The Cougar Book – interview with Julia Barrett

All this month on the Logical-Lust blog we will have interviews from the authors of The Cougar Book, edited by Jolie du Pre. Today is Julia Barrett, author of “You Just Might Get It.”

In her secret life, Julia Barrett writes in many genres, romance/suspense, science fiction, and contemporary romance. In her other working life, Julia writes nonfiction and poetry and is a registered nurse.

What made you decide to submit your work for inclusion in The Cougar Book?

When I read about the call for The Cougar Book, I realized I needed to move out of my comfort zone, which at the time was full-length Romance/Suspense. Writing a short work that needed to contain all the enticing elements of a longer work was a test, and I discovered it to be a great confidence builder. Writing this short work, and learning that I had succeeded and the story had been accepted for The Cougar Book gave me the courage to branch out into other genres and to loosen up a bit on length.

Could you see yourself being a cougar?

I actually was a cougar once…Before I married my husband, I dated a man five years my junior. We got together because we had many common interests and we had a great time together. We’ve actually remained good friends. I’ve also dated a guy twenty years my senior. That was interesting too!

Does your writing turn you on?

O.M.F.G. No comment!

The Cougar Book release is in print and ebook formats. With ebook readers becoming more and more popular, what are your views on ebooks and their effect on the publishing industry?

Well, one hopes there is room for both ebooks and traditional print books. To be honest, I love my print books – they are my most precious material possessions. However, I’m realistic enough to know that ebooks are the way of the future. My children and my grandchildren will probably do most of their reading electronically. Times change, we just happen to be living in a period of unusually rapid change and it’s a big adjustment for the reading public and the publishing industry.

Your birthday has been declared a national holiday. How do you want people to celebrate?

Go to Disneyland! That’s what I’m doing this year. I love Disneyland…I think I love going there more than my kids do! I ride Thunder Mountain over and over again and I think the Indiana Jones ride is a blast! Plus I gotta admit, Pirates of the Caribbean is very cool!

You’re stranded on a desert island and you can only have one book, one album/CD, and one person with you—what would they be?

Okay…let me think…one book – Shogun, by James Clavell, one album/CD – The Allman Brothers Live at the Filmore, one person – my smokin’ hot husband!

What are you working on now? Do you have a current release or a new release coming soon?

I’m currently working on the fourth book of a futuristic science fiction series, Daughters of Persephone. The entire series will be released in two books in July and August. The work follows a line of genetically enhanced females who are bred in a desperate attempt to save the human race. My most recent release is, Captured, with Siren-Bookstrand, another work of science fiction. The book tells the story of a woman who is captured by an interstellar trapper bound for a meat market – literally a butcher shop – on the other side of the galaxy.

Where can we find you on the Web? Do you have a website or blog(s)? Any social networks?

You can find me with Siren-Bookstrand, with Resplendence Publishing and with Cobblestone Press, and now with Logical-Lust! I have a website: http://juliarachelbarrett.com and I blog over at Seven Sexy Scribes.

Interview with erotica author, D. L. King

D. L. King dlkingerotica.com is a New Yorker with a penchant for smut writing. She is the editor of Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica and the up-coming

Smut specialist - D L King

anthology, The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica, both from Cleis Press, she is also the publisher and editor of the erotica review site, Erotica Revealed.

Some of her most recent work can be found in anthologies such as Broadly Bound (Phaze), Girl Crazy, Swing!, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am, Frenzy, Best Women’s Erotica, Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica and Best Lesbian Erotica.  You can find her also in the soon-to-be-released anthology, Like a Sacred Desire: Tales of Sex Magick (Circlet Press).  She is the author of two novels, The Melinoe Project and The Art of Melinoe.

LL:  Who is your toughest critic?

DLK: I’d really have to say that I am my toughest critic.  I tend to think whatever I’m writing, at any given time, isn’t really very good.  I’m disciplined enough to soldier on and finish what I begin.  (Unless, of course, I’m right, and the story does indeed turn out to be utter crap, in which case I file it away with the rest of the unfinished stuff—because you never know, sometimes you can turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse…)  Usually, given distance, I’m pleasantly surprised when I go back and read a story.

