BORN TO LOVE WILD: Character Interviews & Release Party

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born to love wild, cryptozoology, demon, fae, paranormal romance, sex, stars and stone books, wizards

BORN TO LOVE WILD: A Paranormal Romance Short Story Anthology by Stars and Stone Books

Featuring: USA Today Bestselling Author Traci Douglass, Cara McKinnon, Sheri Queen, Pepper McGraw, M.T. DeSantis, Read Gallo, J. Bigelow, and Andie Biagini.

 

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TheBorn to Love Wild authors all came together to answer some questions about their stories for the anthology. Here, four of the authors interview their characters with the same set of five questions.

 

Andie Biagini – “Water Temperature”
An engineering student and a cryptozoologist. One of them can talk to sea monsters, but it’s not who you think.

What did you do on summer vacations as a child?

Madison: My family spent as many days at the beach as we could. I’ve always been drawn to the ocean.

What do you like best about your partner, physically, and why?

Madison: Luis has the most gorgeous brown eyes. They’re the color of sea glass.

What drives you crazy about your partner, and why?

Madison: He gets bossy when he thinks he knows what’s best for me. We’re working on it.

If you were offered an obscene amount of money, what would you do with it? Why?

Madison: I would pay off my student loans, donate to a marine conservation organization, and then go on some really fabulous vacations. There are so many beaches I haven’t been to yet.

What’s next for you and your partner?

Madison: He’s working and I have my internship, but we have the rest of the summer to see where things go.

 

Bigelow – “Focal Point”

Sometimes a wizard from Sweden needs help from a medium from Michigan. 

What did you do on summer vacations as a child?

Faas: I learned how to use my abilities from my grandparents and helped them on their farm.

Elizabeth: I played with other kids in the woods. I didn’t realize they were spirits until later when I tried to introduce one to my mom and she couldn’t see him.

What do you like best about your partner, physically, and why?

Faas: Everything. But, if I had to pick one thing, it would be her behind. I love watching her walk.

Elizabeth: His eyes. Faas looks at me so intensely as if I’m the only one and there’s nothing outside of us.

Faas: Because there isn’t.

Elizabeth: Hush. (Said with a smile)

What drives you crazy about your partner, and why?

Faas: The way she treats everyone and everything with kindness until they prove her wrong. There aren’t many humans like that.

Elizabeth: He can be snarky, but when the time comes for him to work, he’s serious.

If you were offered an obscene amount of money, what would you do with it? Why?

Faas: I’d give it to research for cancer. Too many people die of this disease and it can’t be cured with magic.

Elizabeth: I’d put it into art programs in Michigan. I think being creative is an outlet for what bothers a person. There’s a point in the process of making something, no matter what it is, where you fall into the art itself and the outside world disappears…Metaphorically.

What’s next for you and your partner?

Faas: Figuring how to stay together.

Elizabeth: We’re sticking together. We just need to iron out the details. Any relationship takes a lot of work, but we’re willing to put in the effort.

Faas: We’ll do well. We started out as friends and having that foundation helps.

Elizabeth: That doesn’t mean we won’t fight or get angry, but we know what’s at stake. We’ll find a way.

 

M.T. DeSantis – “Forever Love”

To find a chance… A chance to find…

What did you do on summer vacations as a child? (Or, if not applicable, what’s your favorite thing about summer?)

Karli: I mostly kept to myself. I’d hang out in my room or the basement and listen to music while drawing or coloring. It sounds lonely, but I enjoyed it.

Ellowyn: Is “summer vacation” a human concept? Since the fae have no such thing, I shall say that my favorite thing about summer is the warmth of the nights. I can lie naked beneath the sky and not be bothered by a chill upon my skin.

What do you like best about your partner, physically, and why?

Karli: Ellowyn’s contrast of color just draws me to her. Her ebony skin and silvery-white hair are so alluring.

Ellowyn: Karli’s shapely bosom is my favorite part of her physical appearance. They both arouse me and provide a place to rest my head when I require comfort.

What drives you crazy about your partner, and why?

Karli: Ellowyn occasionally has a grudging streak. Maybe it’s a fae thing. Living forever probably messes with your emotions. I guess I’ll find out.

Ellowyn: Karli thinks of life in human terms. She will rush to do something, and I must gently remind her that we have eternity. Fortunately, she does not rush when we are together, if my meaning is clear.

If you were offered an obscene amount of money, what would you do with it? Why?

Karli: I would build a shrine to the fae dance in the mortal world. Such beauty should be shared with everyone.

Ellowyn: The fae have no use for money. Though, I suppose purchasing a following of devoted humans to perform my every whim holds some appeal.

What’s next for you and your partner?

Karli: I am going to get used to my new existence. My life has changed so much since I met Ellowyn, and I’m excited to explore everything this life has to offer.

Ellowyn: Next and forever, I will be at Karli’s side. She is my forever love.

 

Traci Douglass – “Blood Strong: A Blood Ravagers Novella”

One guardian demon in love. One witch with a secret crush. One evil threatening their newfound connection.

What did you do on summer vacations as a child?

Spud: Dad used to take mom and I out into the Big Horn mountains for cookouts.

Emma: I remember to Summer Solstice celebrations in Nantucket, before we moved to Wyoming. So much fun.

