Kilts, Crowns and College Ménages!

Authors A.J. Llewellyn and D.J. Manly Discuss BLACK POINT, their upcoming September 1 Release for http://www.extasybooks.com/ but then things take an interesting turn...

AJ: Hi DJ, well, you and I did it. The dirty deed. We have co-authored a book, Black Point, coming to eXtasy Books on September 1. Tell me, am I the sexiest author you ever co-wrote a book with?

DJ: Well, ahem, AJ, you’re the ONLY published author I’ve ever written with in that way but…YES?? Lol, you may proudly wear that crown.

AJ: Was working with me everything you dreamed it would be? LOL…

DJ: Oh ahem, definitely. I would have to say honestly that it was relatively painless up to the climax…not climax…ah…exchanges of… never mind. IT WAS Great.

AJ: Some might say the storyline of two gay erotic romance writers meeting online then meeting in person is…well, close to the bone. It was your idea to begin with so what sparked it?

DJ: Well, I guess it’s up to the readers to figure out if art imitates life, or life imitates art? Actually, I came up with the idea on a whim. I dreamt it. And I figured, hey why not, I’m a guy who likes to push the envelope and go out on the limb. My hunch was correct and it worked out marvellously. I have pretty good instincts. And don’t forget, I love the attention.

AJ: What is your favourite sexual position?

DJ: My favourite sexual position??? Um, you’ve been re-reading the sex scenes in my books again, haven’t you A.J.??? Well, let’s see. That depends on…how much are you paying me again for this? Well, um...I’m a top…so ah…I suppose this is my favourite sexual position but sometimes I enjoy being…shall we say…overcome…lol…but even when I’m on my back, I’m a top. Figure that out. Just picture my partner as the cowboy…lol. I do so love the shower.

AJ: How do you top when you’re on your back???

DJ: Ah, well, it's like this...and I'm not sending pictures so stop asking already!! Ahem...well...see I'm kind of sitting up straight...not me exactly...but a part of me and ah...even though I'm on the bottom, he's acting like the bottom!! Damn it, that really challenged the writing skills...do you have to know everything??? LOL...

AJ: Have you ever been in an actual ménage or orgy?

DJ: Orgy, no. Ménage (looking around to see where significant other is…) yes. It wasn’t really my intention to be the filling in a sandwich but there were some hungry boys in the dorm once…

AJ: Oh, a DJ sandwich? Yum!

DJ: LOL…it was back in my college days. I started out with one guy, and well….the other guy didn’t even knock!!! The other guy wasn’t a student. He told me in the morning that he crashed the student pub. He didn’t know the other guy either…lol…needless to say, it was a busy night. That guy who crashed the party still emails me. He jumped the fence, got married. He’s got three kids but he told me once that he still remembers every detail of that night, and that it was the hottest sex he’d ever had. Some memory! All I remember is that I was finding condoms for weeks after.

AJ: Have you ever been propositioned in a place you least expected or by someone you least expected? What did you do about it?

DJ: Yes, and oh my God! It was a student in my college class last year, a young woman who never gave me any indication she had the hots for me.

AJ: She had no idea you’re gay?

DJ: I’m a very professional person and I would never come on to a student or respond sexually to one even if I did find them attractive.

AJ: Yeah, right. (Laughing) Sorry, go on…only…you know…you were a bit…freewheeling with the kisses when we were emailing our book back and forth…or was that just to keep me motivated?

DJ: But of course, AJ. I do have my methods….and I can be an extremely affectionate person when the mood takes me. And besides it worked! You typed really fast.

AJ: Go on with the story about the student, please…

DJ: Anyway, the class was over and everyone had left. I was packing up my briefcase and she gets up, goes over to the door and closes it. I teach at night so the college is mostly empty except for the janitorial staff. I looked up, perplexed, and she walked over, and said, “I need to tell you something,” in French, so, I asked her what it was. I never dreamed in a million years that she’d say, “I want to sleep with you.” My jaw must have hit the floor. I was speechless, and a little embarrassed. As gently as I could, I told her I was very flattered but I was in a relationship with someone. She proceeded to grab my hand. I took it back, and repeated the same words. She got a little pissed and slammed out of the classroom. She might have called me ‘an a**hole.’ I kept my boyfriend all night talking about that one.

AJ: Have you ever cheated on your partner or been tempted?