But that’s why I really do rely on a couple of other people to give me an objective opinion when I’m working.

LL:  Does your family/significant other know and support your writing?  What do they think?

DLK: The SO is also a writer of erotica; as a matter of fact, that’s how we met.  So, yes, he supports my writing.  I really value his critical and editorial skills, too!  And—he doesn’t get mad when he recognizes certain lines, descriptions or sexual escapades…

As for my family, my mother died many years ago, but I know she would have been supportive.  My sisters know what I write.  They are both supportive, although one will actually read my work, while the other is a bit more reticent to do so.  My father learned that I wrote erotica (after I expressly told one of my sisters not to mention it) and was quite a bit less than happy to hear about it.  I never mention it, which is a shame, as I would like to share my successes with him.

LL:  Name an author whose work you’ve read for the first time that you enjoyed.

DLK: Donna George Storey recommended Susan DiPlacido’s book, American Cool (iUniverse) to me.  We reviewed it on Erotica Revealed and it sounded like an interesting read.  I’ll tell you what, that woman can write!  I read a lot of books, many of them extremely well written but Susan DiPlacido’s use of language blew me away.  She has three other books out, as well: 24/7 (Zumaya), Trattoria (Mundania) and Mutual Holdings (Magic Carpet).  I’d recommend her—and she’s a Las Vegas junkie, as am I!

LL:  Name a few references every writer (or writer in your genre) should have.

DLK: I have the following on my desk, by my computer: the Royal Shakespeare Company’s William Shakespeare: Complete Works (Bate & Rasmussen, 2007, Modern Library Edition, NY, NY), a well thumbed copy of The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Third Edition, Oxford Pocket American Thesaurus of Current English and The Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases. I also have a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.

But, I’ll tell you, in Donna George Storey’s interview, she recommended The Synonym Finder (1978, Rodale Press).  I bought a copy and haven’t looked back since!  I LOVE THIS BOOK.  Thanks Donna!

I also use a version of the OED on my computer.  (As you can tell, I’m an OED snob.)

LL:  Who or what has been your best teacher when it comes to writing?

DLK: I credit my 10^th grade English teacher with teaching me to write.  Her name was Ms Welch.  She was ancient.  I’ve no idea what that would translate to now.  Ancient is relative when you’re fifteen years old.  She was mean.  She didn’t take any guff.  She corrected absolutely everything.  She used red pencil.  She took pride in correct usage of the English language.  Because of Ms Welch, I can write clearly and concisely.  (I even named one of the characters in The Melinoe Project after her.  It’s OK, I’m pretty sure she’d dead now.

LL:  Describe your experience getting published for the first time.  Would you have done anything differently?

DLK: My first two novels are very hardcore, explicit works of fem dom.  (Recently, a friend who just finished reading both books told me that she was happy to discover my Melinoe books were indeed, “extremely explicit, hardcore BDSM” as she is usually disappointed when she reads that on a cover and later finds that the book in question doesn’t come close to her idea of “extremely explicit, hardcore” fiction.)  There aren’t a lot of imprints that publish that sort of thing.  It took me over two years to get the first book, The Melinoe Project, published.

At the time, there were only three print publishers that would be interested in the title.   The first had signed all their titles for the coming year and asked me to resubmit in a year, if the book was still unpublished.  The second, through a series of mishaps, actually lost my manuscript—twice—before finally going out of business.  The third publisher seemed to be too squicked by the small amount of forced bi male action in the book.  (I don’t know—go figure.  I’m just telling you…).  By the time I got back to the first imprint, they had changed editors and the new editor needed me to begin the process again.  That editor liked my writing but felt the book was a bit too much for them at the time.

It was then, after having exhausted what looked like my only print options, I began looking at electronic publishers.  Let me just say, “I don’t write romance, erotic or otherwise.” With that on the table, there weren’t a lot of electronic publishers who would be interested in The Melinoe Project either.  I found Renaissance E Books and sent the publisher a query letter.  She was interested in seeing the manuscript, so I sent it to her.  She got back to me within the week and offered to publish it.

