The following character interview was first published on Eclipse Reviews blog site, and is reprinted below with permission by author Patricia A. Knight, writer of the Verdantia Series. (She's the lucky lady who has Prince DeHelios whisper in her ear. )
Hel, or as he says "Prince DeHelios if you must be formal,” is the hero of Hers to Claim, the fourth in the Verdantia series, fantasy erotic romance at its best. We were lucky to hear directly from Hel in the interview below. When we first meet Hel in Hers to Claim, he has one goal in mind: save his people. Then he meets Adonia. Speaking of Adonia, he prefaced his talk below in this manner: I’m certain I didn’t look like much when Adonia first saw me. I had been living wild for some years. She tells me I improved after she cut my hair and shaved off my beard. And, now? Well. . . Meet Prince DeHelios . . . 
Describe yourself what is your worst and best quality? My worst quality? It depends upon who you ask, I suppose. For the love ofHer, don’t ask Ramsey DeKieran. His answer would probably singe your ears. It would certainly be unprintable. Others tell me that I am arrogant. As for my best quality? I will die to defend those I am responsible for.
What is the one thing you wish other people knew about you? I am approachable. I’m not some prince isolated in an ivory tower who wishes nothing to do with his people. I care about all those who reside in Nyth Uchel. No one is too low to approach me. What is your biggest secret something no one knows about? It not all that much of a secret, but I would prefer my first name not be bandied about for obvious reasons. You don’t know my first name? Good. Don’t ask. 
What are you most afraid of? Losing my Adonia. I fear that more than death.
What do you want more than anything? A normal life with a loving woman and a throng of children creating chaos in the palace. What is your relationship status? I consider myself very, very married. How would you describe your sense of fashion? Non-existent. Though I have a very good idea of how I would like to see Adonia attired. The woman dresses in rags. I instructed her maid to burn her old clothing, but I’m not certain Adonia didn’t save them somehow. On the other hand, she has a pair of gold stiletto sandals that should be banned for the thoughts they incited in me. Of course, they were all she wore at the time. How much of a rebel are you? I don’t see myself as a rebel. I have always been a dutiful son to our Great Mother and servant to my people. What do you considered to be your greatest achievement? If I could restore Nyth Uchel and Torre Bianca to the state they were in prior to the Haarb invasion, I would consider that an achievement that no other could surpass. What is your idea of happiness? Sitting down to the family dining table, a table that has held the dinners for the DeHelios family for hundreds of years, with a wife and children of my own. What is your current state of mind? At the moment, I am trying to regain it. The last few months have been somewhat … tumultuous. What is your most treasured possession? Adonia. What is your most marked characteristic? Loyalty. What is it that you, most dislike? Treachery. Selfishness. Cowardice. Which living person do you, most despise? This is a silly question. Those I despise no longer live. What is your greatest regret? That I couldn’t prevent the death of my children. That I didn’t ask Queen Constante for help sooner ... but then I wouldn’t have met Adonia, so I suppose I don’t regret that after all. What is the quality you most like in a man? I rarely think about things like this. These are questions better answered by women. I like Ramsey DeKieran. Whatever qualities he has, I like. Of course, half the time I would cheerfully kill him, but I’d still choose him at my back in a pitched battle. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Big tits and a curvaceous ass? And you are a fool if you believe that. Look at my woman. She is everything I most like. Who is your favorite hero in fiction? I don’t have time for fiction. I deal with real, everyday, heroes and heroines, the greatest of whom is my wife. Which living person do you most admire? I have answered this question in a thousand different ways. The answer will always be Adonia. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I would be a better husband. I would be a better friend. What is your motto? Primum, ut serviatis. It means “the first to serve”. Hers to Claim book description: A prince from the Nyth Uchel mountains … a healer from the Oshtech desert … Scornfully rejected by her desert lover and uncertain of her place in the world, Adonia traveled a perilous road to the fabled mountain-city of Nyth Uchel. She came to heal the sick and dying, but in the arms of highborn prince, Hel, Adonia found the answer to saving herself. Descended from nobility, once great kings of Verdantia, Hel willingly bore the burden of his dying city and its people on his shoulders. Watching helplessly as a malingering evil attacked the very soil under his feet, he crushed his pride to summon help. He’d been staggered to discover the answer to saving his city and perhaps all Verdantia might lie behind a heavy fall of chocolate hair and shy brown eyes. As their entire planet faces an encroaching black death, two seemingly disparate individuals forge a partnership of love and sacrifice that will alter their future forever. All of Verdantia will be tested. Stand alone. Not a cliff-hanger. HEA 360 pages. M/F, Mild D/s themes, light spanking, and an over-sexed but sensitive prince with a hero complex. Buy it at: Amazon Kobo Smashwords Book Trailers: http://youtu.be/n0FbdEYahV0 http://youtu.be/0qn1OdDSL4U http://youtu.be/mji6SCxiskQ |
Beginning this Monday, I am spending five days this week in a
professional sound studio recording my erotic sci/fi romance, Hers To
Command, for audio book. I'm totally over the moon...sorta.
I've always had a theatrical bent, and no, I don't mean I'm a drama
queen, though my sweetie and some very close friends might beg to
differ. I've had the lead in my high school plays and actually met my
hunky hubby doing summer stock dinner theatre. I'm
formally trained in voice and have sung for years--both solos and in
choirs and the odd community theatre musical. I figured, hey, I'm a
good reader. I can act a little. I've recorded excerpts for my books and
some of my fellow authors'. I'm not embarassed speaking or acting in
front of people. I can say, "fuck" and "cock" without blushing. This
will be a piece of cake! I'll save all sorts of money. I'll be able to
put the proper dramatic emphasis on all my characters' lines. I won't
mispronounce their names or the places in the story. Just an all-around
win!
I started preparing my "script" and reading it aloud to mark places where I wanted to breathe and places where I didn't want to breathe--and then I heard the words I wrote spoken.
"Between tortured animal grunts, Doral whispered, “Oh Goddess, oh Goddess!” repeatedly. His engorged, be-ringed cock, glistening with Fleur's slickness, violently jerked against his flat stomach then strained away. Doral hung in the middle of an intense, dry orgasm, driven
to the point of madness. The gold cockrings glowed with dull light,
cruelly sunk deep into the base of his cock and balls."
Gulp. Ah...that's a little graphic. Geeze Louise...who wrote that?
All of a sudden, my confidence is taking a trip south. I'm not sure I'm prepared to read my erotic romance to male audio techs, even though my publisher assures me they are, like, guys, okay! I mean what guy doesn't like to listen to hot sex?
It's one thing to write the words. I don't see the reader. They can't see me. There are layers of privacy between us. But it's different when you are reading your work aloud. It's immediate intimacy. There are no veils. [I did ask if I could show up at the studio in a burqa. No, I was told. It (the burqa) would alter the sound quality. Sigh.]
There are a large group of folks out in the world who do this as a profession. I think it's called "voice over". My hat's off to them. Between trying out various voices for my dozens of characters--why, oh, why, didn't I write this in first person--and trying to take a big enough breath to get that whole line in without gasping ... I have bitten off quite a large mouthful and it's proving difficult to chew. It's sort of like being in an x-rated movie and you get to play all the parts and make the all sound effects.
I will be blogging my virgin flight into the world of audio books this week and sharing my exhilarations and embarassments with you. You are invited to laugh and learn right along with me.
My next installment: Day one - Etiquette for Sound Studios ~or~ Don't Touch the Microphone!