Kiernan Kelly is a prolific author with her own unique twist to her writing.
Enjoy!
A Brief Introduction
I'd first like to thank Jeanne for the opportunity to participate on the Sweet Flag blog! That said, I suppose I should introduce myself.
My name is Kiernan Kelly, and I primarily write gay romance, having been published for the first time over three years ago. I haven't stopped since, and continue to work with several different publishers.
At the present, I have four full novels available, a contemporary romance, Riding Heartbreak Road, two historical romances, In Bear Country, and its sequel, The Barbary Coast, and a paranormal, Seti's Heart. In addition, I have a plethora of short stories and novellas available from Torquere Press, Starbooks Press, Cleis Press, Aspen Mountain Press, Coscom Press, and coming soon, MLR Press, the titles of which can be found at my website, www.KiernanKelly.com.
Inspiration comes from everywhere, at any time. I've been given inspiration from my husband (who gave me the idea for a mummy in Seti's Heart), my kids, my friends, the strange-looking man at the carwash, the front page headlines of a newspaper – even a single word or phrase can catch my attention and send my imagination spiraling out of control.
Although I've written in nearly every genre, from contemporary to shapeshifters, vampires to angels and demons, I seem to have garnered a reputation for extremely odd situations and characters, usually written with a clear tongue-in-cheek flavor. For example, I wrote a short story about a satyr (Satyr-Day Night Fever) who was a porn star and who fell in love with the film's straight assistant director. I had a recent flash fiction piece included for release in Bits of the Dead, which starred a zombie goldfish named Cletus.
Curses are often a common theme in my stories. I've written cursed fairies (Fionn of the Fae series), cursed Egyptian kings (Seti's Heart), and cursed Vikings (A-Viking) and cursed just-about-everything-else. In addition, I've written holiday-themed shorts where I turned Jack Frost into Santa's lover (Just a Touch of Frost), and had Kris Kringle working as a detective in New York investigating a serial killer (The Naughty List).
I've written superheroes whose weakness was having an orgasm a the most inconvenient times(A Dirty Job, in the Unmasked: Erotic Tales of Gay Superheroes), miners doing the horizontal hula six hundred feet underground (Sandhogs, in the anthology Hard Hats), and have even delved into military BDSM (Take it Like a Marine, in the anthology Don't Ask, Don't Tie Me Up).
I'm not entirely sure of why I pick such peculiar themes, except to say that not only do I find the strange and bizarre fascinating, I also have the attention span of a gnat. I couldn't stick to a genre without a hefty dollop of super glue.
Truthfully, as a reader, I've always enjoyed reading diverse subject matter. I love horror, romance, historicals, sci-fi, and fantasy. Everything from Stephen King to JRR Tolkien has found its way to my bookshelf, so I never felt the inclination to stay within one theme when writing.
Humor feels almost as good as sex to me, so it's only natural for me to combine the two often in my writings. Some folks don't believe there's room for humor in erotic romance, but I respectfully disagree. I'm human - I like to laugh, I like to have sex, and sometimes I like to do both at the same time. J
A Brief Introduction
I'd first like to thank Jeanne for the opportunity to participate on the Sweet Flag blog! That said, I suppose I should introduce myself.
My name is Kiernan Kelly, and I primarily write gay romance, having been published for the first time over three years ago. I haven't stopped since, and continue to work with several different publishers.
At the present, I have four full novels available, a contemporary romance, Riding Heartbreak Road, two historical romances, In Bear Country, and its sequel, The Barbary Coast, and a paranormal, Seti's Heart. In addition, I have a plethora of short stories and novellas available from Torquere Press, Starbooks Press, Cleis Press, Aspen Mountain Press, Coscom Press, and coming soon, MLR Press, the titles of which can be found at my website, www.KiernanKelly.com.
Inspiration comes from everywhere, at any time. I've been given inspiration from my husband (who gave me the idea for a mummy in Seti's Heart), my kids, my friends, the strange-looking man at the carwash, the front page headlines of a newspaper – even a single word or phrase can catch my attention and send my imagination spiraling out of control.
Although I've written in nearly every genre, from contemporary to shapeshifters, vampires to angels and demons, I seem to have garnered a reputation for extremely odd situations and characters, usually written with a clear tongue-in-cheek flavor. For example, I wrote a short story about a satyr (Satyr-Day Night Fever) who was a porn star and who fell in love with the film's straight assistant director. I had a recent flash fiction piece included for release in Bits of the Dead, which starred a zombie goldfish named Cletus.
Curses are often a common theme in my stories. I've written cursed fairies (Fionn of the Fae series), cursed Egyptian kings (Seti's Heart), and cursed Vikings (A-Viking) and cursed just-about-everything-else. In addition, I've written holiday-themed shorts where I turned Jack Frost into Santa's lover (Just a Touch of Frost), and had Kris Kringle working as a detective in New York investigating a serial killer (The Naughty List).
I've written superheroes whose weakness was having an orgasm a the most inconvenient times(A Dirty Job, in the Unmasked: Erotic Tales of Gay Superheroes), miners doing the horizontal hula six hundred feet underground (Sandhogs, in the anthology Hard Hats), and have even delved into military BDSM (Take it Like a Marine, in the anthology Don't Ask, Don't Tie Me Up).
