Thank you to the lovely and generous Iyana for letting me
stop by today and talk a little about my latest release, Taking Pleasure Where
You Can. This short means quite a bit to me for a couple of reasons. One, this
is my first historical piece, taking place during WWII. Second, I got a lot of
inspiration for this story from my own grandfather's memories of his time in
the Philippines back during the war. And that is what I am going to talk a
little bit about today, the influence my grandfather's stories had on Taking
Pleasure Where You Can.
As a child I listened to everything that my grandfather ever
said, including when he was talking with his buddies and thought that I was too
involved with my dolls and toys to pay attention to their conversation. Wrong!
That's how I know grandpa had a girlfriend when he was stationed in the
Philippines during WWII. One that he never really talked about when grandma was
around. It was these stories that
inspired Taking Pleasure Where You Can, and there is certainly a lot of my
grandpa in John.
You see, pretty island girlfriend aside, I choose to write
my first historical piece about WWII to honor my grandfather. Ok, it is
probably a good thing he passed and can't read my writing. This is the man that
couldn't handle back to school shopping once I needed a bra, so I am pretty
sure his little granddaughter writing steamy scenes would make him blush.
Though he would encourage me to follow my dreams and passions, just not make
him read sex scenes I wrote. Still, his experience in the war has always left
me fascinated with that time in history and that is why I wrote this story.
Just like John in Taking Pleasure, my grandfather was at
Pearl Harbor. Well technically he arrived right after and had to deal with clean
up, pulling the bodies of his fellow soldiers from the water. Trying in vain to
retrieve those who were sealed in metal tombs. He never really would talk much
about that time, the scars they left were deep and that is what I tried to
convey through John with his struggles to live after such horrors. And as I
mentioned before, just like John my grandpa was stationed in the Philippines
are Pearl Harbor. I took his descriptions of the action of what he saw and made
it John's reality as well. No real fighting, snipers here and there, a lot of
time fighting boredom… with Pilipino beauties.
Now the sexy parts I tried to not think of my grandfather as
I wrote, I mean John and Imee are their own hot little characters. Not that I
am naïve and think that my grandpa and his island girlfriend played Parcheesi
all day, but come one a girl has to draw a line somewhere! Still, I owe a great
deal of the characters and inspiration to my grandpa and the price that he paid
while in service to his country. My little tribute to all the men and women who
have had to take some pleasure where and when they could.
Blurbs from Taking Pleasure Where You Can:
John never thought that he would be the same after Pearl
Harbor, then he set eyes on Imee and everything changed.
Ever since Pearl Harbor John had become a shell of a man,
not able to move on from the trauma. One night out with the guys and one woman
were about to change everything.
Excerpt:
Joe seemed to know everyone, and everyone seemed keen to be
near him. It made it much easier for the quiet by nature and still healing John
to slowly make some friends. Once the drinks started flowing, he even began to
loosen up a bit. He missed hanging out with guys, telling stories, joking
around, and laughing. His Captain had been right; this was what he needed and
what his friends who had passed on would want. He was beginning to feel alive
again, and it felt good. Then he caught sight of her.
Author Bio:
Kelly Ryan, aka Sheri Velarde, lives in New Mexico and grew
up with a fascination for all things that "go bump in the night", so
it is no wonder that she turned to writing paranormal romance among other
genres of romance. She is an avid exerciser and gets some of her best ideas
while on runs. She also has a bit of a wild side, which only leads to
inspiration for her writing.
Being an avid reader since an early age, she has wanted to
be a writer for as long as she can remember. She has been writing all her life,
but only recently started to actually try to pursue her dream of writing for a living.
She is constantly putting out new material, so it is best to
keep up with her on her website.
Kelly/Sheri is a multi-published author; you can keep up to
date with all things Kelly Ryan/Sheri Velarde at: www.sherivelarde.weebly.com.
Thanks for letting me stop by and flirt a little!
ReplyDeleteAnytime! :D
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