Sascha Illyvich

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Biography

The Bad Boy of Romance, Sascha Illyvich is one of the few male authors who proudly calls Romance his favorite genre. Starting as an erotica author back in 1998, Sascha released several short stories before finally being published through Renaissance E-books (Renaissance E-books) and later through Total E-bound (Total E-bound). Recently, he's released work through (Decadent Publishing).

The transition from pure erotica to erotic romance was one he recalls fondly. "I realized all of my erotica stories had more than a simple happy ending. The couples or multiples got together afterward. Going from erotica to erotic romance was not a hard transition."

In February of 2010, Sascha pulled his work from Red Rose Publishing, citing that his style of writing did not fit that of what with Red Rose Publishing They split on amicable terms.

Currently Sascha is represented by the L. Perkins Agency and Corvisiero Literary Agency.

History

Sascha Illyvich was born in 1978 in Webster, Texas. He attended League City elementary, League City Intermediate and finally graduated in 1996 from Clear Creek High school. Sascha also earned his Letterman's jacket as a long distance runner for the school's Cross Country team. He also ran track. Fastest 5k: 19:45, Fastest Mile: 5:19 in Track his senior year.

Moving to Dallas shortly after a stint in college, Sascha picked up the pen and started writing small snippets that would later become the first of many stories to be closeted. At that point Sascha entered the workforce as an IT professional, working for Stream International on a Microsoft contract for the MSN Network. A brief stint at Microsoft Corporation in Las Colinas, TX had been his last traditional job. Health and personal issues led Sascha back to Houston where he lived with his ex while trying to find work in a struggling IT industry.

Sascha resumed writing shortly after being laid off in the computer industry. Taking the advice of his hair dresser, and Mistress Koi, Sascha pursued a writing career that has since taken off. Submitting to various e-zines and anthologies netted him a slew of successes and a few key learning points in his first year as a writer of both erotic fiction and poetry Sascha had been published by the now defunct Cyber-Mistress magazine, ENE, ERWA and others. His first royalty paying publication, "Erotic Flowers" came out through Renaissance E-books in the winter of 2000. To his chagrin that "piece of crap" still sells.

Shortly after, Sascha penned his first full length contemporary romance along with picking up a gig writing for Males in Slavery Stories featuring his romantic BDSM tales between Mistress Kitty and Trent. The stories had a different flair from traditional BDSM in that clear cut lines between erotica and romance had been drawn in each story.

About a month after amassing 50k worth of stories for M.I.S.S. Sascha submitted the collection to eXtasy books along with "A Christmas Favor," his first contemporary romance written for his sister during a tumultuous time in both their lives.

In 2001, the two stories were accepted, edited and released shortly afterward. A Christmas Favor was nominated for a Cupid and Psyche Award from The Romance Studio and is a recommended read at Fallen Angels Reviews.

The following summer, the new owner of Renaissance E-books asked for a Female Dominance story entitled "Her Male Slave" from Sascha and two months later the story was born, finished and released. Featuring more female dominance and male submission along with a corporate twist, the story was an instant yet short lived success.

"Female Dominance is a powerful thing but does not capture the market share in erotica or erotic romance. It never has and sadly it never will." - Sascha on lackluster sales of Her Male Slave. Mentor Morgan Hawke had good things to say about the story but pointed out that Sascha's technique in story telling needed some extra help.

Numerous other stories had been written and submitted, only to be picked up by publishers that disappeared. "Fuckers probably owe me money I'll never see but the work I put out wasn't bad. In fact, the reading community will see some of it in the coming years as I develop stronger stories and better characters. I'm proud of all my work."

The fall of both Venus Press and Silk's Vault led Sascha to adopt a policy of never sending work to publishers with less than 5 years of experience. An article written for (Authors Promoting Authors) details his stance on this.

Having released 7 titles in 2008 for REB And Total E-bound, and put out several short stories on sites such as Literotica and others, Sascha saw his first print release in August of 2009.

Heavenly Bodies

A second of Heavenly Bodies was released in April of 2010.

