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I want to talk about your latest
release The Chosen Sin. I'm very intrigued by
Daria and Alejandro, the setting, and social structure.
Please tell our JR readers a little bit about Daria and
Alejandro and their world.
Essentially
the book is about a crackdown on a vampire cult in space.
That’s the external story. The internal story, the romance,
is between Daria and Alejandro. Daria was duped and used by
the villain of the tale in a highly damaging way. As a
result she lives only to take him down. She’s built high
walls up around herself to prevent that deeply emotional
injury from happening again.
When she
finally has a shot to take down the villain, it comes with a
pretty hefty price tag. She’ll have to become a Chosen (a
vampire) to do it. The man who turns her and gets her into
the villain’s compound is Alejandro Martinez, a Chosen with
whom she has a heated past. Alejandro is the only man she’s
met who has the ability to break down all those walls she’s
built up and she doesn’t want that.
But
Alejandro has different ideas.
Ultimately
the book is about the light and darkness that exists in all
of us and the lengths we might go to obtain revenge. There’s
some dimension to the villain—he’s got some sympathetic
characteristics. The book is about intimacy and finding love
even when you’re terrified of being hurt. Because who isn’t
afraid of that? Who hasn’t closed down and turned away in
the face of risking yourself on an intimate level? I don’t
think many people can say they’ve never done it.
Here’s the
book video for The Chosen Sin, if anyone would like to take
a peek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEr7Tl4HEbI
How did you come up with the title?
The title
was originally The Darkest Kiss, but there were two other
books out this year with the same title so it was changed at
the last minute. My editor came up with the title The Chosen
Sin and it was inspired. I love that title.
Who designed the cover?
Isn’t it
fantastic? The response to the cover has been overwhelming.
The cover design was done by Rita Frangie and the cover art
was done by Tony Mauro. Tony Mauro has done all my cover art
for Berkley so far and I just love his work. It’s
incredible. The art for my Elemental Witches series is
equally as breathtaking.
What has been the response thus far
to this new book?
It’s been
really positive. I’ve had some great reviews and comments on
blogs and in personal emails. I think people recognize the
uniqueness of the book. You don’t run into vampire cults in
space very often.
I think
most people respond well to deeper, layered characters as
well. The villain in this book is probably one of the more
complex I’ve ever written. I took a few risks with this
book. I knew it might come back to bite me in the book, but
so far, so good.
I’ve also
had many people say the chemistry between Alejandro and
Daria is really strong. I hope it reads that way! I
certainly felt it when I was writing the characters.
Will you write others in this same
genre?
I’m not
sure yet. I have a number of other projects in the works and
never meant for this book to be the start of a series. I may
write more futuristics, but I’m honestly just not sure right
now. I do have a few in my backlist, however, including
Water Crystal (Ellora’s Cave), a book that I’m very proud of
but is not very well known.
If you had to do it all over again,
would you change anything in your latest book?
Hmmm. Not
anything off the top of my head, but if I reread the book
I’d probably find twenty things. I’m pretty self-critical
and I could revise a novel into the next century and back
and still not be completely happy with it.
I want to talk about The Elemental
Witches series. What inspired this series?
I wish I
knew! It started off as a seed of an idea and blossomed from
there. I wanted to do something new and different and, at
the time, there weren’t many witch-themed books on the
market. I wish I could pinpoint the exact thing that
inspired the series, but I really can’t. I grew it and grew
it until it became the world that it is. Now I’m busy
growing a different world!
Can you tell us a little about
Witch Heart, which is due to be released in January?
Witch Heart
is Adam and Claire’s book. Adam was a secondary character in
Witch Blood (and appeared very briefly in Witch Fire).
Claire shows up at the end of Witch Blood as a captive of a
demon on Eudae (the dimension where the demons live). When
Witch Heart opens Claire has been pushed to Earth—a place
she barely remembers—and is being chased by a couple of
really bad dudes from Eudae. Adam is going to help her
escape them. I don’t want to say much more than that!
I have a
book video for Witch Heart here, if anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntoByiP9aFQ
How many books have you written?
My husband
keeps a better count than I do, but last time I checked it
was over 28 works of fiction (short stories and novellas
included).
What influenced your decision to
write erotic romance/paranormal/dark fantasy fiction?
I’ve always
written a little bit on the paranormal/dark side. That’s my
natural voice.
The erotic
writing came about because I noticed a fair amount of bias
against erotic romance authors (back in the day…before
erotic romance was popular) and it made me so upset that I
decided to write an erotic romance just to sort of “thumb my
nose” at those who seemed to have it in for the subgenre. I
dared myself to write the hottest scene I could. The scene
grew a novella that eventually sold to Ellora’s Cave.
I decided I
really liked writing hot so I wrote another one and another
one…and there you have it. I kind of fell into it.
Have you ever written any Halloween/Samhain
stories?
I haven’t!
I’m doing a yuletide/winter solstice story right now and I
think that’s the first holiday story I’ve ever written.
*thinking*
Yep! I do believe so.
You do a wonderful job developing
your characters. Your heroines are strong, sensuous,
accomplished, and assertive. Your heroes tend to be
libidinous, sexy, and dangerous, with an edgy dark side. And
your villains are menacing and make strong adversaries.
Thank you!
Do you visualize your characters? Do
they "come alive" for you?
It takes me
a while to get to know them, but once I do they come alive
in my mind’s eye. I can do all the character interviews in
the world, but there’s nothing like actually writing the
character—putting them life or death situations and seeing
how they think, what decisions they make.
I do
character interviews and write a synopses for the novel
before I start, but it’s not really until a quarter of the
way through the first draft before I really know the heroine
and the hero…which makes for a fair bit of rewriting, but
that’s just the way it goes. That’s my process.
Are you working on any other
projects at this time?
I’m working
on a novella for a holiday themed anthology I’m doing with
Angela Knight, Lora Leigh and Allyson James. I’m also
working on the first novel of a new series I’m doing for
Berkley Sensation. I’m in the research stages for the novel
right now and hope to really get started on it around
November 1st.
How much time do you spend writing?
It varies.
I set a word count goal for the day it takes as long as it
needs to take for me to reach it. Some days it’s easy, some
days more difficult.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
I love to
take my daughter to the zoo or to the park when it’s nice. I
enjoy throwing a ball for our family dog and watching movies
in the evening with my husband.
What dreams have you realized as a
result of your work?
I’ve wanted
to be a writer since I was a little girl, so…all of them. :
) I feel blessed to be able to make a living from the one
thing in my life I love to do the most. There aren’t many
people who can say that. If something happens and tomorrow I
can’t write another word for some reason, I’ll still die
happy.
What advice would you offer to
aspiring writers?
I know it
sounds trite, but it’s true – perseverance. Keep writing.
And once you finish your first book, find a critique partner
or a critique group and start revising it. Just never give
up. This is very hard gig and very few people just fall
right in. It takes an incredible amount of determination to
break in and the work definitely doesn’t end there.
Also, you
have to love it. Don’t think you’re going to make a lot of
money at it. The overwhelming majority of writers earn a
pittance. Do it because you love to tell stories and create
worlds and characters.
How and where can readers reach you
and find your books?
Readers can
visit my web site,
www.anyabast.com ,
or they can email me at
anyabast@gmail.com
Joyfully Interviewed would like to
thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.
Thank you
so much, Patrice! This was a blast.
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