Thursday's Interview - Janice Seagraves

1. What's your genre or do you write in more than one?

I write in various romance genres. My first published book, Windswept Shores is a contemporary erotic romance.

2. Did you choose your genre or did it choose you?

LOL. Good question. Most of my stories are dreams or what my muse sends me in one form or another, so no I don’t really chose my genre.

3. Is there any genre you'd like to try? Or is there one you wouldn't?

My daughter keeps asking me to write a vampire romance with big puppy dog eyes, but since the market is flooded with vampire romance, I’m a little hesitant to write one.

4. What fiction do you read for pleasure?

Paranormal romance, it’s my guilty pleasure.

5. Tell me a bit about yourself and how long you've been writing,

I’ve been writing since I was twenty, but only for about twelve year toward publication.

6. Which of your characters is your favorite?

Seth in my book, Windswept Shores. Once I had his Aussie accent down, he took over. My heroine didn’t know what he’d say next, and to tell you the truth neither did I.

7. Are there villains in your books and how were they created?

The villain in Windswept is a one eyed boar named El Diablo. I don’t have nice little piggies in my book, oh no, what I have is wild meat eating boars. Scary ones too. El Diablo became one eyed after having a go at Megan, the heroine in Windswept; she put one of his eyes out, trying to defend herself.

8. What are you working on now?

I’m working on a Sci-Fi rom series, with aliens from outer space coming to Earth. Their females have all died in their hibernation chamber from radiation poisoning, so they need human females for mates to keep their race from dying out.

9. What's your latest release and how did the idea arrive?

Windswept Shores. I’ve always been interesting in people stranded on a deserted island, using only their wits to survive. I even worked out what they’d need to survive and how they’d do it. I also realized it would make an excellent idea for a romance. In my mind I kept thinking: could two strangers washed up on the same windswept shores survive and could they can they fall in love?

10. Tell me about your latest book and how it came about. Enclose the opening of the book around 400 words.

LOL. I think I just did, so I’ll just post my excerpt.

Excerpt: Breathing hard, she flicked a glance at the teal-colored sea. She'd thought a vacation to the Bahamas would be the perfect getaway, would be a solution to the problems she and Jonathan had faced. She'd been wrong—dead wrong. Tears of grief filled her eyes. The never-ending crash of the waves on the beach and the cries of the seagulls seemed to mock her with the reminder she was utterly alone.

She'd felt like a tiny speck of sand last night when a violent storm had swept across the island. It had made a mess of her meager campsite, which had taken all morning to fix, and had demolished her seaweed SOS sign. She'll have to recreate her SOS. Sighing, Megan trudged toward a pile of kelp. As she got closer, she saw a figure wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt. Her stomach lurched.
Oh, God, it’s another body washed up from the plane wreck. That would be number twelve. As always, she couldn't help but wonder if the next one would be Jonathan. He hadn’t been wearing jeans on the plane, so she knew she’d been spared seeing his corpse this time. Thank God. She approached the body with dread. Tightening her resolve, she knelt. Suddenly the "dead body" coughed and rolled over. With a scream, Megan jumped back. She clutched her chest and pressed a shaking hand to her mouth.

He’s alive!
Biting her lip, she stared down at the still-breathing man. His drenched t-shirt molded against his broad shoulders and well developed upper body. Short, golden brown hair stuck out in all directions.

Megan, get control of yourself. Don’t wet your pants the first time you finally see a living person. She got on her knees, plucked the seaweed from him and wiped the sand from his face. His day-old whiskers scratched her palm. Reddened skin stretched across both cheekbones and over the bridge of his nose. Her thumb caressed his parched full bottom lip.

She patted the side of his face. “Hey, are you okay?” That’s a dumb question. He isn’t okay.

“Hmm?” Gray eyes fluttered open. He stared at her a long moment, frowning slightly. “G’day.”

“Hello there.” She hated the sound of her voice. It sounded rusty, unused.

Abruptly he rolled away from her to heave onto the sand, making a loud, ugly retching noise.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked at her. “Sorry, mate, I swallowed too much sea.” His gaze went over her shoulder in the direction of the bonfire which crackled and popped not far from them. “Mite big for a barbie.”

Sitting back on her heels with her hands folded in her lap, Megan followed his gaze, then back to him. “My signal fire.”

“Signal for what?”

“Help.”

His accent intrigued her. Was he English or Australian?

“G’darn,” he looked around, “where the bloody hell am I?”

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You can find Windswept Shores at Pink petal books: http://pinkpetalbooks.com/Windswept-Shores-Janice-Seagraves.html

Janice’s website: http://janiceseagraves.org/

Janice’s main blog: http://ladyjanice.blogspot.com/