6 Questions with Heather Brewer

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

At this very moment, I’m idling at a nice, even five. I recently received some amazing praise from my editor on my revision of NINTH GRADE SLAYS (the second book in The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod), and that’s got me feeling blissfully relieved. However, as soon as copyedits come back, I’m sure I’ll top the scale—or maybe surpass it to a solid fifteen or so. But then, I stress out fairly easily.

2. Why do vampires suck?

Because they have to! *ba-dum-dum-CHING!* Honestly, how else do you expect them to get blood from their victim into their mouth? J No, really, only certain vampires suck. The rest, like Vlad (my protagonist), are pretty cool. I’ve always been interested in vampire lore. And the intriguing thing is that if you really look at all of their history throughout old legends and modern media, they’re probably the most misunderstood beings out there. So, really, it’s the Buffys of the world who suck…not the Spikes.

3. If you had a stake, what or who would you stake with that stake?

Probably the Slayer I acquired it from. I’m pretty protective of vampirekind. After all, vampires are people too…just the kind of people that suck the life out of other people. Like lawyers…and math teachers.

4. Vladimir Tod isn’t that much older than your son, Jacob. Is Vladimir Tod in any way influenced by who Jacob is?

Vladimir and Jacob are both thirteen…and both about to be in the eighth grade. Vlad is a hybrid of me as a teenager and Jacob. Many of the funnier lines spoken by Vlad are direct quotes from my son. And through Jacob, I’m reliving many of my own Junior High woes, so it keeps me in touch with that stressful time.

5. So, the series ends when you run out of grades for Vladimir to study?

There are five books planned for the series right now, yes. And each grade offers a set of unique challenges for Vlad to face, new problems, more enemies, further girl troubles. Readers will get to follow Vlad all the way through his senior year. (And things will get progressively worse for Vlad as time moves on)

6. Are you sure that there’s such a thing as a “optimistic, perky goth“?

Of course there is! I know, because I am one. Being Goth isn’t all about being mopey and depressed all the time—being Goth is having an affinity for the darker aspects of life, a love of the macabre (and of wearing velvet…or leather, depending on who you are). Perky Goths are Goths that have gotten so dark, so down, that they’ve punched through to the other side. It’s…being so evil that you can’t help but smile.

Heather Brewer blogs at Bleeding Ink. Her debut release is Eight Grade Bites, out now, to be followed by the sequel, Ninth Grade Slays.

Vladimir Tod, the star of her series, shares a blog with Lexie Livingstone and it can be found here.

Because Heather’s the coolness, she’s offering a signed copy of Eight Grade Bites to one lucky commenter. I’m not convinced about optimistic, perky goths, so vote! Tell us, do you believe in their existence? Is Heather making it up? Or is she just one of a kind? 

In other giveaway news, she’s giving away the hoodie Vlad wears on the cover  of Eighth Grade Bites on her website. 

6 Questions with Dionne Galace

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity-where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane-and tell us why.

Hmm… I’d say seven right now. My first published work, Skin to Skin is coming out in a few days (Aug 17) and I just found out that Liquid Silver Books is releasing Boundless (an anthology I share with Annie Dean and Bonnie Dee) on September 3rd. That’s two releases within two weeks from each other, so you’ll have to forgive me if I seem a little tense. I also just submitted something to Samhain and I’m waiting to hear from them… it’s a wonder I haven’t chewed up my fingers to nubs. Oh, and the WIP I’m working on right now is driving me nuts. So… um… I think I’m thisclose to stark-raving mad.

2. Were you a writer before you started your blog?

I’ve been writing since I was nine years old, no joke. It all started when I ran out of things to read around the house (my VC Andrews books, my comic books, my mom’s Sidney Sheldon books, my dad’s tech manuals) and began pestering my mother to take me to the library. She was washing the dishes at the time, so she turned to me and said, “Why don’t you write your own books?” And it was the craziest thing I had ever heard, but I was really excited about it. I started writing Babysitter’s Club fanfic and was hooked. In high school, I took all the creative classes I could, then went on to college and majored in Creative Writing. I love everything about writing.

To answer your question, yes, I was a writer before I started my blog. But I also love books (every spare cent I have, I would spend on books over food and anything else. I think that’s why I’m really poor) and I love talking about them with people who love them. I wanted to encourage a dialogue about them.

3. You’re known as a snarky, even occasionally a mean girl reviewer. Do you think you’re going to get what some would call your just deserts?

I realize that and I’m cool with it. Half the time, I don’t really expect anyone to like my work anyway, so hey, it’s a pleasant surprise when someone says something nice about it. Ha-ha. If there are authors out there who want to get their licks in (wink), go for it. I do hope folks will like it and not hate it out of spite.

4. There is a school of thought that says e-pub authors especially need to write fast, and publish a lot. What’s your take?

I’m gonna come at you all cliche here, but I prefer quality over quantity. I think people only do that “write fast and publish a lot” if they hope to make money from this gig. But I really, really can’t crank it out. I’m the type who agonizes over each sentence in my head until it reads wonderfully (to me, anyway). I’m not saying my stuff’s Great American Literature or anything, but there’s a glut of really, really bad fic out there and frankly, I don’t need to be polluting it with my barely literate swill.

5. This question has kept me up for many a night. Why do people call you Bam?

I was a very destructive kid. I was always breaking stuff and my grandmother said I reminded her of Bamm-Bamm from the Flinstones ’cause I was always hitting things with a stick. I grew up being called that and to this day, my family calls me “Bam”. Easier to spell and remember than Dionne, isn’t it? 🙂

6. Where is blogging on your list of favorite ways to procrastinate?

Let’s see… #1, I think. No, that’s not true. Maybe #3. First, I read the gossip blogs like Defamer and D-Listed. Second, I read my favorite rom-bloggers. Third… yeah, I blog. I haven’t posted a review in a while ’cause I haven’t had time to sit down and just read a book. Heck, “Marked” by PC Cast and her daughter Kristin, has been staring at me in the face for weeks, just begging to be finished, and I haven’t been able to because I’ve been so busy with school. So to list my ways of procrastinating: 1) gossip blogs 2) rom-blogs 3) blogging 4) watching talk shows 5) staring at the wall.

Dionne Galace‘s debut release, Skin To Skin, is out today from Samhain Publishing — I’ll edit to add the sale page later today — to be followed by Waking Kitty in the Boundless anthology from Liquid Silver Books.

Six Questions with Portia Da Costa

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I’d say I’m at level 10… but that’s situation normal for me. I am crazy. LOL! I think the main insanity inducing thing in my writing life at the moment is this sequel I’m writing. But I’ve also been trying to develop some new story outlines at the same time, and my poor old brain gears start to grind and seize up when I’m multi-tasking. But I keep on persevering. I’m a great believer in scribbling story snippets and ideas down in notebooks, whenever I think of them. Now, if only I could remember where I put all my notebooks…

2. You were, I think, one of the early authors to e-publish after being print published. Why did you go down that route?

Really? I didn’t realize that. I’d assumed there were lots of people crossing over both ways. Ebook to print, and print to ebook. I suppose I branched out into ebooks by chance really. A writer friend of mine was hanging out with an Ellora’s Cave editor at RWA a few years ago, and they fell to talking about me. The EC editor said, ‘Tell her to send me something’, so I did, and that idea later became my Ellora’s Cave contemporary LESSONS AND LOVERS. I’ve since also written for Phaze, and now for the new British erotic romance epublisher Total-E-Bound. I really like doing both print and ebook.

3. Recently, you announced that you sold a sequel to a novel you wrote some twelve years earlier, Gothic Blue. In that time, your voice has probably changed quite a bit. Is that change making it especially difficult to write the sequel?

Yes, see above! No, seriously, it is quite a challenge to revisit the world of Gothic Blue. For one thing, I’d largely forgotten a lot of what happened in that book, so I’ve had to re-read it myself in order to reacquaint myself with the details of the plot and characters. And yes, my voice has changed quite a bit since then. I think my style is slightly more streamlined and down to earth than it was at that time. Writing a couple of books and some stories in first person has also tended to make my voice more intense and intimate, even when I’m writing in third person. Gothic Blue was slightly poetic in places whereas Gothic Heat is going to be more ‘realistic’ in tone, but with a strong emotional punch. Marrying the paranormal with this realism is quite a tall order but I’m relishing the process.

4. Dorothy Starr. Portia Da Costa. Those are just two of your other past pseudonyms. Was there a reason why you picked those names?

