Esmeralda & Escarlata

The first novel in the Esmeralda & Escarlata series and debut erotica novel from adult entertainment industry veteran Alejandro Ashes. Esmeralda, a 27-year-old livestock caretaker who lives with her cat Marbles, sends what little extra money she makes to her sick father Dimitri. Yet she has a dark side named Escarlata who comes out to play whenever she snorts too much death’s-head faerie dust, committing heinous atrocities that Esmeralda forgets by morning. She certainly doesn’t remember the succubus-like seduction and flaming death she unleashes during these nightly escapades, nor the botched military experiment that first granted her these unnatural gifts at the cost of a deeply-fractured mind. So when friars from the gothic kingdom of Dominion cross the border of Liberty one night to bang on her door, demanding she face justice at the hands of the Domina Divina whip-wielding dominatrix-nuns they worship, Esmeralda is forced to confront all the mayhem her alter-ego has caused at the behest of her father, who is not actually sick. In fact, Dimitri has taken advantage of Escarlata’s amnesia-inducing ruthlessness to climb the ranks of the Hawkmoth Syndicate, Liberty’s biggest crime organization, fully owned and operated by luxury nightclub bosses That’s unfortunate for Azul, the Syndicate’s greatest rival and most honorable of the five merchant-princes who rule Liberty. As the charismatic playboy guildmaster of Castle Courtesana, Azul specializes in the consensual and classy side of the pleasure trade, whereas Syndicate traffickers cater to sadistic Goldsmith District bankers and celebs, host vile afterparties for the Desert Barons of Dominion and flood the streets with addictive death’s-head faerie dust. Speaking of the Desert Barons, they are in a cold war with the Domina Divina matriarchy, challenging their spiritual authority with fabulous wealth gleaned from monopolistic control of the hydro-geodes powering the Continent’s airships, mech-carriages and infrastructure. Meanwhile, as Esmeralda is tied up and hauled away by friars to be brought before High-Mistress Dolores, little do they know that within the next few hours, they will end up as charred remains following a riotous gangbang when Escarlata makes an appearance, right around the time madman vigilante Rojo swoops in to join the fray. Rojo seems to possess strange abilities of his own and has been tracking down Escarlata for months, butchering his way through the Shadow District controlled by the Syndicate. He is keen to help her, though his motivations are murky. When Esmeralda wakes up the very next day, remembering more and more of Escarlata’s exploits, her life is further turned upside down after Azul cordially invites her to become an elite courtesan. Her initiation ceremony will take place that evening during Azul’s annual Three-Roses Gala, a peacemaking event that brings together Dominion, Liberty and the crystal-powered hermit nation of Commune, whose ruling Culturati dispatch a deadly synthetic humanoid to prevent Esmeralda from reaching Castle Courtesana alive. Rumors are even circulating that the cyberpunk-like Commune has been overtaken by a malignant artificial intelligence at the heart of their crystal pyramid, hoarding tech that vastly eclipses the Continent’s steam-fueled advances. Ancient conspiracies, greed and a web of lies soon unravel against a backdrop of stylish ultra-violence and heaps of explicit sex in a genre-blurring five-novel series, with pre-orders available for every sequel, releasing three months apart. A world-building prequel novella Steamy Punk is already out as well. With pulpy noir flair, surprising depth and over-the-top sexual encounters aplenty, Esmeralda & Escarlata offers wickedly subversive, giddily grimdark excitement with sultry antiheroes and highly-capable villains. – ASIN: B0D4M6FYGM | ISBN13: 9798325953637 | ISBN-13: 979-8325953637