Archive by Author

Friday Fun: Gender Play

17 May

by C. Margery Kempe

I recently took in the “David Bowie is” exhibit at the V&A in London. One of the most fun aspects of Bowie of course is his gender play. From early on, the audience confusion — “Is he a girl? Is she a boy?” — was part of the provocation. I remember the label on this video saying it was banned in the US, but I know I saw it at the time, so perhaps it was only banned from certain mainstream avenues.

There’s a drag tradition in Britain that’s different from what it is in the States: from the days of Shakespeare, where the theatre was far too scandalous to allow women on it, right up to the relatively modern public (i.e. private) school tradition that segregated genders and made it necessary that school plays include boys dressed as ingenues, it has been largely accepted as okay for straight men to dress up.

By Bowie’s time in the midst of glam rock the fluidity of gender had much more playful aspects to it that many found confusing; it wasn’t the easy identification of an old comedian dressed as a ‘battle axe’ or ‘pepperpot’ but very attractive (and overtly masculine) men in eyeliner and glitter — as well as more slippery characters like Bowie who didn’t necessarily make it clear where their gender identity lay.

Tilda Swinton is the perfect foil for Bowie, isn’t she?

I wrote a medieval story with the ‘heroine’ really being a boy, whose mother had raised him as a girl. How do you like to play with gender?

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A Free Taste

10 May

Man City Lizzieby C. Margery Kempe
I thought as I am (or should be) at present running around London having fun before I head back to my sweetie up north in Scotland, that I would give you a little freebie teaser of my latest book, Man City: Lizzie. Like the original Man City, it’s a ménage story. At the center is the red-headed Lizzie, an art historian. But Lizzie’s being pressured into a choice:

Lizzie had been grateful for the impromptu docent duties that morning as it had mostly kept her from thinking about her own potential trap. Seated behind her desk once more with a lot of paperwork waiting, it became impossible not to ruminate on ‘the Nigel problem’ as she had begun to think of it.

Six little words.

“I want us to be exclusive,” he had said to her last night, taking her hand across the table. She hoped the dismay didn’t show too clearly on her face, but he had at least recognized surprise. Studying his earnest face, Lizzie had to admit not many women would say no to that offer.

Nigel was tall, dark and handsome for sure. He cooked like a dream and he had a laugh that warmed like a stove on a winter’s afternoon. Lizzie enjoyed the strength of his arms and the concentration in his face when they made love. Nigel made sure she was satisfied, whether he was preparing dinner or eating her out.

So why in the world wouldn’t she want to have that all to herself?

Her phone buzzed and Lizzie saw the number she had been half-expecting to flash there.

He was why.

“Hello, Jake,” Lizzie could almost hear herself purr.

“Can you meet for lunch?” His tone was casual, but that didn’t fool her.

“Where?”

“My place.”

She snorted. “Will I get any food out of this?”

“You could pick something up on the way!” He rang off without even saying good-bye.

That was Jake: impetuous, fun-filled, demanding and unpredictable.

And that was why she didn’t immediately agree to Nigel’s proposal. She had strong feelings for both of them; why did she have to choose? A gorgeous guy who cooks? A life-of-the-party guy who thrilled her? She had three favourite restaurants and at least a dozen favourite artists. Why only one boyfriend? It made her want to stomp her foot and cry in her best two-year-old voice, “It’s not fair!”

These thoughts were still churning in her head when she got to Jake’s. He lived on the top floor of a gorgeous nineteenth century building. The stair was narrow and dark but when you got to the top, it was all light and windows. He had an enviable view of the cathedral and town centre.

If he asked me to be exclusive, would I have leaned toward yes just because of this flat? Lizzie wondered, but then immediately laughed to herself. Jake could never be exclusive to anyone!

As she rang the buzzer Lizzie realised she had forgotten to pick up any food. Ah well, Cup-a-Soup back at the office. But when Jake opened the door, she smelled something delicious. She saw something pretty delicious, too. His loose tie and his work shirt half unbuttoned invited her hand to slip inside and caress his chest as they kissed. His cowlicked hair stuck up in fashionable disarray. No doubt about it, Jake was a dish—even paler than she was with jet black hair and eyes the colour of Caribbean waters.

He pulled her close as he shut the door behind her, running his hands down her back to her bum and giving the cheeks a squeeze. The warm kiss became something hotter as his tongue thrust deep into her open mouth. Lizzie felt the stress of the morning slip away as her skin thrilled to his touch…

Check out more on my author page at Tirgearr Publishing.

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Friday Fun: Sexy Movies

3 May

by C. Margery Kempe

What are your favourite sexy films? What does it take to get you in the mood on movie night?