Dorothy Starr was one of my earliest pseudonyms, and I chose Dorothy because it was my mother’s name, and Starr because I liked the sound of being a ‘star’. Portia Da Costa came about because the Black Lace editor at the time of my first book for them said I had to have a new name. Apart from ‘Dorothy’ I tend to make up my pen names in much the way I do the names of my characters. By sheer chance. In the case of PDC, while I was mulling over the need for a new pseudonym, I watched ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ in which John Cleese’s character has a daughter called ‘Portia’. Probably the next day, I was watching Motor Cycle Grand Prix, and I heard someone talking about the orthopaedic surgeon who looks after the injured riders, a guy called ‘Dr Da Costa’… so I just put the two elements together and Bob’s your uncle, Portia Da Costa was born!

5. If you could have a do-over, would you still use a pseudonym?

Yes, I probably would. Publishers mostly seem to want you to use a pseudonym.

6. Do you think it’s necessary for the hero and heroine to get together and have a Happy Ever After in a romance novel?

Oh, absolutely… It’s what romance and erotic romance is all about. Some of my earlier erotic novels don’t have what you’d call conventional HEAs, but I think there’s always been the promise of a HEA, or at least an emotionally satisfying ending where people are happy, either with one person, or even in a more open relationship. Nowadays, I’m much more inclined to go for a more generally recognizable HEA though. It’s what I want to read, so it’s what I want to write. They might not actually be on the point of marriage, or a formal engagement, but at the end of a book, my hero and heroine are usually lovingly committed to each other for good.

Portia Da Costa has a personal blog. She can be found at Romance Galleria most weeks on Friday, around 6PM EST.

Her current releases are Object of Desire, Wild in The Country, and Suite Seventeen (US release), to be followed by Hotbed (reprint–October ’07) and Gothic Heat (June ’08).

She will have stories in the Love On The Dark Side (just released), Hide And Seek (September ’07), Buddies Don’t Bite (January ’08) and Magic And Desire (’08)anthologies, to be released in the near future.

All dates given are US release dates.

Now that all that release day info has hopefully been imprinted in your heads, Portia’s doing a giveaway! Lucky commenter gets 2 books from her print backlist!

6 Questions with Jennifer Cloud

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity-where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane-and tell us why.

I’m getting ready to start a new job. I have my first book signing coming up August 11th. My youngest is starting school this year. My life is total chaos.

2. Recently, you made the decision to let the contracts on some of your older ebooks expire. I’m of the school of thought that says all books are broken in some unfixable way, so there is a point when more rewriting and revising is useless. But you intend to rewrite at least three of them?

Yes. I really tore apart The Wicked Witch to make it more suitable for the market. I shouldn’t have. I’ve also gotten better as a writer. I feel like I’m letting down my babies if I don’t give them another chance.

You are right about not being able to fix some books. I’ve deleted several books that I’ve written after realizing that some aspect of the novel didn’t work. They never saw publication. My husband is usually the judge if a work should live or die.

3. Restless Shadows, your first Drollerie Press release, is rewritten. To put a better spin on it, reimagined. In what sense is it different from the original version?

It’s cleaner and tighter than the original. There aren’t any major plot differences just more with the characters.

4. Does sexy really sell that much better? Or is it simply what sells better from e-presses, do you think?

Sex sells in most markets. I think the difference is more pronounced in ebooks.

Look at any commercial. Sex is used to sell everything from cheeseburgers to cars. It’s one of the primal motivations. For most ad campaigns they focus on one of three things that make consumers buy a product: greed (saving money, more for your money), status, or sex.

With ebooks, sex can be a major selling force. I think women have taken charge of their sexuality and have grown tired of purple prose in their romances.

Frequent any author chat. How hot the book is becomes a common selling point. Certain love scenes are often discussed between readers. There are many review sites that rate how hot the book is. All of it points to many readers wanting sexier books. The e-presses are quick to deliver.

5. What is the hardest thing that a newly published author has to deal with, in your opinion?

I think most new authors have trouble hearing anything negative about a story. It doesn’t matter if it’s an editor trying to help or a reviewer being blunt, few new authors can handle it without developing some resentment. It takes a couple of books to see that the story is a product. Writers see it as an extension of themselves instead of something meant to entertain others.

6. You’ve mentioned on your MySpace blog that you’re working on a collaboration. How is it different from working on your own?

It was a lot of fun. Regan Taylor does beta reads for me so I value her opinion. A writer’s challenge helped her get into writing so it was natural that we would eventually work together. Her work tends to be sweeter whereas I see things on the dark side. On our collaboration, she helped me see the story from different angles and I like to think our styles meshed well.

Jennifer Cloud blogs on MySpace. Her current release is Restless Shadows from Drollerie Press.

She’s sharing an excerpt of Restless Shadows with us, and guess what? Contest! One lucky winner gets a download!

6 Questions with Kat Richardson

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Since I’m currently writing, it’s about… 8. Not quite needing drugs. Usually it’s more like 6-7: “charmingly nuts” to “a bit on the bizarre side.” I get pretty isolated while I’m in the intense writing mode and the combination of living in the characters’ heads, trying to problem-solve on the fly, getting grumpy from lack of human contact, and hating to have to do all the other chores on top of that makes me snappish and unpredictable–with bouts of paranoia and neediness punctuated with babbling. Not to mention “teh lazy.”

2. Is it just me or is Seattle looking like a popular place to set urban fantasy fiction?

Not just you. I saw a couple of reviewers note the trend and I think there’s something to it–the same thing that kind of kicked off my own thought processes to create the “Harperverse”: this place is nuts. Let’s face it, the combination of odd, cold, often misty weather with weird streets, old to eclectic architecture, funky history, and a population that tends to the… umm… eccentric set among geography that tends to isolate people into contained populations is bound to breed some weirdness. I think the local writers just expand on the natural surreality of the place. Gotta love a town with a troll under the Highway 99 overpass. Must have some affection for a state with towns called Cosmopolis, Moxee, Sequim (pronounced “skwim”), and Vader.

3. Many authors choose to create their own supernatural creatures. Others stick to the tried and true. Last but not least, there are those who mix it all up. Where do Greywalkers come in?

That’s all right. I’m a mixer-upper. I made up the Grey and Greywalkers, but there’s always been stories about people with the ability to talk to the dead or see what others can’t, so it’s not totally original core material. It’s just the spin I chose to put on it that’s different–I hope. I like to look at legends and myths and extrapolate out from there, but I do “just make it up” sometimes, too.

Hey, I’m an author–“making it up” is my bread and butter. You know what Lawrence Block said: “Telling Lies for Fun and Profit!”

4. It’s a little urban fantasy, it’s a little science fiction, and why not throw a little mystery as well?

I read everything and I don’t see a point in trying to keep all my faves separated, so it wasn’t strange to me to blender them all up. Oddly, it was the mystery I really wanted in the first place. The rest snuck in while my back was turned and ran amok. I just started out to write about a detective who worked for ghosts and things just took off from there. I like mysteries–they have a nice structure that adapts to all kinds of settings, characters, genre conventions, flights of fancy and insanity, and whatever you have to throw in there. Good kitchen sink stuff.

5. What do you love and hate most about living on a boat?

I love the freedom to leave a place and take my home with me. I like going places and seeing stuff, but I don’t always want to live out of a suitcase. What I hate is the cold, wet conditions in the winter and the mildew. I’d love to spend the winter in Costa Rica or some place like that. With cabana boys and drinks with little paper hats!

6. Why is it that so many writers have cats?

I figure it’s so the writers have something to act as companion that doesn’t really demand a lot of their attention–and washes its own socks. Cats are independent cusses and though they may be affection fiends sometimes, it’s never for very long before they want to go lie in _that_ bit of sunshine over there and not be bothered with the silly human any more. Kind of like writers themselves.

Except for my cat who’s 19 this year and has become a loud, demanding old bastard. But that’s OK–the ferrets keep him in his place.

Kat Richardson blogs and her current release is Poltergeist, to be followed in a year’s time by Underground.

Now for something a little different. Kat’s giving away a copy of Poltergeist, or Greywalker if you haven’t read it. To enter the drawing, discuss:

It’s kind of amusing to me that when the topic of Urban Fantasy comes up the first name on people’s lips is Laurell K. Hamilton and everyone else is classed as an “emulator” or “imitator” of hers. That’s unfortunate since it not only assumes we all write like Hamilton–which we plainly don’t–but it doesn’t give due credit to the people who cracked the niche open ahead of Hamilton: Mercedes Lackey, Charles de Lint, Tanya Huff, Diane Duane, Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull. Urban Fantasy doesn’t require that the story feature a gun-totin grrl who has sex with vampires, only that there be a realistic modern setting in which fantasy–usually the darker parts–is a major element of plot with some mystery and or romantic threads to give the stories structure over a long arc.

6 Questions with Deena Fisher

Deena Fisher is the Founder and Publisher of Drollerie Press.

Drollerie Press opens today!

