Kimber's Interview and Contest with author Cassandra Carr

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We are fortunate to have Cassandra Carr, the multi-published, award winning, erotic author with us today on Guilty Pleasures.

KO: Hi Cassandra! For those GP followers who haven’t had the pleasure of reading any of your super sexy stories or the opportunity to visit your website, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

CC: Sure! I’m a wife and mom to an adorable three-year-old daughter. Well, when she isn’t being a toddler. I live in the Western New York area and have been accused of having an obsession intense focus on the Buffalo Sabres. I hang out on Twitter when I’m not writing (@Cassandra_Carr), and my sixth release is coming on March 7^th. My seventh release will follow in April or May.

KO: Sports themed books are some of my favorites to read and I love your hockey series, Buffalo Intimidators (#2 in the series releases March 7). Do you know how many books will be in the series AND do you have any plans to write any other sport related books?

CC: Well, I have actually already written other sports-related books, it just depends on which sports you like. ;-) My debut, Talk to Me, had an ex-hockey player hero, and my Buckin’ Bull Riders series deals with, you guessed it, bull riders. As far as the Buffalo Intimidators series goes, my plan right now, if the books continue to sell well, is to make it probably an eight or nine book series. After all, there are 23 guys on an NHL hockey roster!

KO: I’ve heard many authors say the “competition is fierce.” How hard do you think it would be for an author to make it these days if social media outlets had not been invented?

CC: Oh wow. This is a great question to ask me, since I credit Twitter with making invaluable contacts, including my current editor at Ellora’s Cave. HOWEVER, I’m not sure you can attribute social media to the reason it might be easier for authors to make it. I think authors these days write better books, since most of us take classes and attend conferences well before we’re published, and authors are so much savvier about the business of publishing too. I think those two things account for the success of authors now more than social media.

KO: I’ve read several of your books, and hope to one day be able to say I’ve read ALL of them. You are a fantastic writer. BDSM plays a large role in your stories, your heroes are VERY dominant type men. What do you think draws women, and by women, I mean me, to these types of men?

CC: Okay, that last sentence made me crack up. I write heroes I love. Almost every story I write does have at least a touch of BDSM in it, even if it’s not actually called that. Why? Because I think BDSM is fascinating and also find it hilarious that so many people do BDSM activities but then turn around and thumb their noses at people who are “in the Lifestyle”. Or they think using handcuffs and blindfolds is fine, but dominance and submission is wrong and degrading. So I’m trying to bring BDSM more into mainstream storytelling so people realize it’s not so scary after all. Sorry, getting off my soapbox now…

As far as what draws women to men like Drew from Talk to Me or Jack from Caught or Conner from Impact is their innate strength. These men know who they are, and that’s pretty sexy, especially given the “helpless male” stereotype so prevalent in our society today. Is my psych background showing? *shifty eyes*

On a side note, I told my hubs that if I ever heard him say something like “Need to check with the boss” before he makes a decision I would laugh at him. He assured me he has his own mind. Thank God.

KO: I know you are a very busy lady these days, do you have the chance to read, and if so what are you reading right now?

CC: HAHAHAHA. Yes, I read. I try to read an hour a day. If I don’t read I start getting bitchy because I’m not taking enough time to nurture myself. I’ve read 23 things so far this year. I can’t say I’ve read 23 books because not all of the things I’ve finished have been full-length novels. Anyway, right now I’m reading Rule of Three by Kelly Jamieson. She’s another awesome writer who writes hockey romance, but this is a ménage story. I’m LOVING IT. I just finished Heidi Cullinan’s A Private Gentleman and really enjoyed that too. That’s a m/m historical. I could blather on all day about the books I love.

KO: Your book Impact is one of my favorites of 2012—Bull Riders and BDSM, people, need I say more? I noticed you live in Western New York, which if I had to guess is not the hot spot for rodeos or cowboys. What kind of research did you have to do for this book/series (cannot wait for Brady’s book)?

CC: I actually got the idea to write about bull riders after watching some PBR (Professional Bull Rider) events on the channel that was known then as Versus and is now NBC Sports. You see, Versus showed a lot of hockey games, too, so I just happened to bump into some bull riding. I watched a few events, and I was hooked. Then I found out that some great authors like Cat Johnson and Lorelei James had written/do write about rodeos and bull riders, so I picked up their books. By the way, a bull riding competition is not a rodeo. I’m the queen of useless trivia.

I found a guy who’s an amateur bull rider who answers some questions for me too. He doesn’t want to be too closely associated with me, though. I think the content of my books intimidates him.

And oh yes, Brady. The funny thing is, I wrote Collision (Brady’s book) first, but it originally got rejected so I submitted Impact while I re-wrote Collision. So when Impact became the first book in the series I had to go back through both Impact and Collision and make sure all the references matched the new order. I’m currently writing Marco’s story, book 3, Momentum. I predict you’ll fall in love with Marco, too.

KO: I'm positive I will too. You write the best heroes. Everyone knows my guilty pleasure is me-curled up in my favorite chair, with the dogs, a quilt, the Kinky Kindle close by for commercials, watching reality TV (hangs head in shame) ALL day long on a Saturday when the hubby is at the fire station. What are your guilty pleasures?

*head pops up like a prairie dog* Fire station? We just had a female firefighter come to my RWA chapter. She was fascinating. The guy who was supposed to come is smokin’ (heh) hot, but he got called into training. He offered to let me watch them train at one of those smoke houses, though. I might just take him up on that. Wonder if he’ll have to take all his clothes off when he’s done?

I’m sorry, what were we talking about? Oh yes, my guilty pleasures. Well, reading for an hour a day could certainly be considered a guilty pleasure, but I like to call it research. I also watch Sabres games, watch The Vampire Diaries mostly for the hot guys, and drink far too much Pepsi.

KO: Cassandra, run, not walk to that practice burn. You'll get to see all of them in action. And who knows, someone may get overheated and have to shed some of that turnout gear. *wink* Thank you SO much for taking the time to answer my questions. I wish you all the luck and good fortune you deserve.

CC: Thanks for having me. This was fun!!!

HEY! Let’s have a contest!

Cassandra is giving away a signed set of Romance Trading Cards from Impact. To enter tell us which answer in the interview you liked best. Be sure to leave an e-mail address so we can get a hold of the winner.

Click here to read Kimber’s review of Impact

Click here to read Carys review of Head Games

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