Interview With Hunter Raines + Giveaway!

Filed in Giveaways , Hunter Raines , Interview , The Danger Lover Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 6:00 am 17 comments

We are delighted to welcome award winning Author Hunter Raines (alter ego Lacey Savage) to BLI today. Hunter is here to celebrate the release of her latest novella Paradise Found, a ménage m/m/m erotic romance. Paradise Found is published by Carina Press and is available today in e-book format! Hunter is going to talk to us today about Paradise Found and her writing process.

Hunter! Welcome to BLI it’s such a pleasure to be able to chat with you today!

Hunter: Thanks so much for having me here, Lea!

Hunter can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Hunter: Sure! I’ve recently celebrated my 12th wedding anniversary to the man of my dreams, I’m turning 31 this year (you do the math on how old I was when I got married), and I’ve recently made the switch from working full time at a corporate day job to writing for a living. I’ve been published under the Lacey Savage pen name since 2003, and as Hunter Raines since 2008. Under the Hunter pen name, I write male/male erotic romance exclusively, while Lacey gets to dabble in a wider range of genres.

Describe a typical day of writing? Are you a planner or pantser?

Hunter: I’m a plotser — a combination of both. I brainstorm through my initial story idea, create character bios, research topics I’m unsure about, and create a loose scene-by-scene outline before I start writing. However, I stay flexible while I write and more often than not the story veers away from the outline I’ve created. When that happens, I go with it. I figure my characters know what they need better than I do.

My typical day starts around 8:00AM, when hubby gets out of bed to go to work. His office is one door down from mine. Since we both work from home, we have breakfast together, then we each head to our respective offices. I start writing as soon as I sit down. No email, Twitter, or Facebook allowed. I get up to stretch occasionally, but I really don’t leave my seat until I get my daily word count in. That usually happens around lunch time. At that point I break, have lunch with hubby, then do all the business stuff related to writing: social networking, catching up on email, working on critiques, writing blog posts, doing interviews, etc. I’m done for the day around 6:00PM, when I head to the kitchen to start dinner. I love cooking, so that shift that makes the house smells yummy tells my brain work’s all done until tomorrow.

What can we expect of Paradise Found?

Hunter: Paradise found is scorching hot. My characters hold nothing back. The story deals with a significant amount of BDSM themes, so readers sensitive to that subject matter should be warned. But despite the bedroom acrobatics, the story is, at its heart, a romance. It’s intensely emotional, with plenty of angst, torment, and joy sprinkled through for good measure.

Why did you pick Anguilla as the setting for Philip, Mark and Cameron’s first meeting?

Hunter: I was searching for a tropical island that would fit the bill. My husband and I go to Mexico every year, but I wanted something more private, luxurious, and exclusive. So I started researching – and stopped at ‘A’ as soon as I hit on Anguilla. It was absolutely perfect for Mark, Cameron, and Philip.

I thought the way you characterized Philip was very well done. I really felt for Philip, he has been forced to repress his sexual identity because of family pressures particularly by his father. Can you talk a little more about Philip, his family and how his experience in Anguilla impacts his life?

Hunter: Thank you! That means a lot. Philip grew up in a family of macho guys, who expected him to be just like them. A “man’s man”. Someone who appreciates a beer, a slab of red meat and a naked woman. Unfortunately for Philip, he’d rather have a fruity margarita, a salad, and a naked man. Or two. When he meets Mark and Cameron in Anguilla, he realizes this is his last chance to be the person he wishes he could be before he has to go back to Boston and step into an identity that isn’t his. So he follows his heart into Mark and Cameron’s bed, thinking that’ll satisfy him. Except that instead of assuaging his need, it stirs up longings he thinks he has no business having: a yearning for a long-term committed gay relationship… with these two men.

Cameron and Mark have been in a long term relationship and they go to Anguilla for a vacation to try to reconnect. However, things don’t work out as they expect, in fact there are some emotional and difficult times ahead for these guys essentially because of poor communication and secrets particularly on Cameron’s part. Was it Cameron and Mark’s relationship that was the backbone that you built this story on or was Philip’s character that came to you first?

Hunter: It was definitely Philip. I always start with a concept; a grain of an idea that leads to more. I knew all along I wanted to tell a story about a man who has a threesome on an exotic island, and then meets his partners on that same island a year later. Philip intrigued me the most. Why couldn’t he put the sexy encounter out of his mind? Why couldn’t he just find someone else to be with back home? How could a few hours change the course of his life? All those questions led me to explore Philip’s character. Cameron came next. Mark was much, much harder to pin down for me. Interestingly, he can’t quite pin himself down in the book, either.

As Hunter Raines you write m/m erotic romance and under your Lacey Savage pseudonym you write erotic romance. Is there a reason for the two pseudonyms and is your muse or mindset different when you are writing as Hunter versus Lacey?

Hunter: I didn’t want to confuse my audience. I know many readers of M/F or ménage erotic romance don’t enjoy male / male, and vice versa. Readers of M/M erotic romance are often adamant about keeping women out of their reading material. So I thought having two pen names would make it easier for everyone to know what they were getting. Unfortunately it makes it much more difficult for me to remember who I’m trying to be on any given day, but I’m learning to adjust.

My mindset is somewhat different when writing as Hunter. My critique partners say my Hunter voice is more raw and visceral, but I have to work at that. My Lacey voice is lyrical and poetic, and that’s just not how men think and speak, so it takes a significant mental adjustment to remember I’m in a man’s head, living vicariously through him. Truthfully, this same mental adjustment has helped me better write scenes from the hero’s point of view in M/F erotic romance as well.

What can readers look forward to next from the desk of Hunter Raines / Lacey Savage?

