Misura is an author who's not easily classified. A writer of genre bending books that are an interesting blend of science fiction, horror, action, and drama, his novels carry you through places we see every day only to discover new wonders hidden in the ordinary.These books are also about self discovery, understanding the dark heart of humanity and the inherent good we have in all of us.
Links:
Website: http://toddmisura.weebly.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6905132.Todd_Misura?from_search=true
Twitter: https://twitter.com/seekingparadigm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ToddMisuraAuthor
Bright Nights, Dark Days Blog: https://toddmisura.wordpress.com/
Rope Bites BDSM Blog (18+ only) : http://ropebites.tumblr.com/post/111677477065/divergence-changing-the-paradigm
Divergence: Erotica From a Different Angle is clearly meant to be a coy title, but what was your intention with the book overall? What makes it different?
My intention for Divergence was to introduce readers to my brand of writing, not just erotica, but my storytelling in general. My book is different from other erotica on the market because while they have story to go along with the sex and erotica, the focus isn't the storytelling aspect. My short fiction is a great introduction into the worlds that inhabit my mind, almost all of my stories are connected. Novels and short stories have a multiverse they belong to, and if you read this short collection you'll see how they all eventually tie together.
There are some different themes here Submission, tulpas, black eyed monsters, polyamory, bisexuality, futanari and all of them are set in very real literary backgrounds. What made you choose these topics? What inspired some of the stories in Divergence?
My stories come from my real world interest in the esoteric and majickal. One of the stories in Divergence that I love the most is probably BEG, and that was born from my intense interest, but not fear, of the Black Eyed Kid or BEK phenomenom that was popular about three years ago. The stories from real life usually entail a child coming to you, either at the door or your car and asking to be let in. They act strangely, in monotone voices and an almost complete misunderstanding of modern things like cell phones. The victims claim that they are full of fear and terror at the meeting of these kids, and eventually you notice their eyes are all black. Nothing but pitch black. Most people eventually end up hiding until the children leave, sometimes hours of knocking from the BEKs can occur before they leave.
Which ones were your favorites? Why? Did you learn anything while writing them that you hadn't before?
I have to say that the bondage stories are some of my favorites like Figure 8, which came to me after I was randomly thinking about setups that I would love to personally own that might not exist in the real world. Block Party was a neat idea that I had originally had as a novel idea, of a man whose world is constantly changing and morphing around him, but I couldn't quite get it to work. With Block Party I was forced to minimize the alterations and timeline changes, so it crafted a shorter and more unique tale.
What makes Divergence's BDSM themes different than something like 50 Shades of Grey?
The reason why the BDSM themes of Divergence are different from 50 Shades is because the relationships shown in the collection are real BDSM relationships. From what I can tell about 50 Shades, its a tale of a woman who falls for a man who's dark... almost abusive in ways. In my BDSM stories its representations of not just the sex, but in many ways the entire relationship that occurs in BDSM. As a male submissive, its not often you can find stories that the men are submissive and the female or even male Doms are not abusive or a psychotic version of BDSM. Yes, there are times where there is pain involved, but there is a purpose for the submissive and dom involved. Let me give you an example: There are times where I want to feel my Domme's nails digging into my flesh just enough to sting, but there are other times where I crave a harder pinch or squeeze and its up to her to understand what level I want or need it at. Googling BDSM will result in horrible misrepresentations of the practice, and my shorts aim to convey the real aspects of BDSM.
What do you hope readers get out of reading Divergence? Can we expect to see more erotica tales in the future?
My largest dream is that readers get enjoyment out of my stories, as tales of erotica and as stories. I'm a storyteller first and erotica writer second.
Do you write regular fiction as well? If so tell us a little about what you have out there or will soon.
I write fiction outside of the articles and reviews I do for Front Towards Gamer, and all my stories are stories with realistic characters and reactions. Right now I have a short story called Drift in Rejected For Content :Splattergore and another short with my wife in Inanna Rising: Women Forged in Fire. I'm currently working on several novels, in the pre-planning stages for them to be honest, and have decided to start working on the short stories for the Divergence sequel.
Do you think it will affect your other writing to have erotica tales out under your real name as well? Do you have a reason you chose not to use a pseudonym for your erotica?
If my erotica affects my other writings that are out or will come out, its the reader's fault, not mine. I have a sense of pride in the well done stories written by me and any other author who publishes all their work under their names. If you don't want to read my erotica, don't. But you are missing out on real stories that just happen to have sexual themes and encounters in them, and that means you're missing out on my writings. For me, writing is an exercise in understanding that I have a gift, and that I need to use it, so hiding behind a moniker or pseudonym isn't going to give me satisfaction. I want to know that people are picking up any of my writings because I've intrigued them enough based on my writing in the past to see what I have to say in anything that I write.
Where do you hope to be with your writing in the next few years? Any big plans?
I hope to be recognized for my writing in a fashion that doesn't need to be an award, even just good reviews of my stories would make me happy. The next thing I'm working on is the sequel to Divergence, and getting me and Amanda M Lyons' Jennarator comic up and running with a publisher would be awesome to have too.