I'm branching out this month. For my July blog entry, I'm posting an interview with interracial erotic romance author Adrienne Kama so you all can get to know her. She's the author who will be co-hosting the "Kickin' It with Adrienne Kama and Bridget Midway" event in Williamsburg on November 7th, 2015.
How long have you been writing as Adrienne Kama?
I published my first book back in 2004 and wrote steadily until 2007, publishing eight stories. My marriage fell apart in 2006 and I ended up taking a very long hiatus from writing. I started publishing as Adrienne Kama again this year.
What was your first work out as Adrienne Kama, and is it still available?
The Nephilim War, a story about sexy fallen angels. No. It’s no longer available.
Where can readers find you? (URLs, FB - both accounts, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.).
My website: www.heatherelizabethking.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adriennekama
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009725581892
Why do you write interracial romance?
I’ve always been an equal opportunist when it comes to dating so the stories I write reflect this. I’ve written stories with men of a few different ethnicities. Let’s see. I’ve covered, black, white, Indian, and Puerto Rican. Keeping it diverse makes it interesting for me, and hopefully, my readers.
Why do you write BDSM?
I wish I could say I had a grand plan, but honestly, it just sort of happened. I read BDSM stories; Anne Rice’s Sleepy Beauty series is one of my all-time favorites. Also, around the time that I wrote the Stella Rice series, my now ex-husband and I discovered the fetish scenes of Baltimore and DC. After reading Anne Rice’s series, I was curious, plus, they always played the best music! They had live BDSM shows at many of the clubs. We never took part. LOL But I was amazed that so many people were as interested in BDSM as I was. So writing a BDSM story seemed the next natural thing for me to do. At the same time, my author friend, Marianne LaCroix started a publishing house and asked me to submit. I’m paraphrasing, but she basically told me to go for it, as far as content. I hadn’t told her I was writing a BDSM story, but the timing was perfect. I could write the kind of BDSM story I enjoyed reading.
Why interracial BDSM romance?
No grand reason here, either. I’m kind of ridiculous that way. I’d gone for a run around the lake at my hometown and saw this very tall, gorgeous man running that day. He was fit and looked incredibly focused on what he was doing. My imagination took it from there.
Are you in the BDSM lifestyle in your real life? If not, how do you do your research?
I’m single now, plus I live in a small town, so there’s not much going on for me in the way of BDSM at the moment. Back when I lived in Maryland, with Baltimore and DC so close, everything was at my fingertips. Book research was easy.
I didn’t realize when I first became interested in BDSM the varying levels of interest that exist. For instance, just because someone is into BDSM doesn’t mean they like sado-masochism. They may prefer domination. Or if they do like bondage, they may enjoy being handcuffed to a bed, whereas someone else may be down with elaborate rope bondage. Once, when my ex-husband and I were in Georgetown, we went to this high end fetish boutique. Yes, they have those. And they had this elaborate leather arm bar contraption that the sub would slip her arms into. It covers both of her arms from hands to shoulders and laces up the middle. If I remember correctly, it was made for the sub’s arms to be behind the back, but could probably be worn either way. Five hundred bucks for this bad boy and it was a good seller. But something like that would make me feel claustrophobic! So there are so many levels of interest in BDSM. That’s one of the things that makes it so interesting to write about.
Any backlash from anything you’ve written? If so, for what work and what were the comments?
Writing in the BDSM genre is a bit different from other genres. A bad review on Amazon with a reader complaining the author went too far, generally sells more books. Overall, I find that as long as the reader knows the heroine is having a good time, they feel comfortable enough to suspend reality and go on the journey with the author. If the reader feels the heroine is being raped or forced in any way, they won’t enjoy the story.
Do you have any current books out as Adrienne Kama? If so, post the titles and blurbs for each.
Sure. Most of my backlist is no longer available, but I’m re-publishing most of the stories.
The Chronicles of Stella Rice: Book One:
After one too many bad dates, Stella Rice gives up on men. Happily-ever-after doesn’t seem to figure anywhere in her future, unless it means being single in Baltimore where her closest companions are her three best girlfriends. But a trip to the gym and an unexpected encounter with her domineering kickboxing instructor, Jake Santos, leads Stella to wonder if she should give the man/woman thing another go. With a successful business, an exclusive home on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and stunning good looks, Jake seems like the perfect man to pull Stella out of her dating rut.
Half Puerto Rican and half Native American, with a mane of long sable hair, Jake Santos has the kind of dark good looks that make him impossible to ignore. What Stella doesn't know is Jake has secrets that will make every other man from her past look like a saint.
