HiSkye and welcome to My Secret Romance! We are very excited to have you heretoday.
Yourwork has been called many things, most notably "dark erotica" by you. It certainly does give the correct impression. Thankfully youalways provide a HEA or HFN ending. How do you keep the balance betweendark and twisted and just plain crossing the line?
Thanks so much for having me, Taryn!That’s a great question.
Having an HEA is important to me personally,so it’s not a struggle to include one or make that promise to my readers. Ithink that’s because, in my mind, I write romance. It just happens to occur ina dark world, where violence and violation is the norm, where power exchange isbuilt into every interaction, and where the hero and heroine are not immunefrom the dangers around them. So I am content to call it dark erotica, in orderto warn away people who don’t want to read that and attract people who crave it.
As for crossing the line, I hope Ido.
I think that’s a big part of whatdraws people to dark erotica—they want their boundaries to be pushed, they wantto really feel and experience the darkness, and perhaps in the case of mybooks, with the comfort of knowing there will be peace at the end.
Whatdrives you to write dark erotica?
I have always been fascinated byissues of power exchange, particularly where consent is concerned. I thinksociety wants consent to be this concrete thing, that makes us feel moresecure, but it never really works. Its nature is fluid, and by denying that, wearen’t doing anyone any favors, least of us all victims.
For example, the heroine in Hear Mewas abducted and trained to be a sex slave. But when we meet her, she hasescaped. She finds refuge in the house and arms of a stranger. The questionthat the characters (and the reader) struggle with is… can she truly consent atthis point? It’s easy to say no. She’s too confused, too messed up, too weak.But in doing so, we are actually stripping her of her rights, to think forherself, to choose. And how is that any better than what her captors did toher?
Doyou ever struggle with controversy over your work?
Definitely. At the beginning, Isuspected no one would want to read it. But I put it out there, and washonestly shocked at the level of interest, both the negative and the positive.
The first book was Keep Me Safe,which opens to the hero having sex with the heroine… with dubious consent.Right there in the first scene, and it only gets worse. This is very darkstuff, and yet that books stayed on the Amazon Erotica bestseller list for avery long time. It wasn’t my best book from a technical point of view (firstbooks rarely are) but the commercial success of that book told me that peoplewant to read about this.
And yeah, Keep Me Safe also pissed alot of people off. In later books, I have increased my warnings A LOT, to helpward off these unsuspecting readers. In fact, I’ve had several people ask mewhy my warnings are so extreme, saying that they are unnecessarily so, but I preferthem too harsh than too lax. Still, there will always be readers who don’t readthe warnings or take them seriously. Sometimes we don’t know where ourboundaries are until we are past them.
Whichof your stories would you say you're most proud of or is your favorite (if youhave one) and why?
I think every book is my favoritewhen I’m writing it. Similar to how a reader connects with the characters of abook, a writer must be completely connected to a character they’re writing, sothat’s how I feel about Hear Me right now. But Trust in Me will always bespecial to me. It was a book that I wrote very quickly; it pretty much pouredout of me. And despite the extreme sexual content, it has been well receivedeven among more traditionally romance readers. I’m proud of it J
Ifsomeone were completely new to your books, but very interested, what book wouldyou tell them to start with and why?
Definitely Hear Me. It has thepsychological aspects of dark erotica but the physical/sexual violence is muchless extreme than the previous books in the series, so I think it will appealto a wider audience and be less of a shock to new readers. But don’t worry, it’sstill pretty shocking J
What is something people wouldn't knowabout you?
I am classic conflict avoider, whichmay be surprising since I write controversial books. But I can’t control whatinterests me or turns me on. My intention in writing is to share that withlike-minded people. I don’t want to horrify people… unless they want me to ;-)
What is romance to you?
I mentioned earlier that in my mind,I write romance. To me romance is about two people coming to know and love eachother, and choosing to live their lives together. It’s a joining, and that isthe core at the center of my stories, even dark erotica.
What are you currently working on at themoment? Can you share a little with us?
In the first two books of the darkerotica series, the villain is a man named Carlos. He does some trulyatrocious, horrific things to the heroines and other people in those books, reallysome of the worst things you could imagine.
..and he’s going to be the “hero” ofBook 4 in the series.
Earlier we talked about crossing theline. Well, that’s about as far past the line as I can even see, and it mayvery well be too far for my readers—or for me. I’m looking forward to it.
Is there an author who you would love tomeet? Who and why?
I would love to hang out with KittyThomas and Annabel Joseph. Luckily, there’s twitter.
Do you read books in the genre youwrite?
Absolutely. I love all the books bythe two authors above, and I think they definitely qualify as such, maybe Kittymore than Annabel, but both are fantastic. To be honest, “dark erotica” is asmallish subgenre, so there aren’t that many authors who write in it. Mainstreamerotica is starting contain darker elements that exemplify dark erotica, likeTiffany Reisz’ The Siren or even Bared ToYou by Sylvia Day.
Thank you so much for taking the timefor an interview.
EXCERPT from Hear Me:
Even the earthconspired to keep her. Branches grabbed at her skin like talons; the beach wasquicksand, dragging her down. Hope was too abstract to compete with the soundof men shouting behind her. Even her fear was drowned by the ragged beat of herheart.
“Melody!” Thevoice sounded closer than the thrashing of leaves and branches.
Run, run away,don’t look back.
Her eyes,already stunted by lack of food, filled with grit and precious moisture. If shemade it to the water, she could float away. Even if only to drift down to thebottom, entombed in sand castles and chained by seaweed. They would take herprisoner; they would keep her safe.
A batteredperson was cracked soil, but dreams were like weeds. She could survive this.That was the goal she set for herself, huddled in the cold, damp cell. She hadclung to it as they touched her, beat her. Trained her.
The line offrothy water was in her sights but disappointment seared her. She was too faraway, the sand too thick.
An extra burstof energy propelled her two more stumbling steps. Her legs gave out. Sheclenched and released fistfuls of sand, not even sure she was actually crawlingforward.
Coolness lappedat her fingertips, surprising her. Her mind, tired and rusty, turned thatinformation over. She had made it. Water. Safety? No, freedom.
A slow, steady thwapping noise drew her gaze upward. Asmall green boat bobbed in the shallow water. Gentle waves flicked its hull,almost soothing, like the caress of a flogger. The rhythm thrummed through her.Even without the sting of impact, her mind began the slide.
No. Subspace meant security but not today.Right now it meant death, and she refused to die.
She blinked awaythe salt in her eyes and clawed through the water to the boat. With a strengththat surprised her, she climbed over the edge, tumbling into the grimy bottom.It rocked gently with her weight then settled back into the gentle bob.
The boat wasn’ttied down anywhere, but there wasn’t an oar. Not that she had the strength touse one or a place to go.
Never mind. Herwish had been granted. She would drift out to sea, like a message in a bottle.
Her head lolledagainst the rim of the boat. She breathed in the pungent smell of earth andmoss. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was fanciful. Sheimagined a giant plucking her from the water, unfurling her like a scroll, andreading the lines slashed into her skin.
She wonderedwhat they would say.
Author Bio:
Skye Warren writes unapologetic erotica, where painand sex and love collide. She has been called "a true mistress of dark andtwisted erotica" and her dark erotica series has reached the bestsellerlists at Amazon and been a Night Owl Reviews Top Pick.
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Five years ago we lived in the same house. He was the ultimate bad boy. And my foster brother.
