Please join me in welcoming Lila Munro as she shares with us a little about her writing, what she'd like to change about the world, and what her superpowers are.
Be sure to check out the sexy hot excerpt from her book Assumed Identity after the interview.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
1) Links to website and list of books with purchase links.
I can be found at my blog. I love to have guests, too. My back list is growing all the time, but it and my purchase links can be found there for your perusal.
2) What was your first published book? Looking back, is there anything you’d change about it?
My first published work was The Executive Officer’s Wife—and yes, there was plenty that needed changed and in fact I did. After a year I was reverted the rights and it took a thorough scrubbing with a new editor and is now out in second edition and doing much better now.
3) Where do you get your ideas?
I get ideas from everywhere and everything around me. And believe me, living in a sequestered sub-culture I’ve seen and heard it all. Quiet little sub-urban style living is not the military way. I started out writing strictly military romances—you know, write what you know? But, I found myself wandering away when I first started writing the racier themes. This year my plan is to return to those roots. There are still so many stories here to tell. So much to draw from. The Executive Officer’s Wife and Bound by Trust both came from my military experiences and so far have been two of my best-selling novels. Right now I have in the works the outlining of a stand-alone, For His Country. It’s a heartfelt story about what life is like during the transition years toward the end of a Marine’s career. How do marriages last twenty or more years under the type of stress the military has to offer? This novel will address that. I also have a series almost written, The Sergeants of Echo Co. I'm looking forward to returning to my origins and sharing a bit more about my military background with my readers.
4) What hinders your writing? (distractions? noise?)
The phone. There are days I actually have to turn the ringer off or I’d never get anything done.
5) What genre are you most comfortable with? What would you like to explore?
I’m comfortable in the genres I work in now. Very little makes me uncomfortable. I’ve written straight up contemporary, ménage, BDSM, and although I am certainly not a M/M writer, I’ve written M/M scenes for the work I’m currently working on as the story dictated it. It’s always been on my list of things to try to write historical. I love, love, love historical, but it requires a lot of research to get it right and I won’t do anything unless I can give it 150%.
6) Are you a by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of writer, or do you have to use an outline to put your collective thoughts into some semblance of common sense?
I’ve sort of been like a shape-shifter in that area. I started out a strict outline everything, plotter and nothing deviated from the plan. Then things progressed and the busier I got the less I adhered to the plan. I didn’t like it there in the no plan at all land, so now I’ve sort of settled into a cross between the two. I outline and plan and get to know my characters, which helps me climb inside them, but if something crops up in the middle of the road I stop and talk to it a while before deciding whether to pick it up and throw it in the cart or keep walking. This had become a very comfortable place for me.
7) Which of your books is your favorite? Why?
My books are like my children. There are things about each that I favor, but as far as an overall favorite I don’t claim one.
8) Do you incorporate some of yourself into your characters? Personality traits? Likes? Dislikes?
I believe it’s impossible not to spill a bit of oneself into one’s characters. They are in essence an extension of me, so sure they resemble me on some level. That’s not to say this spillage is intentional, I think it just is inevitable.
9) What do you have in the works?
Currently I’m working on the sequel to Assumed Identity, Assumed Master. It’s the continuation of Julie’s story and the beginning of Dante’s. I also plan on finishing up the Slower Lower series this year with book three, A Slower Lower Leap.
10) Do you have any suggestions/comments for prospective authors?
Write what you know and listen to your editors. They are paid to know what’s right and what’s wrong. It irritates me to see people degrading editors and publishers because the writer got a rejection notice. There was a reason you got it. Figure out the reason and fix it.
JUST FOR FUN:
1) If you could be an animal, what would it be? Why?
I have said for years if I could be reincarnated as an animal I would either come back as a bird or a dog. Both for vengeful purposes. I could either poop on the heads of those that had been mean to me in this life, or pee up their leg.
2) If you had super powers, what would they be? Why?
I have a super power. I’m a military wife. This requires me to be more jills of any and all trades than you can shake a stick at.
3) If you could change three things in the world, what would they be? Why?
No child anywhere would be hungry. Children are victims of circumstance. Not one single one asks to be born into this world and they sure don’t deserve to go hungry once they are here. That people would resume personal responsibility for themselves. As a society we’ve come to be entirely too dependent on someone else, anyone else, for anything and everything. Reclaim the spirit of “I can” rather than “Will someone?” That the adoption process, nationally as well as internationally, somehow be streamlined and made easier. It’s also quite costly. There are so many kids out there that need homes and plenty of parents that would like to have them but the amount of red-tape convolutes the process to the point that thousands still sit waiting on a good home. I’m not sure how this streamlining would take place, I know safety of the children is a priority, but there just has to be an easier way to give this love.
