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A review by vdarcangelo
Surrender by Pamela Clare
4.0
http://archive.boulderweekly.com/033006/uncovered.html
This review originally appeared in the BOULDER WEEKLY
War and piece
Precolonials get randy, and revenge, in Pamela Clare's Surrender
by Vince Darcangelo
As an award-winning journalist by day, Pamela White has chronicled the present and future of local, national and world affairs for years. But by night, as Pamela Clare, her pen turns a different direction—to the past.
On Feb. 28, Clare released her fourth historical romance, Surrender, which takes readers to the frontline of the French and Indian War—and into the hearts of Iain MacKinnon, a Scottish Highlander forced to fight for the hated British, and Annie Burns, a mysterious woman with a "T" branded into her thigh. As with her earlier works, Surrender is, on the surface, an adventure romance set against the backdrop of early American history, rife with socio-cultural tension, frontier survivalism and, of course, plenty of steamy sex (literally). What separates Clare from her peers in the romance genre is the edginess of her writing. Sexual violence, S&M and bloody combat spill across the pages of Surrender, culminating in a deadly finale pitting Annie's future against her dark past—and her wicked Uncle Bain.
Surrender is the first of three releases Clare has slated for 2006, including a novella, Heaven Can't Wait, in June and a contemporary romantic suspense, Hard Evidence, in November. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before looking to the future, we sat down with Clare to discuss the past (the 1750s to be exact), the present and, of course, lots of hot colonial sex—18th-century style.
Vince Darcangelo: What is the historical setting of Surrender?
Pamela Clare: Surrender is set during the French and Indian War. I'm fascinated by that time period, though I'm not entirely sure why. There's a certain romance to the colonial frontier that draws me. Also, so much of our history flows out of the events of the 1750s, including the American Revolution. What America came to be, both good and bad, finds its roots here.
Plus men had long hair and packed really long rifles.
VD: How does class play into Surrender, as Iain is from an underclass and is a skilled fighter, whereas Annie is from an elite class and unskilled in survival on the frontier? Annie must quickly adapt to life in a time of war.
PC: Class differences have always played a major role in my stories... In the case of Annie and Iain, they're probably closer in class than most of my heroes and heroines. He's the grandson of a Highland laird and she's British aristocracy. The biggest difference—and this addresses your question—is that Iain came of age on the frontier, and Annie has been in the colonies for a mere four months. He knows the ropes and has already spent three years in combat. She just came from her uncle's estates.
Exploring class differences has really been a theme for my writing, partly because I find the life of the common people to be far more interesting than that of the bewigged aristocracy. I've never been terribly interested in the rules of society, but stretching them to the breaking point when two people who shouldn't be together meet and fall in love is lots of fun. Most of my villains are aristocrats, and even the secondary characters who play mini-villain roles are also aristocrats or upper class.
VD: Is there an underlying political message concerning life in a time of war?
PC: It's that war is destructive and that everyone suffers during wartime, not just soldiers. There's a survival message, also, a message about finding your courage and learning how to stand in the face of conflict. That's something Annie encounters right away.
VD: There is a scene where Iain masturbates Annie in a sweat lodge. Being part American Indian, are you concerned with how this scene will be received in the American Indian community?
PC: Why did you have to ask me that! OK, first, I wouldn't use the word "masturbate" because it's a stupid word invented by uptight people who think touching yourself is a clinical condition worthy of scientific study. I'd say Iain "gets her off" or "pleasures her" in the sweat lodge. Second, yes. I expect my rear end might get chewed next time I go to sweat lodge, thanks to your asking this question.
In my defense I will say, it's not an actual inipi ceremony in which he does this, but only the physical structure of the sweat lodge, and they're in the lodge because he's trying to keep her from dying of hypothermia. Let's just say he's very effective at warming her up. It's the equivalent of doing it in a church, but not during a service.
And, hey, God invented orgasms. They seem pretty holy to me.
VD: In your most recent historical romance, Ride the Fire, you pushed the boundaries of violence in romantic fiction. In Surrender you delve into sexual violence in a manner unlike anything you've written in the past during a scene in which Iain and Annie have rough, angry sex that pushes the boundary of consent. What was your motivation for this? Did you have any concerns that either your publisher would think this was too edgy or that your readers would think you took it too far?
