Who is Sascha Illyvich? Known for hot and sensual erotic stories such as Her Male Slave and A Christmas Favor, Sascha’s fans know that to pick up a story by this enigmatic author is to put yourself in a world of lust, love, and deeply emotional characters. With a love for bands such as Killswitch Engage, Korn and Slipknot, we also know that Sascha likes his music with an edge. But what else can we learn about Sascha? I hope that our interview will shed a bit more light on this creative and talented author.
Hi Sascha, thanks for taking the time to talk with us!
You know, as a Dominant, I made you interview me! Oh, and I promise not to offend anyone BUT Missy Andrews with my answers this time!
Tell us about your upcoming release from Venus Press, Nights of Lust Book 1: Endangered.
Sure thing :-) ENDANGERED is about a Hungarian vampire and a Russian cop. Stuff happens, they make out, and more stuff happens.
Seriously, Joséf Staganov is a rogue cop who is destined to die at his own hand but not before stopping The Syndicate from distributing their foul drugs to the population of San Francisco, California and then converting them into vampires, thus making lifelong customers of them. He runs into Livía Ilona, famed “Queen of the Night,” a lusty, powerful vampire who is ultimately tied to him.
Livía kidnaps Joséf, hoping he’ll grant her one favor of saving her best friend’s child only to bring out a secret about Joséf’s true nature.
How did you come up with the idea for this story?
It was a cold and stormy night. The wind blew hard, dropping the wind chill to about 45 degrees and I had a slight headache from a hangover. I recall a phone being involved, some questions, there may have been drugs involved. In fact, I’m sure of it. The questions, anyway. Mari said, “don’t you write female dominant stories?” I think I said, “Yes ma’am.” The big thing in the market seems to be paranormal romances and while I couldn’t spell paranormal, my mentor (another female) said I should jump at the chance to do this. The original goal was to space it out as 10k snippets but thanks to Morgan’s plotting help, it went from 10k to 30k and there might have been another drink involved, but it topped out at 77k. Mari was happy, Racquelle seems thrilled and hopefully the readers will enjoy this story and the next one.
On your Bio page, why does it say December 1748?
Ask Herbsaint and The Green Faery.
Can you tell us about your upcoming release Sacrifice from the Sons of Zeus series?
Sure! The Love of my Life came up with the premise after I told her about Mari’s idea for the line. After upsetting the other gods, Ares is sent back to 1950’s America in Sam Spade fashion as a private detective who has to solve a murder case. Determined to regain his powers, he falls in lust/love with the woman who wears the very ring his powers are sealed in. Once he finds out where his powers are, he has to seduce the lovely Linda Westguard, but will he really want to go back to being a powerful deity after one taste of her lips?
I hear that you are working on an Extasy anthology that will be out just in time for Halloween. Can you give us a sneak peek at what we can look forward to from you in this book?
A short story that won’t annoy Stef with grammar problems? The details are being hammered out right now over a bottle of scotch, but the story has to do with a young, troublemaking werewolf and a very sexy witch. He has a lesson to learn, she has a prophecy to fulfill, and their one night of passion can only lead to…
You are currently working on a couple of stories for Harlequin Blaze. How did this come about and is it different working on these as opposed to your other stories?
Um, I’m probably infatuated with the Harlequin authors I know from the Sensual Romance list and they seem like fun people. I did have a story for Blaze but ended up giving it to Venus Press in the end. I remembered that Mari liked A Christmas Favor. That, and Lisa’s Sway were written with the Harlequin level of fun and heat in mind. I don’t read much Harlequin anything right now, but the major difference in writing has to be the level of seriousness in the work I’d give them, versus the heavier stuff VP gets. I feel I can have more fun writing something lighter for HQ, so here’s to hoping I get off my ass and finish another MS for them, and get it accepted!
Say they were to make a movie about your life. Tell us what it would be about. What is the title and who would play you?
Movie about me would be called Circle of Rejection, starring James Hetfield as me. The basic movie plot would be about a guy who carries the world on his shoulders for those he loves and is trampled on constantly by those who should love him. Ultimately, he’d realize that the ones he’d coveted for so long were useless to him, and those he loved were the ones he belonged to.
If you could be reincarnated into anything, what or who would it be?
Chris Rock. Stephanie Burke knows why.
If you could relive one event in your life, what would it be?
The day I was born. I’d stop it.
You have the opportunity to occupy another person’s body for one day, who would it be and why?
Probably Bill O’Reilly. First, I respect him for what he is. Why him? Some people need to be knocked out for their stupidities.
Who has been the most difficult character for you to create so far? Why?
Mychael Houck. He had to steal someone else’s name just to find acceptance, except that I’d never write about him. So, probably Trent, who needed to be given purpose as a submissive man in a world that doesn’t accept that some of us are not dominant.
What does success mean to you?
A Shipley’s Doughnuts on every street corner in the world! Seriously, it’s all about the money right now. With money, I can do for others. If I can do for others then I can help them achieve their dreams. I guess that means being able to realize my dreams along with helping those I love to achieve their dreams, whatever they may be.
Name three essentials in your life.
Cuesta-Reys with good scotch, the family that I’ve created, and these brownies my girlfriend made me last winter. Those things were the shiz-NIT!
What author would you drop everything to work with?
It’s a toss up between Laurel K. Hamilton and Sherrilyn Kenyon. And Christine Feehan.
What is it about metal music that attracts you?
Unlike just about every other form of music that’s popular today, metal has passion. Much of it is anger, directed at self or the world, but it’s bold and loud. You can’t ignore it. For every band like Slipknot or Mudvayne, there’s a band like Killswitch Engage that has the opposite viewpoint of life. I need to identify with someone else who loathes himself the way Corey Taylor does, but as I grow with my better half, I need to hear someone like Howard from KsE who says “Hope is…” The one thing about my writing “I” can consistently say is that I fill my stories with as much passion as possible. You need to come away from reading my work saying “Goddamn, Sascha’s made me feel so strongly about finding the one person who loves and respects me, and who will work with me for me, so I can work with them, for them. For us.”
Is there anything else you would like to add before we go?
Anyone know what Christina from Lacuna Coil is saying on “Comalies?” Oh, and don’t take everything in life so seriously. Can someone get Missy some drugs?
Sascha, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! We wish you the best in all your future projects.
Thank you. I really appreciate the support from FAR.
For detail on all of Sascha’s books, visit www.sensualsascha.net. You can also join Sascha’s yahoo groups to stay up to date on all new releases and upcoming projects. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saschaillyvich/ & http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SessionsWithSascha/
Interviewed by: Kathi
