Lesbian Romance
Welcome back to the release party for Angora's new book, Cat Games. We're glad you're here to find out more about her. We have an excerpt at the bottom and she's running a contest! First, here's my chat with Angora...
Tonya: Readers love
to know more about their authors. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Angora Shade: I suppose I’ve always enjoyed the world of
fantasy more than the world of reality. I’ve been writing since before I was
able to spell. My imagination refuses to leave me alone, and my muse constantly
bombards me with new ideas. I honestly believe that if I didn’t write the
stories that form inside my head, that they would become locked there, and my
characters, begging to have their stories told, would eventually drive me
insane. When I’m not writing, I find other ways of being creative through fine
art.
Tonya: I work part-time and find that pulls me away from writing full time. Do you have a
day job?
Angora Shade: I’m a
teacher, mother, and multi-tasker extraordinaire.
Tonya: Some of us
have things we do to get into the writing frame of mind like music, or drinks.
Do you have anything special you do to get into the writing mood?
Angora Shade: I don’t
have a particular ritual to get started, but I do have to meet certain
conditions. My life is very loud, and I can’t focus on writing when I can’t
hear my own thoughts. I write in silence with no one else around. Sobriety
doesn’t seem to make a difference ;)
Tonya: LOL Where do you
keep story ideas? Where do they come from?
Angora Shade: Story ideas stay firmly in my head until a
story is written, then I feel like I’ve had a massive mind-dump. I’ve tried to
keep clutter out of my head in the past by writing ideas down in an idea book,
but I stopped this when I realized it wasn’t helping me to be more organized. I
typically don’t forget ideas that come to me, they just get filtered for what’s
written next based on which characters yell at me the loudest. Inspiration for
ideas come from everywhere, from what I read to see on TV, or from
conversations or experiences with others.
Tonya: If you’re
self-published, can you tell us a bit about that and how it’s going for you?
Angora Shade: I’m both self-published and traditionally
published. Since places like Amazon and Smashwords make self-publishing so
easy, I’ve found self-publishing to be a challenge to be heard because everyone
thinks they’re able to tell a good story. This simply isn’t true and there’s a
lot of garbage out there. In an attempt to be heard in all roar of publishing,
I’ve recently gotten into traditional publishing, hoping to gain a larger
audience with the help of publisher backing. I think I’ll continue to both self
pub and traditionally publish in the future. I’m not sure yet which will work
best for me.
Tonya: Hybrid authors do it both ways. Are you a
daytime writer, night time writer, and do you have to be alone to write?
Angora Shade: I’m a
morning writer because I’m a morning person. I don’t function well late at
night. It’s easier to write while I’m alone, but it’s possible for other people
to be in the room so long as they’re not distracting.
Tonya: I've never been a morning person, I'm a night owl. What advice
would you give to new authors?
Angora Shade: Don’t
stop. Write everyday. When people tell you that your work sucks, don’t be
offended. Ask them why and learn from the experience. Should you find yourself
filled with doubts about our ability, determine what the problem is and work as
hard as you can. Giving up on your writing deprives the world of your stories.
It shouldn’t matter how successful you become at writing because the world
always needs new stories.
Tonya: Great advice. Do you write
better when you first have an idea of what your characters look like or do you
write, then add character looks?
Angora Shade: My characters have personality traits before
they have physical characteristics. As soon as I understand what a character
will do, say, and think, their image begins to form inside my head.
Tonya: I love that question because we all write and create differently. What attracts
you most about men?
Angora Shade: This
question suggests that I like men. I’d like to think that in a perfect world no
one would restrict themselves to only 50% of the population. I refuse to discus
my sexual orientation because it’s not important and in no way relates to my
writing since I write heterosexual, homosexual, ménage, and (in the works)
monster erotica. Let’s just say that I like people with strong personalities
who know what they want from life and who aren’t afraid to grasp hold of their
dreams.
Tonya: Exactly! We’re dying to
hear about your latest book. What can you tell us without spoiling the storyline?
What inspired you to write it?
Angora Shade: "Cat Games" is actually the rewrite
of my earliest erotic fiction "Adventures In Plastic Wrap" and its
sequel "Cat & Mouse". I realized that these two stories had the
potential to be much better and that the story wasn't complete. Knowing that I
could I take the story further drove me to push my limits and give my readers
the quality work I knew I could create. And the story refuses to stop, so I
need to keep writing. There's a Cat Games 2 in works!
Tonya: What is your favorite scene and why?
Angora Shade: My favorite scene would have to be the orgy
Gummy Bear Game scene that Mouse plays with Rayne and her group of friends at
their apartment. There are a lot of sexual games out there, but just picturing
this game in action gets my blood boiling! It allows for two or more players,
is kinky, and is a sweet tooth's dream. I suggest playing this game all the
time to people looking for a way to spice up their sex lives. (Check out this
game in my book excerpt)
Tonya: What was the most challenging aspect of writing this
book?
Angora Shade: No one wants to read the same sex scene over
and over. New positions, new euphemisms, new actions, locations, characters—all
these things need to be kept fresh. The only way to keep your audience
entertained throughout your book--to stop them from putting it down—is to
continuously give them something they've never read before. Since I write an
awful lot of sex scenes, this is usually my biggest challenge.
Tonya: What message, if any, do you want your audience to
walk away with?
Angora Shade: "Cat Games" is story about a female
character dubbed "Mouse", who wants a lot more out her sex life than
she's had in the past. She wants the freedom to express herself and explore the
possibilities that pleasure has to offer. Mouse struggles to understand herself
and those around her and goes through a frustrating and liberating transformation
to achieve her goals.
