Today in The Loft: Meet author Cameron Allie!

Visiting me today in my loft is fellow eXtasy author Cameron Allie. 

Cameron, who resides in Ontario, recently welcomed her first child, a daughter, currently four months old. While she, her husband, and their tabby cat, Darcy, adjust to the new addition, Cameron continues to write romance. Like so many of us who write, Cameron fell in love with reading at an early age and after reading her first romance novel at age 15, embraced the genre and made it her own. She is the author of multiple books, all of which can be found at Amazon.com.

Cameron is joining me today for tea (and luscious French pastries) to talk about romance and a special offer for her readers. 

S: Good morning, Cameron. Thanks so much for visiting. Now that we've propped ourselves up with sugar and caffeine, let's get down to business. Tell me, what do you consider your greatest achievement?

C: That's a draw. I always thought finding a publisher and finally getting published would be my greatest achievement. I remember reading once about an author who likened publishing a book to giving birth. You work for months and months on a book, writing, rewriting, editing, sending it away to publishers, then finally it's birthed and is such an accomplishment.  

However, I just had a baby. My daughter is four months old and I love her to bits. I can't really say which is the bigger achievement. People have babies every day, but some couples really struggle to get pregnant. The odds of getting published are pretty low. Self-publishing was a game changer (in the book world) but if you want a traditional publishing career it's not an easy road.

Being published and having a baby are my two biggest accomplishments. I'm so proud of both.

S: The first year with a new baby is pretty special, if you remember it! (Chuckles.) Kids are a blessing, most of the time. Really.

Anyhoo, you write about love. I'm always interested in other author's perspectives on love. Do you believe people have only one true love--that they only fall in love once?

C:  No. I believe people fall in love multiple times. I think sometimes a person can fall in and out of love with their partner, which is why it's so important to communicate and remember not to make snap decisions. Also, I believe there are different types of love.

S:  Communication and patience are indeed important in relationships. I also think a little romance helps as well.

You mentioned your tabby cat, Darcy. Cats are great pets--mine lived more than 21 years and I was shattered when he went to the great beyond. He was a great cuddler. 

If you could have any animal in the universe as a pet, what would it be and why?

C:  A few things spring to mind, like a pig, skunk, or otter. I've always enjoyed having cats, but I think I'd really love a sugar glider. (https://m.youtube/watch?v=E2TsiMOIoLA)

S: Ah, cute little buggers. For those who don't know, sugar gliders look like flying squirrels, but are actually marsupials...think kangaroos. The females have a pouch to transport their young. They're called sugar gliders because they have a layer of skin between their wrists and their sides that enables them to glide when their arms are fully outstretched. They are very social creatures who like to hang out in their owner's pockets or "pouches."

Cameron, good writers often rely on certain types of inspiration. For example, I find mine in everything from food to music, but opera really sends my imagination soaring. Is there any one song that inspires your flights of fantasy?

C:  Imagine Dragons:  Believer. Most songs by Imagine Dragons inspire me when it comes to writing. I've got a fantasy series in my "to write" lineup and every time that song comes on, that series tries to push its way to the front of the line.

S:  Wow. That sounds like fun. My fantasies tend more toward...oh, never mind. (laughs)

Your life--with the addition of a child--is going to change remarkably in the next few years. So, I will probably ask you this same question again 10 years hence: To date, what's the best advice you've ever given?

C:  I'll keep this writing related and say--When it comes to editing/revision, read your work out loud. Or better yet, have the computer read it to you. You'll be shocked at how many mistakes you catch.

S:  That really is great advice. I have to say, for me, the first draft is the easy part. The editing and revision that follows is not nearly as much fun.

(Seelie grabs the last pastry.)  Sorry about that. Caffeine does little for me. I need the sugar high.

Now, tell me about the special offer you have for readers...

C:  During the months of July and August, I am offering a free copy of my short story, Neptune's Passion, to anyone who purchases one of my novels from the Unexpected Changes series--My Mistletoe Master, Not His Type, The Perfect Fix, or Somewhere to Belong--directly from my publisher, eXtasy Books. All you have to do is send the proof of purchase to cameron@cameronallie.com and I'll send you a FREE copy of Neptune's Passion.

