Alisha Costanzo, a Featured Spotlight

Tags

blood phoenix, Broken World, character development, developing dialogue, good read, must read, on fire, phoenix, writing advice, writing tips

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, usually. This time, you get to meet me, Alisha Costanzo.

What advice do you have for beginning authors?

Just write. Don’t let anyone tell you what to write or that what you write isn’t worth writing. Just write.

Which of your characters was the hardest to write about and why?

In Loving Red, Kaia was my most difficult because of how different she and I are. She’s far more capable than I am in the wild, untrusting, and a faithful Christian. I asked the woman who created the character with me in role playing a lot of questions to be sure I did her justice.

What do you think your main strengths and weaknesses are as an author?

My main weakness as an author is scene set-up. I always feel as if I’m blathering on too long when I’m describing a setting. I’ve been working on this for years and am developing a style that allows me to give snippets of sensory detail rather than dumping it all at once. My strengths are character development and dialogue. I love to give my characters different voices that make them distinct, like Boden’s lack of articles and how he misuses prepositions. I also like that all of my characters are broken in various ways.

 

From “The Mark of the Phoenix” by Alisha Costanzo

Aderyn chased the headlights across the ceiling and the fleeting feeling of Tatiana’s touch along his skin. He ached. So badly.

Digging the pipe from his satchel, he broke and sprinkled a nugget and burnt it under his thumb. The smoke eased the ache in his shoulders and back, but his chest blistered inside from the fear of rebirth. Of disintegrating into ash and dust. Of painting the cosmos with fire and losing himself.

A long life without love meant little.

Another puff sank his elbows to his knees, numbing limbs and leaving that sucking blackness in the center of his chest.

He deserved the girl.

Another puff.

Didn’t he?

The herb knocked him backwards into the bed, drowning him the lack of attachment he had in this world. What would he leave behind? A vague memory for a woman and a child he would never meet? One that would be hunted down to live the same life as him, wandering alone to cleanse the world with fire?

A hard burden for anyone to carry.

But it was his, and he didn’t want to give it up.

 

Alisha Costanzo is from a Syracuse suburb. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Central Oklahoma, where she currently teaches English. She’s the author of the Blood Phoenix saga, Loving Red and is co-editor of Distorted, Underwater, and After the Happily Ever After. Lucifer’s Daughter, her new novel, is in its creation for a hopeful 2018 release. In the meantime, she will continue to corrupt young minds, rant about the government, and daydream about her all around nasty creatures.

ON FIRE is available now: Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and the Transmundane Press store.

Did You Know…About Ria’s Meditation Techniques?

Tags

blood phoenix, chakras, enlightenment, flames, focus, Meditation, PTSD, techniques, vitarka mudra, yoga

From early on in the Blood Phoenix stories, we watch Ria use meditation to deal with her newly acquired vampirism. She uses her chakras and focus to keep from killing her victims and controlling her visionary powers in Rebirth. In Claimed, she learns to stack them to tap into her powers and defend herself. With practice, she uses them to heal her mind and deal with her PTSD in Imprinted.

Here’s a little background information and the techniques she uses.

Meditation with chakras allows one to strengthen the connection between body and mind, to build on each chakra, and to tune intent and energy to create ultimate focus.

The six physical chakras stack like a pyramid:

The base is dense, heavy, and difficult to change as it represents strength and stability, opposite in nature from the tip, the sixth chakra is easily changeable, light, and airy. The seventh chakra, at the crown of the skull, is our connection from the body to consciousness.

Stacking chakras through meditation, as Ria does, means visualizing and stimulating each chakra from the root through the navel, chest, throat, and forehead to the crown. As each grows balanced, one gains a better feel for the world around them, relating to it physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Ria often imagines the process as wrapping a suit of armor around herself, and the regular activation lends to her advanced healing and controlling the excess of energy feeding her wild abilities, essentially caging in the feral chaos she holds onto—more to come on this later.

The other techniques Ria uses in the books are not as elaborate, so a brief overview will do.

Flames—this was the first technique I used when I learned about meditation in college. This takes on a variety of starting points, staring into a real flame, creating an imaginary flame in the mind, and building a shrine either physically or mentally, that allows a person to add means of reaching into our consciousness.

