Hullllooooo, my dearest blog followers!

As you know, occasionally I invite authors to come and play on my blog. Sometimes it’s just a book blurb, or cover reveal, sometimes it’s an interview. Well, recently I asked fellow author Travis Luedke of the Nightlife Series to come for a visit. If some of you don’t know about the Nightlife Series, it features vampires (of the badass, non-sparkly variety), sex, violence, and sometimes smexy violence. And I say that with love. But, anyhoo, back to the point at hand, you know what this foolish man said to me?

“Ok… but make it lively.” – Travis Luedke

Oh, Travis.

Challenge.

Accepted.

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#Naughtycouch Ladies Interview Travis Luedke

(aka Travis gets what’s cumin to him)

[Parental discretion is advised, contains adult language and overt references to sex]

___________________________

Gen: This interview won’t take long, my darlings, as I’ve asked a few of my girlfriends from the infamous #naughtycouch to help me keep it “lively”. Most of you know my go-to-girl on the couch, Bad Penny @Penelope_Prose, but I’d like to introduce you to a few more of #Naughtyville’s residents; Caroline, Cat, Beth, and Deidre known on Twitter as @CarolineD_13, @dbl_latte, @missb1331, and @laDeeDa51, respectively. When I asked them for help they all jumped at the chance to ask Travis some questions. Penny, very helpfully, suggested we do so while enjoying the festivities of summer. Don’t know about you, but here in the Midwest that means fairs and carnivals! That’s right, make yourselves comfortable because Travis will be “manning” the dunk booth. He will have to answer the questions truthfully and in a timely manner or he gets dunked. And to make sure he doesn’t chicken out–not that he ever would–we’ve tied him up. Naked. Sweet P, you can remove his gag now.

*Bad Penny chuckles and removes the ball gag.*

Travis: I don’t remember anything in your email that said I’d be naked! Or gagged. Or tied up–

*Gen ignores him and turns to Beth.*

Gen: Fantastic job with the Shibari knots, Beth!

Beth (blushing): Thanks, Cupcake. I wanted to try that particular design since I pinned it on Pinterest.

Gen: This makes a nice change of pace for some of us ladies, tying someone else up. But I’m not sure for Travis. That’s a great first question, come to think of it! Is this the first time you’ve been tied up, Travis?

Travis: Well, yes this is my first, and that rope is giving me a wedgy something fierce. Wait, does being handcuffed count as being tied?

*Gen lobs a ball and Travis goes down.*

Gen: Oh! Oops. Itchy trigger finger. My bad. My husband complains about that all the time! He’s all, easy there, Dirty Harry.

Travis: I don’t care about how dirty and harry you like your men, get me out of this water. This shit’s cold.

*The ladies all snicker while Penny pulls Travis back on the harness.*

Bad Penny: Let me do him… I mean it, Cupcake.

Gen: Oh, sure, he’s all yours. Caroline can have sloppy seconds.

*The #naughtycouch ladies all giggle. Travis groans.*

Bad Penny: Here’s my questions… Of all the characters you’ve written about, Travis, which one is your favorite, least favorite, aaaannnd why? Oh, and if you pick my favorite as your least favorite; I’ve got balls with your name on them.

*Bad Penny pretends to line a ball up with the target of the dunk tank and giggles like a mad woman.*

Travis: I got some balls with your name on ‘em girlfriend. Wait! Don’t throw it! Okay, characters. Let me see. Michelle is probably one of my favorite characters, because she’s so complex, twisted, loving, and yet so vicious and wicked. Most readers never really understand Michelle until the end of the third novel, Nightlife Paris. It’s in Paris where we learn the dark, gritty trials she survived during WWII. Michelle’s life until now has been very tragic, lonely, but all that changes with Aaron. She changes. My least favorite character would be Delia, Aaron’s ex-girlfriend. She’s a manipulator, petty, selfish, and has no real redeeming qualities. She strung Aaron along, playing his insecurities for her own malicious pleasure. Although many readers are shocked to learn what happens to Delia at the end of Nightlife New York, I feel like she got precisely what she deserved.

Bad Penny (licking her lips and fondling the ball): You know, Travis, the next time you feel like dishing out punishments—hey!

*Gen drags Penny back to the couch*

Gen: Caroline, you’re next.

*Caroline gets up and finger waves at Travis.*

Caroline: Ok, so my question to Travis, a few of your books are set in different locations. If you could pick a place to live out of them where would it be?

