MS: Which moves faster, your imagination or your fingers? Do you type out scenes and then they unfold in your head, or do you ponder the smut, and then, when your hands are free, type away at the keyboard?

VD: My tendency is to sketch out scenes, establish what's essentially a skeleton for a story, then go back and flesh things out on later passes. Adding the sensory details: the smells, the sounds, all those little triggers that I hope can evoke a scene for a reader. And not just the sex scenes because, actually, I do write other stuff besides sex scenes.

No, really, I do.

MS: What would you say is your... specialty with the sex scenes?

VD: Hmmm, well, I'm not sure if specialty is the right terminology, but I do kind like writing about blowjobs. Maybe because I actually like giving them. In the right circumstance, there's nothing quite as intimate or giving as sucking cock.

And there's some truth to the old wish fulfillment aspect of writing sex scenes. I've never had sex on horseback the way I wrote about in "Tropical Daze", (in fact, I've never had sex on horseback at all), but I'd be willing to try it.

Ultimately, it's not really the sex that matters, it's what the sex means that I get worked up about. I know, I know, a hopeless romantic. Someone just kill me now.

MS: How did you sell RC?

VD: Kinda by accident. I first met Steve Berman, the Lethe Press founder/big kahuna/boss-type, at Saints & Sinners in '07. We've been in a couple of anthologies together like Country Boys and Best Gay Romance. Met him again at Gaylaxyicon and pitched him another anthology idea and, uh, he didn't like it. "Well, I've got the Vincent stories", I said, and he said yes and that was that. He's a very kind, warm-hearted guy, and a deft editor.

MS: What would you like to whisper in every reader's ear?

VD: Well, the marketing part of me would say, "Love it? Buy a dozen for your friends for Christmas" but the honest part of me would say, "I hope you love it and that the stories touch you in some small way." Or that you touch yourself in some small way. Or a big way. Oh, never mind.

MS: What's next for you?

VD: Steve and I are hoping to work on an anthology together for Lethe. Possibly something to do with knight's quests and kings demands and stuff like that. On my own, I've got the Tanner novel to write (I really, really should do that-ahem), and I've applied for a residency and a grant plus I just took over two lines at Torquere Press to manage and edit. I do freelance proofreading and editing for various publishers so there's always something in my Inbox to work on.

Thanks, Michael, for the interview time; it was fun to answer the questions!

http://www.lethepressbooks.com

http://www.vincentdiamond.com

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