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Sneak Peak: Guns n' Boys: K.A. Merikan


Writing Silvio Spadaro.

Seven years ago, we started writing a story called ‘Guns n’ Boys’, a crazy, pulpy mafia romance. It was written for kicks, in Polish, as an online serial. With time, Seth and Domenico became not only our entertainment, but parts of us. When we began writing in English, we knew that if there was one story that would definitely get reedited and rewritten, it would be ‘Guns n’ Boys’. Back then, we were astonished and amazed that there was a whole m/m genre, a whole market for gay romance. With so many books to try, I had to narrow down my reading choices, so I decided to go by topic, and since I was so in love with writing a mafia story, I wanted more of those.
Bam!
Dark Soul’ by Aleksandr Voinov, one of the first m/m books I’ve ever read. It had great prose, a sexy, dark mood, and a whole set of fascinating characters.
We had many new projects in the making and wanted to do justice to ‘Guns n’ Boys’, so it was on the backburner as we accustomed ourselves with the M/M scene. In the meanwhile, we went to UK Meet 2012 and got a chance to meet Aleks in person. I was completely new to M/M, overwhelmed, and felt intimidated, yet Aleks helped me relax and found the time to chat despite being busy. We kept in touch, met a few times in London, and over two years, we became friends (I don’t invite just anyone to my birthday! ;) ). It had turned out that Aleks, Agnes, and I share many views on writing. We often talked about books and upcoming projects. It’s hard to pinpoint how it happened, but as we talked about our respective mafia books, one word led to another, and Aleks lent us his character, Silvio, to play with. We were over the moon, but also slightly overwhelmed. After all, with great power comes great responsibility ;).
Anyone who’s read ‘Dark Soul’ knows that if you play with Silvio, you might end up in pieces so we had to have a brainstorming session about how we wanted to include him in our book. We wanted to do Silvio justice but also keep him from taking over the plot. First of all, we reread ‘Dark Soul’ and made notes about the details, then we found a place in the plot where he could fit in snugly and add some spice.
Another aspect was that ‘Dark Soul’ has a very different narrative style than ‘Guns n’ Boys’. Duh. We’re different writers. Yet, we had to make it mesh. The big distinction is that in my eyes, ‘Dark Soul’ is dark, dramatic and serious throughout, whereas ‘Guns n’ Boys’ is a bit like ‘Pulp Fiction’, full of dark humor served through the PoVs of our characters, often at their expense.
Showing Silvio through the PoV of our characters made everything fall into place. Writing another person’s character is always a challenge because you don’t want to let the creator down. When we wrote the scenes, Aleks looked over them to let us know if anything was out of character, and they were good to go. Seeing Silvio through Seth’s oblivious eyes should be fun for his fans. It sure was for me. Seth has a frivolous, unguarded attitude so seeing it clash with someone as controlled as Silvio was bound to be humorous. Unfortunately for Seth, at his expense.

We have an excerpt from ‘Guns n’ Boys’ where Seth first meets Silvio:

