Look Who's Talking - Kariss Stone

Today I have Kariss Stone as my guest on 'Look Who's Talking'. 

Kariss is an aspiring writer of erotic romance.

Hi Kariss, Thank you for taking part in my ‘Look Who’s Talking’.

Thank you so much Sandie for inviting me to a guest on your blog.

     1)      What couldn’t you live without?

a)      Computer

b)      Mobile phone

c)      Your car

Computer – I could never go back to writing my stories with pen and paper!

Pen and paper isn't that bad, I find I can get my characters head a lot better writing long hand. But it doesn't work for everyone

    2)      Hugh Jackman is coming to dinner, what do you cook?

a)      Lamb roast dinner

b)      Fish and chips

c)      Find out what Hugh’s favourite meal is and cook that.

I’d cook the Lamb Roast dinner so I could joke about that old Tom Cruise and lamb dinner ad!

That was a great ad. I'd pick the lamb roast dinner over Tom Cruise any day.

     3)      If you could live anywhere in the world other than Australia where would it be and why?

Cinque Terre, Italy, or one of the Greek Islands because they’re such picturesque little places. I love the architecture, scenery, the water views, the quietness of the place, and they’re perfect writing backdrops too. In 2009 I was priveledged enough to go on an overseas cruise with my family and visited some ports in Italy and Greece. Here’s a photo of the little village of Vernazza in the Cinque Terre, 

And another photo of the Greek Island of Mykonnos that we visited.

It certainly looks beautiful Kariss. It would be a great place to set a novel.

    

      3)      Who is your favourite author? Why?

Emily Bronte. I love Wuthering Heights. There was so much emotion and depth to that book. I like all the Bronte sister’s works. Here you have 3 girls who lived on the moors, relatively secluded from the world, who hadn’t experienced much in the way of life outside of Haworth, and yet they wrote great books with lots of depth and emotion and insight into the human character.

Have to agree with you there Kariss, Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite novels as well. 

    4)      You have found a time machine in your back yard where would you go back in time or into the future? Why?

I would go fifty years into the future as I’d like to see how the world ends up and how long earth, as we know it, would exist.

I'm not sure I want to know what is going to happen in the future. I's go back to the Regency era. I'd love to be able to chat with Jane Austen.

    5)      What is your current work-in-progress? (Unpublished writers)

It’s a series of ten connected erotica short stories centred around a particular theme.

I love the theme of these stories. Very cleaver. 

Would you like to share an extract?

Yes, that would be great, thank you! This is a scene between my heroine Charlotte Castle and her newfound friend Emily Harrington, as they sit on the balcony of a hotel in Darling Harbour, Sydney, pondering matters of the heart.

“So…Emily, are you seeing anybody at the moment?”

Emily’s eyes widen, surprised by this change of topic. “Not at the moment. Why do you ask?”

“Well I think Martin likes you,” Charlotte replies. “He looks at you a certain way, you know, in that way one looks at someone they like?”

“He does? I haven’t noticed. Besides I’m not ready to date. I was engaged once, but my fiancé abandoned me in Columbia on our honeymoon, without any warning or reason, leaving me all alone in a foreign country. He never contacted me and I have no way of contacting him now, not that I want to. I also have no idea why he left me.”

“Oh my God, that’s shocking. How long ago was that?”

“Two years ago. When I was twenty-two. I don’t understand it. I mean there must have been an extremely good reason why he did that. For the life of me I can’t think of any.”

“Unless he was a total prick,” Charlotte points out. “Had two sides to him and his true colours came out?”

“Hmm…”

“And you say he hasn’t contacted you at all?”

“Nope. That’s what I find hard to accept. He moved houses, changed his numbers so he couldn’t be tracked.”

“Maybe he’s a drug mule or seller or something?” Charlotte suggests. “What would you do if you ever saw him again?”

Oh, she’d thought of plenty of things! “For starters I would punch him in the face, kick him in the balls and fire expletives at him while I was doing all those things.”

“You go girl!”

“I mean how do you get over something like that?” Emily queries. “And the not knowing? This was the man who’d vowed to love me forever just a few days earlier. I’ve had to try and put it out of my mind.”

“And the best way to forget about a guy is to be thinking about a new guy. What do you think of Martin?”

“He’s nice,” Emily replies. “As a friend though.” Emily couldn’t admit to Charlotte that Eric is the man she likes. What women wouldn’t be attracted to such a gorgeous hunk? She’d never try anything though. It was clear that Charlotte loved Eric and he loved her. “You know, you’re one lucky girl, having a boyfriend like Eric.”

“We’re not boyfriend and girlfriend,” Charlotte replies. “I sometimes imagine we were.”

“Really? The way you two were in there when we were having our group sex, both gravitating to each other and only having eyes for one another, at least in the beginning, I just assumed.”

“No, our relationship has always been sex with no strings attached. Maybe one day it might lead to something more.”

“So you’d like that?” Emily asks.

“Sometimes yes,” Charlotte replies, “but I know where I stand.”

“Well in my opinion, whether you realise it or not, you guys have a strong connection. Is there something holding him back?”

“I know he’s afraid of commitment. He told me that, although hasn’t given me a reason why. He doesn’t open up emotionally unfortunately.”

“Are you in love with him?” Emily asks pointedly.

“Oh no, no. I couldn’t possibly be. We’ve only known each other for five weeks.”

“Don’t you ever watch the TV show The Batchelor?”

“Occasionally.”

“How easily do the women fall in love with the man?”

Charlotte doesn’t answer her, and Emily knows it’s a good point she’s made. “I think you should speak to Eric and suggest you take your relationship to the next level. Maybe he needs to hear how you feel, know that you would be interested in something more.”

“I don’t know if I can, Emily. It might scare him away.”

“If you’re happy being sexual partners, whenever he feels like a roll in the hay he’ll call you and you’ll respond, then that’s up to you of course. If, however, you want more than that, I would tell Eric exactly how you feel. And if he can’t commit to you be strong enough to walk away. You’re a nice girl and you deserve better.”

“That’s exactly what my friends say,” Charlotte remarks.

“Well all us girls can’t be wrong, can we?”

“But like I said before, I knew this was a no strings attached affair and I was happy with that.”

“And now?”

“And now…I think I am.”

“You don’t sound convicted. Don’t live your life with regrets, Charlotte. I saw what having regrets did to my uncle, and I wouldn’t want anybody to go through what he went through.”

Eric appears at the doorway. “Dinner’s ready.”

“We’re coming,” Emily tells him and gives Charlotte a big hug. “Just think about what you really want, okay?”

Once again Charlotte doesn’t respond, instead saying, “You’re a fantastic person, Emily. That fiancé of yours―”

“Ex-fiancé,” Emily corrects.

“Ex-fiancé is a complete jerk ball for walking out on you.”

© excerpt copywrited to Kariss Stone 2013

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Great excerpt Kariss. Your novel is very interesting. 

Thank you so much Sandie for having me!