What do you like best about your partner, physically, and why?

Spud: (looks over at Emma beside him) You mean beside the fact she’s the most beautiful woman in the world?

Emma: (blushes then kisses Spud) Aw. You are so sweet. There are so many things I love about Spud. His strength. The sexy little horns on his head. But most of all I love his huge heart.

What drives you crazy about your partner, and why?

Spud: (holds up his hands and shakes his head) Nope. Not going there. Nope, nope, nope.

Emma: (laughs, elbowing him in the side) C’mon. I won’t get mad. Promise. I’ll tell you what drives me nuts about him. His sense of decency. He’s always worried about what other people are going to think. Will they be offended? Should I say this? How can I make them more comfortable around me? Be who you are, I say. Let them adjust.

Spud: (snorts) Well, I guess she can be kind of mouthy sometimes.

Emma: Hey! I am not mouthy. I speak my mind, that’s all.

Spud: Mouthy.

Emma: (crosses arms) So you’ve got a problem with my attitude then?

Spud: I thought you said you wouldn’t get mad?

(interview pauses as bickering commences)

If you were offered an obscene amount of money, what would you do with it? Why?

Spud: (runs a hand through his shoulder length brown hair, sighing) Right now? I’d try to buy back what I said a few minutes ago. At least then I’d have some peace and quiet.

Emma: (cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling with anger) Peace and quiet? (looks at interviewer) Seriously? See this is exactly what I’m talking about. If you feel a certain way, Spud, then own it. Don’t push your feelings aside and pretend they don’t exist to make me happy.

Spud: (lets his head fall back as he exhales slow) I love you Emma. I love everything about you. You are my soul mate, my bonded partner, my everything. When you’re happy, I’m happy. Period. The end. Is that enough realness for you?

Emma: (blinks at him, expression astonished) Uh… wow! I don’t know what to say.

Spud: (glances over at her and grins) How about a kiss then?

Emma: I thought you’d never ask.

What’s next for you and your partner?

(No answer, as Emma straddles Spud on his chair and passionate making out commences. Interviewer quietly leaves the room.).

 

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Interview with Fannar Einarsson: the IMP

Tags

character development, character interview, element manipulation, faerie council, frost, IMP, internal affairs, legacy, magick, snowflakes

Welcome, Fannar. Thank you for coming in to answer some questions.

A pleasure. I live to serve.

Not used to that one, but I’m still glad to have you here. I hear you have an interesting power that takes a hefty toll.

Indeed. The manipulation of elements can be quite draining. I freeze water. It, in turn, freezes me. It wasn’t always that way, bit it is now.

A birdie told me that you and your brother have a bit of a feud. Can you tell me about that?

He’s the reason my powers hurt me as much as they do. Because he skirted his responsibilities and needed someone to save him.

What role do you play in the council?

I run the Northern Division of the Internal Magick Protection units. Checks and balances. Ensuring protocol is not only followed but fair.

Did you always want to be a part of the council?

<He laughs.> No. I messed up pretty badly when I was younger…had a lot of making up to do.

I hear you have an interesting collection, what’s it of?

You hear a lot of things.

I do. It’s like a magickal power.

I have a couple thousand preserved snowflakes. It’s a bit of a niche, took a lot of practice to perfect, but it helps to channel our most basic natures.

Can you tell me about Alvilda?

She was special, but she had a self-destruct button. Too much energy to contain. <Emotions warred through his face.> She changed the way our mound runs now, about what we prioritize, about how we teach our children.

I’m glad to hear she has a legacy.

Me, too.

What was the first bit of magick you learned?

Keeping my food from burning my mouth. Took a long time before I got to eat warm food again.

Samurai or Ninja?

Ninja. It’s better to be fast than strong, and every fairy will tell you the same.

If you could change something about yourself, what would it be and why?

I’d be able to feel warmth again.

I hope you do, someday. Well, that’s it. Thanks for placating me, and I hope you come back to visit soon.

 

Want to know more about Fannar? Check out his official character page or watch him work in “The Mark of the Phoenix.”

Will Waller, a Featured Spotlight

Tags

devil, editing, fairy tale, hellfire, hope, irish, Marketing, must read, mythology, on fire, writing

If you haven’t heard of my new project, the On Fire anthology over at Transmundane Press, this mini-interview and excerpt series will showcase the amazing authors I get to work with and their writing. Meet Will Waller.

 

What do you find to be the easiest thing about writing? What is the hardest?

By far the easiest thing for me to do is come up with premises for stories to write. The hardest… I don’t know if difficult is really the operative concern, but my biggest fault as a writer is being too easily satisfied. Since I have so many premises, when I finish drafting and editing one, I want to be done. So, sometimes I’m too easily satisfied. Unfortunately, good writing rarely works like that.

What did you edit out of this story?

The mean-spirited parts.

What are you doing to market yourself?

I’m not, really. The audience I have I have because I’m mouthy and opinionated, and because I’ve been part of a few different publications, including The Fantasist Magazine, which I founded and still run with my fiancé. I’ve always been strange, I think, in that I don’t really enjoy talking about my own writing. Working in publishing gives me something else to talk about at the bar at a con, or any other context, really. If that helps me market myself, and I’m not sure it does, it’s really only because people remember me as the odd young person not trying to tell everyone who will listen about his novel.

