To paraphrase the 39th President of the United States, I have lust in my heart… for Tamara Lush. We’ve never met in person, never even laid eyes on each other before this video interview commenced, but having read her searingly inflamed first attempt at romance fiction, I can’t help but want to get to know her better. TAMARA LUSH podcast excerpt: "While it is about sex, writing romance and reading romance is a really feminist act. It's about women taking control of their own lives and their own pleasure." Fortunately, she’s in a soundproof booth and can’t hear me right now. I think. Uh, Tamara, can you hear me? Oh, sh!t. Look, what can I say? Hot Shade is a passionate, erotic story about Skylar, a young female reporter in a small Florida beach town who meets a mysterious Italian tourist in the course of doing her job. He soon turns her on in ways she never knew existed. It’s an excellent first effort and I know I want to read more from the ironically named Lush. TAMARA LUSH podcast excerpt: "When I was in second grade, I was heavily influenced by the movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark. And in the early 1980s, I wrote 'Raiders fanfic. It always had to do with vaguely handsome foreign men doing swashbuckling things around the globe. There was heroine who need to be rescued. I was heavily influenced by Marion Ravenwood (played by actress Karen Allen). She was awesome!" Tamara Lush is currently an AP reporter based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Before that, she spent many years writing for the Tampa Bay Times. And she’s damn good at that, too. I’ve spent my entire career around female journalists and if they all have imaginations as vivid as Tamara’s, I envy the loves of their lives. Key interview moments: • 2:10 Karen Allen's portrayal of the love interest in the first 'Indiana Jones' film commits Tamara Lush to the writing life -- in second grade; • 14:40 Romance writing is, according to Lush, all about women taking control of their own lives and pleasure; • 23:00 As a reporter, Lush broke the story of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's infidelities with his Argentinian mistress, making international headlines. Tamara Lush  • • • • • • • • • • • MORE MR. MEDIA INTERVIEWS WITH ROMANCE NOVELISTS!  •  •  •    •  •