Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Interview: Gilded Destiny by Nola Sarina

UFI welcomes Nola Sarina Author of Gilded Destiny. Thanks for Joining us!!


What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?

First, I am a mother. That always comes first in my life.

After that comes the rest of me: wife, writer, and Tarot card reader.

My ancestors were Romani Gypsies from Poland/Russia/wherever, since it’s really hard to track the origins of travelling ancestors. I learned about stereotypical Gypsies when I was young and began reading Tarot cards before I hit my teens. Now, I use the Tarot to guide me in everyday life, to open my eyes to things I may have missed, and to foreshadow what challenges may lay ahead. I love reading cards for others, too. All of it makes up a piece of who I am, along with the littler puzzle pieces like “Star Trek fan” and “constantly wears zip-up hoodies.”

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

Down time is kind of rare for me. But my best friend (and writing partner on other projects) has a gaggle of kids of her own, so we get together for family dinners and video games and swimming. In the summer, we also geocache and hike along the river. It really takes someone else enticing me away from the writing/housework routine with magical phrases like “treasure hunting” and “shiny rocks in the river” that make me go OMG, maybe we’ll see a FAERY!!!

And it’s always worth it, too. One time we found a big boulder and broke it apart because it was loaded with crystals inside. Imagine the glee on the faces of seven kids crowding around a rock that opens up and reveals what they think are diamonds. J

What is your Favorite part of writing? 

Probably the daydreaming. Like, when you read a book, you don’t think about, “How many scenes in this book were structured while the author was in the bathtub?” But the answer is: a lot. I spend more time imagining the scenes, arranging the characters in my head and flowing through their dialogue than I spend writing them out.

Hell, sometimes my husband catches me staring into space and moving my lips and hands around while my characters are talking to each other. And then I’ll get really into it and gasp out loud, or laugh at something and then my husband can’t keep it in anymore and he starts laughing. But I get SO INTO IT.

Action scenes, not so much. I’m not running around my yard going, “AAAHH! VESPERS!” and ducking and rolling through the mud or anything. I swear. *shifty eyes*

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?

Every time I complete a scene, I read back over it, and then I set it aside for an hour, a day, a week, whatever time my brain needs to form the next scene in my head. But when I sit down to write the new one, I always re-read the last thing I wrote.

Also, coffee is a must before writing, but I do sometimes sip tea while writing for one reason only: I can keep the teapot next to me and pour into my little tiny teacups and sip a little, and then when I draw a blank on a sentence, I pour another cup and sip it so it looks like I’m doing something, rather than just staring at the screen going duuuuuhhhhh…….. *flatlined brain*

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?

Jacqueline Carey is my favorite Fantasy author. Her worlds are elaborate, refined, and her characters experience the world through vivid relationships and conflicts that I’m so invested in because she just knows how to make you cheer for a character’s success.

I’m also a big fan of Karen Chance and her sense of humor, and the action that is so packed with the unexpected that I flip the pages until I’m exhausted!

How would you pitch Gilded Destiny to someone who has never heard of it before??

A woman's memory returns when she falls in love with the monster who took it from her.

What can you tell me about the world that Gilded Destiny is set in?

Gilded Destiny is set in this world, and the events of the immortals involved are always hidden from the public eye. The Vespers move at night and on secret trains, and forbid any human outside the train company to know of their existence. In fact, that secrecy leads to the most frightening conflict in the book: Calli’s exposure to so much of the Vesper world puts her in serious danger from the brutal Master she fears.

Do you have a favorite scene in Gilded Destiny?

The sex. Hahahaha Okay, no seriously… the sex. *laughs* What can I say? I write what I love, and I love having my characters connect on that intimate level. I also love allowing them to walk on that border between the most forbidden pleasure and the most exquisite danger, as is the nature of sex between Vespers and humans.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
 
Nycholas was a joy. He’s quite different from the other Vespers I’ve written about, because he’s already defied the Master and isn’t stuck in the repetitive life of servitude, anymore. The thing about Vespers is that they don’t get to enjoy how awesome they are, since they’re always oppressed beneath their duty to safeguard humanity, their food source. Nycholas gets to be a bit freer, eat when he needs to, love with a depth of which he’s not afraid, and seek what he wants without giving a crap about the repercussions unless it personally affects him.

Calli was difficult for me, because I’m not good at writing female 1st person voice. Or at least I wasn’t, until Calli. She taught me a lot about how a woman thinks and behaves, but I’m so used to male voice (despite being a woman, myself) that it took a few tries to really sink into her voice and figure out where she came from, and what she wants.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?

Gilded Destiny is the first in a trilogy of Vesper novellas which will allow the reader to understand the divide between the genders of the Vespers as well as learn more about their origin through the eyes of unique characters falling dangerously in love.

In addition to the novellas, I have the full-length novels in the series Vesper on submission to publishers thanks to my amazing Inklings agent Michelle Johnson. Vesper explores the relationship between the immortal Levi and a certain red-headed human woman who pursues him, and the dire consequences that result from his eventual betrayal of his Master’s rules.

I also have Wild Hyacinthe, a paranormal romance I co-wrote with Emily Faith on submission to publishers. 
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GILDED DESTINY is the first of three novellas in Nola Sarina’s dark fantasy VESPER series, represented by Michelle Johnson of Inklings Literary Agency. Follow Nola on Twitter @NolaSarina and on Facebook for awesome announcements, giveaways, and upcoming info about the second Novella in the series!   

Nola is a mother, wife, writer, and giggle-a-holic, living in Canada and raising a pack of kids. In her spare time she can be found geocaching, guzzling coffee, or tending to her garden. Her VESPER series is on submission by her agent to publishers, along with WILD HYACINTHE, a paranormal romance co-authored with Emily Faith.
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Gilded Destiny
A Vesper Novella
A woman's memory returns when she falls in love with the monster who took it from her.

Calli tattoos her skin to fill the holes in her memory, thanks to an accident that left her mind damaged and empty. But a nasty encounter with a fired employee leaves her in the arms of her unlikely savior: Nycholas, a predatory, serpentine Vesper on the run from his brutal master.

Nycholas’ clandestine world holds the secrets to mankind’s origin and survival… but he only wants one thing before his time is up: a few colorful nights with Calli, the fragile, tattooed, human woman he pursued and saved.

The more Calli learns about Nycholas, the more her own darkened memories return to her. Despite her haunted past, she loses herself to passion and desire with her immortal captor.

Now, Calli must overcome the demons of her past, or allow Nycholas to kiss her memories away and spare her the trauma of loving a doomed immortal. But each choice comes with dire consequences – some that endanger not only herself, but her family as well.
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