 

From “Torch” by Will Waller

This is the story of Stingy Jack:

You’re a blacksmith in a small Irish town. You’re a gigantic fucking asshole, so naturally people try to kill you, but this is a fairy tale, so even with an axe in your back, you get to bargain with the Devil while you both get a pint. You say, “I have a great idea,” and nothing good ever happens after that. There’s a thing with a coin and a plan to steal some souls, then a cross, and it all ends with you getting another year of life. You spend that year having an affair in a small town with a woman who doesn’t tell you she’s already pregnant. After she leaves, the Devil corners you under an apple tree, but you’re still not ready to let it go. Again with the crosses, but this time, you’re stupid. While he’s stuck in that tree, you make him swear to never take your soul. When you try to catch up with the woman, she tells you about her new baby girl. You’re supposed to act like the summer never happened. The pearly gates are closed. She doesn’t want you near her good china. So, you hit bottom and head to Hell to set up shop, but when you get there, the Devil laughs at you. He won’t let you in. You made him swear he wouldn’t, but he remembers your college days, and he has a sense of humor. He sticks some Hellfire in a turnip, so the burning smell can light your way while you wander. He says it’s to help, but the fire carries the memory of the summer, and the memory, with the smell, clings to every new relationship. You fall into old habits and become a shadow of yourself, but the only thing that people see is a hopeful, little light bobbing in a stinky mist. Other people mistake your light for guidance and lose themselves in a swamp they don’t see following your little light. Knowing you’re lost anyway, you wander west, chasing an old college friend, hoping he can set you right.

 

Will Waller is an author of speculative fiction, scholarship, and experimental writing originally from the Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York. After two years in San Francisco spent working as an editor for Eleven Eleven Journal, he relocated to St. Louis to found The Fantasist Magazine. His writing focuses on memory, music, and the weather, and has been featured by Bay Area Generations, Heavy Feather Review, Rivet Magazine, and the On Fire anthology of Transmundane Press.

Follow our Amazon page for On Fire’s release this December 1st!

Sean Padraic McCarthy, a Featured Spotlight

Tags

character development, dysfunctional family, mental health, On Fire anthology, twins, witchcraft, writer's block, writing, zombies

If you haven’t heard of my new project, the On Fire anthology over at Transmundane Press, this mini-interview and excerpt series will showcase the amazing authors I get to work with and their writing. Meet Sean Padraic McCarthy.

 

Are you a full-time author? If you have another job, what is it and would you like to become a full-time author if you could?

I’m not a full time author. I work in the mental health field as a human service coordinator. And yes, if I could support myself from writing, I would; although I would like to teach part time.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

I’m always working on at least a few stories—and usually a novel—at the same time, so if one stalls, I just jump to another. I also find that writer’s block is much more torturous when thinking about writing; once you go into your writer’s mind—with either pen on paper or fingers on the keyboard—the answers are usually more accessible.

Who is your favorite character in your current story and why?

Both Sophie and Kinsley.  I love Sophie’s heart and innocence, and I love Kinsley’s alertness, practicality and wisdom, and I love the way the two of them look out for each other.

 

From “A Solstice Memory” by Sean McCarthy

Inside the house the twins stood waiting for me. They’re not identical, but they look alike. Sophie has darker hair, a slightly lazy eye, and freckles on her nose. A little taller. Kinsley is more compact, and more assured. An athlete.

“Dad,” she said.

“Yeah?’

“That wasn’t a dead cat you were burying this morning.”

“What do you mean?”

She beckoned for me to follow her, and slid open the door onto the back covered deck. Cheryl has always kept the back deck looking nice. A bar, and our grill, a teak dining table. More hanging plants, and potted herbs. And on the side wall of the house hangs a collections of faces. Masks. One, wooden, is a tree spirit, a bearded face in the bark. One is Pan, painted dark green, leaves in his hair. One is a gray stone cherub. And one is from Haiti. A tear drop shaped, with a bone through the nose, eyes in panic, and the mouth locked open in scream. Wild strands of hair, standing on end. My brother-in-law, a sociologist, game me that one. He told me it is very old, and one of kind, probably worth a lot of money, so we probably shouldn’t hang it out here, free to steal, but Cheryl insisted we do, insisted we hang it with the others, so she didn’t have to look at it every day.

Kinsley was already down on the lawn. “Come on.”

I looked at Sophie.

“I’m not going down there,” she said. “Not again.”

Kinsley stopped some twenty feet from the shed, from the pet cemetery.

I caught up.

“Look.” She pointed.

But she didn’t have to.

The hand stuck up from the earth. Rotten and gray. The yellow finger nails clawed at the soil.

“He wants out, Dad,” Kinsley said.

“Well, let’s see if we can stop that.”

“You can’t be burying dead guys in the yard. Mom’s gonna get really mad.”

 

Sean Padraic McCarthy’s short stories have been published or are forthcoming in Glimmer Train, The Hopkins Review, The Indianola Review, South Dakota Review, The Sewanee Review, 2 Bridges Review, Prole, Water~Stone Review,  Hayden’s Ferry Review, Shadowgraph Magazine, Fifth Wednesday Journal, and South Dakota Review among others. His story “Better Man”–originally published in december magazine—was  listed as a “Distinguished Story”  in The Best American Short Stories 2015, he was recently named a finalist for the Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction, and he is a 2016 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Artist Fellowship in Fiction Award. 

