It
gives me great pleasure to have Lexi Post, Happily Ever After Thoughts’ newest
contributor, with me today. Lexi’s debut novel, MASQUE, came out March 8 so I
thought I’d take a few minutes and ask her what’s been on my mind.
Marie: I have to know, Lexi, when did you know you wanted to be a
writer?
Lexi:
I came late to the game of writing, mainly because I didn’t like to write, but
I was always making up stories. I used
to make up a bedtime story every night for my much younger siblings. Once I discovered romance novels, it was
natural that I would eventually want to make up my own story, of course, that
meant I had to learn how to write well. That took awhile :-}
Marie: What made you choose to take classic literature and give it an
erotic twist?
Lexi:
I wanted to try writing erotic romance, but I wanted to base it on something I
knew very well. Some people focus on a place or subgenre, but when I thought
about it, I realized what I knew the most about was classic literature. When I
thought about the first story I wanted to use, the ideas just flooded in!
Marie: I’ve been in on this story since it was first a twinkling of
an idea but I’ve never known, what made you choose “The Masque of the Red Death”?
Lexi:
Actually, I was planning to base a story on Poe’s “The Fall of the House of
Usher,” but I hadn’t found the time to re-read it when one of my students did a
paper on “The Masque of the Red Death.” Since it had been years since I’d read
it, I had to read it again before grading the paper. When I read Poe describing the seven colored
rooms my mind suddenly threw me toward the erotic and I knew each room would
have to be a separate sexual experience. The only problem was that everyone
dies in Poe’s story, so how could I link it to today, and then it hit me. What
if the masquerader in the mask of the
Red Death wasn’t Death, but a friend trying to do the right thing, only to have
it all go wrong. And so Synn came into existence :-)
Marie: You’re an avid reader so which authors inspire you?
Lexi:
Lots of writers inspire me, including you J
However, I have to say the one that I learn from every time I read her books
and who inspires me with her writing work ethic would have to be Jennifer
Ashley/Allyson James who writes erotic romance, historical romance, paranormal
romance and even mysteries.
Marie: Everyone has their own writing process…how they come up with
ideas, how they name their characters, how they choose the setting. Can you
describe your writing process?
Lexi:
I call my process “The Dump.” Basically, I get an idea from a classic story which
dictates a lot, and then the idea has to percolate in my head for awhile. When
I have my goal, motivation, conflict, and the dreaded black moment figured out,
I start writing. This is “the dump.” I
literally dump the story into the computer. When I start, I don’t know everything
that will happen and I’m continually surprised, but after about 8 weeks of
frantic writing, I have a rough draft. Those are 8 weeks of sheer joy! Then I
have to let the story sit before I go back and revise. Yikes, what a mess that
draft is. It takes me eons just to spell
check the whole thing! It goes to my critique partner, the lovely and talented
Marie Patrick. I think you know her, and
then I revise some more and polish it up.
Marie: Fill us in. MASQUE is your debut novel, but I know, as with
other writers, you’re constantly working on new ideas so what are you working
on now?
Lexi:
I have a WIP that’s just about ready to
send to my editor. I just need to do the final formatting. It’s called To Bea Rappaccini and it’s
inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” only my Bea Rappaccini
must have sex to expel the poisons her body produces. Either that or die.
Unfortunately, her poisons also make men extremely ill and she has
unintentionally sent one into a coma! So when she falls for Zach, things get
interesting :-)
Marie: I thoroughly enjoyed
MASQUE (I giggled my way through it) and I’m so glad you could be here with us,
Lexi. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.
Lexi:
Thank you, Marie. I really appreciate the invitation to talk about my first erotic
romance. I’m so excited! I can now call myself an author! To celebrate, I
created The Masque Tour where I will
be giving away one of these Italian masks at every stop. The full schedule in
on my website :-)
Marie: For a chance to win
the
beautiful purple and black lace Venetian mask pictured here be sure to leave a
comment for Lexi. And don’t forget to
include contact info in your comment in case you win. Winner will be announced
and contacted on Wednesday.