PC: That's not the scene that comes to mind when I think of the boundaries I pushed in Surrender. But, yes, I guess that scene walks a very fine line. When I wrote it, I wanted to push it a bit without crossing over into violence. Early romance novels—disparagingly referred to as "bodice rippers"—had overt rape scenes that offend most women's modern sensibilities. This scene pays homage to the fantasy without (I hope) stepping onto uncomfortable ground. In the end, it becomes a very tender, loving sex scene.
When I wrote that scene, I was most concerned with hitting the right emotional notes for the characters, and the characters are the key to why it's written the way it is. Iain is enraged and feeling insanely jealous, and, as an alpha male, he almost crosses the line. But here's the thing about alpha males: Sometimes they're jerks. Although they're very popular in romantic fiction, most women would hate their guts in real life.
VD: You also deal with childhood trauma that borders on sexual abuse. Is the brand on Annie's thigh, put there by her uncle, to be taken literally or is it symbolic of sexual abuse?
PC: Interesting question. When I wrote it, I intended it to be taken literally, but he clearly wants it to symbolize more than just her loss of status. He wants to ruin her life and to leave some reminder of himself on her. In that sense, it's symbolic of her loss of innocence. She saw something no one should ever see, and that brand is a constant reminder of what she saw and of her uncle's power over her.
VD: Any other thoughts?
PC: Surrender is the first time I've written Scots, and it was great fun from the language point of view. I worked with a woman who speaks Scottish Gaelic for the Gaelic bits (fun stuff like, "Go suck the sweat off a dead man's balls!") and worked to derive my own way of signifying Scottish dialect in the writing. I love words, obviously, and being able to dip into the wacky vocabulary of 18th-century Scots was incredibly fun. Give me words like "collieshangie" and "argy-bargy," and I'm amused for hours. I listen to a lot of Celtic music, particularly Scottish traditional music, so it was really satisfying to put that vocabulary to use.
Also, this is kind of a special year for me, because I've got three releases. I worked my butt off last year, writing a historical romance (Surrender) a sexy contemporary novella (Heaven Can't Wait) and most of my second contemporary romantic suspense (Hard Evidence), which is the sequel to last year's Extreme Exposure. When it's done, Hard Evidence will be my seventh novel—which sort of blows my mind and explains my complete lack of a social life.
This review originally appeared in the BOULDER WEEKLY
War and piece
Precolonials get randy, and revenge, in Pamela Clare's Surrender
by Vince Darcangelo
As an award-winning journalist by day, Pamela White has chronicled the present and future of local, national and world affairs for years. But by night, as Pamela Clare, her pen turns a different direction—to the past.
On Feb. 28, Clare released her fourth historical romance, Surrender, which takes readers to the frontline of the French and Indian War—and into the hearts of Iain MacKinnon, a Scottish Highlander forced to fight for the hated British, and Annie Burns, a mysterious woman with a "T" branded into her thigh. As with her earlier works, Surrender is, on the surface, an adventure romance set against the backdrop of early American history, rife with socio-cultural tension, frontier survivalism and, of course, plenty of steamy sex (literally). What separates Clare from her peers in the romance genre is the edginess of her writing. Sexual violence, S&M and bloody combat spill across the pages of Surrender, culminating in a deadly finale pitting Annie's future against her dark past—and her wicked Uncle Bain.
Surrender is the first of three releases Clare has slated for 2006, including a novella, Heaven Can't Wait, in June and a contemporary romantic suspense, Hard Evidence, in November. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before looking to the future, we sat down with Clare to discuss the past (the 1750s to be exact), the present and, of course, lots of hot colonial sex—18th-century style.
Vince Darcangelo: What is the historical setting of Surrender?
Pamela Clare: Surrender is set during the French and Indian War. I'm fascinated by that time period, though I'm not entirely sure why. There's a certain romance to the colonial frontier that draws me. Also, so much of our history flows out of the events of the 1750s, including the American Revolution. What America came to be, both good and bad, finds its roots here.
Plus men had long hair and packed really long rifles.
VD: How does class play into Surrender, as Iain is from an underclass and is a skilled fighter, whereas Annie is from an elite class and unskilled in survival on the frontier? Annie must quickly adapt to life in a time of war.
