Cynthia Eden makes it Hotter After Midnight

Hi, we'll continue paranormal week here at Fierce Romance by talking to Cynthia Eden about her latest story.

Cynthia Eden writes paranormal romances with a sensual edge. Her publishers include: Kensington Brava, Avon Red, Red Sage, and ImaJinn Books. She lives in the South and loves long, lazy summer days (and books--plenty of books!).

Vonda: Welcome, Cynthia! Please tell us about Hotter After Midnight.

Cynthia: Thank you! I’m very excited to be here today. :-) Hotter After Midnight is my first paranormal release from Kensington Brava—it’s the start of my “Midnight” series. My heroine, Dr. Emily Drake, is a psychologist—and she only treats paranormal patients. When a supernatural killer begins stalking the streets, she is pulled into the investigation as a profiler. Emily gets teamed up with the lead detective on the case, Colin Gyth—a guy who happens to be a wolf-shifter. The attraction between the two is immediate. If they can just catch the killer, they might have a chance at love.

Vonda: I love wolf-shifters! What inspired you to write this story?

Cynthia: I started writing this story right after I returned from the RWA Convention in Atlanta. I was energized by the conference and really wanted to write without fear. So, I just sat down, stopped worrying about the market and what was selling well and what wasn’t—and I just wrote. Emily’s character came to me immediately, and she led the way for everything else.

Vonda: That's inspiring! Is this your first full-length novel release from Kensington Brava? How did this sale come about?

Cynthia: Yes, this is my first full-length novel with Kensington Brava. My agent, Laura Bradford (of the Bradford Literary Agency), pitched the story to Kensington for me. I love Laura—and if anyone is interested in learning more about her, you should check out her website at http://www.bradfordlit.com/. (Hey—I plug her because I do think she’s a terrific agent.)

Vonda: Wonderful! You have several releases this year. Please tell us about them.

Cynthia: I am absolutely thrilled to say that I have four Kensington Brava releases and one Red Sage release. All of my releases will be paranormals. I love paranormal stories like I love my chocolate.

After Hotter After Midnight, I will be in two anthologies from Kensington, When He Was Bad (June 08) and Everlasting Bad Boys (September 08). In December, my second full-length novel from Kensington Brava, Midnight Sins, will be available. I like to think of Midnight Sins as Basic Instinct meets The X-Files.

My last release of the year will be Secrets, Volume 25: Wicked Delights. I’ll have a novella in the anthology. Blood Hunt is my tale of a vampiress who has a real taste for bad boys.

Vonda: Wow that's a lot of hot sounding stories! What is your favorite part of story creation?

Cynthia: This actually varies for me depending on the story. Sometimes, I absolutely love the beginning. The excitement of starting a new story can be wonderful for me—so many possibilities. Other times, I love the ending. The mad race to the finish usually keeps me up nights as I try to pound out the end of the book.

Vonda: What can we look forward to from you next?

Cynthia: More paranormals! LOL. Seriously, I can’t help it. I think I have a paranormal addiction. I’m working on my last “Midnight” book now, and then I’ve got plots in my mind for a few paranormal bounty hunter books (don’t have a series name for those yet).

Vonda: I love bounty hunters. I know this series will be great. Would you like to ask blog readers a question?

Cynthia: Yes, thank you! I’d like to know…what is your favorite paranormal character? And why is that one your fav?

Vonda: I'll give you my answer now. Who can pick just one? LOL Okay if you're forcing me to pick one I'd have to say a shifter of any type. Thanks again Cynthia for visiting with us today!

Everyone please visit Cynthia's website at http://www.cynthiaeden.com/

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Terry Spear gives us Heart of the Wolf

Hi, everyone, today I'm interviewing our own Terry Spear about her new book, Heart of the Wolf, released today! Congratulations, Terry! Please tell us about Heart of the Wolf.

Terry Spear: While searching for clues of a lupus garou who is killing women in the rainy Portland suburbs, Bella Wilder becomes the hunted. She had run away from the gray pack who had taken her in when she was she young. And she will do so again before the brutish pack leader can have her.

Devlyn Greystoke has a mission—return Bella to the gray pack for safekeeping before she exposes their kind and gets herself killed. But little red wolves are in short supply and high demand and Bella’s determined to be the bait to flush out the killer. Keeping her out of danger is only half the trouble Devlyn encounters as his compulsion to make her his mate grows and she fights being his, fearful the pack leader will kill him.