Focus/Re-Focus—this is one I learned of through my husband. When clearing one’s mind, we must allow the noise in our heads to have their say before they can give us any peace. This is what he does, calling up his worries, filing them if important, and swatting them away if he lacks control to change them. Similar techniques relate to the effort it takes to shoo away that random, chattering noise in the mind (at least in my mind). For Ria, this means dealing with her survival’s guilt after killing another renegade vampire.

The vitarka mudra—this hand gesture is commonly seen in Buddha statues as the sign of enlightenment. The term vitarka in Sanskrit means reasoning, consideration or deliberation, and mudra means closure, mark, or seal. Together, vitarka mudra is the gesture of debate. In yogic practices, the mudra aids in controlling the flow of energy and unblocks chakras.  Ria uses a variation of the mudra by touching both the index and middle fingers to the thumb, symbolizing compassion. When she uses it, she’s honing her powers in attempts to keep others from harm.

Got questions about these techniques? Leave them in the comments below.

Want to know more about Ria? Check out the Blood Phoenix novels here.

Polyamorous Relationships & Urban Fantasy

Tags

blood phoenix, Laurell K. Hamilton, LGBT, love-triangle, polyamory, satire, stereotypes, third wheel, tropes, vampires

Ria has three men in her life, and I know a lot of readers are over the love triangle—or square in this case. I know people are going to react to this. In fact, a reviewer already has: How can Ria love more than one man at the same time? Here’s a disclaimer, the Blood Phoenix mini-series is not a romance. It’s more of a sexy horror/urban fantasy.

Well, let me try to explain this fictional set up and why it reflects a bit of my life and beliefs.

One of my major influences, Laurell K. Hamilton, talks about polyamory in several blog posts and interviews. In fact, here’s a quote from her in a 2015 interview:

“Even in the LGBT community, polyamory and bisexuality are not totally accepted. They are both seen as a way of not committing to one sexuality, or one person, even among those who you would think would be the most accepting. Most people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are very invested in the ideal of finding the love of their life and living happily ever after. It works for some people, but happily ever after is from fairy tales, which are bedtime stories for kids. Why does everyone try to fit real world love into a model from children’s stories? Shouldn’t true love be able to grow up, at last?”

Over the last year, I’ve written, read, edited, and presented over fairy tales and gender roles and societal influences, etc. Her quote fits for my recent state of mind. I highly believe we can love more than one person at a time, and most of us do. We love our significant others, our parents, our siblings, our children, and our friends. Each love is different, even if they’re the same “type” of love.

I feel as though I try to get into the intricacies that comes with polyamorous relationships—as with every relationship, the variables apply to the people involved—that I’ll just say that having multiple partners—sexual or not—can be done in a healthy and respectable way. So long as honesty and open communication exists, more love can only lead to positive outcomes. The same is true with couples.

I’m in favor of combating pre-designated ideas about human behavior. Love who you love and fuck everyone else. It’s none of their business, anyways.

Okay, with that in mind, let me elaborate on Ria’s men and her need for all three. I’ve been told that they could be combined into one or two at most.

They can’t. Maybe this is an author pout, the characters are real to me, and I cannot eliminate one out of the selfish attachment to them. Maybe.

Or they represent the three versions of my husband. Without spilling too much personal information about him, Jason, I will say that the combination of his high intellect, his enormous vault of experiences, and the effects of twenty-six months of extremely active combat in Afghanistan, I don’t always know which version of him I will get on any given day: the surly sergeant determined to fix the corruption of his government—aka James; the needy, silly, goofball that spends a lot of time entertaining himself and causing mischief—aka Boden; or the lonely, sullen man in need of affection and fighting a mouthy, combative female he’s meant to take care of—aka Gene.

The three have a bit of overlap, but they’re distinct enough to make them different people. Besides, Ria needs all the help she can get, and each supports her in different ways as she adapts for each of them.

In any case, my novels are meant to be satirical, poking fun at the tropes of my genre(s), like the ever-popular and overly-used love triangle.

Got a trope you wish more authors used, eliminated, or adapted? Let me know in the comments below!

 

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!

Writing Tip: How to write a strong-female protagonist.

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Arya Stark, blood phoenix, bossy, Broken World, character, complex, contradiction, fantasy, feminine, Game of Thrones, gender roles, Gwendoline, horror, kaia, Katniss, kick ass, love-triangle, Loving Red, Maleficent, mocking jay, motherly, nurture, paranormal, Peeta, protagonist, rebellion, renegade, Ria, strong, strong-female, The Hunger Games, trend, urban fantasy, vampire, warrior, water boarding, writing, writing tips

Writing Tip: How to write a strong-female protagonist.

