
MP-Assumed Calling book five of the Identity series is coming out this summer. Each book is longer and more fun than the previous one…what can we expect in this book?
LM-Assumed Calling is Allen’s story, who has appeared in book 3, Assumed Identity, as well as book 4, Assumed Master. I knew he was an important character and an integral part of the story lines, but it wasn’t until I was finishing up Assumed Master he really began to talk to me about telling his whole story. Each of the Identity books have dealt with different aspects of the lifestyle and each have explored a different way of living it. Assumed Calling is no different. It will explore role playing and fetish fantasies, something I’ve yet to touch base on in the other books. Allen’s had wives and lovers, but he’s never found someone he actually loved with his whole being. And he’s not entirely certain Nicki, his object of desire, entirely fits the bill, but she’s definitely got his attention. The real issue for him is their age difference. Allen’s identity problems come into play when he figures out he’s getting older and everyone around him seems to be getting younger. And you’re right in that the books started out novella size and have progressed to novel length. I started out with the idea to write one novella. Identity Crisis turned into a series and while trying to keep it to the “prescribed” short story size, it seems my characters had a different idea about things and their stories just progressively grew into full length works, which is my forte to begin with. I’ve never fancied myself a short story gal so the novel length suits me better and I’m happier with the way the latter books turned out than the starter installments. I also thought this series would end with book 3, but we’re now up to five and while I’d like to say this will wrap things up, there’s another character Keegan D’Amato that’s constantly pricking at my mind. It’s not beyond imagining he will be next.
MP-As a wife a soldier you know the heartaches and palpations a soldier’s life can bring to a girl. Which book do you think you achieved the hardest emotional peak?
LM-Concerning the Identity series, that would have to be during the time period that lapses between book 3 and book 4 when Julie’s Master dies. The first chapter of Assumed Master was pretty emotionally taxing to write. However, from my work overall, I’d have to say the hardest emotional peak came in my second book published, Bound by Trust. That story really hits home as it’s about a war widow and when Madi finally is granted access to her husband’s personal affects—it really hit home. Writing her meltdown and subsequent fit, for lack of better term, was exhausting and I found myself in tears right along with her.
MP-Tell us about Realmantic Moments.
LM-My how’s it grown. I remember when I first opened Realmantic Moments it was called Happily Ever Afters, which I soon learned was a quite popular title for many things and realized I needed something more unique. It wasn’t until I found my tag word and catch phrase, realmantica, that I came up with Realmantic Moments for a blog title and revamped my site. That was during the first year. During that year I stumbled through the motions of blogging and irregularly at that. I was lucky if I was there a couple of times a month. Then I realized there was no blog fairy and had to really buckle down and make my blog a place people wanted to be. I spent some time examining exactly what I wanted for my blog and decided I wanted it to be a place where writers could get a bit of advice about the publishing world occasionally, readers could learn more about me, and I could toss in something entertaining—like a guest every so often. At the beginning of this year I decided a move was in order and with some graphics help opened the new Realmantic Moments on a new platform and launched it with an excerpt festival of sorts and invited dozens of other writers to help me celebrate my re-opening. Since then I’ve hosted another excerpt event, which was very successful, have regular guests, participate in Six Sentence Sundays, join in blog hops and scavenger hunts whenever I can, and when there is a free day I talk about me and give some advice to writers. This fall I plan on tweaking even further and I’ll be hosting Flash Me Fridays, which will be an invitational flash fiction party and I think the readers will be excited and pleased with the other talented people I’ve asked to participate in it. It’ll be a regularly scheduled fun time and I’m looking forward to it very much. When I started out three years ago I had about two followers and I think they were both family. J My following has increased significantly since then and I get plenty of traffic. Comments are also on the rise and I love that! Very nice to be able to interact with the people stopping by. If anyone would like to pop in, please do so at: http://realmanticmoments.blogspot.com/
MP-Of all your characters which one would you like to punch in the face?
LM-Oh you make me laugh. Dillon from True Identity. What many people don’t realize is a few of my characters from True Identity that attend the club Steele Image regularly made guest appearances in Force Recon: Somalia, book two in the series, an anthology I co-wrote with BethAnn Buehler, JA Lawson, and JL Oiler. Dillon is a very young Dom and not quite seasoned to say the least. In Force Recon, the Recon Marines become involved with my characters from True Identity and end up visiting Steele Image a couple of times. My character Alli, a female marine who’s been a POW, is a club member at Steele and her second trip back after her rescue, Dillon is tasked with watching her for a few minutes. He fails miserably and as a result, Alli is thrown into a violent flashback. Although I wrote him young on purpose, he turned out to be more immature than I’d bargained for and I would definitely say until I go back to him and make him grow up—yeah, I’d like to punch him in the face. J
MP-Since you write BDSM what’s the funniest ‘safe word’ you’ve dreamed up?
LM-I honestly have to say, I’ve not come up with a truly funny one yet. Not all of my characters use them, as is true to the diversity of the actual members of the lifestyle. Those that do take it very seriously and the safe words they use have some special significance to them so I never really thought of using anything funny. Now you have me thinking and I’ll have to work on that. J
Thanks for having me over, today, Michel!
Assumed Master…
We may be born to the lifestyle,
Julie Stevens and Dante Larson always knew their tastes were a bit more eccentric than those of the average person, but acknowledgement of their chosen paths came at different times. While their lives have run parallel for the last twenty years, destiny always came knocking at the wrong time. Julie was a closeted edge player and before Dante could pull her free of her fears, Mason came along and dragged her kicking and screaming from her self-inflicted darkness, leaving Dante wanting. Although Dante’s been in love with Julie since the day he first laid eyes on her, he's happily married to Blake. But the tides are turning.
But Lady Fate dictates how it should be lived…
Still mourning the death of the only Master she’s ever known, Julie finds herself forced to live with the one man she’s been terrified of for years, Dante. While she has to admit something between them feels right, just as many things feel very, very wrong, starting with the fact he’s married to her gay best friend. Before she even has time to sort out her current predicament, another man catches Julie's attention. But after losing her mother, her sister, and her husband, can Julie come to grips with the fact that Keegan D’Amate jumps out of perfectly good helicopters for a living, rescue diving for the Coast Guard? And where exactly does that leave Dante, who knows for sure he needs a woman to complete his unconventional marriage? Quite frankly, he's tired of waiting.
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