The Food of Choices

Today we have Grace R. Duncan here to talk a little bit about the delicious worldbuilding of her new novel Choices.

 

Today, I bring you the last of my worldbuilding posts about the Choices world.  I thought I might talk about the food and culture surrounding Neyem, since it is the main portion of my Choices world.

The culture is similar to many other Middle Eastern countries, though I didn’t go into it too far.  In my history and politics post, I discussed the government as a simple Arabic replica of the English monarch with a malik, amirs and several other ranks of nobility. What I didn’t point out there is that most of the ranks are held only by men.  It is something of a male dominated society and as much as I would have liked for it not to be (I am not a fan of them), for historical accuracy, I knew it needed to be. 

What I would like to focus on, however, is the food of Neyem.  Like I did for other aspects of the world, I did a ridiculous amount of research on Middle Eastern foods.  Some I was already familiar with and expected – flatbreads, lamb, hummus and the like.  I have had more than a few friends from different places in the Middle East and so I have been exposed to the foods before. 

However, there were a few dishes I was surprised by, though I suppose if I’d given it more thought, I would have realized.  It turns out that one of my favorite deserts, rice pudding, is actually quite common for there.  When I looked into the fresh fruits and vegetables, I was also surprised to discover that tomatoes, peaches and apples were also quite common.

Like most worldbuilding, however, we authors like to take what is real, figure out what works and toss out the rest.  In this case, though, I thought that most of the foods I found worked quite well with my world.  The only thing I decided to change was the manner in which they ate.  

My research found that traditionally the food was served on very large trays set in the middle of a rug and the families would use flatbreads to scoop up the food and eat it.  Considering the number of slaves in the palace, I knew that it just wasn’t going to work.  So, instead, I decided to go buffet-style, serving the food on a long table for them to choose from then sit at low tables to eat.

Here, you can see a short excerpt when Teman first sees the food available for the slaves:

 The other slaves had moved over to the side obviously set up for meals, and that’s when Teman registered the long table along one wall laden with food. There were several servants in this room as well, stationed in various places, and Teman glanced at his friend again before approaching the table. Plates were stacked on one end and he took one, then pondered the options.

Flatbreads and spreads, fruit and vegetables, eggs and juice and coffee. Teman couldn’t quite wrap his head around the food that was offered to them. They were slaves. And yet they were eating a breakfast that was likely better than anything he’d eaten in a long time.

As the book progresses, I discuss other foods in more detail.  One of Teman’s favorite dishes is lamb and the palace cook is particularly good at making it.  When I did the research into cooking it, I was surprised to discover that I actually cook lamb pretty much the same way that it’s suggest there, too.  My personal lamb recipe is here:

1 medium leg of lamb, cleaned, fat trimmed
1 full clove of garlic, peeled
salt, pepper and rosemary

Cut small slits into the lamb and stuff with pieces of garlic, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and the rosemary.  I cook it in a Reynold’s bag and it stays very moist that way.

Yup, it’s that simple.  I’m sure that Cook does something similar for Bathasar and Teman, though I’m not sure exactly what.  I’m going to go with my recipe, though. My family loves it.

I did not discuss other meats in the book, though I imagine freshwater fish from the river and chicken to also be on the menu.  Many Middle Eastern countries do not eat beef, but those are for religious reasons. As I chose to keep religion carefully out of the book, I also didn’t want to include any food restrictions for it.  That said, I didn’t end up needing to worry about the meats, so it worked out.

The next major food I knew I had to include was flatbreads.  We hear so much about pitas and while they are very common, there are a number of others, as well.  The one that I thought sounded most interesting is called Naan.  I found a couple of great recipes for both:  pita and naan.

Aside from the breads, I mention hummus and then the desserts.  Oh the desserts.  I was surprised by the variety that were out there, but quickly discovered two of my favorites: baklava and rice pudding. I had certainly not expected to find rice pudding on the list, though why, I’m not sure, but once I did, it was definitely one to include.  I have since tried to make both with… varied success. 

The rice pudding, or roz bel laban, is different than American pudding in that it includes orange blossom water or, in some recipes rose blossom water.  In all the hunting I did, none of the authentic recipes I came across left it out, either.  I have yet to find the water locally, so I haven’t been able to see what the difference in taste is.

Then, of course, there’s baklava.  Yup, that rich, sweet gooey nutty pastry.  I adore it. In fact, on a recent trip to Pittsburgh, I went out of my way to buy some and bring it home, it was so good.  Baklava (or baklawa) is complicated, involves a lot of layers, but it so very, very worth it, in the end.

As someone who likes food, I couldn’t resist including some of the references to it in Choices.  Teman and Bathasar certainly had their share of fun with it throughout the book. I do hope you’ve enjoyed the glimpse into Neyemen cuisine, as well!

