Blog Tour and Giveaway: Rude Britannia and Writing Rural England
A huge congratulations to Sandra Lindsey, the winner of the giveaway! Thanks to all who entered and thank you again to Josephine Myles for stopping by!
On Top Down Under welcomes Josephine Myles, author of the hot and sexy How to Train Your Dom in Five Easy Steps, released by Samhain Publishing on September 23rd. A huge thank you to the author for stopping by! You can check out Cindi’s NSFW 5-star review of How to Train Your Dom in Five Easy Steps here. Make sure you comment on this post for a chance to win one of Josephine Myles’ books!
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Aside from the occasional short story, How to Train Your Dom in Five Easy Steps is the first book I’ve written set in my adopted home of rural Somerset. It’s one of the most picturesque parts of the country with its quintessentially English patchwork fields and rolling hills, and getting stuck behind a tractor on a narrow country lane is a regular occurrence. I’ve lived here for eight years, but I’m still finding new byways and villages to explore. Collecting things I’ve purchased on eBay has led me to some wonderfully out-of-the-way locations, and I modelled Jeff’s unusual hilltop street on one I picked up a table from in the former mining village of Clandown.
But the thing that I love best of all about this area is some of the fantastic place names. While I might have modelled Jeff’s road on the one in Clandown, I borrowed the name, Featherbed Lane, from one I regularly pass by in another village on the road to Bristol. Who wouldn’t want to live down a Featherbed Lane? It sounds so deliciously cosy! I named Jeff’s fictional village Hook St. Norton, which isn’t a real place name but sounds very much like it could be; after all, I live close to Norton St. Phillip and Midsomer Norton. Incidentally, although those place names might sound picturesque, don’t be deceived. Midsomer Norton is a run-down town, and the local landscape is dominated by the towering old coal mining slag heap, known locally as The Batch.
But while there are some wonderfully evocative West Country village names, ranging from the poetic Temple Cloud and Ryme Intrinsica, to the intriguing Murder Combe and Vobster, it’s the smutty ones that I enjoy the most. There’s a hill in my town called The Butts, so you can literally go “up The Butts”—yes, it still makes me snigger after all these years. There are Cock Lanes aplenty, but I think my favourite place names have to be the nearby village of Friggle Street (go look up frigging if you don’t know what it means!), the holiday camp of Sandy Balls down in Devon, and my absolute favourite, the Hampshire village of Nether Wallop. Seeing as how this is a BDSM novel, I probably should have set it there, shouldn’t I?!
There is even a company dedicated to selling merchandise decorated with amusing British place names (that’s their Rude Britannia tea towel illustrating this post), so if you fancy getting yourself a mug decorated with “Twatt” (yes, it’s a Scottish village) head on over to Lesser Spotted Britain and get shopping 🙂
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Readers, do you live near or have you visited anywhere with a particularly poetic or amusing name? Please share!
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The How to Train Your Dom in Five Easy Steps Blog Tour Giveaway!
I’m currently touring blog land, chatting about my latest Samhain Publishing release. Each post gives a unique insight into the book, and a lucky commenter will win a prize at every stop along the way. Winner’s choice of either:
- two of Jo’s backlist ebooks
- or a signed copy of Junk (or another backlist paperback, subject to availability) – shipping worldwide
Comment on this post for a chance to win today’s draw. The winning entry will be picked at random at midnight (U.S., EDT) on September 29th, and the winner will be notified by email within 48 hours.
Check out the full Blog Tour itinerary here.
Blurb:
Sometimes the little head really does know best.
Jeff White’s needs are simple. All he wants is a submissive to help him explore the dominant side that his ex-girlfriend couldn’t handle. Problem is, inexperience in both dating and domming has resulted in a string of rejections.
What he needs is an experienced sub willing to show him the ins and outs of controlling a scene. Unfortunately, the only one willing to take him on is male, and Jeff is straight. One hundred percent, never-gonna-happen straight.
Easygoing painslut Eddie Powell doesn’t care that Jeff is younger, working class, and shorter. Eddie likes a bit of rough, and Jeff fits the bill perfectly. The trick will be convincing him to follow Eddie’s five-step training programme—which would be easy if Eddie wasn’t starting to have feelings for the rough-around-the-edges landscaper.
Once Jeff lays his hands on Eddie, things definitely get out of hand. But it’ll take more than hot, sweaty, kinky sex to persuade him to come out of the closet—especially to himself.
Warning: Contains a happy sub, a confused Dom, a high ratio of sex to plot, misuse of root ginger, and a suitcase of kink. Written in Jo’s usual exceedingly “English” English.
Buy links:
Author bio:
English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.