So, about two years and a week later, I got a contract!  Renaissance have since published the sequel, The Art of Melinoe and a short novella, The Marrying Kind.  The Melinoe books are also now available in print (CreateSpace) through Amazon.

LL:  Where did the idea for The Melinoe Project come from?

DLK: Such a good question, that.  You know, I’m not really sure.  I can tell you exactly when I began writing it (the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2002).  I can tell you the circumstances (friends and their child had driven down from upstate NY for Thanksgiving and stayed over.  They left that Friday morning and after I saw them off, I sat down at the computer and began writing).  What came out was this really extreme piece of fem dom erotica with elements of science fiction.  Oh yeah, and a lot of medical fetish.  Where the hell did that come from???  I really have no idea.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

LL:  Does your writing turn you on?

DLK: Abso-fucking-lutely!  If it doesn’t turn me on, how can I possibly expect it to turn anyone else on?

A HUGE thank-you to D.L King for the interview, and good luck with your new projects!

Jim Brown

LL-Publications

Logical-Lust Publications

Interview with Helen E. H. Madden – Author, Cover Artist, and Cynical Woman

The future is perfect with fantastic erotica

This week, we catch up with Helen E. H. Madden - and it wasn’t easy catching this woman! Helen is the author of Future Perfect – A Collection of Fantastic Erotica. She is also a very devilish and cynical woman with her own pair of horns.

How/When did you decide to become a writer?

I have always enjoyed writing (doesn’t every writer say that?), but never considered it seriously until I was in my early thirties. Prior to that time, I had written one novella and a handful of stories, most of them unfinished. The ones I had finished were all erotica, and those were actually the ones I managed to sell, usually at a rate of one a year. I had a day job for many years until the stress got to me (it was a really lousy job) and I finally quit. Yes, I did the thing everybody says you shouldn’t do; I quit my day job with no plan of what to do next. Fortunately, I had a husband willing to support me while I figured things out.

While being jobless for two years, I started and failed to finish a number of short stories. I also got pregnant. I was 33 when I went into the hospital to have a C-section. I was 34 the day I came home with my first born. Talk about suddenly feeling old! I was also going crazy, being in no way prepared to handle a screaming baby that nursed non-stop, 24 hours a day. I couldn’t seem to get out of the nursing chair, and I kept thinking, “I could die, and my only significant accomplishment in life would be that I breastfed this kid!” I had to start doing something, so I turned back to my half-hearted attempts at writing. I set up a little table by my nursing chair and kept a notebook and pen there. I made myself write every time I sat down to nurse. I decided I’d write a book. One year later, I had nearly 1000 pages of chicken scratch that I swear will never see the light of day. It was really awful. But working on that awful book finally taught me how to write everyday, and once I did that, I couldn’t figure out how to NOT write.

Does your family know about and support your writing? What do they think?

Everybody in my family knows I write erotica. My husband has always known, and was the first to encourage me to keep writing erotica when I sold my first story. If I could make money at it, he was happy; if it kept me from tearing my hair out in frustration, even better. My parents also know. My mother introduces me as “her daughter who writes porn.” She introduces my sister as “her daughter the actress.” Mom says I can write whatever I want, so long as my sister doesn’t star in it.

Name an author whose work you’ve read that you enjoy?

I’m a podcast author, and I tend to love books written by other podcast authors. There are quite a few writers out there today who write a novel and then podcast it for free. Being a stay-at-home mom, I don’t often have time to sit and actually read a book, so I’ve learned to download a lot of free podcast books to listen to while cleaning house or exercising. I’ve become a podcast addict as a result.

On the speculative fiction side of the house, I’ve enjoyed Philippa Ballantine’s Chasing the Bard (fantasy), Tee Morris’ Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword (fantasy/ detective), Mike Bennet’s One Among the Sleepless (crime/thriller), Mur Lafferty’s Playing For Keeps (super heroes), Scott Sigler’s Ancestor (sci-fi/thriller), and Phil Rossi’s Crescent (sci-fi/horror). All of these authors’ works are also available in print, either self-published or small press published, and one of these authors, Scott Sigler, has since gone on to become a New York Times best selling author!

