Sights of London

Since I had such enthusiastic feedback on my previous post here, about writing from the male perspective and about setting my book in London, I thought I'd dish some more dirt. Or, more accurately, show you what I saw, what I explored, in order for this book to come to life as I was writing it.

A Taste of London is set in the Southwark/London Bridge/The City of London - which probably sounds like quite a large area, but actually, it's not. Or at least the parts of it in the story aren't, anyway. It's certainly all within walking distance - and honestly, it's the best way to see London. Yes, you can skip bits of your journey by hopping on the Tube, but some of the sights you'll see if you head out on foot are unexpected and awesome. I dread to think how many miles of London I've covered on foot.

For the purposes of this post, though, I've included some photos of what the character in A Taste of London, Ryan Stonebridge, will have seen. I took them myself, too, so no copyright issues here :)

I hope you enjoy a little peek at what appears in the book - and if you're so inclined, the buy links are at my site - link below the blurb. The book is out now - so, happy reading!

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Ryan Stonebridge and his friend Kristian Hurst are heading off on the trip of a lifetime. They’re spending their gap year traveling the world and expect lots of sun, sights and sex. The guys have a couple of days in the English capital before catching the Eurostar to Paris. Unfortunately, a family emergency means that Kristian has to head back home for a while, leaving Ryan to continue the trip alone.

Luckily for Ryan, he’s an attractive guy and there is no shortage of gorgeous women available to help take his mind off Kristian’s family drama.

More info, excerpt and buy links: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/a-taste-of-london/

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Lucy is a graduate of the University of Derby, where she studied Creative Writing. During her first year, she was dared to write an erotic story - so she did. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Constable and Robinson, Decadent Publishing, Ellora's Cave, Evernight Publishing, House of Erotica, Ravenous Romance, Resplendence Publishing, Secret Cravings Publishing, Sweetmeats Press and Xcite Books. She is also the editor of Uniform Behaviour, Seducing the Myth, Smut by the Sea and Smut in the City. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

No Romance, But Very British

As some of you may already know, I write erotica and erotic romance, in a multitude of different genres and sub-genres. I just write about what I want to write about, hence the variety. And I love the variety.

One thing I particularly enjoy doing is writing from the male perspective. It was male friends that got me into the erotica writing lark in the first place, and I have lots of very honest male friends, so I can easily tap into what gets them going, I know how they talk, and how they talk about sex, too. I'm very lucky from that perspective, especially since I've been able to take this knowledge and weave it into my writing.

I've written quite a few stories now from the male perspective, and as I said, I enjoy it very much. So much so that I've begun a series of stories - the first will be published by Ellora's Cave on the 7th December. And what makes it so very British? Well, the fact that the lead character is British, and this particular instalment is set in London. It's called A Taste of London, and those that know London will recognise the Borough Market area, The Monument and various Tube stations.

Here's a snippet from the beginning of the story:


Chapter One

“Come on, mate, let’s go and grab our travel passes from the machine,” Ryan said, his familiarity with the locale apparent by the way he marched along the train platform toward the heart of St. Pancras Station.

“What? Uh – okay.” Kristian re-arranged his bag on his shoulder and scurried to keep up with his friend.

Bypassing the huge line of impatient, muttering people queuing for the manned booths, Ryan headed to one of the ticket machines. By the time Kristian caught up, Ryan already had a travel pass in his hand.

“So, um, what do I need to buy then, mate? I’m not as au fait with all this as you.”

“Been practising your French for the trip, Kris?” Ryan punched his friend on the arm playfully. “No worries. We’re only taking one trip tonight so you just need a single to London Bridge on the Tube.”

“All right,” Kristian replied, carefully tapping the relevant areas of the touch screen, feeding his money into the machine and triumphantly retrieving his ticket.

“Okay, I’m ready to go!”

“Come on then.” Ryan hoisted his bag back onto his shoulder and walked in the direction of the Underground, with Kristian close behind.

“Hey,” Kristian said, pointing as they passed a map of the Underground, “don’t you need to check where we’re going?”

“Nope,” Ryan said, without breaking stride, “I know London pretty well, plus I double checked all this stuff when I organised this part of the trip. What can I say, it’s the Boy Scout in me.”

“Cool. I guess it makes things easier when you’re not checking a map every two minutes. So how long will it take us to get to London Bridge station from here?”

They stepped onto the escalator. Rather than standing still and letting the moving staircase do its thing, Ryan continued to walk, eager now to get this leg of traveling over and done with so he could have some fun. It had been a long day, or at least it felt like one. They’d actually only traveled around one hundred and fifty miles from the outskirts of the Peak District to the centre of London, a couple of hours on the train, but it had felt like longer. Perhaps because he’d been so eager to actually get to London and start their adventure.

“Not long mate. Probably about ten minutes. It’s a direct journey and at this time of day it shouldn’t be too busy. We can dump our stuff at the hostel then have some drinks next door.”

“There’s a pub next door? No wonder I let you sort out this trip. You’re a fucking genius!”

By now, they’d reached the bottom of the escalator. Ryan stepped off, then turned to face his friend. Tapping his head, he grinned and said, “It’s not just a hat rack, mate.”

Kristian laughed. “You’re right there.” He paused. “It’s a fucking chick magnet, too!”

Ryan frowned, looking genuinely confused. “It is?” Then he shook himself and smiled. “I wish someone had told me!”

“Are you kidding, mate? Everywhere we go, women are checking you out.” Kristian grinned. “Why do you think I agreed to go traveling with you? I’m hoping some of your apparent sex appeal will rub off on me and get me some action!”

Ryan laughed, then started walking towards the southbound platform for their connection to London Bridge. “So that’s your ulterior motive, eh? Never mind being my best mate, or seeing the world, you just wanna get laid?”

This is part of the Ellora's Cave for Men range, so the language and the plot is much more male-focussed, but there's absolutely no reason why women can't read it too. I've read other stories from that range and loved them. So if this sounds like your kind of thing, you can grab your copy next week here. And don't forget to add it to your Goodreads shelves here!


Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

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Lucy is a graduate of the University of Derby, where she studied Creative Writing. During her first year, she was dared to write an erotic story - so she did. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Constable and Robinson, Decadent Publishing, Ellora's Cave, Evernight Publishing, House of Erotica, Ravenous Romance, Resplendence Publishing, Sweetmeats Press and Xcite Books. She is also the editor of Uniform Behaviour, Seducing the Myth, Smut by the Sea and Smut in the City. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9