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Silvia Violet

Guest Blogger: Lee Brazil

Aug 9, 2011 Filed under: book recommendation, erotica, guest blogger

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Lee Brazil to my blog. If you haven’t read his Truth or Dare series, you are really missing out! So after you read his post and and excerpt from Giving Up, Book 3 in the series, go check it out!

Coffee, Cannabis, Shakespeare, and Me

I have a few drugs of choice, and a few I could care less about.  My drugs of choice? Tequila and coffee.  I l love a glass of good wine, or a shot of whiskey, but my old standby’s are coffee and tequila.  Wakes me up, gets me moving, keeps me writing.  But coffee once was as frowned upon as cannabis is today.

“Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water.”  ~The Women’s Petition Against Coffee, 1674

Yikes.  Glad the world persevered and moved beyond that attitude.

I just read an article purporting that Shakespeare might have been a smoker.  Not a smoker of tobacco- a smoker of cannabis.  You know, a bit of pot, weed, ganja.  Good for him.  Not my cup of tea- and by that I mean coffee- but…

Why not? Characters in several of my stories are smokers – not the tobacco variety- and that’s because I believe in free choice.  In the bedroom and the smoking parlor, on the street, and in the library.  Writers, readers, sports players – lovers.

Why am I talking about Shakespeare? Because Shakespeare wrote erotica for the Elizabethan masses, didn’t you know?  In between the dark historicals, like Henry and Richard, the Tragedies- Hamlet, Caesar, MacBeth- were the comedies.  Those wonderful bawdy comedies are loved just as much today as they were by the theater goers of the sixteenth century.

Romero and Juliet, for example- is full of lines like this:

“The bawdy hand of the dial is upon the prick of noon.”  That’s self explanatory, isn’t it?

But also there is this little scene with Mercutio- (Hey, What if Mercutio and Romeo, instead of Juliet and Romeo? Just a thought… )

 

Mercutio to Romeo- re: Juliet:

Why, is not this better now than groaning for love?

now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art

thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature:

for this drivelling love is like a great natural,

that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole” .

 

Did you catch it? Yeah it’s a sexual allusion…

But the ribaldry is present in the tragedies as well.  In Hamlet, Hamlet tells Ophelia- “get thee to a nunn’ry.”  In Elizabethan times, nunnery is slang for whore house- (Can I say whore house here, Silvia? Absolutely my dear. You can say anything you’d like 🙂) Critics claim the meaning isn’t played out in the rest of the scene, but… keeping in mind this is being acted out in front of the general populace- a wordsmith like Will certainly would have realized that connection would be front and center in the viewers minds.

And that my dears, isn’t even the tip of the iceberg!  Google Bawdy Shakespeare and see what gems you can find!

So, can we call Will the Father of Erotica?  Nah- it goes back to Ancient times-  The Milesian tales are the earliest instances of erotic literature in the Western world.  But still… it makes Shakespeare fun to read-

So, what’s your drug of choice to get the creative juices flowing?  I’m betting the majority of you are going to say caffeine in one form or another.

And here’s the prerequisite plug for the result of my caffeine addiction>

 

Giving Up (Truth or Dare Book 3)

by Lee Brazil

Available now from Breathless Press

Blurb:

Can Dr. Arden Grey teach Brandon Blake that giving up control is worth while, with the right woman?

Brandon Blake has a problem.  His family is fed up with his controlling ways. They don’t need him managing their affairs any more.  Brandon doesn’t want to lose his connection with his brothers, but he doesn’t know any other way to live.   He’s been in charge for a long time. Now his brothers are leaving home and making families of their own, and Brandon’s interference has caused some serious rifts. Brandon’s stressful job as CEO of the family production studio and his concerns for his brothers have contributed to the ulcer his doctor recently diagnosed. Therapy is supposed to help Brandon learn how to let go and give up the need to control every thing.  Brandon finds the counselor he’s been sent to intriguing, if a bit intimidating, though she has absolutely nothing in common with the women he’s dated in the past.

