Author Interview ~ Michelle Polaris

Today, here at the Menagerie, we are pleased to have with us, published author Michelle Polaris. Let’s all make sure we give her a nice warm welcome. Hi Michelle, welcome! Pick a couch and make yourself comfy and we’ll get started. So, why don’t you tell us your latest news?

I am psyched to be celebrating my first release ever of an erotic romance, Bound Odyssey, out at Ellora’s Cave this past October 23rd. This book almost wrote itself. The characters were so crisp and clear in my head and such a pleasure to unfold. I am very proud of this story. And even my DH got to participate in the research. No, not the erotic research (grin). He’s a scientist and the book has some futuristic, post-apocalyptic elements. We had to come up with a scientific experimental disaster that would lead to the destruction of earth’s environment. Okay, so maybe it’s not based on real, hard science, but we had to make it believable enough to lead to the story events and conflicts.

Wow, sounds like fun. And I’m thinking you’re fibbing a bit about the erotic research… just saying. :-D Your story sounds like it’s right up my alley, I’ll have to go take a look and see if it’s what I usually add to my library or if it’s something new and … better. LOL So, when and why did you begin writing?

I began writing my first stories in middle school, although it took me until my thirties to get serious about publishing. As a girl I was already soaking up everything fantasy, particularly sexy romantic fantasy, I could get my hands on. I read a lot of Sharon Green back then. I dreamed of being able to create what those authors were creating. At the time I was a fairly quiet, introverted kid with lots going on inside my head, so making up stories was a natural. When I sat down to write my first novella in middle school, I set it in the He-Man universe. Do you remember that corny cartoon? In my story, the He-Man hero’s love interest was She-Woman, a female kick-ass warrior version of the guy. It’s not surprising my first published romantic erotica has some female domination elements along with the futuristic, ménage, male/male and male domination components. I still read tons of urban fantasy with powerful female figures, so I wasn’t surprised to be drawn to writing stories with similar power dynamics.

Huh, funny how we all start writing at a younger age. Either we see a movie and think, “OH, I could sooooo do that better as a book lol. Or, we read a book and decide we need to change the ending to suit our romantic heart. Do you have a specific writing style?

It’s not exactly a style, however I tend to write long, dark stories. I like to torture my characters, give them intense internal conflicts and watch them struggle to grow and find the love that helps them to heal. So although a reader has to invest a little more time in my novels due to their length, I build the plot, emotional payoff and sexual tension carefully so that by the end it’s definitely worth it.

Well, I like those kinds of books. Then again, I love books.  So, how did you come up with the title of your release?

First of all, the novel is a BDSM erotic romance, so BOUND was an easy fit.
From the beginning I knew that one of my two heroes was a pretty wounded, noble guy and that his journey into the BDSM lifestyle and into relationships with the two other protagonists was really an epic journey during which he’d be able to grow. I immediately thought of the Odyssey as a prime example of epic journey. Although I didn’t name my hero Odysseus (grin), I wanted a name that evoked the image of a hero embarking on that type of adventure. So the name Jace Argo was born. Reminiscent of Jason and the Argonauts. Actually, in the book Jace explains that he had his name changed legally to this after reading the Argonautica and wanting to think of himself as a hero to help escape the powerlessness he felt in his dark past.

Wow, what an interesting journey for your story to go on, again, I seem to have this one on my buy list at some point. LOL Okay, If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Joey W. Hill. She is a Master (or Mistress – grin) of developing heart wrenchingly beautiful poignant characters and writing gorgeous prose. All mixed in with hotter than hot sensual and sexual scenes. I love her. If you haven’t read her stuff, both the contemporary BDSM and her paranormal erotic romance, you need to do so right now.

OMG, Joey is one of my favorite authors. She always makes me want to cry at least a little bit. And then I get all hot and bothered. She is AWESOME! Okay, what are your current projects?

Currently I’m working on a novella involving an erotic magic show. It’s a male/male love story and has BDSM elements. I loved reading about the famous stage magicians and the psychology of why people are drawn to watching magic. The subject lends mucho potential for sexy, sensuous, and mysterious story setting and tone. And I’ve thrown in paranormal/fantasy components as well.

Very cool! As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

I always wanted to be a novelist, specifically of fantasy. But along the way I also wanted to be a paleontologist, a poet, a zoologist, and a choreographer.

