Welcome back to The Forbidden Bookshelf, Delphine! OK, so the header on your website says that your books are “for readers who enjoy ‘that sort of thing’.” What is your “thing?”

My personal thing? D/s, spanking and rope bondage! I’m a nerdy submissive type myself, so Camilla, the heroine of THE THEORY OF ATTRACTION, is a girl after my own heart. My writing thing? Kinky erotic romance, for the most part—not too dark, lots of snappy banter, and as realistic as I can make it. BDSM in the real world, between actual people you might meet on the street! I also write non-kinky contemporary erotic romance, as well as steampunk romance.

Your latest erotic romance, THE THEORY OF ATTRACTION, was released on July 9th from Carina Press. Doing it “Twitter-style,” tell us about the book in 140 characters or less.

[(Regimented rocket scientist) / (eager curious script monkey)] (communication issues + scorching MaleDom BDSM sexytimes) = X. Solve for X!

Bazinga! (You know where I’m going with this, right? *g*) Was a certain theoretical physicist on The Big Bang Theory your inspiration for Ivan’s character? If not, who or what was?

Yes…and no. I adore BBT and Sheldon in particular, not gonna lie. So sure, there’s a special place in my heart for weirdly compelling string theorists, and it’s hard to write a rocket scientist who’s clearly tap dancing along the autism spectrum without thinking of Dr. Cooper. But…I know plenty of geeks and nerds in real life, being one myself, so I was really drawing more on personal experience and the personalities of actual family and friends. Make of that what you will (mostly it just means I’m a kinkster who comes from a SUPER nerdy family).

But Ivan’s character didn’t start out with any particular inspiration. My main thought, when starting this book, was about what sort of Dom I hadn’t seen before in a BDSM erotic romance…and wanted to see. Ivan was born from that germ of a thought. I didn’t really make the Sheldon connection until I’d already sort of mapped out the book and started writing. Then I saw the similarity and had to laugh, because I was just to the point in the narrative at which it becomes clear to the reader that Ivan is definitely NOT Sheldon!

However I must give a special shout-out to Houston’s own Rice University, which was very much the inspiration for the setting of THE THEORY OF ATTRACTION. Rice is Geek Central, in the best way.

Did you do any “special” research for the hot & kinky sex scenes in your book? *wink*

Nothing special, just my usual stuff! Write what you know, amirite? Actually most of the research I did for the book involved the rocket Ivan was working on, which is a tiny unmanned craft equipped with a “laser broom” that’s used for zapping space debris to divert it from satellites and space stations. Laser brooms! That is a real thing! I wish household brooms had lasers.

Let’s talk a moment about the huge buzz surrounding the Fifty Shades Trilogy. As an author of BDSM fiction, what are your thoughts? Do you see it generating a lasting interest in the genre, or is it simply a passing phenomenon?

I can’t pass judgment on Fifty Shades itself, as I haven’t read it. The buzz, however, is great! I see it generating interest in the genre right now, for sure. As to whether it’ll last or not, that’s anybody’s guess, but I just hope it helps bring more readers to the erotica and erotic romance genres, and to romance books in general. And I hope it continues to generate dialog in the mainstream culture at large about women’s sexuality and the psychology of BDSM.

Do you have any interesting writing quirks?

Nope. I’m a hopelessly pedestrian writer. I sit, I type, I drink way too much tea, I procrastinate on Twitter, I type some more. No special writing hat or music or anything. I really ought to buy a writing hat.

What has surprised you most since becoming a published author?

The remarkable openness, generosity and camaraderie of the romance writing community. It’s a great group of folks, and I’m constantly amazed at all the wonderful writers I’ve met who are also flat-out wonderful people.

What is something that most people don’t know about you?

I’m pretty incapable of keeping a secret. Which means there really isn’t too much people don’t know about me! Now they even know I don’t have a writing hat.

What can readers expect next from you?

I have a novella called Intermezzo coming out later this year (date TBA) as part of the Something Wicked This Way Comes (Vol. IV) anthology from Ellora’s Cave. That one is pretty vanilla, but then my next novella after that, Toy Box, is a tasty D/s smut cookie.

And then…steampunk! I can’t divulge the sale details yet (although it has just been sold! Hooray!), but in 2013 you can expect the first installment of my steampunk romance series, Dominions of Steam. Book One is called Gossamer Wing, and although it isn’t kinky, it’s still plenty hot and steamy!

Delphine, thank you so much for dropping by!

Thanks for having me!

Website: http://www.delphinedryden.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/deldryden
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2975763.Delphine_Dryden

{Check out Diana’s review of THE THEORY OF ATTRACTION by clicking HERE!}