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Today I’m welcoming Sadie Rose Bermingham to the blog. Yet another new-to-me author, which is only serving to make my TBR pile grow. You folks need to stop! Just kidding.

Interview

How about a little backstory. What are some of the jobs besides writer that you’ve held?

I’ve never had much idea what I wanted to do besides writing, so my career – if you can call it that – has been all over the place. When my careers mistress asked what I wanted to do with my life I told her I wanted to be a novelist or a racehorse trainer. Her response was to tell me to be realistic.

As a result, she sent me on a week’s work experience at a local newspaper. This taught me two things – firstly that my tolerance for alcohol was way off the scale – and secondly that I didn’t want to be a journalist. I enjoyed the afternoons in the pub but I don’t have a journalistic level of curiosity about most mundane things.

So, I bumbled around a bit when I left school, I was a receptionist (2 years), and a call-centre worker for a utility company (9 months), which was horrible. Then I worked in an independent bookshop, and it was the best job I’ve ever had. I loved it. My pay was peanuts and I spent it all on books but it was fantastic. I met great people, and learned so much about the industry. I worked there for eight years, until the owners retired and sadly it closed. From there I moved sideways into libraries and I‘ve been a library assistant or an archives assistant, in diverse places up and down the UK pretty much ever since.

That’s quite a diverse list! Sounds like some good story fuel. Speaking of that, what is one subject you would really like to tackle in a story?

This is something that I’m hoping to tackle quite soon, actually. I’ve been an enby (non-binary person) for as long as I’ve been aware of my own identity really. My mother spent years trying to make me pretty, putting my hair in pigtails and dressing me up in little frocks she’d made, but all I wanted was to wear was shorts and a tee shirt, so I could climb trees and make dens with my best friend, Gary. I haven’t really changed much! Anyway, when I was four I got a baby sister and Mum diverted all her efforts onto her and left me to my own devices.

Most of my characters are male as a result of me leaning towards the masculine end of the spectrum, but having written about gay and bi guys for years and years, I’d like to tackle a character who is a bit more genderfluid because that reflects who I am and the world that I live in. There is a big trend for trans characters in stories at the moment but not as much it written about people who don’t definitively lean one way or the other. Maybe we’re not sexy enough? I’d like to change that.

Oh, hooray for both my fellow enbys and for writing more about us! So, this is sort of related, in a way. How do you choose names for your characters?

I pull them out of a hat… No, not really! It’s usually either a long-winded process or a very short one. Either a character pops into my head, fully formed, with his name intact and it’s just something that suits him, or I sit down for a while and think about who he is and what he represents before making a shortlist of names. I have been accused of deliberately coming up with names that Bellora, my co-author, can’t remember how to spell. I would like to stress that I absolutely, definitely do not do this on purpose. *snicker*

Mari Gale, in the current series, Elemental Evidence, came about after I sat down and looked at his character. He’s an Air Elemental, and in the original notes I was going to call him Remi because I’d written a short with a character that had that name and quite liked it. But I wanted his name to reflect his Element in some way, so I drew up two lists of fore and surnames that had a connection to the wind or the air. Having dismissed Storm as too dramatic and pop-star-ish, Gale was the obvious choice for a surname. Originally his mother’s family were going to be of Serbian origin, I think, but when I pulled the name Ilmarinen out of a Finnish mythology website (He is a wind deity), I liked it so much that I changed the character’s background to fit. Shortening it to Mari, gave his name the same sort of ‘feel’ as I had from Remi, so that appealed to me as well.

And, yes, I’m aware that Mari is a girl’s name. *grin*

I totally love that. I like when even names break boundaries.

All right, now for some Word Sprints. Musical theater or rock concert?

Rock Concert – I love live music and am eagerly waiting for a new Suede album and tour.

What’s a charity/cause you support?

I have three – The British Heart Foundation, for my Dad, who died following a heart attack – Amnesty International – and The Teenage Cancer Trust.

Do the people in your life know about your writing?

Most of them, yes – my hubby doesn’t read my books but my Mum reads them (she says she skips the naughty bits) and my boss at work has done too.

Thanks for stopping by! I can’t wait to see what else you’ve got in the works.

About the Book

Title: Surfacing Secrets

Series: Elemental Evidence

Date: March 13, 2018

Publisher: Pride Publishing

Length: 80,000 words

Categories: M/M, Paranormal, Crime/Mystery, Murder, light BDSM

Content Note: This book contains mentions of past rape and sexual assault. There are scenes involving strangulation, violence and murder, and references to suicide and suicidal thoughts.

