blogs – Page 2 – Author Blog by Traci L. Slatton

Writing Eros in BROKEN

Posted on:September 25, 2014February 12, 2015

[This short article originally appeared on If These Books Could Talk Blog. ]

I’ve been married with children for my entire adult life, so, technically, I don’t know anything about sex. (Or, perhaps, birth control….) It’s true, I’ve had two different husbands, but I think it’s fair to say that I fall under the vanilla category.

As smooth, satisfying, and delicious as vanilla is, sometimes, as an author, I need something more tangerine, or more pungent. Luckily I have a good imagination, and a husband who’s willing to experiment with me. In the name of art, of course.

Broken, set in occupied Paris from 1939-1942, is the story of a fallen angel who struggles to save her friends and lovers as the Nazis exert ever more lethal control over the city. The angel Alia falls from heaven because of a personal loss which shocks her out of unity thinking. As soon as she falls, she is beset with sensual desire, with temptation, with the lust that is embedded in flesh. She throws herself into the cornucopia of carnal delights offered by Paris on the eve of the second world war. Paris in 1938-1939 was a feast of entertainment, parties, and revelry, with many intellectuals, writers, and artists openly living a licentious lifestyle.

But I imagined that Alia didn’t start out completely human. Broken is also the story of her journey into her own humanity. So the sex scenes in this novel document her incarnation. They aren’t just gratuitous titillation. Alia begins the novel with a free-wheeling, casual attitude about sex and lovers because she hasn’t yet fully identified with her body. It’s a plaything for her, it’s not herself. So I thought of these early sex scenes in the vein of sex-as-frivolous-fun.

Sex changes as she begins to care for the bullfighter Pedro and the musician-mathematician Josef. Her heart is part of her body, too—her heart goes along with what her body embraces.

Alia also has a horrifying experience of sex used against her. She is manipulated into gratifying a Gestapo agent, and it sickens her. But sex as a power play is part of the human condition, so as an author, I chose to include it.

Finally she comes to be a partner with one man, and she experiences deep intimacy with him. The eroticism they share ripens. It’s based on a heart-connection as well as sensual pleasure. It’s not just about ecstasy anymore, it’s also about love; Alia has become fully human, fully identified with her physical being. She has experienced the full range of sexuality as she has evolved into the woman who would make the ultimate sacrifice for her beloveds.

authors · blogs · book promotion · Broken · special

Interview on Karen’s Book Blog

Posted on:September 24, 2014February 12, 2015

Lovely Karen Banes, an editor and author herself, hosted me on her blog. She sent a list of thoughtful interview questions that I really appreciated.

Here are two of them:

KB: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

TS: The belief in an external, hierarchical, patriarchal God is one of the greatest sources of evil in human civilization. It is my firm belief that God as love is internal, inclusive, merciful, and non-gendered.

KB: How much of the book is realistic?

TS: As I said before, I researched this era in Paris thoroughly. Many of the details are accurate, such as the way Parisians were always hungry during the occupation. Several documents said that Parisians ate only about 800 calories per day at this time. Also, over a million French men had been taken into compulsory work service in Germany, so the Resistance drew on women, high school students, and the elderly. At one point, Alia the protagonist, who is a fallen angel, is walking down the street wearing a jaunty red hat. There are references to those red hats as a kind of subtle rebellion; French fashion continued during occupation.

Read the interview here and check out Karen’s informative books here.

blogs · book promotion · book reviews · Broken · special · writing

BROKEN Blog Tour starts today!

Posted on:September 18, 2014February 12, 2015

Whirlwind Book Tours put together a blog tour for BROKEN, and today is the launch. I’m excited!

Today an excerpt from BROKEN appeared on two blogs, The Pen and Muse and Cajun Book Lover.

Here’s the whole schedule:

Sept 18th
Cajun Book Lover – Excerpt
The Pen Muse – Excerpt

Sept 19th
The Gal in the Blue Mask – Review & Interview
Rolo Polo Book Blog – Guest Post

Sept 20th
Mythical Books – Guest Post
Books N Pearls – Excerpt

Sept 21st
Deal Sharing Aunt – Review

Sept 22
If These Books Could Talk – Guest Post

Sept 23rd
Karen Banes Blog – Interview

Sept 24th
Chick Lit N Lipstick – Review & Excerpt
Examiner – Spotlight

Sept 25th
Yeah Books – Review

Sept 26th
Samantha LaFantasie – Excerpt
The Readers Hollow – Interview

Sept 27th
Strands Simply Tips – Interview

Sept 28th
The Serious Reader – Review

Sept 29th
The Dark Phantom WordPress – ExcerptSept 30th
Best Between the Lines – Review
My Bookish Life 9/30 Excerpt

