Gladiator by
Kate Lynd (Amy McCorkle)
Genre: Dystopian Erotic Romance
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
ASIN: B0094JN30M
Number of pages: 122
Word Count:
37,774
Cover Artist: Delilah Stephans
Book Description:
Ten years ago Tristan Shane had failed to pick
sides and he paid with the ultimate price—his family. Enslaved as a
post-apocalyptic gladiator, he is now faced with a similar dilemma, serve the
despot Queen and murder her innocent sister, or face certain death himself.
What will he choose?
Tristan Shane was a moderate before the nuclear and economic crisis which plunged the world into darkness. While his sister Aidia ran off to fight the rebel’s war he desperately tried to hang onto normalcy and lost his wife and children in the process. Spending the next ten years as the Crown’s favored and the mob’s favorite Gladiator, he never expects to meet the Queen’s sister, Alexandra, a Healer.
She claims to be the much whispered about Savior sent to heal the wounded Earth and oceans, the one who would bring about her cruel sister’s dethroning. But is she? Or is she just a fraud? But he quickly learns her erotic touch has the power to heal his heart and his to save her life. But as the passion heightens and the danger increases will they have forever or will he have to give up everything to save the planet?
Tristan Shane was a moderate before the nuclear and economic crisis which plunged the world into darkness. While his sister Aidia ran off to fight the rebel’s war he desperately tried to hang onto normalcy and lost his wife and children in the process. Spending the next ten years as the Crown’s favored and the mob’s favorite Gladiator, he never expects to meet the Queen’s sister, Alexandra, a Healer.
She claims to be the much whispered about Savior sent to heal the wounded Earth and oceans, the one who would bring about her cruel sister’s dethroning. But is she? Or is she just a fraud? But he quickly learns her erotic touch has the power to heal his heart and his to save her life. But as the passion heightens and the danger increases will they have forever or will he have to give up everything to save the planet?
Excerpt:
“What is it you want, Veronica?”
She leaned in close and whispered seductively, “Why, you know I only want you, Tristan.”
He snatched her up by her throat, pinned her against the wall and kissed her passionately, brutally, and without clemency. When he pulled away she was smiling with a darkness that made him angry. She was a power-hungry mongrel who played on her husband’s weaknesses and jealousies. Tristan hated her. And he hated himself for f***ing her. But this was his life. He let go of her and walked away.
“Is my poor Gladiator jealous? There’s really no need for that, is there? You know you’re my favorite.”
“What is it you really want, Veronica?”
She came up behind him and seductively began to ease off his armor. He was covered in sweat and blood and he felt her shiver against his body. And as always there was a twinge of nausea that would precede the raw animal aggression.
She turned him around. He looked at her. There was no doubt about it; she was beautiful. But she was poisonous—a rattlesnake with crystal green eyes and flaming red hair. Her father had promised peace and a return to normalcy and democracy in the wake of economic and nuclear disaster, and instead this was what had become of the world. And she was no doubt always enjoining her father to maintain her life in this fashion. He loathed her. He detested her. And every time he had sex with her his intense hatred for himself deepened a little bit more.
“My dear, sweet Gladiator, as much as I’d like to celebrate your victory with you tonight, my husband wishes me to share his bed. But fear not—I do have a consolation prize for you.”
His skin began to crawl. Veronica had a twisted way of looking at what constituted a consolation prize; it was usually just a groupie who wanted to watch what the queen did with the equivalent of rock stars of the former United States of America. And he usually did the dog and pony show. But sometimes Veronica required something to prove his loyalty to her. That would be more complicated.
“What is it this time?”
She smiled. His response had given her the mistaken impression that he cared.
“The rebels have been restless. And it seems there is a young woman we have in our prison whom they want terribly. Well, frankly, they are in two minds as to what to believe. It is rumored she is the mythical Healer. The one meant to find her soul mate, so together they will lead our Nation out of the so-called darkness into which it has plunged itself.”
“And what do you want me to do?”
“Oh Tristan, why are you being so defensive? I just want you to find out whether she really is the Healer, and report to me if she is.”
“And then, what?”
“And then you let me handle it,” Veronica said, sliding back into the evil skin that was her natural state. “The rebels have no idea what it takes to run a country.”
The image of his wife being raped and murdered flooded him and it was all he could do not to throttle the queen right then and there.
“So can I count on you to do this for me or do I need to find someone else who can?”
He was no one’s hero. But she had said young woman. And he couldn’t just allow his wife’s fate to be visited upon some other unsuspecting girl. “I’ll do what I can.”
Veronica ran her index finger down his cheek and whispered, “Good boy, Tristan,” she purred. “Guard! She’ll be delivered before the night is over. I don’t know when I’ll be able to return to you, but I expect that you’ll have had enough time to gain her trust by then.”
Tristan’s stomach churned. The Healer? In the beginning there had been whispers of it. But he had never believed in such a thing. It had been years since the crown had feared anything. And now this. He said nothing as the queen was escorted away. He was left to think about the young woman he might be forced to turn over in the end.