First, I am not advocating that there is a single, right way to write a strong-female lead; however, I have noticed a rather disturbing trend in the practice, and that’s to make the female strong by inhabiting male characteristics, as deemed by society: i.e. to be physically strong, good with weapons, and to be a good leader (otherwise known as bossy), and the list continues.

However, you might imagine a male as strong, yes, a female can be strong in these ways as well. But why can’t a female character be strong and still be feminine—a woman who uses her emotions to carry her through a taxing adventure, who has mercy, who is smart and resourceful, who can nurture at the same time she kicks ass. Why not? Why do these gender roles have to be mutually exclusive?

Granted, we are starting to see these types of characters. The ever-popular Katniss from The Hunger Games series embodies a nice mixture of so-called male and female traits. She’s motherly. Her strong moments come when she is a woman, emotional, compassionate, bossy, resourceful. They even highlight these in the last installment when a group of leaders try to decide how to transform her into the mocking jay for the rebellion.

She even lacks a certain silliness that many female characters have (especially when a love-triangle is present, although some of my friends disagree with my interpretation). She doesn’t seem focused on her love life, rather she seems at a loss of why who she chooses matters when the world has larger problems.

For heaven’s sake, why can’t we all just get along! I imagine her screaming as the boys compete for and try to woo her. She seems disinterested in being some boy’s prize, rather using her public romance with Peeta as a political move. (This one is strangely genderless).

Okay, I like examples, let me give some of my own.

In my first series, based on a renegade vampire’s introduction to the paranormal world, my main character is a brat. She’s strong-headed, strong-willed, and she can fight (having a background in kick-boxing/martial arts). She can take care of herself and has for years, with the help of her bestie. She’s also emotional, breaking down several times as the monstrosity of her new world rains down on her. She feels compassion for the people she kills, worries over the others she leaves alive, and cares for a child meant to be her dinner. Is all of this strictly male or female? No. Ria’s complex, like a character should be, because people are complex.

In another novel, my female character is strong in other ways. Although she goes through some physical trials, like being water boarded, she isn’t physically strong. She’s got the mental fortitude of a warrior, however. She’s brave, she stands up for what’s right, she uses what she knows to survive. She’s allowed to be both smart and beautiful, allowed to cry and joke, allowed to be stern and unsure of herself. Kaia is allowed to be a contradiction.

Again, we’re all complex. We’re all contradictions of ourselves given the different situations we’re challenged with.

So, what I’m saying is that not all strong women need to be warriors, like that blonde Amazon in Game of Thrones, Gwendoline; they don’t all need to be wicked like Maleficent or out for revenge like Arya Stark. They don’t all need to be Katniss.

We need variation because we all have the propensity to be strong in our own ways if we have strength in our character and our beliefs (even if that makes us the bad guy). And we need to showcase these differences for the same reasons we need different personalities for different story plots.

Oh, and the same goes for men. But that’s a different post.

 

Want to meet my strong-female protagonists? Click here.

I’m back with Cheap Reads!

Tags

alisha costanzo, beta readers, blood phoenix, blood phoenix: imprinted, book boyfriend, Broken World, Celampresians, cheap reads, did you know, editing, fantasy, folklore, giveaway, humor, insta-love, Loving Red, myth, mythology, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance guild, readers, review, romance, Sale, Shapeshifter, Transmundane Press, urban fantasy, vampires, weres, werewolves, writing, YA novel

Hey, lovely readers!

I’ve been slacking. I know it, but this month has been CRAZY! Personal stuff, business stuff, writing stuff, teaching stuff. You don’t need the details, just know that I’m back, and I have new blog posts about the editing process, about BLOOD PHOENIX: IMPRINTED and beta reader opportunities, new giveaways, a new YA novel, and some new Did You Know posts. I’m also working on another newsletter and short stories.

But for now, my latest novel, LOVING RED, is on half off (on sale for $1.99) until June 6th.

Here’s the latest review:

“When I first started reading this story, I was afraid it was going to be one of those insta-love stories. However, although the book only spans about a week’s time, it doesn’t feel like insta-love.