Marie: Check out this excerpt from MASQUE
Chapter
One
Cape
Breton, Nova Scotia
People. Living, breathing people.
Synn MacAllistair grasped the embrasure of the
parapet, his heart thudding as he stared at the vehicle crossing the stone
bridge over the moat. It came to a stop at Ashton Abbey’s massive gate.
He waited. The great iron grille, chained and
padlocked against intruders, would be considered a significant deterrent to
entering. Open it. Damn it, open it!
The vehicle remained stationary. No one exited the
large red monstrosity.
Impatiently, he pushed away his hair as the breeze
whipped it across his view. What were they waiting for? If they needed an axe
to break the chain, he’d gladly provide them with one.
Another smaller vehicle rolling parallel to the west
wall caught his attention. It crossed the bridge and parked behind the larger
one. More people?
A man stepped from the small conveyance and shuffled
to the gate. Synn leaned farther over the battlement, anxious to see if their
time had come. The joyful sound of clanking chains floated up to him on the
breeze.
Finally!
About bloody time. He swallowed hard to keep the yell of triumph
from escaping his throat. No need to scare their new guests.
The man below hurried back to his transport and,
without hesitation, backed across the bridge and left faster than he’d arrived.
Synn peered down at the red vehicle, still as a
brick, its black windows making it impossible to see inside. A door opened and
a woman burst onto the cobblestone entrance. She bent over and spoke to someone
else still inside. Her blonde hair hid her face, but her ass, covered in men’s
trousers, was small, her legs lanky. A woman? A woman dared enter a haunted
abbey? He tried to grasp the concept.
His plan was to convince a man to enjoy the
pleasures of the flesh, but there had to be a man to convince…unless a couple
entered the Abbey. Couples enjoyed the Pleasure Rooms as well. If he could
persuade a couple to participate in the Masque then his companions could still
be freed.
Peering hard, he watched and waited. After what
seemed another decade, a door on the other side of the red contraption opened.
He held his breath, willing the occupant to have broad shoulders, a beard,
anything to indicate a man.
A long, slender leg stretched out, a black high-heel
shoe of delicate design at its end, and a feminine hand grasped the side, but
remained stationary.
He growled with frustration. “Bloody hell. What am I
supposed to do with two women?” He hadn’t expected women. The Abbey overflowed
with spirits. Only men should dare enter. How were blasted women going to help
him? He paced away from the wall, but quickly returned. Could there be more
people inside the vehicle?
He waited, his patience long gone, not that he ever
had much, but damn, it’d been a hundred and fifty years. That would strain the
patience of an archangel, something he definitely was not.
He glared as the leg moved and within a moment’s
breath, the woman unfolded herself from the conveyance.
Synn stared, frozen in time for once, drinking in a
beauty far surpassing any painted Aphrodite he’d ever gazed upon. Her long,
wavy brown hair captured the sun, shining like fine brandy. Her figure, as lush
as any Greek goddess, swayed sensuously in her short dress. Her arms were bare
and the smallest of noses held her dark glasses in place. He stepped back, away
from the crenellation, his heart racing, his mind whirling with ideas.
He paced the length of the wall. A vision was about
to enter his stone prison. A woman fit to be worshiped with every salacious
touch he’d ever learned. His cock hardened beneath his pantaloons. Amazed, he
stopped and looked down at it. After so many years of having no needs—for food,
for sleep, for relieving himself—the last he’d expected to feel was the need
for a woman. He shook his head. It defied logic. But if his body could respond,
then he could participate, guide a woman through the Masque.
The creaking hinges of the gate brought him back to
the wall to see the backs of the two women entering the Abbey courtyard. Two
women. Vivid memories of his happier days with the prince caught him by
surprise and gave him hope. As he strode across the wall-walk and down the
stone staircase, his mind raced with possibilities. One after another they were
discarded as he floated to the landing on the second floor. But a new plan
began to form as the great pine doors opened.
Marie: Don’t forget to leave a comment for
a chance to win the Venetian mask.