Have you tried any of them? Which would you like to try? Leave a comment for an entry to win a swag bag full of goodies from Choices and to be entered to win a signed, paperback copy of Choices to be awarded at the end of the month.

Thanks again to Cate for being such a wonderful host! 

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Choices buy link:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3611

Blurb:

Born and raised a gypsy in the late eleventh century, Teman values freedom over everything. He and his best friend, Jasim, are thieves for hire—until one night they're caught and their precious freedom is revoked. Given the choice between the dungeons or palace pleasure slavery, they become slaves, but Teman vows to escape someday. 

Bathasar doesn’t want the throne. He supports his brother instead, which suits their sadistic father, Mukesh. When Teman, the handsome slave Bathasar has secretly been watching, saves his life, Bathasar requests a slave for the first time. Before long, Bathasar and Teman fall in love. But all is not well. One day Mukesh brutalizes Teman before the court, angering the empress of a neighboring nation. To appease her, he then offers her Jasim as a gift, and Teman decides to stay with Bathasar for now—despite the abuse he may suffer. 

The peace doesn’t last. Mukesh plans to invade Jasim's new country, and Bathasar must find a way to stop the destruction. But if he succeeds, he'll ascend to the throne and have the power to grant Teman his liberty. Then Teman will surely leave him. What other choice could a gypsy make?

Grace R. Duncan's Casting Couch Interview

I'd like to welcome Grace. R. Duncan, author of Choices to my blog for my first casting couch interview. Grace grew up with a wild imagination. She told stories from an early age—many of which got her into trouble. Eventually, she learned to channel that imagination into less troublesome areas, including fanfiction, which is what has led her to writing male/male erotica.
A gypsy in her own right, Grace has lived all over the United States. She has currently set up camp in East Texas with her husband and children—both the human and furry kind. She also teaches information technology classes at a local college.
As one of those rare creatures who loves research, Grace can get lost for hours on the internet, reading up on any number of strange and different topics. She can also be found writing fanfiction, reading fantasy, crime, suspense, romance, and other erotica, or even dabbling in art.

How did you get started in writing? What made you decide to submit your first story and what was your experience with that? Who was the first person you told when you got your first contract? What was their reaction?

I’ve been making up stories for as long as I can remember.  Some of them were constructive, some… not so constructive that got me into trouble.  I managed to tame that a bit through school and got away from writing entirely until about ten years ago.  Then I started writing again, mostly for myself.  About five years ago, I started publishing fanfiction of the het variety and then about two years ago, I was convinced to try my hand at original fiction.  With the encouragement of another friend who was in love with one of my original characters in another story, I finally had the courage to think I could write believable characters and wrote Choices.

It took me a long time.  Choices was my 2011 NaNo novel.  It took me over seven months before I felt like it was ready for submission.  My beta and I went through it some six times before I was willing to let go of it. I know I was being crazy, but I couldn’t help it. I was so nervous.  Finally, I put it together and it took me another day before I managed to work up the nerve to hit the “send” button. I let out a little scream when I did.

I am quite sure that Dreamspinner is very, very busy with submissions, but I got my confirmation within hours and then the waiting game started.  I think that, right there, is the hardest part of the publication process — the waiting game.  Editing is hard, don’t get me wrong (no one wants to hear what’s wrong with their story), but the waiting is a nightmare.  I think I checked my email twice a minute for the first two weeks.  I tapered off to once every… two minutes for the next two.  It took me a solid four weeks before I got myself to the point of waiting for my phone to tell me I had email.  Somewhere along the line, I think I stopped running after every little ding, but I can’t guarantee that.

When I got the email that they were accepting Choices for publishing, I did scream that time.   Brought the entire house running (and that’s saying something, in my house).  Finally, I managed to spit out to my husband what had caused me to scream and I'm pretty sure he was as excited as I was.



Where does your inspiration come from for your books?

A million different places.  Songs, pictures, sometimes. A single line someone says.  Anywhere and everywhere.  I currently have notes for some 15 different books/stories I want to write. And most of them came from the simplest of suggestions, like Choices did.



How do you make the important choices when it comes to writing your stories? Point of View? Voice? Theme? Title?
I most often write in third person.  It's just most comfortable for me.  I do have a few minute stories here and there in first person, however the vast majority are in 3rd. As far as the type of third person, that varies depending on the story and how much each of the characters wants to be heard.

The theme, like the title, just comes out as I work.  Sometimes, it's obvious early on (the working title and the theme for my current WIP - Deception, I've known since before I even submitted Choices) and for other things, I will write the entire story and the theme smacks me in the head after the fact.  Most of the time, my titles are hard won because I am terrible at coming up with them.



Are your characters purely fictional, or do you sample from people you’ve met in real life? Which one of your characters is most like you? How so?

