Interview with Nicky Peacock

Hi Nicky, Welcome to Anna's Book Blog! I'm glad to have you here.

To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself? I'm an English author based in the UK and have two YA book series out through the publishers, Evernight Teen. I started my writing career in the short story market and gained over 30 publishing credits before I sold my first novel. I write horrors, urban fantasy and paranormal romance, but do enjoy a good genre mash-up so tend to be open about what I write. As long as it has a sharp, dark edge to it, I'm a happy author!


Lost in Wonderland is your latest release, can you tell us a little about it? It's a YA contemporary thriller with a supernatural kick. It centers around a vigilante organization called Wonderland that tracks and kills serial killers who have escaped justice. All the agents are code-named after characters in the Alice in Wonderland book: Hatter, Rabbit, Cheshire, etc. But the story is about an agent called Mouse who had something terrible happen to her when she was a child and uses her new found Wonderland skills to unravel a family mystery.

What is your writing day like? It's usually outside of my house, somewhere like a pub or a coffee shop or, if I can, at a stately hotel that is a few minute drive from my house. It’s so regal and quite there. I go anywhere where I can get fed and watered and just concentrate on my writing without any excuse to procrastinate with. I can usually write for about three hours before I need to take a break. I'll then go for a walk or something to clear my mind, then get back in there!

When are you're not writing what kind of books do you like to read? All sorts. YA and adult books. I love horror and urban fantasy, and I am just getting into steampunk and thrillers. What I read depends on my mood. I'm also completing a Creative Writing degree so have been reading wider than my usual tastes. I've found that I enjoy a good children's book too now. Room on the Broom, Mr Stick and the Highway Rat, great reading regardless of your age!

What are three things that are "must haves" for you when you sit down to write a book? I write on an old laptop, so I need a power outlet! I also need a decent sized pot of tea and a large amount of food - preferably of the salty and sweet variety!

Lost in Wonderland is, of course, a twist on Alice in Wonderland. What is your favorite thing about the original story? It was so ahead of its time. I loved the themes of having to grow up and navigating puberty (Alice's body growing and shrinking) and how annoying and random parental figures can seem at the time (The Queen and the baby pig) I remembered liking the book when I was young, but it was only re-reading it now as an adult that I can appreciate how good it really is.

If you could give your lead character one piece of advice, what would it be? Trust other people more. I'm guilty of this myself, so probably have no right in giving this nugget of advice to anyone, but you can't go through life simply relying on yourself. It's both sad and time-consuming!

What is next for you? I'm currently working on the sequel to Lost in Wonderland, The Assassin of Oz and also the next in my Battle of the Undead series, Bad Karma. So lots of writing and hopefully some lovely food along the way too!


Thank you for having me here today. You can find me online here:

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads | Tumblr
UK Amazon Author Page | US Amazon Author Page

Lost in Wonderland
The Twisted and The Brave #1
By: Nicky Peacock

Out Now!

Monsters, serial killers, and imaginary friends—being a Wonderlander can be murder...

Once upon a time, Kayla was lost. Then she found Wonderland, but not the one you know. Run by ex-government agents and funded by an eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire, this Wonderland is the name of a collective of highly trained vigilantes who hunt serial killers. Now Kayla, aka Mouse, works tirelessly alongside her fellow Wonderlanders, Rabbit and Cheshire, baiting dangerous murderers. But even her extensive training hasn’t prepared her for the return of her older brother…

Shilo has spent most of his life in an insane asylum, convinced his mother was abducted by a sinister Alaskan monster who lures the lost away to feast upon their flesh. And now he’s certain that his sister is in the same monster’s crosshairs. But if Shilo is going to save what’s left of his family, he’ll have to convince his sister that maybe, just maybe, we’re all a little mad.

Buy Lost in Wonderland here...
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Bag yourself a FREE Halloween read, Traitor's Gate here...

Cover Reveal/Giveaway & Excerpt: Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

Don't Get Caught
Author: Kurt Dinan
Release Date: April 1, 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

17-year-old Max Cobb is sick of being “Just Max”—the kind of guy whose resume boasts a measly 2.5 GPA and a deep love of heist films. So when an invitation appears in his locker to join the anonymous, untraceable, epic prank-pulling Chaos Club, Max jumps at the opportunity to leave “Just Max” in the dust.

Except that the invite is really a set-up, and Max—plus the 4 other kids who received similar invitations—are apprehended by school security for defacing the water tower.  This time, Max has had enough. Time for Heist Rule #6:

Always Get Payback.

Let the prank war begin...

Pre-Order Here

About Kurt Dinan:
Kurt Dinan is a high school English teacher. He’s had several short stories published, including one in 2010’s The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, three young sons, and baby girl. Don’t Get Caught is his first novel.  http://kurtdinan.blogspot.com/

Enter to Win An Advance Copy of Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan:

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Debut author Kurt Dinan reveals the cover of Don’t Get Caught, and gives readers a first-time sneak peek:

Describe your book in 140 characters or less?
A high school nobody recruits a crew of misfits for heists and pranks to get revenge on the mysterious Chaos Club. #DontGetCaught

How did you come up with the idea for Don’t Get Caught? Look, who hasn’t wanted to rob a bank?  Or at least hasn’t thought about it?  I can’t be the only one, right?  Right? So, I suppose Don’t Get Caught is my way of robbing a bank without risking actual jail time because, let me make this clear, I would not do well in prison.  I love capers, heists, and schemes, and while the crew in this novel aren’t robbing banks, they are satisfying my criminal thoughts by doing the teenage equivalent of bank robbery--wrecking havoc in their high school.

