Interview with Michelle Polaris

Terry Kate: I would like to welcome to the Backseat futuristic, erotic, and very, very sexy author Michelle Polaris.

Michelle Polaris: Thanks, Terry. I am thrilled to be here and hopefully will thrill your readers as well (grin).

TK:  So I have to say I was thrilled with your book which is your debut. We have two very sexy men and a lady. Makes for a hot story set in a sadly environmentally hot future.

 

MP: Thank you. Bound Odyssey is my first attempt at romantic erotica and I loved every minute spent writing it. The story centers around three very alpha characters. A female dominatrix, another sexy southern gentleman who is a sexual switch, and the stubborn, alpha male cowboy diplomat who they have to "train" in the ways of submission. That it takes place in the year 2067 when the world is self-destructing around them only ups the tension between this intense but delicious threesome. I fell in love with each of these characters as I wrote them.

 

 TK: So frankly there is some political, environmental undertones to the story, so tell the truth, if it is yellow do you let it mellow?

 

 MP: Only in the middle of the night (LOL) when flushing toilets wake the kiddies. I try hard to live an environmentally responsible life. Our cars are small and gas efficient and the theromostat is turned as low as we can bear in the winter. And we recycle as much as possible. Not compulsive about it, but we try. However, my husband is mister pessimism, so looming environmental disaster is inevitable in his book (sigh). I'm very thankful to have written my characters a way out of their own environmental disasters.

 

 TK: So what made you decide that BDSM culture would be the salvation of humanity?

MP: (Big grin). Doesn't sound so likely, huh. At the time the story came to me I'd been reading some BDSM romantic erotica and the lifestyle fascinated me. From my understanding of it there was a certain emotional truth to the relationships that I didn't always get in other stories. I also loved reading powerful female characters and new there was less female dominant characters in the BDSM romances in print. My mind started percolating around and tried to figure out what would make it crucial for a strong alpha male character to be forced into a situation where we must confront his own submissive tendencies. I am a fantasy and sci-fi reader by nature and I love world building. So the post-apocalytpic setting was a no brainer and I loved the challenge of creating a believable earth future where the environment was on a fast pace to collapse. My husband is a scientist, so he helped me create an interesting scenario to trigger the destruction. I also love intense characters and you can't get too much more intense than BDSM in the sexual scenario department. All of this added together to end in my story question. What would happen if the only hope for our salvation was to travel through a portal to a parallel world where the predominant culture was one of female domination, including in all business and cultural interactions. How would our male dominated earth society cope and who would they get to do the negotiation to make emmigration successful to this new world? I was fascinated with the challenge. And out popped Mira, Jace and Roman, the heroine and two heroes respectively, to struggle through the task of preparing for the diplomatic challenge of a lifetime. Salvation through submission. Maybe I should get a bumper sticker printed (laugh).

 TK: I want one!

 

 MP: I'll let you know when I get them in (grin).

 

 TK: So maybe not the most feasible future, and yet the political aspects worked in are excellent. Now in a future short on food and fresh produce, what would you miss the most?

MP: Fresh berries and all of the tropical fruits. Environmental cataclym tends to put the cabosh on a lot of imports. I imagine coastal flooding may also decimate sugar crops so not a lot of sweets. I'm groaning thinking about the potential loss of chocolate as a staple in my diet. At the same time, with weather patterns in complete disarray, the bread basket may also dry up. No wheat? There's nothing better than fresh bread. This would be a complete disaster. I'm getting depressed just thinking about it and I dreamed up the story to begin with. We better find this parallel world fast (LOL).

 TK: So will there be any more books in this world or will you boldly go on to new worlds from here?

 

MP: Both. I've begun a sequel that takes place on the parallel world itself and includes the characters from Bound Odyssey. But it also features the love story between three brand new characters. Two men from the new world and one earth woman who appears as a secondary character in Bound. Guess the BDSM threesome is an ongoing theme of mine. Having said this, I can't finish this new story until I complete a short male/male BDSM novel I'm writing. That story opens during an erotic magic show in Las Vegas and has some fantasy elements. Look for Jesse and Savin, my heroes from this book, in the future.

 

 TK: You tease! Are you in the closet about what you write?

MP: I'm coming out of the closet more and more every day (LOL). Actually, I did choose a pen name to preserve my secret identity. But most of the important folks in my life do know. If erotic romance authors all have secret identites like the best of the superheroes, then we all deserve erotic romance super powers. I'm planning on blogging on this topic very soon, so start dreaming up your special power if you were to be an erotic romance superhero. Heck, even if you're an erotic romance reader too.

 TK: What color cape do you have?

 

 MP: Black. And it's leather of course. All to go with the boots. I'd call myself Wonder Whip Woman, but whoever has the copyright on Wonder Woman might get upset (grin). Although I do feature her and Batman in the Bound Odyssey story. I really liked writing that part of the dialogue.

 

 TK: I have had many a fantasy featuring the bat. Sigh...  We can find out more about Mechelle Polaris's book on her site  http://michellepolaris.com/. and read the review of her book here on Naughty in the Backseat.  Thanks Michelle!

 

 Michelle Polaris: Thank you, Terry. I had a lot of fun here. I hope your readers do check out Bound Odyssey. It was one of those stories of my heart, believe it or not, and Mira, Jace and Roman are quite a kick. Take care of yourself.

 

 Terry Kate: I try.

Confessions of a Recent Slash Addict - Adrianne Brennan

I have a confession to make: I am one of many women who didn't understand the appeal of slash for a very, very long time. Comprehending what was hot about watching two men go at it was beyond me. Slash between two women I’ve always found hot, but never got into erotic romance novels between two men.

It actually was not until my favorite fandom pairing arose that I "got" it: it's really about two men whom you find to be hot and whose chemistry you find to be hot that makes it work. It's also about that lovely, perhaps-only-slightly-subconscious desire to be the filling in that sandwich. It is my belief that this is why m/m erotic romance sells well with women who want to appreciate men’s bodies and sexuality and find it to be a turn on.

The genre of m/m erotic romance had gone mainstream recently, and I blame it on the British sci-fi television show known as Torchwood. Its pairing of two of the main characters, Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones, have sold the show for many people who may have never watched it. I personally got into the show because I am a fan of the original show it spun off from, which is Doctor Who. Torchwood broke through a lot of boundaries for the GLBT world with its loose boundaries and definitions of sexuality with its omnisexual main character, Jack.

  Often times my writing is inspired by what I read and watch on television, and I write what I consider to be “gender blind” characters for the most part. So far, my books have featured m/f, f/f, f/f/f, f/f/m, m/m, and m/f/m pairings. My scifi/paranormal erotic romance book Dawn of the Seraphs is my entry into the wide, wonderful world of m/m and it definitely won’t be my last! :D

Readers and writers, feel free to sound off! Are you a fan of the m/m genre and if so, why? Do you have any preferences as to associated genres? Do you prefer m/m paranormals, historicals, contemporary?
Check out more books by Adrianne Brennan at her site - http://www.adriannebrennan.com