Follow our Amazon page for On Fire’s release this December 1st!

Interview with Tahe Love: The Battle Buddy.

Tags

biker bar, blood phoenix, Broken World, Cadillac Roadster, card tricks, magician, Nikola Tesla, vampires

Welcome, Tahe Love, full of sass, crass, and class.

That’s me, chica.

 

I hear you once met Nikola Tesla, can you tell us about that?

It was brief. He shook my hand and looked me in the eyes. The intellect and general good in him astonished me. I’d probably have bent over for him there if he’d asked me to, even though I wasn’t into the mustache.
Oh my.

Sorry, sista. I tell it how it is.

 

I heard you dabbled in magic. Can you tell me about your time as a magician’s assistant?

I loved magic and sleight of hand. There was this young bloke, charming as shit, good at misdirection, and good with his hands. I saw him perform on the street one night and took him to an alley for a little nibble. Impressed him when I stole the cash he’d made from the show right out of his pocket. So we did a lot of disappearing assistant acts. Didn’t get anywhere, and his obsession got dark, confinement and danger, and I ain’t gonna watch a good man descend like that. Watch him kill himself. No thanks.

 

Which trick was your favorite?

He taught me how to fling cards, which he’d cut with his double-sided dagger. We got some speed on that trick. Got noticed for it, too. That’s when shit went wrong.

 

I also heard that you’re a bit of a car nut.

I love what industry has done to them, well before all of the electronic controls. The ignition system though in the early 1900s, those were brilliant because the hand cranks were monsters. But people don’t know their cars now, all those automatic regulators get in the way. I enjoyed getting to know my car, its quirks, its parts, its language.

 

What was the first car you stole?

A Cadillac Roadster Type 61 in 1922.

 

Can you tell me about how you and Julia met?

I was hanging out at a biker bar, cheating a few big guys at pool and hitting on their ladies. I felt her watching me, and when she challenged me to a game, I let her take the first shot, and she swept the game. Cost me five hundred dollars and a round of beers. Worth every penny.

 

What can you tell us about Julia?

She was a rare kind of human. Ain’t a lot of them out there that have such open minds, that don’t judge or react out of fear. That made her a hell of a lot of fun to pull shit with. Besides, she had an imagination, especially in bed. I’m a dog without a bone, if you catch me.

 

I do.

Figured you would.

 

What was it like to have a man as a mentor?

I think that’s a story for another time, sweet cakes.

 

Thanks for spending some time with me, Tahe.

You got it. Anytime.

 

Interested in learning more about her story? Click here!

Guest Interview with Kerry & Cat from BELOVED ENEMY

Tags

beauty, beloved enemy, blame, cat, characters, charisma, corrupt regime, danger, dematerialize, destiny trilogy, future, guest post, haunted, hywela lyn, interview, kerry, patronizing, revenge, Robigo, romance, sarcastic, shifter, stubborn, survival

I’d like to introduce Kerry and Cat from Hywela Lyn’s BELOVED ENEMY, the third novel in her Destiny trilogy. Welcome!

Good evening Alisha, how kind of you to invite us here. Cat takes a seat across from Alisha and Lyn, and Kerry seats himself next to her. His stern expression changes as he fixes his gaze on Alisha and he smiles briefly, a smile that is as charismatic as it is fleeting.

Cat glances across at him then back to Alisha: I hope you don’t mind me bringing Shifter along, he frets if he’s away from me for long. She glances down at her feet and a shadow moves. Don’t let him scare you, he’s very friendly, but he can change his appearance to blend in with his surroundings, which can be a bit disconcerting if you don’t know he’s there.”

Oh-kaaay.  Alisha watches the vague outline of the large animal as it moves closer to Cat. It is something like a wolf in appearace, and almost indistinguishable  from the scarlet floor covering, although when it reaches Cat it changes colour to merge with the dark purple of her jumpsuit.

He really is a sweetie, Lyn says, bending over to stroke Shifter’s head. Let’s start this interview where the story opens, shall we. Cat—what motivated you to be in that sector of space?

Cat hesitates, avoiding looking at Kerry: I was trying to find out what happened to my sister. I’d heard rumours and pieced together bits of information. I was pretty sure she’d been killed but I wanted to know exactly what happened to her – and hunt down the person responsible.”

I’m sorry, Alisha says. If it’s not too painful, what is your fondest memory of your sister? What do you miss about her most?

Cat hesitates slightly before answering: I haven’t seen her for years, not since we were children, but I remember how we used to play together, and chase about beneath the domes on Earth. I always admired her and thought we were close, but she changed as we grew into young adults, and left shortly after my father deserted us.

Alisha gives her a curious look: Your father? He wasn’t your sister’s as well?

No. Our mother had remarried and I was born a couple of years later. We were only half-sisters but that never mattered to me.

I can’t resist it, Lyn says grinning. You too are going through so much together and on the surface seem to be just tolerating each other. What do you really think of each other?

There is a long silence before Cat answers quietly: You really expect me to tell you now – in front of him?

Kerry’s face is expressionless: Please, don’t spare my feelings. I believe I can take it!

