Sexy Christmas Special Cris Anson Interview

Let’s welcome Ellora’s Cave author Cris Anson to Julie's Book Review. Cris is giving away a download of Punishment and Mercy, so don't forget to check out the rafflecopter to the right of the pg.

Welcome to My Sexy Christmas special. Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Thanks for inviting me to visit, Julie.

I write erotic romance because I firmly believe that life doesn't stop at the bedroom door. I had a deeply romantic relationship with my husband of 22 years, and I want to celebrate his memory in my writing. After he died, it took me a long time to come out of my grief, but parts of him -- his honor, courage, optimism, tenacity, and lust for life -- live on in all my heroes. They’re all alpha men, as well.

And I write erotic romance because I feel you're never too old to give or receive love. Many of my stories have older heroines who dazzle younger men, and I wouldn't mind being such a heroine in real life. But that's another story...

I’ve written for Ellora’s Cave since signing my first contract in 2004. I love gardening, and grow peonies, dahlias and other showy flowers. I play the piano occasionally, listen to classical music almost all the time, and sometimes dance to music only I can hear.

What kind of books do you write? Newest release?
I write hot and sexy contemporary erotic romance.

My latest release, coming out January 9 from Ellora’s Cave, is Mercy and Redemption. Here’s the blurb:

Searching in an old cemetery for likely gravestones to illustrate her colonial cookbook, Mercy Howe meets two hunks who are tracing their ancestry and sparks fly. Literally.

When Mercy casually touches Seth and Adam, her vividly erotic vision involving all three of them feels like a memory, not a dream, and awakens long-dormant sexual urges. Their kisses are achingly familiar, and she welcomes each in turn into her body. Then she spends a no-holds-barred weekend with both men in her bed and discovers an intimacy—and a past—that blows her mind.

As memories resurface from three hundred years ago, Mercy will have to choose whether to relieve the experiences from their joint past or forge a new bond with either Seth or Adam. Or both.

What should we expect in your book? How HOT? MM,MF, MMF, etc.
Five-star hot. In Mercy and Redemption, the heroine gets it on with both heroes separately and together in a delicious ménage weekend, plus the two males rub up against each other as well.

How do you get ideas for these sexy books?

For the first book in this series, Punishment and Mercy, the young heroine claimed my brain and wouldn’t let go until I gave her both her heroes. I kept insisting I don’t write historicals (my excuse was, too much research). But she kept at me, shaking her bare butt in front of the entire congregation in a 1694 Massachusetts Bay Colony village and tantalizing me with what she wanted the blacksmith to do to her.

With the sequel, Mercy and Redemption, it was easier. The characters began remembering snippets from the past lives that they lived in Punishment and Mercy, and it took off from there. Couple that with my own private fantasies about two guys and a girl…

Still, my ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. A news article, a comment overheard, an emotion experienced or shared, quirks of people I know, all can trigger ideas. On the other hand, sometimes I have to sit down and wait for days to drag ideas out of my brain, more difficult than pushing an SUV uphill.

Anything in your stories based on real experiences?
Not experience so much as day-dreaming of what would happen to me if… If that hunky blacksmith could spin me around and bend me over the oak worktable in front of the fireplace and show me how it’s done… If the two hunks in snug T-shirts get it into their heads that they want to share me… you know, just everyday thoughts LOL.

But I do have to say that having lived many decades, I have lots of experience with love, hate, loss, grief, anger, petulance, fright, despair and the like, and I draw on those emotions to animate my characters. Oh yeah, I also took a 3-day BDSM for Writers course and visited a BDSM dungeon and participated in – er, did some first-hand research! I wrote a 4-part series about BDSM on my blog, Cris Anson’s Passions (see link below), and I’ll be using that research in the third book in this series, Redemption and Glory.

Toughest criticism? Best compliment?

