Lusting after Thomas S. Roche

An author of crime, science fiction, dark fantasy, horror, and (most importantly to us) erotica, and an editor of the deliciously dark Noirotica series, Thomas Roche leaves us breathless.

We’ve pooled our collective brain power (16 erotic writers can create quite a few sparks!), and come up with a variety of queries for the talented Mr. Roche.

Lustbites: We know you were young when you began penning novels. How young? How did you get started? Can you remember the first piece that you published?
Thomas Roche: I first started writing novels when I was 12, and wrote my first erotic novel when I was 13. The first one I published was written when I was 17, but not sold until I was 19. The first piece I published was a non-erotic fantasy story called "Artifact" that appeared in a little fanzine called BEYOND; the first professional short story I sold was to MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY'S FANTASY MAGAZINE in 1989 -- called "The Beast with Blood-Red Eyes." I guess I've been around! [laughs]

LB: How many stories/novels have you written? Ball park figure?
TR: I believe the published number is around 400 stories, and something like 40 or so novels, though all of the novels have been under a pseudonym. I guess about half the short stories are pseudonymous; the rest are under my real name.

LB: How many pseudonyms have you used? (Or how many will you admit to?)
TR: Oh, boy... too many to count, I think. At least fifty. I probably wouldn't recognize them all if I met them on the street.

LB: Do you find it difficult to write from a female point of view? From a sub POV?
TR: Not at all -- the thing I like most about writing is to become someone else entirely, totally outside my experience.

LB: Do you have a favorite story or novel? One you were most proud of? One you received best recognition for?
TR: I think I'm most proud of "Up for a Nickel," which was in the first Noirotica, reprinted in Best American Erotica, and just got picked up for Best of the Best American Erotica. I guess that qualifies as the most recognition!

The stories I'm most interested in remember are the ones that cross over into the horror and crime-noir genres. Those are the ones that come closest to describing my internal experiences, so I guess those are my favorites: "Razorblade Valentines" from the Hot Blood series, "The Privilege of the Dead" from Poppy Z. Brite's Love in Vein 2, "Dirty Pool" and "Bank Job" from the Jeff Gelb / Max Allan Collins Flesh & Blood series.

LB: Where do you get your ideas? Are you an eavesdropper? Do they come naturally? Do you ever get stuck?
TR: I spend more time stuck than not stuck, I'm afraid. I think the difference is that, at least for most of my adult life, I spent virtually all my time trying to write, and I'm gifted in that I can turn it out quickly when it finally comes. It's one of the most unpleasant experiences around, though, being creatively stuck, and it happens much more than I would like.

I get most of my crime ideas from reading books about true crime history -- the mafia, mostly. I get my horror ideas mostly from things that freak me out. I am not sure where I get my erotic ideas from, they just pop in my head.

LB: Have you done some/most/all of the things you write about?
TR: I've done a whole hell of a lot that people would consider sexually adventurous, to the point of being fairly jaded.

LB: How did you become a teacher of fetish/safe sex/etc.?
TR: I got involved with an organization called San Francisco Sex Information that answers questions by phone and email -- anyone can ask, on any topic. I decided I wanted to teach the training, so I got involved and learned how to lecture, and eventually I was a fixture! I have lectured and spoken in other contexts, but SFSI (sfsi.org) is still my main teaching gig.

LB: Did you have a goal when you started, like, I want to get into "Best American"? (Or were you writing before "Best American"?)
TR: I was definitely writing before "Best American Erotica," and my goal at first was to create a world of dark adventure as completely as I saw it when I was in high school. When I started writing erotica more "seriously," my goal was to get into "Best American Erotica," then to get into "Best American Erotica again," then to get in "Best American Erotica" again... you get the idea! I think my goal now is to incorporate the erotic or romantic elements I've used in erotica into a broader context about What It All Means, as soon as I figure out what I think that is, or even where to look for it.

LB: You’ve lived in a variety of cities—L.A., San Francisco, New Orleans—all decadent in their own ways. Did you feel one was more open to sex than the others? What were your experiences like living away from the Bay Area? Glad to be back?
TR: San Francisco is definitely my home, and I’m very glad to be back. It is the most sexually open city I've lived in, but it can be conservative in its own way. I live across the bay in West Oakland now, which is often thought of as sort of a marginal, run-down neighborhood, but I find that the urban environment is incredibly inspiring to me. I often feel like downtown Oakland could be an alternate version of the Detroit in The Crow (the comic book). And like all urban jungles, you head a mile up the road and you have Rockridge and Temescal, which are moderately chi-chi neighborhoods.

It is good to be back in the San Francisco area, but I am a traveler by nature, and wherever I am, I want to be somewhere else. I daydream all the time about places I've been and want to go back to -- London, Dublin, Paris, Prague, Panama, Krakow, Detroit, Boston, Seattle, New York, even LA, which I love and hate. Living in New Orleans was one of the best experiences of my life, but it's always good to come home.

LB: Does your sex life affect your writing, or vice versa?
TR: I definitely write about experiences I have, and things I write make me explore new ideas sexually.

LB: Do you always wear black?
TR: [laughs] Pretty much everything I own is black, grey, or blue. I make an exception once in a while if I'm bowling, and I'll wear a red tie if there's live jazz on the menu.

LB: Strangest request you’ve received from a fan?
TR: I actually don't get many requests at all from fans. I did have someone ask me if I'd written all the lyrics to a fictional song that was excerpted in a short story, but I don't really consider that all that strange... I guess it was unexpected, though. I actually had written that song (I used to write a lot of songs, and play the guitar) but I was too shy to share them with her.

LB: Can you talk about your pin-up photos… how did you become interested in taking sexy pictures?
TR: How could I not be interested in taking sexy pictures? I'm fascinated by the female form, and once I got interested in digital photography the first thing I wanted to photograph was a naked chick. What I discovered was that I'm so anal retentive when it comes to lighting that I found a whole new way to express myself.

However, I had to put photography on hold for a while, because I found it was too tough to pursue it seriously while working with a writing day job AND trying to write creatively, not to mention teaching at SFSI and doing Dr. Sketchy's Barbary Coast, the live figure drawing salon I comanage. I'm sure I'll take up the visual arts again some day soon.

For more information about Mr. Roche, check out his website or his blog, and sign up to be his friend. And come to Dr. Sketchy's Barbary Coast, a burlesque figure drawing salon he organizes in San Francisco in association with the Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School Global Empire.

P.S. We'll be giving away a copy of His and Hers, two books that Thomas co-wrote with Alison Tyler, to one lucky commenter on today's blog. Winner announced next Monday.