Tell us about your new book.

The book is called 28 Shades of Black. If I’m to be honest, it was an intentional farce, one conceived to portray a truth about quality. Unfortunately, it grew on me, and now I’m pushing it. I guess you can call it erotica, maybe a thriller, suspense, some such. It has some elements of each. It’s a bit…sick, perhaps, a little twisted, but it’s no Marquis de Sade (I haven’t accomplished writing of that caliber yet).It starts out in good humor, as intended, maybe somewhat of a joke, then it gets darker, and darker as it goes along.

It’s the story of a man who has some issues to resolve, issues that result in his sexual appetites, which inadvertently results in him being the subject of his best friend’s hidden proclivities. Needless to say, it may be a doozy.

What genre did you say it was?

Fiction/Erotica/Suspense.  There should be a genre for sheer nonsense.

Men might have a monopoly on nonsense, but women seem to dominate the erotica genre. Do you have any theories as to why that is? 

I think women are much more free than we men with our fantasies.  Also, I believe we men have a much more challenging time engaging in the abstract.  That is to say, we’d rather have pictures than to visualize, most cases.  If a man had a choice between taking photos of a Playboy Playmate or writing a 40,000-70,000 word erotic novel, what do you think he’d choose, honestly?  He’d probably choose the photoshoot.  His “erotic novels” would be picture books full of naked women and gratifyingly compromising positions.  That’s most of us, from the time we’re boys.  Don’t get me wrong, though; this is a generalization on my part.  There are always exceptions to the “rule”.

In that case, what kind of readers will 28 Shades of Black appeal to?

You know, I think this will appeal to readers with fairly open minds, a sense of humor capable of treading into darker places. It should also appeal to readers that enjoy sex, especially that of a taboo nature.

How long did it take to write?

This book took me 9 days to write and about 4 or 5 to edit. It was virtually nonstop.

Wow, that sounds tough – but what was the toughest part of the whole thing?

Taking the main character’s – Dominick Black – story seriously. I mean, he kind of forced himself out, in a manner of speaking. He was a bit of a nag, to say the least. When I should have been sleeping, he wanted me up, playing his scribe as he dictated that which spilled from his guts.

It is obvious that 50 Shades Of Grey is the inspiration for your book title, but are you satirising it or attempting to exploit its popularity – or both?

I started this book off as satire.  It was out of a little bit of petulance, annoyance, anger, myself just being an a**, and perhaps envy/jealousy at the fact that something that I believed was not that high of a caliber was making at least $1,000,000 per week and having a movie made in its image.  I couldn’t understand, so I began to write 28 Shades of Black.

I had a couple of points with this: to poke fun at 50 Shades of Grey; to make my angst known through mockery; to see if I could actually complete an entire book in a certain amount of time; and to tell a story like 50 Shades of Grey from the male perspective.

Well, my main character, Dominick Black, woke up, took charge, and commanded me to write…so I did.  I did until I was too tired to go on.  The story took its own shape.  It created itself, like some sort of god willing itself into being.  I just went with it because, honestly, I hadn’t expected it, and I didn’t expect what I ended up with.

That said, I do think it’s not my best work and, the truth is, I’m somewhat ashamed of using the title 28 Shades of Black, but it suited my original purpose, which was to poke fun.

Long-winded explanation, I know.  The other part of this truth is that, yes, I have entertained attempting to capitalize off of the success of 50 Shades.  The problem is, I just don’t have the will to really associate myself with it beyond the actual title.  Other than that, my book has nothing in common with the 50 Shades books beyond its title or the fact that it probably meets the current (low) industry standard.  Is it obvious that I may still have a bit of underlying animosity towards that series?

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I like to think of myself as a bit of an enigma… I’m probably not, though. My name is Sahm Ataine King. It’s not my real name, but it’s the one I’ve chosen. I’m online everywhere: Facebook, Twitter (@sahmataineking), and various other outlets.

I liken myself to some sort of artist. I don’t even know what that means, though. I just create stuff; universes, worlds, people. I’m living my dream of being a god while trying to decide what my next move in life should be.

There’s not really much to me.

You say ‘various other outlets’. What are they?

There are a few: The Arkside of Thought, 28 Shades of Black, Man of the Seven Spears, which is something I’m working on for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and another project, The End: Project Absolution.

The Arkside of Thought is my main blog, though. I typically reblog stuff from other blogs to that one, and that one is probably my most interesting (if any of them can be said to be interesting).

NaNoWriMo is the challenge to write a full novel in a single month. How is that going, and is this just a personal challenge or will we be reading the book you’re writing some time soon?  

NaNoWriMo is going.  I don’t know if I’d call it a personal challenge.  I wrote a 40,000 word book in 9 days.  I could easily do 50,000 in month, and I’m just under halfway through as of the 8th of Nov.  I won’t say it will be out soon, though; the thing is, there’s a few plot holes I’ve uncovered, a plethora of grammatical errors, and some elaborations of the histories of the world I’ve created I have to work on.  It will need vast amounts of refinement.  If there is a personal challenge to me, it will be the overcoming of my inherent laziness and actually completing a story I’ve wanted to start and finish for years, and actually making that work the best that it can possibly be.  It won’t be nearly as rushed as 28 Shades, and it won’t be as simple as my poetry anthologies.  But that’s what I want; if that’s where the challenge is, I’m willing to accept it.

You write poetry? Then maybe you can explain why so many poets make such good novelists? 

I don’t know if it’s true that many poets make good novelists.  Even though I think that my writing ability, when fully expressed and given due attention from me, is top-notch, I can’t say that I believe that I’m a good novelist.

For a poet, most of us, I think, that “ah-ha” comes in such short bursts.  I think, for my part, the problem I have with writing a novel is that I think like a poet; I’m trying to write poetry throughout the novel, which I notice clashes with the dialogue, the action scenes, so on and so forth.  My poetic prose tends to be a little off.  I’d hazard a guess to say that’s true for any poet turned novelist.  Perhaps I’m wrong, though.  If a poet does make a good novelist, I’m certain that poet has learned to take of his/her poet hat and replace it with his/her author hat.

Where can we buy your book?

28 Shades of Black can be purchased via the Amazon Kindle site as well as Smashwords. Just a sidenote: it’s free until 15 November.

That’s great. I’ll download it immediately after this interview. What’s next for you, though?

My dream project, Man of the Seven Spears. This one has been in the works for years (by which I mean, I’ve been thinking about the story for years, but have just recently started working on it seriously, courtesy of NaNoWriMo). That will lead to an epic series. There’s also The End: Project Absolution. I’m not certain, but I think Dominick Black will also have his own little series, which may require a revised edition of the original. We will see, though, won’t we?

***

Enjoyed this interview? Then check out our conversation with India T. Norfleet.