Bio
I am Simone Francis. I write very naughty erotic fiction in which my glamorous heroines find themselves subjected to all sorts of spankings, bondage and myriad of other fetishes. There is sex in my books, a lot of sex, but there are always bad guys and girls to overcome, trials to endure, and mysteries to solve as the gripping story carries you along. My short stories tell you tales of women caught up in erotic situations and reveling in new experiences.
All of my books and stories follow confident, sexy women who only completely submit when the right man – or woman – appears in their lives.
My first full length book has just been published by Black Velvet Seductions
Tell us about yourself.
I am approaching retirement age but not yet ready to be put out to grass. In the past I have run businesses including a photography studio and gallery. For the last twenty years I had a job which gave me the opportunity to travel around the UK. A lot of my work involved the public so I have had the chance to meet and observe all sorts of people. All good material for an aspiring writer.
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
Being an author crept up on me. I used to write articles to accompany photographs plus we produced photographs for several erotica and BDSM publishers. I decided to do an Open University degree in English Language and Creative Writing to improve my writing. I had just graduated from this when I was furloughed from my day job. I suddenly found I had a lot of time, so I set myself the target of actually finishing and submitting a book. I had written several unfinished manuscripts but, I read a publisher’s specifications for the type of book they were looking for and started The Bookshop from scratch. Two months later I submitted it and within forty-eight hours it was rejected. I resubmitted it to the next publishers and, fortunately, Black Velvet Seductions accepted it.
What genres do you like to read? Are these the same genres you write in?
To relax I read crime or thrillers. I find I can sit up until two in the morning reading just a couple more pages of a Lee Child or Boris Akunin book.
I read a lot of adult erotica, especially if it has a good and believable plot. Partially because this is the genre I write in and partially because I am always looking for tips as to how other authors describe sex scenes – and who doesn’t like a good naughty book.
When I was younger I used to read a lot of science fiction but now I like to read a lot of modern contemporary authors. I have missed bookshops being open as I like to pick up something interesting rather than have a website recommend forty-three other titles on the same theme.
Is your book for adults, young adults or children?
Definitely for adults.
What is your current release or project?
The Bookshop has just been released. It dives into underworld of the aristocracy in Edwardian London. I had to do a lot of research from the type of underwear people wore to the sexual mores of the time. I was not surprised to find that there were brothels where men went to be spanked, but was more intrigued to find there were also establishments where men went to spank women and also women to spank women. We might think that BDSM is a modern idea but it is just that it is more out in the open now. This is one reason I set The Bookshop in Edwardian times; I needed some of the characters to be secretive. Also, modern forensics would probably have solved some of the mysteries quite quickly.
Tell us about the key characters
The story is told almost exclusively from Amelia Slone’s point of view. Amelia is a bright, resourceful and daring young woman but her middle-class upbringing in Victorian Britain has meant that she has had very little experience of the world. Now she is twenty-four, it is the Edwardian era, and she is a widow. Her husband, an army officer, was killed in a distant part of the Empire two years ago. Despite having a couple of lovers she is very inexperienced, especially sexually, but willing to try anything once and do it again if she likes it.
Konrad von Schellenberg is from the Prussian aristocracy. I will not tell you too much about him as his character is revealed in the plot. Let’s just say he is good looking, a man of action – somewhere between an Edwardian James Bond and Erast Fandorin.
What is your blurb or synopsis of the book?
It’s 1908 and Amelia Slone is bored until her friend Frances disappears. The bookshop and the haughty, arrogant Prussian Konrad von Schellenberg are her only clues. Determined to find her friend, her search leads her into a world of sexual submission, kidnapping and murder that seethes just below the surface of Edwardian London. Desperate to find her friend, it seems romance will have to wait, or will the new passions awakened in her help her find love as well?
Share an excerpt
The room was sparsely furnished. A writing desk and chair stood under the window. Almost in the centre was a chaise longue upholstered in maroon velvet. Its left hand end was open and the right hand side curved up to a rolled arm.
‘You must be prepared for what you will face and what you will administer. Take off your skirt’
‘What?’ Amelia heard herself squawk.
‘Take off you skirt and bend over the back of that chaise longue,’ von Schellenberg said calmly.
‘To gain access to the order you must at least appear to be a disciple of discipline. In order to be a disciple you will need to have experienced it. Later we will train you in administering it. Now take off your skirt and bend over.’ His voice suddenly acquired a hard edged note.
Amelia unbuttoned her jacket and, folding it carefully placed it on the seat of the chaise. Her shirtwaist revealed her naked arms but leaving it on to at least preserve some modesty she unbuttoned her skirt and slid it down over her petticoat. She folded the skirt in half and then half again before placing it on top of the jacket. She turned to face von Schellenberg.
‘And the petticoats,’ he sighed.
Amelia obediently slid down her petticoats and began to carefully fold them.
‘When I give you an instruction I expect it to be obeyed immediately, with alacrity, do you understand?’ Von Schellenberg barked.
Amelia turned, deep within her a memory stirred. She had never been beaten on the behind at school but slaps across palms with rulers or canes had been common and she could remember the stinging pain. Now she could feel herself pouting like a naughty schoolgirl and she was aware that only her draws and chemise covered her lower half.
‘Remove your drawers.’
‘What,’ Amelia stuttered.
Von Schellenberg picked up a leather strop from the table beside him and tapped it almost silently across the palm of his left hand.
‘Your drawers,’ he said quietly.
Amelia untied the cord at her waist and slid the cotton drawers down thankful that her chemise hung down to mid-thigh level.
‘Turn around.’
Amelia complied; every movement slowed with anticipation as if the air around her had suddenly thickened into the consistency of oil. She realised that part of her mind was fearful of what was about to happen, but a small but growing part of her brain seemed to tingling with excitement. She had only witnessing a caning once at school. The girl had wriggled and screamed but the display had stirred something deep inside her. In the following days she had even found herself daydreaming of what it would be like to be in the girl’s place. Now as an adult it seemed that she was about to find out.
‘Raise your chemise and bent over onto the head of the chaise longue.
‘What! No.’ Amelia half turned towards von Schellenberg’s voice.
There was the merest swish and a crack. Amelia felt a stinging sensation across her rump.
‘Do as you are told girl.’
Amelia’s hand moved to the left cheek of her bottom. There was another crack as the strop contacted with the still exposed right cheek. Amelia scrabbled at the hem of her chemise and. pulling it up to her waist bent forward.
There was silence. She was acutely aware that her naked behind was now on view to a man she had only met a few days before.
Do you have a favorite scene?
Yes, well two. One where Amelia indulges in administering discipline for pleasure and begins to recognize her bisexual urges and the action scene at the end. I won’t say more as they are both integral to the plot.
What advice would you give a beginner?
Write every day and write about everything from what you had for breakfast to the vase of flowers on the table. Observe people and make notes. Remember a photographer can show what a scene looks like but only a writer can describe how it tastes, smells and how a character feels when they see it.
Social media links:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/simone.francis.73550
Twitter @simone_author
Blog link http://www.simonefrancis.com
Purchasing links https://amzn.to/38aSPz5
