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| Erotic-Escapades Author Of The Month Interview With... Joey W. Hill |
Raven Jackman: Hi Joey thank you so much for joining us at Erotic- Escapades as our Author of the Month.
Joey W. Hill: It is a pleasure to have the opportunity!
RJ: I would like to be the first to say congratulations on your newest release Mistress of Redemption, MOR, from EC.
JWH: Thank you. I'm excited about offering Jonathan's story to my readers as well, though a little nervous, because it is a much more
"raw" story than some of my others. More love than romance, because of course it is a story about redemption. Jonathan has not been
a very nice person in my earlier books.
RJ: Well I can say after reading it that it was wonderful, but it must have been hard writing it.
JWH: It's a relief to hear that. An author always waits on pins and needles for those first reactions. It was difficult. I thank my editor,
Bree, for helping me rework some of the rough spots. We were concerned with Dona not being a sympathetic enough character, but
by the time we got to the polished finish, I thought the true nature of both of their characters came through much more strongly. Dona
had to be one tough lady to set him straight!
RJ: Well turning a not so popular character, or semi-villain, into a hero can not be easy. How did you get the idea, did Jonathan just
demand it of you?
JWH: I didn't expect Jonathan to get his own story, but it was actually one of my readers that made that happen. She contacted me,
indicating he should have his own story, and sent me some very insightful observations about the nature of redemption, and what his
motives could be. And then I was in the shower, washing my hair a few days later and bam!, the storyline was off and running.
There was no correlation with the shower and shampoo, by the way, though there is a very nice bathing scene in the book with
Jonathan and a handful of Dona's sirens.
RJ: Well I must say thank you so much to that reader.
JWH: She is a cool lady; A Domme herself, which also gave me a great research source.
RJ: MOR is a great addition to the Nature of Desire series. On that note how did you come up with the Nature of Desire series?
Most BDSM stories are from the MaleDom position not the FemDom.
JWH: The idea of making a series was my publisher's, Ellora's Cave, and thank goodness for it! I had written Holding the Cards,
Natural Law and then when I submitted Ice Queen and Mirror of My Soul, they noted that because the last two books were
essentially one large book that it should be broken into two, we should tie all four of them together into a series; since they all shared
common characters and tone.
Because it wasn't BDSM, If Wishes Were Horses wasn't included, but of course it also has characters referenced in Natural
Law and Mirror of My Soul.
RJ: But to write from the perspective of a FemDom must have been difficult. I know when I first read Natural Law it was a leap for
me, one I was very glad I took, but I was not used to reading D/s from the female perspective of being the Dom.
JWH: You know the more I write, the more I realize why writing is called a craft, or an art form. You never stop learning about yourself,
or human nature, or the nature of the world itself. When I wrote Holding The Cards, my first FemDom, I wasn't intending to write a
FemDom. I'm a sexual submissive, so Make Her Dreams Come True, my first BDSM and a MaleDom, opened that part of
myself up and interlocked it with my writing muse.
It's the old adage "write what you know" but also what you love and what you need, and it's all of that for me. So when I started writing
Holding The Cards, I assumed it would also be a MaleDom. But that's when I realized that the compulsions that drive those who
are part of the “lifestyle” of BDSM, for lack of a better term for "lifestyle”, overlap in ways that make it easy to follow the threads and
write from the perspective of either the Dom or the sub.
Violet in Natural Law was looking for a connection with a man, a way to fill the empty place inside of her. That compulsion drives us all;
no matter which way we seek it.
RJ: So true and so few rarely find it. So please tell me that MOR is not the last in the series that I have come to love.
JWH: Absolutely not. Thomas and Marcus, my first male/male erotic romance, will be the next in the series. Marcus was Josh's friend
in Holding The Cards and he's determined to go win back Thomas, the man he lost who he is certain is meant to belong to him.
Then Brendan and Chloe, who appeared in Mirror of My Soul, appear to have a strong voice that I'm sure will visit me again.
RJ: Oh… a M/M romance, that is wonderful, they seem to be on the up and coming. Did you find it hard to write one not being a man
yourself, of course?
JWH: Not so far. I think it's a lot like what I referenced about the FemDoms. I do a lot of research to give me a "feel" for a different
perspective, a Female Domme, a man who prefers men, etc., and that integrates into my subconscious so when I get going on a
particularly emotional scene, it works into the things I just feel in my gut to be true, the way we all react to certain things, the desires we
all have, no matter if we express them in different ways. I believe souls love each other, not genders. And to be honest, Marcus and
Thomas have captured my attention so much that even in the middle of a chaos of deadlines I had to whip out the first chapter and a
flurry of notes because their emotional and physical interactions are INTENSE.
