Q&A with Madelynne Ellis, and a *CONTEST*

Long before I discovered epubs, I was reading Black Lace novels. Now celebrating their 15th anniversary, this U.K. publisher is known for its intelligent erotic stories for women such as the brilliant Black Lace classics Menage by Emma Holly (now a Virgin Cheek title), Continuum by Portia Da Costa, and one of my favorite books of all time, A Gentleman’s Wager by Madelynne Ellis.

With the recent re-release of A Gentleman’s Wager (read my review) and the upcoming U.S. release of its much anticipated sequel, Phantasmagoria on April 29 (reviewed here), I asked Madelynne to stop by and answer a few questions. And even though I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a slightly obsessed fangirl, she actually agreed!

Read more

Author Q&A: Noelle Mack - Gives Away Books!

Hi folks - Gwen here.  Here’s how a recent IM conversation went between Sybil and myself:

• Gwen: Ooo.  Noelle Mack.  She did Sexy Beast and Perfect Kisses.  All those pretty Aphrodisia covers.
• Sybil:  Derr.  Plus.  Wolves.  Purple cover.  Hello?  How can I NOT post this!
• Gwen:  <–doesn’t care - Pretty mantitty.
• Sybil:  GWEN!  [Ed.:she’s snapping her fingers at me at this point, I’m sure] WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!  Paranormal.  Erotica.  Your thing! Plus she’s letting us give away books to our readers!
• Gwen: <–fondle fondle - Pretty covers!

And that about sums up Sybil’s and my relationship.  She (pusher) keeps me supplied in pretty mantitty, which I (addict) fondle and stroke, and for which I format posts (pimpage).  Hey.  It works.

On that note, Noelle Mack, author of the recently released Wild (Pack of St.James, Book 1), is interviewed by our push…  uh… by Sybil:

Read more

Ward Takes on Five

[click the question to see answer]

****DO NOT POST LOVER AWAKENED SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD***
please and thank you

We will start easy, tells us about Lover Awakened. (for the five people who don’t know, this comes out today)

First, thanks for having me! LOVER AWAKENED is Zsadist’s book. Out of all the Brotherhood, Z is my favorite… (I’m also a huge V and Rehvenge and Qhuinn fan but who’s counting).Z is probably the most dangerous of the Brothers. He’s the one who, in the words of his twin, is ruined, not broken.

Held as a blood slave for a century, he was horribly abused and emerged violent, unpredictable and essentially soulless. The book is about him and his mate, Bella, a beautiful aristocrat, and the love they find together.

Out of the four books you have completed, what has surprised you the most?

When I started to write the series, I kind of expected each book to feel the same. I mean… in terms of tone. But they’re not.

To me, DARK LOVER reads differently than LOVER ETERNAL and LOVER AWAKENED and LOVER REVEALED. I suppose it does make sense as whichever Brother is on deck sets the beat of the book and as they are different, and their conflicts are different, the stories vary accordingly. But that was a surprise. I will say that LA is the darkest of the series so far- and originally, I didn’t think anything else would come close. Instead, Vishous’s book, LOVER UNBOUND, is also a dark one. Rehv’s and Qhuinn’s will be likewise

Do you think we can ever have too many vampire or paranormal books? What do you think of the explosion of the genre?

I think that straight contemporary romance is very hard to write in a fresh manner (there are undoubtedly some who do it but I think it’s hard!)At this time, in modern society, there are very few external restrictions to romance. I mean, consider the strictures of historicals for example where social rules and values prevented free sexual expression. A lot of these barriers to love no longer exist: pre-martial sex is not the no-go it once was, for example, so if you have it, you’re reputation isn’t completely ruined and you don’t end up banished to the wrong side of the tracks.

What I love about paranormals, and why I think they are so popular, is that you can bring contemporary speech and settings into an environment where external conflict can still be imposed. For example, in the Brotherhood world, males need to drink from females of their own species. So if a male, such as Rhage, falls in love with a human, his physical need for the blood of another is a conflict that is going to have be resolved somehow. And strong conflict breeds strong emotion which can translate into a great read.

I think the popularity resides as well in the limitless world-building you can do. I mean, as long as the rules of the world are internally consistent and you write convincingly, there is almost nothing you can’t do or explore. So that’s why you see some really fresh, interesting takes on old myths as well as some wild, fantastic imaginary places.

I also think paranormals have gained momentum as all current fades do, creating their own kind of centrifugal force in the market place. The issue is always going to be quality, however. No matter how great a trend is, readers are not going to fooled by lackluster plotting or characters. So to answer your question: I think we can never have enough really good vampire or paranormal books. After all, it’s what we’re all looking for: a great read!

Do you ever wake up and go, I so don’t want to write about the brothers today. And want to write something else?

These guys are set to be at least the next six years of your writing life? Will there be time for anything else? And if so… what?

LOL! I haven’t yet! It doesn’t mean that some days I don’t want to bury my head in the backyard (while it’s still attached.) But I really am captivated by these books. There are other things I want to write, however. I have another series that I’ve planned out, but I’m sitting on it right now- with the Brotherhood books coming out every six months, I need to be really focused on them. I don’t want to crack open another series unless I feel sure I can do both well.

Who is next? In fact can you give us a run down of theorder of the series?

Okay, so after LOVER AWAKENED, it’s Butch’s turn. The cop’s book, LOVER REVEALED, comes out in March ‘07 and it’s all finished. Vishous is up thereafter. I’ve just started V’s book, LOVER UNBOUND- I’m about 90 pages in so far. Then it’s Phury’s book.At first I thought the series was going to run a total of ten books. But as I’ve written it, more and more people have come forward. Now? It’s open ended. I mean… I HAVE to write Qhuinn’s book. Just have to.

If you’ve got any questions you want to ask, I’d be happy to try and answer them!