Interview with L.B. Shimaira

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing one of my best online pals, Shimaira (she/they)! We have been friends for around three years now, first meeting when our books came out from Gurt Dog Press only a few months apart. Although we write very different genres, we share a love for diverse, queer characters in a fantasy setting. Shimaira’s book My Lord has just re-released, so I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about all things writing.

Check out her website and grab a copy of My Lord here!

Please note that while My Lord is an erotic, adult novel (see content warnings below), the interview contains no content of that nature and is suitable for all audiences, although mental illness and sexual abuse are mentioned.

Hi Shimaira! Thanks so much for joining me today to talk about your new release, My Lord! Can you tell us the elevator pitch for your novel?

MY LORD is a queer, slow-burn erotic gothic horror novel about rediscovering yourself after trauma—with kinky, blood-drinking immortals and polyamory.

Lord Deminas is known to be cruel. Yet, he’s rather protective of Meya, his new chambermaid, and punishes anyone who dares hurt her. Servants regularly vanish, and with the Lord now drinking her blood, Meya and her paramour need to avoid the same happening to either of them.

My bisexual self is loving the gorgeous art of both your main characters, Meya and Lord Deminas. How did the characters come to you?

Thank you! (Credit for the art goes to the talented https://twitter.com/obi_bunn_kenobi) I honestly don’t really recall as I started this story back in December 2013 😳 I wouldn’t be surprised if I just went for what I personally find aesthetically attractive 🙈 I can say that these characters did not (initially) come to me in a dream—but they did appear to me in dreams years later when I was writing the contemporary horror “They call him Lucius”. Also, as I was nearing my personal deadline to have the My Lord ARCs ready, I had a dream about a whole new ending for the book—which included various characters. Of course, I had to write this new ending 😏

You’ve said that writing helps you process your own emotions and mental health. I relate a lot to this because I have mental illness myself. How do you use writing as a kind of therapy?

Writing is a way for me to help me process the nastier dreams and nightmares I tend to get. It also provides a safe way to deal with various traumas—and to get some of the anger and frustration out. You can’t really torture and kill sexual abusers in real life, but on paper? 😩👌 So yeah, writing is cathartic in that sense. I’ve also noticed that if I go long periods without writing my mental health can become slippery and my mind a little… weird. I basically need to let the “dark” out on paper or else I’ll risk it festering in my head instead.

My Lord is an erotic fantasy romance. Have you written in other genres? Do you have a favorite genre to write in? Do you think you will try other genres in the future, and if so, which ones?

I write dark genres, ranging from horror and thriller to paranormal and even some sci-fi. The very first novel I started falls under dark fantasy but that was honestly too difficult for my skillset back then. It took me ten years to complete (~140k words) and I binned it a few years after with the intention of doing a full rewrite from scratch. The amount of worldbuilding and lore needed to pull a whole new world off? Respect to fantasy authors, seriously 🙌

Another novel of mine falls under horror and takes place in the same universe as My Lord, though it’s contemporary. I actually hope to edit and publish that next.

As for my current WIP: that’s a genre mess 😂 Dreampunk, paranormal, fantasy, horror.

I don’t think I’ll veer away from the darker genres, as I write for the catharsis it gives me and I don’t see lighter genres giving me that. However, I should add that my stories don’t always need to be grim. I have one paranormal/horror story where the MC has a really good ending and the “horror” was just fear of the unknown (even if that unknown was an actual monster, haha).

Kiss, marry, kill: Meya, Nina, and Lord Deminas. (If you don’t know this game, you have to pick which character you would kiss, which you would kill, and which you would marry.) 

Oh, no, you didn’t! 💀 That’s pure evil 😭

Kiss Lord Deminas, as honestly? I’d want to try that 😏

I’d say marry Meya, as her kind soul would probably yield the healthiest relationship.

And poor Nina would have to die I guess 😰 Only reason why is because, many years ago… there was an ending where she already did 😶 (honestly though, can’t we drag A<redacted> in here, too? I wouldn’t mind stabbing his ass 👀 and then I could just go polyam with the others 💃)

I’m sorry, I had to do it. I have the same answers as you. Meya would be such a fantastic life partner! Thank you so much for visiting my blog and talking about your new book. I can’t wait until my copy arrives, and I can’t wait to check out everything you write in the future!