Meet
Kathleen K.
Move
over E.L. James. We know all we need to know about one rich man and his
inamorata. Heed the call of the wild to
the rowdy in a dozen oddly thoughtful, overtly sexual books available at KathleenKBooks.com. Kathleen f/k/a/ Jamie is a former sex chat
operator, she knows the lingo and recognizes the characters. Her newest Dark
Prince, Heed Thy Queen (In the Realm of Roles and Reversals) “is a titillating and highly provocative tinderbox, conflating taboo
themes of hierarchal subservience, gender domination, and eroticized
objectification.”*
Here
is an interview with the one-time pay-to-say Sweet Talker.
What is your new
book about?
Dark Prince, Heed
Thy Queen
finds the narrator hiding a searing sexual relationship from the people she loves
but flaunting it in front of strangers. She
meets a cocksure man at a party and they abandon everything familiar for this
chance at a wild love affair in their own little world. Key dialog:
“Spread
‘em.”
“Spread
me.”
There’s
the theme. The struggle is not only
between them, but around them and within them.
This book shows the power of harmonic tremors: not just the hard-pounding eruption events but
how those cycle with the deep soothing surge of magma at the core. She was looking for a bad boy and got one. She felt unleashed and realized the leash had
been social expectations. These are
educated people: their sex safe-word is
‘hypocrite’ as if either would shame themselves by retreating from the other.
How does it differ
from some of your earlier works?
The
mix of my books goes from lyric about sex (Stoner
with a Boner) to clinically brisk and cheeky (Honey
B., Sexual Consultant) and includes graphic poetry and non-fiction Sweet
Talkers about running a phone sex business.
I believe there is a spectrum of language available to address our
interest in love∞sex. Dark Prince is specifically forthright
and explicit about one woman’s sexploration, guided and goaded by a stranger. There is no reason for her to lie: nothing to fear, nothing to lose. It’s all and only about this meeting of a
moment, and the moment is all.
Specifically, the book is ‘sexotic’. Erotica is a matter of taste and timing, while
sexotica qualifies by the depth and breadth of its carnal content.
Why do you say
this book "delivers the next iteration of Mommy porn -- and Daddy likes it
too"?
The
divide between porn and romance is severe, it is hard to navigate the middle
ground. The only way to do that is to
recreate the clash of energies that occur in real sex: the challenge-surrender and mutual assured
destruction when the genders meet for mating.
It’s been my fortune to capture the colloquialism of sex, the
practicalities and absurdities; readers find the feelings familiar and compelling. By trusting the reader to bring some imagery
of their own, I let them free associate, providing a framework upon which they conjugate
thoughts. The goal is to reach rowdier
readers who by nature are inquisitive, tolerant and pragmatic about sexual
themes as long as the language hold thems.
Curiosity turns out to be a trait found in all genders.
Is it hard to
write a book that can stimulate both of the sexes?
In
fact, the books are reviewed as inventive, intelligent, smart, sassy, witty and
wise. Those are gender-neutral words. I’m surprised when people note I’m a female
writing male characters as sexual beings, as if men hadn’t been doing that to
females all along. Characteristics of
gender figure in sex scenes, of course, but the truer energy is beyond gender:
it’s personal and biochemical and socio-logical. Engaging the commotion of emotion around sex snatches
the attention of articulate readers of any age, race, or sex if they like that kind of thing. [I’m quick to label my work as “Not suitable
for some, appreciated by others.”] I
acknowledge gender polarity as a necessary challenge in the nature of mammals:
we are purpose-built to complement and blend, each sterile without the other.
You say your book
probes the themes of submission, permission, and admission. What is left to
discover about the human ability or desire to be whipped into climaxing?
Like
any good “reporter” of a story, I need to include the who-what-where-when-how
but to be a lively writer you need to sprinkle in the why. I’ve chosen to work in vignettes so I can set
a scene quickly. The reader gets to do
the detailing within borders I’ve sketched while I can find the fulcrum, the
vertex, whatever you call those pivotal moments when you establish a
freeze-frame.
Do
you really think you could kick my ass?
I
could stop kissing it.
We
ascribe motive to actions using an emotional mix of our own. Are you submitting to my wish to spank you,
or are you admitting to your wish to be spanked? We never tire of adventure stories,
pioneering and trial-by-fire, setting them in a sexual context adds a little
zing-zang.
As an
award-winning indie author how hard had it been to break through the literary
scene?
The
likelihood of being “discovered” is much like a lightning strike, so what I’ve
done is set out my lightning rods. I use
Kirkus Reviews as my own trial-by-fire and that has worked in my favor both in
quotable praise and by being Named to the Best (Indie) in 2013 for The Lunarium. Kirkus designated a Featured Review July
2015 for Dark Prince, Heed Thy Queen.
* My Twitter @KathleenKxxx
lets me get pithy with it every couple of days amplified by retweeting to tens
of thousands via #EARTG. I like making
the books, I price them to sell ($6.66-9.99, Kindle discount 25%). With a dozen books available, I’m covering a
broad spectrum of potential readers. I’m easily branded with the pen name
KathleenK which pairs well in web searches with erotica, porn, fiction, voyeurism, phone sex, stoner, books, sexual
consultant, dick size and gender dynamics.
It helps when an insider blog like this grants me a chance to address the
community. What I need is a
promoter-publicist-agent who is as competent and productive in the dark art of
marketing as I am in crafting books tailored for the night stand.
How would you
describe your level of evocative prose and artistic style?
I’m
pleased with the reaction to my narrative style, even those who don’t like the
themes remark on the readability.
Language evolves with use and in my case I’ve concentrated on pinpoint
phrasing in a colloquial freewheeling syntax.
I read a lot of different things, grammar texts and popular fiction and
poetry and science, sharpening my appreciation of a well-turned come back (or
come on). By sharpening focus on a
moment, the reader feels incorporated
in the action, engaged by the scenarios, so the mix of sass and sympathy lets
them throttle the intake. It’s frank
language, sometimes even stark, serving to highlight the provocative intent. Working in this naughty vernacular, adding
style and polish elevates it immediately.
Is there a certain
voyeurism attached to your books?
There’s a contagious excitement, as one reviewer put it,
a sense of involvement, readers “see” what’s going on due to the specific
placement of words. All books are
offering a peek inside somewhere, opening a window to a world within its
pages. Sexotica isn’t as fulsome as
erotica but it is richer than porn, the presentation of explicit detail rings
true in a contextual sense because that is the allure, after all: physique and
technique with a touch of mystique. Just
considering sex∞love and the infinity between enriches you, it feathers in new
reactions. For some people, my books present an
unexpected opportunity to fertilize their imagination. Rowdier readers need to dig deeper than the
Best Seller list since we shun sexology as a dirty thing instead of celebrating
it as valuable nuance, intertwining both pleasure and piqué.