Volan Smith, the gray alpha leader, claimed Bella when she was young. Now that he has located her, he wants Bella back. And he will stop at nothing to have her.

Vonda: I've read this book and it is awesome in every way! It has sizzling sexual tension and I'm still in love with Devlyn. Please tell us about your favorite character in the book.

Terry: Ack! I love them all. :) Rather than talk about the main characters, I'll mention Zooman Thompson, who's a fun secondary character because he is so adamant about "saving" the red wolf in the Cascades, when here it is Bella Wilder, red lupus garou. As if Bella and Devlyn didn't have enough troubles already with the police, the red male lupus garous, and the gray pack leader who wants her for his own, Thompson is always creating more trouble.

Here's an excerpt about him: "The way Thompson had hunted her in the woods was reminiscent of a bull dog, determined, dependable to a fault, not someone easily thwarted.... He reminded her of a mountain man she’d once met, caring the same for nature’s habitat, the same aura of wildness surrounding him. Except the mountain man wanted to be left alone with no human contact. Thompson was different."

One reviewer said: "This man keeps complicating Bella’s situation and adds some funny dilemmas for Bella and Devlyn to work around and right in the midst of all of their life threatening problems." ~Recommended Read, 5 Angels, FAR, Stephanie B.

Vonda: That's a great review! What element of this story was the hardest for you?

Terry: Deciding who the villain is (as it is in all of my stories), but after I decided that, I added a fun twist, then had to go back through and give hints about it. :)

Vonda: Very cool! When did you know you wanted to be an author?

Terry: Years ago and I started writing children's books. They're one of the hardest sells, although one of them was sent to a senior editor, but they thought it was too similar to a story that they'd just published. Then I began to write historical romance, and really found my niche with the paranormal.

Vonda: You sure have. What do you wish you’d known before becoming published?

Terry: To enter the Golden Heart before it was too late!!! I sold two YA paranormal books to Medallion, lost my chance to submit to the GH, and then two years later the YA line was cancelled and my books had never seen print--one month before the release of the first. I'm entering the Rita this time!!!

Vonda: How exciting that is. I hope you win! What’s next for you?

Terry: I just sold Betrayal of the Wolf (finished manuscript) and Allure of the Wolf (on proposal) to my editor at Sourcebooks. So for now, my next job is writing Allure of the Wolf!

Vonda: Wow that's exciting! Congratulations again! Would you like to ask blog readers a question?

Terry: So if you had your choice and could shapeshift, what would you like to be and why?

Vonda: Nice question! Everyone please visit Terry's website at http://www.terryspear.com/

Click here if you'd like to BUY THE BOOK

Calista Fox electrifies with High Voltage

Calista Fox is the award-winning author of over 20 novellas and novels with publication dates scheduled into 2009. She began her professional fiction-writing career in 2004, following a successful career in PR, where she specialized in writing speeches and Congressional testimonies. Her books have received rave reviews and she is also the recipient of a Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Erotic Sci-Fi Novella.

Nicole North: Wow that's very impressive, Calista! Welcome to Fierce Romance. Please tell us about High Voltage, just out from Red Sage. (And may I say, what a beautiful cover!)

Calista Fox: Thanks for having me again! I’m really excited about High Voltage because it’s one of those stories that literally wrote itself, and every writer knows that doesn’t happen often! Here’s what the story is about:

Lightning crackles all around Serena Lamond in the worst electrical storm she’s ever seen. If only she’d stayed in town instead of braving the dark country roads back to her isolated home. It seems as though the lightning is aiming for her, taunting her, making her trek home even more treacherous.

Suddenly, a flash of green pierces the darkness just moments before Serena hits the animal that jumps in front of her truck. In the torrential downpour and inky blackness surrounding her, it’s difficult for her to see what she believes is her neighbor’s dog. Serena is compelled to save the animal and manages to get it into the back of her pickup and make it safely home.

But when she pulls back the tarp she’d used to cover the hurt dog, Serena gets the surprise of her life. The dog is gone.

In its place is a man.

A naked man!

The air between them crackles like the lightning, but Garrett Slater’s dark secrets and shape-shifting existence put Serena’s life in grave danger, unless he can convince her to trust him. Can he save her from the mysterious perils of life in Silver, Wyoming, or will Serena shun the protection and the love he offers her?