It’s OK Cat – and Kerry, Lyn says reassuringly. You can write your thoughts down – in complete confidence.

After a short pause, Cat hands her a small screen. On it is written : He is the most infuriating man I’ve ever met. My intention was to kill him – I thought I had a good reason. Now I’m not so sure. We’re stuck here on this planet with no way off and we’ve faced some dangerous situations together and there have been moments—. Sure, he can be sarcastic and a bit patronizing – but  I can give as good as I get and I suspect there is another side to him, and some tragedy in his past. Also – and I hate to admit it, but he is rather good looking—those blue eyes are amazing, and there is a certainly charisma about him!

Kerry glances at Cat curiously, then shrugs and hands his own screen to Lyn, who reads it then passes it to Alisha. Kerry has written: She is one of the most intriguing and at the same time annoyingly stubborn people I have ever come across. I am never sure whether I can trust her or not and I have the gnawing suspicion that she is hiding something. However, she did save my life, although I have the feeling she would just as soon shoot me. She seems to have several useful skills and since we are obliged to work together to escape from this damned planet, there is little I can do about it at the moment, other than to watch my back. Having said that, she does seem to have a softer side than the one she likes to portray. She is witty and clever, and she is certainly very attractive—especially when she lets her hair down, literally, that is.

Alisha nods slowly: A question for you both – what do you wish you’d learned about yourself long ago, or if you could send your younger self a message, but only had four words, what would that message be?

Cat considers for a moment: I wish I’d learned how naïve and trusting I was when I was young. I didn’t realise then how unreliable some people can be, and how devious. I would tell my younger self to ‘grow a thick skin’. After all, in this life one is bound to get hurt, and it’s best to be prepared.

Kerry flashes his rare smile: Strangely enough, my answer is very similar to Cat’s. I have trusted very few people in my life and rely on no-one but myself. I learned that the hard way, as a young boy, growing up with an Aunt and her partner, who were—shall I say—less than kind. I would tell my younger self to “choose friends with care,” but then as I said, that is something I have always done instinctively anyway.

Gosh you two have had some hard times I can see —

Kerry raises an eyebrow: Well, you should know — you are the author!

Lyn nods: I guess I had that coming. I don’t suppose either of you have a very good opinion of me then.

Cat purses her lips: Well, I suppose that all depends on whether you give us our happy ever after!

Kerry  glances across at Cat and gives her another of his smiles:. Strangely enough, it would seem that once again we are in agreement. He looks back at Lyn: However, I thought we had an understanding. Since it has taken you long enough to continue my story, surely you have tortured me – and Cat for that matter – enough. I find it hard to believe you will not bring it all to a satisfactory conclusion, although at this moment I can’t quite see how.

Lyn grins: Sorry, you’ll both have to wait and see – and I know patience is not a strong point for either of you, but just bear in mind this is a romance.

Kerry and Cat exchange glances that could be interpreted as shock or disbelief.

Alisha: Well, I could go on chatting for much longer but sadly I have to bring this interview to a close. One final question for you both though—if you could have one thing on Robigo that would not aid in your survival, what would it be?

Cat answers immediately: “I already have him – Shifter. We’ve been together for quite a while and seen some dangerous times. He’s more than a pet, he’s my companion, and we look out for each other. She pauses for a moment. Of course what I want more than anything else, is to get off Robigo, but I wouldn’t go unless I could take Shifter as well.”

Alisha looks questioningly at Kerry.

A communicator that actually works! I need to get back in contact with my ship! There are things happening on Robigo that have no rational explanation. Even better than that, a transit ferry would be rather useful. He turns to glance again at Cat. And I somehow ended up promising Cat that I’d help her escape from this planet. He pauses for a moment. Oh, I’m sorry, you did say something that would not aid in our survival? I am not a great one for artifacts that have no particular use. I suppose a small android that could beat me at chess would be interesting. He consults his chronometer. This has been a fascinating interview and it was delightful to meet you both. However, we have a to figure a way off Robigo and work out what is preventing me from communicating with my ship – if we survive the numerous dangers our author seems to have set up for us, that is.

Well thank you both again. As Alisha speaks, Cat and Kerry, together with ‘Shifter’ slowly dematerialize.

Thank you so much for having us, Alisha. I’ve really enjoyed it, and I think Cat and Kerry did too.  They may not realise it at the moment, but I feel they make a perfect couple don’t you think?

I agree!

And here’s a little bit more about the book:

The Blurb:

Cat Kincaid is obsessed with killing the man she believes is responsible for the torture and death of her sister, but when she eventually catches up with him, survival becomes a greater priority than revenge.

Kerry Marchant, haunted by memories, regret and self-blame, shields himself from the pain of the past by committing himself totally to the starship, Destiny, of which he is part owner. However, the beautiful, red haired woman who reminds him of his lost love, and who he suspects is working for a corrupt regime, represents a possible threat not only to the ship, but to his heart.

Marooned on an inhospitable planet, they need to work together to stay alive, fighting not only unknown assailants, but their growing attraction. But how can they learn to trust each other when he has vowed never to get close to a woman again, and she made a solemn pledge to destroy him?

Buy it here or here and come back tomorrow for an excerpt and some info about the author, Hywela Lyn!

