Between the Lines

Ashley Lister talks with Kathleen Bradean

Kathleen Bradean is the respected author of countless erotic short stories, many of which can be found in anthologies with the word ‘best’ in the title, such as Best Women's Erotica, Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Best of Best Women's Erotica 2 etc.  Under the pen name of Jay Lygon, Kathleen writes paranormal m/m fiction, including the Chaos Magic series.  She took time from her busy schedule to talk to us this month about her writing.

Ashley Lister: You write under your own name and the pseudonym Jay Lygon.  Do you find that using a pseudonym allows you to experiment with writing in a way that you couldn’t whilst using your real name?

Kathleen Bradean: There are several reasons why I ended up with two names, none of which are terribly interesting.  Sorry. If I had to do it over again, I’d pick something gender-neutral and do it all under one name. There’s no difference in my writing style or the types of stories I write under either name, except that Jay is strictly boy smut, and Kathleen is everything else.  

Ashley Lister: A lot of your fiction is categorised as either science fiction or paranormal.  Are you comfortable with these genre labels?  Do you find that the fantasy element of these two genres lends itself to the fantastical qualities of erotica?

Kathleen Bradean: If you have my dirty mind, everything lends itself to erotica. Science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism are my favourite genres to read, so that influences my writing. Genre labels help readers find the stories they like to read, so if they steer people into my clutches, er, toward my books, then sure, label me!
 
Ashley Lister: One of my favourite Kathleen Bradean short stories (being honest, one of my favourite erotic short stories of all time) is ‘Chill’.  For those readers unfamiliar with Chill, the story reveals a central character with a remarkable and seldom considered fetish.  The woman at the centre of ‘Chill’ subjects herself to body-numbing temperatures that work as a metaphor for her coldness in relationships.  The strength of this story doesn’t just lie in its excellent characterisation or vivid description: it’s the gestalt combination of the whole being so much greater than its component parts.  Where did you get the idea for ‘Chill’?  How long did it take to write?  And, whilst you were creating the story, were you worried that it was too different from contemporary erotica to find a market?

Kathleen Bradean: Oh gosh. Flattery. *Basks in the warmth of your words*
Even Stephen King can’t tell you where stories come from. My weird imagination is the blame, or to take the credit.

Most of my short stories spring from calls for submissions. The special ones like Chill come to me on their own. I didn’t think about a market when I wrote it, and truthfully, didn’t care if it sold. All that mattered was that incredible feeling of inspiration without self-censorship. I was proud of the result, but realized something that dark would freak out most editors. A different story that I’ve never been able to sell was turned down by an erotic horror magazine as being “too disturbing,” so I didn’t have high hopes when I submitted Chill to Best Women’s Erotica, but Violet Blue wanted it. I’m still amazed by the reaction it gets.

Ashley Lister: Under the pseudonym Jay Lygon your write predominantly m/m erotic fiction.  Are there any difficulties you’ve encountered in being a female author writing m/m content?

Kathleen Bradean: No one likes to feel as if they’re just another person’s fetish. We’re exploring the most intimate part of people’s lives, something they might not even be able to share with a lover, and readers feel as if the writer is going to a very private place with them. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this is a touchy subject. I sympathize with both sides of this debate. But when a livid gay writer demanded to know how I dared write gay sex, I told him, “I didn’t ask for your permission.” That’s what it comes down to. I’m an equal opportunity eroticist. No sexual identity, no ethnicity, no physical trait, no religion, no kink, and no gender on the continuum is taboo. Treating anyone as if they’re untouchable is an insult to their humanity and sexuality.

I’ve sold stories to gay editors who knew I was female. I’ve sold stories with lesbian characters to lesbian editors who knew I didn’t self-identify as a lesbian. If they told me that I didn’t get the characters right and rejected the story, I’d take their opinion seriously. People who haven’t read my work? Not so much. 

Ashley Lister: What projects are you currently working on?  Where can readers go to find out more about your writing?

Kathleen Bradean: Torquere will release my vampire novella Bonded in April, and they just released my short story The Quality of Mercy. Last October, Red By Any Other Name was in the anthology The Sweetest Kiss (Cleis), and this coming October, Kells will be in Blood Sacraments (Bold Strokes). So I seem to be on a vampire kick. This from the person who once swore she’d never write a vampire story. But I also have stories coming out in D.L. King’s Spank! anthology sometime this year, and in Torquere’s Toy Box: Liquid Latex. Both are just good, dirty, contemporary kink. No vamps. I promise. I haven’t been writing many short stories lately. That will change as soon as finish my young adult novel. I’m ready to get back to my erotic roots.

I try to write one super short (140 characters) story on Twitter every night. Find me there as KathleenBradean. I’m on FaceBook as both Jay Lygon and Kathleen Bradean. I blog weekly for OhGetAGrip.Blogspot.Com, and on my blogs KathleenBradean.Blogspot.Com and JayLygon.Blogspot.Com. Or read my reviews of erotica on EroticaRevealed.Com and here on ERWA.

Ashley Lister
May-June 2010

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"Between the Lines" © 2010 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books; ISBN: 0753511355), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley's non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Websites: www.ashleylister.co.uk / ashleylister.blogspot.com

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