Presenting UK Author David Russell & Self's Blossom

Author David Russell is back to share his latest book, released December 16th. Self’s Blossom is a Romantic quest of Self Discovery. David, please tell us more!

Self’s Blossom is a short novella in the erotic romance genre, with Selene, a woman in search of her sexual identity, as the vibrant main character. Selene is intellectual, independent, free spirited and totally trapped in the limitations of her peer group and society. pragmatic best friend Janice describes her as a dreamer, living in the cuckoo land of her imagination. Desperately looking to find herself and get a bit of erotic adventure, Selene goes on holiday to South America. Brought to life by the Sun, sea and holiday atmosphere, Selene's first erotic awakening comes about through the ocean – “the spirit of love beckoning her with a pulsing sinewy body”. After this, Selene searches for a lover and has a brief sexual encounter with an eighteen year old local.

But it is her through her meeting with the American anthropologist Hudson that Selene' erotic nature is awakened and she explores herself on many layers. Hudson is her intellectual rival and mentor, and he introduces Selene to the other side of South America – the primal elemental energy of the carnival, the 10,000 year history of South American civilisation and the breathtaking and often cruel power of its environment and landscape. With Hudson, Selene's holiday adventures suddenly become fraught with danger and intrigue – she is threatened with death by hunters when she plays environmentalist with Hudson and his friends, she is bitten by a deadly snake when she goes exploring with him, Hudson has to save her from a barroom brawl with the locals which suddenly explodes due to a sexual indiscretion. The indigenous population have an entirely different culture and life-rule than Selene knows from her predictable friends in London. Although Hudson is the catalyst for Selena’s awakening, it is fair to say that she challenges him intellectually and opens his world weary eyes for the magic of the moment also.

Their mutual search for something beyond the mundane leads them both to the top of a South American pyramid, where Selena visualises herself as a modern God Queen and Hudson as her God King. They have both gone on a dangerous and fascinating journey down through time and braving a foreign culture and environment. It is therefore significant that Selene does not seek full surrender to her lover in the passion of the moment on the moonlit beach – in fact she slaps his face when he attempts to do so – Instead she wants their love to be fully consummated through the pampered and luxurious Western trappings of the hotel Bridal Suite. “True Seduction was total theatre”, “The true ideal lay in laced artifice” not in ‘ideals of naturalness’. Here, in the luxurious trappings of traditional Western romance and eroticism, the adventure ends and the God Queen and God King sublimate their experience like some modern day High Priest and Priestess and the alchemy is complete.

Knowing that they will be unable to ever rival or surpass this moment of absolute sexual apotheosis, the lovers now part and go their separate ways – Hudson to his job in the US and Selene back to London. But the author leaves us with a sense that more has been accomplished here than just a nice holiday memory for Selene and her lover. Selene can now return to the humdrum of her everyday existence and the emptiness of her London life with the alchemical blossom inside her – the Blossom of the self which has been totally awakened inside her. There is the very real sense that Selene will never be the same again after this.

EBOOK Available at AMAZON  and  AMAZON UK 

More About the Author

b. 1940. Resident in the UK. Writer of poetry, literary criticism, speculative fiction and romance. Main poetry collection Prickling Counterpoints (1998); poems published in online International Times. Main speculative works High Wired On (2002); Rock Bottom (2005). Translation of Spanish epic La Araucana, Amazon 2013. Romances: Self’s Blossom; Explorations; Further Explorations; Therapy Rapture; Darlene, An Ecstatic Rendezvous (all pub Extasy (Devine Destinies). Self-published collection of erotic poetry and artwork, Sensual Rhapsody, 2015. Singer-songwriter/guitarist. Main CD albums Bacteria Shrapnel andKaleidoscope Concentrate. Many tracks on You Tube, under ‘Dave Russell’

www.davidrussell-author.blogspot.co.uk

Nancy Lee Badger Interviews David Russell

David Russell

David Russell has kindly ‘crossed the pond’ to chat with me about his contemporary romance, Self’s Blossom.

I love that you hail from London. The internet has opened the world to international discovery of authors like you and like me. Please tell my readers a little bit about your book. 

David- Well...check out this review...

Queen of Tarts Review of  Self’s Blossom by David Russell

I sometimes felt like I was watching a foreign film or an art house movie and that I was missing some of the complexities of the narrative. I finished this book uncertain as to what the heroine had discovered about herself. But I could still appreciate the beautiful pictures the author paints with his words and his unique approach to storytelling .

Self’s Blossom is all about Selene and her long awaited, scrimped and saved for, holiday. I connected with Selene on a few levels. She’s a workaholic. She’s single and busy moving through life. And I admired her desire to seek out new experiences and learn new things. I didn’t always like her. But I appreciated her intelligence and that she was unashamedly confident in herself and determined to follow through on her decisions.

