Turning It On, the second book in the Red Hot Russians series was released this week, in 2015. To mark the occasion, I’m reposting this interview with Turning It On’s hero, Vladimir Shustov, aka. Vlad the Bad! The post originally appeared on Angela Highland’s Boosting the Signal blog.
Looks can be deceiving, especially when you’re a contestant on TV’s sexiest reality show.
 In “Turning It On,” (Red Hot Russians #2),  my new Carina Press release, due out June 29, shy book editor Hannah Levinson, tries to keep her fame-hungry fiancé from the clutches of a scheming dental hygienist,  with the help of an unlikely ally, sexy Russian male stripper, Vlad the Bad.
When it’s impossible to tell what’s real and what’s an illusion, can Hannah trust that there’s more to Vlad than meets the eye?
Read on, as Vlad reveals himself to Boosting The Signal….
Ei, pretty lady.  That’s right …you. Don’t be shy.  I see how you look at me.  That’s okay, I’m used to it.  If I minded, wouldn’t be standing here without a shirt, wearing skin-tight jeans made to tear right off my body. I wouldn’t spend hours in gym, or on beach, so I could look this way.  I’m not boasting, it’s just fact.  When you make your living as I do, looking good is part of the job.
My name is Vladimir Shustov, but here in Miami, most people know me as Vlad the Bad. Maybe you’ve seen me dance at The Male Room.  Nyet?  Well, The Male Room is a strip club for women, if you haven’t guessed.  I’m one of the top acts. Stella, my boss, says that’s because I know how to make every lady think I dance only for her.
Some women who come in, may not have a man pay attention to them in real life, so when they are here, I like to make them feel good.  They pay me very well, and for a guy who grew up with nothing, and came to this country with nothing, that is important. But is not the only reason I do it. It’s something I can give to another person, even for just a little while. May not mean much, but right now, is all I have.
Back in Russia, I was once an ice dancer.  My partner and I even won some medals and we might have had a chance to compete at Winter Games, until we took a bad fall. She broke her hip and decided she didn’t want to skate any more. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, only that I needed to make a lot of money.  Stripping was a way to do that.
But when you’re a stripper, people decide who you are without ever bothering to know you. People think I’m stupid, and that all I care about is getting laid. Or getting paid. And yes, most people assume I do one to get the other.  I don’t.   I won’t lie and say I have no regrets, but it is not who I am, nor is it all I want to be.
What I really want… is to be a writer.
I can tell you’re surprised. Most people are.  And it’s true…because I trained as figure skater, my education was miss or hit, as Americans often say.  Science I liked, but at math, I was no good.  History?  What about it?  Living in Russia in 1990s and 2000s, was like living in history as one nation died, and a new one took over.  Everyone for themselves…that was what my mother always said. With so many questions about future, who cared about past?
But reading, I always loved, and did whenever I had a chance. My favorite stories were those set in worlds even darker and scarier than mine. Compared to robots, demons and flesh-eating aliens, what does it matter if your mother and her boyfriend are in deep with Russkaya  Mafiya?   Whenever I wasn’t skating, I was often at library, escaping from home, escaping from everything. Before long, I wasn’t content only to read, I began to write.
So far, I’ve written  one novel and started a second one, called The Flesh Zone.  It’s coming of age story about hard working immigrant, who comes to United States and is paid fortune to take off his clothes. Then monsters attack his city. I try to do what they say…write what you know. Except for the monsters.
Most people would say two books is good, especially since I’m only twenty-five.  Why rush, they say.
Because I know  I can only dance for so long, and after, my future doesn’t look so bright. You see, the longer you stay in this life…the life that is lived mostly in the dark…the harder it is to get out.  Just ask my mother.  She never got out at all.
More than anything, I don’t want to end up that way.  Maybe what I really want isn’t simply to be a writer…it is to be someone good and honorable.  I haven’t known many people like that, but there have been a few.  Not in this life, but before, when I skated.  My Uncle Ivan, for one.
What would mean the most is to live a life of which I’m not ashamed…and to be loved by a woman who isn’t ashamed of me. I know, sounds crazy, to think that way.  But to me, dreams are like stories. They cost nothing and anybody can have one.
Even a guy called Vlad the Bad.
Get your copy of Turning It On!
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This post originally appeared on SourPuss Reviews, March, 2017
 

