May 7, 2008

At last! I've managed to snag Colette Gale for an interview here at For All the World to See.

(Probably because it's the release week for her latest erotic seduction of a classic. But…I'll let her tell you all about it.)

Colleen: So…you've finally decided to grace us with your presence. To what do we finally owe the honor, Ms. Gale?

Colette: Um…you finally decided to invite me. After you had that Wizard Rock girl, and the Elf girl, I finally get the chance to appear on your blog. I feel very speshul.

Colleen: Riiiight. As if all those evenings over margaritas didn't automatically count as an invite. Besides, I did tell people you were giving away copies to bloggers. Remember? [brightly] Anyway…why don't you tell us about your new book?

Colette: It's an erotic version of The Count of Monte Cristo, and–

Colleen: [aside] Note she said cOunt, not that other word that I can't type on this PG-13 blog…and Monte, not mount.

Colette: Thank you for clarifying that. That's the first time anyone's made that joke. [snort] 

Colleen: So, why did you write this book? And what's it's about?

Colette: It was a follow up to my first novel, Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of the Phantom of the Opera, in which I describe exactly what happened when Erik, the Phantom, took Christine to his lair…and why oh why she left with Raoul instead of staying with the Phantom. (When we all knew he was really the only one for her.)

The Count of Monte Cristo was another wonderful classic that had a built-in potential for eroticism. While the theme in Unmasqued is obsession and loneliness, theme in Master is revenge. Who doesn't like a good revenge love story–as long as there's a happy ever after?

Besides, there was that scene in the original Monte Cristo that took place in Aladdin's Cave…complete with hashish and a variety of nubile women serving Monte Cristo and his companions. I simply had to explore what Dumas couldn't come right out and say!

Colleen: So, there's a lot of sex in your books.

Colette: Yep. Every chapter, in fact. 

Colleen: So, where do you come up with–

Colette: –all these sex scenes? Please. Do you know how many people ask me that?

Colleen: Well what do you expect? It says "erotic novel" on the front of your books.

Colette: So do you ask, say, Patricia Cornwell if she's ever serial killed?

Colleen: Maybe if I ever met her, I would.

Colette: [sigh] Okay, do you want the truth?

Colleen:  This is For All the World to See….

Colette: Okay, then, the truth: I read Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden. It's a collection of women's fantasies–they wrote in and told Nancy Friday about their fantasies when she was doing some study in the '70s…she collected them, organized them, and eventually collated them into this book. The same fantasies, over and over again, are represented in this book.

So, many times, I've found…shall we say…inspiration from the stories in that book. Maybe inspiration isn't the word so much as validation. 

Colleen: So what you're saying is, people are already thinking these things?

Colette: I guess in a warped way, that's what I mean. Pretty much everyone has fantasies that we wouldn't necessarily want to actually experience…what better place to experiment than through the pages of a book?

But aside of the erotic aspect of my books, I want to point out that they are, at the very heart of them, love stories.

Yes, there's a lot of hot sex, but each sex scene between the two main characters (Christine and Erik, and Mercédès and Dantés) is actually germane, and incidental to the plot. No gratuitous sex scenes in my books (well, there are maybe two in Unmasqued).

The love story is played out in those scenes; how they interact with each other and how their feelings change is portrayed through those scenes. They aren't merely there to take up space.

And in Master: An Erotic Novel of the Count of Monte Cristo, there are actually three love stories intertwined, two of them foils for the main plot with Mercédès and Dantés. I really love this book.

Colleen: The Count of Monte Cristo was a great book. I didn't have any quibbles with it–except the ending, where Dantés went off with Haydée of all people.

Colette: It is a great book, and I fixed that little part about Dantés' mid-life crisis.

Colleen: Okay. Well, then, is there anything else you want people to know?

Colette: Colette is spelled with one L. Like the erotic novelist.

Colleen: Ah, yes. I understand that problem. I get Coleen all the time myself.

Colette: And…the book's in stores now. It's an absolutely gorgeous cover if I do say so myself.

Colleen: Thanks Colette, with one L. Glad to have you grace the pages of For All the World to See. Oh, by the way…what classic are you tackling next?

Colette: So glad you asked! It's going to be Robin Hood–or, to be precise, An Erotic Novel of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Colleen: Hmmm….Does the Sheriff look like Richard Armitage?

Colette: Yep. And he's quite the tortured hero…madly in love with Maid Marian.

Colleen: And Robin? Is he gay?

Colette: Nope. At least, I don't think so. But I haven't written the book yet, so who knows!

Colleen: Thanks again, Colette. She promises she'll stop by and answer any questions…and she's even offered to give away a copy of one of her books–winner's choice–to a commenter today.