Tell us about the main character. Max is a high school nobody, a kid who’s smart enough and nice enough to get by, but who doesn’t really fit in anywhere.  So basically, he’s me at sixteen.  But what Max has that I certainly didn’t have is a genius-level ability to scheme and a newly discovered gift for leading misfits.  He’s underestimated by everyone, a fact that works to his advantage when he decides it’s time to write his name in the wet cement of the universe by destroying a forty-year-old secret society.

Did your class in high school pull any memorable pranks? Or is there one you wish you had pulled? My prank life didn’t begin until college when I helped mastermind a promotion for a fake campus concert that almost led to my arrest.  But in my final year of high school, the six-hundred members of my senior class were crowded onto bleachers for an all-class picture.  I look at that picture now and see an opportunity for chaos.  I mean, how much would it have cost to hire an airplane to drop a hundred gallons of water at the precise moment the picture was taken?  Or to organize a group of kids to all wear neon shirts and arrange themselves into something profane within the crowd?  It’s missed opportunities like this that keep me up at night.

What books formed your thinking or reflected who you were as a child and teen reader? I read a lot of early Stephen King probably before I was old enough, and then through high school it was mostly comic books and classics.  I do specifically remember reading Helter Skelter during my junior year, dragging that non-fiction monster around with me for a month or so.  Looking back on it now, that’s probably all of the evidence needed to explain why I didn’t have a girlfriend in high school.

Excerpt from Don't Get Caught

I may not be a fan of heights, but I especially hate ladders. I always think the rung I’m on is going to break away and send me plummeting. So climbing the water tower ladder in the dark, the rungs sticky for some reason, only worries me more. But despite that, I’d be lying if I didn’t say how awesome this was. The higher I climb, the harder my heart pounds from the adrenaline. I feel like a jewel thief scaling a skyscraper at midnight on his way to stealing the Hope Diamond.

Up ahead in the darkness, Wheeler goes into a mock newscaster’s voice announcing, “Five Asheville High School students fell to their deaths last evening when—”

“Shut up,” Malone says.

The climb takes only two minutes but feels like an hour when the ladder ends at the base of a metal grating no more than four feet wide. If a strong wind blows, a waist-high railing is all that’s there to keep me from hurtling to my death.

“Wow, this is higher than I thought,” Ellie says, looking out over the lights of the town.

Malone, recording everything with her phone, says, “I wish I had my climbing gear. I’d love to repel off this.”

“What was it Jesus said, Ellie?” Wheeler says. “‘I think I can see my house from up here’?”

And me, I want down. And not just down, but to roll in the grass and kiss the earth. Then, as I’m about to wuss out, Ellie’s hand is in mine and she’s leading me along the platform.

“Come on,” she says. “Let’s look for the next clue.”

Her hand is soft and warm, and if the platform gives away right now, I can die a happy man.

“You get to open the next envelope if there is one,” Ellie says. “Or maybe it’ll be like in the movies, and there’ll be a cell phone that rings and—”

My foot kicks something metal sending it clanking and skittering across the platform before dropping into the night.

From the other side of the tower Malone says, “What was that?”

I look down at my feet and see four more of what I’ve just booted—spray paint cans.

And in one horrifying moment, I realize why the rungs were sticky when we climbed.

Red paint covers my hands.

Oh shit.

I lean back for a better view of the water tower to see what’s been spray-painted there. The wet paint trails down from certain letters like red teardrops.

Double shit.

Heist Rule #5: When in doubt, run.

But we don’t get that chance.

Suddenly, the water tower lights blaze to life illuminating the newly painted message for the entire town to see.

Assville High School, Home of the Golden Showers.

Both Malone and Wheeler say, “Shit.”

Ellie says, “Wow.”

Adleta says nothing.

And then a voice booms from a bullhorn below where red-and-blue lights flash in the parking lot.

“This is the police. Come down immediately.”

So much for Don’t get caught.

Interview with Grey Francis

 It's a pleasure to welcome Grey Francis to my blog.

Bound to a Vampire is an erotic paranormal romance that takes place in both modern-day New York and 17th century Europe. What inspired you to write a vampire novel set in those times and places? I wanted to set my novel in the present and in the 17th century, going back in forth through memories, in order to show how the past shapes a vampire after centuries of living. This time-shifting allowed me to show vampires not only living, but being hunted, having love affairs and experiencing great tragedy.  I also wanted to take my readers deeper into my characters’ histories, exploring how they became vampires, how they found each other, how they lived, and ultimately how they lost one another. Since the 17th century is one of my favorite time periods, and a dramatic contrast to the times we currently live in, setting the book during that time allows us to understand the past, so we can sympathize with a particular vampire’s motivations and desires.

Bound to a Vampire features the female healer, Cassandra, who is turned into a vampire by the mysterious and powerful Master Vampire, Killian, and who becomes the member of a sexual triad that includes the dark and brooding Protector, Alastair. What’s special about Cassandra and how did you come to choose her as the main character for your first Into the Dark Woods novel?  This genre is dominated by male vampire protagonists. What I wanted to see was a strong female vampire, who is driven by ambition, passion and romance and willing to fight for those she loves. As a 17th century human midwife, Cassandra’s talents were misunderstood and feared, and ultimately she is persecuted as a witch. As a vampire, her former talents are transformed, giving her ability to heal and create life, making her very powerful. She goes from a simple peasant to vampire royalty. Flame haired with an exquisite kind of delicate beauty, Cassandra is spirited, strong-willed, and nurturing. She quickly finds herself in a passionate love triangle with her Sire and her Protector. Cassandra is the perfect compliment to each of them, but her true gift is her ability to bridge the gap between these two powerful males, whose love for one another is dark, tangled and complicated.

