Elyzabeth M. VaLey, a writer of sizzling, sexy romance who firmly believes in happy ever after, enjoys exploring her characters’ darker side and writing stories about tortured heroes, strong heroines, and all that comes between them and their love.

What would you like readers to know about your series Lust, Love, and Darkness?

I think, the title of the series speaks for itself. There’s lust, there’s love and there is darkness. All in different degrees, they each entangle, bruise, and leave a mark.

Each story, Open, Spread and Kneel, can be read as a stand-alone, as they each delve into the story of three different women who were once involved with the same man.

In Kneel, the main character is a fetish photographer. Did you have an inspiration, some real photographers whose works you’d recommend to see?

One of my favorite Facebook pages is My dirty little rope bunny Shibari Kinbaku life. They post the most inspiring pictures from different photographers all over the world. On Instagram, I also follow rope artist @kinoko_shibari and a few models.

Some of the research I did on being a fetish photographer made me stumble on this interview with gay fetish photographer Matt Spike which was very interesting.

It looks like you have a free BDSM read, and it’s about shifters 🙂 Is writing paranormal BDSM considerably different from writing contemporary BDSM?

Yes! Entwined, was previously published as part of the anthology, Passion, Pleasure, Pain, in memory of author Doris O’Connor. It’s undergone a few changes and additions and now it’s free read on Evernight Publishing and other retailers, and it’s become the beginning of a paranormal series revolving around a BDSM club, Club Lobo.

As for writing paranormal BDSM and contemporary, I’d say there are and there aren´t differences. The actual kink is the same, however, the level of trust between characters can be exponentially different. A lot of the time in paranormal romances we work on the basis of predestined soulmates, so the level of trust required to perform BDSM comes more easily. In contemporary BDSM that same kind of relationship can take time to build and will depend on other factors.

What traits in Dom and subs interest you the most?

One of my favorite things about Doms and subs is the dichotomy of who they might appear in their day to day and who they really are behind closed doors or in their private lives. BDSM is a relationship that relies heavily on trust and communication, something with which vanilla relationships frequently struggle with, and I love being able to build that from scratch. I enjoy pulling back the layers of two different people and figuring out who they truly are, exposing that to which they fear the most, and putting them both in a vulnerable position. The delicate balance of power exchange between them is fascinating, for in a way one cannot coexist without the other.

What kinks do you like to write about and why? Are there any you’d like to feature in your books, but haven’t yet?

The more kinks the better! Now, more seriously, characters usually guide me to their preferences. With that being said, I must admit that different forms of impact play are my own personal favorite, so it makes a frequent appearance in most of my BDSM books.

There are so many kinks out there to try! Not really a kink, but a relationship dynamic I’d like to write about would be the Daddy- babygirl.