4) What would be a perfect date for you?
At this point, since my husband has been gone for almost a year, a bologna sandwich in the back yard followed by gallons of wine and some serious—you know ;)—would suffice for perfect.
5) Is there anywhere you’d like to visit? Why?
Europe. Anywhere and everywhere. My husband’s been in port in several countries and always comes back with the most amazing pics and treats. I’d like to get a taste of those places firsthand and experience them with him.
Author Name: Lila Munro
Book Title: Assumed Identity
Genre: BDSM/Contemporary
Publisher: Rebel Ink Press
Blurb:
Innocent childhood games of dress-up and pretend…
Julie Stevens is as straight as they come. Or so she tries to convince herself. But it isn’t easy believing that little white lie when she has the two most sexually eccentric best friends on the planet. One is a bi-sexual Domme who believes if it looks fun, try it. The other is a gay man in the role of slave to his very sexy Master whom Julie often wishes wasn’t gay. Dante’s commanding presence makes her want to do things that set her on fire with need and embarrassment. Given her boring vanilla life, how exactly does she fit into their world? Would they like to have a shinier third wheel?
Are a completely different animal for grownups…
After one wild evening and a bit too much liquid encouragement, Julie discovers a side of herself she’s always tried to ignore. The realization she’s a sub not only scares her, it excites her and she yearns for more. But the process of finding the right man to teach her becomes a real issue, until Mason comes along. He’s everything Julie imagines a Dom should be. Armed with her masque and Renaissance costume, Julie is thrown for a loop when the handsome Master draws more willingness out of her than she ever thought possible. Is it possible she’s more than a submissive? And will the assumptions he’s made about her identity end up tearing them apart?
Excerpt: ADULT
“Are you wet, angel?” Mason asked, running one hand down the middle of her back. Her intake of breath told him she was and that she didn’t want to admit it. “Answer me. Now.”
“Yes,” she whispered over a whimper.
Covering her body with his, Mason leaned over her and gently took her by her hair. “Tell me what you need, angel.”
Silence. Sniffling. Muffled moans.
“Julie. Tell. Me. What. You. Need.”
“Sex.” Her voice was barely audible.
“No. That’s what you think I want. I know what I want. You’re to free your mind of thoughts concerning what you think I want.” Mason pushed back up and began moving one hand over her back in a soothing pattern. “Tell me what you need.”
“I need…I…Don’t make me…”
“Say it.”
“I need to come,” she whined.
“Good girl,” he praised. “Now tell me what you want.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Yes, you do. Tell me,” he growled.
“I want you to make me come,” she gushed, arching her back into his constant touch.
“I’m going to do just that, angel,” he spoke harshly, leaning back over her and taking a handful of hair, raising her head enough he could nip her earlobe. “Tell me you understand.”
“I understand.”
“When’s the last time you had an orgasm?” She started to answer and he cut her off. “With a man?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Shame on them,” Mason told her.
He stood and while keeping one hand on her lower back letting her know he was still present, he unbuttoned his jeans then unzipped them slowly, adding to her agony by being forced to listen to the click of each tine popping open. Scooting his pants down his legs along with his boxers, he stepped out of them and when his hand left her so he could sheath himself, Julie grunted in frustration.
“Get on your back on the bed,” he said as he finished rolling the condom down. She needed the visual contact even if she couldn’t see anything but shadows and reflections.
She hesitated, looked behind her as if trying to determine if he was baiting her or not, then turned and backed across the mattress before lying down with her legs spread and her arms at her sides, her eyes tightly squeezed shut. So clinical, as if she expected to be used as a vessel. Who the hell had she been with before and what the hell had they done to her to make her think sex was about lying like a dead fish while the man got what he wanted? Then he remembered what she’d been like at the party, after he’d caught her in the chase.
She was carefree and happy, not at all a dead fish beneath him. As he’d lain on her in the garden, she was vital and eager. Mason believed she’d have done anything he asked of her she was so pliable…She’d been Hayden. Not Julie. She’d not just been dressed for the party. She was literally hiding behind her masque.
A bit of anger and sorrow wound around Mason’s state of arousal and squeezed him as he realized she had to assume an identity to feel. Then he was almost ashamed at the bit of happiness that crept in at the realization that she was not only fresh and new to his world but actually, she was like putty in his hands. She was ready to be molded into the person she was perfectly capable of being. He could be the one to show Julie how good it really could be, not just physically, but emotionally as well. For tonight though, she needed a safe haven, a place where she could turn her fears into dancing.
