Meet the Exquisite Quill Authors


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Author Interview: Crane Hana

The Exquisite Quills Blog welcomes author Crane Hana!



EQ: Welcome to EQ! Tell us a little bit about yourself! 
Crane: I'm a writer and artist living in the American Southwest, aka 'the Blast Furnace'. I've been playing in the same science fiction & fantasy secondary-world setting for 25 years, but erotic romance has opened up exciting new horizons. I'm short, middle-aged, and in love with a technomage...all else is subject to change without notice.

EQ: What made you want to become a writer?
Crane: In March of 1987, I read what was (I thought at that point) the worst fantasy romance novel ever written. I remember tossing the paperback out a second-story window into a snowstorm, and thinking: ‘I could probably create something better.’ Six months later, I’d finished writing my first space opera romance. It was horrible. I’ll never publish that version of it. But it taught me that I could write a 90K string of mostly coherent words.

EQ: Pick out one of the best lines in your novel. What do you love about it?
Crane: “You just saved my life, and all you want to do is die?” Those are almost the first words prince Valier says to escaped-slave Moro, and they sum up so many subtexts in the story: Moro’s stubborn refusal to give in to a hellish master. Val’s untrained sadism, which will save Moro’s sanity if Val can just grow up and learn mercy, too.

EQ: Describe how you came up with the plot of your novel.
Crane: I have a very large story bible involving a lot of worldbuilding. A few years ago I decided to embrace writing original M/M erotic romance, since I’d flirted with it in fan fiction for years. In my old notes I found a paragraph about a M/M pair: a devious, dangerous emperor and his glowering bodyguard and mate. I wanted to know more about how they became a couple. I started with a single sentence: “Throw the fight, songbird”, and free associated for about 25,000 words. By then, I’d fit the story into an existing narrative, and I knew who everybody really was. Of course, that also turned my short, explicit M/M romp into a much longer dark political intrigue.

EQ: Tell us a little bit about your most recent release.
Crane: Moro’s Price is a 100K+ M/M erotic romance space opera with BDSM themes and definite nods to ‘Firefly’, ‘Babylon 5’, ‘Torchwood’, and ‘The Fifth Element’. In the decadent 50th Century, three competing interstellar empires are on the verge of war. Prince Valier gives suicidal escaped-slave Moro another option than leaping off a skyscraper - a few hours of meaningless rough sex, while Moro is infected with Val's lethal symbiont. Neither man expects Moro to survive, or become the one man who can tame Val's darker urges. The galaxy will never be the same.

Crane Hana’s Links:

www.loose-id.com/authors/l-p/mc-hana/moro-s-price.html
http://www.amazon.com/Moros-Price-ebook/dp/B008ON1X1K
Author’s website: www.cranehanabooks.com/blog

Check out these titles from Crane Hana:

Moro’s Price (as M.C. Hana)
‘Saints and Heroes’ in Thrones of Desire (as M.H. Crane)
Upcoming releases: I am currently writing Moro’s Shield, which continues Val and Moro’s adventures, and getting ready to self-publish Singer in Rhunshan, a mild M/M/F novella set in the same universe as ‘Saints and Heroes’. I’ll have updates and links on my blog, when final release dates are set.

8 comments:

Rose Anderson said...

Cute. I've been tempted to throw books out the window too. Thanks for joining us today, Crane. Best luck in the new year.

M.C. Hana said...

Thank you, Rose. That was the first and last time I actually threw a book. I felt so guilty I ran outside after a couple of hours and retrieved it...after I wrote my first chapter.

Some updates: since I sent in my interview questions, we had a little glitch with Amazon, which led to the old Moro's Price link becoming inactive. There's a brand new link now:

http://www.amazon.com/Moros-Price-M-C-Hana-ebook/dp/B00HQM8Z6Q%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAJBDF5XQBATGDX4VQ%26tag%3Dspea06-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00HQM8Z6Q

So this is essentially my relaunch party! I will be answering questions and comments here and on my blog all day. Everyone who chimes in at either place between now and next Saturday will be entered into a random drawing for a free e-book of Moro's Price. There might even be other swag available.

www.cranehanabooks.com/blog

Kaye Spencer said...

Crane,

You had me at "Firefly" and "The Fifth Element". I also 'felt' your exasperation when you threw a book out the window. While I haven't done that (although tempted), I have thrown them on the floor and stomped on them while screaming obscenities at the book and the author. ;-)

I really like your line: "Throw the fight, songbird” and that you 'free associated for about 25,000 words' with your story evolving from there. I did that with an picture that resulted in a yet-to-be-published family saga.

Crane Hana said...

Sometimes it's incredibly freeing to just let loose and see where it takes you.

Here's to your family saga: here's hoping it finds a great home!

Anonymous said...

Crane, your writing process is so interesting and your story bible is fascinating. It's got to be a huge help in writing.

Crane Hana said...

It can be a help and a curse. My notes effectively take up a large hard drive, and that's only the stuff I have digitized or transcribed. This is about 150,000 years of in-story history, assembled over three decades of what-if play never really meant for formal publication. Some of it is in full mms form, some a dozen pages of scribbles, some - like the proto Moro and Val - are seen in just a couple of paragraphs.

I really don't recommend unrestrained worldbuilding as a hobby. ;)

A.K. said...

Moro sounds like an awesome read.

Crane Hana said...

It was a roller coaster to write, I'll say.