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Thursday, May 13, 2010

How about a multicultural quickie?

I'll admit, I'm cheating. There's a competition up at my blog at the moment, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about it.

Around the middle of last year, a call went around my UK publisher, Total-E-Bound, that they were putting a Cougar anthology together. That's code for younger men/older women romances. So I had a think and submitted a story and it was accepted at the beginning of the year! My very first anthology!

I had wanted to mix things up a bit and, thankfully, the editor (Liz Delisi) was open to the idea. What idea, you ask? How about the introduction of an Eurasian hero to the mix? There had to be someone who finally went head to head with all those Arab sheiks and Greek tycoons swanning around the place, making virgins tremble. Right? A tall, dark, handsome hero and, if we remember our high-school genetics, we know that a mix of genes often produces excellent stock. Well, mix European and Asian genes together, and you often get delicious skin, dark soulful eyes, chiselled features and high cheekbones.

Enter Adrian Pereira. He's a successful, dynamic man in his thirties, living in Singapore. Bored with the women who are only after him for his money, he meets a woman at a charity masquerade ball and is instantly intrigued.
For her part, Sophie Woodward is English and in her forties (mid- to late- was my thinking), who thinks she's ready to bust out and seduce some hapless stud. One night with Adrian is magic, but what happens when he wants to see her again? Are Sophie's resolutions strong enough to withstand such an assault? Or will she retreat into her outwardly capable shell once more? (If you're interested, you can find the entire first chapter of the story, Singapore Sizzle, here.)

There are five other writers in the anthology and they're all telling the story-behind-the-story at my blog. If you comment on any of this week's posts, you stand the chance of winning a copy of the anthology. Why not go have a read and get the take on five other authors and what was going through their minds when they sat down to write a Cougar love story?

And if you're entering the competition, best of luck! (If you need more encouragement, the anthology got 5 Divas and a Recommended Read from Dark Divas Reviews.)

* Kaz Augustin is a writer who's only a bit of a cradle snatcher. You can find her website at http://www.ksaugustin.com and she blogs three times a week, more or less, at http://blog.ksaugustin.com

1 comment:

  1. Kaz, you had me at "Cougar"!

    I'm the traditional romance reader that always buys the cowboys, brides and babies. However, now that I'm in my 40's I can't resist a good cougar tale!

    Can hardly wait to read it!

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