Interview with author Cameron D. James

I'm excited that my first blog post gets to be an interview with a wickedly talented fellow M/M author as part of National M/M Month. Cameron D. James is a writer of both M/M erotic romance and M/M erotica.  After getting started with M/M erotic romance novels, with both Autumn Fire and Silent Hearts released through Champagne Books, he branched into self-publishing M/M erotica short stories, with his free debut short story, Go Deep, downloaded over 9,000 times.  Cameron loves to write about hot sex, but is naturally drawn to the deeper emotion of love, so even his erotica short stories tend to have a romance element to them.  You can find out more about Cameron and his book by visiting his website at www.camerondjames.com.

via Amazon.com

What was it like to have your first book, Autumn Fire, released?

That was... odd.  A lot of people knew I was writing in the M/M genre, so when the official release date rolled around and my ebook was up for sale, there was a sense of joy and accomplishment.  A few days after release, though, I was at a writing convention and was booked to do a live reading – this is where the dread set in.  I soon learned that at this convention, I became known as the smut writer.  (There were other erotica / erotic romance writers there, but I think because I had a sexy postcard floating around on the swag tables, my name began to precede me.)  When the reading came around, I was in a small hotel room with two other authors who were reading, and about twenty women and men, crammed together, hanging on our every word.

Autumn Fire opens with an anonymous bathroom blowjob.  It was... awkward... reading that scene aloud for the first time ever.  I got over it pretty quick when attendees came up to me afterward with positive feedback, and a couple people asked me to sign the smutty postcards.

Which of your works was the most fun to write?

Gaymer – definitely Gaymer.  I was attending a local comic con and wrote a short story in honor of all the gay nerds out there.  It was my first time writing through first person and I just went with it and had a blast writing the whole thing.  The story centers around two college twinks playing some retro video games (specifically Super Mario Brothers 3 on the original Nintendo, but I was careful to avoid naming it) and the dirty things they get up to.

Perhaps because it focuses on a simple but fun game, the story line is fairly simple but fun.  From what I’ve heard, readers have loved this one, especially with the twist at the end, but the downloads of this one lag quite a bit... perhaps because the cover model is fully clothed...  I might need to find a naked gaymer for an updated cover.  :)

Which was the most difficult to write?

I just released Going All The Way, the third volume in the Men In The Hot Room short story series, about the lust between an older yoga teacher and twink yoga student.  I’ve found each of these stories (Go Deep, Go Deeper, and now Going All The Way) progressively harder to write.  I think it’s because I’ve centered it around hot yoga... so I need to always get some yoga in there, some way or another, without it feeling forced.  The first several drafts of Going All The Way didn’t even have yoga, rather just some discussion about yoga, but my editor helped me figure out how to put some yoga in there in a way that is both natural and oh-so-sexy.  Once I got that in there, the process got a little bit easier.