In the first of a regular author blog spot, I’m delighted to be joined by fellow Deep Desires Press author, Britt Collins.
GS: Hi Britt, and welcome! It’s lovely to have you here. Just to start off, can you tell us a bit about your new story, Heathens?
BC: Sure! Heathens is published on 27 June and it’s about murder, drugs, revenge, along with an overbearing family of criminals. In the book JB and Amina will need each other to stay alive.
JB, the silent, tatted enforcer of the Branson family, wants to be left alone. No one believes him that the death of his mother is no accident, not even his twin brother Caesar.The last thing Amina wants or needs is a member of the Branson family complicating her life again. That is, until she sees him — strong, sexy, brooding JB Branson — and her life begins to spin out of control.
BC: You can buy Heathens here, or visit my website by clicking on this link.
GS: Great – Let’s move on to finding out a bit more about you. How did you get started as a writer?
BC: I’ve always been a writer but I didn’t always have the confidence to let people read what I wrote. That came with support from my family.
GS: What was the first thing you wrote?
BC: Sixth grade I wrote a story for class about a female stuntwoman that jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge
GS: Who were your earliest inspirations?
BC: People, I’m a people watcher
GS: Who are your favorite authors?
BC: Anne Stuart and Stephen King
GS: Was there any particular book which fired your imagination when you were younger?
BC: The Ghost of Windy Hill by Clyde Robert Bulla
GS: What fires you up, ready to start writing, or to keep you going?
BC: Working a day job. lol
GS: How do you develop your characters?
BC: My main characters just start talking to me, minor characters tend to go through changes as I write. How they looks, what they do. They are constantly being changed until it feels right.
GS: Where do you get your story ideas from?
BC: I write what I want to read. Technically I’m considered an erotic author but I start with a plot that is not based around sex. It’s just something that happens as in real life.
GS: Tell us a bit about your latest book or story
BC: The dark-haired, tattooed, rebellious JB Branson is leading a quiet life of self-induced exile after the death of his mother. That is, until his twin brother Caesar shows up and informs him that their father and cousin are hanging onto life. The head of the Branson family criminal organization is Nadine Branson, the eighty-four-year-old grandmother of JB and Caesar. She’s a tough as nails woman who will not tolerate disloyalty from anyone. The moment Amina Lewis steps foot on the Branson Family property looking for her estranged mother, she soon realizes that she’s more like her mother than she wants to admit. She, too, loves a bad boy. .JB has a reputation as the crazy, uncontrollable one in the family, and he’s not about to let his family or anyone else stop him from getting the two things that he wants in life: the killer of his mother and Amina Lewis as his forever.
GS: How did the book or story come about, and what inspired you to write it?
BC: Families and how dysfunction comes in many forms
GS: What else are you working on right now?
BC: Re-writing some previously self -published work and I’m working on a second book about the Branson family. (I’m six chapters in😊)
GS: Tell us one thing about yourself as an author we would never guess.
BC: I have stories that I wrote as a teenager tucked away in my closet that I want to re-write one day.
GS: Which other living authors would you like to share writing tips with?
BC: Stephen King. I want to know how to write a great horror novel.
GS: What advice would you give to new writers?
BC: Try, just try. All a publisher can do is say no. Then move on to another publisher. It doesn’t mean that your work is bad it means that it wasn’t the right time for that publisher. A lot of times it just depends on which person is reading the submissions. Just don’t let a rejection make you give up your dream. If you want this, then do it.
GS: The house is on fire, and you can only save one book. What would it be?
BC: Hamlet
GS: Thank you for joining me, Britt, and good luck with the book! Just to give readers a taster of what to expect, here’s an extract from Heathens.
JB lays motionless on the sofa as he ignores another call from Amina. He needs to get his act together. No woman likes being ignored. He needs to snap out of this before he blows it with her. He just doesn’t want her to deal with him when he’s like this.
This is why he didn’t want to do the dirty deed. He knew he was going to get like this; he always does after a killing. He replays it over and over in his mind — and it’s not out of guilt, but pride. It takes him a while to get out of the mood of wanting to do it again.
He stares at the television, the images passing before his eyes are not registering in his brain. He keeps seeing Jasper and the back of his head exploding and the adrenalin starts pumping through his veins again. He feels overly aggressive and he needs to take it out on someone.
The buzzer at his security gate sounds off. He reluctantly gets up from the sofa and walks over to the security monitor. Amina, “Fuck!” He stands there for a moment. Her last call was obviously to tell him that she was coming to his house. Hesitantly, he presses the button and lets her in through the gate.
He lets off a line of curses as he heads towards the front door. He yanks the door open He needs to make sure that he is perfectly clear she needs to give him some fucking space before she sees a side of him she can’t handle.
The motion sensor lights on the road leading to his house flick on, tracking her advancement all the way down the road. He steps out onto the well-lit porch as she pulls to a rolling stop.
He becomes even more irritated when she gets out of her car. Does the woman never have a bad day? Why the fuck is she looking so good? She almost doesn’t look real. Her long dark hair is blowing in the night air. She’s wearing a sexy, flowing, red, summery dress. The straps on the dress crisscross her chest; putting dark bondage images in his head. No, she needs to get the fuck out of her before she ends up bound and gagged on his bed with or without her permission. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
She stops dead in her tracks. Her open-toe wedge heels sinking into the deep gravel. She stares at him.
He doesn’t want her here. How foolish of her to just show up. For all she knows he could have a wife, a girlfriend or both. “Answer me! Why are you here?”
“I was worried about you!” She inches forward and he motions with his hand and she halts under his nonverbal command.
“Amina, I told you not to come out here!” Too bad he hasn’t been drinking. If he had, she could blame this behavior on the alcohol.
“You were acting weird and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“You’re going to make me violate my parole.” He said between gritted teeth.
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to flirt or threaten me.”
He scowls at her; her joke isn’t funny. She’s watching him as he stands on the porch; his massive, tattooed, bulging biceps straining against his long sleeve jersey. She’s looking at him like he’s a sexy movie villain and not giving a damn that she’s stressing the hell out of him right now and that’s pissing him off.
“It looks like you’re doing just fine, so I’ll go. I’m sorry I bothered you.” She awkwardly stands there for a moment, probably in hopes that he’ll stop acting like a jackass and ask her to stay. He doesn’t.
He’s tense from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. “Anything else? Why the fuck are you just standing there?” His tattooed arms cross in front of his chest.
“I…Never mind,” she replies quietly.
She looks delicious. All he wants to do is rip that dress off of her and take that pussy like he owns it. He takes a deep breath. “I’m fine. I don’t need you checking up on me.”
He needs for his words to hurt her feelings. If she feels stupid and embarrassed, she’ll leave and not see him like this. He’ll work on mending things with her when he feels halfway mentally healthy again.
She doesn’t move. He watches her just stand there, looking like a wounded angel. He fixes his eyes on her. Why in the hell can’t she just get in the car and drive away?
“Okay, I’m going to go,” she says.
He holds his breath of relief as she opens the car door; just as he thought she would, Amina hesitates again.
“Are you alone?”
“No, you’re here,” he says with an haughty snicker.
“JB, you know what I mean.”
“You’re an adult; do you think I’m alone?” His response is cold and leading. He needs her to leave right now.
Gemma Stone Author 