You can take 5 items/men/women to a fully
catered desert island – what/who would you take? J
My husband
My personal assistant (Charlotte, my best
survival tool!)
My grandson (if his parents will let me)
My iPhone
My awesome new pair of 14-inch buffalo hide
floggers custom made for me by Toymaker.
What’s the weirdest thing a fan (or
stalker!) has ever asked you?
I got a private message on Facebook from a
new fan that read: “I'm tired so going to bed. Wanna come join me?” Then she
posted a follow-up to say she had sent the message to the wrong person. Phew! I
was a little worried there for a minute about what type of friendship she was
looking for!
Actually, though, when I first read the question I couldn’t think of anything
that has been too weird for me to be asked. I’m very open and forthcoming with
readers, so I tell them they can ask me anything. There may have been a few
questions I didn’t answer if they involved the privacy of others (such as
family members), but I’m drawing a blank here about anything memorable that I
thought weird.
Most inappropriate thing you’ve done in
public? If it was illegal, did you get caught? J
Flipping the bird to a sheriff in an
unmarked car. He passed me when I was speeding along Route 79 toward Ithaca,
N.Y., on my way to work in the 1980s. Then he slowed way down. I got pissed and
passed him and flipped him off as I did so. Well, his blue lights started
flashing and he pulled me over. He said, “I was trying to get you to slow down and
I don’t appreciate that gesture you made. If I had my siren with me, I’d give
you a ticket, but I can’t legally do so.” Phew.
Do you have a favourite author(s)? Who is
it/are they?
Many! But I’m going to give a mention to
one of my long-time favorites—Rachel Lee (aka Sue Civil Brown). She was the
first one I fangirled over when I met her (about 1996, I think). Her Conard
County series for Harlequin had the best damned characters—Gabe, Micah,
Nate—I’ve ever read in Romance novels and I love how she has kept that series
going for decades with updates on old favorites as well as new characters and a
next generation. This is what I one day hope to have as my body of work in my
Rescue Me Saga—only I’ll probably never write with the discipline she has!
How did you start your writing career?
I’ve been writing as a hobby for decades
(since high school), but it wasn’t until I got fed up with my day job in April
2011 and quit cold turkey without a new job to go to that I started thinking
about trying to make a living writing. I lucked out and author Donna McDonald
just happened to be speaking at my RWA chapter meeting in May and when she
described how well she was doing with only a couple of books as a
self-published author, I decided that was what I would have to do because I
couldn’t wait years to be discovered and get my books out there to readers.
Best thing that ever happened to me. I’ve known struggling Romance authors for
decades, too, and to be able to write what I love without the filters or
arbitrary deadlines publishers put authors through has been pure joy. This
career will be the one I will enjoy the rest of my life.
Which character was the hardest to write
and why?
Marc D’Alessio. He actually came to be
first—in Nobody’s Angel, originally an erotica novella I wrote in May 2009
(while still writing as a hobby). At the time, it was erotica and didn’t really
need a story, but in May 2011 when I was trying to decide which books to focus
on to launch my writing career, I pulled that one out to see if I could salvage
it. It took major rewriting (three rewrites and two edits) before I published
it Sept. 30, 2011, but I was never happy that I couldn’t get him to happily
ever after. I knew there was something buried deep inside that was keeping him
blocked off from me, Angelina, and readers, but figured I would just have to
wait until he was ready to explore it.
That time came the summer of 2012 when I
was trying to finish up Nobody’s Perfect. I had given him a subplot in that
book, hoping to lure him into sharing his deepest secrets, but when it became
apparent what the main problem was, I knew it would be a distraction from
Damian and Savannah’s story to try and keep going back and forth in that book
to Marc and Angelina, so a month before I published Perfect, I announced in my
newsletter that the series would have a new book in the line-up and it would be
Somebody’s Angel. (Not everyone got that newsletter or saw the announcements
and I had actively promoted that Luke’s book would be next, so there have been
some very disgruntled readers as a result.)
But I wouldn’t change a thing because I can
see after the scenes (right to the very end) in Somebody’s Angel that there is
hope for Marc and Angelina and that they are going to have the courage to help
each other through some dark days ahead. I wasn’t as hopeful for them before
that. And, in fairness to him, he wasn’t being stubborn and keeping things from
me—he truly had no clue what issues from his past had done to him to make him
the man behind a mask.
Who’s your favourite character? And what
would let him/her do to you in the Dungeon?
Adam Montague. Yes, like 63% of my readers
polled recently, I’ll admit he’s my favorite. Even though he is younger than I
am at his 50-51 years of age, because I put myself into each of my characters
as I write, I am Karla with him at age 25-26 and love his protective guardian
role and nurturing way of taking care of her needs just makes me melt.
He’s not very active in the dungeon part of
the club, but in the great room, I’d love for him to suspend me the way he did
Karla in Nobody’s Hero. That is one of
the most sensual scenes I’ve ever written, from the moment he begins massaging
her scalp to when he takes her to subspace. *sigh*
If you write under an alias/Nom de plume,
how do you deal with being addressed by that name?
Kallypso Masters is a nom de plume and I
find it hard to relate as Kallypso, so I came up with the nickname Kally. I’m
much more a Kally than even my own real name, and my friends in my writers
group helped me get used to it by calling me that in meetings since 2009. So when Kallypso Masters became an overnight
success in August 2011 with my first book, I’d already become used to the name.
