What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
I am a total geek/nerd (and no, I'm not using those words interchangeably!). I love history, geology, earth science, and astronomy. I also love Star Wars, Supernatural, The Princess Bride, and Lord of the Rings. Not necessarily in that order.
What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
I'm mom to a 5-year-old, so this "down time" you speak of is something I only vaguely remember, haha. When I'm not writing, however, I love cooking, gardening, hiking, or going on long drives through the mountains (the fact that I'm scouting body-dumping locations for my books has NO BEARING here).
What is your Favorite part of writing?
The part where my characters finally stop poking me when I'm trying to sleep. That usually means I'm finally getting their story right.
Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
Beyond the Butt-In-Chair-Fingers-On-Keyboard Rule, not really, no. I don't subscribe to some of the more-superstitious things some writers "need" to do in order to be creative. I've found that I tend to get caught up in the cuteness of them, and I don't actually get much done.
I love writing, I love stories, but this is my job. I show up, clock in, and I go to work.
What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?
Karen Marie Moning (Fever series), Stacia Kane (Downside Ghosts), Sarah Blair (Tides of Darkness series), Jacqueline Rhoads (The Wolvers Series), Daniel Jose Older, Madhuri Pavamani (The Keeper Series), Kayti Nika Raet (The Outsider Chronicles).
Some of these people are my gods. Some are my friends. All are f*cking awesome authors whose books you need in your life!
How would you pitch the Shades Below series to someone who has not heard of it before?
The Ghostbusters team up with Sam and Dean Winchester, then they all move to San Francisco and hunt monsters and fall in love.
Can you tell us a little bit about the world that If You Were My Vampire is set in?
Basically, it's our world- as in, the parts of our world that mundane people don't realize exist. I love hearing from readers who say they feel like the Shades Below universe and the stories in it could be real, because that's the whole point! I want people to be walking down the street after reading one of my books, see something out of the corner of their eye, and wonder.
Just...wonder.
Do you have a favorite scene in If You Were My Vampire?
Ooo, that's tough. Not to sound self-serving, but I pretty much like the whole book, haha! That being said, some of the scenes I most enjoyed writing were the scenes that involved Seneca Lynch, my soldier vampire, and Tonio Ramirez, my gay Texas transplant. I really like how their characters turned out, and seeing them play off of (and with ;-)) each other was really fun.
Which one character out of all your books was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
Another tough question! So far, Jesper MacMillian of the main Shades Below books is my favorite. He's been through a lot, and could have chosen to be bitter. I think he was still on the fence about that at the beginning of A World Apart (Shades Below, #1), but meeting Lena Alan and learning about the paranormal forced him to reexamine the world and where he fits in it. For MacMillian, that's going to be a very, very good thing.
The hardest has been Darius deCompostela, hero of Season Of The Witch (Shades Below, #1.5). This wasn't due to anything about his character, per se, more about the racial politics I felt as a white woman writing a black hero. I believe white authors can and should engage characters of color in our work, however, I believe even more strongly that we need to be very mindful how we do that. I really wanted to get Darius right. I didn't want to tread on any toes, engage in cultural or racial appropriation, and I definitely didn't want to start telling stories that weren't mine to tell.
In the end, I realized that if I approached Darius as a "black hero", I was going to get myself in trouble. Instead, I came from the angle that he was a hero who happened to be black; that he was *gasp* a person first and foremost. I'm a writer. I can make people. Darius and Georgia took it from there.
What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
I'll be continuing my Shades Below series for the near and not-so-near future. The next book returns to Lena and MacMillian, and follows the repercussions of what happened to the heroine of this story. Lena will be forced to deal with her grief and her feelings of failure, and MacMillian will be forced to consider just how far he'll go for the woman he's coming to love.
If You Were My Vampire
Shades Below #2.5
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Sometimes, your life begins the day you die…
Asher
Evans is a man haunted by history. Turned vampire in the concentration
camp that claimed his family, he has never recovered from the loss of
his humanity. Removed from the mundane world and resigned to facing
eternity alone, he’s completely unprepared when the unthinkable happens:
he meets a girl.
As
the youngest daughter of San Francisco’s most prestigious psychic
family, Grace Alan has always known about the things that go bump in the
night. She especially knows about monsters…including the fact that she
is one. Grace has spent her entire life trying to be normal, and
finally, things seem to be looking up. There’s only one problem.
She’s just been murdered.
When
Asher stumbles upon a dying Grace, he knows he should leave her to her
fate. But in a world that looks at him and sees only a monster, Grace
reminds him what it feels like to be human. He can’t bring himself to
let her die.
Unfortunately,
rescuing her has consequences. Female vampires have been illegal for
centuries. In saving Grace, Asher may have condemned them both.
Can be read as a standalone
Listen to the Playlist at YouTube and Spotify
Excerpt #2:
Traffic was
scant on The Embarcadero. Even going at
a light pace, it didn't take long to reach Fisherman's Wharf. A stiff wind was blowing in off the Bay, and
the crowds of tourists had long since departed in favor of warmer
retreats. Seagulls feasted on the scraps
of sourdough bread bowls sticky with clam chowder left in their wake.
A lone street
musician remained on the empty sidewalk.
He was seated on a small, rusty stool, a battered guitar perched on his
knees. He sang in a haunting tenor, his
voice crisp and clear in the stillness.
The words of the song echoed off the surrounding buildings.
Someone to watch
over me...
Asher stopped. "This song was written the year I was
born."
Grace didn't
answer. Asher was about to look down
when her hand slipped into his.
Perhaps it was
the cold. Perhaps he was still high from
the streetcar ride or the race down Market Street. Either way, he clearly wasn't in his right
mind, because instead of pushing her away, he spun her around so she was
squarely in his arms.
Her eyes
widened. "What...?"
"Dance with
me." He couldn't believe
himself. Asher took a deep breath. "I mean, unless you don't—"
Grace
coiled her
fingers through his, lifted her other hand and rested it on his
shoulder. She met his eyes. Asher wasn't sure what she saw there. A
blush stole across her cheeks, but she
didn't look away. "You'll have to
show me how."
Asher released
the breath. He hadn't been aware he was
holding it. Gently, he reached up and
adjusted her hand on his shoulder. Then
he set his hand to her waist. "It's
easy. Just move with me."
He
heard her
breath stutter, and her hand trembled a little in his. For some
inexplicable reason, that pleased
him. He firmed his other hand against
her back, and started to move. It was
nothing complicated, just a simple two-step he'd seen his parents do.
Asher closed his eyes. For a moment, he could almost remember a time
when things had been normal. A time when
he'd been happy.
A time when he'd
been human.
He jerked his
eyes open again. His throat ached. He swallowed ruthlessly, tried to lock down
the place inside him that felt poised to crack wide open. He started to pull back.
Grace's fingers
tightened around his, and she rested her cheek against his chest. Her hand slid from his shoulder and curled
around the back of his neck.
Asher wasn't
sure he remembered how to breathe.
"Grace," he whispered.
The emptiness inside him expanded.
"I can't..."
"It's
easy." He felt her voice in every
fiber of his being. "Just move with
me."
Asher stared
down at her. The emptiness receded a
little. The vise around his chest
loosened. He closed his eyes again and
let Grace hold him, let the scent of patchouli leak into his senses and anchor
him firmly in the present moment.
They danced
until the song ended, and the street musician finally packed away his guitar.
__________________________________
