I am pleased to be interviewing author, Manuela Cardiga, as part of her blog tour promoting Guilty Pleasures, her latest erotic/romance book.
I don't really, they write themselves. The story tells itself to me. I listen, I write it down. I'm just as astonished at how things turn out as anyone else. The characters just show up, push me around, tell their story and then leave...
Let me tell you how this one started: one night we had a Girl’s Only dinner at a friend’s place. We had something Mexican and lots of wine. Lots. Lovely red wine, which led to confession time; so these wonderful, bright, successful, stunningly beautiful women started talking about their sex lives. And they weren’t getting any “Satisfaction” as Mick might say. So I got home and suddenly Lance showed up and says: “Hello! I’m Lance Packhard, Pubic Detective Extraordinaire! Looking for a lost Orgasm? Call me! Satisfaction guaranteed!” THEN Serge pushed him aside. “This arsehole doesn’t know WHAT he’s talking about! You wanna know about sensuality, desire and passion for life? You talk to ME! I was -and still am - the absolute BEST in the business! Lemme tell you a story…” And that is how it happened.
2. How long have you been writing and what do you love about it?
I've been hearing and telling stories for as long as I can remember!
I just love stories. Who doesn't? In fact, let me tell you a secret: I'm not a writer. I'm a storyteller, I tell stories. Or rather stories tell themselves through me; and that is the loveliest feeling, a story popping right out of your mouth and you don’t know WHERE it's coming from, or where it is going, so you follow it about, like a kitten chasing a ball of twine.
3. What hobbies/interests do you have?
Music, history, art, people, books, more books, books again...Did I mention books?
4. Something people would be surprised to know about me is…
I can't drive, BUT! I can change a car battery, and do all sorts of handy things with hammers and screwdrivers and all those little thingymaggigs in tool boxes.
5. If you could invite 4 people (real or fictional, living or dead) to a dinner party, who would you invite and what would you serve?
Oh dear...Only four? Can't I have more than four? Okay. I would invite Oliver Twist, and Pollyanna, and Pippi Longsocks, and Tom Sawyer and serve...porridge. The old fashioned stuff with cream and wild honey, and a side-dish of blackberries; hot just-baked bread with real salty butter and home made chunky peach preserves.
6. I can’t live without… I'm taking the frivolous line on this so...Chocolate, sangria, BOOKS!
7. Tell us a little about this current book - what was your favorite part about writing it?
Briefly: a red-hot narcissistic compulsively healthy-living control freak - Lance Packhard - who happens to be a bankrupt sex-therapist (writing a book called “Sensual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate”) gets hired to impregnate a woman who just loves food. Millie Deafly. She’s not interested in men, let alone someone like HIM. So in order to get close to her, he gets himself hired as an assistant to the Chef at Guilty Pleasures - a dinner club belonging to our heroine - and her partner, Serge. Serge used to be a prostitute in Istanbul, a fluffer in skin-flicks in Vegas and is now a Master Chef in London. He’s also a homosexual black dwarf with major personality/sensitivity issues. Every night a new set of crazy guests come to the Guilty Pleasures to pig out, and poor Lance (as his alter-ego, a geeky but sexy Will) finds himself sucked in into a riotous world of eccentricity and sensuality quite unlike anything he’s ever experienced. He suddenly finds himself falling madly in love with his “subject”… and about to be outed as an imposter! If you want to know how it ends, read the book!
OH! Sorry! That wasn't brief! My favourite part? The whole thing! I had an obscene amount of fun writing it! I loved living with Serge inside my head. He is such a delight!
8. What's next for your writing?
Well...I'm currently working on a new novel called MANscapes, and also putting together Serge's Cook Book: "Cockporn - Low-calorie Post-coital Snacks for the Sexually Addicted"...
9. How can your fans stay up to date with what you are doing?
Who ever is brave enough to face it...
I have Blog. http://manuelasinkspotblog.blogspot.com; Guilty Pleasures and Culinary Treasures. So please, feel free to pop in anytime for some good recipes, short stories and really lousy poetry. Don't say I didn't warn you!
More about Guilty Pleasures
The Food and Fornication Fables
Book Summary
Gorgeous, narcissistic Lance Packhard—a sex therapist specializing in helping anorgasmic women—is writing a revolutionary book entitled Sexual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate.
When a ruthless mother offers him an enormous sum to impregnate her daughter, Millicent Deafly, a debt-ridden Lance hesitantly agrees.
Millicent, however, isn’t into sex. She’s carefree, joyfully voluptuous, and dedicated to her palate. Lance will only get her attention if he dabs soy sauce on his pulse points.
To get close to her, a determined Lance takes a job at Millicent’s dinner club, Guilty Pleasures, as an assistant to her irascible and eccentric chef, Serge Moreno.
But for Lance, nothing goes according to plan. He’s not only failing to seduce Millie, he’s falling madly in love with her.
Lance’s life becomes next to impossible when his best friend, George, gets married and wants to hold the reception at Guilty Pleasures. Will the truth be uncovered?
More about Manuela Cardiga
Manuela Cardiga was born in Mozambique and raised in South Africa where she studied fashion design. She moved to Europe where she worked as a fashion designer, then moved to the crazy world of advertising as a graphic designer and copywriter. Manuela is a designer by profession, a cook by vocation, and a writer by compulsion. She currently resides in Lisbon, Portugal where she writes contemporary and historical fiction, designs book covers, illustrates children’s books, and mothers a gorgeous daughter while juggling a day job. She also dabbles enthusiastically in exotic, experimental cuisine, much to the discomfort of family and friends.
Publication Date: 5th December 2013
Sales Information
Guilty Pleasures is available in paperback and ebook at Amazon, B&N.com, The Writers Coffee Shop Publishing House online: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/books/detail/108, and available in ebook format on iTunes and Kobo.
