Hello everyone! Today I am pleased to welcome author Kage Alan, here as part of the blog tour for the Butt Ninjas from Hell Anthology. Kage is here to talk with us more about his story in the anthology, as well as to share a great giveaway. So please join me in giving him a big welcome!

From Spacehunters To Flaxen Buns of Ninja Romance

I made a mistake once and listened to über authorette-in-arms T.C. Blue when she told me that regardless of what I thought, I wrote romance. The truth is I didn’t and still don’t. I write comedy, but I do have romantic elements in my tales. Still, I did listen to her and went into writing a short story for the Butt Pirates In Space anthology last year with wild abandon. Spacehunters ended up getting pretty much decimated by romance readers and yes, I tooooootally blame T.C. Blue. heh heh heh No, not really. She buys me drinks at conventions. The Spacehunters short story was a comedy and readers familiar with my brand of humor knew exactly what to expect. That I didn’t take romance readers into consideration—who were primarily going to be reading it based on the fact I was included with a number of high-profile romance authors—was my own fault.

But I learned from it.

What exactly did I learn? Other than not listening to T.C. Blue? Kidding again. She knows I like Appletinis. For the Butt Ninjas From Hell anthology—which obviously has its roots planted firmly tongue in cheek—I realized that not everybody wants heavy dialogue with their romance. I am in no way comparing myself to the brilliance of writer/director Kevin Smith, but my work, like his, tends to be very dialogue heavy. I love working with words, playing with them, and going for the double entendre. That to me is the fun in writing, which is where I went into overdrive when I wrote Spacehunters. It’s a series I plan on returning to one day, but not in Butt Ninjas From Hell.

For this one, I knew I had to cut back on the dialogue and simply keep what I felt was the best of the best. And since I was cutting back on dialogue, I was going to need a bit more description, which I HATE writing. I always feel like I’m telling a reader too much instead of letting their minds fill in what they want. Instead, my preference is to tell the story through dialogue with just the basics of where the characters are and what’s going on. This doesn’t work quite the same way in romance.

So, I knew my main character was going to be a young innocent who had no business being innocent and that he was going to bring out the absolute worst thing possible in a secret school of ninjas; hormones. There’s a stereotype out there that given the right circumstances, gay Asians typically only want to date white guys. I’ve run across this myself, though there are always exceptions. Now, a gay ninja isn’t going to want to be out. He’s going to hide, especially since Butt Ninjas aren’t looked well upon by the masters. What’s the worst thing I, as the author, could do to any Butt Ninjas hiding their identity at the school? How about give them a religious inspector in the form of a young, built, blonde haired, blue-eyed virgin who innocently speaks in nothing but sexual double entendres? And who then bathes with them?

All ninja hell is bound to break loose.

That was the set-up I settled on when all was said and done. Yes, there would be dialogue, but it would be specific and, unknowingly to the main character, entice any potential Butt Ninjas into action. Things would then shift into a bit of a mystery to figure out who the Butt Ninja is and if there are any more. Obviously, what happens creates a bond between two of the characters and given my own insight into white/Asian relationships (my husband is Chinese), there’s going to be some romantic tension. The Butt Ninja is going to call the shots no matter how healthy an ego the white guy has or how coy the Asian may seem in public. It’s kinda funny how fiction mimics reality…or so I tell my husband when he admonishes me for giving out information the Asian gay mafia wants kept away from public knowledge.

One area I still get into trouble in, however, is the lack of hardcore sex in my novels or short stories. Or non-hardcore sex for that matter. It’s been a little difficult slowing down the pace of a book just to insert some insertion for the sake of inserting it. If it doesn’t belong in the story, then there’s no sense in forcing it. This is probably another reason I feel I don’t write out and out romance. Does romance have to have sex? Readers do like that and there is something titillating about it. But, in comedy, characters can have sex with words, topping and bottoming each other based entirely on just how wicked their tongues are.

So, prepare yourself for Twink Ninja Tiger, Flaxen Buns Of Fury in the Butt Ninjas From Hell anthology! You’ll never hear them coming…


Blurb

Butt Ninjas From HellButt Ninjas from Hell

They move like shadows through the night… when they aren’t tripping over the furniture. Porn stars, holy emissaries, demons, and even just plain humans—ninjas come in all forms and from all kinds of Hell in this erotically charged comedic Wilde City anthology. Whether it’s the world of second-rate television, fluttering ninja stars, obsessions over a bronzy-olive toned soldier, or magic backsides, your authorial guides will take you where few readers have ever dared to go… without protection.

Butt Ninjas from Hell: You’ll Never Hear Them Coming!

Featuring…

  • Clean Up on Aisle Me! by Shae Connor
  • Sheathing His Sword by JP Barnaby
  • Twink Ninja Tiger, Flaxen Buns Of Fury by Kage Alan
  • Twerk It by Ally Blue
  • Hell Is Where The Heart Is by Eden Winters
  • Ninja, Vanish! by Kiernan Kelly
  • The Soldier And The Vagabond by Jevocas Green
  • A Ninja Walks Into A Bar by T.C. Blue

Release date: April 16, 2014

Buy link: http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-mainstream/butt-ninjas-from-hell/


About the Author

Native Detroiter Kage Alan is the comedic (aka snarky, smart ass, sarcastic…the list goes on) author of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Sexual Orientation, Andy Stevenson Vs. the Lord of the Loins, Gaylias: Operation Thunderspell), and Spacehunters: Master Elite and the Maternal Order of Loganites Beyond Uranus featured in the Butt Pirates In Space anthology.

He lives under the regularly well-manicured thumb of his Asian husband and in fear of his husband’s evil Hong Kong Grandmonster.

Author Links:


Giveaway

Follow the link below for the blog wide giveaway for a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

Rafflecopter giveaway

FILED UNDER: Giveaway, Guest Post
TAGGED: