This month, we are lucky to welcome AJ Llewellyn. Thank you for taking the time to speak with all of us about your work, AJ.

Hi Whitney and thank you so much for the opportunity to talk with FAR readers. I have been very fortunate to get some wonderful reviews from FAR and I love Teresa who has reviewed many of my books. So thank you, FAR!

Is writing a full-time job, or do you have other employment?

Writing is an almost full-time employment in that I do work all day long and squeeze the rest of my life in somehow. My day job is to critique screenplays and this requires a lengthy report, about ten pages per screenplay so even for my day job I am writing.

How long have you been writing? When was your first story published? Was it difficult to find a publisher? Will you share that story with us?

I have been writing since I was about nine, my first newspaper column was at the age of 15 in Sydney, Australia where I was born. I was quite precocious but I like to think I had some ability because I got my journalism cadetship (an old-fashioned trainee program that still exists in Australia and the UK) based on it. I was ecstatic the first time I saw my name in print and I still am…it’s a sense of achievement to see something you’ve written be accepted for publication.

Having said that, despite a prolific career in journalism I found it difficult to break into publishing as a fiction writer. I found it easier to get work as a script reader and editor than to sell my own work. I moved to the US in 1984 and I had a few short stories published here and there but it was my non fiction material that I had my best success with. I kept persevering and won a contest two years ago. The prize was a professional critique. The agent who critiqued my story suggested I try my hand at erotic fiction and it had never occurred to me before.

I submitted “My Hawaiian Song of Love” to eXtasy Books a few days later and received a contract the same day and I have not looked back since. I feel very fortunate to have found eXtasy and my publisher, Tina Haveman…by the way she too is an ex-patriate Australian. What are the odds? LOL…

Do you have any advice that you can offer aspiring authors?

Don’t listen to anybody who tells you not to do this, but do listen to people who offer constructive criticism. Keep at it and you will succeed. The important thing is to write. Do something every day.

How much planning goes into your writing? Do you systematically plot everything ahead of time, or do you let the words flow and see where they take you?

Nope…I am a panster. I fly by the seat of my pants. I have a rough idea of what I want to say but the characters always have minds of their own. I honestly just let it go the way it’s supposed to…but I do usually have a rough idea of beginning, middle and end.

In your opinion, what makes the perfect man? How do your heroes differ from that?

I don’t know what a perfect man is, but to me a hero is not perfect. I consider Kimo Wilder, my “Phantom Lover” character to be a hero because is not perfect. He is a man with considerable burdens in life, yet above and beyond the constraints life has put on him, he acts with integrity at all times, without fear and with a sense of compassion and justice. Plus he absolutely adores his husband. Hey, maybe he is perfect after all…LOL…

When you design your villains, what is your inspiration? Do you believe that they need to have any redeeming characteristics?

I don’t have many villains in my books, but Mahini, the black magic kahuna from “The Forbidden Island” the second book in the “Phantom Lover” series was definitely a villain. I do think he has redeeming characteristics…he is a lonely man desperate for love and makes a grave mistake. He uses ancient magic to try and control Johnny, cursing him and causing great havoc in his life. I feel Mahini is similar to people you read about in newspapers who plot to kill out of a warped sense of love. If the ‘villain’ has no redeeming qualities he may not be sympathetic in a romance novel. In a straight thriller this doesn’t seem to apply. For example, look at Hannibal Lecter. I’d say he has few redeeming qualities but he is a riveting character in the first two novels Thomas Harris wrote about him.

Who is your favorite of all your characters and why?

I can’t choose between Kimo and Jimmy Thunder. I’d say they are both truly important to me. They nudge me awake at night with stories and ideas. They are my muses and I am blessed. I think they’re both unusual characters and I see the potential for lots of stories for both of them.

Why do you think erotic fiction is so popular right now? What caused you to write this genre?

Romantic fiction has always been popular…erotic fiction is an extension of it…a kind of extreme version of it, if you will. As I said before, it was a genre suggested to me and I love it. I feel like I have found my métier.

You seem to be a pretty prolific writer. Do you write one story at a time, or do you have several going at any given moment?

I usually have three or four books going at the same time. Right now, I am writing four: “Black Point Revisited” (publication date March 1), “Love’s Blood” (a Jimmy and Tem Thunder book (publication date April 15), “Molokai Man” (a new one for my publisher’s mainstream imprint Devine Destinies…it is GLBT but the sex is very tame) and “The Cannibal King’s Husband” (May 15 publication date and it is a “Phantom Lover” book).

I am also in final galley edits on “Island Bois,” which publishes next week and “Ma Ma Loa” (a short, special Jimmy Thunder book) which comes out February 1 so I am actually working on six books!