I almost always sign my e-mails and FB private messages as Kally—even when I’m
supposed to sign my real name. And I tell people that as far as being the real
deal, my Kallypso page is my “FACE” book and my real-life one is my “FAÇADE”
book. I am totally honest with readers here and feel much more free to be
myself without worrying about what might offend family, friends, or neighbors.
But I do still talk to myself using my real first name.
What made you decide to pick an alias?
Safety reasons. I planned to write about
BDSM and erotica and knew it might attract people who think erotic romance
writers are fair game for being hit on or stalked. Fortunately, I haven’t had
any of those issues, but my husband also preferred that I keep my name secret.
Kallypso means “one who hides,” so it was the perfect name—even though I find
myself to not be hiding as much as I thought I would. And, of course, my books
are much more mainstream than erotica, so I do want everyone to know who I
write as, rather than only share it with those I think might be open-minded
enough to try something on the kinky side. But people continually surprise me!
What was it about kink that made you choose
the genre?
I’ve been a fan of “bodice rippers” since
the 1970s and while those often had non-consensual rape scenes between the
heroes and heroines, I find elements of those types of stories interesting and
incorporate them into my books. (Chapter Two of Nobody’s Hero would be an
example of such a scene.) I’ve always been fascinated by bondage and how
freeing that can be for someone with a history of sexual abuse, too. In the
Rescue Me Saga, I wanted to show how (in some of the stories) BDSM could be
used to heal from abuse, trauma, loss of control, and in other ways. I knew
Nobody’s Perfect would be the book in which that would be the most obvious, but
you’ll see it in lesser degrees in Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel and Nobody’s
Hero, too, the first two books in the saga. I touched on it a bit in Somebody’s
Angel again, although there wasn’t as much of an emphasis on BDSM in that one
or in Nobody’s Dream, my work in progress. I like showing how people who live
the lifestyle don’t necessarily treat it like a religion they follow 24/7
(although I know some do live the lifestyle 24/7). They have periods where they
might not be interested in “scening” or playing, but they might be interested
in other sexual practices outside the norm (like the anal sex scene in Somebody’s
Angel). I like providing readers with that glimpse of what BDSM can look like
in their lives, even if they aren’t going to dungeons (which most in the
lifestyle don’t do).
What extent do you go to, to research for
what you write?
I mostly talk with people who are experts
at what I’m trying to write. Because getting the emotion right is more
important thing to me, I ask lots of questions about “how does this feel?” and
go from there. But then I’ll ask these experts to either read the chapters or
scenes that I want their expertise used on, or I’ll make them beta readers so
they can watch for things throughout a book if there is something in particular
I want to get right. (Often it is more than a technique, but how would a person
with a psychology background behave, or what would a Marine do or say in this
situation, so they really need to read the entire book to get that “local”
flavor across to me.)
I also enjoy visiting places I write about
and picking up on things I see or hear that I might not learn by reading
research books on the place or topic. I’ve attended leather celebrations to
learn more about the leather culture
Do you have a favourite item to write
about? (or use? J)
Floggers are a favorite (to write about and
to use). Remember my answer earlier where I said I’d take my new pair of
floggers that Toymaker made me to that fully catered desert isle. Marc and
Angelina enjoy the floggers the most in my series, although others have used
them, I’m sure. I liked how Adam turned his rope into a flogger to warm up
Karla’s skin in the Shibari scene in Nobody’s Hero. (That was a suggestion from
Toymaker, as well.)
Dom or sub?
I’m submissive (bedroom only), although my
husband isn’t a Dom, so we strictly do roleplay activities, not a power
exchange. I wouldn’t be interested in submitting to anyone else, though.
Leather or Lace?
Leather—love the smell of it!
Silk or hemp?
Hemp—silk is dangerous when wet and should
be avoided (unless he has his EMT scissors handy to cut them if a problem
arises—sorry, but that whole fantasy of silk ties and scarves can lead to
serious nerve damage and so many people who read a certain trilogy have
probably learned that the hard way if they didn’t do any real homework before
starting to play).
If you weren’t an author, what would you
have ended up doing?
I ended up being an author after decades of
being an administrative assistant and then 9 years at an editorial assistant at
a college. Wouldn’t want to be anything else than a writer (which was my dream
since 7th or 8th grade).
Do you have any rituals/habits when you
write?
Not really, although I’ve learned that my
creativity is higher is I take the time first thing in the morning to write
three pages in my notebook (my Morning Pages per The Artist’s Way, by Julia
Cameron).
Is there anything on your current/upcoming
release schedule?
No. I just sent about 90,000 words of the
first (and incomplete) draft of Nobody’s Dream to five of my editors so we can
brainstorm what’s working, what needs work, and where to go from here. I’ll
spend the summer and fall (at least) finishing it and then it goes back to
those editors (plus my timeline editor) so they can give it a major editing and
then line edits. Still hoping for a late fall release, but it all depends on
how productive the summer is (and I’m already behind schedule).
Where are your books available?
Amazon, Apple iBooks/iTunes, Barnes &
Noble Nook, Kobo, All Romance eBooks, and Libiro. Coming soon to Google Play.
Stalker Links
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/KallypsoMastersAuthorPage
Facebook Timeline: https://www.facebook.com/kallypsomasters
(I’m at my friends limit, but you can follow me—99.99 percent of my posts are
public)
I also have a secret discussion group for
the Rescue Me Saga on Facebook. To join, send a friend request on Facebook to
Karla Montague [URL: https://www.facebook.com/karla.montague.1] and she will
add you to the group. It’s best to be caught up on the current books available
before going there, though, because there are spoilers galore.
Twitter: @kallypsomasters
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kallypsom
