BookEnds Talks to Lynn LaFleur and Kimberly Dean

  • By: Jessica Faust | Date: Jun 01 2006

Lynn LaFleur and Kimberly Dean
Book: If This Bed Could Talk, an anthology
Publisher: Avon Red
Pub date: June 2006

Lynn LaFleur grew up in a small town in Texas, southwest of Fort Worth. After living on the West Coast for 21 years, she’s moved back to a town 17 miles from where she grew up. Interests include gardening, sewing, and learning new things on the computer.

Kimberly Dean first began writing erotica and erotic romance in 2001. Since then, she’s gone on to publish many steamy stories about love, desire, and devotion. When not writing, she enjoys reading, movies, sports, and music. She never knows what will spark an idea for her next work!

Author Web sites: www.lynnlafleur.com and www.kimberlydean.com

BookEnds: Describe your contributions to the anthology in 50 words or less.
Lynn: In “Victim of Deception,” the death of her great aunt leaves Karessa with an old Victorian that is inhabited by the ghosts of her great-great-grandparents. Enter her former lover, Max, who comes to search for a bond in the house. He never planned to fall in love with Karessa again. . . .

Kimberly: In “Unrequited,” after years of secret longing for his brother’s wife, Tyler rejoices when she is set free and ripe for new love—though it may take a prolonged seduction to convince wary Trista to open herself up to pleasure once more. . . .

BookEnds: What is your favorite thing about your novella?
Lynn: The dual love story.

BookEnds: How did you come to write “Victim of Deception”?
Lynn: I received an e-mail from Lucia Macro of Harper-Collins, who had read one of my Ellora’s Cave books. She asked me to write a story in the contemporary anthology for the new Avon Red line.

BookEnds: And “Unrequited”?
Kimberly: My participation in If This Book Could Talk was like a writer’s fairy tale. One day out of the blue, I received an e-mail from an editor at Avon. She’d read my story Fever, an e-book from Ellora’s Cave. She’d loved the fact that while the story was hot, the characters also had a deeply involving romance. She told me Avon was planning on getting into the erotic romance genre and would I be interested in writing something for them? It took me all of two seconds to blurt out yes! A big, respected New York publishing house. . . . A lead-off book for a new line. . . . What else would my answer be?

BookEnds: What other authors do you find inspiration from?
Lynn: Sandra Brown, Nikki Soarde, Angela Knight.

BookEnds: Where do you get your ideas?
Kimberly: They can come from anywhere. I’ve had brainstorms from television shows, movies, and even the news. Music is a big one. I can directly correlate at least three stories to songs that got stuck in my head.

BookEnds: How long does it usually take you to write a book?
Lynn: Three to four months. I wish I could write faster.

BookEnds: Why have you chosen to write in this genre?
Kimberly: I was writing traditional romance and basically getting nowhere. I was following all the “rules,” but all that did was essentially muffle my writer’s voice. One day after receiving yet another rejection letter, I decided to throw everything out the window. I sat down and began writing a story that would never have made it as a romance. The situation was too gritty. The setting was too dark, and the characters were too flawed. They made mistakes, said naughty words, and didn’t shy away from sex. The story was Tiger Lily, a work of erotica. I finally had a writer’s voice. Black Lace published the book in 2002, and I haven’t looked back since.

BookEnds: Do you have a job outside of writing?
Lynn: I work at the newspaper where I live, designing display ads.

BookEnds: What else are you working on?
Kimberly: I’ve got two proposals floating around out there looking for homes. One is a collection of gothic erotic romance and the other is the story of identical triplets reuniting.

BookEnds: What’s your next book? When and where should we look for it?
Kimberly: I have an e-book quickie called Hypnotica coming out with Ellora’s Cave. It’s part of their Fun in the Sun series and will be available for download on June 21, 2006. Hypnotica is the story of a woman who becomes hypnotized at a dinner show on a cruise. Afterward, whenever Copper Daniels hears the trigger word, she becomes very, very amorous. Fortunately, Nick Branson is there to take care of all her needs.