She uses her vacation to try and break out of the rut she feels her life has become and fling caution to the wind. To have adventures and a passionate affair… or two. Her stay is at a resort in Central America. There are beautiful descriptions of the ocean waves and the lush paradise and how they relate to life and love, lust and passion. And then there are all the characters she meets on holiday and how they help or hinder her journey.  

Nancy-Describe the genre of this particular title, and is it the only genre you write in?

David-My work has been described as literary erotica. I also do speculative fiction, poetry and literary journalism.

Nancy-I wrote poetry in college in the 70s. Little did I know it would morph into novels published since 2010. When did you start writing toward publication?

David-Back in the 60s.

Nancy-Why have you become a published author?

David-I feel it vindicates my worth.  

Nancy-I tell people this is my 4^th job, and the first (and last) career. I write fulltime from home, and love it. What is your writing routine like?

David-I operate on flexi-time; I have to be constantly with priorities.

Nancy-My hubby thinks he is a priority (he is) but I get more writing done when he’s at work. What sort of promo do you do? Do you have help?

David-I do my own via the net – blogs and review sites.

Nancy-I hope inviting you here, today, helps. Having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing?

David-Getting feedback from intelligent readers.

Nancy-Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract? 

David-Be tenacious; believe in yourself. Always be prepared to revise. If you get scathing criticism, analyze it carefully.

Nancy-I agree. I received two rejection letters in January. I will not trash that manuscript, but give it another look, then send it out again. What’s next for you?

David-A couple of short stories, to be published by Devine Destinies.

Nancy-That is great! I hope you will return and tell us about those books when they are released.

Self’s Blossom BOOK BLURB

This is about a young woman's self-discovery. Selene is a 'success story', having become a top journalist, while retaining her dazzling looks. However, in the past she has had unhappy relationships, and feels she has missed out on hedonistic fun.  This she obtains, firstly with a young stranger on a beach, and finally with enigmatic Hudson: tryst is preceded by cultural tourism, and careful sizing up of minds. Afterwards Selene returns to her 'I stand on my own' attitude.

While she is on holiday, her mind is free to ramble, often into Selene's chequered past. Flashback blurs into the present, past-rooted interior monologue into direct observation. The dialogue is sparse. Selene is a cautious, premeditative type, in whom thought, reflection and analysis outweigh direct action.

Selene’s subtle, monitoring mind coolly observes and controls all the events. Maybe she is super-confident, or perhaps has a deep, underlying insecurity. She is many things to many readers.

Excerpt

Here, she was on a beach, pure and simple. Now the sea breathed heavily,
whispering and murmuring to her. It was returning her stare, speaking to
her. It was the spirit of love, beckoning her with a pulsing, sinewy body.
In all its lines, shades, and fleeting forms, Selene saw the essence of pure
beauty, all grace of form, flesh, limb and feature. It was in one, all the
lovers of whom she could possibly dream, conflated into one elemental ideal.
He, pure love in soul, bade her to enter his domain and make it hers. His
arms moved her hands to unclasp, unbutton, and unzip . . . the blossom
emerged. The sun became the eye of all that was not earth, and Selene loved
fully, though the pallor of her skin left her momentarily abashed.

At first she lay in the tide's path, the top of her head at its most extreme
mark. The sand bank made a soft bed. The sea lover smoothly caressed her
calves, thighs, hips, breasts, shoulders, and cheeks before retreating to
pause in his mossy pinnacles. Three times this action was repeated, and then
Selene stood up, wading in with arms outstretched. Her arms were linked, as
she stood up to her neck in the saline flow. The balls and heels of her feet
wobbled, slithering on the moss. With the next wave, she lost her balance
–her breath prepared in unison with the hissing around her. She threw her
head back, once again horizontal, and launched into a backstroke, sweeping
and circling. She parted her legs wide with each thrust of motion, each
sweep of self-propulsion pushing out to answer the cavernous currents of his
passion. Seven circles gave her a delicious, warm bliss –then the sea lover,
well pleased, carried her back to a near-dry bed. Aching and contented,
Selene dozed a while.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

B. 1940; live in London UK. Have been writing for many decades. My first publication was a poetry collection called Exacting Modality of the World Web. I produced a work of speculative fiction, High Wired On in 1985. I started trying to write literary erotica in the mid-80s. I have some short stories in this genre in addition to Self’s Blossom. I am also a singer-guitarist-songwriter. My main albums are Bacteria Shrapnel and Kaleidoscope Concentrate. I have many tracks on YouTube. 

How can my readers buy your book?  

AMAZON   AMAZON UK   NOOK

You can find more information about Self’s Blossom at

WEBSITE    GOODREADS