Travis: I think, ideally, I would choose to be a perpetual traveller. Stay in one city for 3-4 months, then move on. Each city, each country, has its own unique flavor, culture, and appeal. I would miss America at times, but then I’d come home and very quickly remember all those reasons I left. And there are many travels yet to come in the Nightlife Series: London, Moscow, Hong Kong, and perhaps Panama City (a sequel to Blood Slave).

Caroline: Why did you choose paranormal romance? Do you enjoy reading this genre? Wait… Is that two questions?

Travis: Yes, that is two questions, and I’m getting cold here. I think I might need someone to come warm me up, some warm hands, maybe a warm tongue?

*The girls snicker*

Travis: No? Just gonna sit there and stare at my junk while I shiver? I thought this was the #naughtycouch?

*Travis shakes his head as he looks down at his not-so-impressive display. Caroline raises the ball to throw it*

Travis: Paranormal Romance! … I guess I have no interest in anything normal in the way of fiction. If it’s violent, creepy, macabre, paranormal, and erotic, that pretty much hits all the happy buttons for me. And romance is the glue that binds everything together. All the great stories of the world have at least a touch of romance. Even in Greek, Hindu, and Judeo Christian mythology, the dynamics of romantic entanglements were ever present. Adam broke the rules for Eve, and he’d probably do it all over again if you gave him the chance. Helen of Troy’s romantic mess launched a thousand ships to sail across the Aegean. Is there anything worth reading that doesn’t involve romance?

Gen: Mnnn… nope.

*The girls shake their heads in agreement. Cat pops up*

Cat: Ehem, I have a question.

*Caroline elbows Cat.*

Caroline: It was my turn!

Cat: You already asked two questions!

*Cat and Caroline start tickle fighting. Beth runs over to break them up and they start tickling her, too*

Deidre and Penny: Someone needs a spanking!

*Travis grins and Gen lobs another ball at the switch. The girls stop fighting to point and laugh at wet Travis*

Travis: Ah, come on! Couldn’t you put a heater in this thing? Dunk me in a hot-tub? At least get me a couple shots of tequila. This is cold!

Gen: Oh, sorry, you looked like you were getting a little hot there. Penny and Dee, stop laughing!

*Gen hooks her arm in Beth’s and Caroline’s and they sit down.*

Gen: Don’t worry, girls, no one’s getting spanked, not even Travis.

*Bad Penny starts pouting and snuggles with Caroline on the couch. Gen plays with Deidre’s hair while Deidre massages Beth’s shoulders. Travis starts drooling*

Gen: Cat, it’s your turn.

Cat: Hi, Travis! I have read the first two books in the Nightlife series and loved, loved, loved Michelle. She appeals to my secret, hidden, inner domme–oops, did I just admit that…out loud?!! Shhh, don’t tell anyone!

*Cat turns around and vamps. The girls all giggle and stick their tongues out*

Cat (turning back to Travis): Is her character/personality based on anyone in your life or did you create her purely from your imagination?

Travis: Michelle can be very cavalier and flippant. And she has little respect for unworldly Americans that have yet to realize they are not God’s gift to the planet. I would be lying if I said I’d never met or dated a foreign woman like that. Truthfully, the inspiration for Michelle’s character came from a series of novels by Stephen Clarke, ‘A Year in the Merde’, and ‘Merde Actually.’ It’s a story of a British man fumbling through corporate Paris and his misadventures with French women. As I read those novels, I literally heard Michelle’s voice going off in my mind, cussing up a storm in French. I saw her careless Gallic shrug, and her smile that could entice a man out of both wallet and pants at the same time.

*When Cat keeps staring at Travis, Gen lobs a ball at her rear*

Cat: Hey!!

Gen: Cat, do you have another question for him?

Cat: Umm, let me think.

*Caroline jumps up from the couch and whispers in her ear*

Cat: Oh, good one, who is your favorite superhero, and if you were a superhero who would you be?

Travis: Okay, I admit, I am a bit of a comic book nerd. I watch all the superhero movies, sometimes more than once. Favorites? Don’t really have one, because so many of them are simply too cool for words. But, if I had the choice of being one particular superhero, I would probably go for Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine. He’s such badass. And its damn near impossible to kill him. He’s one tough S.O.B.

Caroline: Oh, I like that answer!

Cat: Me too!

*Cat and Caroline raise their hands to throw their balls at the same time*

Travis: Hey! You said you liked the answer!

*Travis sighs in relief as the balls bounce off the edge. Gen drags the girls back to the couch*

Gen: Beth, you’re up next.