There are strong erotic elements, including passages that describe submission and bondage, in Bound to a Vampire. What made you decide to pursue these thematic issues in your Into the Dark Woods series and in this new novel? When I envisioned my vampires, I saw them as highly sexual creatures. But I didn’t think that vampires would express their sexuality the way most typical humans do. BDSM and the power exchange between a dominant and a submissive rang true to me in terms of the vampires’ natures and their ability to attain nourishment from that exchange. I also think there is a connection between pain and pleasure with vampires. The vampire bite, at least in my books, is both painful and euphoric. The pain some submissives crave, as Alastair does, is a component of that particular crossover. There is also a strong psychological component to BDSM that parallels the emotional bonds within my vampire world. Some vampires, like Killian, are Masters and demand ultimate trust and surrender from their mates. In return, their submissive mates feel protected and ultimately loved.  This dynamic felt so organic to me, I believe it was the perfect way to structure the sexual relationships of my vampires.

What do you find the most fascinating about the paranormal romance genre? There are interesting fluctuations in what creatures are capturing the interests of readers. Recently, I’ve seen a popular rise in books about shape shifters, dragons, sexy demons and angelic warriors. A few years ago, the Fae world was popular.  Before that, it was witches. Many writers have been combining a number of different supernatural creatures in their books for years, creating very developed and complex worlds where vampires, shifters, Fae, and others creatures, co-existed to varying degrees of animosity and peace. I find many of them fascinating, and I faithfully follow a number of writers.  And yet, I see vampire stories enduring, being recreated, the rules of their worlds ever changing and expanding. For me, the vampire remains as intriguing and sexually charged as he was 30 years ago when I picked up Interview with a Vampire.

What would you like readers to remember most about you and your books? The characters. They get under our skin and we can’t shake them.  What I would like people to remember are the emotional layers that exist between my characters as they develop and evolve. All three main characters go through transformations, be it with through love, sex, power, loss, or reconciliation. Their pain haunts us. Their love grips us. It is these emotional resonances that I hope stay with my readers. 

Are you working on a new Into the Dark Woods novel and, if so, what can you tell us about it? Yes. The second book in the Into the Dark Woods series is called A King in Chains, and it focuses on Alastair and his dynamic yet tumultuous history with Killian. The story also explores Alastair’s present day struggle to move forward as king without Killian by his side, while battling a powerful and malevolent vampire from his past who threatens everything he holds dear. In order to save his kingdom, Alastair must make the ultimate sacrifice for those he loves. That’s all I can say for now!

_______________________________________________________

Bound To A Vampire
Into the Dark Woods, Vol. 1
By Grey Francis    

Cassandra Montclaire is a three-hundred-and-sixty-year-old vampire living in modern-day New York. Her human life ended three centuries earlier when, condemned as a witch, she was rescued and turned by a Master Vampire named Killian. Bonded in a passionate trio with their Protector, the three lived an exciting and dangerous life full of love, decadence, and dark passion. But then Killian vanished without a trace. Until now.

A human ally of Cassandra’s has proof Killian is alive and is killing off members of his organization. Killian is now a marked man, and Cassandra must find him before time runs out and he is eliminated.

But Cassandra must first journey into her torrid past and face her demons before she can fight for what was lost.

Filled with erotic passion, great tragedy, and dark mystery, Bound to a Vampire is a turbulent thriller that delves into the history of vampires and the dramatic events that shaped them into who they are. For fans of Vampire Mistress by Joey Hill, author Grey Francis creates a vibrant world where secrets abound and the BDSM power exchange between mates is as essential to their survival as the blood they drink.

Author Links:
Website | Facebook | GoodReads

Purchase Links:
Amazon | CreateSpace

About the Author:
Grey Francis, a native of Los Angeles, has been writing since she was a teen, penning stories about ghosts, witches and vampires, among other denizens of the night. After graduating with a B.A. in Journalism from San Diego State University, Grey was employed in the New York publishing world before relocating back to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. She later explored her fascination with the paranormal as a screenwriter, but it wasn’t until the birth of her series, Into the Dark Woods, that she found her voice as an erotic novelist. When Grey isn’t writing her next book, she is busy full-time mother of two children.

Interview with Anna Richland

Hi Anna! Welcome back to Anna's Book Blog. To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself? The stereotypes of people who live in Seattle are all true. I drink a lot of coffee, wear mom-fleece, drive a Subaru and never use an umbrella. My life is a Pacific Northwest cliché, although I try not to write like that! I call Mr. Richland my “quietly funny Canadian,” but our two children are not at all quiet, except when doing Lego. And there is a lot of Lego in my life.

The Second Lie is your latest release, can you tells us a little about it?
THE SECOND LIE is a paranormal romantic suspense, part of my Immortal Vikings series inspired by Beowulf, classic television like Remington Steele, and my love of unusual underground places. The hero Stig is an immortal Viking thief and conman who has lived most of his 1500 years as an Englishman. Christina is from California. Although it’s part of a series, I think it can stand alone if a reader hasn’t read FIRST TO BURN. You agree?

I don’t usually talk about ‘theme’ in my books, I just try to write an exciting story that readers connect to, but if the theme of FIRST TO BURN was “family” and the theme of my novella HIS ROAD HOME was “you’re more than the label people put on you,” then the theme of THE SECOND LIE is “identity”. Who gets to define a person? Can you say who you are, or is your identity always dependent on others? What makes a person who he or she is? That’s something Stig and Christina, both of whom are living with various lies, have to work out even while they’re on the run from a heck of a lot of bad dudes.

What books are you looking forward to in 2015? Now that I’m a published author, I’m a judge for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest for the first time ever. My packet of books has a lot of great surprises in it, but I’m not allowed to say what, although I’ll admit to freaking out over how to score the books and how many I have to read. What else, let’s see … this week I bought The Duke of Dark Desires by Miranda Neville, which I’m saving as a treat for when I finish all my RITA judging. No other reading and no playing 2048 until I finish the RITA books. I’m also looking forward to reading Courtney Milan’s new release, Trade Me, and I think Sharon Lynn Fisher (author of Ghost Planet) has a new book this year.