Taking the advice of mentor Morgan Hawke, Sascha's stories on Literotica.com showed him that he needed to write more BDSM. In December of 2008, The owner of Renaissance E-books suggested Male Domination stories featuring female submissives, and thus "Gift of Her Submission" was born. Three stories about three different female submissives who become beholden to Ronan, the book received positive reviews from Coffee Time Romance, achieving a Four Cup Review. Review from Coffee Time Romance Released in April of 2009, "Gift" continues to outsell all of his previous releases at Renaissance E-books.

Music played an extremely important part in the early development of Sascha's career. The angry, loud musics of such artists as Cold, Mudvayne, Metallica and Soundgarden influenced his writing habits along with a developing drinking habit.

Sascha became immersed in the Fetish lifestyle as a way to escape from the demons in his head that writing couldn't cure. It was shortly after that point when he found the mother of his soul, online. They developed a loving relationship and she continues to be one of the biggest reasons none of Sascha's suicide attempts ever succeeded. To this day she continues to cheer him on, along with his sister.

Work Habits

Sascha strolls into his office at around 10:30 AM each morning, answers email, is on twitter and grabs something resembling breakfast. Around 1 PM, the internet is no longer a distraction and Sascha writes for a few hours or until he hits his word count for the day, whichever occurs first.

A self admitted switch, Sascha strives to teach more people about the BDSM Lifestyle and how different it is from vanilla existence.

Notable Titles


WriteSEX

With all that Sascha has done over the course of ten years, the one thing missing was a key ingredient that held it all together. Seeking the advice and publicity services of author success coach and PR person Deborah Riley-Magnus a solution was found in the birth of WriteSEX. Pulling together six experts in the field of erotica and publishing, Sascha was able to cement his position as an expert in the field of writing erotica and erotic romance. WriteSEX has taught to both Savvy Authors Online and Lowcounty Romance Writers of America.

Founding members include:

  • M. Christian - His expertise as a multi genre author come across in his blog posts.
  • Thomas Roche - The Sage of dark erotica, his posts deal with the unusual.
  • Jean Marie Stine - Publisher of fine erotic and erotic romance with a varied and lengthy career in publishing
  • Oceania - THE voice of an Erotic Goddess, founder of Radio Dentata and Pure Obsessions.
  • Dr. Nicole Peeler - the newly published writer.

Former Members include:

  • Dr. Nicole Peeler.

The final WritSEX team includes:

  • Ralph Greco - The SEO guy.
  • Deborah Riley-Magnus handling PR, author marketing and successful business planning.

In 2011 WriteSEX is now a solid, well rounded group.

The blog is updated every Thursday of the week.

Notable Inspirations

Diane Whiteside, Kate Douglas, Morgan Hawke, Emma Holly, Rebecca York and an entire slew of e-book authors have been behind Sascha since the start of his career. Recently, Sascha was fortunate to spend time with Cecilia Tan, a new guide to his world, yet not a new author in his stack of books waiting to be read. Oh and that Ryan F. Macklin motherfucker, some guy, possibly from the Internet has been an inspiration in that he understands just how Sascha feels about the writing business.

Musical Inspirations

The heavy metal genre has been instrumental in inspiring Sascha's stories. Songs of anguish, love unrequited, feelings of hopelessness and loss, death, change, growth and anger have all played a part of how his stories are crafted from the character creation perspective. "People are fucked up. Seriously. They simply want to read about others being fucked up and learning they CAN change. They CAN grow. They CAN be happy. I'm not sure that's for me. But I can write about it and give someone else hope."

Notable artists include Devildriver, Cold, Tristania, Katatonia, Opeth, Megadeth (the later years) Slayer, Slipknot, Creed, Razed in Black, Assemblage 23, Soilwork, Soil, Dark Tranquility, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, Combichrist, VNV Nation, Cloudkicker, Yoko Kanno, Sevendust, Pantera (in his earlier years) Disturbed. The metal genre deals with the feelings most of us go through and they deal with it in a way Sascha understands. EBM and Aggrotek provide scene and world creation guides through electronic music.

"I owe so much to these great musicians. They've done wonders for me by playing music that carries me through my darker times while I try to get my characters through their darker times and onto the other side of conflict."

Hobbies outside of writing

Sascha spends his only true downtime with a fine cigar, probably something out of Ecuador produced by the ACC Cigars company. Being friends with the owner, the two talk occasionally and spend a bit of time in San Francisco's Occidental Cigar Club. When Sascha's not outside, he can be found at Grants Tobacconist in San Francisco, or by the lake where he lives. An avid cigar and alcohol enthusiast, Sascha prefers to slow down and enjoy the myriad of expressions put forth by fine producers of cigars, wine and pipe tobacco. He also plays the 5 string electric bass guitar, throws bullwhips and like most authors, an avid reader.

Appearances

Sascha speaks on various topics related to writing and kink at a number of different conventions every year.

  • February 5th, Cal Writer’s Berkeley, CA. Teaching Male POV
  • April 5th-9th Atlanta GA- Frolicon – speaking on writer’s track panels
  • July 13-15 – Denver Colorado (tentatively) Thunder in the Mountains, BDSM topics
  • July 25-28 – RWA Nationals – Speaking at Passionate Ink Meeting, doing BDSM demo, more TBA
  • August 8-12th – NOLA BABY! Authors After Dark
  • August 31st-Sept 3rd – DragonCON – Panels, workshops, TBA.

The current appearance list can always be found at Sascha's Site

Classes

Sascha has the unique advantage of being one of the few males writing traditional (or otherwise) romance novels and therefore offers his experiences, thoughts and information on the male mind in his Male POV - Creating A Better Hero course.

With almost 13 years in the Lifestyle, Sascha also teaches BDSM to romance authors. This week long class along with the previous one has received plenty of accolades from satisfied students who strive to understand BDSM in terms that writers can use to create stronger stories for a demanding market.

A soon to be updated list of classes Sascha teaches can be found (here)

The Future of Sascha Illyvich

A third 1Night Stand with the working title, "His Virgin" has been submitted to Decadent Publishing. The story centers around an extremely busy business woman who lacks passion in her life due to the few men she's ever been with being duds. Using the 1Night Stand service, she's set up with a pair of alpha males who threaten to knock her world off kilter with their passion, if only she'd accept them.

A new story based on a fantasy involving one of his neighbors will be expanded and aimed at the Romantic BDSM market for Sizzler Editions.

His Burn Notice based series "Burning Desires" story "Burning for Derrick" is finished and resting. The story centers around an ex spy hired to guard the lead singer of a popular death metal band. With her vocal abilities, she can control people and animals, making her a very deadly yet sexy target.

Then there’s Covenant of Wolves: Stalker (Dub Mix) – Hot m/m sex, wolf on fae, and probably a foursome that’s getting pulled from the book. "Can’t say why yet, just trust me!" His original beta readers will recognize the story and be glad for the tremendous changes. The second Covenant of Wolves book has been started but Sascha must finish the edits and rework parts of the first story.

A new story idea involving a spy, two bisexual men and the “Road To” theme.

In September of 2011, Sascha was approached by a casting director with an idea for a sexy series aimed at the adult market.

Dark Desires - a menage story that Total E-bound rejected, needs a little reworking too. The heroine needs to be more feminine. Too bad her real life counterpart sees herself as more masculine! But that’s 17k right there to work on.


On The Web

Links to Sascha Illyvich's work, social media, etc:

Interviews

Interviews, past and present

There have been others and they will be added as time permits. Every now and then Sascha puts out calls for beta readers on his groups.

Quotes

  • "Fucking every other genre bores the crap out of me. That's why I write Romance! It allows m e to get deeper into the characters heads and into a harder, edgier plot where something real is at stake. If the love you give isn't worth dying for, where's the fun in that?" - Quote from an informal interview
  • "I write for my loved ones. I write for me I write to make money."
  • "I'll never support the artist mentality of being poor, broke, starving, sober and happy."
  • "Bad Boy of Romance? Yeah, I'll take it. Come here!"
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