Meet the amazing Eden Bradley! I've had the pleasure of knowing her for years now and I'm so lucky I got to meet her and hang out with her in person. She's so wonderful.
She has written erotic romance for Berkley, Bantam, Harlequin Spice, Samhain Publishing, Black Lace, Red Hot Romance, GTB Publishing, as well as indie publishing. Her work has been called "elegant, intelligent and sensual". Her novel THE DARK GARDEN was praised as "a masterpiece".
Can you tell us a bit about you and how you got into writing?
I grew up in a family of big readers, and I learned to read when I was 3 1/2 because there were never enough adults around to read to me. And then there weren't enough books to read, so I figured I'd write my own. I started scribbling stories from the time I was very young, and even volunteered for summer school between 3rd and 4th grades so I could take a creative writing class. I feel like I've always written-I still have piles of spiral-bound notebooks full of short stories from years ago. But it wasn't until I was 40 that I realized-maybe-that I could get published.
I've always been a big sci-fi fan, and read a lot of fantasy, too, but a huge influence was my grandmother's bookshelf. I spent almost every Friday night of my childhood with her, and I was allowed to read anything on her shelf. I think I read her Harold Robbins books when I was 9 or 10 (wildly inappropriate for a kid that age!), but I also read a bunch of her romance novels, and loved them.
When I got online and looked for ways to connect with other aspiring writers, I found the romance writers. I'd been reading erotica since I was 17 or 18, and writing it almost as long, but there wasn't much available in terms of erotica publishing, so I decided to fuse my two favorite genres together. I ended up in a group of aspiring authors who wanted to write for Silhouette Desire (the spiciest romance line at the time), and the their published authors would pop in to mentor us-authors like Nalini Singh, Emily Rose, and Bronwyn Jameson. Not long after, I joined RWA, and my critique partner and I went to our first conference together. I came away with my mind blown and completely overwhelmed-and inspired! Four years and a few ebooks with small publishers later (all erotic romance), I had an agent and my first contract with Bantam, then Berkley, then Harlequin Spice. I'm now mostly indie, but 20 years later, I'm still writing!
Did you always know you wanted to be an author?
I knew from the time I was five years old that I wanted to write books. Of course, I had no idea what was involved back then, but it's sort of always been a dream of mine. I feel so lucky that I get to do this!
If you could have dinner with any character from your book, who would you choose?
I would love to have dinner with Christopher from my Training House series. He's actually based on a real person I knew years ago, and I'd love to know where he ended up. He's so fascinating-and a little scary, but in a good, shivery way. He's been a slave and a Master, and even while I was writing him for the first time, I had no idea where he'd end up. And he's such an interesting character; he tends to pop up in most of my Training House books-plus I wrote a deliciously filthy little holiday story with Christopher as the star of the show (which he tends to do everywhere he goes).
You can find the first three books in my Training House series in a box set here.
Or, if you aren't sure if this very hard-core BDSM series is for you, Book 1, Girl, is a perma-freebie, so it's a great way to get a taste.
Do you have any specific writing rituals?
I'm so picky about my writing environment! I have to be at home, on my desktop, with plenty of light, and exactly the right song to set the mood for whatever book or scene I'm working on. Once I get the song right I'll play it over and over on an endless loop. I know its' weird, but it's what gets my head into the right space!
Can you give us a hint about any current or future projects you’re excited about?
Currently I'm working on a novella for a dark romance anthology, out in September. The story is called Prey, and it's a Training House story, so it's set in that world-but this one has a little twist. After that I plan to do more Training House books. I need to finish Driver and Slave, then next up will be Mistress. I'll also be participating in another Dirty Daddies anthology, but I don't have details on that yet. Follow me on Facebook or join my newsletter list to get the latest info!
Go follow her and say hi! Tell her the Lovestruck Reader sent you! 😉
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