse?
Hell no.
The characters are in charge guys, I couldn't any more
force my muse to do what I want than become a man.
The character is who they are and it predicates race. And
honestly, lots of my MCs are mixed anyway. I just SEE them that way. My first
book had MCs that were black, Asian and the ambiguous race of other. You
know what that is? Anything that is several things mixed together.
Now it seems as if writing mixed-race fiction is becoming
the flavor of the month. (My vote is to make it the flavor of forever.)
Amazon's noticed, adding interracial romance and erotica
to its sub-genres. Well goody gumdrop, because those authors who enjoy writing
a mixed bag which include different ethnicities are digging putting our stuff
where it belongs. And where our readers of color can find it. And all our
readers.
My current work that just wrapped is about a Haitian guy
that locks horns with the French mob.
See how my muse slid that in there? Is he “black?” Not really, he's
Haitian, and speaks French... but not Parisian, not that city stuff, but raw
and unfiltered creole style. Yeah... that was fun. Who's his love interest?
Well a really cool caucasian girl... but that's not all she is.
Ohh la la!
I'm loving that the further we go, the less we see.
Amazon's colorblind, and many writers are seeing the need to expose our unique
cross-section of domestic humanity right here in the little US of A. For me,
writing about different cultures and races feels right. Keeps things fresh...
doesn't allow for as much regurgitation of the same old thing.
What race are you?
Ultimately, does it matter... if you're a woman—you want
love. To be loved; erotically, passionately, unconditionally. I haven't found
color makes that different.
Color really is all the same.
AUTHOR BIO:
Marata Eros (a pen name for Tamara Rose Blodgett), is the NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author of A Terrible Love. Marata has more than thirty-five titles in multiple genres including Dark Fantasy, Dark Romance as well as her highly successful Dark Erotica series.
Marata lives in South Dakota with her husband, children and fur kids. She is an ardent reader of many genres. Tamara enjoys interacting with her readers via Twitter, blog and newsletter as often as possible. Please stop by and say hi :)
GIVEAWAY:
Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL)
Signed paperback of The Token 9: Chet Sinclair
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