It would have to be a reviewer who took exception to the fact that one of the main characters in Punishment and Mercy wasn’t “of age” when the story started. As well, she objected to my “old fashioned” voice. News flash: in 1694, 17-year-olds were not only married but had children by then. I stayed true to the times. Plus, my editor was amazed and thrilled that I had nailed both the 17th century texture and voice and still was easy to read.

Best compliment? That my fans keep buying my books. I’m humbled every time I get a note, a good review, a mention on Facebook, or someone has a fan-girl moment (about me!) at a booksigning. Plus, every royalty check serves up some smiles too.

Any advice for aspiring authors?

Yes. Don’t give up. Do. Not. Give Up. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. So if you don’t keep writing and learning and growing, you won’t get published.
How about some fun stuff?

Dogs or cats? I’m allergic to both, but dogs. They’re more friendly.

Fav book? why?

Out of the thousands of books I’ve read, I’ve given about a dozen a perfect “10”. Here are four of them, each in a different genre (be sure to keep tissues handy for all of them!):

Natural Law by Joey W. Hill (erotic romance). No one writes about the mind-set of the Dominant and submissive in the BDSM lifestyle as she does, with passion, understanding and emotion.

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale (historical romance). Quiet Amish nurse meets an arrogant British nobleman whose stroke left him with brain damage.

Sky Pirate by Justine Davis (futuristic romance). The self-loathing that both hero and heroine had to overcome made for some emotional bombshells. 

Gone Too Far by Suzanne Brockmann (contemporary romantic suspense). After watching their story develop over a half dozen Troubleshooter books, Sam (married with a child) and Alyssa (a sharp-shooting assassin) finally find their HEA.

Favorite place to travel?

I’ve been to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and Austria and would love to return. But really, there’s nothing like the United States of America. DH and I took our RV to as close as the New Jersey Pine Barrens and as far away as Denali National Park in Alaska. (Poor guy took 3 weeks to drive it home by himself, as I had to fly home to get back to work. It was our last big trip.) I’d love to explore more places, especially the Grand Canyon, the Southwest, and the 3,200-year-old giant sequoias in California.

Fav author? Why?

Until I discovered Ellora’s Cave, it was Nora Roberts, whose stories are endlessly fascinating and move me emotionally. Now I’m immersing myself in BDSM authors because that’s where my characters are taking me. So it would have to be Joey W. Hill. She delves so deeply into her characters’ psyches that I squirm, I ache, I cry for them.

Is this your full time job? If yes, anything else you want to do? If no, what else do you do?

I’m recently retired from a life as an executive assistant in the business and charity worlds. I have to admit, retirement to me means “I can always do it tomorrow, I don’t have to squeeze my writing in after I get home from work and feed DH and do laundry and weed the garden and all the other home-owner stuff.” So I do a lot of reading and relaxing and gardening. And in between I write. For a while I felt like I deserved to take time off and do…not much of anything. But my characters are always in the back of my mind, sometimes more quiet than at other times. Right now I’m working on the third book in this trilogy, where the hero first sees the heroine in—what else? —a BDSM club. And boy, are they speaking to me now!

Where can we find you and your books?

Website: www.crisanson.com

Blog: www.crisansonspassions.blogspot.com

Ellora’s Cave:: https://www.ellorascave.com/index.php/authors/index/author/slug/cris-anson/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Punishment-Mercy-Elloras-Cris-Anson/dp/1419964771/ref=la_B0036LJT7A_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1353294489&sr=1-6

Barnes and Noble: http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=book&WRD="cris%20anson"

  http://www.ellorascave.com/mercy-and-redemption.html

 Thank you for coming on Julie's Book Review. I wish you lots of success and hope you and your families all have a Happy Holiday.

Have a wonderful SEXY Holiday!

Julie Ramsey
juliesbookreview.blogspot.com

Passion Without Boundaries www.crisansonspassions.blogspot.com 

MERCY AND REDEMPTION - coming soon from Ellora's Cave

PUNISHMENT AND MERCY - in print and digital http://tinyurl.com/8nnw6p4
HOW I MET MY HUSBAND - free on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/9vh2pfe