Saskia Walker and Sasha White, authors of the erotic romance anthology Kink recently had the opportunity to dish about one of their favorite subjects: erotica. Here's what they had to say:

Kink
By Saskia Walker and Sasha White

Saskia asks Sasha
Saskia: Whenever I read a Sasha White story, I feel like I'm sitting with a close friend and she's whispering to me, telling me about the latest steamy hot encounters she's had with her lover. You're an exceptionally hot writer, and some reviewers have described your work as raw and edgy, which works really well in erotica, is that how you see your writing style?

Sasha: Some of my stories definitely fall under the raw and edgy category, but not all of them. I do like to think that my voice is more 'real life' than anything else. My characters are normal every day people: waitresses, artists, bartenders, retail store workers. They're not perfect people, they curse, they drink, they have one night stands, they have dreams and fantasies and feelings and issues. And like you and me, they all want their happy ending too, even if their happy ending isn't necessarily a traditional one.

Saskia: You come across as a very sexy lady -- do you think reading and writing erotica empowers you, and adds to the woman that you are?

Sasha: Writing erotica has definitely helped empower me, and put me in touch with my own sexuality. It's also helped me to realize that the mind truly is the biggest erogenous zone, and that not everyone cares about finding a partner with the perfect body, or the perfect hair color, or whatever it is that society is pimping as the "it" look of the week.

I also think that the woman I am has helped my writing in a very distinctive way. Every story has a bit of me in it, could be a fear or a fantasy, but it's mine, and sharing helps.

Saskia: You receive amazing reader response. How do you feel when fans tell you the effect your stories have on them?

Sasha: I LOVE IT!! I love to know that I can help a woman feel she's not alone in her fantasies, and that they're not 'wrong' or 'dirty'. Or that someone has used a scene or a story of mine to give their partner a hint about their desires, because they're too shy to come right out and say it. Or even that it just helped someone escape from a bad /stressful time for a few hours. Truly, knowing that readers are enjoying my stories, in any way, is inspiring and touching to me.

Saskia: In WATCH ME, your KINK novella, you set yourself the challenge of writing a story that was both erotic and about healing a rift in a relationship, and you achieved both with flying colors. That's an exciting agenda, but an unusual one for the genre. What inspired you?

Sasha: My married friends!

I'm single, but a lot of the time when I'd listen to my married friends complain about their relationships, I thought sex was the answer. LOL Seriously! From what I heard, their issues all went back to feeling unloved, or unattractive or unfulfilled sexually. But they'd never say that to their partner, because they 'just knew' it wouldn't go over well. Well, to me, this was silly, if you're too afraid to tell your partner what you're feeling or what you need, then you're in trouble.

In my story Bethany and Grant are experiencing a lull in their relationship. Bethany feels like Grant doesn't have time for her any more, that he's not interested in her as a woman. She doesn't know how to talk to him. How can she tell him she wants to spice things up in the bedroom? Then she discovers a bit of an exhibitionist streak within herself... and she and Grant experience a reawakening in their relationship, in and out, of the bedroom. They take intimacy to a whole new level.

Saskia: I understand that Samair, one of the secondary characters from WATCH ME, appears in a future release. Can you whet our appetites about that one to keep us going until the release date?

Sasha: Samair's story is TROUBLE, and it will be released in August 2007.

Samair Jones is bored with her go-nowhere job, and fed up with her two-timing boyfriend. She's had it up to here with being the pushover. All Samair wants is to let loose, be herself, and live by her own rules. But it's only when she meets Valentine Ward, the hot owner of the club Risqué, that the decadent possibilities of answering only to herself become daringly clear. Especially when Valentine is willing to indulge every one of Samair's fantasies-no strings attached. At least none that Samair can see...

It was a lot of fun to write. I adore creating heroines who go after what they want. And Samair goes after what she wants, once she realizes what it really is.

Sasha Asks Saskia
*rubs hands together with glee* Ohh I get to interview Saskia Walker. Must be professional about this, lest she know I'm just another rabid fangirl.

