Author Interview: Barbara Sheridan

Author Name: Barbara Sheridan

Year started writing for LI: 2007

Titles: Samurai Captive (2/08) (the following with Anne Cain) Orange Moon, Winter Song, Under a Silver Moon, Secret Moon, Parallel Process

Web Page: http://www.barbarasheridan.com

What genre do you write in, and why? :
Primarily paranormal, historical and M/M I’ve also done short contemporary. Why? Those are the subjects that most interest me. I’ve been a fan of thing historic and paranormal for as long as I can remember

How much time do you spend writing every week? :
Not nearly as much as I should considering how slow my solo writing goes.

What was the first story you ever wrote about? (not nec. first published story) :
It was a fanfiction--my continuation of the Louis & Lestat relationship after reading Interview With the Vampire.

How do you judge the effectiveness of the sensual scenes in your stories? :
I hand it off to friends and see if they rate it “Hawt!”.

Do you ever try out the sexual positions you write to make sure of accuracy? :
AT this point in time all I have is my imagination, but if anyone knows a gorgeous intelligent man who’d like to volunteer as a research partner…*grin*

Ever been told, Um...sweetie, that's not how it works? :
Not that I recall.

What one word best describes your toy collection? :
How about Nonexistant.

Favourite candy while writing? :
I actually like sweetened dry cereal with no milk instead of a candy snack.

Where did your most unusual plot idea come from? :
I’d say watching Japanese rockstars.

What inspires you to write? :
The random ideas and character voices that pop into my head when I least expect it.

What music inspires your writing? :
Rock mostly. Lately Japanese rock and some US tunes.

Plotter or a Panster? :
Pantser definitely. I need to find out “what happens next” along with the characters.

Does your cat insist on sitting on your keyboard like mine does? :
We’ve got 5 and they like my lap or climbing up near my neck.

What is your most embarrassing moment as an erotic romance author? :
I’m still waiting for that one.

Most challenging place you've ever written a spicy scene? :
Don’t have any since I always write at home.

When you get stuck, how do you find your way back to the writing? :
Mostly by whining to myself and a few tolerant friends that “I’m stuck again!”.

Any outrageous liaisons in your past?
I have led a dull dull life and have none.

Where's the most unusual place you ever managed to have sex? :
See above. Dull. Way dull life.

What was the most romantic meal you've eaten? :
I’m still waiting for that one to happen.

What kind of books do you read for fun? :
Non fiction mostly though I do love paranormal YA and crime stories.

Is your real life anything like your stories? What about your fantasies? :
My real life is like a deathly dull.

If you were to make a bumper sticker for your car that had to relate to erotic romance, what would it say? :
Everything goes better with Yaoi.

Soulmates? Do you believe? :
When I see it firsthand I’ll believe it.

Sex with anyone famous? :
Only in my dreams.

Cake or Pie? Coke or Pepsi? Tea or Coffee? :
Pie, coconut cream, Coke Classic, Coffee, two sugars and creamer thanks. ^_^

Samurai Captive

...many women went into the trade as indentured-sold by family, agents, kidnappers...

~Donald Richie from his foreword to The Nightless City-History of the Yoshiwara Yukwaku by J.E. deBecker, IGC Muse, Inc. 2000

In its time the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarter was a fortified city-within-a-city in what is present day Tokyo. Though built and regulated by the shogunate it was the only place in Japanese society where all social classes could freely intermingle and enjoy what the district had to offer in adult entertainment.

While most of the women living and working there came to prostitution via force or coercion their lifestyle would become the inspiration for polite society's hot trends, much like today's celebrities and fashion icons. The woodblock artists of the time were like modern day paparazzi selling prints of the most popular prostitutes and actors of the day.

The first class houses employed the top tier Oiran who commanded high fees, wore the finest silks and paraded through the streets with grand entourages as seen in the film Sakuran, to the lower priced girls displayed in street level windows of their brothels as portrayed in one of my favorite films The Sea is Watching.

Hannah Connolly, the heroine of Samurai Captive, (my first solo work from Loose ID) finds herself not only an the unwilling resident of one such low end brothel but also the Yoshiwara's star attraction-the mysterious and exotic western woman who survived the fatal attack on British businessman C.L. Richardson and his traveling companions near Yokohama in the autumn of 1862.

Far from being a shrinking violet type Hannah has certainly become one of my favorite characters with her no-.nonsense way of looking that things. I'd probably have been scared spitless to find myself in her predicament, but Hannah's reaction to being gawked at from beyond the red slatted window was that if the men of Edo who came to peep wanted a "show" she'd give them one.

While the majority of Hannah's "audience" was too timid to do more than stare, samurai Sanada Katsuhiro was a man accustomed to taking what he wanted, when he wanted it.

What he wanted was the white woman with the spirit of a tigress.

And that didn't set too well with his lifelong friend and sometime lover Masato who wasn't about to let some foreigner-some woman, take his place in Katsu's life.

Please stop by my website to read an excerpt.

I'd love to hear what you think of Hannah's story.

~Barbara Sheridan

If you'd like to see some photos of the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarters check out this page