A Savage Art
"To exact revenge for yourself or your friends is not only a right, it's an absolute duty." Stieg Larsson
I’m sorry for neglecting you all for so long - I have been more than a little busy! Which doesn’t leave me much energy to spare, what with the damn lupus flare up.
I hope I will make up for it some from now, and onwards into the new year.
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I love revenge stories. I have since childhood, when this was one of my favourite quotations, from the young Jane Eyre -
"If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again. "
Of course, I tell myself, this was the young Jane Eyre speaking and not Charlotte Bronte, and clearly she grew up to be much more forgiving. She even went back to visit her Aunt Reed, when she was dying. And Bronte shows us that the good child at Lowood, that dreadful school, the patient and Christian Helen Burns, has a very different attitude.
But still, in stories if not in life, a revenge story is really satisfying.
My first novel, A Savage Art, is my attempt at a revenge story.
What if revenge isn’t enough?
Kate Savage is an artist who creates dark fairy tale in textiles.
Devastated by the death of her young assistant, Rowena, and unable to accept the official explanation, she begins to dig deeper and finds herself in an erotically charged and dangerous world. Kate becomes convinced the charismatic Dr John Reed is implicated in Rowena’s death and is determined to gather proof – even if it means putting herself in harm’s way.
Kate has fought hard to be taken seriously as an artist. How far will she go, how much will she risk, when she discovers women are in danger?
Originally published by Fahrenheit Press in 2016, the rights have now reverted to me and I have created a second edition, with a new cover designed by my brilliant artist friend, Tone Hitchcock.
NOW it looks like a crime novel!
I loved the Fahrenheit cover, but was never happy that the novel was marketed as erotica, as The New Fifty Shades.
For a start I wrote those scenes - and let this be fair warning, there are some very explicit sex scenes in the novel - way before EL James’s work was so widely known. I started writing the novel as the last assignment for my Open University degree, the assignment which earned me a distinction on the OU Creative Writing Diploma.
But more than that, it’s a novel which examines the harm that can come from pornography. It’s a feminist novel, and yes, I am one of those kill-joy old fashioned feminists who has this weird conviction that sex should be about intimacy and connection, and not exploitation.
It’s a point of honour for me that the worst (and funniest) insult ever flung at me online came when I was doing the research for this novel, and although I will allow you to imagine what specifics that might involve, I’ll give you the context.
I suggested that the best way to take the exploitation out of pornography might be to totally remove the profit motive. So long as people are having fun, there’s much less potential for harm. I was then accused of attempting to destroy the American ‘Mom and Pop’ porn businesses.
Looking at how the world has changed since then, and the many news stories which have emerged about the effect of freely available hardcore porn on youngsters’ phones, and its use in sexual abuse cases ranging from Steubenville in the US to the various grooming scandals in the UK, I don’t think I went quite far enough.
I promise you that there is way more sermonising here than in the novel, which is, I think a pretty good first person psychological thriller and an enjoyable romp.
Somehow, whatever I write turns out to be a bit of a romp, though my work-in-progress may turn out to be an exception!
At least, this is what Myfanwy Fox, friend of this substack and occasional contributor, had to say about A Savage Art -
“Pacey and racy: read it in one greedy weekend. Can't wait for her next.”
I would appreciate any shares of this post on Facebook and Twitter (I refuse to call it X)
Please do let me know in the comments here if you have shared and you may get a a free eBook version of the novel if you live in the UK. Amazon does not allow me to gift them in other places, sadly.
I will be doing a paperback giveaway, probably after Christmas.
Here’s the link to the novel again, in all it’s glory - A SAVAGE ART
More soon, I promise!
Ann
Great to hear from you Ann, I was getting a little concerned. I shared the link,. A Savage Art sounds great and the cover is super. I haven't been able to write much lately, what with caring duties, but hopefully will have some time over the holiday. I hope you have a very happy Christmas.