PC: Class differences have always played a major role in my stories... In the case of Annie and Iain, they're probably closer in class than most of my heroes and heroines. He's the grandson of a Highland laird and she's British aristocracy. The biggest difference—and this addresses your question—is that Iain came of age on the frontier, and Annie has been in the colonies for a mere four months. He knows the ropes and has already spent three years in combat. She just came from her uncle's estates.
Exploring class differences has really been a theme for my writing, partly because I find the life of the common people to be far more interesting than that of the bewigged aristocracy. I've never been terribly interested in the rules of society, but stretching them to the breaking point when two people who shouldn't be together meet and fall in love is lots of fun. Most of my villains are aristocrats, and even the secondary characters who play mini-villain roles are also aristocrats or upper class.
VD: Is there an underlying political message concerning life in a time of war?
PC: It's that war is destructive and that everyone suffers during wartime, not just soldiers. There's a survival message, also, a message about finding your courage and learning how to stand in the face of conflict. That's something Annie encounters right away.
VD: There is a scene where Iain masturbates Annie in a sweat lodge. Being part American Indian, are you concerned with how this scene will be received in the American Indian community?
PC: Why did you have to ask me that! OK, first, I wouldn't use the word "masturbate" because it's a stupid word invented by uptight people who think touching yourself is a clinical condition worthy of scientific study. I'd say Iain "gets her off" or "pleasures her" in the sweat lodge. Second, yes. I expect my rear end might get chewed next time I go to sweat lodge, thanks to your asking this question.
In my defense I will say, it's not an actual inipi ceremony in which he does this, but only the physical structure of the sweat lodge, and they're in the lodge because he's trying to keep her from dying of hypothermia. Let's just say he's very effective at warming her up. It's the equivalent of doing it in a church, but not during a service.
And, hey, God invented orgasms. They seem pretty holy to me.
VD: In your most recent historical romance, Ride the Fire, you pushed the boundaries of violence in romantic fiction. In Surrender you delve into sexual violence in a manner unlike anything you've written in the past during a scene in which Iain and Annie have rough, angry sex that pushes the boundary of consent. What was your motivation for this? Did you have any concerns that either your publisher would think this was too edgy or that your readers would think you took it too far?
PC: That's not the scene that comes to mind when I think of the boundaries I pushed in Surrender. But, yes, I guess that scene walks a very fine line. When I wrote it, I wanted to push it a bit without crossing over into violence. Early romance novels—disparagingly referred to as "bodice rippers"—had overt rape scenes that offend most women's modern sensibilities. This scene pays homage to the fantasy without (I hope) stepping onto uncomfortable ground. In the end, it becomes a very tender, loving sex scene.
When I wrote that scene, I was most concerned with hitting the right emotional notes for the characters, and the characters are the key to why it's written the way it is. Iain is enraged and feeling insanely jealous, and, as an alpha male, he almost crosses the line. But here's the thing about alpha males: Sometimes they're jerks. Although they're very popular in romantic fiction, most women would hate their guts in real life.
VD: You also deal with childhood trauma that borders on sexual abuse. Is the brand on Annie's thigh, put there by her uncle, to be taken literally or is it symbolic of sexual abuse?
PC: Interesting question. When I wrote it, I intended it to be taken literally, but he clearly wants it to symbolize more than just her loss of status. He wants to ruin her life and to leave some reminder of himself on her. In that sense, it's symbolic of her loss of innocence. She saw something no one should ever see, and that brand is a constant reminder of what she saw and of her uncle's power over her.
VD: Any other thoughts?
PC: Surrender is the first time I've written Scots, and it was great fun from the language point of view. I worked with a woman who speaks Scottish Gaelic for the Gaelic bits (fun stuff like, "Go suck the sweat off a dead man's balls!") and worked to derive my own way of signifying Scottish dialect in the writing. I love words, obviously, and being able to dip into the wacky vocabulary of 18th-century Scots was incredibly fun. Give me words like "collieshangie" and "argy-bargy," and I'm amused for hours. I listen to a lot of Celtic music, particularly Scottish traditional music, so it was really satisfying to put that vocabulary to use.
Also, this is kind of a special year for me, because I've got three releases. I worked my butt off last year, writing a historical romance (Surrender) a sexy contemporary novella (Heaven Can't Wait) and most of my second contemporary romantic suspense (Hard Evidence), which is the sequel to last year's Extreme Exposure. When it's done, Hard Evidence will be my seventh novel—which sort of blows my mind and explains my complete lack of a social life.