Beth: Well, I don’t mind going easy on you, Travis. What is one scene from a book that was inspired by real life events?

Travis: There are several scenes in all my books that have been inspired by real life events: the ones where the guy screws the girl so hard she can barely walk, and she loved every last second of it.

*Travis winks. Beth raises her hand*

Travis: Don’t you dare throw that ball! Okay, Okay! Vegas! In the gambling scene in Vegas, I have actually used the numerical odds betting system that Aaron used. And believe it or not, it does work around 90% of the time, but only on Roulette and Baccarat. The other 10% of the time you lose your shirt.

*Travis winks again. Beth smiles and fondles the ball.*

Beth: What is the most blatant lie you ever told?

Travis: Ahh, that’s an easy one, but not very flattering: “I love you.” Those three words are perhaps the most abused words in the English language. We often think we mean it when we say it … but do we really?

*Beth lobs the ball and Travis goes down.*

Beth: I think I should get another. That was so obviously not true.

Travis: I love you! Now get me out of this water!

*The ladies all nod their heads at Beth and smirk at Travis.*

Beth: You have to wear a t-shirt with one word on it for the rest of your life. Which word do you choose?

Travis: Merde. It’s an all-purpose word in French which happens to cross over to Spanish as well. And it would seem an appropriate description of so many aspects of this life. Translation: Shit.

Beth: Speaking of, my ropes will need to be removed before you—

*Gen grabs Beth*

Gen: And last, but never least, Dee, it’s your turn!

Deidre: Okay… Probably not the naughtiest or best of questions. But with him being tied up and already so wet and that water is obviously cold…

*Everyone on the couch giggles*

Deidre: Stop it, you guys! The poor man.

*Deidre grins evilly*

Deidre: Travis, do you have a favorite scene that you’ve written, for whatever reason, and why?

Travis: I think my favorite scene was chapter two in Blood Slave, it’s a FF sex scene. When the female vampire, Lia, wets her finger and dips it in her vial of cocaine, and then slides it up between Hope’s legs … I live very vicariously through writing those scenes.

*The ladies start chanting: Dunk, dunk, dunk!*

Deidre (shaking her head): Not just yet, we know how Gen likes delayed gratification.

Bad Penny: Ooohhh–

Caroline: Snap!

Beth and Cat: Hee!

Gen (smacking at them): Tuh!

Deidre: Travis, did you make any one character have more of your own personal attributes, good or bad, and which one?

Travis: Sadly, it’s probably some of my villains that are closer to me in real life. But Aaron does tend to be a cynical-yet-endearing sort of smartass, and that could accurately describe one of my own multiple personalities.

*Deidre lobs the ball for one last dunk.*

Travis: Merde!

*The girls all laugh. Gen and Beth pop up from the couch to start untying Travis. Cat and Caroline start whisper fighting about who gets to towel Travis off.*

Travis: Get this rope out of my crack, please and thank you. And ladies, got a naked guy here. Let’s do this #naughtycouch style.

Cat: Oh, we’ll show you #naughtycouch style, alright!

*Beth snickers*

Deidre: Let’s put him in the kilt!

Travis: Kilt—what?

Bad Penny: Wait! Let me show you some fun gear I picked up at Tribal Fire…

Travis: Gear?

Caroline: Dirty martinis, everyone?

*Beth opens a jar of olives*

Gen: Ok, my lovely blog followers! That’s it for today because the guy I got the booth from has to get it back to the Fair…

Bad Penny: I thought you said it fell off the back of a truck?

*Caroline snickers.*

Gen (clearing her throat): Anyhooo, thank you for joining us today as we interviewed Travis. Please check out his books and social media links below!

AUTHOR BIO AND LINKS

TW Luedke is a husband, father, and writer of Urban Fantasy Thriller, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult Fiction, and Sci-fi.  He is currently catching a 3rd degree sunburn in San Antonio, Texas, and loving every minute of it.

Social Media links:

Amazon     http://www.amazon.com/Travis-Luedke/e/B00911L5PS/

Blog     http://thenightlifeseries.blogspot.com/

Website     http://www.twluedke.com/

Twitter   https://twitter.com/TWLuedke or @TWLuedke

Facebook    http://www.facebook.com/TWLuedke

Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Luedke/231016383686967

Goodreads    http://www.goodreads.com/TWLuedke

Wattpad    http://www.wattpad.com/user/TWLuedke

Email    twluedke@gmail.com

Google+  https://plus.google.com/u/0/104267524680678805923/posts