***

Seth tried to lean forward to see more of the man in leather, whose face was hidden by a stand with postcards of Berlin and a figurine of a standing bear.
He had short spiky hair, the perfect frame for such a well-chiselled face. And even though the guy probably barely scraped eighteen, there was something about him that drew Seth in like a moth to the flame. He had one of those faces that struck you so hard you couldn’t make yourself look away. Now that Seth could see the man from the side, he could take in the beautiful legs, strong and graceful like a dancer’s.
Seth downed the rest of his coffee and threw the cup into the trash. He looked around once more, to make sure Dom wasn’t coming, and got up from the bench. The bike would be a great conversation starter if the guy spoke English. The Kevlar plates on the driver's back made him look like some kind of futuristic outlaw, who would travel through wastelands and work as a gun for hire. The whole outfit seemed like something you could kill zombies in.
Heat stirred in Seth’s throat when the stranger walked out into the sun and made his way to the black machine with sharp white highlights that only added to the impression of its capability to reach lightning-speed.
Seth gave the guy a smile and searched his mind for any German words he knew. “Shön,” was all he could come up with as the equivalent of ‘nice’. He’d add ‘bike’ but had no idea how so he just pointed to the motorcycle. He wouldn’t be able to say the word even if he suddenly remembered it because when the stranger looked straight at him, Seth was sucked into the bottomless pit of his black eyes. They seemed almost matte, as if light strayed from them out of fear of being sucked in. But before Seth could as much as feel uneasy, that beautiful, sharply-cut mouth spread into a wide, toothy smile.
“Do you speak English?” asked the biker in an accent that could not be German.
Seth exhaled loudly and grinned back, already feeling more at ease with a fellow alien in the German capital. “God, yes!” He stroked the seat of the bike in a way he wanted to stroke the guy’s ass. He couldn’t deny himself a bit of moto-molestation if he couldn’t touch what he really wanted to. His breath caught when the driver followed the move of his hand only to raise two straight eyebrows, as if in a challenge.
“It’s mine.”
“I know.” Seth smirked and ran his fingertips along the leather. “Where are you from?”
The dark eyes narrowed, but it didn’t affect the wide smile. “Rome. How about you?” asked the driver, fluently switching to Italian. He moved his hand and rested it on the seat, so close to Seth’s fingers it made them tingle. Oh God, Seth hoped the guy was legal. What was the age of consent in Germany anyway? He bet Dom knew, even if he didn’t care.
“Sicily. A small town, you wouldn’t know it. What are the odds, right?” Seth’s smile widened, and he tried to hypnotize the guy with his own gaze, but the flat stare betrayed nothing. At least until it shifted lower, and Seth realized the guy was watching his mouth, which only prompted him to talk.
“I’m Seth by the way.” He held out his hand over the bike. “I’m here in Berlin on my own, and I’m bored out of my mind. You know any good places to eat or something? I don’t speak German so it’s hard for me to find entertainment. The dubbing on TV isn’t helping, right?”
“Are you gay?” asked the driver, but it wasn’t malicious, just a straight-to-the-point question of a man in need of information.
Seth hesitated and licked his upper lip. “Uh, yeah,” he said in the end. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“I’m free for the evening,” said the man, slowly leaning forward, and in the same moment, soft leather trailed up Seth’s hand on the motorcycle seat.

***

‘Guns n’ Boys Book 1 Part 1’ coming on the 11th of September.



Blurb:
--- Love is sour like a Sicilian lemon. ---

The Family is always right.
The Family doesn’t forget.
The Family pays for blood in blood.

Domenico Acerbi grew up in the shade of Sicilian lemon trees ready to give his life for the Family. Ready to follow orders and exceed expectations. A proud man of honor.
When Seth, the younger son of the Don is kidnapped, it’s Domenico who is sent to get him back. The man he finds though, is not the boy he knew all those years ago. Lazy, annoying, spoiled, and as hot as a Sicilian summer.

Seth Villani wants nothing to do with the mafia. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get a say when the Family pulls him right back into its fold after his mother’s death. Thrown into a den of serpents otherwise known as the Villani Family, Seth has to find a way to navigate in the maze of lies. But when Domenico Acerbi, the most vicious snake of them all, sinks his fangs into Seth, the venom changes into an aphrodisiac that courses through Seth’s veins.

Domenico knows his life is about to change when he gets the order to train Seth up to the role of future Don. Seth isn’t made for it. He isn’t even made. But a man Domenico knows he would never have to fear might just be someone he’s always needed.

If Seth is doomed to follow in his father's footsteps, he might as well enjoy himself—with the most intoxicating man he’s ever met. Maybe he can even fool himself into believing that Domenico isn’t a handsome sociopath who kills for a living.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

Themes: Enemies to lovers, mafia, homophobia, assassin, organized crime

Genre: Homoerotic love story / crime thriller

Erotic content: Explicit gay sex, coercion

Length: ~110,000 words

WARNING: Adult content. If you are easily offended, this book is not for you.
‘Guns n’ Boys’ is a gritty story of extreme violence, offensive language, abuse, and morally ambiguous protagonists. Behind the morbid facade, there is a splash of inappropriate dark humor, and a love story that will crawl under your skin.


About the author:
K.A. Merikan is a joint project of Kat and Agnes Merikan, who jokingly claim to share one mind. They finish each other's sentences and simultaneously come up with the same ideas. Kat and Agnes enjoy writing various kinds of stories, from light-hearted romance to thrillers. They love creating characters that are not easy to classify as good or evil, and firmly believe that even some villains deserve their happy endings. It is easiest to find them in galleries, restaurants and historical sites, always with a computer or notebook, because for Kat and Agnes, every day is a writing day. Future plans include lots of travel, and a villa on the coast of Italy or a flat in Paris where they could retire after yet another crazy venture, only to write more hot homoerotic stories.
As K.A. Merikan, Kat and Agnes have published a number of books, which cross genres while always staying homoerotic.

Mail to: kamerikan@gmail.com

More information about ongoing projects, works in progress and publishing at:
K.A. Merikan’s author page: http://kamerikan.com
Agnes Merikan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgnesMerikan

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