… Elle E. Ire

1. What’s the time of the day when you feel most like yourself?

Late late at night, after a gathering with friends, when I'm a little too buzzed or too tired to care what other people think and I'm a bit silly and a lot unreserved.

2. What’s your coffee order?

It changes almost daily. I get bored easily, so I play around with customizing the various Starbucks offerings or trying out non-chain coffee shops, but my go-to is a venti iced white mocha nonfat, no whip.

3. How would you describe yourself in three words?

Professional, imaginative, persevering. 

4. What do you think of possums?

Um....they can be cute, but I'm not fond of them simply because someone kept throwing dead ones over our backyard fence when we lived by a busy street. If not for that negative conditioning, I'd probably like them. I mean, I know it wasn't their fault, and I felt horribly for them.

5. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

"Leave the creative writing degree track and go back to music school."--from my first writing teacher in college when I switched majors. She pissed me off so much that I was determined to show her I could write. (I did.)

6. What makes you smile?

Any dog, anywhere, anytime. My spouse. Singing karaoke with my friends. Every positive comment about one of my books.

7. Do you believe in soulmates?

Absolutely. My spouse is my soulmate. We have almost everything in common and get each other completely. They encourage and support me to be my best self. We were predicted by a fortune teller and have been together for 26 years.

8. What personality trait gets you most often in trouble?

I have an overdeveloped sense of "fairness," and if I believe something is being handled in an unfair manner, I will absolutely call you on it, even if it's something insignificant.

9. What makes you cry?

Animal death in almost any form. Disappointment if I've been working hard toward something and don't get it. On rare occasions, work stress. If we're talking "happy tears" then for some reason Disney parades make me cry every single time. I'm not a person who cries much at all.

10. What’s your best feature?

My blue/purple hair. It took me a long time to work up the nerve to dye it (I was 45). It was my gift to myself when my first book sold to a publisher and became both a way for people to recognize me easily at conferences and such and also a symbol of me embracing my real self.

11. What is the one thing you wish you could quit?

Buying things I don't need. I've always been a "collector," and my collections are overflowing the house and emptying the bank account--Disney pins, combat boots in wild colors, t-shirts, crazy socks, media tie-in merch, and more. I've gotten much better in recent years, but still, I have to remember to ask myself, "Do I really need that?"

12. Favorite flavor and scent?

Flavor--butterscotch--I drive bartenders crazy asking for butterscotch-flavored concoctions. Scent--new books/bookstores (Is there any better smell than that?)

13. In a crowded room, what makes you notice a woman?

Uniforms. I have a thing for women in uniform. Beyond the physical fitness of most women in uniform, there's something just so . . . safe? protective? competent? that's very appealing.

14. What’s your one big regret?

That I waited so long to start trying to be published. I gave up early on, let multiple years go to waste, and then went back to it. I wish I had those years back.

15. Who’d play you if Hollywood made a movie about your life?

Oh god, my life is definitely not interesting enough to have its own movie.

16. Three women you’d have over for dinner and what would you serve?

Ruby Rose, Lucy Lawless, and Amy Ray, and I'd have to order food delivered, whatever they want. I can't cook. I burn water. Besides, with those three in my house, I would be far too flustered to think about a recipe.

17. What’s the one thing you’d want the 18 year-old you to know?

The love of your life is coming in five years. Be patient.

18. What’s in your fridge right now?

Lots of tv dinners. My spouse does cook, but we are both teachers AND authors, and there is just NO TIME.

19. If you could choose one song to be played every time you enter a room, what song would that be and why?

I don't know. Something badass. Maybe "Love in an Elevator" by Aerosmith or "Heaven's on Fire" by Kiss. They remind me of my teen years. I used to hang out at a teen nightclub, and when those songs came on, well, picture a crowd of teenagers rocking out and playing air guitar on a very small stage, me right there, front and center. I was generally very prim and proper in my teens. I attended a private school and wore dresses, long skirts, and blazers. I was extremely introverted. But at that club . . . I was a different person, a lot more like the person I became in my 40's and held onto.

20. What’s the one book you wish you could read again for the first time?

Black Blade Blues by J. A. Pitts. It was the first time I discovered Sapphic characters in a "big five" published book that was also speculative fiction. I knew right then that I wanted to write that.

Elle’s latest release, Harsh Reality, can be found here: https://mybook.to/ElleEIreHR