Okay , it’s noir, so you know not everyone’s going to come out of it well but oh my are the scenes between Turner and Hurt hot hot hot.

 

There’s not actually any sex in this film, but there’s such a sensuality built into the story, yum.

 

This romance isn’t to everyone’s taste, but those who love it, adore it.

 

And of course, my inspiration! Anaïs provides plenty of oohs here.

 

No sexy list would be complete without Joanne Harris’ lovely Chocolat. Mmmm!

What would you add to the list?

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Pros & Cons of a Pseudonym

26 Apr

PainTreasureby C. Margery Kempe

Did you know my name isn’t real? Okay, it’s real but not my given name. I write — at present — under three different names. The original Margery Kempe was a medieval mystic; she was a real rebel and forged an entirely new way of showing her faith, which annoyed a lot of people. The one sin she struggled with was sex. If she lived now, she wouldn’t have that struggle I suspect, but embrace her lust without shame.

I figure I’m channeling that alternative history of Marge.

I know a lot of folks take noms de plume for writing erotica and erotic romance because they’re afraid of the scrutiny of others, but I mostly took it on as branding. Under my given name I’ve struggled with finding an audience because every thing I publish seems to be different than what came before it. People who like one of my books don’t know if they’ll be interested in the next one.

I advise not doing that (>_<) but I can’t seem to help it — except with the pen names.

With C. Margery Kempe you know you’re getting the sexy. Sometimes with love, sometimes without, but always with the hot and steamy. With Kit Marlowe, on the other hand, you might be getting love and sometimes a little suggestive heat, but no sex. I’m considering a fourth name for my crime writing, largely to distinguish it from main identity and its elusive, eclectic nature, but also because the crime writing I do tends to be very dark noir. You may not be surprised to find that it’s a genre still largely perceived as ‘masculine’ despite the many female readers and writers.

But it’s harder to get reviews and word of mouth buzz because most men don’t like to be seen praising women; praising someone is seen as putting oneself in a subordinate position. Even interviews go badly for women writers in a different way than they do for male writers, who are more likely to be challenged on their expertise than asked about their shoes, weight or children. I’m really grateful to the crime-writing guys like Paul D. Brazill and Richard Godwin, who have always generously supported my writing. But I’m also frustrated that so much of the field seems so matey. I’m often made to feel as if I am intruding on conversations if I offer an opinion.

There are many aspects to consider. Sometimes it’s fun to have an argument between my selves on Facebook; it amuses me. Sometimes fellow writers are nonplussed because they don’t remember that I’m these different names (“It’s me, logged into my other account!”). And maybe I am splitting my audiences when I should be trying to join them together. I just don’t know. They’re not secret identities — I always make sure to be as transparent as possible — and they’re not sockpuppets, so I like to think of it as “my team” (does that sounds weird?). I will use saltier language as CMK than I generally will as Kate, mostly because my dad is on Facebook and I don’t want to give him a heart attack.

What do you think? Are pseuds useful? Do you want to keep a distance between your personas?

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Writing Advice from the Sisters

19 Apr

by C. Margery Kempe

I’m a member of Sisters in Crime and the 2012 Publishers Summit Report has come out. This is the advantage of belonging to writer organisations: insider info. I’m a member of the upper Hudson (NY) chapter, Mavens of Mayhem, too and act as their social media wrangler. I’m giving a talk on Saturday about using Twitter as a writer.

The perks of membership: you get a lot of useful information and mentoring that might cost big buck as a conference or workshop, but are included in your membership fee. I know there are lots of chapters of Romance Writers of America across the States and the Romance Novelists Association in the UK.

I can’t give away all the secrets in the report, but I thought I would mention a couple of things that will get you thinking about how the writing field is changing:

Agent and President of the Writers House agency, Simon Lipskar suggests among other things that you surround yourself with people who give you good advice. If people like your editor and agent are not being honest and tough with your work, they’re not really going to help you in the long run. Lipskar puts it bluntly: “Get a different agent and editor.”

You may think that the Library Journal is only going to be interested in big names, but editor Barbara Hoffert says that they know libraries will buy big names, so they do look for smaller presses and debut authors. They need a big lead time, however; libraries may do their ordering six months in advance.

Sarah Weinman of Publishers Marketplace affirms that e-books remain the fastest growth area for publishing revenues and “bringing major change” to the field (sorry, but having been published in ebooks since 2008, can I say duh!). There are concerns about how the current cases under review by the Department of Justice may affect Amazon and Apple, but you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. She does think more short stories will appear online from major publishers.

