1.
What do you wish men understood
about women?
I’d love men to really understand how complex women are, sexually.
That we can desire warm, sensual loving and being put on a pedestal, but other
times crave raw, hot sex and being treated like their private concubine. And that they should never be shy about
experimentation, which can keep any relationship exciting and vital, and understand
if they are generous, and take the time with us to explore, their efforts will
be well rewarded. A sexy win-win for all parties involved.
2.
Do you only work on one book at
a time?
I’m a Gemini with a tendency to swing from one book to another
depending on my mood – which can be a good thing, or not so much! For example,
while working on Words of Lust, with its high level of romance and
emotion, I was also writing some harder, kinkier erotica. That gave me an
opportunity to indulge in my wilder side rather like a palate cleanser. But I’m
trying to be more stern with myself and stick to one project until completion, both
to keep on track with my timetable now that my Carina editor is waiting for book
two of the Stellato siblings, but also so I don’t dilute my focus.
3.
Who is your favorite fictional
couple?
Of course I love my first Stellato siblings couple from Words,
Nick and Serafina. They are such different people, yet they complement one
another so beautifully. They seduced me rather like a warm summer evening
breeze. Book two’s couple, Berto Stellato and Wharton College department
secretary Alice, are a fire and gasoline combination. They blew in like a firestorm
- and don’t you just love tempestuous
romances?
Beyond my books (and I’m always madly in love the couple I’m working
on), I continue to be thoroughly enthralled by kick-ass urban fantasy heroine, Anita
Blake, vampire executioner, and her long-time love, Master vampire of the City,
Jean Claude. It’s their 20th anniversary this year (or rather
Laurell K. Hamilton’s!) and the relationship never gets stale. But be warned, their
romance - as intense and complicated as it gets – requires the A/C on high,
24/7.
In contemporary erotic romance I have to say that I fall in love too
easily – as the old song says – and when an author creates a couple that sweeps
me into their world, I am an eager and willing voyeur. So authors like Maya
Banks, Shayla Black, Eden Bradley, J. Kenner, Lisa Maria Rice, and Lauren Dane
make me an oh-so-very happy reader.
4.
Do you have a favorite quote
that sums up how you feel about life?
Like anyone, I have very optimistic periods in my life and then
others colored by pessimism, but no matter what’s going on, I try to be strong
and keep striving to achieve my dreams. Maybe this is why my characters are
always such fighters. I’ve always admired folks who stand up to adversity and
never back down. All my life there’s been a simple quote I loved, one of my
favorites of the always quotable Winston Churchill: “Never, never, never quit.” It’s perfect reinforcement, no
matter whether you’re at the top of your game or working through a tough time. My
favorite quote about love is more irreverent, from a feisty woman after my own
heart, Mae West: “Too much of a
good thing can be wonderful.”
5.
Do you set daily writing
goals? Word count? Number of
chapters? Do you get a chance to write every day?
Because I work a full time day job [at an entertainment law firm],
which requires a 3 hour round trip commute daily, and as a parental caretaker,
writing time is always at a premium. But I use that 3 hours commuting to write
and edit, or read research materials. Evenings I can usually get in an hour or
two and on weekends and holidays I am a writing fiend. It always feels so
wonderful to have those days with nothing to do but write! I will make lists of
overall goals but I try not to hold myself to set word count or page count
because I can get frustrated when fate thwarts my plans. I just keep writing
and on a weekday can get 2,000 – 3,000 down. On a day off, when inspired I may hit
10,000. Of course, on those days the housekeeping tends to suffer and dinner
might consist of nothing but pretzels and wine!
6.
What do you like better,
Twitter or Facebook? Why?
I’m still pretty much a novice at social media, though I’ve been
blogging for a couple of years, I use Twitter more as a quick connection to
folks in the media, entertainment and publishing industry, and Facebook more as
the social community, to get to know folks, talk books, writing, reading, and
all the things that I am passionate about, like animal rescue, special needs
children and adults, and women’s issues. I’ve discovered some wonderful friends
via Facebook, from all over the US and the world, and I love sharing
information and inspiration there. It’s also a terrific way to support people
by adding my voice to their causes.
7.
What are you working on now?
I am finishing up the draft of book two of the Stellato siblings
series. You meet all 5 of the Stellato brothers and sisters in Words of Lust,
but book 2 (working title Hot In the City) is, as I mentioned, Alberto
& Alice’s story. Berto is the quintessential wise-ass, New York alpha male,
but this outward persona is, in part, a defense against a secret that has
caused him great pain and humiliation in the past. Alice is a young, single
mother of a special needs boy with her own troubled past, who needs Berto’s
help when her ex returns to threaten her and her son, Graham. She’s a
passionate woman, but won’t let another man into her life for long because trusting
a man has always led to heartbreak. So Berto has his work cut out for him to
convince her that she can count on him: He’s the real deal. They are a super
hot couple and I’m having a blast creating their steamy sexual relationship as
well as the tormented emotional one. It’s also fun writing a linked series because
I keep discovering more and more about the family of characters which will make
writing those future stories so much more fun. By the way, all of my stories
are set in New York City because I love the amazing worlds that all co-exist
side by side by side here. I enjoy sharing these details with my readers and
hope that they’ll be sufficiently seduced to want to come and get to know the
Big Apple themselves. And if you pop into town, give me a holler and I’ll show
you the sights!
8.
Tell us about your latest
release and where we can find it.
Words of Lust is a full-length erotic
romance (88,000 words) available in digital format direct from Carina Press (www.carinapress.com), and also on Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, Kobo and the Apple bookstore.
After a decades-long career as a NYC
theatre performer and award-winning cabaret singer, Lise turned her creative
hand to writing romance. She’s a “method writer” of contemporary, paranormal
and historical erotic romance with short stories in two Ravenous Romance
anthologies, “My First Threesome” and “Slave to Love”, and under her erotica
pseudonym, Lydia Hill, her short story “My Master’s Mark”, will be included in
the 2014 Cleis Press anthology, “Slave Girls” edited by D. L. King. As the past
president and 6-term board member of the RWA/NYC chapter, she is passionate
about romance fiction and publishing and connecting with readers from every
corner of the globe. She reads and writes in her wild garden, which is a
certified National Wildlife Habitat, and loves her rescued greyhounds, her
special needs brother who visits from his adult group home, her Mom and all of
the writers who have seduced her since she picked up her first book. She
dedicates her writings to her love and inspiration, the late crime writer,
Milton T. Burton, who showed her what indulging a true passion of hearts and
minds can mean. Please stop by her website, www.lisehorton.com, and connect with
her on my social media to talk books. And she urges everyone to always
remember: Feed Your Passion!
