Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.
Today: Bestselling author Layla Wolfe likes to bring you alpha males–sometimes two at a time–and the kick-ass women who love them. Her BARE BONES MC series explores the dark, disturbing life of the biker club in Arizona. Her spinoff series THE BENT ZEALOTS MC is a gritty MM saga. THE ASSASSINS OF YOUTH tells the tale of bikers up against fanatics in Utah. She is currently at work on the next installment of THE BENT ZEALOTS MC. She also writes MMF and MM for Siren Publishing as Karen Mercury. Her books have been translated into Italian, French, and Spanish, writing as Clair Voyant.
To get a FREE COPY of THE BARE BONES MC #1, sign up for Layla’s newsletter at (cut & paste): subscribepage.com/d3s7p6
You can find her at:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/layla-wolfe
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8072579.Layla_Wolfe
Thanks so much, Layla, for joining me!
J. Scott Coatsworth: When did you know you wanted to write, and when did you discover that you were good at it?
Layla Wolfe: My mother used to read aloud to me, things like Little Bear, Winnie the Pooh, and scarily enough, Struppelpeter. That’s a frightening German “childrens’” book where a guy pops out of a closet with giant scissors to cut the fingers off any kid sucking their thumb. Anyway, I figured “I’d better learn to read and write if I wanna be a writer!” So I did. My first “book” around age 6 was about my neighbor and swimming in her pool.
JSC: What was your first published work? Tell me a little about it.
LW: In 2003 I found a publisher for The Hinterlands. They switched it from Romance to Hist-Fic because it was so heavy on historical detail. Took place in precolonial Africa following the events of a British invasion of a Nigerian kingdom, and of course the swashbuckling American who saved the girl.
JSC: Do you ever base your characters on real people? If so, what are the pitfalls you’ve run into doing so?
LW: All the time! In fact, I’d say 100% of the time. I have to “cast” my characters so I can picture them walking and talking, so I usually use actors or musicians. I print out their photo so I can look at it as I write. A friend of my husband’s recently wanted to be a playboy in my book, so Sean Wildstar was born. I didn’t tell him until I published it that poor Mr. Wildstar died in a bizarre macramé murder. He claimed to be skydiving while really in his macramé room.
JSC: What qualities do you and your characters share? How much are you like them, or how different are they from you?
LW: People ask me how I was inspired to write about motorcycle clubs. I had a pretty rough and tumble youth. There was a boys’ orphanage nearby, and they were all major thugs. At least, we thought we were thuggish at the time! I just met one of the boys at a reunion. He was the most mild-mannered salesman ever. No one remembered him with long hair and a black leather jacket.
JSC: Were you a voracious reader as a child?
LW: I read anything I could get my hands on! I’d read my mother’s entire bookshelf by the time I was 12. In particular I enjoyed Henry Miller due to the graphic sex scenes. I see now how that set me up for being pretty “gritty.” Soon I read a little bit before, and a little bit after, the sex scenes. “This writing is good. Why don’t I just read the whole damn book?” I still have those first edition Henry Millers.
JSC: What pets are currently on your keyboard, and what are their names? Pictures?
LW: I have two brown female Newfoundland dogs, adorable gentle giants. The new puppeh Arrow has had many medical issues, so I was constantly back and forth to UC Davis for a couple years. We are praying this has calmed down now, or we got a handle on it. In the HEA portion of my books, I almost always have the happy couple come up with a dog. So last book, A Sexy Thing, I gave the two men a cat! Yes, a cat! I think I’m getting too old for Newfoundlands. I am hoping the next one is a tiny Standard Bernedoodle. Girls only weigh about 65.
JSC: What other artistic pursuits (it any) do you indulge in apart from writing?
Recently I took up watercolor painting again, after not painting since 1981. I followed an instruction manual as a guide, something I never did in my teens. Right now I’m following a drawing manual using charcoals and watercolors. I drew a loaf of bread yesterday! Today I drew mushrooms.
JSC: What are some day jobs that you have held? If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.
LW: I was an office manager for the US Army Corps of Engineers, my best job ever. Mainly because we worked in the field, out at an old army airfield they were converting to private use. I love working with engineers, chemists, and people who do field work. We were housed in an old jet hangar, which inspired me to give my Bare Bones MC their main source of income—construction!—out on Mescal Mesa. That hangar is full of drama, you better believe.
JSC: We know what you like to write, but what do you like to read in your free time, and why?
LW: I developed a problem reading fiction several years ago. I couldn’t stop editing in my head! I finally gave up, and read nothing but research books for a couple years. Then I discovered I don’t have the same editing problem with nonfiction. I love science, memoirs, true crime, history, humor, books on language, and of course the genre of “books about people with a worse childhood than me.” You know, where they grew up locked in a closet. I think it makes me feel better.
JSC: What are you working on now, and what’s coming out next? Tell us about it!
