On 19 September, Lucy saw her book Ditched published (not sure if I'm counting correctly, but this could be her 20th stand-alone story).
Ditched is Private Damien Stone's story. He's a man living in a nightmare. His superior seems to take delight in bossing Stone around, making him think Lance Corporal Michael Scott doesn't like him. Could it be Stone's bi-sexuality, or something more? When they're out together on an exercise on the Salisbury Plain, things go from bad to worse. Stone is hotly attracted to his superior but he can't keep wicked thoughts from racing through his mind. Being attracted to his superior is bad enough but forced to spend so much alone time with Scott and not being able to do anything about the attraction is killing him. What to do?! Readers will have to pick this one up to find out ;-)
I met up with Lucy to talk about Ditched and asked her what she got up to when she wasn't writing.
Hey Lucy. Thanks for joining us today. You're certainly one busy lady and have a great back list of books for new readers to catch up on. Please, describe your writing space for our readers.
Small, desks on three sides of me, overflowing bookshelf, cupboards and drawers stuffed full of more books. Lots of pens. Laptop in front of chair, iPod speakers to the right, next to my drinks mats. Photos of hot men stuck on the wall in front of me. Pinboard where I keep important stuff for events, etc.
Mmmmm . . . hot men staring down at you while you work? No pressure there ;-) What is your daily writing routine like?
I don't always write every day. It depends how busy I am with my business, Writer Marketing Services. I have to make that a priority as that's where guaranteed money comes from. But when I do have time, I'll just sit down at the laptop and start writing, sometimes with music, sometimes without. Occasionally I'll go and sit in my room and write into a notebook and type it up later. If it's warm and dry outside, I'll go and sit in the garden and write into my notebook. I just write when I can, but if I'm not in the mood I won't force it because then it usually comes out rubbish!
That explains, partly, why you do so well. You're in marketing! {makes note to have a chinwag with Lucy about this}What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?
Reading, watching films and TV shows, spending time with my OH, going out visiting stately homes and interesting historical places, walking, camping, travelling.
I love stately homes too. So much history there. Love the architecture. And tons of story ideas!
Thanks for chatting with us.
• • •
“This can’t be fucking right!” said Lance Corporal Michael Scott, checking his map for the umpteenth time.
“I can assure you, Scott, that it fucking is,” responded his colleague, Private Damien Stone. He nudged the other man, pointed to a place on his own map then raised his arm, and indicated a rise in the ground in the near distance.
“See, that’s that long barrow, so we are in the right place.”
Looking at the barrow—one of the many on Salisbury Plain—then down at the map, and finally at his compass, Scott had to agree.
“So where the fuck are they, then?”
Stone had no answer for that one. He looked up into the lightening sky, which in the distance was being slowly tinged with pink, but saw no sign of their pick-up helicopter. Straining to hear even the faintest sound of rotor blades, Stone remained silent.
Hearing nothing, he shrugged. “Dunno. Perhaps we got the time wrong, or something?”
“I hope not; otherwise, they’ve gone without us!”
“Nah. We’re early, if anything. The sun’s only just coming up.”
Sighing, Scott stuffed his map and compass into a pocket, and said, “Well, I guess we’d better find somewhere to shelter. I don’t like the look of that.”
The that he was talking about was an ominous-looking black cloud being buffeted in their direction by the wind, which was picking up rapidly.
“With you on that one.”
On an unspoken command, the two of them immediately split up and started to look around for somewhere they could keep out of the wind and imminent rain. It wasn’t long before Scott shouted out, and Stone immediately turned and headed in the direction of his colleague’s voice.
When Stone arrived, Scott had already removed his backpack and dropped it into the ditch he’d found and was striding down the slope to join it. Luckily, there’d been no rain over the past few days so the ground was dry. If the coming rainstorm ended up being heavy, it was entirely possible they’d get wet arses, but for now at least, they’d be reasonably comfortable.
Stone shrugged off his pack. Turning, he saw that Scott was standing with his arms out, ready to catch it. He tossed it and gave a curt nod of thanks before heading down into the ditch.
Once there, he saw that some scrub covered a couple of sizeable rocks, meaning they would at least be able to sit. It would have to rain pretty damn hard for the water level in the ditch to get as high as the top of the rocks, so they’d be all right until the chopper arrived.
He hoped.
Pulling out his switchblade, Stone began hacking at the scrub to clear it away. The roots and branches were pretty thick in places, and Stone became impatient and grabbed a handful and yanked. He quickly regretted his actions.
“Fuck me!” he yelled, dropping the blade and cradling his injured hand with the other one. A deep scratch, flanked by a couple of superficial ones, striped his palm, and blood welled up.
“All right, Stone?” Scott had been so busy scanning the sky for a sign of their transport he hadn’t seen what had happened.
“Do I fucking look all right?” Stone snapped, moving toward his backpack to get a bandage and something to clean the wound.
“Chill out, mate. It’s not exactly a landmine, is it?”
Scott’s attempt at humor—tasteless as it was—only served to inflame Stone’s temper further. He shot Scott a look that would have turned a lesser man to stone, yet said nothing, and continued struggling to locate the medical supplies in his bag.
Sighing, Scott nudged Stone out of the way. “Come on, mate. Let me get it for you.”
Muttering, Stone allowed his colleague to retrieve the kit. Looking down at his hand, he saw it was still bleeding, though not as freely. A glance up at the sky told him they were still completely alone on the plain. Where the hell was the fucking helicopter?
Before he got chance to wonder too much about it, Scott stepped in front of him, medical supplies in hand. Taking the wrist of Stone’s injured hand, Scott looked at the cut. He then tore open and used a medicated wipe to clean it, biting back a smirk when Stone hissed as the chemicals went into the wound and stung him.
Finishing the job with a neatly fastened bandage and a clap on the shoulder, Scott said, “Okay, mate. You’re all set.”
“Thanks,” Stone replied, flexing his hand to make sure the bandage wasn’t too tight or too loose. “Shoulda been more bloody careful, shouldn’t I?”
Grinning good-naturedly, Scott spread his arms in a placating manner and replied, “Hey, I didn’t say a word.”
“Just as well. I’m not in the mood.”
“I noticed.”
• • •
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.
Lucy loves hearing from her fans. You can contact her here --
Website - http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/lucyfelthousewriter
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/cw1985
Newsletter - http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
And if you want to buy a copy of Ditched, be sure to visit Lucy's website with all her buy links. Ditched is available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony, iTunes/iBooks, and all other readers --
--- } http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/ditched
