What do aliens, farmers and ménage stories have in common? Does the idea of anal probing come to mind? What about all those lickable farm boys? No Princess Bride here, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised to discover what can happen with when Robin L. Rotham gets behind her computer and lets her imagination soar.
Why do they call you the Dirty Alien Farm wife?
My fellow Smutketeers, RG Alexander and Eden Bradley, gave me that moniker because I’m a wholesome-looking farm wife and mother of three, but I’m well known for my kinky ménage stories about aliens and farmers. (Not together, of course. Or not yet, anyway. Hmm…)
How were you introduced to the BDSM culture?
As I was to most things, through books. In particular, Eden Bradley’s The Dark Garden. Once I read that, there was no going back. I’d been aware of my own kinky submissive nature all my life, but up until that point, I’d felt it was a shortcoming, something to be ashamed of. Once the power dynamic was finally explained to me, it was like receiving corrective lenses after years of being legally blind. I could suddenly see the D/s dynamic at work all around me, whether or not people acknowledged it, or were even aware of it as such. I wished I’d discovered D/s twenty years earlier—it would have helped me cope with an alpha bosshole I’d felt victimized by.
Are you active in the BDSM community?
Living in rural Nebraska and being married to a shy, mostly vanilla farmer doesn’t allow for much face-time, but I’m a member of an online BDSM community, and I get to a real club whenever I can and occasionally scene with appropriately sadistic dominant figures approved by my husband.
How has BDSM influenced your writing?
All of my books contain elements of dominance and submission, though they’re more obvious in some books than in others. I always like to explore the ways those elements shape my characters and how they influence their interactions. I also enjoy exploring polyamory in my books—it’s a concept that just makes sense to me. I don’t believe that any one person can be everything another needs or wants, no matter how perfect they may be for each other. Another thing I enjoy is pushing my characters’ definitions of their sexual orientation. BDSM has taught me that none of us are set in stone—we’re all constantly evolving as sexual beings, though we’re not all self-aware enough, or adventurous enough, to appreciate it.
Why have you continued to publish with small publishers rather than heading for New York?
I learned very early on—with my first royalty check, in fact—that e-publishing had it all over traditional publishing, at least for me. Not only did I receive actual royalties within weeks of publication, but I had the freedom to write whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to. I could be as creative and kinky as I dared—and believe me, I’ve dared plenty—and do it without sacrificing my family to a do-or-die deadline. I prefer my writing to work for me, not the other way around.