DJ: Ah, no, and yes. LOL…I was going to leave it like that but I will elaborate. My partner and I have talked about this. We agreed that it was normal to be tempted but that if we decided to do anything about it, we wouldn’t do it behind each others backs. We’re pretty open about what we want and what we need, in bed and out. I don’t see us being unfaithful to each other. I love him too much for that, and I believe it’s mutual.

AJ: So you’re telling me all those voodoo spells I did were for naught?

DJ: Keep trying sweetie. I think I felt a stirring the other night when I was editing that scene…you know the one!!!

AJ: I think I do...so what is your ultimate sexual fantasy? Have you lived it?

DJ: My ultimate sexual fantasy was to be ravished by three gorgeous hunks and…LOL…

AJ: Wait, lemme call Johnny Depp and see if he's busy.

DJ: (Laughing) I don’t know. I have many sexual fantasies. I think because I’m the dominant one in the couple, I have fantasized about taking on the other role. And yes, I’ve lived that out at times but not all the way. I’m a little nervous about being completely submissive. I have a really strong character. When my partner gets angry at me, he says, “You’re such a man!!” That should tell you. But, I’ve had dreams about being tied down and ravished by a couple of guys at a time…who hasn’t?

AJ: Have you ever had sex in a public place?

DJ: LOL...I tried it once and I hated it. I was too damn stressed out to go through with it. No, I’d rather be inside or outside where I’m sure no one will come. My ex and I used to go to his cottage and make out by the lake but it was pretty isolated.

AJ: Tell me about your first kiss? Where? Who? How?

DJ: OMG. My first kiss was at a school dance. I was eleven. I’ve been trying to forget it. This girl grabbed me and pulled me onto the dance floor and kissed me full on the mouth. My father walked in. He was there to take me home. He tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I intended to come up for air. I was in shock for days. That girl wrote me love notes and stuck it in my locker for months!!! I used to rip them up and throw them in the toilet. We became great friends in grade eleven.

AJ: Some of your sex scenes in your books are pretty hot. Are some of them from personal experience?

DJ: Well…yes, I guess so. I think the feelings or sensations described are. I can’t say I’ve done those things exactly in the same sequence but I’ve certainly experienced them in some ways….and like I said, the feelings or sensations that are described come from me.

AJ: Do you really have a kilt, and have you have had a sword fight?

DJ: I don’t own a kilt…sorry ladies…but I rented one once for a Scottish wedding where I was the best man. It was the wedding of two of my best friends. I introduced them. One of them was born in Scotland. Anyway, I wore a kilt for the wedding. People kept falling down around me!! LOL…

AJ: Falling down? Trying to get a look under the kilt, or were they laughing?

DJ: I’ll never tell. As for sword fighting, I did some fencing once in college, I suck at it. My sweetie and I do throw those little left over dough rolls on top of the pizza at each other occasionally, but no swords.

AJ: Dough rolls? Cool…that leaves me with just one question, DJ. Your place or mine?

DJ: I think it should be yours, because damn it the weather here sucks, and NOT in a good way.

Thank you D.J. for being such a great sport and good luck with ALL your books, hon.

You can find out more about AJ's books and DJ's books at http://www.ajllewellyn.com/ and http://www.djmanly.com/

Coming Next Week to Dark Diva Reviews Author Interviews: "Mahu" series author Neil S. Plakcy.

Author Interview: DJ MANLY By AJ Llewellyn

DJ MANLY: SO MUCH MORE THAN TALENTED

For This Hot M/M Author, Writing is a Necessity ~ Interview by A.J. Llewellyn

1. DJ, how old were you when you first started writing and what were your earlier efforts like?I was around ten I guess. I remember writing this really raunchy soap opera…straight stuff…and cutting out pictures from magazines to paste on the cover. LOL…I’d hate to look at it today.


2. Do you read M/M erotic fiction and who would you say is an influence in your work?The first m/m fiction I ever read was Gordon Merrick’s “The Lord Won’t Mind.” I fell in love with the characters. You know, it’s weird, I don’t read much m/m fiction at all. I have more of a tendency to watch gay films and series. My influences are not gay literature, but literature in general. I would say they are people like Margaret Laurence, believe or not, who knew how to tell a good story.

3. Speaking of gay movies and series, do you have any favorites?
Queer as Folk, The Lair, Dante’s Cove, I have all these. I love Maurice, Pricilla Queen of the Desert, or there are far too many.


