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Spies in History & Literature ~ Erotic Espionage: MI5 vs the Italian Mob,
the Greek Mob, and the Russian Mob – An Interview with Broken
Chains author Karina Kantas
By Dr. Wesley Britton 
Author Karina Kantas I’ve known Karina Kantas for many years now and know when she talks about what she does in her Author Assist service in the interview below, she really does touch quite a few literary bases. Just like she touches a lot of bases in her fiction writing career. Her most recent novel, Broken Chains (2021), has Karina showcasing her feminist themes in a quasi-spy thriller. After describing her story’s first chapter set-up, I said in my review of the novel,
But let’s let Karina talk about what Broken Chains is all about in her own words, among other authorship matters – Going back to the beginning, what ignited your interest in spending your career with literature? S.E.Hinton is to blame. The author of the YA classics, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. I loved her easy-to-read style. I loved the characters of the two gangs, the Greasers and the Socialists. Each of her books tell a story about outsiders, those that never fitted in society. Those that decided to make up their own rules. That was my first look into gangs. I then wrote my own YA urban thriller romance, In Times of Violence. You like to write over a variety of genres. Why? Who inspired you to try your hand with so many pies? I go through binges. First it was films, TV and books with outlaw Motorcycle clubs (and there wasn’t many of those kinds of books around when I wrote my first Outlaw book.) Next came my fantasy duology after Lord of the Rings, reading the books and watching the films and then reading Phillip Pullman and his series, His Dark Materials. Cassandra Claire, who wrote The Infernal Devices and The Mortal instruments. When my appetite is satisfied, that’s when I begin writing my novel on that genre. What inspired you to establish Author Assist? I was making trailers for my books and also recording short narrations from them. Authors started noticing and asked me if I would create a trailer or do a reading for them. That’s how Author Assist started, back in 2015. Now I offer over 20 services, everything covered from brainstorming and idea to the art of writing, publishing and then marketing and promotion. There’s not much I don’t have experience on or can’t help. I have been in this industry for 28 years now.  Now, to Broken Chains. Your first spy novel? Why did you go this direction for this book? Again binging. I’ve always liked the outlaw motorcycle clubs, the Mafias. Their story, how they came to be, how they stayed in power and who they had to kill to do that. I read well over thirty Mafia romances on Wattpad and even wrote the first draft of Broken Chains on Wattpad. It’s still up there now, but the published version is very different from the first draft. I watched all the films, The Godfather, Untouchables, Scar Face, Reservoir Dogs, just to name a few and even watched documentaries like the one on the Craig Twins. Even though Broken Chains is published, I’m still binging on Mafia stories. Oh, and I love 365 (A little hint to what you can expect from Broken Chains) and I don”t think I’m quite finished with that genre yet. Did you do much research into MI5 before you cast the organization in Broken Chains? Of course. It’s no good saying, I work for MI5, if I don’t know what qualifications I would need to get a job in the secret service, what checks are made and what training I would have to do. The whole premise of the book started with, would MI5 be concerned about someone who stares at their building taking notes and repeats the pattern for three days? Would someone from MI5 notice? And what would they do next if they thought of that person as a threat? The story progressed from there. It started writing itself and then grew three heads: The Italian Mafia, The Greek Mafia and the Russian Mafia. They gate-crashed, and I wasn’t about to tell them to leave. Much of this book is rather dark and harsh and quite graphic. That’s not unusual for you. Is it because you like pushing the boundaries? It’s not about pushing boundaries; it’s about keeping it real. What do you think goes on in the basement, when they caught someone trying to steal their shipment of drugs, guns, women? There’s no please and thank yous. How do you think a woman would be treated if she walked innocently into an outlaw MC clubhouse? I tell it like it is and I have no problem being graphic with the violence and explicit with the sex non and consensual. And the best thing about it is that women can’t get enough of Dark Romance. They love the sex and violence and they love that my women, although I torture them and take them to hell and back, they are NOT damsels in distress. My readers love a feisty woman, who’s not going to curl up and die at the first sign of trouble. Are there real-life models for your characters like Elizabeth and Alex? No. They are completely made-up characters, who came to life when I first wrote their names down on paper. There’s a strong feminist bent to this book. I assume this is quite deliberate. Are we going to be seeing further books featuring the Broken Chains characters? Yep, I’m not having a weeping, moaning female in my books. My ladies can kick ass and my female characters have been like that from the very first book, In Times of Violence. Jade pathed the way. No. no more coming from Luchianno and Liz, but I can see another Mafia Dark Romance sometime in the distant future. What is next for Karina Kantas? I’m currently working through edits of Toxic, which is the dystopian sci-fi my co-author and I sign contracts for, with a publisher for the trilogy, which will be six books in all. Exactly the same characters and plot, only mine will be on the naughty side and my co-author’s bedroom door will be slightly ajar. I’m also working on the adult version of In Times of Violence. And if you thought Broken Chains and Road Rage were dark, you wait until you read ITOV. Something you need to understand. This book should have been published the moment the YA edition was out. But it never was, and I understand why now. It’s because I wasn’t ready to write it. I wasn’t ready to tell the story of Jade Marcus and Dylan in an adult way. But I am now! This edition is nothing like the YA version. The plot, the story line and some characters are different. They are not a petty street gang. They are vicious, deadly outlaw bikers who rescue Jade and then force her to pay off her debt to them. I won’t give away any more of the plot, but you can expect me to go even darker in this book and I’ve done something I’ve never done before, and it’s a risky move, but it’s going to pay off. Can’t say any more. Just read all the other books first and then by the time you’re done, In Times of Violence will be ready for you to devour. You can find all the links to Karina’s books, social media, websites, and more at ~ Karina Kantas’s novels are available in bookstores everywhere, as well as these online merchants ~
Amazon U.S.
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