What one thing must I have close by when I’m writing? Hint– it’s small and furry, with pretty white paws. Sometimes it’s sweet and cuddly. Sometimes, it’s wild and insane.
My writerly must-have isn’t an “it,” but a “she.” Her name is Mango, and she’s an orange rescue tabby that joined our family in December, 2014. My husband was puzzling over Christmas gift ideas, and after hearing me squeal over an orange tabby in a Tidy Cat commercial, he decided that his cat-crazy wife needed a feline of her own.  After looking at area pet rescue websites, he found an adorable 6-month-old kitten at a shelter not far from where he works.
It was destiny.
Though I wrote my debut novel Pairing Off without Mango’s assistance, she’s become an integral part of writing each story since. She’ll often come and curl up in my lap, when I’m working at my computer. If I’m struggling with a plotline or character, a quick cuddle with a cute kitty relaxes me.  And her annoying habit of walking on my laptop keyboard helped me learn to use the undo arrow, and to remember to save my work!
She even inspired a feline character in my third book, Getting It Back. The book’s heroine Amy shares her apartment with an orange rescue cat named Milo.
Since my newest release, Heating It Up: A Red Hot Russians Novella, is set at an Antarctica research station, where no non-native animals are allowed, I couldn’t put a cat in this story. But Mango has helped me through the sometimes stressful process of writing my first-ever novella and putting out my first indie-published book.
With that challenge met, I can turn to my next one. How do I bring Mango along when I go out to write at Panera or Starbucks?
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Note: This post originally appeared on USATodayHEA, Feb. 2017

Please tell us a bit about your new release.
Heating It Up: A Red Hot Russians Novella is the latest installment in my current series, and is the story of Alexei Zaikov and Nora Bradford, who team up to save their small, close-knit community of Amity Bay. What makes this story unique is that Amity Bay is actually a research station in Antarctica. But while the setting is unusual, fans of small-town romance will feel right at home.
What’s coming next (or what are you working on now)? (This question will go at the end of the interview.)
I’m busy writing the fourth full-length novel in the series, which releases in September. Shining Through returns to the world of competitive figure skating and features Russian bad-boy skater Daniil Andreev, who was Misha’s nemesis in Getting It Back. Daniil meets his match in Tabitha Turner, the golden girl of American figure skating, who’s eager to take a walk on the wild side.
What inspires your book ideas?
I’m always drawn to stories that I’d like to read, but that no one else is writing. It’s what led me to write a sports romance series about sexy male figure skaters, and with Heating It Up, to set a warm-hearted small town romance in an unlikely place.
Is there anything funny/strange/interesting/choose-your-adjective that’s happened to you while doing research for a book?
I’m a big fan of using maps to help me understand my settings and bring them to life, but Antarctica is so vast and empty, it was hard to get my head around it. So I improvised a lot more than I typically do with a setting.  Though I did use photos of several other stations, Amity Bay is totally my invention. When I had the manuscript reviewed by two educators who’ve been to the continent several times, I was quite nervous, but to my immense relief, they told me I’d portrayed pretty accurately.
Do you have any particular rituals that help you get into the writing frame of mind?
Last year, I discovered a series of guided meditations created especially for writers, The Voice of the Muse, by Mark David Gershon. I downloaded the recordings and listen to one almost every morning. It helps me focus and be more relaxed about my writing and my process.
Do you write by the seat of your pants (pantser), or do you carefully plot your stories (plotter)? Has that changed at any point in your career or maybe it changes depending on the book? (You can treat this as one question.)
Over time, I’ve become much more of a plotter and find I really enjoy the process of thinking through the plot, romance and character arc beats, and I feel much more confident going into the first draft. While it’s still a lot of work to turn clunky first-draft writing into the story I’ve envisioned, I now use most or all of the scenes I planned, rather than having to cut out huge chunks of the story because I followed extraneous plot and character threads that went nowhere.
Is there a TV show that you’ve recently binge-watched?
Stranger Things on Netflix was awesome, and I can’t wait for Season 2. I’m also a big fan of This is Us, Colony, and The Americans. Fortunately, they seem to air at different times, otherwise, I wouldn’t have time to watch them all.
Do you have a pet that hangs out with you while you’re working? (Feel free to include a picture!)
My sweet kitty, Mango, is the perfect writing companion. She often lays on my desk, under the lamp, and if I’m really lucky, she’ll settle in my lap while I’m working. Occasionally, she gets interested in the keyboard, so I’m careful to save my work often.
Do you listen to music while you write? What are some tunes on your playlist?
I create playlists for each book, to listen to when I’m writing. Heating It Up’s includes songs specifically mentioned in the story, like the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” and “Is This Love” by Bob Marley and The Wailers, upbeat, warm-weather songs like “Castaway” by the Zac Brown Band, and songs that connect to the story in other ways.
I don’t suppose you’d want to share a picture of you with your ’80s or ’90s hair or perhaps a prom picture?
Why not? This is my engagement picture from 1989, complete with frizz. Since I have naturally wavy hair, big 1980s perms didn’t work well for me!
Red Hot Russian Alexei is king of the Ice…Antarctic style
Alexei  Zaikov loves his life in remote Amity Bay, Antarctica, until a new luxury guesthouse threatens the community’s future.  As head of Amity Bay, he’s driven to save it, but first must discover who is hiding out in the supposedly deserted lodge…and why.
Nora Bradford has lost everything; a promising career and the man she loved.  Glacier Ridge Lodge, the architectural masterpiece she designed but was denied credit for, seems like the perfect place to grieve her loss, until a ruggedly handsome Russian arrives on her doorstep, determined to bring her in from the cold.
Desire sparks, leaving them hungry for more. But will the truth about Nora’s role in Amity Bay’s demise, doom their romance?

Purchase Heating It Up: A Red Hot Russians Novella
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