Combustion by Elia Winters ♥ Fun Facts, Book Tour & GIVEAWAY ♥ (Steampunk Erotic Romance)

A war orphan, Astrid Bailey is content living her adult life alone, working as a contract machinist. Her real passion, though, is inventing felicitation devices that promote women’s sexual empowerment and help them find pleasure independent of a man.

The upcoming World’s Fair, with its substantial cash prize, is an opportunity to open the shop she’s always imagined and hopefully solve her financial woes. Except the committee has denied her entry unless she obtains a “sponsor”. Astrid suspects they mean “male”.

Eli Rutledge, noted watchmaker, knows entering the fair will solidify his reputation as an innovator —but he’s fresh out of ideas. Until Astrid approaches him with her outrageous product line. With no other options, though, he agrees to lend her his good name.

As construction heats up, so does their chemistry—and the complications. Astrid is unaccustomed to asking for help, much less sharing credit. And Eli fights an attraction that could spell professional disaster. As the Fair date approaches, Astrid and Eli must decide how far they’ll go. For the business…and for each other.

Product Warnings Contains period-appropriate graphic language, highly inappropriate amounts of M/F and F/F sex, and copious amounts of *ahem* product testing. May *ahem again* “spark” an online shopping binge for *cough* toys. Of the adult variety.

Behind the Scenes of Combustion

As a lover of the Steampunk genre, especially the aesthetic, I sat down to write Combustion with a firm sense of the world in mind. I sketched out the political history of Brittania, including the recent Revolution that overturned the government, and soon realized that my story was taking place after all this unrest had concluded. Astrid’s parents lost their lives in the Revolution, but their actions helped ensure that she would grow up in a different, better world.

I was surprised how much I needed to know about this world to create my story, considering very little of those facts are in the final edition of Combustion. Most significantly, I had to imagine the World’s Fair. I wish I could have seen some of the original World’s Fairs, as I love the whole concept of them: innovation, invention, the visions of the future. The World’s Fair is the embodiment of hope, and for Astrid, it’s where she’s pinned her own hopes for the future.

Astrid and Eli’s relationship is necessarily tumultuous. They’re both strong in their own right, and while Astrid is definitely the driving force behind their sexual adventures, Eli is centered in a way that balances Astrid’s personality. When I was writing these characters, I spent a lot of time figuring out their motivations. Some of those changed during edits, all for the better, and that editing process helped me clarify why Astrid and Eli belong together.

Combustion also sparked some of my favorite side characters of any of my novels. Cecily Lahey, the Rubenesque sex-positive brothel owner, definitely deserves her own book. I hope to bring her story to life in the coming years. I’m also intrigued by the relationship between Josian and her husband, which is definitely more complex than it seems.

Overall, the world of Combustion is one of my favorite creations, and I hope to visit it again in years to come.

When she met his eyes again, her gaze was resolute. “Mr. Rutledge, I don’t mean to give the wrong impression. It’s very kind of you to come meet with us, when I’m sure there are other things you could be doing.” Astrid put her shoulders back slightly, straightening. “But whether you realize it or not, you’re the very reason we women need groups like this.” With a wave of her hand, she gestured to the other ladies gathered in the room. “You have nothing in common with us. You inherited a successful business from your father, who was already a prominent businessman, and your greatest achievement is to not yet have run it into the ground. Other people have given you everything you’ve ever needed. As a man, you can get a position on the Chamber of Commerce or the Fair Board or the IFCT or the London Business Council or whatever, and know that when you talk, people will listen. And I’m very happy that you have the money to own a shop and rent a booth at the World’s Fair, but to assume that everyone else is in the same position as you demonstrates how completely clueless you are about the plight of women business owners in this city. So no, you haven’t said anything to offend me. Everything about you offends me.”

The room had gone silent, and Eli stood frozen, staring down into Astrid’s face, into her dark eyes that suddenly widened as she realized the magnitude of what she had just said. She flushed, her face and neck and collarbones turning a rosy shade of pink, and she pressed one hand to her lips before turning and rushing from the room.

As she left, Eli watched her go with numb shock. Her words had been incredibly rude, and he couldn’t help but feel stung. What shocked him the most, though, was his sudden and overwhelming urge to kiss her.

       

     

Elia Winters has always been a New England girl, despite having spent much of her childhood in Florida. She holds a degree in English Literature and teaches at a small rural high school where she runs too many extracurricular activities. She balances her love of the outdoors with a bottomless well of geekiness.

Elia dabbles in many genres, but erotic romance has been one of her favorites since she first began sneaking her mother’s romance novels. In high school, she kept her friends entertained with a steady stream of naughty stories and somehow never got caught passing them around. Her erotic fiction and poetry have been published online at Clean Sheets and Scarlet Letters under a different name. Elia currently lives in New England with her loving husband and their odd assortment of pets.

      

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