There was a spotlight section with Shawn Nicholls, the Senior Digital Marketing Director of HarperCollins talking about marketing and how much of the responsibility now rests with the author. Nicholls talks about Facebook and Goodreads, putting excerpts on Scribd and running contests on Goodreads (they do print only). Not a word about Twitter, which shows where the Big 6 5 4 are on technology –

– behind their authors!

Where do you find your next read? Where do you find your readers?

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Mature Lust

12 Apr

old-acquaintance-2by C. Margery Kempe

I had an unexpected moment of connection in teaching this week. In the medieval course, we were talking about the Wife of Bath and watching the BBC modernised version of the tale and prologue with Julie Walters. In the writers-on-film course, we were watching the Better Davis film, Old Acquaintance. Both deal with older women lusting after younger men. Walters’ embodiment of the bawdy wife is markedly different than the genteel lit’ry author Davis plays, but the tension around their desires is palpable.

Chaucer’s medieval icon has had five husbands, the last two considerably younger than she; in the adaptation, Walters plays her as a much married-soap star who falls for her decades younger co-star. Her fame only increases as the program’s audience seems to think she’s pulling off quite a feat, but her young lover’s star falls precipitously because people can’t imagine him falling for a much older woman.

Huh.

Davis’ film follows the friendship of two women, Davis’ Kit Marlowe (though my first inspiration for my other romance nom de plume was largely the Elizabethan playwright, it’s also for this film) and Miriam Hopkins’ Millie Drake. When Kit first makes a splash as a controversial literary author, the envious Millie decides to pen a novel, too. Of course she writes a romance — and then another and another and before you know it she’s rich and successful while Kit struggles with her follow up.

The wrinkle is that Millie’s neglected husband falls in love with Kit who spends more time with him and Millie’s daughter. Being a good friend, Kit won’t let anything happen, but she suffers. Millie makes her suffer more when her husband leaves, though she’s as oblivious to his love for her friend as she is to pretty much everything that is shiny stuff for herself. She’s so incredibly callous that she deserves the famous shake when Kit’s armour of self-sacrifice finally cracks a little.

 

This happens in the last half of the film where it’s clear Kit is “old” — she has s stripe of white hair to prove it! Her 10 year younger beau pines after her, trying to persuade her to marry him, but she find it too absurd to consider, although she wants to very much. Everyone agrees it’s absurd. When she decided to say yes anyway — well, you can guess things don’t go well.

I suppose I’m sensitive to the issue because I’ve mostly always been with younger men. I did have one boyfriend who was a week older. It didn’t work out. ;-) So am I being ridiculous?

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Romance with Discipline

5 Apr
Mask by Leonor Fini

Mask by Leonor Fini

by C. Margery Kempe

I gave a paper at the Popular Culture Association Conference last week called, “Knocking from Inside: Forging Strength through Pain in V for Vendetta and The Story of O” and it seemed to go over well in the BDSM/Kink area panel, despite the fact that I was the only panelist who turned up. (O_o) The title comes from a Rumi poem about struggling with your own constrictions:

I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I have been knocking from the inside!

But at a romance panel the next day I was disturbed to hear a lot of negative attitudes toward the erotic. One speaker described the arc of Fifty Shades‘ narrative as starting out as ‘BDSM’ and then ‘becoming romantic’ — as if it were not possible to have romance in anything but a vanilla relationship. I don’t know if the ignorance or the arrogance annoyed me more.

O’s voyage is one of self-discovery, but it’s also one that allows her to finally love without being dependent on her lover, as she is at the start of the book. When he sends her to the chateau in Roissy to undergo ‘training’ her only concern is pleasing him. She needs repeated assurances that he loves her, that he is pleased with her. But with all the floggings and bondage, she begins to transform and find a peace within herself:

And yet nothing has been such a comfort to her as the silence, unless it was the chains. The chains and the silence, which should have bound her deep within herself, which should have smothered her, strangled her, on the contrary freed her from herself. (38-9)

Pauline Réage [the pen name for Dominique Aury] herself seemed to find a powerful release from writing the book and discovering the truths which lay inside her heart, truths she had not heretofore acknowledged. Her essay “A Girl in Love” which is usually packaged with the otherwise lamentable follow up Return to the Chateau (which may have been penned by her lover and not Réage herself) demonstrates this power:

“The girl was writing the way you speak in the dark to the person you love when you’ve held back the words of love too long and they flow at last. For the first time in her life she was writing without hesitation, without stopping, rewriting or discarding, she was writing the way one breathes, the way one dreams.” (Return 7)

I have found this happening more and more in my writing as I stopped fearing what I could write or whether I could write and just wrote without censoring the thoughts that arose. Anything can exist on the page. It can also be edited or simply tucked away if it doesn’t fit into a coherent narrative. But the more we refuse to hold ourselves back, the more truthful our living. What exciting things can happen.

