Kate DouglasBook: Sexy Beast II/CHANKU FALLEN
Publisher: Kensington Aphrodisia
Pub date: March 2007
Agent: Jessica Faust
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Kate Douglas has found her writing niche with her sexy shapeshifter series, Wolf Tales. Currently writing her way through a twelve-title contract for Kensington’s Aphrodisia line as the imprint’s lead author, she’s still waiting for her editor to call and tell her it was all a big mistake.
Author Web site: www.katedouglas.com
BookEnds: Describe your book in 50 words or less.
Kate: Mik and AJ are unusual among the Chanku—a bonded male pair. The men rescue a young prostitute who slips seamlessly into their sensual world, but is she Chanku? Will Tala come between them, or bind Mik and AJ even closer in a sensual yet loving ménage a trois?
BookEnds: What do you think distinguishes your work from that of other authors of this genre?
Kate: I don’t hesitate to take risks with my Wolf Tales series. The stories are dark and edgy, the sexuality of my characters is written in graphic and often extreme language, but I believe it fits the world I’ve created for my Chanku shapeshifters. I’ve learned that readers either love or hate the series, which tells me I’m pushing a lot of buttons. To be perfectly honest, I never expected the books to find such a wide audience, but their success tells me there are a lot of readers out there who are looking for stories that reach them on a very dark emotional level, while managing to provide a satisfying conclusion. I always deliver that “happily ever after” in my books, mainly because I hate reading stories that don’t leave me with a good feeling at the end.
BookEnds: What’s your next book? When and where should we look for it?
Kate: Wolf Tales IV will be out in July 2007. This is Tinker McClintock’s story—Tinker has always felt like a man apart from the rest. He’s the sole black male Chanku among the members of Pack Dynamics and the only one without a mate, but his sense of being different was born in a childhood spent in the foster care system, where he was raised by a white family. Growing up as a young black man without knowing the “rules” of the streets gave him an even greater sense of isolation. When he meets Lisa Quinn at the High Mountain Wolf Sanctuary in Colorado, Tinker finally has a chance to connect on a level beyond race. Lisa is white, but she is Chanku—and she is also in danger.
BookEnds: Besides making your first sale, what has been the most fun thing to happen to your writing career?
Kate: That one’s easy—walking into bookstores and seeing my books on the front table. That’s something I didn’t even dream of, as I’d always aimed my work at category romance, which rarely gets that kind of placement. To see my books displayed alongside authors I’ve long read and admired is probably the greatest thrill imaginable. (Autographing a book for a reader in the ladies’ room at the Romantic Times conference in Daytona Beach comes in a close second!)
BookEnds: How do you spend your time when not writing?
Kate: There IS no time when I’m not writing. I used to take long hikes and work in the garden, babysit my grandkids and experiment with new recipes. I love to walk the dog in our mountain community and cook big dinners for family and friends. Now, though, if I’m not writing I’m either working on promotion, planning for an upcoming conference, putting together a proposal for the next book, or sleeping . . . and I don’t have much time for that! Am I complaining? Not really, because I love to write and I’m enjoying the success of my series, but there is a niggling little voice in the back of my mind that keeps whispering, “Be careful what you wish for!”
BookEnds: What do you see as some of the biggest mistakes beginning writers make?
Kate: It seems so basic, but a lot of the material I’ve read by new and unpublished writers is so lacking in basic technical skills that my first inclination is to tell the person to practice their writing skills and THEN write a book. It’s important to know how the language works, how to structure a sentence, a paragraph, a story. Not that authors always follow the rules, but unless a writer knows them, she can’t break them and get away with it. I would suggest reading poetry to get a feeling for good writing. Learn to use the flow and rhythm of words, and keep that flow grammatically correct! (Yes, I AM on a personal rant today!)
To learn more about Kate Douglas, see Our Books at www.BookEnds-Inc.com.