RJ: Well I can't wait to read it. I am not a reader of M/M but I will definitely be picking up this one. Is there anything else your muses
have been whispering to you about?
JWH: Since I've been writing, one of the things I like to hear, and I get to hear it often enough that it helps me have confidence when I
go down a new road, is that my books tend to approach things in a way that appeal to the romance reader, even if it's not something she
thought she'd like. I got that comment a lot on Natural Law. I hope to hear that same comment for Thomas and Marcus. *grin*
And with M/M erotic romance on the rise for the female reader, I think this is good timing. My muse is on the ball. LOL!!
My muse tends to whisper only 2-3 story lines in my ear at once, thank goodness, otherwise I'd have more gray hairs than I do! Right
now, I've been mainly working on The Vampire Queen's Servant and the sequel, A Servant's Place, for Berkley.
Jacob is very much the "captain of the palace guard" type of sub that I tend to favor and Lyssa is at her wit's end trying to make him fit
the mold of what she feels a human servant needs to be. And though she's a centuries old vampire, he knows how to try her patience! I
just got the new cover art in for the book and I should have that posted on my website by Labor Day. *tease*
The other one I've been working on is Chance of a Lifetime, my cop story.
RJ: Oh a man in uniform how I love them. Is Chance of a Lifetime BDSM?
JWH: Don't we all love a cop? Yes, it's BDSM lightly, because of course the story line is that Stacie is stopped on a back road by
Jake Chance because she's speeding, and he ends up being the fantasy of a lifetime.
RJ: Well you gotta love a woman in stockings and a hero in uniform, I read that excerpt too, lol!!! Well I hope you can find a series from
that story also. Maybe add a fireman or two to it? lol!!
JWH: What you were saying earlier, about the man in uniform, I think Stacie sums it up! “A cop is supposed to be a guardian. A
protector,” she said softly. “Every woman wants to believe that, Lieutenant Chance. I do. I need to. I need you to take over. I don’t
want any other options tonight.”
RJ: OMG... wiping steam off of the computer screen here. lol!!
JWH: I'll have to see if I can't figure out a sequel with a fireman. Maybe Stacie has a sister. Or maybe Jake has a brother that comes
to visit *wicked grin* though he doesn't seem the sharing type. However, in A Servant's Place, there will be a VERY hot scene of
brothers sharing! *tease*
RJ: Speaking of your new vamp series, and I just love a story that bites, do you see any other paranormals in the future? You have
written about witches, which I love, but is any other genre in the future; maybe sci-fi or shifters?
JWH: Yes, actually. After I complete A Servant's Place, I'll be working on a "sensual" paranormal, though for me I'll be working on
the knife edge of that, that features a fallen angel hero and a mermaid heroine, Jonah and Anna. I'm hoping to get Thomas and Marcus
done somewhere between those two stories. I just have to pull out my time compressor and freeze time to get that out and then start
the other one in time to make my agent and publisher happy. lol!!
I haven't done any shifters yet, not where the shifting is a major component of the story, though there may be some of that in The
Vampire Queen's Servant and A Servant's Place. *mysterious smile*
RJ: Well I can tell from your hints that the new vamp series is gonna be great! I can't wait till next year. What are you expecting out for
the rest of this year, do you know?
JWH: Me either. The Vampire Queen's Servant will be released July 2007 and I hope A Servant's Place will be soon after.
You can also tell they've been taking up a lot of my brain cells! Then of course Mistress of Redemption comes out September 6,
this week…woohoo! I'm hoping to get a 2006 release date on Chance of a Lifetime, but that will depend on how tightly EC's
booked for the remainder of the year. No matter what though I plan to give my guestbook an exclusive excerpt, the first chapter of
Thomas and Marcus!, in December as a Christmas gift. So if you're not signed up go to the website and get signed on. I have one
promo short story I haven't gotten into my computer yet that if I can swing that I'll offer as a freebie on my website around Christmas
as well. We'll just see how that time machine thing goes... lol!!
RJ: Well I will be checking on your site, www.storywitch.com, a lot in the future. Especially for the new covers! I love the little story witch
by the way, she is so cute.