The overall message that I've tried to convey in this story
is that a person's sexual journey is a personal and beautiful thing, and not
something to that needs to be hidden regardless of what a person is into. You
can have one lover, two, three, or none at all. You can be vanilla, kinky,
extreme, or somewhere between. There is no wrong way to love so long as you're
true to yourself and honest with those involved. Happiness, I believe, is
achieved through self discovery, and I would hope that this story would inspire
my readers to crawl out of their own shell, knock down their walls of security,
and embrace their own sexual being.
Tonya: Where can our
readers find you and your books?
Angora Shade: All of
my books are available through Amazon and other big venders, but “Cat Games”
can also be found on my publisher’s website at http://www.torquerebooks.com. Torquere
Press specializes in GLBT fiction and has hundreds of great titles to check
out!
Tonya: What is your
favorite night time snack?
Angora Shade: Dry red wine and chocolate
Tonya: Do you like
toppings on your ice cream?
Angora Shade: Who doesn’t? When I was a kid my best friend
and I made something we called “Poop” because of the way it looked. It was ice
cream mixed together with whatever we could find in the house, which was usually
peanut butter, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and chocolate syrup.
Tonya: Yum! What’s your
favorite meal - Italian, Mexican, Thai, etc?
Angora Shade: Spanish and Mexican
Excerpt:
“Hey, Mouse!” I hear one of the girls call. I turn to look
over my shoulder and see Chrystal holding the package of gummy bears I stashed
in my pocket earlier. “You dropped something.”
“Woohoo!” Rayne howls, obnoxiously. “I’ve got an idea for a
game.” She snatches the package from Crystal and sizes me up, almost eating me
with her eyes.
“You read my mind,” Jasper quickly adds, licking his lips.
I have no idea what they’re thinking, but all the faces in
the living room are looking me over and grinning in a wicked way. I feel
exposed, on display, and very self-conscious. A heat begins to crawl up the
back of my thighs, stir in my belly and catch in my chest. I’m suddenly
thankful I’m not the type to blush. Standing up a bit straighter, I walk to the
fridge, grab another six-pack, and return to my seat with as much confidence as
the simple movements of my body will allow.
Rayne makes a yummy noise as she opens my package of sweets.
“I just love gummy bears.” She pops one into her mouth with an overemphasized
gesture, sucking a bit on the end before using the tip of her index finger to
push the bottom the remainder of the way past her thick lips.
Jasper stands up and grabs Crystal by the hand. She trails willingly after him over to Rayne. Holding out his hand for the package she holds, I watch Rayne dump a few gummy bears into Jasper’s open hand.
“Best. Game. Ever,” Justin mutters from his seat on the
couch in exaggerated staccato.
The whole room watches as Jasper pops the gummy bears into
his mouth and begins peeling Crystal’s tight, white shirt over her head.
Without any protest, Crystal raises her arms and slips out with an easy smile.
Pulling a wet gummy bear out of his mouth, Jasper sticks it into the curve of
Crystal’s neck, and then sticks a second securely upon her collarbone. To my
surprise, the gummy bears are held fast, not slipping or sliding from the pull
of gravity.
Rayne grins and stands from her chair. While trailing her
fingers through the tight, red curls on the top of Crystal’s head, Rayne licks
the back of a red gummy bear and sets it atop Crystal’s left shoulder. I watch
Crystal shiver, and then I turn to look at Justin and Anna on the couch.
They’re watching with deep interest. Grabbing two beers from the pack I set on
the table, Justin opens them without taking his eyes from the scene, and hands
one blindly to Anna.
I’m not sure what’s going on. I thought Justin and Crystal
were together but another man—and Rayne—are undressing her in front of
everyone. Why is Anna so into watching? They grabbed her attention with that
kiss from earlier.
I clear my throat and blink several times as I try to take
in what’s happening. Sugar’s great, and a nice pairing with beer, but I don’t
understand why they’re sticking gummy bears to Crystal. If this is really a
game, I wonder what the point is.
My mouth hangs open slightly as I watch Rayne expertly
unhook Crystal’s bra and slide the white straps down over her shoulders,
kissing her gently as she goes. I physically push my jaw shut as I rest my face
uneasily in my hand, watching Jasper pull two more bears from his mouth. He
gently squeezes Crystal’s small, naked breast, pushes his gummy bears to her
skin, and audibly blows his breath over the top of them. Crystal giggles and
looks over to me, where I’m unable to take my gaze away.
“Oh, Mouse,” she laughs. “Look at your face!”
I get it now. Wow.
Bio: Angora Shade is an American author living in what she
lovingly refers to as "Sheep Shit Nowhere" Europe. In an attempt to
add some spice to her small town life, Ms. Shade began writing explicit erotica
as a form of self-entertainment. Exploring the boundaries of acceptable sexual
literature, she often seeks to create stories that not only entertain others,
but also expose and push against the negative stigma surrounding sex in modern
day society. She believes that sex in literature, art, personal thought, and
physical nature, should be celebrated and expressed openly and as easily as any
God-given freedom. Her favorite themes in writing include revenge,
self-discovery, alternative materials for love play/bdsm, as well as anything
that produces a good tingle, sizzle, or laugh. When not writing, Ms Shade
enjoys red wine, travel, dancing, classic cartoons, baking, and creating fine
art.
CONTEST: Click over to Angora's FaceBook page for a link to the contest at her party page on FaceBook!
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