Hunter: I don’t have anything else contracted at the moment, but I have two works in progress under the Hunter Raines pen name. One is a paranormal romantic suspense M/M erotic romance featuring a blind hero who can see ghosts, and the other is an urban fantasy M/M erotic romance in the superhero genre.

Now can you tell us 3 reasons why people should read your books?

Hunter:

1. My books offer an intensely emotional experience.
2. The bedroom door is wide open, giving readers a peek into the sex lives of very hot men.
3. They’re escapist fantasy, and who couldn’t use a little getaway every now and again?

Hunter, can you summarize Paradise Found Twitter style in 140 characters or less?

Hunter: The aftermath of an explosive threesome will change three lives. Forever.

Awesome answers Hunter! 🙂

Thank you so much for joining us at BLI today Hunter (Lacey) and congratulations on the release of Paradise Found!

Hunter: Thanks for the insightful interview!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~*~*Giveaway*~*~

Hunter has generously offered two copies of Paradise Found to two lucky commenters!

All you have to do is leave a meaningful comment about the interview.
(You can read our full giveaway policy here)

Please leave us a way to contact you.
(Email in blogger profile or twitter name – no way to contact you – no entry).

This giveaway is open worldwide!

Giveaway ends on Saturday, June 19, 2011; and we will announce the winner on Sunday.

Good luck!

Photobucket

About Lea


Lea is an animal loving, tree hugging vegetarian who lives in Toronto, Canada with her family, which includes three dogs. She is a prolific reader and has been blogging and reviewing since 2008. Lea is a contributor at the USA Today HEA Blog and an active member at Goodreads.

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17 Comments

Join the Discussion
  • Karen H in NC June 6, 2011 at 8:20 am

    Hi Hunter,

    Thanks for a very informative interview. I've never read your work before, but from what I've read here, I'm missing something…OK…a lot! Hope I get lucky and win a copy of your book here…great way to sample your stuff! Thanks for the giveaway.

    kkhaas at bellsouth dot net

  • Anonymous June 6, 2011 at 10:21 am

    your book looks and sounds good. ive never read your work, but id love a chance to. your cover alone makes your book a must read!

    shadow_kohler(at)att(dot)net

  • Jen B. June 6, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    Not meaningful: Me. Pick me!
    Meaningful: Why a threesome? Why would Cameron and Mark find their relationship healed by adding a third person?
    See, now I have to read the book. Darn it! Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
    jepebATverizonDOTnet

  • Mary G June 6, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    Awesome interview ladies!! I love the premise of your book & the setting sounds wonderful. Heard a discussion about M/M. One guy is great, two is better. Three must be amazing LOL.

  • StacieDM June 6, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    Hello Hunter/Lacey!

    I think Paradise Found sounds lovely. I've been reading erotic romance for years but I only started reading m/m in December. I'm not sure why I hadn't before then. I adore the m/m genre now. I would say a good 20% of the books I buy now are m/m.

    Thanks for the great giveaway!

    user1123 AT comcast DOT net
    GeishasMom73 on twitter

  • Jason June 6, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    Hi Hunter! This book sounds amazing. BDSM and menage! I can't wait to check it out.

  • Chris June 6, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    Hmm. Menage sometimes works for me, sometimes doesn't – it depends on whether I can be convinced that it would actually work emotionally.

  • Hunter June 6, 2011 at 4:32 pm

    Thanks, everyone, for dropping by today, and thanks again, Lea for the wonderful interview and insightful review.

    Chris – I couldn't agree more about menage stories. The real difficulty for the author is making the threesome happily-ever-after ending believable. I worked hard to do that, but determining whether I managed to pull it off is up to each individual reader. 🙂

  • Melanie, mcsc2008 June 6, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    This certainly previews as a very strong story about a man who joins a couple. I'm going to add this to my to read list even if I don't win a copy of the book here.

    Thanks for the interview and answers.

  • elaing8 June 6, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    Great interview.Hunter/Lacey is a new author to me.Paradise Found sounds like a great book.
    elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net

  • Kaetrin June 7, 2011 at 6:11 am

    There aren't that many good m/m/m books out there I think. I love this kind of story – I'll have to add it to my TBR! 🙂

    hanktsATinternodeDOTonDOTnet

  • Sarah June 8, 2011 at 11:22 am

    Great interview! I thought it very interesting that you have two different "voices/mindsets" for each of your pseudonyms but I guess that makes sense since they're such different genres 🙂 Can't wait to read this book!

    smaccall AT comcast.net

  • Jason June 8, 2011 at 10:56 pm

    It's great to see m/m/m getting some attention, both on the book blogs and in "print". Great job both of you for being progressive. It sounds like a great read.

    jason at jasonkivela dot com

  • Melora June 10, 2011 at 9:26 am

    I'm leary of m/m/m as well because I've read too many that seem to be more of a 2.5 than a full 3. I like the idea that Philip has a year to think things through after his first encounter in which to find himself. It makes any commitment later more meaningful because you know it's what he wants and not something he's chosing based on lust.
    lnxam97(at)gmail(dot)com

  • Anonymous June 11, 2011 at 8:54 am

    I've never read your book, so I will like to try reading it as it is a m/m/m book. Its hard to find good m/m/m now days. Will add it in my tbr list XP

  • madsheepno1 June 14, 2011 at 6:25 am

    really enjoyed your interview have been looking for new authors to read so i am definitely going to be looking into getting your books to read
    many thanks
    jenny

  • Jeanne June 18, 2011 at 5:08 am

    I´m always glad when I find new author. I like emotions when I read books so I think I would like this book too 🙂
    Great interview!
    Rathouska.jana@gmail.com

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