JWH: Oh…I think I forgot to mention Chance of a Lifetime's cover will ALSO be posted on my website this week. HOT,
HOT, HOT!!
The storywitch logo was done by artist Amano Jyaku, he's brilliant. My husband does my website and between the two of them I love
the whole look of it. The gray cat is the cat featured in my bio picture, which is over a decade old now… I'm so vain!, her name is Morgan
and she finally left us this year at the ripe old age of about 16. It's nice to have her forever commemorated in the logo.
RJ: Well tell your hubby he does a great job keeping it updated and make sure to keep those excerpts comin!
JWH: I love to offer excerpts; honestly, if I didn't need money I'd pay you guys to read my stuff. I love to get feedback from readers,
even criticism, because it tells me they care enough about my work to offer insight into it, or to have an emotional reaction over it.
RJ: Well trust me your books demand emotion from the readers. They are truly are deep and I just love to peel back the layers and see
the emotions of the characters come to life.
JWH: I prefer to write about what matters the most, what's deep inside of us. To me, any genre of romance has no appeal unless it
pulls a reaction from us like that. Too often lately I see publishers thinking that what women romance readers want is fluff, a beefy hero
and campy humor that really doesn't touch on the main reason I believe women read romance. I think many of us read it to visit that place
deep inside of us where we keep the dreams and fantasies, not just the sweaty stuff but the real dreams, the ones we'll find essences of
in our daily lives as long as we nurse them and keep them alive.
Chance of a Lifetime has that, but I will admit that Chance was my vacation from the deep, dark layers. After Mistress and Mirror
and Ice Queen, I needed a story that was pure fun. And it was.
RJ: Well I can tell you that your books have inspired me, and I am sure other readers as well, to take a leap of faith and delve into story
lines that I would probably never read and I have done it with much awe at the stories that I find there. They have truly broadened my
horizons of romance.
JWH: I'm deeply flattered to hear you say that, and no compliment could mean more than that to an author.
RJ: I know that I can't wait and I am sure others can't also, to read more in the future so keep up the excellent writing.
Well I think I have taken up enough of your time today; thanks so much for spending a little bit of it with us.
JWH: I was delighted to do so. You're a pleasure to spend time with! And as I always tell readers, you all inspire me to keep writing, so
keep the feedback coming, good or bad.
Interview done by Raven Jackman for September 2006 Author of the Month.
Joey W. Hill: It is a pleasure to have the opportunity!
RJ: I would like to be the first to say congratulations on your newest release Mistress of Redemption, MOR, from EC.
JWH: Thank you. I'm excited about offering Jonathan's story to my readers as well, though a little nervous, because it is a much more
"raw" story than some of my others. More love than romance, because of course it is a story about redemption. Jonathan has not been
a very nice person in my earlier books.
RJ: Well I can say after reading it that it was wonderful, but it must have been hard writing it.
JWH: It's a relief to hear that. An author always waits on pins and needles for those first reactions. It was difficult. I thank my editor,
Bree, for helping me rework some of the rough spots. We were concerned with Dona not being a sympathetic enough character, but
by the time we got to the polished finish, I thought the true nature of both of their characters came through much more strongly. Dona
had to be one tough lady to set him straight!
RJ: Well turning a not so popular character, or semi-villain, into a hero can not be easy. How did you get the idea, did Jonathan just
demand it of you?
JWH: I didn't expect Jonathan to get his own story, but it was actually one of my readers that made that happen. She contacted me,
indicating he should have his own story, and sent me some very insightful observations about the nature of redemption, and what his
motives could be. And then I was in the shower, washing my hair a few days later and bam!, the storyline was off and running.
There was no correlation with the shower and shampoo, by the way, though there is a very nice bathing scene in the book with
Jonathan and a handful of Dona's sirens.
RJ: Well I must say thank you so much to that reader.
JWH: She is a cool lady; A Domme herself, which also gave me a great research source.
RJ: MOR is a great addition to the Nature of Desire series. On that note how did you come up with the Nature of Desire series?
Most BDSM stories are from the MaleDom position not the FemDom.
JWH: The idea of making a series was my publisher's, Ellora's Cave, and thank goodness for it! I had written Holding the Cards,
Natural Law and then when I submitted Ice Queen and Mirror of My Soul, they noted that because the last two books were
essentially one large book that it should be broken into two, we should tie all four of them together into a series; since they all shared
common characters and tone.
Because it wasn't BDSM, If Wishes Were Horses wasn't included, but of course it also has characters referenced in Natural
Law and Mirror of My Soul.
RJ: But to write from the perspective of a FemDom must have been difficult. I know when I first read Natural Law it was a leap for
me, one I was very glad I took, but I was not used to reading D/s from the female perspective of being the Dom.
JWH: You know the more I write, the more I realize why writing is called a craft, or an art form. You never stop learning about yourself,
or human nature, or the nature of the world itself. When I wrote Holding The Cards, my first FemDom, I wasn't intending to write a
FemDom. I'm a sexual submissive, so Make Her Dreams Come True, my first BDSM and a MaleDom, opened that part of
myself up and interlocked it with my writing muse.
It's the old adage "write what you know" but also what you love and what you need, and it's all of that for me. So when I started writing
Holding The Cards, I assumed it would also be a MaleDom. But that's when I realized that the compulsions that drive those who
are part of the “lifestyle” of BDSM, for lack of a better term for "lifestyle”, overlap in ways that make it easy to follow the threads and
write from the perspective of either the Dom or the sub.
Violet in Natural Law was looking for a connection with a man, a way to fill the empty place inside of her. That compulsion drives us all;
no matter which way we seek it.
RJ: So true and so few rarely find it. So please tell me that MOR is not the last in the series that I have come to love.
JWH: Absolutely not. Thomas and Marcus, my first male/male erotic romance, will be the next in the series. Marcus was Josh's friend
in Holding The Cards and he's determined to go win back Thomas, the man he lost who he is certain is meant to belong to him.
Then Brendan and Chloe, who appeared in Mirror of My Soul, appear to have a strong voice that I'm sure will visit me again.
RJ: Oh… a M/M romance, that is wonderful, they seem to be on the up and coming. Did you find it hard to write one not being a man
yourself, of course?
JWH: Not so far. I think it's a lot like what I referenced about the FemDoms. I do a lot of research to give me a "feel" for a different
perspective, a Female Domme, a man who prefers men, etc., and that integrates into my subconscious so when I get going on a
particularly emotional scene, it works into the things I just feel in my gut to be true, the way we all react to certain things, the desires we
all have, no matter if we express them in different ways. I believe souls love each other, not genders. And to be honest, Marcus and
Thomas have captured my attention so much that even in the middle of a chaos of deadlines I had to whip out the first chapter and a
flurry of notes because their emotional and physical interactions are INTENSE.
RJ: Well I can't wait to read it. I am not a reader of M/M but I will definitely be picking up this one. Is there anything else your muses
have been whispering to you about?
JWH: Since I've been writing, one of the things I like to hear, and I get to hear it often enough that it helps me have confidence when I
go down a new road, is that my books tend to approach things in a way that appeal to the romance reader, even if it's not something she
thought she'd like. I got that comment a lot on Natural Law. I hope to hear that same comment for Thomas and Marcus. *grin*
And with M/M erotic romance on the rise for the female reader, I think this is good timing. My muse is on the ball. LOL!!
My muse tends to whisper only 2-3 story lines in my ear at once, thank goodness, otherwise I'd have more gray hairs than I do! Right
now, I've been mainly working on The Vampire Queen's Servant and the sequel, A Servant's Place, for Berkley.
Jacob is very much the "captain of the palace guard" type of sub that I tend to favor and Lyssa is at her wit's end trying to make him fit
the mold of what she feels a human servant needs to be. And though she's a centuries old vampire, he knows how to try her patience! I
just got the new cover art in for the book and I should have that posted on my website by Labor Day. *tease*
The other one I've been working on is Chance of a Lifetime, my cop story.
RJ: Oh a man in uniform how I love them. Is Chance of a Lifetime BDSM?
JWH: Don't we all love a cop? Yes, it's BDSM lightly, because of course the story line is that Stacie is stopped on a back road by
Jake Chance because she's speeding, and he ends up being the fantasy of a lifetime.
RJ: Well you gotta love a woman in stockings and a hero in uniform, I read that excerpt too, lol!!! Well I hope you can find a series from
that story also. Maybe add a fireman or two to it? lol!!
JWH: What you were saying earlier, about the man in uniform, I think Stacie sums it up! “A cop is supposed to be a guardian. A
protector,” she said softly. “Every woman wants to believe that, Lieutenant Chance. I do. I need to. I need you to take over. I don’t
want any other options tonight.”
RJ: OMG... wiping steam off of the computer screen here. lol!!
JWH: I'll have to see if I can't figure out a sequel with a fireman. Maybe Stacie has a sister. Or maybe Jake has a brother that comes
to visit *wicked grin* though he doesn't seem the sharing type. However, in A Servant's Place, there will be a VERY hot scene of
brothers sharing! *tease*
RJ: Speaking of your new vamp series, and I just love a story that bites, do you see any other paranormals in the future? You have
written about witches, which I love, but is any other genre in the future; maybe sci-fi or shifters?
JWH: Yes, actually. After I complete A Servant's Place, I'll be working on a "sensual" paranormal, though for me I'll be working on
the knife edge of that, that features a fallen angel hero and a mermaid heroine, Jonah and Anna. I'm hoping to get Thomas and Marcus
done somewhere between those two stories. I just have to pull out my time compressor and freeze time to get that out and then start
the other one in time to make my agent and publisher happy. lol!!
I haven't done any shifters yet, not where the shifting is a major component of the story, though there may be some of that in The
Vampire Queen's Servant and A Servant's Place. *mysterious smile*
RJ: Well I can tell from your hints that the new vamp series is gonna be great! I can't wait till next year. What are you expecting out for
the rest of this year, do you know?
JWH: Me either. The Vampire Queen's Servant will be released July 2007 and I hope A Servant's Place will be soon after.
You can also tell they've been taking up a lot of my brain cells! Then of course Mistress of Redemption comes out September 6,
this week…woohoo! I'm hoping to get a 2006 release date on Chance of a Lifetime, but that will depend on how tightly EC's
booked for the remainder of the year. No matter what though I plan to give my guestbook an exclusive excerpt, the first chapter of
Thomas and Marcus!, in December as a Christmas gift. So if you're not signed up go to the website and get signed on. I have one
promo short story I haven't gotten into my computer yet that if I can swing that I'll offer as a freebie on my website around Christmas
as well. We'll just see how that time machine thing goes... lol!!
RJ: Well I will be checking on your site, www.storywitch.com, a lot in the future. Especially for the new covers! I love the little story witch
by the way, she is so cute.
JWH: Oh…I think I forgot to mention Chance of a Lifetime's cover will ALSO be posted on my website this week. HOT,
HOT, HOT!!
The storywitch logo was done by artist Amano Jyaku, he's brilliant. My husband does my website and between the two of them I love
the whole look of it. The gray cat is the cat featured in my bio picture, which is over a decade old now… I'm so vain!, her name is Morgan
and she finally left us this year at the ripe old age of about 16. It's nice to have her forever commemorated in the logo.
RJ: Well tell your hubby he does a great job keeping it updated and make sure to keep those excerpts comin!
JWH: I love to offer excerpts; honestly, if I didn't need money I'd pay you guys to read my stuff. I love to get feedback from readers,
even criticism, because it tells me they care enough about my work to offer insight into it, or to have an emotional reaction over it.
RJ: Well trust me your books demand emotion from the readers. They are truly are deep and I just love to peel back the layers and see
the emotions of the characters come to life.
JWH: I prefer to write about what matters the most, what's deep inside of us. To me, any genre of romance has no appeal unless it
pulls a reaction from us like that. Too often lately I see publishers thinking that what women romance readers want is fluff, a beefy hero
and campy humor that really doesn't touch on the main reason I believe women read romance. I think many of us read it to visit that place
deep inside of us where we keep the dreams and fantasies, not just the sweaty stuff but the real dreams, the ones we'll find essences of
in our daily lives as long as we nurse them and keep them alive.
Chance of a Lifetime has that, but I will admit that Chance was my vacation from the deep, dark layers. After Mistress and Mirror
and Ice Queen, I needed a story that was pure fun. And it was.
RJ: Well I can tell you that your books have inspired me, and I am sure other readers as well, to take a leap of faith and delve into story
lines that I would probably never read and I have done it with much awe at the stories that I find there. They have truly broadened my
horizons of romance.
JWH: I'm deeply flattered to hear you say that, and no compliment could mean more than that to an author.
RJ: I know that I can't wait and I am sure others can't also, to read more in the future so keep up the excellent writing.
Well I think I have taken up enough of your time today; thanks so much for spending a little bit of it with us.
JWH: I was delighted to do so. You're a pleasure to spend time with! And as I always tell readers, you all inspire me to keep writing, so
keep the feedback coming, good or bad.
Interview done by Raven Jackman for September 2006 Author of the Month.