I notice that you tend to inject a certain amount of humor in your stories. (Thank you for that, by the way. I personally love a little humor in what I read.) What do you find particularly entertaining. Why humor, anyway?

Thank you for saying that Whitney! I do try and inject humor because that’s me. I love some humor and a lot of hot sex in my books. What do I find entertaining? I don’t know how to answer that question…I find a lot of things amusing but I poke more fun at myself than anybody else.

You and D. J. Manly have teamed up on your Black Point novels. How did this come about? How does collaborative writing work, anyway?

DJ is an awesome guy and a terrific writer. He emailed me and asked me if I was interested in working with him and I laughed my ass off…I mean c’mon. He’s DJ Manly! He’s the best in the biz. OF COURSE I wanted to work with him. He sent me the first couple of chapters he’d written and speaking of humor, I love his sense of humor. I hooked into the story straight away. He wrote from Thomas’s point of view and I picked up the threads from Matt’s point of view.
I think – well I hope DJ would agree on this - our books are getting better and better. We know each other better and like each other’s work. I think it’s fantastic that our own editor and our readers can’t tell sometimes who wrote what. I think that’s a good sign that our styles are very complementary.

Vampires and other paranormal entities seem to be very popular in fiction these days. Why do you think this is so? What motivated you to write about Jimmy Thunder?

Good question. I don’t know why paranormals are so hot…but I was getting more and more into the paranormal realm with each successive “Phantom Lover” book and my publisher suggested I write a vampire book. I knew nothing about vampires and felt it was a genre well tapped to be honest…but then a strange thing happened. A female friend of mine started dating a guy who is a gay for pay porn star. Of course, being a gay man she asked my advice. I met the guy and I must say he is charming and cute but I am sorry, he is gay! No…GAY.

I don’t believe you can have the kind of sex that he has with other men (I’ve seen his movies) and not be gay or at the very least, bisexual. I knew he was after my friend’s money. I felt he was a bisexual guy who’d play anybody. Hell, he would have played me if he thought I had money. He did admit to me – in front of my friend – that he was bisexual. She is still smitten and now practically broke. I made the comment he was like a vampire and suddenly, the idea for Jimmy came to me. However, Jimmy is a nice vampire, a real vampire, not a user, psychic vampire, like the guy my friend’s into.

It did give me a lot of ideas about using what I knew about the gay porn industry and I did this in the first book, “A Vampire in Waikiki.” Now Jimmy and Tem are bonded mates, there’s no more gay porn and the paranormal aspects of the story opened up with the second book in the series, “A Vampire Christmas” which I adored writing.

I did some research on vampires but I felt since my guys are in Hawaii and I am writing it with a sense of humor and certainly, some irreverence, I think it lends itself to a little artistic license. I am blending Hawaiian and Japanese history, ghost stories and mythology in the series as well as the love story between Jimmy and Tem. Ultimately it is the love story between these two men that interests me the most.

I see that you keep a blog on your website. (Thank you for not having your characters give each other worms. Somehow, I think that would probably kill the mood.) What motivates you to blog an entry? (Note to readers: You may wish to see Mr. Llewellyn’s blog entry of January 8, 2009, titled “The Chiropractor”)

LOL…thank you. Could you imagine?? Worms…I am a prolific blogger because I am asked to contribute to many blogs and I repost them all to my website: www.ajllewellyn.com I think people enjoy them which is gratifying. I write six a week, believe it or not.

On Sunday, it’s Seven Wicked Writers: www.sevenwickedwriters.com

Tuesday is Nice N Naughty Blog: http://nicennaughtyauthors.blogspot.com/

Wednesdays, it’s author interviews I do for Dark Diva Reviews: http://darkdivareviews.blogspot.com/

Thursdays it’s The Many Shades of Life and Love: http://themanyshades.blogspot.com/

Fridays it’s Sensual and Secret: http://sensualnsecret.blogspot.com/

Saturday is my only day off but I contribute a blog on the 27th of each and very month to my authors’ group Midnight Seductions Authors: http://midnightseductionsauthors.blogspot.com/

And I do contribute to the Gay Writers and Readers blog: http://gaywritersandreaders.blogspot.com/

What motivates my blogs is life. I am motivated by whatever moves me…my own life…stuff I see on the news…funny things, sad things…I must say stuff happens to me…and I am grateful, as long as I never get worms…

We know what you write, but what do you read? What would we find on your bookshelves at home? Do you tend to buy the books you read, or do you frequent the library instead?

My library I am proud to say is where most of my time and money has gone. I have almost every valuable book ever published about Hawaiian and Polynesian history. I have journals of South Seas explorers, tapa-bound volumes of Twain and London’s Hawaiian stories…I have very early volumes of the Australian explorer Louis Becke. My entire library is mostly non fiction. Memoirs, biographies…I have some fiction most of it related to travel or authors I am just obsessed with. I read constantly, when I am not writing.

I love the library. Many of the books I covet are at the library. I am also a dedicated volunteer at my local library, every single Saturday.

What is your favorite book, and who is your favorite author?

My favorite book? I can’t choose…books are like friends to me…I love George Eliot for example and…oh, I will be honest and say I absolutely adore Sue Townsend’s “Adrian Mole Diaries.” The best pieces of modern fiction ever written. I read and re-read those. I love her books. She’s hilarious. I loved her book “The Queen and I” in which the Queen of England loses all her money and must take public transportation and has to learn how to make a cup of tea. Books like that tickle me.

Sue’s last book “Number 10” was a savage swipe at Tony Blair in which he becomes the most hated man in England because he’s ‘lost touch with the common man’ so he disguises himself as a transvestite and travels throughout England getting a look at how the other half live. Demented and funny.

Tell us about your favorite aspect of Hawaii. I’ve never been to the islands. Why should I go, and what should I see and do once I get there?

Hmmm…how do I answer that? I love everything about Hawaii, the magic, the history, the culture, the people…you should go if you believe in love, romance and if you believe in a gentler time and place when people greeted each other with an open heart and with genuine feeling.
To spend time in Hawaii is a rejuvenation of all the senses. I am mindful of its tragic history and I hope I pay proper respect to it in my books. I really do.

What should you see and do? You should go to the island of Oahu and visit Iolani Palace, the only palace on American soil. Then you should go to the Waioli Tea Room for lunch. It used to be Robert Louis Stevenson’s guest house when he lived there. I swear you can feel his presence. Order their signature peaberry coffee…it’s delish. Make sure you take a notebook and pen. It’s an inspirational spot, for sure.

In the evening, go to the Halekulani’s House Without a Key at sunset to drink the best Mai Tais in the world (they make them with a dash of almond oil, unbelievable!) and listen to an amazing Hawaiian band and watch a beautiful hula dancer…you’ll feel like you stepped back in time. A wonderful experience.

You should go to Duke’s on Sunday and listen to Henry Kapono play. He is my idol. Order the macadamia-crab wantons and the fire cracker fish. The hula pie is pretty sensational. They say the sailors used to swim ashore for it. I don’t doubt it!

You should take a drive up the Nu’uanu Pali where Hawaii Five-O always had its shoot-outs. It’s damned eerie up there….haunting. It’s an important piece of American history.
Take a drive to the North Shore and check out the majestic big wave beaches. Stop by Haleiwa and buy a bento box lunch and enjoy it on the beach. Stop by Ted’s bakery on the way home and buy a slice of macadamia cream pie. You will not regret it.

You should go to Haunama Bay on the way back to ‘civilization’ and snorkel with the fish and turtles. A lovely experience.

Next, fly to Maui and at sunrise, take a bus ride up to Haleakala Volcano and ride a bicycle down…
really an unforgettable experience. Go to the Haile Maile General Store for lunch. And dinner. Go back again the next day.

And the next.

You should go to the Big Island and go to Kilauea Volcano to experience a live, active volcano…you never know, you might just meet my beloved Goddess Pele. And then have breakfast at Ken’s House of Pancakes. I can recommend the passionfruit syrup. I would also suggest you go to the open air market on Wednesday and Sunday…you will find locally grown fruits and vegetables that taste like nothing else on earth because they were grown in rich, volcanic soil.

What works do you have coming up that we should keep an eye out for?

Oh man, tons of books;
Jan 15 Island Bois: Eight of Swords – Kimo and Lopaka make an appearance in this.

Feb 1: Ma Ma Loa: A Waikiki Vampire fantasy game short story for Valentine’s day

Feb 15: Hanalei Moon: Ace of Swords February 15

March 1: Black Point Revisted

March 15: Diura: A Phantom Lover Book

April 15: Love’s Blood: A Waikiki Vampire Book

May 15: The Cannibal King’s Husband: A Phantom Lover Book

June 15: Pelo’s Heart: Seven of Wands

July 15: Wanted

TBA: Molokai Man (for Devine Destinies)

And more to come!

Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t think to ask.

Can’t think of anything!

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Nope! Except once again thanks so much for your time…this was fun!!
AJ. xo

Thank you, AJ. It has definitely been a pleasure. I think you’ve made us all want to visit the islands, and with so many books coming up, you’re definitely going to keep us busy and entertained reading your work! Readers who would like to contact AJ Llewellyn can do so through his website at www.ajllewellyn.comwww.wamu.com.

Interviewed by: Whitney