Today’s Releases:

Joely Sue Burkhart‘s Survive My Fire (Woohoo Joely! The horrifying Sister of the Severed Hand passes through tomorrow!)

Imogen Howson‘s Falling (she was here yesterday peeps, and her contest is still ongoing!)

Ed Morris’s Atlantis 1999

Tala Bar’s Ja’el

Cindy Lynn Speer‘s Every Word I Speak and Necklace of Rubies

G. L. Simmons‘s Orb of Enori

Tim Mulcahy’s Monday Night at the Vampire Lounge

Connie Neil’s Shepher to the Wolves

Elena Murphy’s Provenance

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Ten, without doubt, but it’s a fun ten. My kids are amazing people. I have three children that keep things lively, the best husband in the entire world, one cat (and my husband has one cat. They don’t hang out with one another), one dog and a gerbil. Okay, I’m lying about the gerbil, but our oldest son brought his cat over for long-term babysitting, so the numbers are even. Our five year old daughter, Kara, wants a rabbit. We’re thinking about it. Thankfully she only asks once a day now that she’s been given a stuffed one. The insanity… well, I’ve always been a little odd to most people. I like books too much, not just reading them, but holding them, the smell of ink and paper, admiring the cover art. I get a very satisfying aesthetic from a good cover. I’ve bought books just because of the cover art, some of which I slightly regret, but if the art is good they’re still on the keeper shelf. But I’m digressing.

Right now I’m juggling a lot. I have a small business that pays (some of) the bills and has just started to grow beyond where I thought it would be, and now I’ve added Drollerie Press to the mix. Then, recently a gallery owner saw some of my digital art and asked me to do a show, so I’m trying to get enough pieces done that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to display to the public. This is the first time my art will be seen in a non-commercial setting so I’m a bit nervous about it. On top of that I have fibromyalgia and arthritis, and our youngest child is both albino and autistic of as yet unknown degree. (Our middle child is a precocious five year old artiste and our eldest is a rock star) I believe the challenges our youngest faces have made my husband and me better parents and more aware of the difficulties that differently-abled children have to face, and he’s an absolute joy but he’s also a lot of work.

I digress (again) for a PSA: There are two kinds of albinism. Oculocutaneous (the kind we think of when someone says albino or albinism) and ocular albinism. People with ocular albinism may have poor eyesight without knowing why. People with either kind of albinism don’t usually have red eyes. Our son’s eyes are rare in that they’re a sort of soft peachy-red color but most people with albinism have pale blue, green, or hazel eyes. Albinism is not a disability of mental faculty. People with oculocutaneous albinism have white hair, pale skin and poor eyesight–a condition called “low vision” that means that they’re neither far-sighted nor near-sighted but the effect is probably similar to both at once. Aidan, our son, can see poorly to about a 6 foot radius. To top it off, he inherited his parents’ near-sightedness and astigmatism and wears glasses to correct those problems. Since he’s both four and autistic, he only wears the glasses sometimes. Other times they’re “in the shop”–recovering from one of his fits of temper. Aidan also has nystagmus, a condition that is part of oculocutaneous albinism. Nystagmus is a condition that makes a persons eyes “jitter.” Sometimes they tilt their heads a particular direction to lessen the effect. Aidan often looks like a little bird with his head cocked when he’s trying to figure something out. If any of your readers would like to know more, they can e-mail me or visit http://www.albinism.org/.

The rest of the interview is behind the cut.

6 Questions with Jeanne C. Stein

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Oh, maybe a 2 or 2.5. I’ll tell you why. I’m finally doing what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve never felt better or saner. Writing about vampires is the most liberating job I’ve ever had and I’m loving it. When I worked day jobs, that’s when I would have ranked my insanity up around 10!

2. Some of this week’s blog readers will probably be thinking, “Not another vampire series.” What separates Anna Strong from the pack? And do you think that there’s always space for another vampire series?

I’ll answer the last question first: yes, I think there’s always space for a GOOD vampire series. I hope mine qualifies.

As for what separates Anna, she’s tough, she’s strong, she’s independent, she’s smart. You won’t find her going alone into a dark basement when she knows there’s an ax-murderer lurking around. She’s not about false bravado and she doesn’t do stupid. If she needs help, she asks for it. At the same time, she’s fearless when it comes to protecting those she loves. These are all characteristics she possessed as a mortal. The fact that she is now a vampire only magnifies the scope. I like to think she represents the best in womankind and that we all see a little of ourselves reflected in her persona. I see Anna as a grown up Buffy, only instead of slaying vampires, she’s become one and the demons she battles can be mortal or immortal. The stories all come down to relationships, what we perceive as good and evil, and how we make moral decisions.

3. The Becoming was originally published by ImaJinn books. How did it move from a small press to a New York publishing house?

I used The Becoming as a tool to query agents. When I queried Scott Miller of Trident Media, he read it, called me and said he could sell it to New York. I’d always been told New York would not touch anything already published by a small press. He busted that myth wide open. I had an offer in about two weeks. Ace Books (part of Berkley) bought The Becoming, Blood Drive (also published originally by ImaJinn) and a third, The Watcher. I am now under contract for books 4 and 5, scheduled for release in 2008.

4. Why do you think bounty hunters are such popular characters?

The laws regarding bounty hunting haven’t changed since the Wild West days. Bounty hunters are free them from the constraints of traditional police procedure. They don’t have to be concerned with due process because the guilt or innocent of their quarry has no bearing on what they’re hired to do—find a bail jumper and bring him or her in. It’s simple. Black and white. And it allows greater freedom in storytelling than if Anna were a cop or lawyer and I’d have to research exactly what she could or could not do in a particular scenario. That’s the best part of all.

5. Was The Becoming rewritten for the re-released version?

Very little of The Becoming was rewritten. Now, the second book, Blood Drive, was. It’s a much longer, much richer book. My editor at Ace, Jessica Wade, made some excellent suggestions to expand the story and it went from about 60-some thousand words to over eighty thousand.

6. How did you like your first Romantic Times convention? Would you do it again?

Romantic Times is a kick. It’s also exhausting and expensive. Meeting readers makes it worthwhile, though, and getting on panels allows access you really can’t get anywhere else. So, yes, I will do it again, but I hope to participate in writing panels as well as genre panels. I’m always impressed with how many good pre-published writers there are out there. Writing is a tough business. I’d like to share a little of what I’ve learned along the way and maybe make someone else’s journey a little easier. I’ve also had wonderful mentors and writing/critique partners. Another aspect I can’t emphasize enough. A good critique group can take the level of your work from good to great.

Jeanne C. Stein blogs at Biting Edge.

Her current release is Blood Drive, to be followed by The Witch and the Wicked in the Many Bloody Returns anthology (September) and The Watcher (December).

Now, Contest! Jeanne is super-nice, and she’s giving away 2 signed copies of Blood Drive to two lucky winners!

We have two contests:

1. Comment!

2. Blog about this interview, the contest and Jeanne C. Stein (with links to said interview and Jeanne’s website). Then email me the link at miladyinsanity (at) gmail (dot) com with BD Contest in the subject line or leave it in comments. Bonus entry into draw if you wait and include the link to the excerpt that will be posted shortly. 

One copy for each contest, and you can enter both. Deadline is July 13th and 17th respectively (Friday and next Tuesday), and you have to come back to find out whether you won.

6 Questions with Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Claire is the Managing Director and Founder of Total-E-Bound.

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

LOL. I think at the moment, it’s about trying to be as sane as I’ve ever been. I’ve got to be to juggle everything involved in setting up a business like this. I’m a pretty level headed bird (very English saying there LOL) anyway, and I don’t tend to let things faze me too much. I’m sure some people would say that I must be insane to set this business up in the first place—but hey! there’s nothing like a good challenge is there? I’m the kind of person that if someone says I can’t do it, I will and I’ll prove them wrong.

2. What do you have to say to people who are thinking “Yet another erotica romance e-pub”?

They are absolutely entitled to their opinion. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it though does it? As far as we are concerned, there are very compelling reasons for us to set this business up. This isn’t about trying to justify our existence, because we don’t need to do that.

We’re probably among the first of many. I think people will start getting used to the idea. In 50 years time people will find it odd when looking back at how many trees were cut down in the name of fiction. Now to completely contradict myself—we will be print publishing in the near future. LOL We would love it and look forward to the day that a low cost, easy to use iPod type eBook reader is available to everyone, but unfortunately that day is not here and in the meantime we don’t want to deny our authors the opportunities that print publishing offers.

At the end of the day I think that ePubs are a fantastic platform for unknown authors to generate a fan-base, building the experience and confidence to move on to bigger things, if that’s the route they decide to take. It’s still a growing industry, so I’m sure there will be plenty more ePubs setting up in the future too. It’s a big old world out there full of authors and readers, and ePublishing is the way to go with the world the way it is.