Not books, but I really NEED Castle and Sherlock to start up again.

Your heroine Christina, runs a wine collection service. What was your research like for that part of the background? Many years ago Mr. Richland and I spent a long weekend in Napa, and we enjoyed a place called The Bounty Hunter, which has both a café and sends monthly or quarterly selections of wine to subscribers. For research, I studied their catalog and thought about how a woman business owner might develop a similar but smaller niche where personal connections would be really valuable, thus I built Christina’s business in my mind. The trickiest part was coming up with names for imaginary wineries that hadn’t already been used! I crowd-sourced that on Facebook, and friends gave me names of obscure birds (“Pluvialis”), obscure words for red (“Incarnadine”), etc.

Was Stig easier or harder to right than Wulf? Neither of them was particularly hard, because I heard distinctly different voices for each of them in my head. The whole time I was writing Stig, he “talked” to me in a really terrible British accent that even came out when I read his dialog out loud, something I do for all my books. I have military experience that helped make Wulf and his military team sound realistic, and my family went on a vacation to London and Belgium right before I began work on THE SECOND LIE, so I had what I think of as a good sense of both heroes. The problem is actually the hero of my current work in progress, an Immortal Viking named Bjorn, because he keeps slipping into Stig’s British accent! Bjorn is supposed to sound American but I can’t get Stig OUT of my head.

What do you love most about writing these Immortal Vikings? I really enjoy writing the Vikings’ flashbacks to events from Beowulf and their past 1,500 years. I try to find a different scene from the epic itself to retell from each character’s point of view, like Stig’s flashback to the dragon’s hoard, and I also try to include something from their life since - Stig on the Titanic, for instance. Those are really fun to write.

If you could cast any actor Stig, who would it be?
Probably Daniel Craig. He’s Stig when he puts on a tuxedo.

Even though he's a bit of a jerk I really like Ivar. Will we be seeing more
of him? Absolutely! Ivar’s in every book. I plan for his story to be the last of the series. The Immortal Viking book I’m currently writing occurs at the same story-time as THE SECOND LIE, so when Ivar leaves Belgium he goes off in his jet straight to where the other story is taking place, because Bjorn calls in a debt. Although Wulf and Theresa from FIRST TO BURN show up to help in THE SECOND LIE, I don’t think they’ll be in the third book - just Ivar and possibly Theresa’s step-father, backing up Ivar. I have to figure out if there’s an Italian word for your son-in-law’s brother, but Theresa’s stepdad would totally think of Ivar as “family.” If I had all the time in the world (HA!) I would write a short story about Theresa fixing Ivar up on a blind date, but I have to actually write the book I’m working on right now.

These were great questions - I’m glad you liked THE SECOND LIE and wanted to have me back on your blog. Thank you!

The Second Lie
Immortal Vikings #2
By Anna Richland

Out today!
A businesswoman desperate to achieve her dream.

Wineseller Christina Alvarez Mancini told one little lie—to reassure wealthy clients, she invented a suave British boss. With her ultimate dream, a winery of her own, close to becoming reality, she can't allow irregularities at a high-end wine auction to jeopardize her reputation.

A conman in love with a good plan.

Stig needs money, fast. An immortal Viking thief who discovered the perfect role as a fictional wine merchant, he's days away from the big payoff. Even if the California woman who created his character realizes a real person is conducting business in London, he'll disappear. That's what he does best.

Secrets that turn deadly.

Stig has success in his sights when Christina walks into his auction preview, ready to ruin his plan. Experience tells Stig to cut and run; a thousand years of boredom compel him to flirt. And when deadly Vikings from Stig's past crash the party, Christina and Stig are forced to cooperate in order to escape. Yet everywhere they flee, it's these two rivals' own lies that set the greatest traps…

Buy Links:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Chapters

Anna lives with her quietly funny Canadian husband and two less quiet children in a century-old house in Seattle. The perpetual drizzle is a good excuse to drink more coffee. She’s a former US Army officer who now writes The Immortal Vikings series from Carina Press and also the author of His Road Home, a novella which Publishers Weekly called “Tantalizing … a raw, emotional story” and the website SmartB*tchesTrashyBooks gave an A rating.

She donates a portion of her book proceeds to two charities: the Fisher House Foundation, which provides housing for families of wounded soldiers in the US and Great Britain, and Doctors Without Borders, which delivers emergency medical care in more than sixty crisis zones world-wide.

To sign up for Anna's newsletter, find out more about her books, and read longer excerpts, please visit her website at www.annarichland.com.

Author Links:
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Interview & Giveaway with Paige Tyler

Hi Paige, Welcome to Anna's Book Blog. To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself? I’m a USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic fiction. I written over fifty books in practically every genre of romance, but my favorite is definitely the paranormal/romantic-suspense combo. My very own military hero (also known as my hubby) and I live on the beautiful Florida coast with our adorable fur baby (also known as our dog). I actually graduated with a degree in education, and was well on my way to being a teacher, but ultimately I followed my dreams and gave up teaching to pursue my passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kickbutt heroines who fall in love with them.

Her Perfect Mate is your latest release, can you tell us a little about it and the series? I’d love to! The X-OPS Series centers around the Department of Covert Operations, a super-secret organization within the Department of Homeland Security. They get impossible missions done by pairing the very best soldiers, law enforcement officers, and spies together with shifters—humans that possess special animal attributes because of what's locked in their DNA. Think of it as pairing one of them with one of us.