Severins is a wolf shifter on leave from the army. His impeccable sense of smell picks up Kaia’s scent during a bus ride, and he knows he has to have her but not just for a one-night stand. He goes to her job and pretends to be a client to con her into going on a date with him. He is unaware that Kaia, a human, knows of his world, and that she is in danger.

It isn’t specifically stated, but I feel like Sev immediately thought she was destined to be his. He instantly has a drive to protect her and to claim her as his but, like the romantic he is, he wants her to be the one to decide about their relationship. Swoon.

The two have an immediate attraction, but Kaia is leery because of a past relationship with a shifter. As the danger gets closer and closer to Kaia, the two must go on the run from the Celampresians who follow them.

Sev is 100% book boyfriend material. I loved his character. He is so caring and protects Kaia and Shawna with every part of his being.

I’m not completely sure how I feel about Kaia. I originally thought she would be portrayed as a weak human who needed saving, but the only time she comes across as weak is when she is, for lack of a better word, possessed. Many times she shows mental and emotional strength, but she never becomes an active participant in physical fights.

This was a great read that I would recommend to my closest friends. I really enjoyed the story and most of all Severins!”

Review by Tina, Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

What do you think I am, a machine?

Tags

alisha costanzo, Ari, blood phoenix, Broken World, character development, connections, Imprinted, inferno, Mark, Nani, nude, Ria, simultaneous, sprite, The Rainbow Sprite, to-do list, Underwater, Untamed, Vincent, water

I write a lot of stories simultaneously. Many writers that I know say that this is crazy. Some others do the same. But with the number of books and stories on my to-do list, this seems to be the only way.

Don’t get me wrong, I tend to focus on one LONG work at a time because, otherwise, I’d never finish anything, but currently, my plots overlap quite a bit, which leans me toward shorter works, splitting up long stories, so that characters’ arcs don’t get jumbled or left out.

And that’s what “The Rainbow Sprite” does. Just as “Untamed,” (Mark and Ari’s first story) I felt it necessary to introduce hidden tensions within my major series. You know, the one that features Ria and her on-going struggles as a vampire/phoenix mix.

It seems that I’ve taken a liking to the serial nature of stories so that every one influences another…like in real life. And I like how it’s worked out for me so far.

So here’s what I’ve discovered. After writing about Vincent and his water sprite, he’s evolved as a character in BLOOD PHOENIX: IMPRINTED (which is also 4,000 words away from being finished. I’m behind. Yeah, I don’t know why either. I’ll get my ass in gear. Promise).

In fact, there’s one scene where Ria pulls a memory of her from him. It freaks him out to put it mildly.

It would me, too, if I had their queen breathing up all my free air. (One of my BIG pet peeves by the way. Don’t breathe my air).

Is the influence gigantic? Not really. Not yet at least, but it will be in book four (BLOOD PHOENIX: INFERNO—not started yet. What do you think I am, a machine?)

Any-what’s-it. There you have it. My world is way too complicated to fit it all in one character’s perspective. Serials will be the way I remedy that until I can find the place where their full stories sit.

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks from UNDERWATER, a video of me reading from “The Rainbow Sprite,” some teasers, and an uber inappropriate release day post.

Meet Vincent and Nani:

They’re my lovely main characters for “The Rainbow Sprite.” (Don’t mind Vincent, he has a tendency to go nude).

 

Fantasy Lovers Giveaway!

Tags

anthony s. buoni, blood phoenix, blood phoenix: rebirth, Broken World, fantasy, fantasy lovers giveaway, giveaway, horror, kindle, kindle fire, paranormal, prizes, synchrony, urban fantasy

Do you love reading fantasy books? Then this giveaway is just for you! 50 authors have teamed up to bring you the ULTIMATE giveaway – a Kindle Fire loaded with 50 fantasy ebooks! Even better, this contest doesn’t just have one winner, but SIX! One person wins the kindle, and an additional five people will be given one of the 50 ebooks listed in this giveaway – their choice. PLUS you can earn unlimited extra entries! Scroll down to learn more about the prizes, or click here to enter:

Enter the Fantasy Lovers Giveaway Here

The Prizes: One Kindle Fire…

Plus these FIFTY Fantasy eBooks!

Well? What are you waiting for? Click here to enter the giveaway.

