Royal advisor Veijo Haavisto is going to be assassinated by an international syndicate of gun runners, and only star actress and prophetess of death Honey Mäkinen can save him! Will she reach him in time? And can she stop the handsome advisor from falling under the leader's hypnotic spell?
Guns! Aerial chases! Love! Find all within The Tides of Death!
- Blurb for The Tides of Death (a Honey Mäkinen novel)
Jaana 'Honey' Mäkinen is the main character in a series of standalone action-romance novels published by Kiin Hæy in
Kanmaa.
Character
Inspiration
Honey is an adaptation of a traditional kiiki'ket - an archetypical female character in music hall plays who is outspoken and sexually suggestive. Like her cultural predecessor, Honey uses seduction and guile to get her own way and is known for her quick wit and double-ententres.
Personality
Equally at home in dive bars and royal palaces, Honey is flirtatious, cheeky, and sexually forward. She moves between social strata effortlessly, leaving a string of broken hearts and brief romances in her wake. She smokes cigarillos and drinks aniseed-honey tea (her kisses are described as 'sweet and smokey'). A thoroughly modern woman, Honey is able to pilot automobiles and aeroplanes, dresses in the latest fashions, and is always immaculately presented despite run-ins with everything from moon-vampires to interantional criminals.
Sexuality
The steamy romance scenes are one of the principle attractions of the series, and part of the plot formula is that almost everybody - allies and antagonists, of any sex or gender - ends up falling for Honey at some point.
Honey is written as a variation of the femme-fatale archetype, and uses her sexuality to get close to her target for positive reasons, either winning them to her side or using thm to access some key information or object she needs to win the day.
Fictional backstory
A music hall singer from the fictional city of Sorfina, in the Kingdom of Nurveli, Honey was spotted by a talent scout and flown out to Tufiamet,
Saouaz, to work in the moving picture industry. However, her plane crashed en route and she was the only survivor. After being rescued, she began to have prophetic dreams in which she sees the deaths of strangers. Realising that her visions were coming true, Honey set out to use her talents for good.
The first book begins with Honey already established as a motion picture starlet; her backstory is given minimal attention in the narrative, and either detailed in a single expository paragraph or summarised in an attention-grabbing strapline.
Books
Plot
Published to a near-monthly schedule, the stories are somewhat formulaic and include international travel, beautiful and charismatic love interests, intimate descriptions of clothing, thinly-veiled references to celebrities and famous figures in popular culture, and - of course - one or more 'open door' love scenes. Each book concludes with Honey successfully preventing the prophesised death by seducing the subject of her vision, though these relationships never last beyond the scope of the novel.
Author
The novels are ghostwritten by a variety of authors publishing under the pseudonym R. S. Penttilä. The authors' identities remain unknown.
Cover
The covers are painted by Sointu Oiva, using bright colours with bold brushstrokes designed to stand out in the crowded 'pulp' market. They often show Honey in some kind of peril, or in a provocative or alluring pose.
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