Mini-Author Interviews: Anthony S. Buoni

Tags

airboats, American Venice, anthology, anthony s. buoni, Big Easy, cataclysmic, cockiness, crime, culture, Death, drink, fallout, flood, food, ghosts, horror, interview, Katrina, looting, Mini-Author Interviews, murder, Music, myth, New Orleans, organic monster, pilot, raiding, soggy, sumerged, swamp, Underwater, unhinged, urban fantasy, voodoo, wasteland

Mini-Author Interviews for UNDERWATER:

Anthony S. Buoni

What inspired your story?

I’ve lived in New Orleans off and on for over 21 years. It sings to me in a way no other place ever has. When Katrina flooded the Big Easy, my heart broke. Our country’s most unique city, rich with centuries of culture and history, submerged in a few short hours. People begging for rescue atop homes jutting from the murky water—an American Venice, tragic and romantic, flooded the television sets around the world, and I wondered if I’d get home again. Sometimes a place is more than a place, and I began wondering, should the swamp reclaim the area, who—and what—would remain? Would anyone ever come back? One of my best friends lives in Houma, just south of Nola, and she works for one of the local haunted house here, the House of Shock. Her normal character is a voodoo queen, and so I took some cues from that. This story is really a gift to her.

 

Did you have to do any research? If so, what kind? What did you learn?

Geographical. New Orleans is shaped like a bowl, so some parts of the city are on higher ground than others. Watching videos that recreated the flooding, the fallout, the looting. I examined airboats, how they operated and what not.

 

Can you tell me a little bit about your protagonist?

He’s an expert airboat pilot. Got a lover back on solid ground, and he hopes these runs will afford him a family. This is his first time raiding the city for supplies, and he’s nervous, but his youth also breeds cockiness.

 

Tell me about the setting you chose and how it influences your work.

New Orleans is a living, organic monster. She decides who she’ll embrace and who she’ll spit out. Music, drink, crime, culture, food, ghosts, voodoo, murder—it can be a little much for some. The city not only influences my work, but every aspect of my life. It made me the creature I am today and continues shaping my life.

 

What would you like readers to know about “Diluvium”?

It’s a wasteland story, a smaller piece to a larger world that’s come unhinged. Several other authors are currently chipping away at different regions (and different points in time) of this world—mine just happens to be soggy. Maybe we’ll see all these cataclysmic tales come together someday…

 

Living and creating in New Orleans, Louisiana, Anthony S. Buoni haunts swamps and bayous along the Gulf of Mexico, writing, editing, producing, and lecturing about his craft. A practicing pagan, he’s responsible for the BETWEEN THERE anthologies as well as his screenplay-novel, CONVERSION PARTY, available through PULPWOOD PRESS. Recently, he’s co-edited and co-produced two exciting anthologies with Alisha Costanzo with their independent imprint, TRANSMUNDANE PRESS: DISTORTED: vol 1 and UNDERWATER: vol 1.

In the past, he produced the underground zine MEOW and the illustrated horror rag OUTRÉ from MEOW PRESS, and his work has appeared in WATERFRONT LIVING, NORTH FLORIDA NOIR, and SMALL HAPPY. Currently writing a New Orleans monster novel as well as putting the final edits on novels featuring ghosts, zombies, and a café between life and death filled with secrets and philosophy. His next book, a collection of dark short stories, is due for publication in early 2016.

When not writing, Anthony is a Bourbon Street bartender and underground musician and DJ, drawing down the moon with new wave, trance, and melancholy tunes. Other interests include film, gardening, comic books, and playing video games with his son, Fallon.

 

Follow him on facebook or his website.

Mini-Author Interviews: Gregory L. Norris

Tags

AMC, anthology, Eureka!, Gregory L. Norris, happiness, Happiness Shoal, hospital, interview, Isles of Shoals, Joe Dunnegin, Jurassic Cyst, lobsterman, Lost Hope, Maine, Mini-Author Interviews, missing, mountains, Muse, Salisbury Beach, sea, shipwrecks, Southern New Hampshire writer's group, Star Island, The Outer Limits, Underwater

Mini-Author Interviews for UNDERWATER:

Gregory L. Norris

What inspired your story?

In April of 2013, I headed to a writing retreat to Maine, feeling off. I knew something was physically wrong, but tried to compartmentalize it, as I tend to do. The retreat was wonderful, the company stellar—I was with members of my Southern New Hampshire writers’ group and had, the month before, moved 150 miles north and away from them after buying a house in the mountains. But as the retreat continued on, my condition worsened, forcing me to leave early. Three days after that, I was in the hospital with what I lovingly refer to as ‘Jurassic Cyst’. The condition advanced so quickly and grew so bad that I caught something out of the classic The Outer Limits staring back from the mirror. I spent four and a half days in the hospital hooked up to IVs, with a massive hole in my noggin. I haven’t been inside a hospital since I was a kid. I asked my partner Bruce to bring me a notepad and pens, which, along with the bedside vigil of my Muse, saved my life (or at least my sanity!). Forced to sit in bed for all that time, I wrote the first 3,000 words of “Happiness Shoal,” along with notes for two Western short stories (both of which have since sold), no doubt influenced by the only decent daytime TV available, the classic shows that run on AMC.

 

Did you have to do any research? If so, what kind? What did you learn?