4. Your earlier work [I read Brennus' Witch] had a distinctive Yaoi feel to it, but you seem to have moved away from that. Will we see more of it in the future? Do you like Yaoi as a genre?That was clearly an accident. I wrote the book without trying to make it Yaoi. Someone said, hey, that’s Yaoi…and I went really??? You’re asking me if I like Yaoi as a genre, and I’m going to get in trouble here…big trouble…and I guess the surprise is…Not really or only sometimes. I do respect the genre. No one can ignore its popularity. Some of the stories are wonderful. When I read a book, Yaoi or not, and one of male characters is made to resemble a person with some exaggerated, effeminate characteristics, I really don’t like it. Now don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with men who act or dress in a stereotypical female way. I have a problem when the only kind of m/m love accepted is that which mirror male-female stereotypical roles. Now I could go on and on about this and put you to sleep. When I was in graduate school, my dissertation was about gender roles and homophobia. For me, gender is a social construct. There is nothing biological about roles we adopt. I don’t care what roles two men in love adopt but I get the impression that some people only accept m/m literature when one of th e characters adopt the role of female (i.e. helpless, whiny, etc…) Boy will I catch hell for this one…lol…I’m not saying all Yaoi is like that. I also know that in my books some characters are stronger or more dominant than others. But I would hate to think that I consistently give my men stereotypical roles. Enough said.


5. How do you manage to be so prolific? Do you have a set output you aim for every day? What is your writing routine like?Me Prolific? Lol…How do I manage it? My publishers nag me!!! Lol…no, I told someone once in another interview that writing is like breathing to me. I have to do it. So, every minute I’m not teaching, editing, researching, running my business, I’m writing. I do have a partner and he is usually somewhere in the house…lol…I do call him on the cell from time to time. But seriously, I nag myself and if I drag my laptop everywhere and in between clients and classes, I write or edit20or whatever else I have to do.


6. Is it easy juggling so many publishers?
Well, I have four. It’s not a problem.

7. Why do you think so many women readers are drawn to M/M romances?
That’s an easy one, whew…becaus e hetero women love beautiful men! And since I never do anything the easy way, the more complex answer is because they like to see two men in love…two men begin from the same status pedestal (did I say that???). Anyway, it’s fun to watch the fireworks, the sex, the romance. It gets away from Tradition…it’s fresh and new and oh so sexy. (psst, I have gay male readers)

8. William Maltese recently said women writing M/M have changed the genre, inserting emotion into the work. Have you noticed this yourself and do you agree with him?
Yeah, maybe but I think the difference Maltese speaks of is the difference between porn and eroticism. I know some women who write damn hard core porn…but eroticism blends the sexual with the emotional. But I believe a good writer can write just about anything. It’s a gift writing. You must be born with it then you have to practice and perfect it like with any art. I’m going off track, I do that. Women are tau ght to be more comfortable expressing emotion, on paper or off.

9. Where do you get your ideas for stories? Do you day dream? Do they come easily or do you work on ideas over a period of time?
I dream them sometimes or I take a germ of an idea and then let the characters play it out. Sometimes they come easily, sometimes not. I’ve written some stories in a week, others have taken months. Sometimes I stop mid way and start something else. I go back and the ending comes later. That’s hell. I hate that.

10. What books do you like to read yourself? Favorite authors?
I read books for work like English Second Language stuff, sometimes books on the craft of writing, very few books for pleasure I’m afraid.
11. Stephen King once said his muse is a fat, bearded guy who smokes cigars. What does your muse look like?I don’t have one. If I did, he/she certainly wouldn’t look like that. He’d probably be a clown with a big red nose.


12. What are you working on now? Do you work on more than one book at a time? I’m writing a sequel to “So Much More Than Naked” and a new vampire story. 3.

13. What are the publication dates for your upcoming books?
Oh well, I believe Arsenic and Rio at Extasy is coming out sometime in August. I have a trilogy called Love Most Inconvenient at Liquid Silver, I don’t have a date but I’m imagining early august. Melting Ice 2 at Mojo…I have no idea. Brennus’ Witch 3 at Extasy for Halloween.

14. AJ *perks* A sequel to Brennus’ Witch? Yahoo! Okay, DJ, do you work well under pressure?
I guess I’d have to say yes, I’m always under pressure.
15. What is the one thing we will always find on DJ Manly's desk? Coffee, tea. A pen, chunks of paper.


Thank you so much DJ. We know how busy you are. From all of us here at Dark Diva Reviews, keep the passion going!

Visit DJ Manly at
http://www.djmanly.com/
www.myspace.com/djmanly