Goodreads

Synopsis

They’re treading water in an ocean of secrets.

When ex-cop Jake Chivis is woken by the police and questioned about the mysterious death of his neighbor, he thinks his day can only get better. Things go from bad to worse when his lover, Mari Gale, brings him a horrific sex tape which appears to show a man being murdered. As they begin to investigate the origin of the video, nothing is as it seems. Will they find the killers before they strike again? Or will dark secrets rising to the surface in their own lives erupt and tear them apart?

Purchase Links

Pride Publishing | Amazon | Amazon UK | Kobo

Excerpt

The persistent pounding on his apartment door pulled Jake out of bed. He stumbled, bleary-eyed and yawning, into the living room and managed to stub his toes on the coffee table. “Ow, son of a— Hang on, hang on, I’m coming already,” he grumbled, and yanked the door open. Early morning sunlight slanted through the windows in the hallway. Framed in the golden halo of rays was Detective Inspector John Cordiline, looking like a fallen angel crumpled from the long descent, a haggard expression on his face, along with at least a day’s worth of stubble.

“Detective, what brings you by at”—Jake squinted at the clock—“six in the morning?”

Cordiline raised a finger to scratch his temple, just where his dark brown hair was fading to a softer shade of gray. It was a nervous tic, one of a very few that the generally self-assured Fitzrovia DI possessed.

“Official business, I’m afraid, Chivis. Do you mind if I come in? It’s to do with the bloke that lived across the hall from you.”

Leaving the door open, Jake backed into the apartment then wandered over toward the kitchen. This was going to require coffee, he could tell. The pot was set up to go off on its own in another half hour anyway so all he had to do was hit the brew button. As the door clicked shut, he turned back around.

“Coffee’ll be ready in a few minutes. What’s going on?”

Cordiline perched on the edge of one of the sofa cushions with his forearms resting on his knees. The shadows under his eyes said this was the wrong end of a long night, but that cloudy blue gaze still traveled over Jake from head to toe. A small smile tugged at his lips for a moment, then was gone.

“Did you know Mr. Sullivan?”

“Jim? I talked to him a few times in passing. I didn’t know him well. What happened?”

“Guy that runs the grocery store downstairs called in a complaint when he came in early to supervise a delivery. Said there was water coming through the ceiling and he couldn’t get anyone to come to the door. The PC that responded found Mr. Sullivan in the bathtub, water still running, head under the surface.”

“Aw, shit,” Jake swore softly. “Yeah, that it is.”

“I take it the boys in blue found something that didn’t fit with an accident, or suicide, if they called you in?”

“Did you see Mr. Sullivan last night?” Cordiline asked, instead of answering. “Or see him with anyone new lately?”

“No. It’s been a few days since I last ran into him. I’ve never seen him bring anyone home. Our conversations were, basically, ‘good morning’ and ‘nice day’.”

Cordiline heaved a sigh. “I figured that might be the case, but I had to ask. We’re going to have to talk to everyone in the area just to see if anyone noticed comings and goings from the apartment at odd hours. You were closest. Sorry about that.” He rubbed his face with both hands, scratching at the shadow of stubble on his chin, the dark flecks dotted with silver. “Did I wake you?”

Jake made a dismissive gesture. “I would have been up in another half hour anyway. I like to run before it gets too busy.”

Cordiline grunted. “Did you say something about coffee?”

About the Author

Sadie Rose Bermingham

A storyteller since before she started school, Sadie also enjoys reading, photography, live music and long walks on the beach.

Sadie has worked as a bookseller, a pedigree editor for the racing industry and a local and family history researcher. Originally from the north of England, she has been working her way across the UK ever since. She currently resides on the south east coast with her long term partner, where she hopes to buy a mobile home and establish a whippet farm.

Bellora Quinn

Originally hailing from Detroit Michigan, Bellora now resides on the sunny Gulf Coast of Florida where a herd of Dachshunds keeps her entertained. She got her start in writing at the dawn of the internet when she discovered PbEMs (Play by email) and found a passion for collaborative writing and steamy hot erotica. Soap Opera like blogs soon followed and eventually full novels.

The majority of her stories are in the M/M genre with urban fantasy or paranormal settings and many with a strong BDSM flavour.

Social Media

Facebook Group | Facebook Page | Twitter: Sadie Rose Bermingham | Twitter: Bellora Quinn