Jo publishes regularly with Samhain. She has also been known to edit anthologies and self-publish on occasion.
Photo credits:
Shirtless kilt: istolethetv via photopin cc
Leather kilt: NCReedplayer via photopin cc
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Great post and giveaway. Thanks Cindi and to Josephine Myles for the interview and giveaway.
I’ll say that Australia has some great names. I do have a soft spot for Bong Bong. Conjures up all sorts of, uh, ideas. Of course, if you want to be cheeky, there is Come By Chance 🙂 been to both 🙂
Oh, those are some great names! I love the sound of a lot of the Aboriginal names for places too 🙂
I live in the deep South in the United States. In Alabama, we have so many funny names that people swear I’m lying if I tell them what they are – Pine Apple, Burnt Corn, Lick Skillet, just to name a few. I’m told we also have Intercourse, Frog Eye and Needmore, but I’ve never actually been to those. 😉
I have to live in Lick Skillet 🙂
You really must! 😀
Oh, and then there’s the Dolly Parton bridge, one of the bridges that goes over Mobile Bay. If you saw the bridge, you’d know why it’s called that. I’d have to Google to find the actual name of it (and I’ve lived here all my life). To us (and even the news stations), it’s simply the Dolly Parton bridge. 😉
Lick Skillet is genius! Can’t imagine living in a place called Intercourse. How would you ever keep a straight face?!
Josephine, I just got on Google and discovered that we also have a place called Screamer. I wonder if it’s close to Intercourse? I’m giggling over my state right now. This is the best post and I’m having a blast looking up these names. I’ve lived here for years and not known some of this stuff.
My aunt still giggles when she sends letters to another relative in Feltham …
My favourite ever street name is Whirligig Lane. I instantly demanded to live there. I just need the elusive lottery win 😀
You live next to Midsomer? And the alarmingly high murder rate?
California has Butte County (“b-yoot” but often mispronounced “butt”)
(I do not need to be in the drawing.)
Oh, some of those are priceless 😀 . I always enjoy the fact that going to Bath from my home in Goucestershire, I go through Pennsylvania and Petty France. Even better is Hankerton near Bullocks Horn. A few years back I noticed a hand made sign near BH advertising Buck Flair – it took a while to sink in but I’m pleased to say it did before it was replaced with Buck Frown!!
How about “Bullyhole”, Bottom, Monmouthgshire, S. Wales.
I would say that ‘Bullyhole’ hits the target, wouldn’t you?
I’m really looking forward to reading this book! It’s currently waiting impatiently on my wish list.
Two of the best town names not too far from here are Blue Ball and Intercourse. 😉
Traci, so you have Intercourse too?
I’m sorry. I had to say it. *bows head in shame*
😀
Glad to hear the book is doing so well. It deserves it. As to place names — these are in Oz:
Boyland (Qld.) Burrumbuttock (NSW) Cock Wash (WA) Cock Burn (SA) – and of course, the ever popular Mangalore.
Though this discussion reminded me of a very unfortunate choice for a title, many, many years ago an SF novel came out called: Servants of the Wankh
It was just an SF novel — but that name, oh, the mind boggled.
There’s a village near us called Knockin. Naturally, the village shop is proudly named “The Knockin Shop” Makes me giggle every time 🙂
For some reason, I can only think of Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco right now. I know it’s prestigious (writer Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, went there), but I can never get past the name…
I wish I could think of some of the places that were pretty funny to see name-wise, but I’m totally drawing a blank. There is a city near me called Accident. I used to live in Wisconsin, they have some good ones like: Embarrass, Maiden Rock, and Spread Eagle as city names.
jczlapin(at)gmail(dot)com
I have fond memories of Yorkeys Knob. 😉
Pennsylvania has several towns with outrageous names including Intercourse, Puseyville, and Blue Ball.
I am loving following the blog tour for How to Train Your Dom in 5 Easy Steps!
aegger.echo(at)yahoo(dot)com
Well, we have Dry Beaver Creek and Wet Beaver Creek merging around Rimrock, AZ. 😉
Fun post, Jo, and I hear great things about this latest. So happy to read more from you!
When Iived in Atlanta and we’d drive back to Chicago we’d pass an exit for French Lick, TN. I never visited though.
I live in Cambridgeshire, England and we have a few interesting villages and places in the county and they are called: Prickwillow (hmm what an interesting tree), Six Mile Bottom (that’s one pretty big bottom), Westerly Bottom, Stow cum Quy, Shingay cum Wendy, Cock Up Bridge, Upend…to name just a few
Great tour, thank you for a chance to win some of your books 🙂
Can’t think of any places at the moment but the other places are fun. Hope this entry goes through.