LW: I’m adding another book to my Bent Zealots MC, the MM series, A Handsome Devil. This all started when I got very angry at doctors for not giving any painkillers stronger than Advil. I wondered about all the chronic pain patients forced to either gobble that baby stuff, or go onto a street corner begging for fentanyl. I realized the Bad Guys couldn’t be doctors—the people basically accusing us of being either a) drug addicts or b) drug vendors. So one hero runs an addiction clinic, and the other hero is a downtrodden addict. I’m thinking of Bonnie and Clyde going on a rampage. The Bad Guy runs a retirement home where he’s taking them for all they’ve got, sending them to his fentanyl friends for relief. Now there’s a guy you want to see die!
And now for Layla Wolfe new book: A Good Prospect:
Box Set 1 contains the first three titles in Going for the Gold: MMF BDSM Westerns:
#1 Working The Lode: Going to California. It’s three thousand miles nearer to hell. Mountain man Cormack Bowmaker meets up with Zelnora Sparks on the eve of California’s great rush-the discovery of gold. Zelnora is fleeing from her mentor, the mighty businessman Brannagh. They are being shadowed by the most scandalous Spanish bandit in the frontier. Joaquin Valenzuela wants to rob them of their gold, but soon discovers a desire for much more. Californians call for the pickled head of Valenzuela in a jar, but his passion for the two Americans overpowers his zeal for mayhem. They band together in their quest for riches, love, and the good life. Bowmaker is a sharpshooter, his aim true. Valenzuela will slit the throat of anyone who wanders by. Zelnora knows where to find the gold. And Brannagh will do everything it takes to stop them. They are about to discover the frontier—within themselves.
#2 Either Ore: They would form no brotherhood of virtue until driven to it by a brotherhood of vice. Lola Moreno has found a home at last, saved from destitution by businessman Gage Lassen. Gage is a withdrawn bachelor, and the most intimate subject he’s discussed with Lola is his preference in tea. Adventurer Harrison Bancroft arrives fresh from years on the Plains, living with Indians. Gage can only admit affection for another man, and things heat up when Harrison paints his portrait. Harrison and Lola can find no way to allow Gage to participate in their love, until Harrison unlocks the pain from Gage’s past, allowing him to emerge from his prison of cold restraint. Corrupt enforcer Fowler threatens the trio with seeming knowledge of their private vices, harassing Harrison with his unwanted attentions, and a night of riots forces them to make a stand.
#3: A Good Prospect. The story of one mining camp is the story of mankind. Salvador Palomares, Don of a vast California rancho, saves the life of Ophir, a former slave pierced by an Indian arrow. Sal has wasted years in drunken cattle driving and horse racing, and is surprised when Ophir tells him gold has been discovered, his land invaded by a gang of ruffians determined to banish all Spanish “foreigners.” Sal and Ophir rescue Tamasin, a downtrodden Irish refugee raised in a convent. Their passion for Tamasin creates rivalry between the two partners. Tamasin loves them equally, so the decision to form a ménage cements their bond. But their empire is threatened by The League, lawless thieves closing in to starve them out of their own mines. The trio’s goal is to live in peace. And they fight to the bitter end to reclaim it. Their love is… A GOOD PROSPECT
Amazon
Excerpt
A piercing crack resounded nearby then, and Rushy’s eyes popped open to see a naked and dripping Calliope, who had apparently slapped Field’s rump. She had fallen down to the sand next to them and regarded them happily. “Son of a bitch!” she said in awe. “You two fuckers just can’t stay away from each other can you? Can’t say as I blame you. You are two handsome libertines. Wait, Field!” Another crack. That saucy bitch! Field stilled, shuddering and gasping, holding himself above Rushy. “You hold your godamn giant horses now, Field.” Crack. “Is this your aim, to tease me into frigging myself silly every night while you men have all the fun?”
“Shove your fingers up his ass,” Rushy suggested hoarsely. “Lick his big, meaty balls.”
Calliope chirped, “I’ll do no such thing. Doesn’t a girl get any satisfaction around here? I’ll show you men how it’s done.” And the brazen trollop straddled Rushy, placing both knees on either side of his shoulders, planting her cunt squarely down on his face!
Rushy had never had his face in a woman’s muff before. While experienced with the general anatomy of a woman, one simply didn’t bury one’s face in a hooker’s dripping mound. Who would pay for that smelly sensation? However, Calliope was clearly clean and primped, and Rushy found himself fascinated with the extension of her clitoris. Rushy took a few experimental breaths and flicked out the tip of his tongue like a lizard.
“Oh!” she gasped. “Son of a bitch!”
She must have been silenced then by a kiss from Field above—Rushy couldn’t see, his nose being buried in her asshole while he lapped the length of her clitoris. He licked her the only way he knew, as though lapping at the most under-endowed male on the face of the continent. Steady, his tongue stiff like a finger, he lapped while Calliope mewled and bucked her hips against his face. He was gratified by a splash of honeyed pussy juices running over his chin.
“Oh, land’s sake, Field!” Calliope cried. “That’s good, isn’t it? Buried inside his tight asshole? Ride him, you big stallion. Fuck your big, muscular friend. Shoot your load inside that tight, sweet ass.”