In the first book, HER PERFECT MATE, the heroine is a feline shifter named Ivy Halliwell. The DCO teams her up with yet another soldier—and she isn't thrilled. With good reason. Her previous partners hated her because she was different, and she figures this new guy will be the same. But Captain Landon Donovan is Special Forces, so he's used to impossible situations and takes them in stride. He’s also hot and hunky, and smells absolutely delicious.

Her Perfect Mate is a paranormal shifter story that blends romance, action, suspense, and military elements into one exciting package that will keep you up reading late into the night—I promise!

What is your writing day like? Ideally, I start off with yoga or some other kind of exercise, get all sorts of amazing ideas while I’m in the shower (it’s one of the places where I do my best thinking!), then curl up with my laptop and write ten-thousand words of perfection.

In reality, while I do start the day with yoga or some other kind of exercise, and even come up with a few awesome ideas in the shower, things derail when I check my email. There’s invariably some crisis that needs my attention right away, so I have to take care of whatever it is before I can start writing. Even then, I still manage to get in several solid hours of writing a day—sometimes more—in between everything else.

When you’re not writing what kind of books do you like to read? I love romantic suspense—and if it’s combined with military and/or paranormal romance, even better!  I also enjoy reading some of the more adult-themed YA books out there. My current favorite (besides Lisi Harrison’s Monster High Series!) is Tracie Puckett’s Just a Little Series. If you love YA, grab it, grab it, grab it!

What type of research did you do for the book/series? Well, I had to do a lot of research on Army Special Forces, like their schooling, units, and organizational structure. It was so fascinating that I spent hours reading everything. Since the DCO is a fictional organization within Homeland Security, I had to read up on that, as well as what makes up a Congressional Oversight Committee. I also had to research all the countries the characters go to, as well as how they get there (and back out), what type of weapons they use, and a lot about human and animal DNA.

What are 3 things that are "must haves" for you when you sit down to write a book? Comfy clothes. I wear a Disney sleep shirt when I write. Yeah, I know it plays into the stereotype of romance writers sitting around in their PJs all day, but that really is what I wear.

My iPod. I know some writers who say they can’t write to music, but I actually write better when I listen to it.

Inspiration. If I don’t have that, the other two don’t make a difference!

What inspired you most while writing Her Perfect Mate? I really wanted to write a story (an entire series, really) that delves into a lot of things people in the military experience. Since my hubby is retired military, I was able to draw from not just my background and his, but from other military people we know. Even though it’s a paranormal romance, I feel that I was able to keep it grounded with real emotions.

If you could give your lead characters one piece of advice, what would it be? I’d tell the hero and heroine to trust their instincts. Ivy has dealt with a bunch of jerks before, so while she thinks Landon is different, she doesn't know if she can trust her feelings. On the flip side, Landon feels something for Ivy right from the start, but can't imagine how getting involved with her romantically can work out—especially since it’s against DCO policy. Both of them need to realize this is what they’re supposed to be doing, and who they’re supposed to be doing it with.

What's your favorite thing about writing Paranormal Romance/Military Romance? Getting to combine my two favorite sub-genres. The military aspect provides me with immediate access to amazing alpha males who are geared for action and come with their own adventurous storylines. The paranormal element gives me the freedom to explore those themes in a completely unique way.

What is next for you? Well, HER LONE WOLF, Book Two in the X-OPS Series, releases in November. So excited about that! It’s followed by an X-OPS Novella called HER SECRET AGENT that releases in December. It’s a fun story that gives readers inside info on the DCO, as well as gives them the skinny on some very important stuff that the other characters in the novels aren’t privy to. So, yeah, there are lots of OMG moments ahead for the X-OPS crew.

Right now, I’m working on the outline for the second book in my S.W.A.T. Series, aka my Special Alpha Wolf Team Series. If you haven’t figured it out from the name, it’s about a SWAT team made up of wolf shifters. Think hot guys in tactical gear with claws and you get the picture! The first book releases from Sourcebooks in early 2015, so I hope you’ll check it out!

Bio:

Paige Tyler is a USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic fiction. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kickbutt heroines who fall in love with them.

She is represented by Bob Mecoy.

Her Perfect Mate
X-OPS #1
By Paige Tyler

Out Now

He's a High-Octane Special Ops Pro
When Special Forces Captain Landon Donovan is chosen for an assignment with the Department of Covert Operations, he's stunned to find his new partner is a beautiful woman who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly, never mind take down a terrorist.

She's No Kitten
Ivy Halliwell isn't your average covert op. She's a feline shifter, and more dangerous than she looks. Her feline DNA means she can literally bring out the claws when things get dicey. She's worked with a string of hotheaded military guys who've underestimated her special skills in the past. But when she's partnered with special agent Donovan, a man sexy enough to make any girl purr, things begin to heat up. He doesn't think she's a freak-and he's smokin' hot. Soon they're facing a threat even greater than anyone imagines...and an animal magnetism impossible to ignore.

Read an Excerpt:

http://paigetylertheauthor.com/BooksHerPerfectMate.html

Reviews:

"An absolutely perfect story-one I honestly couldn't put down. One of the best books I've read in years. I hope this is the beginning of a very long series, because I definitely want more of Paige Tyler's shifters." - Kate Douglas, author of the bestselling Wolf Tales and Spirit Wild series

"A wild, hot, and sexy ride from beginning to end! I loved it!" - Terry Spear, USA Today bestselling author of A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing

"Once I began, the outside world ceased to exist. It's exciting and fast paced." - Paranormal Kiss

"I love a good paranormal romance and this series has started off with a bang!" - Hopeless in Literature Reviews

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Website: http://paigetylertheauthor.com/

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Email: paigetyler@paigetylertheauthor.com

GIVEAWAY
Thanks to Sourcebooks I have a copy of Her Perfect Mate to giveaway. To enter leave a comment along with your email address. Open to US/CA. The winner will be announced on May 21st!

