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:
