1. As you write under a pen name, is this your first piece of writing? And why erotic stories?
This is my first published work. However, since childhood,I’ve written, mostly journal writing for myself. The idea to write erotic stories came
spontaneously. It allowed me to reclaim a space inside myself that has been crowded with stories of violence against women and hopelessness about men’s ability to connect deeply with women other than as objects whether pleasurable or simply functional. So often erotica is restricted to the briefest of moments in the bedroom when in fact, it is everywhere where there is life: in trees, flowers, fruit, and human moments of various kinds. Writing about the erotic is writing about life.

“The picture is a detail of a sculpture made by a friend of mine, entitled, Whale Watcher. To me, the expression in the whale watchers’ eyes captures the way in which I like to look at the world: with compassion as a primary guiding force.”-- Aranyani