Awww… I can relate to the choreographer part… and I did it. LOL, and now for the questions that have nothing to do with writing: When you looked in the mirror this morning, what was the first thing you thought?

Are you kidding me? I didn’t have time to think. I was racing to get out the door with my kids to school. At the best I was wondering how fast I could throw on clothes and comb my hair before my two young sons could thoroughly beat each other up downstairs. Needless to say, I am far from high maintenance in the clothes and presentation department in the morning.

LOL Don’t we all feel that way? And if you don’t K know what to hear it. :-D What were you doing at midnight last night?

Writing. I stay up way too late. And even when I’m done I need to settle down with a good book for at least several minutes. All in all, this pattern doesn’t lead to much sleep since I’m still getting up early to send young children off to school the next morning. I’m not a morning person, but I’m functional both in the morning and at night after I get my second wind.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Escargot maybe? Or curry conch stew? The snails were pretty good, because what isn’t when drowned in enough butter and garlic? And I love curry. Come to think of it, these are not particularly strange things to eat in some other countries. I must be an exotic foods virgin. I need to ratchet up my world traveling. That should provide many more chances to eat really weird stuff.

Oh, blech, don’t know if I could eat snails by choice. What is your favorite animal?

Do they have to be real animals? I was always a nut for unicorns growing up. Cliché for a little girl, but they rock! If I have to keep it real I’d say any of the large wild cats.

LOL. What do you want to know about the future?

Although the idea is nice, probably nothing. Too much potential to screw with your head and affect all sorts of decisions you make on a daily basis. If I knew something bad was to happen to me or my family in the future, I think I’d go crazy. And counting on something good happening would be too easy of a way out to live my life.

What is your heritage?

Russian on both sides. My husband wonders how my ancestors survived in such a cold country. I’m constantly freezing and start layering sweaters as early as the first cool day in September. I wear socks to bed September through May. He cannot believe I come from hearty peasant stock.

If you could wish for anything, what would you wish for?

Joy for me and my family. And that by the end of my life I’d lived in a way that led to no regrets. That I kept an open mind about the world and the people within it, and treated friends, loved ones and strangers with respect and compassion. Oh, and I wish for lots of book sales too (grin).

So that about wrapped it up for now. She’ll be hanging out with us here at them Menagerie, so ask her some questions in the blog.

Once described by a new age practitioner as having an old soul, Michelle remains skeptical, but has learned to accept that the universe is a big place. Growing up, she always wanted to write novels. Her dream of creating fantastical stories as a full time career stayed with her after her first handwritten fantasy romance novella in middle school.

Luckily, she has made that dream come alive. Michelle loves to explore the duality of dark and light in her characters’ lives. Only when they push beyond the scars on their souls to accept themselves (helped along, of course, by their lovers) can she feel content she’s written a great story.

Living in a small New England town, she loves to rebel against a staid Yankee lifestyle through the pages of her manuscripts. Michelle adores pushing the boundaries of sensuality and taboo in her work, but mostly because, in the end, she knows that the connections she forges between the hearts and souls of her characters will lead them to happiness.

You can contact her at mapolaris@gmail.com or visit her at her group blog site at www.thequirkyladies.com , you can also visit her personal blog site and personal author website.

Bound Odyssey
Michelle Polaris

The year is 2067 and Earth is self-destructing from environmental cataclysms. A portal to a new world is ripped open and refuge there is Earth’s only hope. Enter Jace, cowboy diplomat, who is preparing for the negotiation of a lifetime. A sexually conflicted alpha male, he hates everything with a cock, especially himself. The last thing Jace expects is to fall in love with both a woman and a man.

His dark history presents the ultimate challenge to Mira and Roman, the sexual Dominant team hired to prepare Jace for the female-dominant culture of the new world. Tragedy has made Mira distrust her Mistress abilities. Survival is her priority, and she resists her deep attraction to Jace’s haunted eyes and sculpted body.

Roman, however, falls hard and fast for Mira and Jace, ready to honor Mira as his Mistress and force Jace to recognize him as Master. Bound in one another’s chains and pushed to the limits of arousal and pain, they must outrun sabotage and conspiracy to find salvation for their bodies, souls and hearts.