I Wuz Interviewed

By Rachel Randall, and am posting my answers to her questions here as part of our Sultry Solstice authors asking each other questions thing! Of course, that may mean that actually, Rachel never asked me any questions at all. I'm just asking myself questions, because I need committing, immediatly. Or maybe Rachel herself doesn't even exist, and I've made her up and her questions and she never wrote a novella in the Sultry Solstice collection at all. It was me, disguised as Rachel.

Sorry, Rachel. This rumour is now going to haunt your career forever, and everyone will be all like- why do you pretend to be that much more rubbish Charlotte Stein? And we'll only get famous for doing this bonkers thing like that author with the cover that has a girl with three arms on it. Or summat.

Anyway. Interview.

1. You've been touring various blogs and I've seen your poems LOL. Start us off with one for Tigerlily.

Oh fairy guy who's kind of like the Terminator
Only not Michael Biehn
And not a robot from the future
You look like Zachary Quinto
And can do sex voodoo
Which is awesome
For my heroine, Mae.
I mean
Both the sex voodoo,
And the fact that you look like Zachary Quinto.
Because who on earth wouldn't want
A sex voodoo practitioner,
Who looks like Zachary Quinto?

2. What is it about fairies that drew you to write a Sultry Solstice story for Total E-Bound's collection?

Magic, mystery, things half-remembered from the movie Labyrinth. The sensuality of summertime. And the fact that writing for Total-E-Bound is so orsum.

3. As a writer myself, I'm always curious about the pain/pleasure of other people's creative process. In five words only, describe how it was for you writing Tigerlily...

Surprisingly painless. Cathartic. Nostalgia filled.

4. There's definitely an element of "The One That Got Away" going on for your heroine Mae...

It's not so much the one that got away in the sense of an old boyfriend...but maybe the one that got away in the sense of a love that once was and that seems to dissipate over time, then returns when you least expect it- in a different form?

5. Can we talk for a minute about the hot that is your cover for Tigerlily? I would think that with three gorgeous people on The Festival Spirit's cover, I'd out-do you on the hotness, but the way the couple are touching on Tigerlily is absolutely SMOKING. Give us an exclusive excerpt that lives up to the package!

I don't want to give too much sexiness away, but hopefully this gives a hint as to the smokingness of Tigerlily:

"I cannot possibly be horny again," she said. She came close to rolling her eyes at herself, but stopped, when she noticed his inexplicable horniness, pointing directly at her.

Or not so inexplicable, really, when she thought of it. He was obviously some sort of sex sprite or demon or maybe like Pan, with the reed-flute, and all of the rampant orgiastic lust running through him.

"You’ll feel aroused when I am. And I, in turn—"

"I get the picture. The really, really crazy dirty picture."

"Do you really think sex is dirty?" he asked. He had his hand at her collarbone, and it wasn’t trailing upwards. Soon it would be at her breasts, where the nipples had already peaked. The low hum between her legs was making her hips roll, heedless of her good sense.

"No. No. And even if I did, you make it seem so…I don’t even know the words. Of the earth? One with nature? Some other pagan voodoo that I don’t understand."

"Beautiful?" he offered, and she thought that fit very nicely indeed.

6. Readers are going to love Tigerlily and that means they're going to want more Charlotte Stein. Which of your other stories should they go for next?

Well, I've got a sci-fi time travel threesome thing coming out on August 9th from TEB- Past Pleasures. It's as dirty as hell and pretty fun, I think! And then on September 10th I've got my first release from Ellora's Cave coming out. It's called The Horizon, and I'm mega excited about it. It's quirky and silly and based on my love of all things sci-fi, from Firefly to Red Dwarf to Terminator and Total Recall. Plus it's dirty. And there's sex pollen.

7. One last question, but this one's for Mae. Brad or George?

As Mae is, essentially, me, I'm gonna have to say George. No self-respecting heroine of mine could ever love Brad. He's too...golden.

And you can buy Tigerlily, here:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=845

What are you waiting for? It's only £1.69!

Also, you can buy Rachel's novella, The Festival Spirit, here:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=846&strPageHistory=related

Because she is real. Honest.