S:  I love free books! What is Neptune's Passion about?

C:  Here's the blurb--"Hot Greek male looking for roommate for tropical vacation. Must be female. Must be a sexy brunette, with a passion for reading. Must be Natalie Donovan." When Griff asked her whether, to cut costs, she'd like to room with him at their friend's wedding, Natalie should have said no. But now as they sip margaritas on a white sand beach, Natalie finds flirting with her long-time crush a little too easy. And finds sleeping next to him, night after night, too much temptation.

S:  Sounds like someone's getting their sexy on! Can you share an excerpt?

C:  Sure--

Excerpt from Neptune's Passion

A few chapters further, Natalie got interrupted when water was dripped onto her legs. Frowning she glanced up and found Griff looming over her. With his Greek ancestry, dark features, and sharp blue gaze he resembled the Roman God Neptune. In the fading daylight, water glistened on his body. The only missing pieces: the big beard, and the trident.

“If you want to keep your book safe I recommend you put it away.”

Confused she asked, “Why?”

She shrieked, when without warning Griff squatted down, placed one hand under her bent legs, the other behind her back, and lifted her into his arms. Natalie struggled to get away from his cold, wet body. “Put me down.”

In the pool, their friends laughed and cheered him on.

“You’re going in the water. You can do it alone or with the book.”

“Fine.” She huffed. “Put me down, though.”

He did as she asked, but suggested, “You might want to lose the cover-up too.”

Natalie growled her displeasure over that, but set her book on the chair and dropped her white beach cover-up over top of it. She went a step further and put her glasses on the table. If she was reading the situation correctly, it would be safer if she left them behind. She stared up at a now slightly fuzzy Griff. “Better?”

His gaze ate her up, and with deep male appreciation he replied, “Much.”

Feeling playful, Natalie crossed her arms under her breasts. “I’m not going in the pool.”

He grinned. “Oh, yes you are.”

Deciding she wouldn’t make it easy, Natalie deked around him and darted away. 

She wasn’t nearly fast enough. She hadn’t even made it passed the end of the pool before he caught her around the waist. Hoisting her up once more, Griff stood at the deep end of the pool. “In you go.”

She squealed in protest as he stepped off the ledge, dropping them both into the water.

S:  That sounds like a great way to heat up your summer!

Cameron, thanks so much for stopping by! Maybe next time, you'll bring the babe. I really miss having a child to cuddle. Teens don't cuddle, they just give you grey hair!

For more information on Cameron's summer special, visit:  

https://www.cameronallie.com/2018/07/summer-promotional-event-get-free-copy-neptunes-passion/

Next week, I welcome author Madison Michael to the loft. (I'm going to need to go out and buy more pastry!)

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Check out my interview with Wess Haubrich from the NuRomantics!

https://medium.com/the-nu-romantics/great-erotica-should-not-only-heat-the-loins-it-should-unveil-the-possibilities-for-love-d9a94311cfcb

Some endings never come

I am often asked why I “serialize” some of my short stories.

The easy answer would be because as a child, my parents inundated me and my siblings with magazines and kid’s newsletters—Highlights, Boy’s Life, Weekly Reader—which sometimes serialized stories. I was totally hooked on them, fighting my brothers and sisters for every single copy. (You should also know that my parents were teachers, so reading seemed liked the perfect way to keep a herd of five children busy.)

Or I could tell you that I found the continuing stories of Brenda Star, Mrs. Worth, and Dick Tracy—always featured on the comics pages of the Milwaukee Journal or the Chicago Tribune—enthralling. I could not wait for the next installment. My parents loved having a child who actually ran out and collected the newspapers each day, without having to ask.

But I won’t. Because that’s only part of the truth.

Perhaps more revealing is that I love some of the characters in my short stories so much, I simply don’t want their adventures to end. 

Like the Sheikh and his American lawyer wife, Harun Ali and Marianne Benson. Something about this couple just stirs my heart. A lawyer whose husband was killed in Desert Storm, inspired by 9/11 to fight for the victims of terrorism, falls in love with a lawyer from the Middle East. You see, this is more than just a story about a heart-throbbing, panty-wetting, hot and sexy romance hero. It’s about two people reaching across a cultural divide to find love, despite the prejudice, despite the danger, despite the risk.