Interview with Anna Richland

Hi Anna! Welcome to Anna's Book Blog. I'm glad to have you hear. To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself? Can I answer every question with the word “coffee”? I live in Seattle, which is often gray and damp, and I drink a lot of it. I was an Army officer back in the fun 1990s, when Uncle Sam sent me everywhere from Albania to Japan. Now I work as mother of two/writer. My husband is Canadian, so my son has decided he wants to learn the sport of curling. The crazy thing is we actually have a curling club here in Seattle, so he can. My daughter is dedicated to every sport she’s ever met, which I can’t really fathom, because I had never run a mile before I joined the army. Before I sold my first novel, I used to garden a lot. My favorite thing in my yard is my amazing hellebore collection, which is blooming now.

(Reader trivia question: which of my characters also likes hellebores? First to answer in comments can nominate three or four names for a bad-to-the-bone miniature dachshund in the current book. I need name help. Actually, anyone can nominate feisty miniature dachshund names.)

First to Burn is your debut, can you tell us a little about it and the series? Describing First to Burn’s hybrid genre takes more words than my coffee order: paranormal romantic suspense with a military angle versus a double tall nonfat latte.

So … First to Burn is the story of Wulf and Theresa, essentially, an immortal Viking meets a curious doctor. Her questions about his super-healing ability mess up his carefully constructed life as a member of a Special Operations A-team, but he rolls with it. Lots of scariness before happily ever after: corrupt military contractors smuggling Afghan heroin, bad immortal Vikings doing terrible things that I can’t reveal, Theresa’s mother trying to make her wax her eyebrows.

Not only is this my debut, First to Burn kicks off a series about the dozen immortal Vikings who traveled with Beowulf to fight the monster Grendel. A symbiotic bacteria in Grendel’s blood made all of the warriors who handled Grendel’s arm or head have super-healing abilities. This series is a quest to use science to cure themselves … but the bad Vikings are on a quest for the same treatment, only to make more immortals. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The second in the Immortal Vikings series, still untitled, is due to my editor April 8. (Yes, today.) It’s the story of an immortal Viking thief named Stig and the California wine merchant (Christina) that he tries to scam. It’s also paranormal romantic suspense, and I had to learn both how to steal cars and how to kill someone with a corkscrew. For the record: I did not actually DO either. Stig and Christina’s book will be published in January 2015 by Carina Press. I sort of shocked myself in this book with exactly how bad things get for Wulf’s brother Ivar. So all the readers who decided to dislike him after First to Burn: I challenge you to read the next book and tell me if you don’t feel like you were mean to a kitten. I feel so bad for Ivar, even though he’s still a jerk, and I’m the one who did this to him.

In the meantime, a spin-off novella about Cruz, one of Wulf’s regular-guy teammates, will be released in October 2014. Cruz’s story isn’t paranormal - but readers will get up close and personal with his flaming skull tattoo when he finally finds the smart girl he’s been whining and moaning about in First to Burn. I don’t have titles or firm dates yet, but if readers sign up for my newsletter at www.AnnaRichland.com, I PROMISE to let them know more.

What is your writing day like? Not long enough! Before I wake my children, I check email. After I wave to the school bus, if I’m desperate to do nothing but write, I go to a coffee shop in order to avoid dishes and laundry. If what I have to do is tons of small things, then I stay at home and work on the kitchen table (and fall victim to dishes and laundry). Now that I have one book published, one book in pre-publication, and I’m finalizing a third book, there are a shocking number of business details, ranging from cover art worksheets to updating spreadsheets. At this point, I’m not experienced enough to have a regular day. Everything is still a first for me!

When you’re not writing what kind of books do you like to read? I read a lot of children’s books out loud with my children. Luckily they’re at the stage where the books are pretty interesting, by authors like Susan Cooper (Victory) and Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain), so sometimes I lurk in the hall finishing after they’ve turned out the lights. I also read two newspapers -- the ink-on-your-hands kind -- most days. I think of it a plot research! About the only television I watch is Castle.

The very first thing I’m going to read when I’ve submitted my next Immortal Viking book (Tonight. Did I mention the book is due Today?) is a Lee Child Jack Reacher story. Any one that I haven’t read, doesn’t matter. I’ve found that Lee Child is a good writer to use to cauterize my own story out of my head so I can read other writers without comparing their books to mine. After that, I’ll hit my To Be Read pile (and it’s EPIC, as my eight year-old would say): Amy Raby’s Prince’s Fire, the third in her Hearts and Thrones series, Kira Brady’s Hearts of Chaos, third in the Deadglass series, Pamela Clare’s Striking Distance and Sharon Lynn Fisher’s The Ophelia Prophecy.

What are 3 things that are "must haves" for you when you sit down to write a book? Coffee. When I’m writing one of the Immortal Viking series, I rely upon my totally falling apart Beowulf: An Illustrated Edition. It’s the full text of the epic, translated by the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney into gut-grabbing language (edited by John D. Niles). The left-hand page of every spread is a photo of Viking relics, weapons or landscapes. I feel so lucky to have stumbled on this version instead of a plain text. I also like office supplies. I use nifty colored index cards to try to plan the scenes in order, and I also need 6 colors of highlighter and 3 colors of pen when I edit, plus sharpies and lots of sticky notes.

If you could give your lead characters one piece of advice, what would it be? Stay home with a book. Seriously, every time any of them go somewhere, they get in a lot of trouble. Stay home.