On the erotica side of things, I’ve listened to, and read, several enjoyable works by Nobilis Reed of the Nobilis Erotica podcast. Nobilis also happens to be my podcasting partner in crime, which makes it even more fun to listen to his work! In the world of print and e-published erotica, I’m a huge fan of Remittance Girl, TreSart L. Sioux, R. V. Raiment, Kathleen Bradean and Jay Lygon. Each of these writers has a unique voice in the erotica genre, and none are afraid to tell a good story as well as write steamy sex scenes.

The cynical woman

What’s the average day like for a stay-at-home mom and erotica writer?

On a good day, I get up 4:45AM, shower, and head up to the office I share with my husband. At this hour of the morning, he’s not in it, of course, so I have the place to myself. I write for two hours, until it’s time to get the rest of the family up for work and school. Then I’m a full-on mom, making breakfast (boxed cereal is my BEST friend), getting kids dressed and to the bus stop, folding laundry, whatever. I still have one kiddo who stays home with me all day. The Pixie and I ramble around the house, making messes (her job) and cleaning up (my job) until lunch time. Some time in the morning, I try to fit in some exercise, either walking, swimming, Wii Fit, or karate. After lunch, we have “quiet time,” which is when my youngest child heads into her room to play while I sit back down at the computer to work. For two hours, I work on writing, podcasting, computer graphics, or whatever else needs to be done. Then it’s back to the bus stop to get my oldest daughter, the Princess. Once more, I’m back into full mom mode, shuttling kids to karate classes, supervising homework, preparing dinner (the slow cooker is also my BEST friend), and getting the kids ready for bed. Once the kids are down, I’m usually down too. My husband helps out a lot, taking over many of the evening chores when he’s home so I can get a break. It’s a busy day, but it works.

How do you define erotica?

I came up with this question myself. Can you tell? I’ve had several discussions with other erotica writers recently over the definition of “erotica” as a genre. All too often, I see people define erotica as sexually explicit material intended to arouse and titillate readers. That’s fine — I think erotica should be arousing! We are writing about sex, after all. But I also find this definition to be too narrow. Many erotic works get relegated to the trash heap because people think erotica is nothing but sex scene after sex scene with no purpose beyond providing fodder for readers’ wet dreams and wank sessions. So many publishers state in their guidelines that they also want plot, setting, and characterization. Great! Every story should have those things, regardless of genre. But how about theme as well? Think about it. Other genres are not defined by their content, but by their theme. Science fiction is not all about rocket ships, aliens and zap guns. It’s about the impact that the technology and science of the future may have on mankind. Fantasy is more than just elves and magic spells. It looks at how people might live with magic and mythological elements in place of — or alongside of — science and technology. The super hero genre frequently discusses the ethical implications of having powers beyond the norm of man. All these genres are theme-based. I think erotica should be too. Beyond the explicit sex scenes, erotica should look at how sex and its related issues affect people’s lives. Why do we make the choice to have sex, and why with that particular partner? What are the consequences of sleeping with the wrong person? How do sexually transmitted diseases or broken hearts affect our love lives? What’s the impact of having a different sexual orientation from the norm? How does fetish influence day-to-day life? Asking questions like these add so much to a story!

What projects are you currently working on?

I’m well into the second year of writing and producing the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, a free weekly audio show of speculative fiction erotica. I write a story a week, then edit it, record it, and put it all together in MP3 format and upload it to the internet. The show runs on Radio Dentata Thursday evenings at 8PM, and then is available the next day for download. I’m up to 87 episodes at this point, plus 7 special episodes. That’s 94 stories written in the last year and a half. I’m very proud of this particular project.

In addition to the podcast, I also draw The Adventures of Cynical Woman, a web comic about life as a stay-at-home mom and erotica writer. I love cartooning, and doing the web comic is a great change of pace from writing and podcasting. I also do 3D artwork and digital painting for a certain e-publisher called Logical Lust. Have you ever heard of them?

As for writing, I’m looking forward to this summer when I no longer have to be at the bus stop twice a day. This will give me a little more time to work, which means I’ll be able to pull out the big writing projects and indulge in some serious story-telling. I started a sci-fi/noir piece earlier this year that asks the question: how do you achieve intimacy if you can’t touch the people you love? I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into that.