3. Unlike most of the other romance e-publishers, you are based in the UK. Do you think this makes it more difficult for you to keep ahead of trends and such?

No, not at all. We’re all part of a global village now. I’m a citizen of the world and I reside in the UK! *g* It’s an internet business, primarily isn’t it? So we have the same access to information that you have from that perspective. As for the rest, well we do have a publishing industry over here too. Inside and outside of the USA, we’ve had hugely positive responses to our setting up an ePub, which is very promising and we’re very pleased about.

4. Is there a particular subgenre of romance that you, as a reader, want to be the next trend?

I think that each of the genres listed on our site has its place and there’s a market for each of them. What I’d like to be the next trend as a reader doesn’t necessarily mean it will be. Personally I love reading sci-fi, futuristic, paranormal, ménage (saucy!), a bit of Bondage & BDSM (yes I definitely have a naughty streak!) *g*

I’d actually like to see people pushing the envelope a bit more. In some respects we have to be careful not to cross that invisible line, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get damn close to it. For a lot of women, it’s the build up to the actual event that gets them totally hot—a lot of it is in the mind, and I’m seeing quite a lot of mind games coming through in stories at the minute, which I think is really hot, and hopefully that will really take off. I love to see authors doing something a bit different. So, that would certainly be something that I’d be keen to see in manuscripts hitting our submission inbox.

5. You are offering to edit and make available ebooks by authors not contracted to Total-E-Bound. That assumes that you think authors will benefit from the arrangement. Wouldn’t most authors be better off attracting traffic to their site by posting their stories on their sites as opposed to having it on the Total-E-Bound site?

Yep, absolutely – they should put free books on their sites, but as you know bigger sites generate more traffic than most authors own websites. There’s no reason why they can’t do both actually. But of course, the question assumes that they already have websites too. We’re offering this service because we genuinely do want to see good authors get on in their careers. Why shouldn’t they take advantage of a free offering to help them? Surely editing their book and posting it as a free read is a good thing for them. We aren’t saying that these books have to be contracted to us. It’s just a way for them to have a clean copy of their work visible to the readers, and it gives our readers some free stories to get stuck into. Readers coming to our site to look for a particular author are likely to be exposed to these authors’ free works. What could be better—a reader finds a great new author and an author finds another fan— I can’t see a catch.

6. Tell more about the Brit themed anthologies you’re doing. Do you see it as a way to brand Total-E-bound?

Absolutely. We are proud of our roots, so it would be an honour to be branded with a British theme. The only downside is that people could assume that we are Brit only, which is not the case. We accept authors from all across the world. We felt that there was a lack of British themed books in the market and it makes sense to work with what we have and where we come from. Also, we really do want to encourage UK authors to work with us. There are some fantastic British authors out there and we want to see them do well. We’ve already got some wonderful English authors like Portia Da Costa and Saskia Walker working with us.

All of our anthologies will be ‘Brit’ labelled, and have an associated theme. But we’re happy to leave what the association is to the authors—it could be a British character, a location in England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales—it’s their call, as long as they stick to the guidelines for the particular anthology (don’t want to stifle their creativity!! *g*) You can see more of what we’re looking for at our submissions guideline page. There are plenty of projects to get stuck into, and we’d love to hear from all the talented authors out there.

Total-E-Bound is a new Erotic Romance publisher based in the UK. They were launched yesterday.

New titles will be available every Monday, 9AM GMT. That’s 5AM EST if you’re in North America.

There will be excerpts (3), and two contests. Yes, we have another one apart from this one. So have fun!

6 Questions with Shiloh Walker

And so, we have the Brat on the blog! Thank goodness she didn’t bring her bratlets along with her, or it would be the end of the world (at least for this wee blog). 

Contest deets at the end of the post. 😉

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Hmmmmm…. I’d say a seven. Not quite normal but not quite dangerous, unless I get ticked off and then hide your car keys. And I don’t know why-do crazy people ever really know why they are crazy? ;o)

2. Are you really THAT fearsome? Anya Bast doesn’t dare post a pic of you because she says you’ll skin her alive if she does.

When it comes to pics? Oh yes. *G* Anya knows if I let her take a picture, she has to swear it to secrecy. I know where she lives. I know what sugar does to gas tanks. (fyi, for those who don’t know me…. I’m mostly kidding…mostly… ;op)

3. How did you get that bratty reputation of yours? *ggg*

Doesn’t the above answer give you a bit of an idea?

4. Two years from your first sale, you quit your dayjob. It’s been three years now that you’ve been a full-time writer. Looking back, would you have delayed dropping your dayjob? Why, or why not?

Nope. Wouldn’t change it. I got out of nursing because I was getting burned out and I knew there may come a time when I had to work outside of writing. When and if that happens, I don’t want to go back to a job I hate.

5. I’ve done my research, so I won’t ask who your favorite authors are. Instead, I want to know what your platform would be if you were running for President of the SL Viehl/Lynn Viehl/Paperback Writer Fan Club?

Uhhhh….hmmmmm….. I don’t think anybody, including SL Viehl, would want me for a president of any organization. I’m a bit too hotheaded for that. Can I decline the nomination for presidencies… of any kind?

(moi says “No, you can’t!” ) 

6. The Hunters: Declan and Tori turned me into a fan of yours. Because of that, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read I’ll Be Hunting You. Was it an especially difficult book to write? And what have readers said about it?

Actually, it wasn’t hard at all. And go ahead and read it, May… it’s a romance. It ends happy. And while I won’t give away spoilers…can you see Tori living happily ever after with anybody BUT Declan?

Readers have enjoyed it. Most of them claim that they wanted to strangle me…until they finished the book. Then they were glad they read it. Come on, May… I dare you… if you read it and honestly don’t like it, I’ll send you a free ebook…your choice from my ebook backlist. (But this isn’t a contest…. it’s for May only)

Shiloh Walker blogs by herself, with the Vamps & Scamps and is also part of After Midnight Fantasies.

She has just released Always Yours from Samhain Publishing and One Night With You from Ellora’s Cave. Hunter’s Salvation will be in a bookstore near you in the next few days. For The Love Of Jazz will be available later in the year.
Shiloh’s giving away an ebook from her backlist each TWO winners, soooooooo comment! Rate Shiloh’s Brattiness (I think it’s a 10 out of 10)! Or tell us how much you love so-and-so from a Shiloh book! In other words, Say Something to Shiloh. 😉 

6 Questions with Anya Bast

The first Anya book I read was Blood of the Raven. Now she’s moved on to the Elemental Witches. I’m still with her, so why haven’t you picked up this fabulous author?

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

At the moment it’s probably about a 9. Normally it’s about a 7, but having two releases out so close together (Whisper of the Blade and Witch Fire) is giving me angina. Not to mention my deadline for Witch Blood that’s rapidly approaching. Oh, and I’m a new mom…ahhhh!

Did I mention there are characters in my subconscious trying to claw their way out? Yup. Right now it’s a solid nine.

In general, I think writers are a little insane to begin with. *g* We sort of have to be to do what we do, you know?

2. Congrats on your new baby! Now, how many points did Baby S add to your score on the insanity scale? *ggg*

Oh, she’s good for at least one and a half points. I would accept more Baby S insanity, though. She’s the love of my life and has permission to make me crazy. *g* My husband has that permission too, but only because I make him insane in return. Hey, it’s a two-way street.

But, yes, having to promote, write, meet deadlines, ect and ect while learning to be a mom for the first time in my life has been a wee bit crazy-making. Worth it, though. I wouldn’t trade a moment or one ounce of new insanity. I really didn’t know my heart could hold this much love.

3. I do adore a good menage. Why do you think women fantasize being in a menage?

Oh, easy…to have all that lovely male attention just focused on YOU. Four hands, two sets of lips, two tongues…ahem. You get the picture. Anyway, men fantasize about being with two women all the time. Turnabout is fair play.

I think too that there’s an element of getting your emotional needs met through more than one individual. Sometimes one man has qualities you love, but lacks others you need. In the fantasy world of fiction, the main character can find another man who possesses those qualities the first one lacks and love him too. Kind of like having your cake and eating it.

The cool thing about reading erotic romance, in my opinion, is that the reader can completely lose herself to the fantasy of it. Especially if it’s a paranormal story, the reader is absolved completely from the restrictions and regulations society tends to place on women and their sexuality. They can indulge their most elicit fantasies through the POV of the heroine in a fantasy world where anything is possible.

4. Do you think there’s a tendency in romance to write menages that don’t have sexual contact between the two men?

I think there are lots of both kinds. I usually write the kind without M/M contact, though I have two (Whisper of the Blade and Twilight in And Lady Makes Three) that have it. But I’m selfish on behalf of heroine for the most part. I want all her to get all that lovely male attention.

