Hi Ann! It is great to have you here at Fallen Angel Reviews.

Thanks! It's nice to be here and I'm grateful for the chance to talk to you and your readers.

Your latest offering, Second Sight, brings readers a collection of thirty stories. Can you tell us a little about this anthology?

I can tell you a lot about that anthology! The short version is that Second Sight combines sexual and unconditional love in thirty different ways. It's about the fact that where desire is concerned, it's not really what you see, it's how you look at it and how we look at things has the power to transform and to heal. These stories mean a great deal not only to me but to some of the people who have read them, the published ones at least, so I'm very, very proud of this book.

Your work has been primarily erotic romance. What appeals to you most about this genre?

Actually, I've written primarily literary erotica. That's where I got started, and that's still my home turf. I'd say that what I really write is erotic love stories. Sometimes they're romances and sometimes they're not, so when they fit the romance bill, I send them that way and when they don't, they end up as erotica. The thought and the writing behind them are the same, though, so if someone has liked my romances, they'll probably like my erotica and vice versa.

What do you feel is the biggest misconception about being an author of erotica?

Probably that we all take after Anais Nin! What I most often have to fend off is the assumption that my personal life mirrors my writing in some way, when in fact I live a very quiet life.

You recently released Aural Sex with Phaze. Can you tell us a little about Max and Bianca?

Max and Bianca are both classical musicians who meet while Max is touring the United States for the first time. He's German, from behind the Iron Curtain. He's been a bit over-privileged for most of his life and it hasn't been good for him. Bianca is exactly the opposite; she's had to work way too hard for too little. Aural Sex is about them coming together not just as lovers, but as people, too. They have a lot to learn from each other and a lot to offer each other, too.

What was the most difficult aspect of capturing their story?

It was hard to try to express how scary love can look to someone who has been cut to the core by it, without making it so terrifying that nobody in their right mind would give it another try. It's a surprisingly fine line, and Max and Bianca are both walking it without even knowing it when they meet. They think they're being very sensible and realistic when in fact they've almost given up hope. That state of mind is hard to write.

Okay. I just have to ask since your books encompass some pretty steamy heroes. How would you describe your ideal male hero?

That's a tough call because on the surface at least, I don't think my heroes have a whole lot in common. At least I hope not. I try to write as many different kinds of people as possible. I think that what I like is a mix of integrity and humility, men who are true to themselves but not at the expense of those around them. These aren't the guys who ride off into the sunset. They're the ones who are changed by experience without losing themselves to it.

Your work, The Dream Ring, is going to audio? What prompted the expansion into this new medium?

Mostly the fact that there's nowhere else for novellas to go. They rarely make print, which limits their range considerably, and that's too bad because they can be very good stories. Audio is a way of giving them new life. There's also a small but growing trend in erotica toward audio, so I'm not the only one doing it.

Will your voice be featured in the audio?

To be honest, that project has been jinxed, but yes, it's my voice. And with luck, I should be able to finish it within the foreseeable future!

Can you tell us a little about body image poetry?

Body image is such a loaded thing for women. My own weight fluctuates due to circumstances beyond my control, so I've been underweight as well as overweight, and not out of any willpower or overindulgence on my part. The irony that I was trying to capture in that poem was that I felt a lot less sexy--actually, I just felt a lot less--when I was fashionably thin than I do now when I'm at the high end of normal. The body that looks perfect isn't always the best body to live in.

Once you start developing a story, do you write until that work is complete, or do you create multiple stories at once?

I usually have multiple projects going on at once, mostly because it helps with writers block. If I get stuck on one thing, I just switch to something else until the knot in my brain loosens up.

You are a contributing editor for Erotica Readers and Writers Association and Clean Sheets. How does your association with these organizations contribute to your writing?

Clean Sheets took my first-ever fiction submission. ERWA's Storytime workshop is a first-rate learning experience for any erotica writer, and now I'm a columnist there. I guess in some respects, those two sites have had a profound effect on me as a writer because they helped and encouraged me from the very beginning.

What are you currently working on?

I'm doing the final editing on a novel that I've been working on for a couple of years. I'm also working on the usual articles, short stories and occasional poems, which never seem to end.

What would you like to accomplish next in your career?

That novel! I've spent most of the last four years working on it, and I would love to see it in print. I would also like to finish it because I have another idea that I've been researching for years and want very much to get onto the page. I love doing this. I hope never to retire.

I appreciate you taking time to speak with us Ann. It was a pleasure to learn more about your work. Readers, if you haven't had a chance to read Ann’s work, stop by her site for some great teasers and excerpts.

Interviewed by: Amanda