Ok, to say that I am excited to be doing this blog would be the understatment of the year. 3 months or so ago, i opened a twitter account, I followed a couple of people that liked the same things as I did, it wasnt really a big deal , then i realized that authors, bloggers, reviewers ,fans, also used the site, so a friend of myn suggested I check out a lady who wrote erotica novels, ft vamps witches, etc, bonus I thought. Over the next coming days I found that this paticualr author , would, actually respond to fans, acknowledged retweets, so I sent her a message, not even thinking id ever get a reply.. within minuets she had introduced herself, chatted away about her books, her religion, I was so excited !! I was actually conversing with a best selling author, she recommended I try out one of her books, of which did. IT WAS FANTASTIC !!
It was book 1 of The Manigault Vampires, I was hooked. deciding I would write a review on this book, again somthing I would never have considered. With this authors encourgement,support and suggestions, a whole new world opened for me. I am a shy reserved person, a loner and a home maker, I do not socialize, Im a full time mum of 3 kids, 1 is a baby another needs round the clock care. Within 3 days of following this lady on twitter, she had showed me how to set up a facebook, she created traffic for my blogs, she was so positive about my blogs. my confidence sky rocketed. I owe this lady so much and she doesnt even know it, now I have the confidence to write my own short story, my facebook and blogs spot are a hit and its all down to her.. her books made me smile and laugh when id had a crazy shit day. she portrays herself in the charactors, her humour wit and kindness is unique, with a few conversations with laura it is easy to see how she reaches out to her fans with her warm heart and funny aura. when I found she was scheduling interviews and and she agreed to let me have a go was truley overwhemed.but she was patient, optamistic and a true lady. *wink*
but dont take my word for it !!! check out my interview with the infamous Laura Stamps, aka sex witch, and see if you feel the vibe too, I promise you wont be dissappointed..
lastly I want to thank Laura for giving me this opportunity, for giving me confidence and friendship and smiles in the dark, hugs and love and bring on them vamps girl !!!!
Hotnheavybookreviews Interview with Laura Stamps, Award-winning Novelist
1.) Would you say being a Pagan has helped you spiritually and emotionally to write the books you have written? If so, how?
There are non-Pagans who write Pagan novels (Harry Potter). And there are Pagans who write Witchy novels but all of the Witchy stuff in them is fiction. I don't do either. Not only am I a practicing Pagan (what we call "out-of-the broom-closet"), but all the Pagan stuff in my novels is the real thing. That means my novels are full of the real spells, chants, and rituals from my personal BOS (Book of Shadows). Many say my "The Witchery Series" trilogy is like a BOS, and in many ways it is because that series is full of the real thing.
Why do I do this? For several reasons. As a practicing Pagan, I thought it would be fun to show new Pagans and non-Pagans how contemporary Pagans live their lives every day. Not in the past, but NOW. You can read all the nonfiction books you want on how to become Pagan, but it's easier to understand if you can see how the characters in a novel incorporate their faith into their every day lives. Also, as a reader I got tired of all the fantasy surrounding Witches and Pagans in fiction. At almost every booksigning someone would ask me if I fly on a broom like Potter. No, that's fiction. But we do use brooms for spellcasting and rituals. Yeah, that's the real thing. lol
2.) How do you find the public reacts to you? Does it affect your daily living? Also your fellow pagans.
Last year I went into ebook with my ebook publisher. For 23 years before that I was published exclusively in paperback, so I have done a LOT of booksignings. In fact I used to do booksignings every month at my local Waldenbooks until Borders closed it last January. I mention this because at every booksigning some funde Christian would act like I was the Devil's Spawn. Cracked me up! One was even afraid to touch anything I had touched. Too funny! When that happens I just smile and look at the next person waiting to talk to me about my books. That's all you can do. There has been so much false PR about Pagans and Witches the last 2000+ years that you're always gonna find someone who believes that junk. And you can't fault them for it. They just haven't taken the time to educate themselves about what is and isn't true about Pagans.
So I stay at Pagan sites like PaganSpace and Pagan-Playground where my fans hang out and can network easily with me. Most of my followers at Twitter are erotica and romance readers or Pagan. And almost all my friends/fans at Facebook are Pagan.
There is another public reaction you might not think about. Many non-Pagans have this bizarre image of Pagans as being involved in 24-hour orgies. You wouldn't believe how many men come up to me at Facebook and wanna become Pagan because now they think they can fuck all the Pagan women they want. What horse shit! That kind of thing really pisses me off like it does most Pagan women. Poor uninformed guys. They're gonna get their ass kicked if they ever use that line on a Pagan woman. ;)
Dark BDSM and dark kink (whippings until the heroine bleeds, rape, sexual slavery, gang rape, etc.) are popular in Erotica right now. But any Pagan will tell you Pagan men have a deep respect for women and the female body, since most worship the Goddess. You're not gonna find that kind of violent sex in a Pagan erotica novel. No, not happening. It goes against everything we hold sacred. But you will find sizzling hot, romantic, panty-melting sex in my Pagan novels because Pagan men are soooooooo sexy! Now that's a given. *lusty wink*
3.) What made you decide on the genre of books that you write? Have you ever considered writing anything non fictional, a bio perhaps?