I would never presume to try to claim that all of my characters or their attributes are entirely original. I doubt any author could claim that.  The fact is we absorb details better than most sponges absorb water and I am quite sure that we incorporate bits of real people and characters we love from other stories into our own whether we intend to, or not. 

That said, I do, in fact, often start with someone I know or the basic appearance or personality of a character I like and let them grow into their own person in my head.  Choices began that way and Teman and Bathasar quickly became very much their own people before I even realized it. 

As for who is most like me, I would have to say Teman. I have always been something of a nomad, liking to find out what's around the corner or over the hill. I am also very service-oriented like he is with the ingrained want to please those around me, which I will get into more in a blog post later, but is not really something that belongs here.



What do you consider your greatest accomplishment as a writer?

Actually hitting the submit button on my first book.  This sounds a little crazy, maybe, but it's the truth.  For all that I've written over the years, for all that I've laughed and cried with my characters and my readers have laughed and cried with my characters, my biggest accomplishment was actually getting the nerve together to submit. Not getting accepted - just putting it out there.  And I'm incredibly glad I did because the journey has been incredible, so far and it's only just beginning.



If you could co-author a book with any other writer, who would it be?

Oh my. There are so many possible answers to this. But my very favorite authors that I think of first are either dead or in a genre that I couldn't conceive of writing in (I say this now, but just watch... I'll pen something in horror just because the fates love to make me eat my words). 

However, after saying that, there are any number of wonderful Dreamspinner authors that I would love to collaborate with. Just a couple that come to mind would be Shira Anthony or H.B. Pattskyn.  Someday, I would like to try my hand at collaboration. I've written fanfiction with a few folks before, so I think original could be fun, challenging and a wonderful learning experience.



What is the one book that you think that very few people have read but everyone should read? What are you reading right now?

Hmm... I doubt I have any that I can think of that few people have read.  I will say that one book everyone should get through at least once is the Lord of the Rings.  There are so many wonderful things in that book that I just think everyone could take something away from it, but I am well aware that fantasy isn't everyone's forte.



What do you find the most difficult part of the writing process?

Editing. Not my editing, though that is tough enough. It's getting the manuscript back from the other editors. I am far from someone who considers their words "precious little darlings". I have sentences, lines and phrases that I really like, but I am well aware that many things can go.

However, that is not the same as having something you've poured so much of yourself into get sliced to shreds. Yes, I am well aware that many authors have fragile egos.  It's not that, so much. But I came away from my first line edits wondering what the hell I was doing trying to write. Sort of like... How in the world did I have the nerve to think I could be published? It took my content editor — a truly wonderful person with the patience of a saint — to talk me down and remind me that obviously Dreamspinner saw something in it because they accepted it and I was, in fact, in the editing process, which meant I belonged there.



What is a typical working day like for you? Where do you write? Do you wait for inspiration? Do you set certain writing goals? Are there any specific tools you use to help you write?
On one of the few days that I am able to devote to writing I find that I work best if I can organize myself, first and foremost.  I set aside specific time to write, set goals for each session and sometimes go so far as to write on my smaller netbook instead of my main desktop computer because it is limited and, hence, I cannot easily be distracted. It doesn't always work, but it works most of the time.

For writing, I have joined the Scrivener group.  I find I like having all of my research in the same place, I can even keep my music playlist there, pictures and art for the story... A lot of things. It's really grown on me and I find myself missing it when I don't have it available.



What is your greatest guilty pleasure (literary or otherwise)?

Well, actually, I don't like to think of things as guilty pleasures.  That makes it sound like we should apologize or be ashamed of the things that we like or are attracted to.  In our genre, we write about men who are attracted to men and most of us recognize that this isn't a choice that they make. It is simply who they are. Likewise, the things we enjoy, our likes and dislikes aren't something we just decide one day.  Do I like chocolate or not? Do I enjoy reading (and writing) about two men? Then I do.  No matter what it is, I shouldn't feel guilty about it because it shouldn't be something I ought be ashamed of. Mind you, that doesn't mean that there aren't tastes out there that people shouldn't pursue (like true pedophilia, for instance) but for the most part, no, I don't feel guilty about the things I enjoy.



And…last but not least: What are you working on now and what can we expect to see from you in the coming year?
As I mentioned earlier, I have a ridiculous number of stories planned, however, my current WIP is the sequel to Choices, called Deception with Cyrus and Nadir of Choices. I hope to work on a third book in the same world, featuring Darius and Salehi.  And I have a novella series that I hope Dreamspinner will want.



Excerpt from Deception (Warning, this excerpt may contain spoilers):

Behekam, Neyem - 1095 A.D.