Cover Reveal for UNDERWATER

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#releasedaychallenge, #sociallinks, alisha costanzo, amazon gift card, anthology, anthony s. buoni, author, bell, blood, blood phoenix, book, Broken World, cover reveal, Death, excerpt, faerie mound, faeries, fantasy, folklore, giveaway, heroes, horror, Hulk, humor, magick, mermaids, myth, New Orleans, paranormal, publishing, romance, sharks, spells, sprite, synopsis, The Rainbow Sprite, Underwater, urban fantasy, vampires, writing

✰✰COVER REVEAL✰✰

Underwater edited by Anthony S. Buoni & Alisha Costanzo @TransmundnePres @bookenthupromo

Genre: Fantasy Anthology

Release Date:February 29, 2016

Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions (http://bookenthusiastpromotions.com )

#BuyNow

Amazon US:http://amzn.to/1JgjdYa

Amazon UK:http://amzn.to/1njorJ3

#Giveaway:

Enter here ➜ ➜  http://bit.ly/1T2eagc

Add the book to Goodreads ➜http://bit.ly/1QmcmxN

#Synopsis:

When was the last time you came face-to-face with a mermaid?

Ever explore a hidden underwater cave or been haunted by an unearthly creature? Did that passionate childhood fantasy turn into a real, sexy encounter? When was the last time you discovered a bell concealing the entrance to a faerie mound? Have you wondered what would happen if New Orleans was entombed in radioactive water?

UNDERWATER features sixteen exploratory tales that delve into decrepit landscapes and strange magic, inhuman heroes and crushing experimentation. Two-thirds of the world is submerged—experience what happens within, from the fantastical and erotic to the horrifying and triumphant, UNDERWATER showcases stories that will inundate readers with uncharted territories.

#MeettheEditors

Alisha Costanzo is from a Syracuse suburb. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Central Oklahoma, where she currently teaches English. She’s the author of BLOOD PHOENIX: REBIRTH, BLOOD PHOENIX: CLAIMED, and LOVING RED, and is co-editor of DISTORTED and UNDERWATER. IMPRINTED, her new novel, is undergoing serious edits for its 2016 release. In the meantime, she will continue to corrupt young minds, rant about the government, and daydream about her all around nasty creatures.

Anthony S. Buoni prowls the gas lamp lit streets of New Orleans, playing moonlight hide and seek with Ouija boards in the Crescent City’s foggy, above ground cemeteries. Anthony is the author of Conversation Party and Synchrony, co-editor to Distorted volume 1, and editor to both Between There anthologies. His stories and articles have been featured in Meow, Small Happy, North Florida Noir, and Waterfront Living. When not haunting swamps and boneyards, Anthony keeps it scary, writing dark fiction, editing, and watching horror movies, using his afterlife to DJ, write music, and conjure other worldly creatures with tarot cards, elixirs, and dreams.

#SocialLinks

Website:http://www.transmundanepress.com/

Facebook:www.facebook.com/TransmundanePress/

Twitter:twitter.com/TransmundnePres

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9831879.Transmundane_Press

Newsletter:http://eepurl.com/bLVkaH

#Excerpt

From “The Rainbow Sprite” by Alisha Costanzo:

My vision filled too often with bloody fucking rainbows, and my tongue craved the taste of hot, spring rains. I found myself wired and explosive in my daily duties, biting a claimed renegade but imagining the sprite instead. My queen punished me fittingly for it, caning the bottoms of my feet. I left with a hard-on.

She went easy on me, giving me a lesson in my more preferred manner, because I offered information that pleased her. Now, my orders sent me where I wanted to go: for a way to infiltrate the underwater faerie mound. Mine was through the rainbow sprite.

The woods changed with charms, glittering under the moon like beckons. Nevertheless, I found Nani’s watering hole, armed with a bell and her ring—both held the most curious magick.

Spring rain didn’t greet me as my toes slipped into the brisk water. Instead, a peaches and cream scent emitted from the waters before a pale, golden fluff bobbed to the surface above the slender face of a boy. His features matched Nani’s except that his eyes were a soft orange and freckles kissed the center of his face like a frangipani.

I leaned in as the boy hovered there and coaxed him closer. “Are you the little bugger that dropped a bell in there?”

His minute nod propelled him further forward, close enough for me to snatch him up. My grip found his throat, and I swung him onto land with a thunk of his shoulder blades against the grass. Teeth bared at him.

Sweat beaded along the kid’s forehead and wisps of fear wafted from him. Burning seeped into my chest at his touch, slow and eating at my skin like acid. “Will your blood poison me?”

