UPDATE March 2021: Weirdly enough, I’ve always thought of this book really, really fondly – to the point that it’s been on my re-read list for a few years now. I loved the hell out of it, and it’s rare that a book makes that much of an impact on me – especially almost 10 years later.
I recently read “Lovers and Beloveds” – which is an e-book written by MeiLin Miranda. The e-book is basically an erotic science-fiction novel that includes some politics as well. The book is available in e-book (multiple versions) and a book version as well. The amazing thing about the printed book version is that it was funded by readers off the internet. The author wanted to get the book into print and offering products for donations, she raised all of the money she needed for a beautiful cover and the printed version. I wrote a review over the book on PopMyCherryReview. I actually reviewed the e-book version, but I fell in love with this book so much that I went and paid money to purchase a signed author copy. Here’s an excerpt about the plot of the book:
Basically, this book takes place in the time of Kingdoms. The main character is an Heir to the throne who just turned 18 and starts on his training to become a King. Since he’s been sheltered to avoid being assassinated, he’s still a virgin as well. The land has multiple religions and one includes the religion of sex. (Basically. It has an official name, though.) In this religion, there are two (male/female) “Embodiments of God” who are some of the most beautiful people in the land. (The two black-haired people on the cover.) These two are extremely important to the religion, and as such, they bed important figures in the land.
The Prince discovers these two beauties at a ball. Since he is a virgin, he is not allowed to have sex with either of them until pledging into the religion. For this reason, he wants to pledge. Unfortunately for the Heir, his father believes that religion will only harm his knowledge of ruling the kingdom, so he “forbids” it and does everything in his power to stop him from successfully ruling.
I actually asked MeiLin if I could interview her about the book, and she happily answered my questions. Here’s the interview in full. She even offered to let me giveaway e-book copies so you can read this book and fall in love with it just like I did. I honestly can’t recommend this book enough. So check out the interview and enter the giveaway!
How would you describe “Lovers and Beloveds” to someone (aside from the official plotline.)
On the whole, it’s a series about redemption on the personal and political levels. That may or may not be sexy to people. :)
The problem with IHGK the series and “Lovers and Beloveds” the book is that they fall in a no-man’s land between erotica and fantasy. If I give the book to an erotica reviewer, the feedback I get is, “Gosh, this is good, but there’s not much sex in it!” If I give the book to a more mainstream fantasy reviewer, I get, “Gosh, this is good, but there’s a whole lot of sex in it!” It’s like I can’t win, but almost all the reviews have been quite positive even so; I’m grateful for that.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
From a very early age–I remember my first attempt at a novel at around age 8–but I wussed out and went into nonfiction; I was afraid to write what was in my heart and head.
What led you to writing adult stories instead of non-adult literature?
“Adult” as in erotic? I do write what many consider to be erotica, and I’m okay with that, but I don’t consider myself an erotica writer. I’m a storyteller who doesn’t “fade to black” if the sex scene is revealing of plot or character. Often they are not, and as I’ve moved from this story being a webserial to being a series of novels I’ve stripped out some of the extraneous sex scenes. They now feel like “fan service,” sex for sex’s sake. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not why I’m writing the stories.
That said, I’ve got a story coming out in a Circlet Press anthology. The story is “Fears Moon Woman,” and it’ll be in the upcoming ebook anthology, “Like a Moonrise.” http://www.circlet.com/ is a great place to go if you like your erotica with your SF/F, or your SF/F with your erotica. It is the peanut butter cup of smut and science fiction. :)
Where did the idea for Lovers and Beloveds come from?
It began with the story-in-story of Warin and Emmae, which was a serial daydream I had over the course of years. It was meant to be a fairy tale, and so was written originally with a sketchy background and stock characters. Things have gotten WAY out of hand since that first version!
Is anything from Lovers and Beloveds based upon characters or ideas from real-life?
Temmin, the lead character, is somewhat based on me as a teenager, at least his cluelessness. He’s not a bad kid, but he’s completely wrapped up in himself to the exclusion of others. A character in an upcoming book–the next one, I think–is quite obviously bipolar. I’m bipolar, though not as severely as poor Lisset. Temmin’s mother Ansella is *very* loosely based on Princess Diana and another person in my life. Ibbit, the lesbian separatist priestess, is based on a number of women I knew in the early ’80s in Eugene. (That’s actually something I’m really antsy about: I don’t have a positive lesbian relationship in the series yet, and it makes me look as if I think lesbians are bad or something. I don’t; I just haven’t found one to fit in the story yet that won’t be all Lando Calrissian-esque, if you know what I mean.)
