Mr. Montoya, thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak with you. 

Thank you, Serena.  It's my pleasure.

I'd like to start by asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself. Your information on eXtasy books states that you were a Merchant Marine Officer, what other jobs have you held?

I've had a positive gift for getting in on the ground floor of dying opportunities.  I went to work building nuclear power plants a few months before Three Mile Island demonstrated some problems with the industry.  There's an understatement to be reckoned with.
 
In fact, the Merchant Marine was in a steep decline when I graduated from the Academy and began shipping out.

I became a software consultant a bit late, but managed to ride the dot com bubble to false prosperity for a time.  I've been an executive in a small construction company, a middle manager in corporate America, a bartender in a pretty rough bar and a stay at home Daddy.  At times, I've been a coppersmith's helper, carrying slate and copper onto a roof and a lousy salesman.
 
My career can be considered either an eclectic path, or a checquered past, I suppose.

Do your varied jobs influence what you write about?  How?

I can't imagine a writer whose life experience doesn't influence his or her writing.  Since we work more than anything else we do, it has to be an element of our thinking.  In my case, they absolutely influence my writing.  Naturally, my time as a sea-going officer influenced LIBERTY’S LADY.  Some of the scenes, particularly the storm, actually happened.  The crewmembers are combinations of people I knew well, met casually or even just heard about.  My characters and their names come from my past, whether stealing in whole or in part.
 
I'm a voracious reader and collector of oddball people, dialog or events.  I've always loved history and its oddments.  Fiction can never rival reality, since fiction has to be more plausible.  For instance, I'm working on a mystery that relies partially on factual occurrences from my life and some news events.  The protagonist is a bartender, who spends his free time trying to raise his daughter.  I had to change reality to make the fiction more credible.
 
An example.  One of my customers at the bar was at his limit, so I "shut him off."  He was wearing baggy, calf-length shorts.  As he pushed through the door, I thought he was mooning me, and I started after him.  Actually, his pants dropped to his ankles and he tripped, falling headlong into a pickup truck parked at the curb, knocking himself unconscious, bleeding profusely from a nasty head wound. 

He lay with his head under the truck's rear wheel, with his body on the sidewalk, naked from the waist down.  I found something to cover him, but the EMT's insisted that someone move the truck before they moved their patient.  I actually had to point out that moving the truck would crush his skull, rendering any aid they could give him pretty well moot.
 
I couldn't possibly include that story in a novel, despite the streetwalker's snort of derision when she looked down at his semi nude body.  The man was fine afterwards, so it becomes a great story.  I have no way to make it believable, so I can't use it.  I have to change it to make it fictional and credible.
 
Writers are actually thieves and liars, so it's a matter of what reality we experience making its way into our fiction.

It seems that you have traveled in the Orient. What were you able to see?

Assuming that "lots of oriental people," is an inadequate answer--I saw a lot and understood a tiny fraction of it.  Cultures dating back thousands of years are terribly deep water for a twenty-something kid from New England.  My country came to being a bit more than two hundred years ago.  Japan had been a nation, with traditions and a government for well over a thousand years before the Adams brothers began agitating in Boston.

Still, I got glimpses into the heart of matters in Japan and Korea.  I managed to only offend a small number of people.  I was perfectly willing to express my ignorance and willingness to learn, and that got me by, usually.
 
I actually visited some herbalists' shops and watched acupuncture being done, as well as seeing the darker side of the orient, including child prostitutes, grade school pimps and street gang enforcers for triads and the Yakuza.  Still, it was only peeks into deep darkness.

You have a book out on eXtasy, LIBERTY’S LADY. For those who have not read it, can you give us a synopsis?

You mean you actually want me to talk about my work?  You bet I will.  Captain Thomas Britton, master of the Colonial Privateer "Liberty's Lady," has received an impossible mission from General Washington, during the Revolution's darkest days.  He is to intercept and capture intact three British ships.  Each carries a portion of the Continental Congress's treasury.  He has to be aware of the possibility that any or all of them may be escorted by British Men of War.

A short, but bloody battle results in the capture of the first ship, but she's carrying two passengers, Lady Patricia Merston, and her Chinese Servant, Mei.  Lady Merston is being forced to return to England to marry a nobleman she's never met, and Mei was sold into servitude by her family.

Britton's hate for the British is grounded in his past, and Lady Merston's station places her well above him in the general scheme of things, but they find themselves attracted inexorably to one another.  Meanwhile, Mei's heart is captured by the ship's mysterious surgeon, who respects her mind as much as he lusts after her body.

Storms and battles rage, both in the captain's cabin, and in the wider world of the ship at sea, yet moments of peace and passion can be found, even within a savage war and dangerous combat.  Ultimately, Britton confronts his feelings for the English and overcomes his unreasoning hate, thanks to Lady Merston's passionate dedication to him.  Lady Merston liberates her Chinese Servant and herself.

Finally, there's a climactic confrontation with British warships and Lady Merston's fiancé.  I think that's all I'll give away for now, though.

What made you chose to write an erotic historical novel?

It sounds pompous, but I'll go ahead.  I always include a strong erotic element in my "straight" writing, using it to generate tension amongst characters.  In this case, it was a matter of using tension among the characters to create the eroticism.  Gawd, that's horribly self-important.  I belong to an online writer's group, and someone came on the board, soliciting erotic work, for his new ebook publishing site. 

My wife dared me into it, and when the publishing site failed to materialize, I submitted the work to several publishers and agents.  eXtasy books accepted it, and after some editing, I was a newly published author.

The historical nature came from the bar I was working in.  While cleaning up after closing, I had the History Channel on TV.  They were talking about 18th century naval warfare, and I tried a quick maneuvering board test.  The premise worked for the overall story, and I found that when the characters and their bios were done, the book pretty much wrote itself. 

Do you have any other books out?  If so, where are they available?

I'm writing a book to be submitted as a Harlequin Blaze, under the pen name "Deidre St. James,"  probably finishing within a few months, but it hasn't been accepted--yet.

My mystery should be ready for my agent soon, but nothing else is out at the moment.

How do you write?  Computer or pen and paper?

Computer, thank goodness.  I pour words out and edit furiously afterwards, so the computer is my only prayer.  I'm very visual, so I watch my scenes play out like a movie, rewinding to polish dialog, and write everything I "see" or "hear."  Cutting, while painful is essential, and the computer is my best friend.

Do you listen to any particular music while you write or do you prefer a quiet place?

I'd love a quiet place OR music, but I write amidst family, including a six year old daughter.  I suppose it's good for my concentration, but I'd sure like to try to write in an office or with a stereo playing whatever I'm in the mood to hear.

Okay, I have to ask, were you able to get your pilot's license?

Nope.  In fact, I'll have to get another physical and retake the written to solo again.  I'm pretty sure I remember how to fly, but that'll have to wait.  Anyway, knowing how to fly is secondary, I hope I remember how to land.  Takeoffs are optional, but landings are mandatory, if you catch my meaning.

Is there anything else you'd like to let your readers know?

Hm.  I guess if they'd just get the book and read it, knowing that I wanted to write a good story, with compelling characters, and included a strong erotic element, I'd be happy.  I wrote it with the idea that the story could stand alone, with the sexual content providing spice, rather than the reason for the tale.  There's nothing more depressing to a story teller than having no one to enjoy the story. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. 

The pleasure was all mine, Serena.

We appreciate it.  Mr Montoya's book, LIBERTY’S LADY, can be purchased at eXtasy books.  Or by clicking here.



Interviewed by: Serena