I'm a Wiccan Faery Witch (which is a fancy name for a SexWitch). I'm also Otherkin Fey (half human, half Fey), and the Fey are very sexual beings. Plus, I'm a sexual sorceress. So you could say I didn't really choose the genre I write in. It chose me. lol
I have written quite a few nonfiction books that are out of print now. I've been published for 23 years, and that means many of the 52 books I've written have gone out of print when those publishers went out of business. But even thought I'm really good at writing nonfiction it never thrilled me the way fiction does. Until I started my naughty Pagan Paranormal Erotica blog (http://www.erotica-laurastamps.blogspot.com/) in 2008. Damn, I do enjoy blogging...what fun!!!
Consequently, my blog became very popular very fast. So in 2010 Kittyfeather Press published my blog as a series of nonfiction memoirs available on my site in pdf ebook and in the Kindle Store ("Being Naughty," "Still Naughty," "Always Naughty"). The fourth one, "Truly Naughty," will come out in 2011. Best of all I got to model for all the covers in my trashy panties. Did I mention I'm also an exhibitionist? Oh, yeah, I am. *kinky wink*
4.) Where did you get the inspiration for your characters in your books?
My novels are all character-driven. You're not gonna find the heroine running from bad guys in my books. All the action takes place between the sheets or in the emotional development of the characters. I want to show how these people grow and change as they find romance and sexual satisfaction. That's much more interesting to me than running from bad guys or monsters.
Because of that, my characters rule, and that's something most authors don't allow their characters to do. But I let them tell me what they want the next book in each series to be about, and then they help me fill in the details. I don't start writing a novel until I know the heroine, hero, and the main theme of the novel. Then I work with a 4-5 chapter outline. When I write to the end of that, I outline the next 4-5 chapters until I finish the book in 28 chapters.
However a good example of allowing my characters to rule would be what happened with Sara and Dray in "A Vampire's Kiss." I should stop and say all my characters are fictional except Sara. She is the first character I have written who is a clone of me. I couldn't help it. When I created Dray he was just such a yummy vamp I wanted to fuck him myself, so I did....over and over again (grin). Anyway, those two had a definite idea about how that novel should progress. They refused to follow my outline and after trying for 20 chapters I gave up and let them write the rest of the book. Then instead of 28 chapters they wanted 36. Even in the editing they kept changing and adding scenes, so this novel took much longer to finish than most of mine. But when this happens the book always turns out much better.
And that was certainly true of "A Vampire's Kiss." It was published in April and 17 hours later it landed on 3 of the Bestsellers lists in the Kindle Store. I'm writing this interview the end of May, and that novel has climbed even higher on those 3 Bestsellers lists. Some authors may make their characters behave. But this novelist doesn't. My characters rock and do a much better job of writing a hot novel than I do. So I say, "More power to ya!" And then I let them do it!
5.) Do any of the books you've written have some reflection of you as a real life person? if so how did you inject that into your characters?
As I said, Sara is a clone of me. I gave her all my personality qualities with the exception of pinching. She's a pincher, and I'm not. When I first created her in "The Witches of Dixie" in 2006 I had no idea she would be the heroine in the first vampire novel in my "The Manigault Vampires" series. And never did I imagine she would become a clone of me in that novel.
For my other characters there are certain issues I have experienced in my life and would like to talk about in my novels. So I give those experiences to my characters, like being an empath, dealing with dangerous psi-vamps, getting rid of fibroids naturally, surviving your husband's midlife crisis, the ups and downs of running a business, etc.
6.) I find you have a vibe and energy that makes people feel good. You can easily make someone smile. That is a very special gift, as well as being able to write such wonderful books. What is it that gives you this buzz that is so contagious ?
Um....I'm a really special girl? lmao!!! I think it's a combination of many things. I grew up in a violent abusive home, so I know how important it is to value people. Even thought I'm a trashy slut, I'm a sweet Beta. Not an Alpha bone in this chick's bod. Betas tend to be chatty and friendly and nourishing. The Fey part of me is only 18, which explains why most of my friends are 20-somethings and why I get along so well with teens. I mean, we talk the same, act the same, dress the same. Duh!
I'm also a very Taoist Witch, meaning I value simplicity in life. And in its simplest form the most important thing is Love. So it's important to me for my friends and fans to feel loved by me because I truly treasure them. And I'm an Aries chick, which is the most positive, outgoing sign in the zodiac.
As for energy, I'm addicted to running (10-12 miles per week), workout every day, and an organic vegan. See? I can't help it. Even at 54, I'm just a ball of party-girl-good-time energy. And I haven't even mentioned how much I love to dance my ass off to Nickelback. Damn, Chad is sex-on-a-stick! Not to mention the way the man plays the guitar gives this Witch an instant panty melt. But, I digress.... *sex-obsessed wink*
Thank you so much for your time! This is where you can find Laura on the web:
Laura Stamps
Pagan Paranormal Erotica Novelist
(HOT vampires, shapeshifters, witches)
Email: laurastamps18@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.avampskiss.blogspot.com/
Kindle ebooks (all $0.99): http://ht.ly/4GPqd
Blog: http://www.erotica-laurastamps.blogspot.com/
Tarot Card Readings: http://www.tarotbylaurastamps.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sexwitch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SexWitchLaura
Pagan-Playground: http://www.pagan-playground.com/Laura_Stamps
PaganSpace: http://www.paganspace.net/profile/LauraStamps