Since becoming published, what has been your favorite part of the process? Reading reviews! Especially the ones where readers pull out and highlight their favorite quotes. I dance in front of my laptop grinning and thinking “I wrote that sentence and she liked it! No, she loved it! Wow!” I still can’t believe so many complete strangers read my book! What craziness is that? People who are not friends and family are reading my books! I’m happy for any reviews, because even the ones that have said they didn’t like some part of the book were generally interesting and thoughtful reviews that did like something else, and I have so enjoyed the range of opinions. But hands down my favorite is readers who quote lines.

What inspired you most while writing First to Burn? Tons of things inspired me, because First to Burn is a full-on 118,000 words. Personal experiences in the army (yes, I saw a suitcase full of cash open on a table once and I dropped a Beretta down my pants, but luckily those were not at the same time). The Illustrated Beowulf edition by Seamus Heaney I mentioned above. Several songs: “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,” by Warren Zevon, lays out the essence of the Wulf’s backstory. “Over the Hills (and Far Away)”, a song about Canadian troops in Afghanistan, by Canadian Celtic rock/folk group Great Big Sea, is true for soldiers everywhere. And Portland band Pink Martini’s “Dosvedanya, Mio Bombino” encapsulates the cool Scandinavian/hot Italian essence of both the settings and the Wulf/Theresa relationship. I love all that music, so I hope readers give it a try!

If you could cast your lead characters, which actor would you pick? Wulf is definitely Chris Hemsworth. I came out of the first Thor movie thinking it was a great romance with an hour of action that could have been cut. Theresa is a combination of people I know: tall and athletic like a good friend (one of the doctors who helped me, in fact), but with the hair and appearance of a woman who used to work out with me years ago, packaged with a smidge of the babbling and argumentative characteristics of yours truly. So she’s just regular folks.

What's next for you? Coffee. Stig-the-thief’s story is due. And after I turn around edits, I haven’t decided if I’m going to write another novella for Cruz, or start the next immortal Viking. Not Ivar’s story yet - it’s Jurik, an immortal Viking Doctors Without Borders type, and Laura, a war correspondent who knows more than she wants to about the Vikings. (Yes, Laura from First to Burn). She’s trying to quit smoking, so what do they have to do? Find the last real dragon.

First to Burn

Immortal Vikings #1
By Anna Richland

Captain Theresa Chiesa, a by-the-book Army doctor fulfilling her final tour in Afghanistan, can’t believe the perfect soldier in the chow line is her disappearing patient, Sergeant Wulf Wardsen. Working together to save a pregnant Afghan girl makes her regret the difference in their ranks, but if she breaks the rule forbidding a relationship with an enlisted man, she’ll lose more than a career. She’ll lose the self-respect she earned by succeeding without her family’s interference.

Since the monster Grendel infected all of Beowulf’s Viking crew with immortality, Wulf has honed his battle skills. He trusts the mortal men on his elite A-team to conceal his secret, but he hides how much he envies their chances to grow old with the love of a wife and children. For fifteen hundred years, he’s lost everyone he loved.

Theresa’s passionate engagement with the world gives Wulf hope for a future together, but a supernatural lover doesn’t fit the plan Theresa’s followed since childhood. When corrupt military contractors suck them into the world of Afghan heroin smuggling, Theresa stops chasing her carefully mapped future. Instead she’s running for her life.

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Interview with Kira Brady

Hi Kira, Welcome back! To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself?  I’m a native Seattleitte with rain in my veins instead of blood. After studying polisci and environmental studies in college in Philadelphia, I returned home, Prince Charming in tow, to persue a Masters in Urban Planning. I quickly discovered that I’d rather write about the shadowy cities of my imagination than do paperwork, and I dropped out to read write full time. I now have two babies, a cat, three books and a novella. When not typing, I like to knit, hike, and talk about how awesome Seattle is. You can follow me on Instagram/kirabrady for pictures of Seattle as featured in the Deadglass Trilogy and local flavor.

Hearts of Chaos is latest novel, can you tell us a little about it and the series?  The Deadglass Trilogy is set in a gritty alternate Seattle where two warring shapeshifter races secretly fight to control the cracked Gate to the Land of the Dead. The Kivati – who can change into their Totem animals of Raven, Thunderbird, Crow, and Wolf – seek to protect the Gate. The Drekar – immortal Norse dragon shifters who eat souls to survive – seek to destroy it. But when an ancient evil rises, warriors from both sides must step forward to save the world from total annililation.

Hearts of Chaos is the last book in the trilogy, and I would recommend reading the other two books and novella first. The book opens right after Hearts of Shadow ends, with Lucia Crane on the battlefield where Drekar, human, and Kivati forces joined together to defeat the demigod Kingu. Lucia defied her lord and fiancee, Emory Corbette, to lead a small band of Kivati warriors against Kingu, which tipped the balance of the battle. She is determined to find her own way to lead her people as the prophesized Crane, but that puts her at odds with the iron willed Raven Lord. When Tiamat, the Babylonian Goddess of Primordial Chaos, manifests in Seattle, Lucia and Corbette must put aside their differences and wounded hearts to defeat her. Their journey leads them into the Land of the Dead, and through danger, fear, and betrayal.

What is your favorite thing about writing? I love letting my imagination run wild and building fantastical worlds. The world of the Deadglass novels came to me before any of the plots or characters. I was inspired by the ghost stories and mythology of my beloved Seattle, and I enjoyed peppering the trilogy with historical facts twisted to my own use.

Which 2014 books are you looking forward to? Honestly, I have no idea what is coming out in 2014. My second kid just turned one, and any day now he might start sleeping through the night. (Please, baby, please!) I’m still trying to catch up on my TBR pile from the last few years.

Update:  I actually thought of some books that I've been excited about in 2014:

I loved Anna Richland's First To Burn (Jan 2014) about an immortal viking warrior who falls in love with an army doctor. Her writing is rich and her characters jump off the page, but best of all: IMMORTAL. VIKINGS. I can't wait for her next book to come out!