The scent of his fear matured as he nodded again.

Liar.

I pulled the bell from my pocket and jingled it by his face. “What does this do to you on land?”

“Headache.”

“And if it touches you?”

The boy’s gaze hopped to the bell and back to me. “Make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I get angry.”

Was this pipsqueak quoting the Hulk at me?

I dropped my fangs, flaunted them in his face to the joy of his hyperventilating and pissing himself.

“Pika?” Long, blonde hair slicked back from Nani’s wide, rainbow eyes before they slanted and her mouth puckered. “Vampire.”

“Is this yours?” I pushed his head back to elongate the boy’s throat.

“Nan.” The boy’s voice so brittle it threatened to break.

“You let him free.”

“And why would I do such a thing?”

She tread closer, the water parting to her bare shoulder and dripping down her collarbones. It made me hungrier. “I will make a trade. Me for him.”

I wanted her blood more than the boy’s. “Out of the water.”

Nani climbed into the grass, circling around us and into the tree line.

“Nan.”

“It’s okay. He won’t hurt me.”

I will, but I won’t kill her. Not yet. “Aw. Isn’t this sweet.”

Terrified eyes blinked up at me.

“You have five seconds to disappear before this bell hits the pond.” I jingled the bell at him for emphasis.

“Go,” the sprite told her brother.

He shot out from under me, splashing as I counted, tossing the bell in after him. Rolled onto my back, I smiled up at Nani. “I do believe I scared the piss out of the little bugger.”

#ReleaseDayChallenge

For the next month-until release day-I pledge to post EVERYDAY with excerpts, author interviews, insights, and other fun stuff. I’m excited for you to learn more about these excellent authors. So stay tuned!

Writer’s Chatroom Interview, Part I

Tags

alisha costanzo, anthology, author, blood phoenix, Boden, bosex, Broken World, Celampresians, character development, Dev, editing, editor, faeries, fantasy, folklore, horror, inspiration, interview, kaia, kiss, leprachaun, leprechaun, life, lore, love, Loving Red, magick, mermaids, myth, mythical race, mythology, myths, NaNoWriMo, new release, novel, paranormal, paranormal romance, published, publishing, queen, Recipe, Roleplay, roleplaying, romance, satire, Sev, Shapeshifter, shapeshifters, shifters, students, teaching, Transmundane Press, Untamed, urban fantasy, vampire, vampires, vampyr, war, Watertown NY, were-creatures, werebears, weres, Werewolf, werewolves, wolves, writing, writing tips

Chatroom: Welcome, Alisha! Let’s start with your latest project, the urban fantasy novel in your Broken World Series, LOVING RED. How did Facebook play into the creation of this novel?

Alisha: Well, I am a former role-player addict with over 30 active profiles on facebook for a time. Severins Bouvier was literally made for Kaia, and he was based off of a Sherrilyn Kenyon character, Dev Peltier.

See, Kaia and Dev fell in love off screen, and that wasn’t allowed. So to fix it, I made Sev, hence the similar names, personas, and physical appearance.

The book doesn’t follow the post on facebook yet. Most of them are love-posts or snuggle-scenes. (I’ve been watching too much Simpsons).

But playing them on facebook first allowed me to dig deeper into their personalities before I wrote the novel. And well, it was fun.

 

Chatroom: So they both had profiles, run by you, and you played them like real people? Sorry, but I want to make sure I’m understanding this. 🙂

Alisha: Yes and no. I played Sev like he was a real person, and my friend, who I actually call Kaia even though her name is Laura, played Kaia in the same fashion.

It was interesting when time to write the novel.

Chatroom: Please introduce us to your heroine, Kaia.

Alisha: Kaia is a spunky red head that’s had her share of male attention, but she’s wanted none of it. Instead, Kaia craves adventure, bored sick of her accounting job and repeated conversations with her father about marriage and children.

Essentially, she perpetuates my ideals for strength: smart, resourceful, witty, and sensitive. She’s not afraid to cry, and she won’t break easy. Finally, her faith powers her through torture, a violent chase, and control over her own mind.

I envy her that, but she’s also a bit naive, sheltered by her Swedish heritage, customs, and wealth. Yet, exposure to Severins and his world (as a wolf)–his past–improves her keen awareness and clever mind.