The research amounted to asking questions about my own hospital stay and working them into my main character’s, who wakes up in the hospital after having been missing for days at sea. Also, in September of 2012 before buying the house, I stayed for five days on Star Island in New Hampshire’s Isles of Shoals at a fantastic, boot camp-style writers’ retreat. So I got to understand the lay of the land on a shoal very much like the one I wrote about, including the local shipwrecks and atmosphere.

 

Can you tell me a little about your protagonist?

Joe Dunnegin is a divorced lobsterman, feeling only half there until he experiences something extraordinary near the barren outcrop off Maine’s rocky headlands, known as Lost Hope. Handsome, athletic, a man’s sort of man, Joe wakes up unable to remember what happened to him during the days he was missing at sea. But he goes on a quest to uncover the truth—and reclaim that fleeting chance at happiness.

 

Tell me about the setting you chose and how it influenced your work.

While laid up in the hospital bed, I put the pen to page and wrote. Joe is based upon my Muse, who is tall, dark, emerald-eyed, and ridiculously handsome. The setting came to me in one of those Eureka! moments, when a story emerges in high-def, 3-D form enough for the author to believe it as being real. Growing up, I spent a lot of time at Salisbury Beach in Massachusetts (even penned longhand drafts of stories there when I was a teen; those manuscripts are still archived in my filing cabinets). Though I live in the mountains, I was supremely inspired by Transmundane Press’s call for UNDERWATER, and wanted to have a story in the anthology.

 

What would you like readers to know about “Happiness Shoal”?

Well, that along with thoughts about returning home to my partner, cats, and our new old house, “Happiness Shoal” kind of saved my life. I can’t remember ever being so sick, so laid up, so gutted open. To me, the words, the ink, the fresh pages (which were put down at a slower-than-usual pace, but put down nonetheless despite all the needles and equipment and jabbings) were the true medicine.

 

Gregory L. Norris is a full-time professional writer, with numerous credits, mostly in national magazines and fiction anthologies.  Recent short story appearances and sales include ANTHOLOGY YEAR THREE (the companion handbook to Anthocon), DEAD HARVEST, DEATH’S REALM, THE END IS THE BEGINNING (which includes reprints by THE Mary Shelley, Hawthorne, and Mr. Poe) and numerous releases by Cleis Press and Bruno Gemuender Verlag in Germany.  He once worked as a screenwriter on two episodes of Paramount’s modern classic, STAR TREK: VOYAGER, and penned the screenplay to BRUTAL COLORS (Royal Blue Pictures), his first contracted feature film.  Norris judged the 2013 Lambda Awards in the SF/Fantasy/Horror category, and in 2015 saw the publication of TALES FROM THE ROBOT GRAVEYARD, his collection of cyber-centric novellas, with a cover by Eric Chu, concept artist on the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series.  He was a semi-finalist in the Roswell Award in Short SF.

You can follow him on facebook or his author website.

Mini-Author Interviews: Adrik Kemp

Tags

abyss, adrik kemp, alien, anemone, Australia, beaches, bioluminescent, daydreams, deep-sea, deep-sea creatures, discovery, Disney, fantasy, fear, horror, inspiration, interview, magic, marine life, mer-people, mermaids, Mini-Author Interviews, Mischa, mischa and the mermaid, obsession, ocean, rock pool, rock walking, sea, swim, swimming, terrifying, Underwater, water, whales

Mini-Author Interviews for UNDERWATER:

Adrik Kemp

What inspired your story?

As a child, I spent a great deal of time ‘rock walking’ from beach to beach with my family. I’ve always been fascinated by the beauty of rock pools and the sheer scale of the diversity of marine life, so it was enjoyable to create some of my own. Each pool is an opportunity to see something new and alien swimming around, and while many are filled with standard anemones, shellfish and seaweed, every now and then you find a tiny ecosystem of fish or even an octopus, and it’s exhilarating, like hitting a jackpot. I wanted to convey the wonder of discovery that I felt as a child and still feel as an adult when combing rocky beaches.

 

Did you have to do any research? If so, what kind? What did you learn?

The setting of my story is based on memories, so my research was mainly delving into my own mind while I wrote; however, the more fantastical elements of my story took a little research. I looked into what many would see as unusual mating habits – deep-sea creatures that favour strong, muscular females and tiny, insignificant males, useful only for their sperm. This got me thinking about the potential hierarchy of a deep-sea, marine community of humanoid derivation and it all snowballed from there. Without giving anything away, I also spent some time googling images of whales.

 

Can you tell me a little bit about your protagonist?

The eponymous Mischa is a teenage boy who has spent his life in a sleepy, coastal town in Australia. He has an older brother, a best friend, Fiona who is about to move away, and an endless fascination with the hidden magic of the sea. A bit of a dreamer, his laid back approach to life allows him to drift along with the current, so to speak.

 

Where does Mischa’s fascination with the sea come from? His obsession with mermaids?

The driving force behind Mischa’s daydreams is his subconscious understanding that he’s stuck living in a small town, his only constant friend being his brother George and his best friend Fiona. Rather than dealing with this and the fact that his friend is leaving him, he loses himself in fanciful daydreams of mermaids and magic beneath the waves. Making a world for himself within his own world gives him solace.

