Tell us about Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever

Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever is, of course, a parody of the very famous book Fifty Shades of Grey. Keisha Beale and Tristan White are the counterparts of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. Keisha Beale is a twenty-four year old biracial woman from the south side of Chicago who’s two years out of college at DePaul, and ready to put her major and passion to work. Keisha‘s dream of running her own recording studio, record and music store with her best friend, Jada Jameson, is jeopardized by a botched first meeting with venture capitalist Tristan White.

White is the thirty-two year old billionaire CEO of White Enterprises who comes from a long line of wealth and lives life as a “One-Percenter” on the Gold Coast of Chicago. He was born into a life of privilege, and is accustomed to controlling every aspect of his life. Tristan White isn’t fifty shades of f**ked up like Christian Grey, but he does have some issues in his past that have largely shaped who he is at present. In this story, Keisha is the one with the past that affects their relationship.

Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever, like many before it, is a story about forbidden love in which the taboos are an interracial romance, socio-economic class, intermingling of business and personal relationships. When humor and BDSM is added to the mix, the resulting story is one that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through a gamut of emotions.

What genre is it?
Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever is primarily a Contemporary Romance Parody, but it is also Erotic Romance, secondarily. As the book has gained traction, it has been also categorized as African American literature.

I have languished somewhere in the middle of the top 100 lists for African American literature on Amazon for the past few weeks, where I have been sandwiched between Toni Morrison and Attica Locke on occasion, two African American authors I respect immensely. This made for such an incongruous grouping, I had to take a print screen of it, so I can have bragging rights that I was once on a list with these two.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
This story appeals to readers of contemporary romance, and erotic romance who aren’t squeamish or turned off by ethnic humor, and those who are open to interracial romance. At its core, Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever is a story about two unlikely individuals who meet and enter an arrangement of a sexual nature, and over time, fall in love.

What was it about Fifty Shades of Grey that inspired you to write your book?
I think what I wanted to see in Fifty Shades of Grey, but did not, is what inspired me to write my book. I wanted more diversity in Fifty Shades of Grey, sort of like my favorite TV Show, Grey’s Anatomy. I wanted a heroine who was a flawed, yet strong character, who could stand up to the male protagonist – one who didn’t have to be told that as a submissive she had the power. Also, I was very intrigued by what the Fifty Shades of Grey books have done in the industry, and I wanted to see how something similar with an ethnic flavor would be received.

What can we expect from the rest of the series?
I’m deep in the throes of writing the follow up to Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever, Volume 2, which will tie up Keisha and Tristan’s stories in the Quadrilogy. This second book, as yet unnamed, will deal with the immediate repercussions of Keisha safewording to opt out of the D/s relationship entirely, how she and Tristan will reconcile, and the new conflict that threatens to sabotage their relationship for good. What I hope for in the second book is a departure from mirroring some of the high points in Fifty Shades of Grey to developing Keisha and Tristan’s own unique world.

The final two will be Jada and Nathan’s stories, and will be even less like the Fifty Shades saga. Jada had a much different upbringing than Keisha. Her family has always been upwardly mobile, but even her family has its skeletons in the closet. As she enters Nathan’s world of professional sports, she is thrust into a situation that plays out similar to “Basketball Wives.” However, Jada, an even stronger personality than Keisha, will eventually learn to handle it, just as she embraced her Domme nature when it was a brave new world.

The sub-genre of interracial erotica is quite rich and fertile. Why do readers and writers find it such a draw?
I was surprised yet pleased to find there is a very active community of interracial romance and erotica readers who have accepted my book with open arms. I believe readers find it such a draw because it goes against the grain of forbidden love. In our evolving society, it is becoming less and less so, but until ethnic hate groups are dead, it will remain forbidden for many.

Finally, I am a believer in the human race, as I’m sure many other men and women out there are. I think there is also a draw to these stories because they help to dispel the ethnic preconceived notions that separate us.

You have talked about being criticized for your portrayal of African-Americans in this book. You are an African-American yourself. Can you address the criticism?
To borrow the phrase of the younger set, I thought that as an African-American, I would get a “pass” on the stereotypes I poked fun at in the book that used to piss me off. For the most part, the African-Americans who’ve written me about it have received it very well. I naively approached the writing in this book like a comedy spoof in some respects. I figured, Saturday Night Live, MadTV, Tosh.0 can poke fun at things and they have a massive following, so surely this parody of Fifty Shades of Grey from an ethnic POV won’t offend anyone, least of all, non-minorities. Boy was I wrong!

I expected reviews that touched on my writing itself, on the mechanics of it, and my adherence to the plot, where I ended the first story and the like, but my first “reviews” on GoodReads were people calling into question my audacity to write this book at all. I call it blind censorship. They were judging it unread by the subject matter alone. Mind you, some of it was hate for Fifty Shades of Grey, but some labeled me racist and misogynistic right out of the gate.

I also had people who asked for ARCs and entered the Giveaways only to pan the book because they didn’t get the wry ethnic humor, or were grossly offended by it. I had to begin my next Giveaway with the disclaimer: If you are offended by ethnic humor, please don’t read this book!

My message to those individuals is my favorite quote right now:  “People have the right to call themselves whatever they like. That doesn’t bother me. It’s other people doing the calling that bothers me.” ~ Octavia Butler

I suppose it’s my favorite now because of the controversy surrounding my book when it was first released. I was pretty much told by someone not of my ethnicity that I didn’t have the right to call myself or my characters, what I wanted to. Nothing spurs me to action more than when I’m told I can’t do something.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m married to a wonderful man who’s put up with me for a long time. I’m a parent of four children. We live as simple a life as possible in a two-career (well, three if you count my writing now) home. We all like books, movies, and sports. I am meticulous and have a desire to put forth my best in all things. I may not always succeed but what I produce comes from a pure place. I’m somewhat impatient. I want things to happen yesterday in regard to most things, especially my writing. I’ve been writing again seriously for the past five years. I’d set it aside after college when marriage, life and the birth of my first child happened. I feel like I’ve wasted so many years I could’ve been putting pen to paper, or hands to keyboard, that I’ve squandered so much valuable writing time. If do-overs were possible, I would’ve fitted it in somewhere between finishing college and getting married and kept it there.

Have you got a blog where readers can keep up with your work? Which social media platforms do you use and how can we follow you on them?
Yes. All my social media info is as follows:
Blog: http://lvlewis.wordpress.com 
Twitter: @lv_lewis
Facebook: http://facebook.com/lv.lewis.148
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/lvlewis148/
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6553830.L_V_Lewis.

Where can we buy Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever?
Amazon ( US , UK) of course, as well as via CreateSpace, Barnes and Noble , Books-A-Million, and Powell’s. After my KDP contract is up end of January, it will be available on Nook and all the other electronic platforms, including All Romance eBooks (ARe), and I’ll be trying my best to get it onto an audio platform, as well.

What’s next?
I’m definitely going to finish the quadrilogy, but beyond that, I’m not sure. I’m writing two novels which I was working on before Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever, not the exact same genre, but related genres. I won’t rule out writing in the contemporary erotic romance genre again, but it will depend on whether this erotic romance boom stands the test of time.

I’m also in the planning stages of a YA series under a penname (my children need something from me out there that I can push for them to read). The two romance novels I’m writing are of the more vanilla variety.

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Enjoyed this interview? Then check out our conversation with S. A. King