Dr. Arden Gray knows about control.  A survivor of marriage to a dominant, abusive partner, she’s spent the last twenty years turning her life around.  She’s learned to take control and has made a career of teaching others to do the same.  Brandon Blake is a surprise.  When his doctor sends Brandon to her, Arden isn’t sure how she can help the man.  But after a few sessions, she sees something intriguing hidden inside Brandon Blake, something that tells her he just might be the man she’s been looking for.  If only she can convince him that giving up control to the right woman will solve all his problems!

 

Excerpt:

He stood automatically, reaching out to shake her hand in greeting and murmuring polite good mornings.  A slight heat rose in his cheeks and he hoped to hell the blush wasn’t visible.  And why the fuck a simple handshake for the doctor should cause him to blush he didn’t know, but something about her made him feel self-conscious and uncertain in ways he hadn’t felt since he was a wild sixteen year old serving as his beautiful mother’s escort to Hollywood’s wild parties.

He stiffened his spine and forced himself to meet those sharp blue eyes, unwittingly squeezing her hand just a little too tightly.  He watched as the blue eyes flared wide then narrowed, and Dr. Grey gently removed her hand from his.  The flush on his cheeks grew and he felt his stomach churn alarmingly.  He and Trick were about to have more in common than he’d ever thought possible if he couldn’t calm down soon.

Dr. Grey led him into her office and he took the same seat he normally did on the plush leather chair in front of the desk.  Somewhat surprised, he noticed that instead of taking the chair adjacent to him as she usually did Dr. Grey seated herself behind the neat steel and glass desk.  Crossing her hands on the desktop, she met his questioning gaze calmly, and Brandon let out the breath he hadn’t realized he held.  His roiling emotions calmed as he took in her stillness, and even his churning stomach was soothed.  This was different, but not wrong.

Or so he thought until she spoke.

“I’m afraid, Brandon, that I can’t keep you on as patient any longer.”

Panic flared.  “What? Why not?”  His stomach heaved and he forced himself to breathe deeply through his nose, swallowing rapidly to prevent the consequences of the sudden lurch.  Nothing of his feelings showed on his face.  He had twenty-three years of practice at making sure of that. He couldn’t have heard correctly.

“Because I can’t help you in a professional capacity.  I’ve given you the tools to manage your problem, you’re an intelligent man and you can resolve your issues from here on your own.”  Her voice remained the same as it always had, soothing and cool, her gaze untroubled and calm.

Damn. How had he come to depend on that calmness in such a few meetings?  How would he deal without the soothing effect her voice had on his nerves and stomach?  Quickly pulling in resources to hide the shocking sense of abandonment he suddenly felt, Brandon grasped the tiny thread of anger and blew it up.

He surged upright and waved his phone in her face.  “Fuck.  I could have been at the office heading off a dozen major crises!  See this?  It’s called a cell phone. I have it with me all the time.  Next time you need to change our plans, use it!”

Comments

10 Responses | TrackBack URL | Comments Feed

  1. leebrazil says:

    Good morning Silvia! Thanks for letting me babble here today! 🙂

  2. Silvia says:

    Good morning Lee! Happy to have a fellow coffee addict here 🙂

  3. Jean says:

    What a fabulous excerpt, Lee. I have bought the book and it’s next on my TBR pile. I’m looking forward to it. Yes, caffeine from tea, not coffee, is my drug of choice. I need it to start my day and while I’m writing. Love Shakespeare, too. He was often so funny, but with the old English you have to dig a little to find it. Great post.

  4. Sara York says:

    Love this post. It’s great!!!

  5. Kellie Kamryn says:

    Love the excerpt! Great interview 🙂 Funny how in high school we don’t study the erotic-ness of Shakespeare’s work…

  6. Laura Harner says:

    Wonderful, Lee. I can’t wait to read this one, Brandon has been, uhm…asking for it for a while. This weekend is devoted to catching up on all the reading I’ve missed the last couple of weeks, and you’re right at the top of the list.

  7. Liz Crowe says:

    oh that Will, he was a horndog and so subtle! He did write baudy plays for the masses after all!
    Lee you are one of my absolute fav writers I’ve met. Can’t wait this one!
    love
    Liz

  8. Casea Major says:

    Fun post. Love coffee and I always drink it black. Cannibus not so much (anymore – the 80’s, you know) Te-kill-ya I just can’t do anymore. I drank my quota too many years ago. But vodka works.

    Your story sounds exciting and sexy.

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