Ten Dirty Books #8: Elisabeth Schechter on “Kushiel’s Dart”
Today, multiple award finalist Elisabeth Schechter describes her relationship with a modern kinky erotic SF classic. And once you get to the end, you can do social media stuff to win free books from us. Come back tomorrow for Velvet Vernet’s appreciation of another Victorian classic
In 2001 or 2002, I received as a gift an autographed book. Actually, I received two copies of said book, both from the same people - friends who had gotten free books at the Book Expo in New York. I offered to give them back one copy, and brought it to their house. Waiting on their front steps for them to get home, I did what one does when you’re waiting and you have a book at hand - I started reading… and changed my life forever.
That book? Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey.
I have fallen into books before. I’m a reader. It happens. But this one… this one was sexy and kinky and all kinds of hot. And it was something that you could pick up at any bookstore. All of a sudden, sex, and more specifically, non-vanilla sex, was on the mainstream bookshelves!
I was hooked. I read the heck out of that book. I pre-ordered the next books in the series and read them voraciously. I joined Livejournal groups devoted to the Kushiel fandom. And when I heard about a play-by-email role playing group based on the series, one that was officially sanctioned by Jacqueline herself? I joined it.
Two years later, I was running it.
The Night Court ran for five years total, and I made friends there that I treasure to this day. It was the place where I learned how to put together a plotline, how to write so that my characters had different, distinctive voices (at one point, I had five separate characters, and one of them no one knew was me.) And, most importantly, I learned how write sex scenes. In early 2008, I posted a scene between one of my characters and another, and had someone later tell me that they forgot they weren’t reading something Jacqueline had written.
A few months later, I sold my first story to Circlet Press (for those of you keeping score, that story was The Hand You’re Dealt, which appeared in Like a Sacred Desire.) The characters in that story, Steven and Nick, are very loosely based on characters from The Night Court.
Now, five years later, I’m living a dream that I’ve had since I was a child. I’m a multi-published author, with three novels under my belt and more coming. I’ve been nominated for awards, and I have people who recognize my name and ask for my autograph. And I can honestly say that if it hadn’t been for Jacqueline Carey and Kushiel, it would never have happened.
And yes, I have told her it’s all her fault.
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Elizabeth Schechter is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Central Florida with her husband and son. Her most recent work includes the Pauline Reage Award finalist House of Sable Locks, published by Circlet Press in 2013.
Elizabeth can be found online at http://easchechter.wordpress.com/
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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.