Even love. Are you still knocking from the inside?

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Romance at the Popular Culture Association Conference

29 Mar

FiniOwl2smby C. Margery Kempe

I’m away in DC at one of my favorite academic conferences; partly because it’s chock full of friends that I only get to see these days at the conference, but also because it’s always a lot of fun! Here are some of the panels (thanks to Teach Me Tonight) that will be of interest to you folks, but see the whole program here.

Romance I: Fifty Shades of Scholarship

Romance II: Authors, Characters, Readers:  What’s Changed? What’s Changing? What’s Stuck?    

Romance III: Publishing, Texts, and Authorship

Romance IV: Across the Media: Iconic Moments, Cultural Narratives, and Real-Life Love

Romance V – Special Session: A Natural History of the Romance Novel Tenth Anniversary Roundtable: Pamela Regis and the Rebooting of Popular Romance Studies

Pamela Regis – In this presentation I will reconsider our shared work—to understand the genre itself and the texts that comprise it—from the temporal vantage point provided by the decade that has passed since the publication of my account of the genre in A Natural History of the Romance Novel. My focus will be on the state of our work on the American romance novel, and the challenges that face us.


Romance VI: Paranormal Romance    

Romance VII: Problem Texts and Questions of Ethics 

Romance VIII: Homosociality, Homoeroticism, and Bisexual Desire

Romance IX: African American / Black Romance

Romance X: Romance at the Boundaries: Race, Place and Translation

Romance XI: Romance Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning, Critique

Romance XII: Open Forum: Where are We, Now, in Popular
Romance Studies?

Romance XIV: Vampire / Romance Joint Round Table

Romance XVI: After Fifty Shades of Grey: Kink and Romance
Perspectives

Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film VIII: Paranormal and Romance

Vampire ROUNDTABLE V: Walking the Line Between Paranormal and Romance: A Roundtable Inquiry into the Heart of Paranormal Romance

Fan Culture and Theory: Uneasy Pleasures: Ethics of Studies/Fan Studies Scholarship

Romance I: Fifty Shades of Scholarship

Romance II: Authors, Characters, Readers:  What’s Changed? What’s Changing? What’s Stuck?    

Romance III: Publishing, Texts, and Authorship

Romance IV: Across the Media: Iconic Moments, Cultural Narratives, and Real-Life Love

Romance V – Special Session: A Natural History of the Romance Novel Tenth Anniversary Roundtable: Pamela Regis and the Rebooting of Popular Romance Studies

Pamela Regis – In this presentation I will reconsider our shared work—to understand the genre itself and the texts that comprise it—from the temporal vantage point provided by the decade that has passed since the publication of my account of the genre in A Natural History of the Romance Novel. My focus will be on the state of our work on the American romance novel, and the challenges that face us.


Romance VI: Paranormal Romance    

Romance VII: Problem Texts and Questions of Ethics 

Romance VIII: Homosociality, Homoeroticism, and Bisexual Desire

Romance IX: African American / Black Romance

Romance X: Romance at the Boundaries: Race, Place and Translation

Romance XI: Romance Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning, Critique

Romance XII: Open Forum: Where are We, Now, in Popular
Romance Studies?

Romance XIV: Vampire / Romance Joint Round Table

Romance XVI: After Fifty Shades of Grey: Kink and Romance
Perspectives

Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film VIII: Paranormal and Romance

Vampire ROUNDTABLE V: Walking the Line Between Paranormal and Romance: A Roundtable Inquiry into the Heart of Paranormal Romance

Fan Culture and Theory: Uneasy Pleasures: Ethics of Studies/Fan Studies Scholarship

And mine:

BDSM/Kink/Fetish studies (Frantz) BdsM/kink in film, Pornography, and Japanese Culture
Virginia suite C 8:15pm-9:45pm WED 27 March

“from now on, i will do the things i like:” Ito Seiu, Minomura Ko, and the emergence of kinbaku (erotic rope Bondage) in Japanese Popular Culture
Douglas Thomas

Pornography as the New tool of the intellectual historian
Joseph Wright

Masochistic desire in luis Bunuel’s Belle de Jour
Julia Smith

Knocking from inside: Forging Strength through Pain in V for Vendetta and The Story of O
K.A. Laity [AKA C. Margery Kempe]

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Friday Fun: Femmes Fatales

22 Mar
barbara-stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck: noir goddess

by C. Margery Kempe

You may not know her name, but you know the look on her face means trouble. She’s got a shape that lures your gaze to fondle it, but her mind’s always working the angles. Someone’s going to end up on top — and it’s not you.