By the way, the reviews have been AWESOME!!! 5 stars!! I’m so excited!!

NN: Congratulations on the fantastic reviews! The above description definitely peaks my interest. What inspired you to write this story?

CF: I love fiction because you get to create your own world with its own rules. I’ve always loved vampire stories, but after reading wolf stories by the likes of Kate Douglas, Mary Janice Davidson and Cynthia Eden, I fell in love with this particular shapeshifting character as a hero. I wrote a short story a couple of years ago that featured a vampire as the hero and a wolf as the nemesis, and it was so much fun to write the story that I decided to take the concept to the next level. Adding in the electrically charged environment just seemed apropos for an erotic romance tale and suddenly, I had a story with really likable characters and a somewhat unique, sexually charged plot.

NN: Yes, I love the idea of an "electrically charged environment." It adds a new element to the mix. What did you like best about writing a shapeshifter/werewolf story? What did you find most challenging about it?

CF: The fun part is the same as the challenging part: You have to build a world and rules that the reader understands and accepts—I think Cynthia Eden told me that. It’s not always an easy feat. But as long as you let the reader know what the rules are in your world, they can follow you down the creative path. The funny thing is that I never really thought of myself as an “outside the box” writer until I started writing professionally. Now, I find it incredibly liberating to push the boundaries or step outside them.

What’s most fascinating about writing paranormal or shapeshifter stories is writing something that’s compelling, but also believable. I honestly didn’t think I was capable of that until I tried it. But, as I’ve mentioned a lot recently, the heart of High Voltage is the characters. They’re pretty solid, despite their own personal quirks and secrets.

NN: Trying new things is fun, especially in writing. I loved your excerpt on the Red Sage site . This hero is definitely hot! Please tell us more about him?

CF: I’m so glad you love him! I love him, too! Not only is he hot-hot-HOT, but he’s got a huge heart. He’s an interesting mix, really. Garrett sort of runs the gamut as far as heroes go. He’s a bit of a bad boy, a bit of a rake, a bit of your guy next door, a bit of an ultra-hunky businessman. He’s an alpha male, to be sure, but he takes such great care with Serena’s heart and her feelings, that I think it’s impossible not to fall in love with the guy.

Sure, he’s a figment of my imagination, but I have known men who are possessive and territorial, yet hopelessly devoted and dedicated to the women they love. It’s an interesting balance. Garrett strikes it perfectly, I think, because he’s waited so long for Serena, and vice versa. And again, these characters literally took over the story. They were so exciting to write because the chemistry sizzled and the love scenes came so easily. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have “discovered” Garrett and Serena!

NN: He sounds like a hero I could easily fall in love with! I can't wait to get to know him better. I'm curious; what is your writing process like?

CF: I’m not a routine person at all, so I have to continually change my scenery and ambience. I’ll write in my home office or on the patio of the golf club down the street or at restaurant or hotel on the water in San Diego or Cabo. I’m inspired and motivated by water, so I try to stick close to it. I also have to have the right music while I’m working on a story. It has to fit the mood of the story. Once I find the right CD, I’ll play it over and over and over as I work on the story. I generally end up needing to buy a replacement afterward!

For High Voltage, my music selection was incredibly different than my usual match up. I typically pick a CD that goes with the feel of the story, but for some reason, I latched onto AC/DC’s Back in Black and I have no idea why! It must have been the fast-driving beat that got me going, because I was typing so darn fast, I needed music that kept up with me!

NN: Interesting! High Voltage and AC/DC sound like a good match. Electricity! You have some inspiring places in which to write. Would you like to ask blog readers a question?

CF: Being a bit of a strategist and statistically minded girl, I am always interested to know what readers think about a specific subgenre. It’s interesting to hear what the industry folks have to say, but it’s more important to hear directly from the readers what they’re into these days. So my question would be: What is your favorite subgenre of romance and is there anything that you feel is just so overdone you can’t stand the thought of one more story being written in this subgenre? :-)

NN: Thanks for being our guest, Calista! Interviewing you is always a pleasure!

CF: Thank you! And please don’t forget that I have some great contests on my website, so check them out! CalistaFox.com

Also please check out Calista's Myspace Page and Calista's blog