The Ink Me Tour with Sidney Bristol

Author Sidney Bristol is here with us today talking about tattoos and her latest release The Harder He Falls. Welcome to The Book Vixen Sidney!

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Hello! And thanks so much to The Book Vixen for hosting me today! I’m Sidney, and I write on the naughty side of the line, typically contemporary, but I’m known to write both paranormal and sci-fi. Currently I’m touring the blogosphere talking about the latest edition to my So Inked series from Ellora’s Cave, The Harder He Falls.

I wrote the first book for this series because there was a call out for books that focused on tattoos. If you haven’t seen me, scroll down. There’s a mug shot and you can catch a glimpse of my tattoos. This call was perfect for me! It’s spawned a sort of LA Ink in Dallas series. Each book focuses on a different female tattoo artist, their love life and tattoo art.

Believe it or not, there’s actually a varied tattoo culture out there. From the Sailor Jerry and Americana styles to tribal tattoos like what the Maori tribes wear to Japanese tattoos that are incredibly popular these days. The heroine of The Harder He Falls is a half-Korean woman who specializes in Asian art forms, namely the iconic Japanese images, their history and meaning.

Tattooing in Japan is different from America. Where ink is very oriented around making a fashion statement, in Japan it’s spiritual and often represents something the wearer wants to carry with them at all time.

I find it interesting that the first documented tattoo “fad” in Japan was brought about because of an illustrated novel, more or less, which depicted heroic figures with their bodies covered in dragons, tigers, flowers and religious images. People saw the book and went to the woodcutters who created the scrolls to get the images put onto their skin! Most of them even used the same tools to ink people that they used to carve the images into wood. Can you say ouch? And what about splinters?

Today many are familiar with the image of the yakuza, Japan’s version of the mafia, who were heavily tattooed criminals. This came about in later times when Japan wanted to present a cleaner, more cultured appearance to their Western visitors and outlawed tattoos altogether. I think we all know how people react when they’re told they can’t do something – they do it anyways! So tattoos in Japan took on a connotations of being part of the criminal lifestyle.

There are maybe 300 tattoo shops in current day Japan, most of which are located in heavily tourist areas and cater to non-Japanese nationals. These shops are much like what you’d find in America where you can take a design in to be done by an artist with a motorized tattoo machine. The other kind of tattoo shop are hard to find establishments that cater to the traditional market. These tattoos are called irezumi, and often the person getting the tattoo has little to no say in what the master artist is tattooing on them. In some shops, they still use the old method of dipping a sharpened bamboo stick into ink and jabbing it under the skin of the recipient.

While the Japanese have given us their tattoo art, there is still much of the practice and secrets that might never be shared. It’s a fascinating topic I can go on about for ages! Researching this for writing my book, The Harder He Falls, was no hardship at all.

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It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life.  She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.

Find the author online: website | goodreads | twitter | facebook

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Title: The Harder He Falls
Series: So Inked, Book 2
Author: Sidney Bristol
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published/Release Date: July 18, 2013 by Ellora’s Cave

A woman who doesn’t have time for love…

A hot night full of hotel-destroying sex was all Kellie wanted from her client-turned-sex god. Between family and work, there isn’t room for love, just hot, sweaty lust. An arrangement for mutual gratification is exactly what Kellie wants, but every kiss, each mind-blowing orgasm twines her heart around a man she cannot have.

A man building a new life…

Quinton’s assumptions about the So Inked shop owner are turned on their head after one session under her tattoo machine. Kellie’s not the vandal he’s looking for, but she’s the woman he wants. In his bed, on the desk or under the stars, he’ll take her any way he can get her. But Quin has secrets and someone is out to destroy him. Someone who has their sights set on Kellie now.

Buy on Amazon  |  Add to Goodreads

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Thanks to Sidney Bristol, two lucky winners will receive an ebook copy of Under His Skin, book one in the So Inked series. Good luck to all who enter!

• No purchase necessary.
• Must be 18 years old or older to enter.
• Giveaway open Internationally. Void where prohibited by law.
• Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received.
• See Rafflecopter form for information on how to enter this giveaway.
• Please read TBV's Giveaway Policy before entering.
• Giveaway ends 9:01 pm (Pacific Time) on 9/5/2013.

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