After looking at rogues last week, I figured it was time to look at their female counterparts: the femmes fatales!

They’re untrustworthy, conniving, double crossing and undeniably sexy. Whether it’s noir goddess Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity or The Strange Love of Martha Ivers or bad girl-who-wants-to-be-good Gloria Graham, they have incredible sex appeal. When she walks into the room, the femme fatale draws every eye like a slinky magnet. Her dress might be low cut and it’s probably tight as a second skin, and she’s bound to be tottering on stilettos with a dainty ankle chain just to make sure you’re looking at her legs — but it’s her expression that holds you. She knows too much and what she knows isn’t good for you.

But you can’t resist!

Gloria Graham

Can we imagine a romance novel with a femme fatale heroine? Or are they destined only for dark crime stories where everything goes wrong? It seems somewhat difficult to imagine, but surely someone must rise to the challenge!

Maybe she could be won over and leave behind her vampish ways. But if it were told from the heroine’s point of view, could the reader identify with the bad girl?

Do you have to be a bad girl to enjoy the femme fatale? I have written a good number of them in my crime stories but I have to admit most of my romances feature good women who mean well and only want the best for their paramours, too.

Well, maybe the Man City gals have a touch of the femme fatale: Shai and Lizzie scheme a little bit, but for a good cause: a ménage-à-trois! Surely they can be forgiven a bit of intrigue — after all, everyone shared the prize in the end. ;-)

Can you imagine a femme fatale heroine in romance?

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Friday Fun: Rogues

15 Mar
ollie

Ollie Reed as Athos

by C. Margery Kempe

I’m sure if I could unlock the source of my attraction to shambolic rogues, all of my life would fall neatly into some kind of logical coherence, my mind would be suffused with peace and tranquility and doubtless my days would be filled with a calm success and fulfillment.

But I doubt that’ll ever happen.

From an early age I can remember being drawn to these wild and unpredictable characters who are likely to cause trouble, wreak havoc, drink to excess and feed all their appetites to excess. Of course I also wanted to be Jim West from Wild Wild West, too. Surely a certain amount of the attraction is wanting to be like that myself. To care for no one, scoff at any rule and devil take the hindmost — it certainly appeals to a young person who feels as if she meets resistance in every direction.

I should say my weakness for these trouble makers is almost entirely in fiction; in real life (at least since I got over my wild years) I like responsible and thoughtful men who are passionate, sweet and funny.

My sweetie and his boy

But fictional rogues have an indelible appeal that surely has something to do with vicarious enjoyment. Some of my favourite rogues:

Oliver Reed

If you look up rogue in a dictionary chances are there’s a picture of Ollie. Whether he’s playing the wounded Musketeer Athos, the wild Uncle Frank, a werewolf or simply rolling around naked with Alan Bates (yes, please), he’s just so wonderfully irresistible. He doesn’t fit the traditional view of ‘good looks’ but there’s something devilish in his grin and those eyes that works anyway.

I need this book!


Keith Moon

My favourite drummer comes from a fairly shambolic band, The Who — or as they’re known to their fans, The ‘orrible ‘oo. There is not nor will there be another drummer like him. He played like a madman possessed. He lived like there was no tomorrow and eventually there wasn’t, but he made amazing music, created legends of mad behaviour and hung out with fellow rogue Oliver Reed committing further havoc. Wonderful.

Shane MacGowan

As long as we’re on musicians, who better than the pope of the new Irish lyricism? Legendary drinker supreme, kicked out of his own band the Pogues and replaced with Joe Strummer, he has survived despite every one’s expectations that he was at death’s door — and has even returned to front the band once more. He writes lyrics that will continue to be sung as long as there are voices to be raised. I couldn’t pick one favourite, but this one’s right up there.

 

Dylan Thomas

And speaking of poetry, there’s Wales’ most famous son who drank himself to death at the tender age of 39, yet left poems, stories and even a play that will live on forever. He had the most amazing voice, one that continues to resonate across our culture.
Who else? Ash in the Evil Dead films, especially the third one — and Bruce also plays rogues in Xena and Jack of All Trades; Wilmore in Aphra Behn’s The Rover, most of Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis’ characters — who wouldn’t love Lucky Jim? Or how about Han Solo — or his alter ego, Indiana Jones?

Who are your favourite rogues?

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