Now available on Amazon.
Again:
Can wishes come true? A simple wish to erase a particularly annoying man from her past brings Peyton Pendagrass face to face with the very man she was hoping to expunge. Peyton finds out just how confusing life can get when lust, time travel and a little white magic get entangled. For Christopher Grant, learning his one-time lover Peyton is engaged to marry someone else shatters his world. Six months ago his longing for Peyton left him too terrified to face the fact that he was falling in love with her, so he fled. But fear isn't an issue anymore. Alone with Peyton for the weekend, Chris is prepared to use everything in his arsenal to win her back. Even if he has to hold her captive, tie her down and use all of his sexual prowess to do it.
Now available on Amazon.
How did you and Bridget Midway come up with your “Kickin’ It with Adrienne Kama and Bridget Midway” event coming November 7th?
This is an event Bridget has done before. I think if it has to do with selling books, Bridget has done it! For this one, she was kind enough to ask me if I wanted to take part. I jumped at it!
Will you have a new release for that event? If so, what is it (title and blurb)?
I will. The Chronicles of Stella Rice: Book Three. I don’t have the blurb yet, since I’m still making changes to the story, but the book promises to be as fun as Book One and Book Two! Book Two, by the way, is coming out on June 26th!
Now available on Amazon!
Bridget Midway has been very open in saying that you inspired her to write interracial BDSM erotic romance. Do you have any inspirations - BDSM or otherwise?
There are two authors who write fantastic BDSM. Anne Rice, who everyone knows. And Morgan Hawke. If you’ve never read a Morgan Hawke erotic romance, you need to. Today. Right now. She’s incredible.
What inspires you to write BDSM?
It’s fun, exciting, and pretty much no holds barred. I have two additional BDSM books I’m considering writing. One is a fantasy, the other, a contemporary.
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always told stories. I’m only fully happy when I’m writing.
Where do you see Adrienne Kama in the next five years?
Honestly, I don’t know. I had retired ‘her,’ but there was so much reader demand for me to finish out the Stella Rice trilogy that I brought her back just to do that. But the response has been so positive, it’s hard to pack her away again. And like I said, I have so many other BDSM tales I’d like to tell.
BDSM is hot right now. Where do you see that genre going in the next five years?
I paranormal stories under my real name, Heather Elizabeth King. One series could have been classified as an urban fantasy, but the urban fantasy genre doesn’t sell as well as it used to. I don’t see the same thing happening with BDSM. It’s such a specialized area of fiction. The readers will always read BDSM. I’m an old heavy metal girl. One thing I love about metal is that the fans are devoted. Same goes for BDSM.
Besides BDSM, is there anything else Adrienne Kama writes?
I write paranormal romance and paranormal mysteries under my name, Heather Elizabeth King.
What is your writing process?
I work outside the home full-time as a business analyst in corporate America, so I don’t have as much time as I’d like. Typically, I get home from work and sort of meditate for about 30 minutes. It’s like I’m letting the business analyst go and becoming the author. Don’t laugh! It works for me. Then I make dinner, eat, watch a little TV, then I slide behind the laptop and write. My goal is 2,000 words a day. I don’t always get there. As long as I get over 1,000, I feel productive.
Any rituals you perform before you sit down to write?
Not really, other than my 30 minute quiet period. I look out the window, lay with the cats, and try not to think.
Pants-er or Plotter?
Total planner. But my outlines are what I call, living documents. I always feel free to make whatever changes the characters want me to make.
What was the best advice given to you before you got published, as a published author, and/or now?
Write. All the promo in the world doesn’t help if you don’t have anything to promote.
What advice would you give to a yet-to-be-published author?
Allow yourself a first draft that nobody will see except you. It doesn’t have to be pretty, you just have to get the story out. Making it pretty is what the 2nd and 3rd drafts are for. I typically do about 4 drafts of a book before I send it to my beta readers.
Chocolate or vanilla?
Both!
Any guilty pleasures?
As Tom Hiddleston once said, “The thing is, I never feel guilty about pleasures.”
Last book you read?
Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Fall. It’s the sequel to The Strain. Yep, I’m getting ready for season two of the TV show.
Last movie you watched?
"Out of the Dark", starring Julia Stiles and Scott Speedman. I’m a horror movie junkie!
One surprising fact that readers would be shocked to know?
I used to play lead guitar in a funk/rock group.
Dogs or cats?
Both are irresistible!
Boxers or briefs?
Boxers for sure.
Stay sexy,
BridgeT
www.BridgetMidway.com
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