Author’s Afternoon Tea

Week 6 – Five Authors (Dead or Alive) I’d Love To Meet

There are a number of authors who’ve been a big influence on my life in one way or another. Not surprising, given I’ve read nearly everything I could get my hands on since I learned how to.

Number One – Bertrice Small

I was absolutely devastated to hear she passed back in 2015. This woman’s work had a tremendous impact on my life, which I covered in my last challenge post. An incredibly prolific writer with well over 50 novels and multiple series to her name, if I have an eighth the success she did, I’ll be thrilled!

I would love the chance to sit down and chat with her, to pick her brain about the characters I love, the worlds she created and how she did it. And to tell her I cannot manage to walk past one of her books without picking it up, usually taking it home with me if I don’t already have it.

Fun Fact: More than a decade ago, I lucked into a first edition hardback copy of Skye O’Malley, the first book in her Skye O’Malley Saga and it is one of my most prized possessions.

Number Two – Anne Rice

I’m still holding out hope for this one! I was in highschool when I first got my hands on a copy of Interview With A Vampire, and from that moment I was hooked. Fast forward a few years to my discovery of Exit To Eden and The Beauty Series – mind blown! Granted, some bits of The Beauty Series were a little hard to get through, yet I still couldn’t put it down.

I have immense admiration for Anne and her work, as well as the way she handles trolls on Twitter. Her wit is superb in that department. It was her work that first showed me I could write what I really wanted to and have a shot at publication some day. Almost fourteen years after first picking up The Beauty Series, I’m sending off my first query for a book with BDSM in it to an editor who actually asked to see it! If I hadn’t read her work, I might never come to this point.

Anne Rice’s work gave me the courage to seriously pursue writing a romance novel with blatant kink. It also gave me a world to escape into that spoke to something in me that, back then, I didn’t dare share with anyone save maybe two people. To simply meet her would be a dream come true – to get to talk writing with her, well, I’m not sure I have the words to describe that!

Number Three – Laura Antoniou

You’ve probably noticed there’s a bit of a theme here. When you’re young, living in the bible belt and dealing with certain desires, literature is often your refuge. I’m embarrassed to admit I have not quite made it through all of the Marketplace books yet and probably need to just start at the beginning again. That’s something I intend to remedy in the coming months.

Still, she’s on my list. I can’t help but admire the courage it must have taken to write what she does starting when she did. If it weren’t for her helping pave the way, I’d be stuck querying vanilla romance (not that I don’t love those too) and trying to figure out what to do with the stories I’m really passionate about. The fact that she’s a part of the kink community that is so dear to my heart is a massive bonus.

Number Four – Christopher Rice

A more recent literary love with a diverse and growing list of titles to his name, he’d be on my list even is his mother wasn’t. Being a fan of hers, I can see her influence in his work, but the voice is uniquely his. I’m thoroughly enjoying working my way through his writing.

Christopher is another whose brain I’d love to pick about writing, world building, and characters. Even in his shorter works, the worlds are immersive enough I can see them playing vividly through my mind and that is a real talent.

Number Five – Nicola Davidson

Another recently acquired love. I picked up the first book in her Fallen Series on a whim a couple of months back. I was hesitant, as I’ve had some bad experiences with erotica and erotic romance on Amazon the last few years. I had no reason to be. By page two, I was hooked. I thought I’d just downloaded a sample and halfway through chapter one, I was ready to buy the whole thing. Imagine my delight when I realized I already had!

In my defense, it was 4am and I was reading it in bed.

I promptly bought the other two books and devoured them. One thing really stood out to me, and it is what earns her a spot on this list – her approach to kink. Having been in the BDSM lifestyle since I was 19, I’m a little picky these days. There’s a lot of bad modern kink fiction out there.

The way she integrated it into her books, in particular The Devil’s Submission, is beautiful. Not only the physical, which is somewhat minimal, but the emotional side of it. I’ve seen far too few erotica and erotic romance novels packed with kinky fun that either do not delve into this at all, use nothing but clichés, or get it horribly, horribly wrong.

I’d love to meet her simply to shake her hand and thank her for the way she portrayed Devil’s struggle with his need to submit. I’d never cried over erotica – until I read that.

Number Six – The ladies I’m doing this blog challenge with!

Hah, had you for a moment there. Kidding aside, I’m doing the #52WeekBlogChallenge with a really awesome group of ladies and you absolutely must go check them out too!

Autumn McKayne (http://autumnmckayne.com / @autumnmckayne)

Gisela Gray (http://giselagreywrites.wordpress.com / @GGwritesromance)

Felicity Davenport (http://felicitydavenport.com / @FelicitysQuill)

Cass Michaels (http://writercassmichaels.com/blog / @WriterCMichaels)

Lisa Andrew (http://lisaandrewerotica.wordpress.com / @TheWife101)

Charlie Knight (http://cknightwrites.com / @CKnightWrites)

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