Interview:
1. Where did you get the idea for the novel?
I don’t really have a great answer for that, but in this
case I wanted write something and started trying to, feed the beast, including
going to Krogers and looking at book covers. I saw a Harlequin Love Inspired
cover with a gladiator on the cover. I found I didn’t want to be constricted by
social and moral norms that a historical would have demanded of me. I watched
the awesome movie with Russell Crowe and the music was stuck in my head.
Finally thumbing through Writers Digest there was an interview about futuristic
child prodigy investigator and teen criminal. I don’t have an affinity for YA.
But a futuristic dystopian world where men were forced to fight to the death
seemed really cool. Of course there had to be a love story or I wouldn’t have
gone through with it lol.
2. Your
title. Who came up with it?
It seemed self-explanatory and the Chronicles part came to
me when I knew it was going to be a trilogy, Did you ever change your title?
No.
3. Which
came first, the title or the novel?
I always have the title first.
4. Why did
you pick this genre?
The world seems so angry right now. And it seems like
certain poltical forces with little concern about everyday people are so
desperate for ‘their turn’ they’re willing to just throw a good chunk of the
society we live in under the bus. I wanted to explore what would happen if
that, God forbid, did happen. What do you like about it? The theme of the
healing power of love and self sacrifice. Not just the hot sex, because there
is the element of me getting to fantasize about sex with a gladiator who looks
like Daniel Craig, but truly what love can do to the hardest of hearts.
5. Since
becoming a writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?
There have been three high points in what’s been really been
a whirlwind of the past eighteen months. There’s the plethora of contracts, 12
so far. The awards, P&E Top Ten, and semi finagling in the 2012 Moondance
International Film Festival for Another Way to Die, and breaing the Amazon
Bestsellers Top 100 list in romance and science fiction/alternate history.
6. What
book are you currently reading or what was the last book you read?
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.
7. What
was your first book that you ever wrote (very first one you wrote, not
published)?
Oh goodness, that
goes back to when I was 18 and I can’t remember the name of it now. Probably
with good reason lol.
8. What is
your writing process?
I’m sure my life experiences and daily intake of movies, tv,
and books factor in. But I create a character and throw spaghetti at a wall
until something sticks.
9. Who are
your favorite authors of all time?
Childhood Judy Blume, Adolescence, Katherine Patterson, and
adulthood a double header, Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut.
10. At a
book signing, do you just sign your name or do you write a note? How do you
come up with stuff to say?
It varies. It’s hard because people want something special
to them and I’m really bad at it.
11. What
is something people would be surprised to know about you?
That I’m single looking to mingle, um no, lol, that I was an
indie filmmaker for a time.
12. How do you react to a bad review?
Bad reviews aren’t fun because to quote Scott Frank, nobody
wants to hear their baby is ugly and has big ears. I would say it stings but in
the end if you are still writing and getting contracts, you’re doing something
right.
13. How did you celebrate the sale of your first
book?
Repeatedly lol. I was 35 when I signed with Muse for the
first time so it felt really good. And life is too short to be bitter and
angry. Some do that well, but for me I like to cheer every accomplishment. So
if you’re out there reading this. If I did it, so can you.
About the Author:
Amy McCorkle was born and raised in Louisville,
KY. She has lived in New Mexico and Texas as well but she currently makes her
home in Shepherdsville,KY.
An award winning blogger she is also a successful author in both the sci-fi erotic romance genre with No Ordinary Love and the upcoming release a dark romantic suspense tale Another Way To Die. She also has been contracted for GLADIATOR a Mad Max meets Gladiator series set to be a trilogy. She has placed second in the 2011 Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Poll for Best Short Romance Story. And semi-finaled with Another Way to Die in the 2012 Moondance International Film Festival.
From Hydra Publications, Set Fire to the Rain recently released and her first print novel, Bounty Hunter is due out in October. She is also contracted for the Gunpowder & Lead series she is co-authoring with Melissa Goodman.
Her work is flavored by her childhood heroes, pop culture, music, and the cinema as well as the writers she still enjoys reading today.
An award winning blogger she is also a successful author in both the sci-fi erotic romance genre with No Ordinary Love and the upcoming release a dark romantic suspense tale Another Way To Die. She also has been contracted for GLADIATOR a Mad Max meets Gladiator series set to be a trilogy. She has placed second in the 2011 Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Poll for Best Short Romance Story. And semi-finaled with Another Way to Die in the 2012 Moondance International Film Festival.
From Hydra Publications, Set Fire to the Rain recently released and her first print novel, Bounty Hunter is due out in October. She is also contracted for the Gunpowder & Lead series she is co-authoring with Melissa Goodman.
Her work is flavored by her childhood heroes, pop culture, music, and the cinema as well as the writers she still enjoys reading today.
http://www.facebook.com/amy.l.mccorkle.5
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