Good morning! Please welcome guest author Lucy Felthouse. Though I will be away for part of the day, please feel free to leave comments for Lucy and I will post them as soon as I return. Thank you!
~Kate
Where do you find inspiration for your stories?
Anywhere and everywhere. It can be a book, a film, a TV show, a person, a place, an overheard conversation… inspiration can literally strike at any time, and the trick is to hold onto the idea until you get chance to write it down.
What do you like best about writing erotic romance?
The variety. I write erotica and erotic romance, and within that I’ve penned contemporary, paranormal, gay, lesbian, ménage, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, uniforms, BDSM and much, much more. There’s just so much scope that I have lots of ideas and not enough time to write all the stories!
What are your favorite research resources?
The internet is a writer’s best friend (as well as the worst. Procrastination, anyone?) in that respect as you can find out pretty much anything you need to. You can Google, ask people on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks… the sky’s the limit. I love that I can wander along a street without even leaving my chair, getting a real feel for a new place, or revisiting one I’ve been to and reminding myself of certain things.
I also have a few military or ex-military friends that help out when I’m penning military-related books.
What usually comes first for you, characters or plot?
Plot, usually. But the characters are often so strongly part of the plot that they come as a package, really. For example, in the book I have coming out tomorrow, Testing Tom, the two characters had to be a Domme and a sub for the BDSM trial element to make sense.
Do you find it harder to write novels or short stories?
Novels. While I’ve written over a hundred short stories, I’ve only written one and a half novels. The half isn’t incomplete, it’s part of a co-author project with my buddy Lily Harlem, which we have coming out in late summer. We wrote half each of a sports erotic romance with lots of BDSM. So much fun! We’re going to start writing the next book very soon.
When I look back, I think I wrote my first novel (currently out on submission) quite quickly, really. But I really had to push myself to keep going, to make sure the book was still sexy, still interesting, and that there weren’t any inconsistencies.
Would you tell us about your latest release?
With pleasure. I’m kind of cheating as it’s not out yet, but it will be tomorrow! Testing Tom is a super-hot femdom novella. Be warned, some parts of it are so shocking that I even made myself gasp while I was writing it!
When Katrina’s ex, Tom, turns up on her doorstep, he’s literally the last person she was expecting to see. After dumping her and running off with a vanilla chick, Tom broke the Domme’s heart and left her seriously hurting. So when he returns, begging for another chance, Katrina is understandably very confused and protective of her bruised feelings. She finds it very difficult to believe that he’s turned his back on a vanilla lifestyle for good and wants to be with her, a professional dominatrix. Rather than letting her head or her heart figure out what to do, whether to forgive him, she decides to put Tom through a series of challenges that will prove his devotion to her—or not. Testing Tom is not something she’d ever expected she’d have to do, but to her, it’s the only way she can be sure whether he’s back for good.
More info, excerpt and buy links: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/testing-tom/ (out 30th July)
What are you working on now?
I’m working on book three of my series with Ellora’s Cave. It’s about two young men who are on their gap year before starting University. Their journey starts in London, then goes onto Paris and Rome… then beyond. Book one, A Taste of London, is available now. A Taste of Paris comes out this Friday. I’m currently working on A Taste of Rome.
Do you have an excerpt from your latest release you would like to share?
Indeed I do. Here’s an unedited (at time of writing, I haven’t yet had edits) snippet from the beginning of the book, which really sets the scene.
Katrina was halfway through an episode of her favorite drama series when her doorbell rang. She jumped, gasping as her heart lurched painfully, then pressed ‘pause’ on the remote control. Wincing slightly as she unfolded her legs from beneath her bottom—she’d been watching the program back-to-back for a couple of hours and she was stiff—she moved to the window and peered out through a gap in the curtains, careful not to let the mystery visitor see her, should she need to ignore them. Cold callers were common in her area, and drove her crazy. If she wanted to buy something, she’d contact them, not the other way around.
As it happened, it wasn’t a salesperson. She ducked back from the window, clenched her hands into fists.