Plus, dealing with the three-way romance of the hero, heroine and hero is quite enough, thank you. Add in another layer of emotional depth between the hero and hero and whoa, baby, that’s a lot to get in there.

Not that it can’t be done. Not that it can’t be fun to write and a nice challenge to boot. It’s just that I don’t always want that extra element in there. I have enough to deal with already.

But I do see a lot of ménage a trois romances with m/m contact coming out, so I know they’re being written!

5. What can you share about the anthology that you, together with three other authors, sold to Harlequin Spice?

It’s called What Happens in Vegas…. The other authors are Lauren Dane, Kit Tunstall and Jodi Lynn Copeland. All the stories are contemporary romance and take place in Las Vegas (duh). And all the stories are connected in that each of our characters have something to do with same casino. Lastly, all the stories are highly erotic. It’s scheduled for release in March 2008.

My story, The Deal, is about a blackjack dealer who makes a series of erotic bets with a female friend of his, a friend to whom he’s been attracted sexually for a long time. It was a blast to write and I really enjoyed working with the other authors in the anthology. I think highly of all of them. Hopefully we’ll be working on a sequel together!

6. Vamps, faeries, and now witches. You’ve done it all, and quite a few wonderful fantasy romances too. Are we ever going to see a plain, old contemporary from you?

Well, I do write plain old contemporaries sometimes…er, kinda. Edge of Sweetness lacks a paranormal element and is a contemporary. It’s also a pretty hot BDSM story, so I don’t know if that counts.

And The Deal, in the above mentioned Harlequin Spice anthology is also a non-paranormal contemporary story. However, again, very hot.

So I guess I can write plain old contemporary, but it has to be erotic.

I dunno, I like writing paranormal best, I guess. I love the worldbuilding you get to do with those. Maybe I have a Goddess complex. I love the escape from the ordinary they provide and the way I can let my imagination run away with me when I write them.

I still need to write a shifter romance! Haven’t done that yet, but for the free stories I write for my newsletter subscribers.

Anya Bast blogs, is a Maverick Author and a member of After Midnight Fantasies. Her current releases are Whisper of the Blade (from Ellora’s Cave) and Witch Fire, which is just out.

Witch Blood, the sequel to Witch Fire, has a tentative release date of March 2008.

Anya, in her utter fabulousness, has agreed to giveaway a signed copy of Witch Fire. Comment in this post or on the Witch Fire review to be entered. Everyone is eligible, even if you have won something here before, and it will be open for three days.

Thanks Anya!

6 Questions with Stephanie V. Kelsey

Stephanie V. Kelsey is Editor-In-Chief and COO of Mojocastle Press.

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I have been cleared of all charges, and therefore can’t speak of the incident in question, per my lawyer’s instructions. Oh, you mean generally…probably about an eight. I’m functional, just very odd.

2. Why Mojocastle?

Carrie (Ed note: Carrie King is CEO of Mojocastle) had it already, and I liked it. It’s easy to remember and kind of fun, and original.

3. Do you feel freer as an editor now that you are a part-owner of your own e-publisher?

Yes, it’s about as free as it gets. I say thanks for my partners every day for believing in me.

4. Do you think that you’re a better editor, now that you have written and published several books yourself?

Other way around, I think. I think editing made me a better writer. Editing makes me a better editor–I’m always learning there.

5. What do you envision for Mojocastle Press in five years?

World domination. No, I jest, but we do want to cater more to the international market–I’m all about go USA, but the internet is so much bigger than that.

6. What should readers be keeping an eye out for from Mojocastle Press?

Translations into other languages. More new and different quality titles from very talented authors. And print, coming very soon.

Unfortunately, Mojocastle Press is currently closed to submissions. Please keep an eye on this page if you are interested in submitting to Mojocastle.

6 Questions with Rachel Vincent

Rachel Vincent writes about WereCats, so what’s not to like? 😉

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity—where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane—and tell us why.

A week ago, I was at a three, calmly awaiting the release date. But since then, the revision letter for Rogue has come in, and I’m now on a deadline. I’m trying to balance the edits with the release excitement and book promotion, as well as a redesign of my website, and several interview requests. Everything’s coming at me pretty quickly, so I’d say I’m at about a nine right now.

2. Was it a conscious decision to have werecats rather than werewolves?

Yes, in fact, it was. Stray was a conscious attempt to write something marketable, after having just written my first two novels, which were too much of a genre blend to be saleable, both then and now. I love urban fantasy, but knew I didn’t have anything to add to vampire lore. However, at the time I’d never run into a book centered around werecats. So I dove right in, modeling the social structure after that of real-life lions, only with the proportion of males to females reversed. A real-life lion pride has many lionesses, but typically only one adult male. But my werecat Prides have many men and only one eligible woman a piece.

3. I cannot decide whether you’re a book abuser or not, since you break spines but you don’t dogear pages. What do you consider to be book abuse?

Oh, I’m not a book abuser! I’m a book lover! Breaking the spines is proof that you’ve actually read the book. Book abuse is using a book for anything other than its intended purpose. Like a coaster, for instance. Or a doorstop. Target practice. Or weapon. And yes, I’ve known people who have done all of the above. Next to that, breaking the spine to make a book easier to read can hardly be considered abuse. It’s more like a love pat. Or a literary caress. 😉

4. You’ve said on your blog the reason why you don’t read ebooks is because you do all writing stuff on the computer. Is that still the case?

Is it still true that I do all my writing stuff on the computer? Yes. My problem with e-books is that I can’t curl up with them, which means I can’t truly relax with one. I have to either sit up straight with my laptop burning my legs or sit at the straight-backed chair in front of my desktop. A little discomfort works in my favor when I’m writing and need to stay awake. But it keeps me from truly relaxing with a good book. But, as I also said on my blog, if and when I get a hand-held device, I will certainly give digital reads another shot. 😉

5. I’ve seen authors start blogs after getting an agent or a contract. Was getting a request for the full from Miriam Kriss the catalyst for starting a blog, or were you planning to start one at some point anyway?

Neither, actually. I had another blog before my current blog. That first one wasn’t regularly updated and didn’t have much of a readership. It was mostly just a way for me to comment easily on my friends’ blogs, and I started it at the suggestion of a fellow writer in my RWA chapter. Then, after I signed with Miriam, I started the blog I have now and dedicated myself to keeping it current. The earliest posts (involving signing with Miriam) were imported from my previous blog, in an attempt to preserve the record of my experiences along the road to publication.

6. Since your confession, have you started reading romances?

Actually, I have read several romances since then. Mostly paranormal, but I also read a historical last year that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have no problem with romance in fiction. In fact, I’ve never written a book that doesn’t involve a love story. I just prefer books in which the love story is a subplot—secondary to the action or intrigue.

Rachel Vincent blogs and has a LiveJournal with the same content. Stray should be available in a bookstores near you, and will be followed by Rogue in March 2008.

6 Questions with Amie Stuart

Amie is one of the many authors I’ve been cyber-introduced to on Jordan Summers’s blog.

I have never met her in person, and maybe I never will, but I know her to be a funny-as-hell lady with a big heart.

And if you think women with smarts are sexy? Amie Stuart, she is SMOKING!!!

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

HA! Single mom, full time job, two kids (at least they’re boys but I’m seriously questioning whether that’s better since I got saddled with one male diva), writing (and all *that* entails), RWA chapter officer responsibilities, a house (what was I thinking?) and three cats. It’s at least a ten.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone’s got a full plate and everyone’s got their stuff to deal with—I’m so not whining. I’m probably happier than I’ve ever been (but no less crazy)

2. Amie Stuart and Celia Stuart. Which one is the one on medication, and which one rates a ten on the above scale?

Celia rates the ten. Amie should be medicated and has been *g* Seriously, the name change, at first it was fun just being able to take any name I wanted and make it my own. Then I sold to NY and I got to thinking about longevity and what I wanted to see on a book cover ten years from now.

3. In Hands On, all three of the heroines work blue-collar jobs. Are you drawing from your own work experience?

No way! I hate getting grubby, but I have been known to put up a light fixture and I know how to hook up my cable and DVD box. But I come from a family of blue collar men. My dad was a mechanic for years until he retired, and my brother owned his own garage. So I definitely have a blue collar background even if it’s indirectly.

4. Would you give up coffee? *g*

LOL no way! I gave up caffeine! Had to—doctor’s orders. Also caffeine inhibits the absorption of calcium—or something like that. Coffee…I like the herbal stuff but I mix it with decaf. That morning coffee experience is totally psychological even without the caffeine jolt.

5. Is it difficult to write romance in a house with two boys in it? All that testosterone…and I don’t mean it in a good way!

