Dayle A. Dermatis Spotlight

Dayle A. Dermatis has so many aliases, you'd think she was a spy! She isn't. She's a highly versatile writer of science fiction, romance, and erotic novels. Her writing credits go on so long that on her webpage, you have to expand and collapse them. (Someday, I'll have that problem! LOL)

Tell me about your writing routine.

I wish I had one! It's a goal of mine... I've always written better at night, I think in part because I don't have to think about what other appointments I might have to interrupt me. I've just never settled into one routine. I do have a "sexy songs" playlist that I listen to, especially when writing erotica. Once I'm in the groove, though, it doesn't matter where I am or what's going on around me.

Do you have a weakness for certain themes, storylines, settings, or such in your reading and/or writing? What are they?

I grew up reading fantasy, so I love paranormals. I've lived in Wales and have set stories and books there, plus I enjoy reading books set there. (Scotland's gorgeous, but it's a wee bit overdone for me.) I love gamma/bad boy heroes. I love smoking hot sex scenes that forward the emotional arc of the characters.

What has been the most difficult part of writing for you?

Procrastination. I do it too much, and it makes me question my resolve. But then I remember that I started my first novel when I was 12, and got my first rejection slip on my 16th birthday (from Seventeen magazine), and I know that while I might mess around on a given day, I've never given up on my dream. Oh, and I hate revision.

Who in your life has supported you the most in your writing?

Oh, goodness, so many people! I've been so lucky in that regard. My parents, even though they never truly understood and tried to make me be a lawyer instead. My husband, definitely: we'd barely gotten together when he said his goal was to make enough money so I could quit and write full-time. My friends Sarah and Teresa (not only longtime friends, by my co-authors on the first two books I sold).

What is the most unusual place/situation in which your characters have had sex?

In a hot tub filled with seawater (the hero was a merman) ("Stranger to My Shore," short story, unsold); in a stone circle on Anglesey, Wales ("Catalyst," short story; at a rock concert (she's in the audience, he's on stage with the remote control...) (A Little Night Music, sold to Cheek Books, June 2007); in the back of a Brinks truck ("The Brinks Job," Sex on the Move anthology, 2006)...

What does your name mean? Does it fit you?

I originally thought "Mouette" meant a small kiss, but it actually is a seagull! Our tagline is "It's pronounced 'Mmm, wet!'" so I suppose it fits me well enough!

What makes you laugh?

Eddie Izzard.

What are you reading right now?

Sharon Shinn's Mystic and Rider.

Gabe Sullivan is the hero of Cat Scratch Fever. Tell me why the reader will fall in love with him.

He's a reformed bad boy with a weakness for big cats and and a drive to do charity and preservation work. Plus he's sexy as hell. (In my mind, he looks a lot like Sawyer from Lost, and I kept having to stop myself from having him call the heroine "darlin'" in a Southern accent, because he's from New York!)
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I think Gabe Sullivan sounds pretty darned hot, almost as hot as that book cover! Gotta love big cats. Cheetahs have long been my favorite animal.

I hope everyone's enjoyed getting to know Sophie "Seagull!" Look for A Little Night Music (under the name Sarah Dale) coming out June 2007 from Cheek books, and visit her beautiful website and blog.