I want to read Julie Brannah's contemporary romance series about love and football in Seattle, starting with Blitzing Emily. First of all, I'm a huge Seattle fiction fan. Second of all, GO SEAHAWKS!

What inspired you most while writing Hearts of Chaos? I started brainstorming the Deadglass Trilogy while I was still in graduate school for a Masters of Urban Planning, and I used to bike to school along the Burke-Gilman while listening to the latest Decemberists’ album, the Crane Wife. Needless to say, the folktale of the Crane Wife made it into the books in the form of Lucia, the prophesized Crane of the Kivati. There are different versions of the story, but they are all about trust. A fisherman (or sailmaker) finds an injured crane and takes it home to nurse back to health. He is surprised in the morning to find a woman in his house, not a crane, and they fall in love. She agrees to marry him on the condition that he never look at her while she is weaving. She makes beautiful fishing nets/sails that bring the fisherman lots of moola, but he grows jealous and peeks in on her while she is weaving. He is shocked to find a white crane, not his wife, weaving in her own feathers into the loom. With a sad look, she flies away, never to be seen or heard from again. He is left brokenhearted, wishing he had trusted his wife. Lucia and Corbette’s story is very much about trust. Will Corbette learn to bend to love and find salvation in the hands of his unorthodox wife, or will he end up brokenhearted with only the ruins of his empire left?

Other mythology that inspired me in this particular book was tales of Grandmother Spider (Native American) and Arachne (Greek). Weaving connected both the Crane Wife folktale and the spider folktales, and I tried to use weaving, spinning, and knitting imagery in the book.

The Deadglass books connect common themes in world folklore. Dragon folktales are found all over the world, connecting Babylonian, Native American and Norse mythology. The oldest dragon tales are about Tiamat, the Babylonian Goddess of Primordial Chaos. The other common world folktale theme was the hero’s journey into the world of the dead and back again. In Babylonian mythology, Ishtar, goddess of love, sex, war, who raised the first zombie army, traveled to the Land of the Dead to meet her sister, Ereshkigal, the goddess of death. Ishtar had to travel through seven gates to get to Ereshkigal, and once there, she had to sacrifice her husband in her place in order to get out again. In Native American tales, Raven is the spirit who can fly between worlds. In one tale, he flies out of the spirit realm with a speck of dirt and makes the earth. Another famous Babylonian story I used heavily was the Epic of Gilgamesh. In it, Gilgamesh travels with his friend, the clay man Enkidu, past the Stone Giants and into the land of the dead to get the water of life. Gilgamesh is tempted by Ishtar, who calls down the wrath of the Bull of Heaven (in my story the Behemoth) when Gilgamesh refuses to lie with her.

Since becoming published, what has surprised you most about the industry? I’ve been surprised at how fast it’s changed! I started writing this series in 2008 and sold at the beginning of 2011, right before the news about Amanda Hocking making a million self-publishing broke. I thought about self publishing at that time, but I’m not a big risk taker and it still felt like the bigger risk. My first kid was under 1 at the time, and I’m not sure I would have written the second two books without that New York contract. I had this idea that landing an agent and selling to New York would be “making it” as a writer, and from then on I would be on a set career path. Sadly, I still have no idea what I’m doing.

What do you love most about writing PNR/UF? Magic. As a kid I struggled with the real world not living up to my rich imaginary world, and writing PNR/UF allows me to bring the later to life. Every now and then I’ll start writing a straight contemporary, but the dragons keep sneaking back in. I guess I still wish I lived in a world where dragons and fairies were real.

Did you have any input when it came to designing the covers and has it met your expectations? Not really. In my very first conversation with my editor I was asked if I had ideas for covers, but I was too “ZOMG I sold my book!” to give any real direction. I assumed I’d be asked again, but no. I wasn’t shown the covers until they were printed. I’m happy Kensington chose to put a Seattle skyline on the third book. I had hoped Seattle would play a much larger role in all the covers, as Seattle is such a vivid part of the books.

Update:  And I finally saw the cover for the audiobook of Hearts of Chaos and I think it's great! It's my favorite cover of all of them.


If you could cast actors to play Lucia & Emory who would you pick? I don’t follow Hollywood, so this question is always hard for me, but I imagine Johnny Depp (From Hell version) as Emory Corbette. For Lucia Crane – Maybe Mandy Moore with white hair or Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen version)? The Kivati are based on Pacific Northwest Native American myths, so it might be appropriate to cast someone who looks more Native American.

Now that  the Deadglass Trilogy has come to an end, what is next? Good question! I’m done with my contract, so the sky is the limit. I haven’t finished anything new, but I’ve started an urban fantasy romance set in an alternate history, electropunk Philadelphia. If you like my world building, I invite you to check my website http://kirabrady.com or follow me on the social webs to keep up to date on any future published works.
Instagram/kirabrady
Twitter/brady
Facebook/kirabrady
GoodReads/kirabrady

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Hearts of Chaos

Deadglass #3

By Kira Brady

Out Now!

To save her world, one woman's fierce quest will put her up against an ancient evil—and a desire too dangerous to deny...

She is betrothed to Seattle's most feared shifter clan leader. Still, the Lady Lucia can never be the dainty aristocratic wife Emory Corbette thinks he needs. And as a malevolent, all-consuming monster plots to take hold of their shattered world, Lucia will risk her untapped powers to defeat it—and challenge the Raven King's seductive rule.

No one in Emory's many lifetimes has ever defied him. Lucia's courage and strength are shaking his iron control to its core...and making him hungry for all she can give. But their only hope is a wrenching sacrifice that could unite humans and shifters in victory—or destroy everything Lucia and Emory desire most.

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