Not really. They’re pretty self-sufficient AND they go to their dad’s every other weekend so I get time away from them to recharge and write without them around. That doesn’t stop them from making me referee a fight every hour or so, or issuing a threat/bribe to get some writing time on the weekends they’re home though. Despite the typical 13 YO attitude, my oldest is a hoot—we’re really good friends as long as a discussion about his grades isn’t in the works, and my baby is my baby. I think you just have to be determined not to let them drive you nuts and you know, I keep telling myself it won’t be that long till they go to college. I need to enjoy them.

6. And because you’re a Southern Fried Chicken Chica, how much do you love Southern Fried Chicken?

I ADORE southern fried chicken, and mashed potatoes, and cornbread *drool* and sweet tea.

I used to live in this small town in N. Texas and there was this restaurant (Ok it was the ONLY restaurant in town besides Dairy Queen) and they had the best food. The only thing better is chicken fried steak. My mom was a Yankee, so I learned to cook southern from a friend of mine’s mom.

Amie Stuart blogs by herself, with the Southern Fried Chicas and is a member of new group blog Naughty & Spice. Her current release is Hands On, to be followed by Kink in the Built anthology in August.

And because she’s cool and generous and all things nice (and I sucked up too *ggg*), she’s doing a giveaway! Comment here and on the Hands On review to win a signed copy of Hands On. Contest ends in three days, and everybody can enter, even if you’ve won something here in the past.

Thanks Amie!

6 Questions with Melissa Marr

I first heard of Melissa Marr on her agent’s LiveJournal. At the time, she was just another YA fantasy author. and these days, they are a dime a dozen. 

Then I found my way to her community, Fangs, Fur & Fey, and then to her own LiveJournal. She is one of those rare bloggers who manage to endear themselves to you purely because of their blogging voice.

I haven’t yet read Wicked Lovely, but I hope to soon, and I do believe I will adore this lovely lady’s debut novel. 

For now, here’s Melissa, in her own words.

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I like to linger around 6–not quite on the stable side of sane, but not too near self-destructive. I’ve spent time on both sides of the scale, but 6 is a good spot to aim for–and according to family, a natural one for me. I was born under a full moon & grew up loving this wonderful myth that sleeping outside under a full moon can cause insanity (or lycanthropy). I’ve never developed shape shifting skills, but my level of sanity is never all the way towards the sane side. I like it this way.

2. Oooooh Fairies! Since you write about them, maybe you have an idea why we are so very fascinated by them?

If we’re talking about older lore–the sort I use for my source texts–I’d say we’re fascinated by the lure of shadows and variable morality. In faery lore, we have emotional vampires (leannan sidhe), seducers whose touch is deadly (gancanagh), tricksters whose form changes (pouka), and myriad others. They’re either wicked or lovely or maybe both (hence my title). They may reward us immeasurably or destroy us on a whim. With the faeries of old, we can have all the allure of a vampire or shapeshifter, but not the familiarity of being formerly mortal. They are Other in the fullest sense, and I suspect that we find that otherness attractive. I know I do.

3. There are some whose passion for literature was burnt out by being schooled in it. For you, it doesn’t appear to have been the case. Did you have someone in particular, perhaps a teacher or mentor, who shared with you her/his passion?

My reading is ridiculously eclectic, so there was never any fear that I’d lose my passion for text. I’ve had a few teachers along the way who fostered that. In 6th grade, my teacher handed me a creative writing book & told me I was a born writer so I’d better start writing. My high school art teacher sponsored my friends and me in founding a “literary magazine” at the school. In college my department let me take “independent studies” courses if there wasn’t an existing course in my interests. They let me have a lot of freedom. Then in grad school, I met the two professors who took all these freedoms and added some discipline. They encouraged my passions (and allowed me more directed studies), but they pushed me to challenge myself.

4. Do you miss teaching? Have you thought about going back, even if you don’t have to?

I never taught because I had to: I actually bartended so I could afford to teach. There’s this amazing energy that happens when a class “gets it.” It’s a great rush. I miss teaching, sometimes more than I should admit, I suspect. Seeing a student develop her/his writing or find a better grasp of the material–it’s an incredible thing. On good days, I could come out of classes or my office feeling like the world was perfectly aligned–and there were a lot of good days.

I’d love to do guest lectures here or there, but I don’t have the time to devote to a full semester course just now. I’d rather do a good job at either teaching or writing, than try to do a half-decent job at both.

5. Did Wicked Lovely just come to you as a young-adult novel? Or were you specifically setting out to write a young-adult novel?

I had no plan either way. When the main character presented herself, she was in her later teens, so I went with it. My characters often come as full personalities, so I am trying to roll with their wishes. If Ash had been 30, I would’ve been writing an adult novel.

I get that some folks “write to the market” or what have you. I’m not that organized. I just write what Ms Muse directs, about the worlds she shows me, with the characters she introduces me to . . . This time she directed a YA urban fantasy book. I don’t know that I’ll stay in this area or even continue writing long term. It’s all up to Ms Muse.

6. Since you asked for six questions rather than seven, what mystical power does the number six have?

I don’t know that I’d call it mystical, but six is my favourite number. I’ve been fond of the number for years. I love symbolism and myth and seeking patterns. Six fits with all of that. Six was the number of creation in Sumerian myth (among others). It’s symbolically the number of balance, luck, & harmony according to other sources. I like seeing patterns. 6 is a pattern for me: in college, my post office box was 666; I lived in room 606. My son was born on 10/14 (1+1+4=6). My first offer for my book was March 6th, 2006. My ISBNs are riddled with 6s. My release date is the 6th month, 12th day.

Encouraging sixes in an event makes me feel better. I have 2 sets of 6 lilies tattooed on me. Ms Muse is 6″ x 12″ on my back. I prefer a 6 in my flights or phone number or addresses or . . . Hmm, maybe this should be part two of that first question about sanity 😉 It’s a touch odd, I hear, but it pleases me so unless it becomes debilitating I don’t see any reason to question it.

Melissa Marr has a LiveJournal, and is a member of Fangs, Fur and Fey as well as the Class of 2k7. Wicked Lovely releases in June.

5 Questions with Katie Chandler

Katie Chandler is the star of Shanna Swendson‘s Enchanted, Inc series. Her creator will be by on May 10th.

In the meantime, enjoy this interview. For the cool peeps who are already hooked on the books, this is Katie in the Early Damsel Under Stress period.

But never fear. There aren’t any major spoilers here. 😉 

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity ­where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane ­and tell us why.

9 — There’s a bad wizard on the loose and I’m really busy at work. Life is nuts!

2. So many dream of moving to New York City. Do you think you are going to settle down, get married and have kids in NYC or do you intend to move back home at some point?

I really don’t know. There’s not much for me to do back home, so I doubt I’ll end up back there permanently. I know I’d like to have a family someday, and I’m not sure I’d want to bring up kids in the city. But that’s not really on the immediate horizon to worry about!

3. I’m moving overseas to study and at some point, the parents will be coming to visit me. Share some tips on how to manage them, will you? 😉

Get really busy and have a friend help you out by playing tour guide and showing them around for you. 🙂

4. You live with your best friends, while hiding the truth about magic from them. Are you afraid it’s all about to come crashing down about your ears?

Constantly! Either they’ll clue into the magic stuff or they’ll start to think I’m nuts or maybe a pathological liar.

5. Finally, Owen. Surely you’ve found something about him to gripe about now? Otherwise, I’m going to come over and steal him from you. *ggg*

Well, he does tend to get way too focused on his work. I guess that’s good for the world, since he’s protecting us from bad magic and rogue wizards, but it makes it hard to spend time with him.

6 Questions with Lara Adrian

When I first ‘met’ Lara, she wasn’t yet Lara. She was Tina St. John, historical romance writer.

Now she writes vampires, my absolute favorite amongst the myriad paranormal creatures. I don’t know about you, but I know I’m one person who’s glad she made the switch. 

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

As I write this, there are less than three weeks before Kiss of Midnight goes on sale, then a mere four weeks later, Kiss of Crimson follows. As if that would not induce enough insanity on its own, I also have a book due at the end of May. Strangely enough, I’m not ready to have myself committed yet, so I guess I’d have to say I’m only mildly insane at the moment. On your scale, I’m about a 4.

2. Please tell me that you were kidding when you told me Happy Monday. Because, you know, normal people don’t like Mondays. *g*

Hah! You assume I’m normal! Actually, since my writing is my full-time (way more than full-time!) in-home business, I don’t keep regular hours or workdays. For me, every day is Monday . . . or Friday. It all depends on your perspective.

3. From Tina St. John… Historicals. Some say it’s a dead subgenre. Others say it’s going to the the next big thing, again. What drew you to writing historicals, rather than books with contemporary settings?

