Isabelle Drake

 Yes, I stood in line for 47 minutes to get one German pretzel, but I can honestly say it was a good time. As other people came and left (guess not everyone wants to wait that long) the line felt like a party of its own. I met some fun girls who took pictures of me taking pictures of the line. So meta. At the time, it was hilarious.

Isabelle Drake was born in 2005, the year I (Melissa Ford Lucken) published my first erotic romance, Everglades Wildfire, with Venus Press. She, I, published several titles with Venus Press before moving on the publish with the now infamous Ellora's Cave. For those more recently delivered to this romance book scene, Ellora's Cave was the first big publisher of erotic romance.  Being an EC author was, despite quick and sad the way things ended, great. Big parties, big promotions, and truly great readers. I learned a lot writing erotic romance. One thing I learned about my writer self is that I like writing what "they" tell me I can't. If someone adds to that message that I shouldn't write something....that doubles the likelihood that I will be writing it.