I could go character by character, but the main source for all of them is…me. Like all writers. I just look for that part of me that is clueless, or sex-negative, or crafty, or desperate, or psychotic, and go with it.
Did Lovers and Beloveds take any sort of special research?
I live for Wikipedia. I often wander around in there randomly and come up with all kinds of ideas. Special research for this book was primarily martial; there are a few action sequences and I am hopeless with anything strategic or fighting-oriented. I am the worst chess player in the world, for instance. I have readers who are martial artists, and they’ve helped me out. My husband sometimes physically blocks out scenes with me.
How did the group fund of the paper copy of the book work? Were you surprised by how well it turned out?
Oh my gods, I love those people fiercely.
Because I serialized the drafts online, people were familiar with my work; I had a nice little fan base built before I ever thought of putting the book out, at one point with 2,000 readers a day. That’s dropped since I went on hiatus to rewrite the book, but I’m hoping to gain some of those readers back once they realize that what’s being posted now is different from what was posted before. (Some parts are the same, but they fall in a wildly different order in several spots and there’s a great deal of new material.)
Anyway, I wanted a professional editor, and I knew I had to make the book physically look not just as good as but better than something a New York traditional publisher might put out; when you’re an “indie,” a self-published writer, everything has to be better than a tradpub. But to do that, I needed money, a lot of it, at least a lot of it to me.
I can’t remember where the suggestion came from to do a pre-sale to raise the funds; it may have been from the fans. I needed $1,000 to hire my editor, Annetta Ribken, aka “Nettah the Edittah” (she’s fabulous). I had $500 saved up, so I came up with a pre-sale package to match those funds. For $50, people would get their name in the acknowledgments, an autographed paperback, an ebook copy–and this was the clincher: the raw, finished manuscript the moment Netta and I decided it was finished. I thought it’d take six months or so to raise the $500. They raised it in 24 hours, and I closed the pre-sale. A bunch of folks howled that they didn’t have the chance to get in on it, so I re-opened it to pay for Netta 100%; the other $500 was there in 48 more hours. So I just opened pre-sales and let them run until about 6 weeks before I knew I’d be done with the book. In all, the fans bought $2500 in pre-sale packages, enough to pay Netta, cover artist Alice Fox, and typographer MCM. I didn’t have to put out a dime to produce the book.
It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
Anything you can tell us about the sequel of Lovers and Beloveds?
It’s tentatively titled “Mothers and Fathers.” Just like “Lovers and Beloveds,” the title works on two levels: the literal, and the religion described in the book. The Gods of Tremont are Pagg the Father, Amma the Mother, Eddin the Wise One, Venna the Sister, Farr the Warrior, Harla the Bloody One, Nerr the Lover and Neya the Beloved. These aren’t separate religions; they’re all members of the same connected pantheon, like the Greeks or Romans. Book two begins a year or so after the last book, deals with some serious challenges to both Temmin and his family, and sets up some of the longer story arcs of the series. More than that I cannot say for fear of spoilers. :)
Any plans for any additional/different books?
Oh, very much so. I have somewhere between 4 and 10 books in the series; it depends on how much I can compress ten years of Temmin’s life and still tell the story I want to tell.
What dreams and aspirations do you have – both relating to your writing and just your personal life?
I want to be read. I want to have some financial success as a writer. I want to get my kids launched into the wider world as happy, self-supporting adults (we homeschool). I want to get better at bellydancing. I want to start a podcast of my other, PG-13 serial, “Scryer’s Gulch” (a very fun mashup of “The Wild Wild West,” “Deadwood,” “Dark Shadows” and “Days of Our Lives”). I want to stay healthier than I have been.
Anything else you would want someone to know about you? Interesting facts or anything?
I collect fountain pen ink, BPAL perfume and Holy Clothing company clothing. I spin, and knit the resulting yarn into stuff. Probably the biggie: I died and was revived four years ago. I’m still dealing with that long, painful recovery, and my anger at the medical establishment that led to it.
