How The Sum of All, a co-authored novella, Came To Be, A Chat with Emma and Kiki

Kiki: Emma Hillman and I, Kiki Howell, met as fellow authors at eXcessica Publishing early on in my career. Somehow we got to talking. Will have to ask Emma if she remembers the very first instance, because, well I have a horrible memory, as she can well attest to. LOL

Emma: You were organizing reviews done by authors and I said I’d do one. In the end the author never responded so I didn’t do one, but we started talking. And then, you offered to review my first book, Location, Location, Location. And liked it.

Kiki: Cool, so happy to have her around as my memory. LOL I do remember that we became fast friends by email alone, as Emma lives in France and I live in the US. We started talking about writing and ended up critiquing many of each other’s works, but it soon moved past that, to sharing a lot about our lives, supporting each other in personal things, etc.. And, though we’ve never met in person, I consider Emma a very dear friend.

Emma: Right back at ya!.

Kiki: So, in all of this, especially in discussing each other’s stories, there was a point where I was considering spicing up my erotica like Emma did hers, and she was working her way into incorporating paranormal elements into her stories. There would also be conversations where I would praise her ability to create such real and gripping dialogue, whilst she would talk about my descriptions, etc.

Emma: I suck at descriptions, I really do. But I’m working on it.

Kiki: Yeah, well I’m still working on the dialogue too. LOL So, back to the creation of The Sum of All, over time, the idea was born to incorporate our strengths into one story. Of course it was going to be paranormal, but we hadn’t settled on what creatures to use. I did have the idea, as I am partial to witches, of having two best friend heroines and have each of us be one of their voices. In its simplest form, every other chapter has a different voice.

Emma: That didn’t last long!!

Kiki: No it didn’t. But, in theory, Emma became Es and I became Mae. This was the original idea. But as we wrote, both critiquing and editing each other’s chapters it really became hard to figure out who wrote exactly what.

Emma: Even when I reread it, I’m not sure what paragraphs I wrote. I take this as a good sign.

Kiki: I know! It is pretty amazing :) I do know that Emma came up with the idea for the contest

Emma: Because really, what’s better than four hotties competing in your bed?

Kiki: Exactly! Then, building upon my spell-gone-wrong idea. We ended up picking quite a few paranormal creatures as our alpha heroes: vampire, shifter, fae and sorcerer.

Emma: So everyone can have their favorite ;)

Kiki: I don’t know, I can’t chose *giggles*  Before I knew it, we were going past way past ménage and straight into foursomes.

Emma: Well, you know, you might as well make it hotter than hot!

Kiki: So true! I remember an email specifically which stated, “Don’t know how it happened, but they just ended up in this room together…LOL!”

Emma: Guilty as charged! You know there’s a good reason why I never plan my books. My characters always end up doing whatever the hell they want anyway.

Kiki: Emma has this wonderful voice and does snarky, hip, funny dialogue really well, so the verbal, testosterone-filled battles between our Alphas were a ton of fun to write too.

I think we were both really pleased with how it turned out in the end. And, if we could ever find the time now that our careers have taken on a new life all their own, I know there is a sequel in there.

Emma: So true! There’s so much we could do with a sequel. Now all we need is time!

Kiki: Someday! An amazing writing experience is what writing The Sum of All was, one I will always treasure.

Emma: I concur! And if anyone has questions on co-authoring, feel free to ask J

The Sum of All Blurb:

When a spell goes wrong and two witches find themselves stuck in a house with a plethora of paranormal creatures, tension rises and sparks ignite. A gauntlet is thrown down, a contest is born, rules are drawn up, and soon, the two women are living out the fantasies they’d never thought to have.

Who will be the best? Will jealousy prevail? Or, will they get their hearts snared by one or two of those Alpha males?

Genres: Paranoramal (Witches, Shifter, Wizard, Fey, Vampire), Contemporary, Erotic Romance

Adult Content Warnings: Explicit Graphic language and Other Situations Some Readers May Find Objectionable: Anal Play, Exhibitionism, Ménage (m/f/m), Homoerotic Sex (female/female and some light male/male), Sex Magic and Bloodlust!

from eXcessica Publishing

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks, Smashwords, and many other ebook retailers.

Advanced Reviews:

“Combine Vampire, Fey, Shifter and Sorcerer, add one pissed off witch and her friend, and what do you get? One hell of a hot and steamy adventure. Who wouldn't enjoy a romp with these four hot men? I know I would. The one thing Emma and Kiki did in this very short story is make it complete. Both the characters and the story are unique. Mae is strong, angry, and determined to forget. Es is the friend trying to calm Mae. Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it in spades. Enter Rafe, Marcus, Devlin and Julian. Oh my, the heat and the passion started steaming up my laptop. As a reader, I like story with my erotica. These authors gave me the total package. This story made me tingle in all the right ways like good erotica should. The second thing they did was give it an HEA ending. I loved it!

It is obvious that this collaboration between Ms. Howell and Ms. Hillman is a successful one! The only downside for me was that it was too short. Ladies next time give me more!” ~Mom Cat's Burning 5 of 5 shooting stars!~”

“I'm new to Emma Hillman's work but I'm quite familiar with Kiki Howell's and she certainly knows how to deliver. I was drawn right from the start as this hot explicit tale draws you into the fantasy. Four gorgeous men, two women, and a night that has nothing but pleasure on the agenda, will leave you wishing it was you in their place…in the end making me want this hot little read to go on and on, it's that good.” ~ Jennifer Labelle, Author of the Leather and Pleasure series~

GIVEAWAY

Comment on any post made by Emma and Kiki today about our new release, The Sum of All, and be entered to win a PDF copy of the novella. So easy, now all we have to do is decide how many copies we are going to give away! LOL Make sure you leave us an email address to contact you at.