 

Can you explain your version of the mermaid? They were terrifying, and I loved that.

There are usually two types of mermaid – the Disney variety and the horror variety. Mine are most definitely on the horror side of things. I’m a little obsessed with the sea, and I think that if mer-people do exist, they would have to do so in the deep. And to do that, I imagine they would have characteristics of deep-sea creatures. I mean, down there, you have things more nightmarish than anything you could dream up, translucent, glass-like teeth, dead, white eyes, bioluminescent lures to trap prey. Not to mention the fascinating life cycles – creatures that are functionally immortal, enormous females that collect tiny males on their bodies as portable sperm banks, worms that live in boiling water over sea vents and more. I took elements from these creatures and fashioned them into a society I thought might come of it if they were mixed with humans.

 

Tell be about the setting you chose and how it influences your work.

All my life, I have lived on and holidayed all along the east coast of Australia. The ocean and life on its edge are a big influence on this work as they have been, and continue to be in my life. The feeling of the salt and sun on my skin, warm rocks under my feet and the rolling, endless ocean before me is a thing of singular beauty that I hope I relayed in this story.

 

You also made the ocean a bit horrifying (that may be me), do you find the ocean equally as frightful as it is beautiful?

The short answer is yes. I go to the beach a lot, I live nearby to the ocean and swim 3-4 times a week at it, but I still can’t stay in too long before my mind wanders to what else might be sharing the water with me. I have almost a pathological fear of sharks and monsters of the deep. I once snorkeled away from a reef and over what appeared to be an abyss and panicked instantly. So I suppose the long answer is no, I find the ocean absolutely stunning and awe-inspiring, but the things within, some of those can and do strike fear in me constantly.

 

What would you like readers to know about “Mischa and The Mermaid”?

I hope that when they read it, they can be transported to this idyllic memory and have it torn to pieces along with Mischa.

 

Adrik Kemp is a published author with short stories appearing in web based and print anthologies. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing, which he enjoys looking at from time to time, and is an avid reader, writer and copywriter by trade. He also likes spending his time eating, swimming at the beach and playing house.

You can follow him on facebook, twitter, or  his author website.

Mini-Author Interviews: Jean Roberta

Tags

18th century, 19th century, anthology, ballads, called, Canada, church-run institutions, Dorcas, England, erotic, gothic, Idaho, interview, Jean Roberta, life of service, loving Christians, Mini-Author Interviews, nobleman, properly domesticated, Rebecca, sagebrush, servant class, sexually-exploited maid, technology, The Water-Harp, Underwater, water

Mini-Author Interviews for UNDERWATER:

Jean Roberta

What inspired your story? 

Reading old ballads as well as gothic stories and novels from the 18th and 19th centuries, and imagining what a jealous upper-class husband could get away with in an era before modern forensic technology was developed!
Did you have to do any research? If so, what kind? What did you learn? 

I didn’t do any research specifically for this story, but I love to read factual details about past eras. Although I don’t have much respect for organized religion in general, I have known some loving Christians who feel “called” to help those in need. I can easily imagine such people finding their way to Church-run institutions in the past, simply because that was where one could live a life of service.
Can you tell me a little bit about your protagonist? 

Dorcas is practical, and also in touch with her instincts and emotions because she has always been able to escape to the natural world. Most other people feel uneasy in her presence because they find her startlingly beautiful, and she is not a “properly” domesticated woman of the “servant class.” She never rebels openly against an unjust social system, but her spirit is never broken, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to survive.
Was Rebecca sent to Dorcas on purpose?

No. Rebecca found her way to the convent because she wanted to escape from her job as a sexually-exploited maid for a nobleman. She prefers the company of women, and hopes to find a home with the nuns who run the orphanage where Dorcas has been raised. There is no safe place for her in the culture she is living in, but Dorcas never forgets Rebecca, and intends to look for her. (Rebecca might be a central character in another story.)
Tell me about the setting you chose and how it influences your work.

The setting is an older version of England, full of forests and streams. When I was growing up in southern Idaho, I spent much time in the sagebrush-covered hills where my family lived beyond the town limits. I wanted to capture the feeling of a barefoot childhood in the wild but in a place where English-speaking people lived before the 1860s (when white North Americans discovered the “West”).
What would you like readers to know about “The Water-Harp”?

The exact nature of this instrument that creates music when water flows through it is meant to pique a reader’s curiosity. However, it’s not fully described until the last scene.

 

Jean Roberta lives on the Canadian prairies, where the vastness of land and sky encourage daydreaming. She has taught English in the local university for over 25 years, and now teaches creative writing there. Her diverse fiction (mostly erotic) has appeared in many print anthologies, an out-of-print novel, two out-of-print story collections, and two available collections: Obsession (Renaissance), The Princess and the Outlaw(Lethe Press) plus The Flight of the Black Swan: A Bawdy Novella (Lethe, also in audio). She coedited Heiresses of Russ (Lethe), an annual anthology of the year’s best lesbian speculative fiction. The opinion pieces she wrote for a monthly column, Sex Is All Metaphors (based on a line in a poem by Dylan Thomas), are available as an e-book by that title (www.eroticanthology.com). She looks forward to revising her backlist and doing more writing during her sabbatical (2016-2017).

You can follow her on facebook or her author website.