This couple loves hard and loves deeply. They are as passionate about each other as they are about their fight for the victims of terrorism. They have faced with some dangerous circumstances, but they remain strong, because they have each other. They are not without conflict, but they love enough to resolve their differences. They understand that love always finds a way.

And then there’s the police chief and the criminal defense attorney, two people who fight for what’s right, rather than what’s expedient, or the law school professor who moonlights as a secret agent and is in love with her own James Bond. And Munk, the lawyer newly diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic illness I share.

How can I stop fantasizing about their lives, about the perils and dilemmas they face? Their journeys are long and romantic and just too damn scintillating to end.

Call it the curse of a writer blessed with an overactive imagination and a wicked pen, but I can’t stop writing about them. I won’t stop writing about them (she said petulantly).

Can you blame me?

Why is “consensual rape” even a thing in romance novels?

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Suddenly, kinky is cool…and that may not be a good thing

Once a topic discussed in hushed tones behind closed doors, it seems kinky sex is no longer banished to the closet. In fact, kinky is cool.

Admit it. The topic may make you giggle, it may even make you blush, but when someone brings up blindfolds and handcuffs, you nod knowingly, with a certain tone of acceptance. After all, you have read those books and seen those movies. You’ve had your kink education and you’re all in. The sting of a whip seems like a small price to pay to snag a billionaire’s heart…

Here’s the thing. Those books and those movies are fiction. That’s right, F.I.C.T.I.O.N. There is little chance you’ll garner the attention of a rich dude simply by claiming to be submissive, and permitting a stranger to tie you to a bed and have his or her way with you is just stupid. And there is little in those books that accurately portrays the kink world, or the elements of a true Dominant/submissive relationship. Because believe it or not, not all Dominants have been abused or are psychologically damaged. And not all submissives are innocents who surrender control to a stranger just because they foolishly got drunk.

Yet, some consider those books the bible on a very complex lifestyle. And the damage that has resulted is tragic. There’s the case of the two women who decided to hook up with an alleged Dominant they met online. Both wound up chopped into pieces, stuffed into suitcases and left on a roadside to rot. And there’s the case of the recently divorced middle-aged women who decided to flit into a kink club, proclaiming to everyone who would listen that she wanted to serve a Dominant. Four men cornered her and convinced her that as a submissive, group sex was the key to proving her value. So, she allowed them to gang rape her—without protection—and wound up with an incurable sexually transmitted disease.

Then there are the online discussion groups that cater to those in the kink or BDSM lifestyle. They are filled with ads from lost men and women who offer to do “anything” in exchange for the protection and/or support of their Christian Grey. And those groups are also filled with post after post from naïve men and women who were taken advantage of by alleged Dominants and scammers. They tell stories of rape, abuse and more.

Obviously, the people in these examples were unable to make informed decisions about a lifestyle they knew little or nothing about. They relied on a fictional book or a movie to override what little common sense they possessed. They leapt right into harmful situations because they thought kink was trendy, cool, sexy. They gave no consideration to the consequences, only the mythical possibilities.

And in so doing, they missed a vital step, one not often portrayed in books or movies, but one those in the lifestyle will tell you is essential—building trust.

As in entrusting a person with your well-being when that bedroom door closes. As in being confident that you have taken rational steps to ensure your safety before surrendering control to another. As in trusting that the other person understands what you have consented to and will stay within those boundaries.

And that’s what’s missing in so many novels about kinky relationships. The steps between the meet and the handcuffs. If you don’t truly know and trust someone, why in hell would you permit them to blindfold you, tie you up, and stripe you with a whip? Because they might be a billionaire who will take care of your every need? Really?

You know what? I am pleased that the flurry of books on kinky romance have made it more mainstream. That just creates a bigger market for my books. However, while tolerance is good and more book sales are good, ignorance is not. 

Ignorance can harm you, maybe even kill you.

Check out my latest video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVn5kpM2zcY