Chatroom: Thank you. I probably should have started with this question, but better late than never! Please give us some background on your Broken World Series. What is it about, and what can we expect to find in your books?

Alisha: Well, the first two in the series are Urban Fantasy novels, and this third is a Paranormal Romance (different characters in the same world). Their world is one run by a vampire queen.

Her army is called the Celampresians. But there is another group, the Assetato, who oppose her. The first two novel follow a newborn’s entrance into this world with her human best friend and her maker.

I love playing the mythology and pop culture, so I make a lot of internal references to Buffy, Twilight, Dark Hunters, and others.

So there are a lot of laughs, but also, a lot of snark, dark times, and sex.

For LOVING RED, Sev is a member of the Assetato, so they drop into an on-going war at the start of the novel.

 

Chatroom: How did you research for your characters? Your descriptions are pretty detailed. You must have been thinking about them for a while before applying a pen to paper, so to speak.

Alisha: For Kaia and Sev, I had facebook for. (And I may have used facebook a bit for my other characters). However, I’ve been playing in this world for the past fifteen years before I put serious effort into their stories.

This was after graduate school as there were no vamps allowed in writing classes.

For Kaia, I asked a lot questions of my friend before I finally felt comfortable writing her on my own.

And Sev is partially based off of my husband, an Army Sgt.

He even makes a cameo in the novel.

Chatroom: Did you say Sev was a wolf? I almost missed that earlier. 🙂

Alisha: Yes, he is.

I call them bosex instead of weres or shifters.

Kaia is human.

 

Chatroom: Lines you will not cross as a writer?

Alisha: At this moment, I’m not sure that I have a clearly defined line. I can say I don’t like rape for titillation, although it has been a major part of one of my storylines. I enjoy writing death, torture, and sex with varying detail.

But my characters have done some heinous things in my novels—both on screen and off.

 

Chatroom: You have a lot of fun with character interviews – is it fair to say you have a LOT of voices bouncing around your head? 😀 How do you keep all your various character details straight?

Alisha: I have SOO many voices. Sometimes, they can be overwhelming and keep me from grading papers. But I’m often able to satisfy them all by giving them a few minutes during my week to show me things they feel the need to before I get back the grind.

Also, a character book helps.

Chatroom: On your blog, you’ve published a recipe related to the novel – do you actually have recipes listed in the book?

Alisha: I do not, which is why I posted it on my blog to share. My editor did suggest creating a cookbook for Sev, who is a trained cook.

I’m meddling with the idea.

 

Chatroom: Do your English students realize that their teacher has a dark side?

Alisha: Usually. I’m very open with them, some say I might share too much, but I enjoy connecting with them as people and adults rather than keeping that barrier between teacher and pupil.

So, I’ve mentioned my books and some of the material I’ve written, but I’m sure they don’t know just how dark it is inside my head.

 

Chatroom: Must be an interesting class.

Alisha: I try.

 

Chatroom: Do you think your interest in roleplay helps in creating characters? How so?

Alisha: I t does. That’s why I have so many. Kaia would often send me pictures of models that would spark a character’s voice for me. So, we’d set them up, give them lives, and explore them via interaction with each other on the page.

Most of them have ended as romances because that’s the type of writing chemistry we have.

But when we introduce new characters, they have secondary characters, and thus, we create more and more.

Since my character has to respond to hers, I find that I learn more about them than if I pushed them myself.

It’s strange, but a fun way to develop, and then I don’t have to make them all up myself. (It kind of feels like cheating).

 

Chatroom: So half the profiles on Facebook are really your fictional characters?

Alisha: Yes, they are! And my friends. I’ve made a lot of real life friends that way. By the way, I’m trying hard not to be a tangent queen, but sometimes I can’t help it.

And I can show you guys some profiles if you’re interested. They’re all inactive at the moment.

Severins.   Kaia.   Ria.

Alexandria (Ria) is my newbie vamp in the first two novels, but there are Sev’s and Kaia’s. And there are spoilers, so beware. 🙂

 

Chatroom: Do all the FB friends know that they are “friending” a fictional character?

Alisha: That I can’t be too sure about, but when I was in a big group, ran by a moderator with a heck of a lot more people, the majority of them knew because they’d read the books.

I wound up creating my own because I’m a control freak.

So, I’d say most of them knew.

I wish I could keep up with them as much as I’d like.

 

Come back for Part II in January 2016!