I'm not entirely sure of why I pick such peculiar themes, except to say that not only do I find the strange and bizarre fascinating, I also have the attention span of a gnat. I couldn't stick to a genre without a hefty dollop of super glue.
Truthfully, as a reader, I've always enjoyed reading diverse subject matter. I love horror, romance, historicals, sci-fi, and fantasy. Everything from Stephen King to JRR Tolkien has found its way to my bookshelf, so I never felt the inclination to stay within one theme when writing.
Humor feels almost as good as sex to me, so it's only natural for me to combine the two often in my writings. Some folks don't believe there's room for humor in erotic romance, but I respectfully disagree. I'm human - I like to laugh, I like to have sex, and sometimes I like to do both at the same time. J
13 comments:
Humor is such a huge part of life. My family is always laughing and carrying on. We have secret in jokes and things our kids said when they were small that we still use for real words today. It's been about 28 years since my daughter first said she wanted a "sammer butter" (peanut butter sandwich) but to this day, we all call it that.
Humor is one of the best qualities in all your books. I love the way you use it to defuse a tense moment, or to introduce a sexual one. If you had a favorite style to use, what would it be?
Hi Kayelle!
You asked Kiernan one of the questions I was going to ask her, so I'll have to come up with another one!
I have got to ask: how on earth did you come up with a zombie goldfish? And is the goldfish gay?
;~D
Hi Kayelle!
Style really depends on the piece I'm writing. I've used subtle humor in novels, but I've gone whole hog with Three Stooges' Pie-in-the-Face humor in shorts. I think it depends on the characters and particularly the situation they find themselves in that determines what the style of the piece will be.
If I'm writing something with a dark theme, I'm probably not going to let one of my characters cut loose too freely. By the same token, if I'm writing about a gay porn star satyr, his very existence and choice of career demands that I give him free rein.
Even sad situations can be made poignant with a little humor. Like Dolly Parton says in Steel Magnolias, "Laughter threw tears is my favorite emotion!"
Hi Jeanne!
Thanks for having me as a guest blogger today!
When I got the call for a flash fiction piece (in this case, it was a short-short work of exactly 500 words, and zombie-related), I figured, "why not?" and thought I'd give it a shot.
As it turned out, telling a complete story in only 500 words is a lot harder than it seems!
I began by thinking about the subject matter. I knew they'd be getting a ton of submissions, and wanted mine to stand out.
I asked myself, "What would it be like for average, everyday people if the dead suddenly started coming to back to life?"
In my head, I pictured a young man (yes, he's gay, but only in my head. I didn't have enough room to go into much detail about him in the story!) at home on a Saturday afternoon. He's an average guy, sort of a homebody, spending the day in the house. How would he know that the dead were rising?
The answer I came up with was...his pet. the second question was what kind of pet did he have that might suddenly go belly up?
A goldfish! They're notorious for suddenly kicking it. Thus, Cletus the zombie goldfish was born.
And yes, Cletus was gay too, but again, only in my head. ROFL
Okay I don't know why my comments suddenly multiplied, and I don't know how to make them go away. Sorry!
Also, in my response to Kayelle, I realized I mispelled "threw." It should have been "through."
...and now they're gone. The blog is playing with my mind. Snort.
...and now they're gone. The blog is playing with my mind. Snort.
Meanwhile, the timer on the Blog is off a day!
I just love that zombie goldfish story. ;>)
I haven't told my dh about it yet. I think I'll wait until he's finished his coffee!
Thanks, Jeanne! I kind of liked Cletus,too.
I think all of my "odd" characters hold a special place in my heart. My satyr, my angel and demon pair, my Kris Kringle..
My most recent release (through Torquere Press) involves another odd pairing - drag queens. The story is called "Ordinarily Fabulous." The story comes complete with the "Eight Rules to Being Ordinarily Fabulous." I thought I'd share them here:
Rule Number One: Ordinary can be fabulous, and fabulous can be ordinary. Never choose to be the latter.
Rule Number Two: Beauty is pain. Deal with it or stay ugly.
Rule Number Three: There are only two kinds of men – the ones you lust, and the ones you love. Never confuse the two.
Rule Number Four: If a razor doesn't remove the hair from your balls, the medical tape will. It's your choice.
Rule Number Five: The higher the heel, the closer to Heaven.
Rule Number Six: Nothing is ever carved in stone. Go with the flow, or drown.
Rule Number Seven: Florescent lighting is evil; avoid it at all costs.
Rule Number Eight: Never be just a boy in a dress.
I love those rules!
Rule number two reminds me of my mom. She always said, "It hurts to be beautiful."
All your stories sound so fascinating!
Heh...my mom always said, "It's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man."
I didn't listen.
Which, I suppose, is why I'm a poor writer instead of owning my own publishing house. ROFL
Thank you again, Jeanne, for having me today at Sweet Flag!
Let's face it: sex is often funnier than we would like to admit! LOL
Interesting stuff! I know what you mean about getting inspiration everywhere too. You just never know where the next good idea will come from...
Hi Ken!
I like the new look on your blog. Can't wait to learn more about your new website!
Hope you checked out Kiernan's stories. They really sound like they're a hoot! At least some of them!
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