Featured Interview With Alexi Lawless
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Gertrude Stein famously said, “America is my country, and Paris is my home town.” Well, the way I see it, the world is my country, but Miami Beach is my home town.
I’m what you’d consider a global wanderer. I hold multiple passports and I’m on the road in some form or another at least six months out of the year. But when I’m not boarding planes, trains and automobiles, I’m kicking back on the lush, airy, Art Deco building-lined streets of Miami Beach. You see, I’m a nomad. I suspect I was born that way, but I think I’ve got the soul of a Latina, and Miami, of all the cities, countries and vistas I’ve seen, has always felt comfortable to me. Maybe it’s the musicality of the place, the tropical climate, or just the easy, breezy feel of it all, but I breathe a sigh of relief each time I return.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
For as long as I can recall. I had a Commodore 64 I used to bang away on. I upgraded to a massive word processor in middle school that took up a ton of space in my room and had what had to be the slowest dot matrix printer in the the world. My mother used to have to kick me out of the house to make me play with other kids. So I’d just sit on the porch and annoy the hell out of her telling her about all the stories I was writing.
But I got really serious about it in high school and most of college– even chose the school I went to with their phenomenal English program in mind, but alas, my capitalistic side took over mid-way, and I decided to go pre-Law and business so I could fund my expensive appetites and proclivity for shoes.
I never really stopped writing though. It’s always been a major expressive outlet, but the deeper I got into business and the higher I rose up the ladder, I felt more and more like a closeted creative.
I realize now the writing professionally was always going to happen. Whether at 65 or now, it was never really a question. One my favorite quotes is from Maya Angelou (God rest her lovely, lovely soul):
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
I’m not big on agony, so I figured it was time to get a move on the untold stories.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My first love is poetry. Discovering Sandra Cisneros’s My Wicked, Wicked Ways and Loose Woman changed my life. I saw in an instant how vivid and gorgeous writing could be in a really spare, lyrical way. I also have an on-going love affair with Frank O’Hara. Meditations in an Emergency is a staple I think everyone should read.
I’m a die-hard Anne Rice fan. She had me at “Lestat.” I think my mother was incredibly worried that my dream man was an 18th century vampire with a penchant for leather pants, hot blood and the debauched streets of the French Quarter. When I read “Exit to Eden” at fourteen, I was pretty certain being a Domme was my intended job description, and may actually explain a great deal of my career path in strategy and management consulting (those hard-ass executives seem to jones the most for chronic abuse after all).
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Complicated Creatures Part Two is the continuation of an action-packed thriller series that forces you to ask the question, “Isn’t it terrible when love is not enough?”
In the action-packed sequel to Complicated Creatures: Part One…
Jack Roman was perfectly happy living the life of a high-powered and charismatic philistine. He had time, money, women and a penchant for the fast life. Until he met his match in Samantha Wyatt and his obsession with her would take him to hell and back…
Wes Elliott’s been dreaming of the muse he let go of as a young man—the woman he never forgot throughout his travels and the successes he’d left her to find. He always thought he’d see Sammy again—he just never expected her to be fighting for her life when he did…
Samantha Wyatt is being challenged by her past, tested by her decisions, and hunted by her nemesis. As her dangerous present and enigmatic past collides, Samantha conducts the riskiest operation of her life, and the men who love her will be forced to decide: Do they trust her enough to let her protect them? And do they love her enough to let her go?
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