USA Today Happy Ever After Interview

It was such a thrill for me to be interviewed by Joyce Lamb at USA Today - Happy Ever After blog.
If you'd like to check it out, here's the link: http://bit.ly/xjilVg

Joyce asked some really cool questions. Here's a sampling:

Joyce: Welcome to HEA, Kathy! Why do you write erotica?

Kathy: It's fun to write about sexuality with complete and open abandon. It's like riding a rollercoaster and racing down the big dip with your eyes wide open and your arms straight over your head. Some might prefer to hang on with eyes closed. You still get a good ride, but perhaps miss some of the thrill. Besides the explicit details, I enjoy writing the love story. I love happy endings.Why do I write erotica? What's the goofiest question anyone has ever asked me? My website says I'm a cytotechnologist, how does that and my interest in quantum physics feed my stories?

Joyce: Please tell us about your story in SWTWC, Tattoo Witch.

Kathy: Tattoo Witch is about a couple, Anita and Sam, who love each other, but their relationship is strained. They're argumentative and their love life has cooled. While vacationing in Ocean City, Md., they watch a couple having sex on the beach. Later, that same couple presents them with an offer they can't refuse — magical tattoos that will grant scorching sex beyond their wildest sexual fantasies. And it does. Their love life has never been better or more exciting, but there's a catch. This is dark magic and each tattoo comes with a curse. Like a drug, they want more despite the curses, until it gets out of hand. It's a love-conquers-evil story. Dark and sexy and romantic in a twisted kind of way. Of course, there's a romantic HEA. Recently, I saw a movie with a similar theme — Limitless. Instead of tattoos, the magic was a drug in the form of a pill that expanded the brain capacity. This pill had consequences, too.


Joyce: What's the goofiest question anyone has ever asked you about writing erotica? For example, someone once asked me how I do research for the love scenes in my novels. Naturally, I came back with a smart remark that left both our faces pink (had something to do with IRS tax deductions).

Kathy: I like the IRS tax deduction answer. I'll have to remember that one. Sometimes I get the question: Do I physically research all my love scenes to make sure they're accurate? I've responded a couple of ways like, "Stephen King writes about serial killers and ax-wielding, murdering writers. Would you ask him if he kills people for research?" On a rare occasion, I'll come back with a smart remark and answer, "Of course, every sleazy scene. The most exciting research I ever did was for scenes on planet Somerled in my sci-fi erotic book. I really enjoyed the interstellar travel to another planet, and oh my, a threesome with a shapeshifting dragon. Well, don't knock it until you try it."

Joyce: Your website says you're a cytotechnologist. A cytotech-who? (Imagine Joyce making the Scooby-Doo "ruhr?" face.) How does that and your interest in quantum physics feed your stories?

Kathy: As a cytotechnologist, I look for cancer under the microscope. I also assist doctors during biopsies. I guess I'm a bit of a science geek. I'm a huge sci-fi fan and have read (skimmed) a couple quantum physics books. I don't claim to understand it. Quantum physics is weird science. It's probably as much a philosophy as it is a science. How can you apply logic, never mind prove theories, to forces and events in the universe that don't behave logically? In my Demons in Exile series, I used an alternate universe (an artificially created world) that exists between dimensions. A couple quantum physics theories sparked this idea. One theory says that the universe is constantly splitting into parallel universes — billions of them. Another known theory says we inhabit 10 dimensions, 11 if you count time. How do they know that? Don't worry, I don't explain HOW the world was created or give readers lessons in quantum mechanics. Quantum physics is interesting, but reading more than a page or two at a time is a great cure for insomnia. Erotica is much more stimulating and entertaining.

For the full review, check out the HEA website for January 25, 2012 http://bit.ly/xjilVg
http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/index