Sasha: With stories already published in almost forty anthologies, you've been touted as "one of the top erotic writers of the millenium" before your first novel, DOUBLE DARE, was even released. Obviously you have a passion for writing that comes though in your work. This also really makes me think you just naturally have a very naughty imagination, but I could be wrong...so, inquiring minds want to know... when you started writing, did you set out to write erotic stories, or did you just discover you had a knack for it as you went?

Saskia: I saw it as a challenge, primarily, but I enjoyed it immensely and it was a wonderful surprise to find readers thought I was doing it well! When I started out I was writing fantasy stories, but I always wanted desire, sexuality and romance to be part of anything I wrote. I think of it as being "inclusive." Every story in the world is, to some extent, about relationships. To close the door on the erotic aspect just didn't seem right to me. Then I saw an erotica editor featured on TV and she was talking about what worked in the genre. I decided to try writing an erotic short story and it sold to a publisher! My career grew from there.

Naughty imagination, yes, but also a deep curiosity about relationships and what makes people tick. Sex is rarely just about sex, it's the emotional involvement that comes with it that makes it more... er... explosive... ha!

Sasha: We all know there are really only so many ways you can have sex, so obviously there is more to your stories than the sex, but what exactly is it about erotic stories that appeals to you, and keeps you writing them?

Saskia: Ultimately, writing any story is all about the character dynamic for me, the relationship. That, then, is the key that determines the type of sex the characters will have. With Kelly and Tommy, the characters in SEX, LIES AND BONDAGE TAPE, they are all about challenging each other and playing cat and mouse. The type of sex they have is wild and kinky as a result Ñ each meeting ups the ante between them.

Different characters bring a different dynamic. With Abby and Zac, in my novel DOUBLE DARE, their relationship had the mood of an illicit affair, each character withholding external secrets about themselves, whilst at the same time exposing their innermost selves to each other. The sex was more darkly erotic, snatched moments together Ñ a dressing room, back of a taxi, down an alleyway, a stolen weekend in Paris. Each relationship brings a different set up and mood. That's very exciting, and that appeals to me immensely as a writer.

Sasha: You've been writing erotic stories for a decade now, stories of all lengths and many different sub- genres as well, besides all being erotic, do you see another re-curing theme in them?

Saskia: Change and growth are common themes. I write about independent women who become empowered through their relationships, enabling them to learn or move forward. As a reader I've always found that makes for a positive read. For Kelly, in SEX, LIES AND BONDAGE TAPE, the novella charts her journey from being a loner, to accepting an attachment she realizes she might want, after all. Being in love demands compromise and change. Kelly has resisted that, but with a man like Tommy pursuing her she finds it hard to maintain her defenses! I also love to put characters in a scene where they think they know what's coming next, and they get a surprise. I have too much fun with that! I sent my hero, Tommy, on a job that takes him on wild ride he certainly wasn't expecting.

Sasha: SEX, LIES, AND BONDAGE TAPE is set in the London music scene, and your love of music is huge part of your writing life, and your personality. This begs the question... have you ever written a song? Or do you perhaps sing as well?

Saskia: Ha, alas no. I got as close as buying a bass guitar and planning to learn, does that count? The novella really draws on my experiences of being a live music photographer for small-scale concerts in the 1990's, and that of having friends who are musicians and in the music promotion business. Live performance can be such an uplifting, fun experience, it's a real passion for me and I wanted to capture the live music vibe in a story. The feedback I've had so far indicates readers are enjoying that aspect, which pleases me no end.

Sasha: To close, tell us what KINK means to you and what readers can expect to find in the book.

Saskia: First up, kudos to you, Sasha, for coming up with the title and theme for the anthology, it's a wonderful declaration of intent!

Well now, readers can expect danger, deviance, decadence, acceptance, lust, and love... and that's just in your prologue!

Seriously though, I think we both hope readers will enjoy the hot read, but also find the KINK anthology is about more than non-conventional sex. In different ways, we've both written about characters exploring, accepting, and discovering more about themselves through pushing their sexual boundaries. Their journeys are unconventional, but their ideal destinations aren't so very unusual...

Now it's over to the readers. If you pick up the anthology we hope you enjoy the read.

Let us know what you think!

www.sashawhite.net
www.saskiawalker.co.uk