trueromance

Preorder now! Night Myst by Yasmine Galenorn

NIGHT MYST by Yasmine Galenorn (book 1 in the Indigo Court Series)
Setting: Parallel Contemporary; New Forest WA (fictional town east of Seattle WA)
Subgenre: Dark Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Hero: Grieve, Fae Prince and Cambyra Fae from the Court of Rivers and Rushes
Heroine: Cicely Waters, Witch who controls the wind, with a secret heritage

One sentence summary: Cicely Waters is caught between two ancient evils as she attempts to save her family and the Fae Prince she has loved since childhood.

Scene you like most and would never cut: The scene where Cicely discovers her true heritage and truly learns to spread her wings and fly free of the past. I can’t say more about it, (spoiler territory) but it was a breathtaking scene to see in my mind and to write. I honestly didn’t expect some of what happened during that scene and it captivated me even as I was writing it.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: As frightened as she is during parts of the book, Cicely would never hide in the closet, crawl under the bed, or expect someone else to step up and do what is hers alone to do. She won’t whine, she’s a brave character who will feel the fear, but do what needs doing.

Your hero, is he a boxer or brief kind of guy: Neither. Grieve is a Fae Prince who would see no need for undergarments. Both hero and anti-hero, Grieve doesn’t need sexy underwear to catch a woman’s attention. ~grins~

Ancillary character you had the most fun with: I think, Lannan. Though fun may not be the best word for it. He’s a hedonist who takes what he wants and yet, there’s something beneath that vampiric heart that may turn out an ally after all. Or Crawl, the Blood Oracle—he was just creepy fun to write.

Your heroine’s favorite hobby: Cicely loves working out and martial arts. She has street sense, and had to keep in shape to manage life in the streets with her mother. She can take care of herself.

Your hero’s favorite hobby: In the past, spending time with his friends in the Court of Rivers and Rushes, and his best friend Chatter. Now, there isn’t much fun left for him, thanks to Queen Myst of the Indigo Court. His obsession and heart forever focus on Cicely.

What you think readers will like best about this book: The darker magical edge it has compared to my Otherworld Series. There’s more actual romance in this series, though it’s not an HEA ending—no picket fences in my world, but there is passion and love and lots of action. The environment takes on a life of its own in my Indigo Court series, and the magic is inherent within the world.

The person that readers may find the biggest surprise: Ulean, Cicely’s wind Elemental. So not human and yet, so caring and protective!

What’s next: Other than promoting Night Myst, which officially releases on June 29th, I’m finishing up the last of both Blood Wyne—book 9 of the Otherworld Series, and Ice Shards, the Iris novella. Next in the queue: Night Veil, the second Indigo Court book. And since I last spoke to you, I’ve been offered and accepted a great contract for three more Otherworld books, which will be titled: Courting Darkness (book 10); Shaded Vision (book 11), and Shadow Rising (book 12).

Now, for the Question of the Day (and I will give away a $15 Borders gift card to one commenter): If the love of your life was captured by an evil Queen, would you align yourself with the Queen’s enemies—who are vampires—in order to save him or her?

The Mane Squeeze, by Shelly Laurenston

Setting: New York-New Jersey, modern day

Subgenre: Paranormal Romance

Hero: Lachlan “Lock” MacRyrie

Heroine: Gwen O’Neill

One sentence summary: Easily startled Jersey grizzly meets the Philly feline of his dreams and, tragically, most of her pain-in-the-butt family.

Scene you like most and would never cut:

The Halloween party scene! My crazy wild dogs are on a quest to get my hero into a costume that he would rather fight a clan of rampaging polar bears to the death than wear.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: “You can get a good cheesesteak anywhere—it doesn’t have to be from Philly.”

Scene in the book moved you the most as you wrote it, or made you the most happy? Although I loved writing all the scenes with my hero and heroine, I also enjoyed writing the scenes between Gwen and her older, annoying, lion male brother Mitch. He’s super overprotective and has a tendency to treat her like a kid. So their constant bickering made me laugh.

Have you learned or found any bizarre facts while doing research?

Because I was writing about a bear shifter, I ended up watching a lot of documentaries on bear maulings. I probably now know more about how (and sometimes why) a human being would be mauled by a bear than a normal person should. Yet I will not horrify you with the details of those stories. Instead I’ll tell you about the piece of information that I learned that did take me by surprise.

I always thought of grizzly bears—because of their size (from 6 to 9 feet long and up to 800 to 1000 pounds)—as slow and lumbering. How fast could they go with all that tonnage they’re dragging around? It turns out they can go super fast. In fact, they can lumber up to 35 miles per hour. Which is why experts say you shouldn’t run from a bear. They will chase you and catch you and that will most likely lead to a good mauling.

Ooops. Went to the maulings anyway, didn’t I?

Ancillary character you had the most fun with: Blayne Thorpe. She’s Gwen’s best friend and a happy-go-lucky wolfdog. I’ve always found good-natured instability fun to write.

What is one thing in your history that has influenced your writing, whether it’s a character, your work habits, or your favorite plot conflict? My family’s love of British comedy. I grew up on “Fawlty Towers,” “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” “The Good Life,” “Solo” and later “The Young Ones,” “Comic Strip,” and, of course, “Absolutely Fabulous.” Even now I can’t get enough of any of these shows.

Your hero’s favorite hobby: Woodworking, and finding beehives and devouring its contents. What? He’s a grizzly. What did you expect?

What do you think readers will like best about this book:

I hope they’ll like the humor and my hero. Personally, I think he’s a hottie, but when I’ve said this sort of thing out loud, well, my friends…they worry.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet:

Aleksei Vorislav, tiger shifter and brother of Nikolai from Book 3 in my Magnus Pack series, HERE KITTY KITTY.

What’s next: BEAST BEHAVING BADLY is the next in my Pride series and is due out this summer. I’m also working on my next book for my Dragon Kin series under my G.A. Aiken name.

Question: The last month and a half had a lot of ups and downs for me personally and I found the need for some comfort reads to get me through the more stressful moments (as well as some Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies with walnuts or specially ordered Stella D’Oro Swiss Fudge Cookies since I can’t get them in sunny Los Angeles, but that’s neither here nor there). So what are your comfort reads? What do you grab from your keeper shelf when life has blindsided you? Or you just need to sit with old friends again?

For me, the ones off the top of my head are Lori Foster’s Too Much Temptation and Casey, Rhyannon Byrd’s Waiting For It, and MaryJanice Davidson’s Santa Claws and Bride Fight (all of which I re-read a couple times a year, more if it’s been a tough year). So tell us about yours.

To celebrate my upcoming book release on October 27, 2009, I’ll be giving away three signed copies of THE MANE SQUEEZE.