When I was first toying with the idea of writing a book–way back in the dark ages of 1995–I had just discovered romance novels, and historical romance in particular. I loved the pageantry and mystique of historicals, and as it happened the idea I had for my first novel was a medieval. That manuscript sold out of the slush pile at Ballantine as part of a two-book contract and to my astonishment, I was suddenly on my way to becoming a medieval romance author. J

I really enjoyed writing all seven of my medievals, and I certainly gave them my all, but as a reader, I love thrillers, romantic suspense, and dark paranormals more than any other genres. I grew up reading Stephen King, John Saul, Dean Koontz, etc., and Anne Rice definitely helped fuel my love for vampires. So when Ballantine declined to renew me for the last book in my medieval paranormal series due to soft sales, I was very happy to be able to try my hand at something dark and contemporary.

4. …to Lara Adrian, and paranormals. Do you think you can go back to having to research instead of making up rules as you go along?

Oh, make no mistake, there is still a lot of research that goes into my paranormals! Now, instead of learning the ins and outs of destriers, chain mail, and broadswords, I’m researching expensive cars and gadgets, explosives, narcotics, and 9mm handguns. The FBI would find my Google search history quite interesting, I’m sure!

What I do love about a contemporary setting is that my characters are not restricted in terms of social class, occupation, or ethnic background. It’s a big wide world out there, and finally I have the chance to make my characters a part of it. I also love being able to write in a voice that comes naturally to me. Can I just say how liberating it is to not have to stop and reword every line so that it has an historical cadence?! And of course the fact that I’m writing paranormals is all kinds of creative fun.

5. It’s a little different for you, since your last few books were paranormal/fantasy historicals. But do you think there will be reader backlash anyway?

I’m not sure I had enough readers for there to be much of a backlash! I hope that some–if not all–of my medieval readers will follow me on this new creative path, but I expect I’ll lose some along the way. I’d be lying if I said reader backlash was no concern at all, because I truly hate disappointing people and I’ve made a lot of wonderful reader friends through my medievals. But creatively–as well as professionally–this was a change I needed to make, and I’ve never been happier.

6. Your pseudonym’s got a very hip feel that absolutely fits with the Midnight Breed series. How did you pick it?

I’m glad you like my new name–thanks! I wanted something that felt contemporary, and Adrian was my first choice as a surname because I read somewhere that it means “dark one.” Originally I’d chosen Mia as my first name–sort of a wink to myself that my new pen name would roughly mean, “Me, the dark one.”

Both my publisher and my agent thought Mia was too perky for my writing style, so after a bit of brainstorming with my husband, we settled on Lara. Oddly enough, and I’d forgotten this until well after the fact, there is a background character named Lara in one of my medieval paranormals. Unfortunately for her, she touched something she shouldn’t have and perished in a dark magic ball of flames. I hope I have a better future ahead of me than that!

Lara Adrian blogs and MySpaces. Kiss Of Midnight is her current release, and Kiss of Crimson follows in just four weeks. Midnight Awakening is her current work-in-progress and will be released in December.

7 Questions with Megan Hart

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Eight. It’s more than five, because I’d say five is probably “normal” but it’s less than ten because I can still make a determination, and if I was a level ten I’d probably be saying I’m at “one.” 😉

2. You have an extensive backlist of shorter length fiction. Do you just like writing novellas better?

I wrote a lot of short fiction for various reasons, one being that it takes way less time to write a short story than it does to write a novel. Particularly when I got started in erotic fiction, Amber Quill was one of the few, if not the only publisher at the time, to offer short stories. I was writing novels and novellas, too, but the shorts came out so much faster and therefore could be published faster, that I built up a backlist of the short stories. I can’t say I prefer shorts to novel length pieces. It depends on the story.

3. Are you still writing for your e-publishers?

I have two stories scheduled for Amber Quill in 2007, a piece for their upcoming Space Trucking AmberPax and a fairy-tale story for another collection due out later in the year. I love writing for Amber Quill and don’t intend to stop.

4. All three of your Spice novels, Dirty, Broken and Perfect, are written in first person. Was there a reason why you wrote them in first person? From a reader’s point of view, third person tends to be easier to read.

I really enjoy writing in first person and always have. Quite a few of my stories are written in first person. Particularly for erotic work, I find the deep point of view of first person can lend so much intimacy to a story and a character that I really like using it. As I reader, some of my favorite novels have been in first person, and I’ve never found that reading in third is better or worse than first. Because I usually write books I want to read (I’m just selfish like that) they come out in first as often as they do third. To be honest, I don’t understand why people don’t like first — I really enjoy it.

5. Spice is an erotica line, yet your earlier are romances. Are your Spice novels erotica, or do they have a traditional romance Happy ever After?

I would not call DIRTY or BROKEN traditional romances or even traditional erotic romance, but I wouldn’t say they’re not romance at all. As for the HEA…I would say they end the best way they could. The way they had to. In my mind, they end positively, but to say they have a traditional Happy Ever After might disappoint someone whose idea of that is different than mine. DIRTY is romantic. It’s about love. But ultimately, I think I would allow the reader to decide for herself if DIRTY and BROKEN are “romances.” I would not consider them straight erotica, though. And there we have the problem — there are so many subtle differences between erotica, erotic romance, romance, erotic literature…my books are erotic fiction about the relationships of the characters within them. Dirty is more “romantic” than Broken, but Broken has a definite love story woven within it. That’s the best answer I can give.

6. You’ve written quite a few SFF novellas. Do you see yourself making the transition to pure SFF (as in, where the SFF part is more important than the romance part) in the future?

I would love to publish my drawer babies — I have an entire trilogy that is straight SF without a true romance in it (though there is a love story, can’t get away without having some love!) But will I completely transition? That’s hard to say. I love writing about love and relationships so much I doubt I’ll ever move away from writing stories with those elements, and who best appreciates stories about love and romance but romance readers?

7. Me, I’m a firm believer in the power of purple ink. Since you wear purple slippers every day at home, you understand the power of purple too…Right?

Purple rocks. lol!

Megan blogs and is a MySpacer. Broken releases this month.

7 Questions with Natasha Mostert

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

My current level of insanity is pretty high — not quite in the “lunatic asylum red zone” but a fairly toxic orange — let’s say an eight. The reason? Two projects conflicting: a) a novel in progress, which I’ve only just started and b) the promotion of Season of the Witch. It is like having to choose between two demanding lovers! Starting a novel from scratch is always tough: you’re not comfortable with your characters yet and you’re struggling with plot lines that are still wobbly. Promotion is hard work too. Blogging, writing articles, networking, online interviews: all of this can be tremendously time consuming…if fun!

2. You’ve lived in London, South Africa and elsewhere. It’s clearly something that has flavored your work, in terms of setting especially. Is there any place that you’ve not been where you’d like to set a story?

Easter Island! Although I’m a little hesitant about the gazillion hour plane trip that would take me there…

3. Your aia started your interest in mysticism. You’ve mentioned that you insisted on following some of her superstitions as a child in your bio page. Are there any that have stuck with you through the years?

Fortunately for my husband I do not insist any more on raising my bed on bricks the way my aia did (to be out of reach of the tokkelosh — a malevolent little man with a big head and short legs) but she has sharpened my awareness of things that can’t always be easily explained: synchronisities, coincidences, those small ripples that hint at something hiding behind the dusty curtain. She believed that magic lurked in the shadow of the mundane. This is a very African way of looking at the world. In Africa magic permeates every aspect of every day life — it is not a thing apart. This belief is reflected in my books. Even though I write about topics, which can seem fey and far-fetched, I make sure to embed them firmly within a modern day, realistic framework. One moment my characters will be plodding along unsuspectingly and the next they will find themselves caught up in a world that is luminous and imaginative.

4. Surely that interest must be deeply entrenched by now; all your books thus far are paranormals. Do you think it’s the thrill of the unknown, perhaps even the impossible, that attracts us to explore the paranormal?

I think we all need a little bit of fantasy on our bread. Our lives are rushed and filled with routine and we long for something that will inspire us with awe and wonder. Paranormal stories are usually sensual, resonant stories, filled with dark images tinged with apocalyptic fire. For some reason these stories touch something deep within us.

5. One of your future goals is coming face to face with a ghost. Do you think you’ll scream like a girl when it happens?

Wouldn’t it be nice if I found myself able to communicate intelligibly and intelligently with my ghostly visitor? But probably not! Although I tend to lose my voice when I’m in shock so I’ll most likely end up gasping like a fish out of water.

6. Windwalker had a…rather controversial ending, especially for one that had ‘romance’ on the spine. The RWA definition of romance includes a happy ever after, and not every reader considers Windwalker’s ending a true happy ever after. Do you think that a romance needs to have a happy ever after?