“What the fuck is he doing here?”
He was literally the last person she’d expected to see standing at her door. Prince William or George Clooney would have been less of a shock.
For there, outside her house, stood the man that had broken her heart several months ago. Thomas Black. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since, and now, totally out of the blue, he’d turned up.
Katrina contemplated ignoring him, going back to her show and pretending she wasn’t in. But apparently that wasn’t an option.
“I know you’re there, Katrina,” he yelled through the letterbox, “your car is on the drive, and I can see the glow of the telly through the curtains.”
Katrina decided it was time to get thicker curtains. Not wanting to cause a scene, which her nosey neighbors would no doubt adore, she moved to the front door, unlocked it and flung it open.
“Get in,” she said, quickly closing the door behind him, then turning to face her unwanted visitor. “What the hell do you want?”
He held his hands up in supplication, then spoke. “Look, I know I’m probably the last person you expected to see—wanted to see—but I have to talk to you. Please?”
He adopted the puppy-dog look he’d long-since perfected. Katrina sighed.
“You’ve got five minutes. Sit down.”
They moved over to the sitting area, and Katrina deliberately sat in the chair, so Tom couldn’t sit next to her. Settling onto the end of the sofa nearest to her, he clasped his hands together, presumably to summon his courage, and began.
“Kat, I’m here to say I’m sorry, all right? I was wrong, so wrong, to finish with you the way I did and go off with Alicia.”
“She dumped you, has she?” Katrina clenched her teeth, and felt the rage beginning to build inside her. If Tom thought he could come running back to her because his bimbo had ditched him, then he had another think coming.
“No,” he said firmly, and, she suspected, honestly. “I finished with her, actually. When I realized that I wasn’t happy with her. She never made me feel the way you do, Kat. Not once. And I know, I know it’s my fault. I wanted something… different from what we had, or at least I thought I did. I couldn’t help thinking at the time that what we did was wrong, was weird. Abnormal, even. So when Alicia started flirting with me at work, I started thinking perhaps I should try for something normal. Like everybody else out there.”
He fixed her with his soulful gaze, and continued. “But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Yes, Alicia offered me normality, a vanilla relationship, but I soon discovered it couldn’t satisfy me. Sure, she could make me come in all the usual ways—”
“Ugh, I don’t want to hear this, Tom. I don’t want to hear about your sex life with someone else!”
“Sorry, Kat. Please, just let me finish?”
When she gave a curt nod, he carried on speaking.
“Alicia could make me come in all the usual ways—I am just a man, after all—but it wasn’t the same. Wasn’t as good. It wasn’t long before I started to miss you, miss what we had together, both in and out of the bedroom. I ignored it for as long as I could, forced myself to make the effort with Alicia, but it just got to the stage where I couldn’t do it anymore. Couldn’t ignore what I was, what I enjoyed, what I needed. And that’s you, Kat. I need you, and everything that goes with you.”
As a Domme, Katrina had become an expert in hiding her feelings, whether she was aroused, angry, happy, sad… it was all stuffed behind a stern facial expression. Now, though, she almost faltered. When Tom had left her, she’d remained cool and silent until the door had slammed. Then she’d broken down. She’d been deeply in love with him, and his decision had left her devastated. Months down the line, her love for him hadn’t faded, not one bit, and the fact that he was here, right now, apparently trying to get her back, was something she’d never expected. She didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or throw something at him.
She didn’t do any of those things. She kept her face straight, her thoughts whizzing through her head at a hundred miles per hour. Eventually, after letting him squirm in his seat for a minute or so, she replied. “So what exactly are you saying, Tom? What do you want?” She knew the answer, but she wanted to make him suffer, the way he had done to her after ditching her for something, someone, that could never satisfy him.
Would you give us a sneak peek at one of your upcoming releases?
