Thanks Sue (and Borders and the folks at RomCon) for the opportunity to visit here today. I am still, weeks later, totally thrilled and honored at having Ghostland win the Readers’ Crown in the paranormal category.

Ghostland is a book I loved writing. It’s an urban fantasy romance, a departure from the erotic romance stories I write for Ellora’s Cave, though there are still plenty of erotic moments in it.
Authors are often asked where they get their ideas from. For me, Ghostland was born from my desire to explore a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. I wondered what life would be like after a war so far-reaching and devastating that human populations were decimated and supernatural beings no longer feared making their presence known.
What kinds of societies would be formed? And what if, unseen by those who live on Earth, there is war brewing between ancient, unseen enemies (angels and Djinn) for who will control it—and the heroes and heroines who find love and want their own “happy ever after” play a part in preparing for that war?
In Ghostland, a Djinn prince and a gifted human shamaness are faced with an unbearable choice. Follow their hearts or stay true to their honor and risk losing an eternity of pleasure.
Aisling is able to enter the ghostlands and speak to those found there, human souls and long-forgotten gods, beings capable of protecting and punishing, but who always demand a payment. She has no idea of her heritage or the destiny intended for her. And when she’s taken against her will to Oakland in order to perform a shaman’s service on behalf of an important man, she has no choice but to summon the Djinn prince Zurael en Caym.
Her existence is one of harsh survival edged with fear. His is defined by privilege and power.
A prince to the House of the Serpent, Zurael would see the Earth cleansed of humans. He dreams of the day the Djinn will be able to reclaim their birthright—little knowing that when Aisling summons him against his will from the Djinn kingdom deep in the ghostlands, and commands him, he’s meant to become a slave to passion—and his joining with her, the harbinger of things to come.
One of the things I really love about writing stories set in this post-apocalyptic world is the chance to explore it in my imagination. It’s a place of opposites and extremes. Of horror alongside beauty. Extravagant wealth juxtaposed to hard-scrabble poverty.
San Francisco is claimed by vampire families while across the bay, Oakland is ruled by powerful non-gifted humans. And beyond those cities, smaller human settlements are carved out and defended in vast territories controlled by Were and Fey.
Since Ghostland, I’ve written three more stories set in this world. Spider-Touched is Araña and Tir’s story.
I fell in love with Tir the first time I saw him in my mind. Shackled, caged alongside animals and Weres, an angel with no memory of what he is, and no way of freeing himself.
Healer’s Choice (releasing September 7!) is Rebekka and Aryck’s story. She’s a gifted healer who works among the outcast in the shapeshifter brothels of Oakland. He’s a Jaguar Were, a pack enforcer in territory where no humans are allowed and outcasts can be killed on sight.
The angel Addai plays an important role in Healer’s Choice. His story, Angel-Claimed will come out next February in the Primal anthology with Lora Leigh, Ava Gray and Michelle Rowen.

As I think you can tell, I really enjoy spending time in this post-apocalyptic world, and would love to share it. Two signed copies of Ghostland (or Spider-Touched if the winner already has Ghostland) are up for grabs to a couple of randomly drawn posts answering the question: If you were part of a human minority, and had to live in a city/territory controlled by one type of supernatural entity, which one would it be?

SILENT NIGHT, HAUNTED NIGHT, by Terri Garey

Setting: modern day Atlanta, Georgia, in the historic yet quirky neighborhood of Little Five Points

Subgenre: Paranormal, urban fantasy

Hero: Joe Bascombe, MD. Chief of Emergency Medicine at Columbia Metropolitan Hospital

Heroine: Nicki Styx, a free-spirited vintage clothing store owner whose recent near-death experience has left her a beacon to the restless dead.

One sentence summary: SILENT NIGHT, HAUNTED NIGHT puts a new twist on Christmas spirits in this story about three ancient and powerful souls—theThree Fates—who are out to teach Nicki Styx a lesson by sending a succubus to enthrall the man she loves, and draw him down into darkness.

Scene you like most and would never cut: There’s a scene when Nicki learns the truth about who the evil spirits really are, from the Devil himself, who’s had the hots for her for some time. J It’s intense, surprising, and was huge fun to write. I was able draw on old legends, old myths and Biblical history, then blend them all together into an entirely new mythology, which I get to explore further in future books. I’m having great fun with the world-building, and the story-telling!

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: “Those socks look great with those sandals.”

Your hero, is he a boxer or brief kind of guy: athletic style boxer briefs, Calvin Klein

Ancillary character you had the most fun with: Evan Owenby, Nicki’s business partner and best friend since childhood. Evan is a good-hearted fashionista who’s scared to death of anything having to do with ghosts or spirits, but he sticks by Nicki every time her world goes haywire. He’s a cross between Carson Kressley and Oprah. J

Your heroine’s favorite hobby: frequenting garage sales and thrift stores for buried treasure to sell in her shop, and hanging out with her hunky doctor boyfriend

Your hero’s favorite hobby: Joe’s an E.R. doctor, and a very busy guy. He’s either at work, with Nicki, or at the gym.

What you think readers will like best about this book: This book, like all four in the Nicki Styx series, is about the delicate balance between Light and Dark, laughter and sorrow, good vs. evil, and the choices we make every day on one side or the other. My heroine uses humor to cope as she’s forced to deal with some very dark topics: voodoo, evil spirits, murder, suicide, demonic possession. My books are meant to spook you out, make you feel, make you think, and every now and then, make you chuckle. Silent Night, Haunted Night is a slightly different version of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, and shows how the choices you make can really come back to haunt you—Nicki Styx style.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: The Devil, Sammy (Satan) Divine. Blond-haired, blue-eyed and sinfully sexy, Sammy is hotter than Hell and lives there, too.

What’s next: Speaking of Sammy J , THE DEVIL’S BARGAIN and THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE, spin-offs from the Nicki Styx series, will be published by Avon in 2011. These books will be darker, sexier, coming from the perspective of a darker, sexier character – Samael the Fallen, a/k/a the Devil himself. In THE DEVIL’S BARGAIN, the world’s most diabolically misunderstood bad boy takes on the job for which he was originally created – that of a guardian angel. Finally offered a chance to step into the Light, will he take it, or remain forever trapped by the Darkness he himself created?

Question of the Day:

Nicki Styx and her boyfriend Joe are faced with some tough choices in SILENT NIGHT, HAUNTED NIGHT. When was the last time you were faced with a choice you didn’t want to make? Do you feel, in the end, it was the right choice?

GIVEAWAY: 3 copies of SILENT NIGHT, HAUNTED NIGHT, each with a snowflake Christmas ornament will choose winners at random.