Controversial is putting it mildly. Many readers loved the book but yes, I picked up a lot of flak from a sizeable group of romance readers who felt betrayed by Windwalker‘s ending. I suppose it depends on your definition of romance. For me, “romance” equals “love story” and some of the most enduring love stories do not have happy endings. Look at Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights, even Memoirs of a Geisha. Maybe it is true that the romance imprimatur on the spine confused readers who were expecting a more traditional read. I admit that my books are not conventional. I try to keep the story lines unexpected. After all, what’s the fun in doing what every other writer does? And even the setting I used in Windwalker, Namibia, drew criticism — although I think after Brad and Angelina’s adventure, Namibia may not seem quite as odd a backdrop for a love story any more.

As for Season of the Witch: I have a new publisher and the book will not be marketed as pure romance, although it does have a strong romance angle: my hero falls in love with a voice in a diary – how romantic is that? On the other hand, the voice might belong to a killer… I suppose my books are hybrids, which make them difficult to peg: a dash of romance, a scoop of mystery, a seasoning of mysticism and a dollop of the paranormal make for an unpredictable brew. My characters tend not to walk hand-in-hand into the sunset, but I like to think they do other things that are pretty interesting…

7. “Enter the World of a Witch. Play the memory game. http://www.seasonofthewitch.com”. What gave you the idea for the game? And did you have fun designing it?

In Season of the Witch my two witches are building a memory palace filled with fantastical objects that are both bizarre and beautiful. When I wrote the descriptions of the palace, the idea came to me that if these scenes could be translated into visual imagery, that they would make a great backdrop for a game.

I have to admit that I underestimated how tough it is to write a game — I’ve never done it before — but yes, it was great fun. Fortunately, I have a very talented brother who is a highly imaginative website designer and he was able to take care of all the technical wizardry for me. I hope readers will enjoy playing the game: I’ve made it quite challenging. If they manage to get to the end, they could even win a prize!

Natasha Mostert MySpaces. Season of the Witch should be available in a bookstore near you tomorrow, and if you’d like to win signed copies, play the Memory Game!

7 Questions with Elizabeth Guest

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

All writers are a little insane. 🙂 Sometimes I’m a one and sometimes I’m a ten on the insanity scale depending on how close I am to the next book deadline. I can sum up my feelings with the following thought: “I don’t suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.”

2. Elizabeth Guest isn’t only your pen name, it’s also the name of a character in one of your earlier novels, Desert Rogue. Did you choose it because of the Egypt connection?

I’ve always loved the name Elizabeth Guest, which I found on my family tree. (Two great-great-grandmothers.) I gave the name to the heroine of my first historical romance, but I always knew that I’d use it someday for my own pen name. It has special meaning for me because DESERT ROGUE was set in Egypt 1875 and my new series (PHARAOHS RISING) is all about an ancient Egyptian royal family who awaken in current time as vampires.

3. Now that you’ve been blogging for a year, what are your thoughts?

Blogging is fun, but it’s also hard work! I don’t think I could keep it up without the help of the other Quills: Susan Andersen, Stella Cameron, Lori Foster, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Elizabeth Lowell. Several of the Quills are new friends, but the others have been close friends for a long time — that makes it special, too.

4. Have you been on a dig in Egypt? Would you go if you have not?

I haven’t been on a dig. I have seen the magnificent ancient Egyptian artifacts in many of the museums in the USA, as well as the British Museum and the Louvre. I would love to go to Egypt one day and at least see a dig in person. I probably like my creature comforts too much to spend weeks at a dig.

5. Do you think that readers might be upset about your move into paranormals?

Whenever an author makes a major change in what she’s writing there will be some readers who will love it and some who don’t. That’s why I chose a new name. Writing about Adrian/Seti and his extended royal family is a dream come true for me. I’m so excited about the new series. I only hope most of my readers will be, too.

6. What do you think you are bringing to the vampire genre?

My story is based on ancient Egyptian mythology and beliefs, especially as described in the Book of the Dead. My new series is very different from anything other paranormal writers are currently doing. I wouldn’t have even attempted to write a vampire paranormal unless I had something fresh and original to bring to the genre.

7. So what’s up next for Elizabeth Guest?

I’m just finishing up the second book in the series. The hero, John Hunter/Rekhmire is a prince of Egypt and half-brother to Adrian/Seti from NIGHT LIFE. The setting is current day Los Angeles. I’ve already plotted out the first four books of the series I’m now calling Pharaohs Rising and I can’t wait to start work on Book 3.

Suzanne Simmons writes the Pharaohs Rising series under the name of Elizabeth Guest, and she blogs at Running With Quills. The first book, Night Life, has just been released.

7 Questions with Sasha White

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I’d say around a 6. I’m pretty mellow right now. I’m working out again, and hanging out with friends, not constantly holed up in the writing cave. If you’d asked me two months ago, I’d be a 9 LOL

2. I think your release schedule for this year is second only to Saskia Walker‘s. How do you keep up the pace?

I stop having a life. LOL For the last year and a half I’ve done nothing but write. Like I said, my schedule is slowing now, and I’m trying to find a balance. It’s hard to find a balance when I have some much I want to do. So much I enjoy doing.

3. Speaking of Saskia, how did the Kink anthology come to be? Through your agent, Roberta Brown?

Actually, it was my idea. 🙂 Saskia and I have been in so many short story anthologies together over the years, where we’re one(or two) or ten or twenty authors that when we both sold to Berkley – and both hired the same agent – I figured it was about time we saw our names on a cover together. I love Saskia’s stories, and I figured our styles would work off each other very well. I emailed Saskia, and she was into it. Roberta pitched it for us, and Berkley liked the idea.

4. On the cover of Secret Thoughts: Erotique, it says “collection compiled by Sasha White”. Does that mean you edited it as well, or only that you selected the stories? I’ve not read it, but the content seems pretty varied. Was there a theme to the collection?

The theme is Secret Thoughts. 🙂 The stories are everything from first person POV naughty thoughts to fantasies lived out. There really is something for everyone in it, and I think it’s a great collection for people to try as an erotica sampler. They can see varies styles, levels of heat, and maybe find a new author to love.

As for editing…Well, Yes, I chose the stories to go in. I also chose the order they’d be in, and I did a small amount of editing. Jessica, from Samhain edited them after me, for safety thought cuz I’m not really an editor. LOL.

5. Having worked FOH (front of house) as a bartender, do you think it’s a good experience to have? And confirm for me that you’re one heckuva smart woman: a guy who treats servers badly is a guy to be dumped immediately, right?

YES!! To both. Dump anyone who treats servers badly. It’s a very telling trait about who they really are. 🙂

And yes, I think serving is fantastic experience. I’ve worked many different jobs, but in the hospitality industry not only will you see people in a different – and clearer – light after a few months. But you learn a lot about how to work under pressure, how to multi-task, how to deal with money, and how to talk to people. You a lot learn a lot about yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses.

I think everyone should try waitressing for a month, if for no other reason than I bet those who’ve never done it, truly have no idea how much work it actually is.

6. You have been taking part in Half Naked Thursday. Is that a reflection of you, as a person, growing more comfortable with your body?

Definitely. Not just with my body though, but I’m becoming more open about how strongly I feel sexuality is a part of who we are. Body image really effects how much pleasure we can get from our bodies. Simply because when a woman feels to self conscious of her not perfect body, it becomes lot harder to relax and enjoy what’s happening to that body. I’m at my heaviest right now, yet I’m so much more in tune with my sexuality because I’m learning to love my body for what it does for me – even if it doesn’t look as good as I’d like it too. HNT is a way to show that how you think can effect how you feel, and that often effects how you look, and act.

Plus, I’ve always had an interest in photography. I’ve done quite a bit with travel photo’s and now I’m thinking I’d like to explore people more. Everyday people. Real people. We’re all beautiful, and we need to remember that.

7. Recently, you did a poll on your blog, asking readers what genre should your next fiction work be in. Do you think it’s just the human need to explore and push the boundaries? Or is expressing or fulfilling creativity through reinvention?

Oh Lord. I blame a short attention span. Which I guess is the human need to explore and push boundaries. My need anyway. I’ve always had a hard time sticking with any one thing for too long. That’s not to say I won’t always do erotica, or erotic romance, but yes, I think to keep the creative muscles functioning they need to be stretched and worked out every now and then.

Sometimes it’s just dreaming or contemplating. Sometimes it’s the urge to expand my own little world, not just my writing, as I said above, I’m that way with photography, and pretty much everything. It keeps life interesting!

Sasha White blogs with Allure Authors and the Berkley Babes.

She has already released stories in the Secret Thoughts: Erotique, Kink, Dreams and Desires and Alluring Tales anthologies this year.

Her current release is Lush, and the one after that will be Trouble, out in August.