Tirgearr Publishing presents K.A. Laity

K.A. LAITY

Chastity Flame started with my love for James Bond spy stuff and the kick ass heroine Modesty Blaise. I even wrote a spy novel in high school. One of my oldest friends has a copy still and is waiting for me to get famous enough to blackmail me with it. (-_-) I suppose becoming a writer under a variety of names is the closest I will ever get to being a spy (although I did nearly work for the State Department -- a long story . . .)

It's a pity Modesty is less well known than Bond; she's amazing and the comic strip and novels by Peter O'Donnell are well worth seeking out. There was a movie in the 60s with the gorgeous Monica Vitti as Modesty and with Terrence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde, but it didn't really capture the spirit of Modesty, although its campy fun is irresistible too. There was a grimmer version made in the Noughties but the script was absolutely atrocious and the actress playing her looked too twig-like to withstand the slightest wind.

So while I don't have the clout to write a Modesty Blaise series, I have invented my own heroine with a very different backstory and a much more regular -- although subterranean -- job description. Chastity Flame is tough, smart, resourceful and ruthless. She also works off extra energy with a wide range of sexual exploits. I had great fun living vicariously through her adventures. But every good story needs conflict -- there's plenty of conflict with the Norwegian mastermind who's trying to find a way to destablise European currency, but I wanted Chastity to also discover the one muscle in her body that she'd never given a workout . . . her heart.

So the man she mistakes for a contact in the National Gallery, chatting in front of the Cézanne, turns out to be Damien Michelet, an art historian. Or is he? He has secrets. She has secrets. And they can't keep their hands off each other. Chastity has to learn just how much a broken heart hurts -- and how a life of secrecy doesn't really prepare you for opening up to love. Plus there's a kidnapping, a computer virus and near the end, a bomb!

The second Chastity Flame book, Lush Situation, picks up from the end of the first book. Chastity and Damien are supposed to have gone their separate ways, but we knew that wasn't going to last. But how do you get around falling for someone that you're not supposed to be with as your boss reminds you. Will one of them be willing to give up everything they have built in order to take a chance on love?

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 If she only scorches, you're lucky...

Chastity Flame works for a nameless organization. You won't hear about the work she does either. But if you run into her, you won't be able to resist trying your luck. Maybe it's her amber eyes, or maybe it's her dangerous curves. Whatever it is, you'll be in for a memorable night -- as long as you're not on her "to-do" list.

Chastity Flame loves her job as a secret government operative. She foils criminal masterminds, travels the world, and finds new lovers in every city. When she meets art historian Damien Michelet in front of one of her favorite paintings, she discovers there's more to life than just lust (although there's plenty of that, too).

But Chastity doesn't have time to think about what this sexy distraction. Her job is amusing herself with various lovers across the continent in an effort to try and uncover a vast computer virus scheme that will destabilize European currency.

Saving the world is hard work -- it can be lonely, too. Before Chastity can make a decision about what to do about Damien, she takes part in a daring rescue of a geek genius, only to discover the fellow operative lending assistance is none other than Damien! On the plus side, now she won't have to explain her job -- but what to do about her rule . . . no romance between agents? Will she risk the security of her country for some really wild sex . . . and the possibility of love?

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K. A. Laity is the award-winning author of Rook Chant, Owl Stretching, Pelzmantel and Unikirja, a collection of short stories and a play based on the Kalevala, Kanteletar, and other Finnish myths and legend, for which she won the 2005 Eureka Short Story Fellowship as well as a 2006 Finlandia Foundation grant.

With cartoonist Elena Steier she created the occult detective comic Jane Quiet. Her bibliography is chock full of short stories, humor pieces, plays and essays, both scholarly and popular.

This year, she published Unquiet Dreams and Chastity Flame with Tirgearr Publishing.

K.A. Laity also writes romance as C. Margery Kempe and Kit Marlowe.

Find K.A. Laity onling at --

KA Laity
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A Knife and a Quill
Tirgearr Publishing

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K.A. Laity will be featured on Tuesday, 13 November at My World of Dreams. She will be giving a $10 Amazon gift card to one lucky winner that day. Each commenter's name will also be added into the grand prize drawing at the end of the tour which has a total value of $150.00! See how it works here.

http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com and http://www.goddessfish.com