Yep! As I just said, A Taste of Paris is coming out on Friday, and here’s a snippet from the beginning, which also throws you right into the action…
Ryan could hardly believe his luck. After a sex-packed day and a bit in London, he was now being propositioned by a sexy older woman on the Eurostar. The Paris-bound train had just started moving and it seemed the woman wanted to spend at least some of the two-and-a quarter-hour journey to the French capital fucking him in the toilet.
He shook his head disbelievingly. Then, after making sure no one had witnessed their exchange—when she’d given him the come-on—he slipped from his seat and made his way as nonchalantly as possible in the direction the woman had gone. He quickly found her, standing in the area between carriages that also housed the public conveniences.
She looked around, ensuring no one could see through the glass doors at the ends of the carriages to either side of them, pulled open the toilet door and dragged him inside.
Ryan barely had time to catch a breath before she’d locked the door, slammed him against it and molded her lips to his. She tasted of expensive champagne—she’d probably been indulging in St. Pancras station’s champagne bar—and it suddenly made him very aware that, although she’d started their sexy rendezvous, he was most likely taking advantage of an inebriated woman. He twisted his head away.
“Hey,” he said, grasping her arms and pushing her gently away from him. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re gorgeous and very, very sexy, but you’ve been drinking. I don’t want you to do something you might regret later.”
The woman laughed, long and loud, and Ryan worried that someone might have heard her and wonder why on earth there was a woman laughing to herself in the train toilets. The last thing he wanted was to open the door and find a pissed-off member of staff waiting there. There was no excuse for two adults being in a locked cubicle together that anyone would believe.
Clapping her hand over her mouth, the woman suppressed her mirth, then finally spoke. “Yes, gorgeous blond one.” Her French accent surprised him—he’d thought she was a tourist heading to Paris. “I have been drinking champagne. But only a glass. I’m certainly not drunk.”
With that, she pounced on him once more, and Ryan decided not to resist any longer. They were both consenting adults and he had protection in his pocket—so where was the harm in indulging their baser instincts? His cock definitely didn’t see any further reason for delay as it filled with blood and pressed against the crotch of his jeans.
He pushed his fingers into her thick black hair and pulled her more tightly to him, deepening their kiss. She was eager and, judging by the way she was rocking her hips against him, incredibly horny. He held out for as long as he could, exploring her mouth with his tongue, nibbling at her plump lower lip and pulling her hair to expose her white throat. Before long, though, the pants and tiny mewls coming from the woman’s mouth pushed him to the point of no return. His cock was all but bursting from his jeans and he really needed to be inside this woman’s pussy.
http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/a-taste-of-paris/
Would you share a favorite quote from your latest hero, heroine or villain?
This is a snippet from A Taste of Paris. Ryan and his friend Kristian are in an “erotic supermarket” to buy some condoms for Kristian:
“Hey,” Ryan said, moving over to a rack. “Here are the condoms. Now where are the extra-small ones?”
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing ever since I could. I was always scribbling madly into notebooks as a child and proclaiming I was going to be an author when I grew up. I’ve been writing erotica since about 2005 and had my first publication in 2006.
Where would you go on your dream vacation?
Oh wow… there are soooo many places I want to go. Okay, since this is a dream vacation, I would love to hire a massive motorhome and spend several months exploring America and meeting some of the people I communicate with regularly online.
Name three fictional characters (not your own) that you find hot. They can be from books, movies, or TV.
Sam Winchester
Dean Winchester
Damon Salvatore (TV version, not the books!)
What can I say? I like sexy men…
What is the last movie you watched?
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. I have a thing for Jeremy Renner. And hey, I wouldn’t say no to Gemma Arterton, either!
Do you have any pets?
Yep, I have a gorgeous dog called Scamp. He’s about twenty months old and is mental, greedy, and loves cuddles and walks. And more cuddles. I adore him J
*****
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over seventy publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include Best Bondage Erotica 2012 and 2013, and Best Women’s Erotica 2013. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies. She owns Erotica For All, and is book editor for Cliterati. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
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Thank you for being a guest, Lucy!
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like some great books, I will have to look in to those.