If I had to choose, I'd pick my Kindle. It saved my back from breaking under the sheer weight of books on more than one occasion and I don't have to think up ways to hide the front cover from noisy train passengers. Adobe Digital Editions would be my second choice, though. I like the design!

Phew. I think I was fourteen, or maybe fifteen? I've been an avid reader since I was twelve and found out my school library had a big number of fantasy books, but the one thing that made me want to write my own stories was the movie "Blade". I wanted my own vampires, so I started writing. Nothing came of that and I never even got anywhere close to finishing that story, but it felt good. I tried my hand at the fantasy genre, then discovered the joys of roleplaying and got sucked in. Writing backgrounds, worldbuilding and mastering games had me in its clutches for a good ten years before I finally stumbled over my first erotic novel. I had been reading English literature for a few years then, so when the need to try it myself hit, I didn't bother with trying to write in German, I went straight for English. And here we are now!

Cluttered. I'm almost always surrounded by cookies, Red Bull cans, letters, photos of my family, a miniature statue of the god Ra, empty boxes of hardware I recently bought, and of course my vaping tools. There might be a tea pot in between on some days. I actually have two desks back to back, one for creative work, gaming and the day-to-day things and a second one just for studying and things like present wrapping.

My latest book, "Shapeshifter", is based on a game I played for three years. A few friends and me needed a new outlet for our creative energies, so I created a dark, urban fantasy setting for us, slapped a few rules on it, and off we went. That world was - and is - called "Babylon City", a setting I use as a background to this day. Noom and Kelaste, the heroes of "Shapeshifter", lived and breathed in that world all through those three years, and when my game partner decided to put it to rest, I couldn't just let them gather dust and disappear into obscurity.
I started writing the day we stopped playing. I had never tried to write in a professional manner before, so "Shapeshifter" isn't only my first finished novel, but also the first story I ever wrote in earnest. It took almost six years to work all the way from those first few words through to the end, but it was worth it.

Experiencing the story before it's written down. The act of writing does help with finding out what direction to take next and how to wrap it up, but it doesn't "make the story appear". It's already there in my head, playing out in much greater detail and vividity than I could possibly put into words. The act on writing it down stems from the need to share it with others, but it doesn't make it any more real to me. When I've got an idea for a new story, I almost feel giddy with excitement, an "I HAVE to tell someone" kind of experience. It's addictive.

That's a hard one! I tend to jump from author to author, even when I really like their stories. I need variety or I'll get bored easily. I started reading English fiction with Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" and went through the first six of his books in half a year before I got bored, but he's my favorite when it comes to fantasy.
Laurell K. Hamilton gave me a taste of romance and erotic fiction, and I've got every single one of her books. I swapped hers with Patricia Briggs, whenever I needed something else to drool over, and lately I've come to love Robin Hobbs and Pierce Brown. Their stories are captivating.

I read ebooks in short bursts whenever I get bored with my writing groups. I'm a member of Gay Authors and Literotica and tend to spend most of my time there, but sometimes I need "professional" material for comparison or as a creative impulse to get my own juices flowing. In such cases, I either browse Goodreads, or have a look at what Amazon recommends for my reading pleasure. I do click on some of the recommendations in my Twitter stream, but that doesn't happen all that often.

I remember what it was about, but not its name. I was around ten or twelve and found this book in our school library, a story about a little Mayan boy and some Jaguar god in South America. I read through that book in days, fascinated by the descriptions. I even tried reenacting some of the things and jogged around for weeks after, trying to find out what kind of trot wouldn't take so much energy because the book had said it was possible. It was definitely no best-seller, but I know to this day that it moved at least one person.

That's more of a dare-thing than an actual need, but my stories don't really fit into the usual publishing drawers. I can't write pure romance, simply because I'm fed up with all the over-the-top drama, and I can't write pure erotica, because most of those don't meet my expectations of plot and storyline. I like to read both, but I rarely find a book that matches my preferred mixture. I write full-length, story- and plot-driven novels with romance and erotic elements that focus more on the path to my protagonists' goals than of the consummation of their relationships.
Indie publishing is a way to stay true to my own style and offer something out of the ordinary.

Having fans is like meeting like-minded people for me. There are so many flavors of literature out there, be it fantasy, romance, erotica, sci-fi or something else, everyone can choose exactly what they like best. I know I'm not the only person who sits there wondering if someone else likes as twisted, kinky, dark or steamy ideas as they themselves, but sharing those ideas is hard and harrowing. A fan, someone who likes your work and says so, is a wonderful thing and the greatest compliment of all. Even after years of getting stars and reviews on platforms such as Gay Authors, I still jump with joy with each new person who leaves a positive review.