Bathasar slid along the alley, shifting from shadow to shadow.  He could just barely make out the footsteps behind him and made sure he kept enough distance between him and them to stay out of the man’s knife range.  He had no wish to go back to the palace with a wound that his advisors would lecture him over.

He took a swift right turn and then a left, but the footsteps never faltered.  He frowned and melted further into the shadows, reminding himself to be lighter on his feet. As malik, he rarely worried about how softly he walked, except if he was trying to let his lover sleep when he couldn’t. He forced himself to think like a thief or assassin and worked to shift his weight.  Thieves didn’t stride like a malik did, they slipped or tiptoed. 

Another turn to the left, then another right and Bathasar found himself facing a solid wall.  He grumbled under his breath and frowned, trying to decide if he should attempt to scale it or turn around.  Before he could choose, however, the first knife flew through the air and embedded itself in the fence next to him.  He spun on his heel and cursed soundly as three more found their marks around his torso, an inch of their blades buried in wood.

“Four? Where on Earth did you hide four?”  Bathasar asked, amazement and amusement fighting for dominance in his tone.

“Where I hid them, which is the same place I hid this one,” Teman said, holding a fifth knife, aimed at Bathasar’s stomach, “Isn’t an issue.  What is, is that I could have heard you walking from a mile away.  If you insist on striding, you might as well paint a target on your back.”

Bathasar laughed.  “You sound so peevish, love.”

Teman rolled his eyes.  “That’s because the idea of my love’s life being taken tends to make me a bit peevish.”  He pulled the knife back, spun it and it disappeared into his pants.  Bathasar watched, eyebrows going up.

“Have I mentioned lately that I am very grateful that you’re on my side?” He asked, chuckling.  “And really, let them come. I do know how to use the sword I carry, you know.”

“The problem, my love, is that they won’t let you get close enough to use it.  You would already be dead were it not for the fortunate position I was in my first night in the Grand Hall.  They have deadly aim. They do not miss and were it not for the fact that you had one on your side, you would be dead.” Teman shook his head and crossed his arms as he peered up at Bathasar through the gloom of the alley.

Bathasar sighed. “You are right, of course.  I promise next time to work harder at walking lighter.  It is exceedingly difficult. I have spent my entire life being groomed for the throne. It’s not easy to undo nearly thirty years of training.”

“I know.  But your life may depend on it.  I can’t always be at your side.”  Teman frowned and took the single step closer to Bathasar as his lover wrapped arms around him.

“I intend to change that.  I have been thinking about it and I do not think there’s anything you shouldn’t be able to be present for.” 

“Really?” Teman asked, looking up.

Bathasar nodded. “Yes.  Besides, if you insist on acting as my bodyguard,” he said, sighing and Teman chuckled at the put-upon tone.  “Then we must establish that you will be with me at all times. If they think I can’t live without my pleasure slave then they won’t question it.”  He paused to run his thumb over the jeweled collar that Teman wore.  “And you will be able to protect me.”  He frowned again. “I don’t like the idea of you being the one to protect me.”

“It makes sense. I’m more than capable of it and you are the much more valuable out of the two of us, love.”  Teman reached up and pushed a few stray strands of black hair out of Bathasar’s face.

Bathasar rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, so you’ve told me.  Well, I have had enough of ‘training’ for one night.  There are much more pleasant things I can think of to do with you.”

“Mmmm, I can agree with that,” Teman murmured and tilted his lips up to be caught by Bathasar’s.  A full minute later, they pulled apart, both having trouble breathing.

“Come, let’s get back inside.  I want you,” Bathasar managed as he struggled for air.  Teman had been back at the palace for nearly a year since his initial release and self-discovery and even after all that time, Bathasar still had trouble gathering wits after kisses like that.

Teman stepped back and took Bathasar’s hand.  “Then let’s not wait any longer, my love.” Teman grinned and Bathasar laughed as they turned toward the palace entrance.

Choices is available from Dreamspinner Press on March 4th. You can pre-order a copy of Choices here: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3611&cPath=55_777
and Grace can be found on her
Website: http://www.grace-duncan.com/
Blog: http://gracerduncan.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorgraceduncan
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gracerduncan
E-mail: duncan.grace.r@gmail.com

It All Begins Tomorrow

This year has been the most exciting year of my life, and just when I think things can't get any better, they do. I got a bit of news a couple of days ago that I am not 100% sure I am allowed to share yet, and it's been killing me because I want to tell everyone. Getting away overnight to the Glen (a place my husband and I escape to every once in a while where there is no internet or cell phone service) helped with the temptation, but now that I'm home, I just wanna spill.
A few more days and I'm sure I will be able to share.

In the meantime, the casting couch interviews begin tomorrow (or in a few hours if you wait up until midnight), and I am so excited to be hosting so many amazing authors here.

Grace R. Duncan is up first, so stay tuned!