Oct 1st
Drunk on Pop – Review

authors · blogs · book promotion · book reviews · Broken · gratitude · paranormal · special

BROKEN and a Guest Post on THE READING CAFE

Posted on:September 11, 2014February 12, 2015

I am so fortunate to have become acquainted with some of the most generous-spirited book review bloggers going. Sandy at THE READING CAFE is one of those smart, kind, thoughtful people. She accepted BROKEN for review and asked me to write a guest post, and then she sent the review and post to Twitter Heaven, doing a wonderful job of spreading the word.

Her efforts on my book’s behalf are most appreciated!

And I liked her review, which was clear and incisive. She wrote, in part:

Traci L Slatton is an amazing writer whose storylines are infinitely detailed with both fact and fiction; fantasy and reality. Her style of writing is intense; the historical research impressive; and the overall premise is a flight into the fantastic and uncoventional.

My guest post is about “Writing Historical Romances, Accuracy and History.” I mention,

Winnowing down the horrific German occupation of the City of Lights this way provided an opportunity for me to deeply relate my characters to very specific events. Alia, an angel who fell from heaven, experiences the oppression of the time personally and with great intensity. She and her beloved friends suffer through food shortages, lack, loss, and sacrifices in minute detail.

Many blessings and much gratitude to Sandy and THE READING CAFE for the support for BROKEN!

blogs · book promotion · book reviews · Broken · gratitude · paranormal · special

Insightful Review of BROKEN on Tynga’s Reviews

Posted on:August 31, 2014February 13, 2015

Stéphanie Leroux of Tynga’s Reviews wrote a thoughtful, fantastic review of Broken. Clearly she grappled with the story–she took it on and chewed it over and entered into a dialogue with it. I love those kinds of reviews. I love those kinds of readers. I took many risks with this novel and it thrills me when readers are willing to meet those risks head-on.

In part, she wrote:

Although the story was definitely not what I expect, it was truly original. It shocked me multiple times, brought me to tears, and provided good entertainment…

Traci L. Slatton took a huge risk by adding eroticism to some of the love scenes but personally I think it’s a great way to balance out the horrors of war. These opposites are strange because it’s unexpected but the love story does provide a way to escape into the story without being overwhelmed by the hostility of the occupation….

I enjoyed it, it’s not your everyday paranormal read. I have nothing to compare it to, and it’s hard to define it, but I guess that’s what makes it so stunning. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read.

Find the review here, on the lively Team Tynga’s Reviews blog.

art · blogs · book reviews · Broken · hard work · review

Great Review of Broken at Game Vortex

Posted on:August 24, 2014February 13, 2015

Psibabe, aka Ashley Perkins, at Game Vortex posted a thoughtful and beautiful review of my forthcoming novel BROKEN.

She wrote, in part:

Broken by Traci L. Slatton is both a story of supreme selfishness and selflessness. It centers around Alia, a beautiful fallen angel who has chosen to live life as a human in Paris right before the Nazi occupation during WWII. She willingly chose to fall when Ariel, another angel dear to her, fell from Heaven and she now spends her days enjoying the once forbidden fruits of sexual activity with humans, despite Michael the Archangel, who sometimes comes to persuade her to return to Heaven. Sex with humans is forbidden because angels are completely irresistible, and to do so takes away a part of the human’s free will, along with a portion of their “light,” leaving them with a need and desire that they can never again fulfill. It’s cruel, but Alia doesn’t care about any of that. She is merely trying to forget her angelic days and the pain she suffered when Ariel fell.

What, or rather who, she does care about is the young girl who lives next door, Cecile, who often comes to visit Alia. Cecile’s mother, Suzanne, is a Jew although they are both French citizens, and Alia, who is often beset by visions of the future, fears for Suzanne and Cecile as the Nazis approach and Jews are more and more persecuted.

Broken has some incredibly graphic sex scenes and these may take some readers aback, but they are meant to shock, as well as explain Alia’s selfishness, desperation and hopelessness after becoming a human. It took me a few chapters before the book really had its hooks into me, but Broken is incredible and, much like Immortal, had me in tears as I finished it.

I knew from our email exchange before she posted the review that she enjoyed the book even as it troubled her. I’m grateful that Psibabe expressed herself so eloquently, and that she took the time to think about what she had read. Readers like Psibabe keep me writing. They encourage me to take risks.

This is what it’s all about.