Thursday's Interview -- Cindy Speer

Today's featured author is Cindy Speer fellow writer of fantasy with hints of other genres.

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



I do write in more than one...I primarily write in fantasy, but I like

to mix in mystery, especially murder, and romance.



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



I have always had a fascination for magical things, for folk stories

and myths, so fantasy seemed like a natural choice. I can't write

without it, really, I'll be writing a perfectly mundane scene and

suddenly something supernatural happens. So I guess you can say it

chose me!



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



I don't think I could write westerns! I kind of want to try some

Science Fiction but I am not sure if I have the right education or

mind for it.



4. What fiction do you read for pleasure?



I read anything that happens to hit an interest...mostly mystery and

fantasy, but also historical novels (I'm reading Philippa Gregory

right now) or anything else that takes my fancy.



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



I've been writing most of my life...I've always told stories, and I

started writing them down in my early teens. I've always had a very

over active imagination.



6. Which of your characters is your favorite?



That is a hard question to answer...I love all my characters, even the

ones that don't deserve it. I do want to revisit Zorovin from Blue

Moon, though.



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



You always need a villain, at least in mysteries. They were created

the way any character is created...I know everything about them. You

need to...round characters are important because, while sometimes you

want to make sure that the villains are people that your readers enjoy

hating, sometimes you also need to make them more subtle, so it's hard

to guess that they are the killer. So, I guess, I use a combination

of subtlety and just treating them like any other character.



8. What are you working on now?



A novel called The Queen of the Grey. It's hard to describe...the

main character is the queen of this forest, and of all the creatures

that haunt the night, wolves, owls, and so on. A war is coming, and

they will join forces with a rag tag army to fight them back, but that

is just the beginning of the story.



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



The idea for Unabalnced came to me because I have always loved

vampires and werewolves, but feared their story had been told, so I

tried to take another look at the lore, to create something different.

Something that would still please readers and allow me to work with

those types of characters.



10. Tell me about your latest book and how it came about. Enclose the

opening of the book around 400 words.





*************************************************



IT’LL BE SNOWING SOON, ANDROMEDA THOUGHT AS SHE PULLED HER

black cloak tighter. It was an impractical thing, fastening only at the

throat, the wind parting it at will, but she liked it. Her usual

winter coat lacked the elegance needed at these sorts of parties.



The noise from that too-loud, too-glittery party faded as she walked

up the path, her feet crunching on pale gravel. She sighed with relief at

her temporary escape. The people here were not the kind she felt comfortable

with. The food was elegant, the music was good, and everyone

was nice enough, but she couldn’t seem to relax. She kept fighting the

feeling that, any minute, she was going to do something awful and embarrassing,

exposing her to the world as the classless slob she was.



Then there was Alaister.



She looked up at the night sky and watched the clouds pass across

the waning moon. She was mad at herself for coming, for trying to

wedge herself into a place where she fit about as well as an egg in a sack

of marbles. I guess I’m just lonely, she admitted with a bit of asperity, her

eyes panning the treetops, noticing how the branches met and interlaced.

She continued along the path, the woods surrounding her. For a few

minutes, until the cold chased her back to the party, she was free. She

paused and picked up one of the pale water-smoothed pebbles. How

expensive, she wondered, would a path of all white river stones be?



A twig snapped, and she jumped. For a second, her fancy made the

sound into a gunshot. She clutched the stone to her chest, peering into

the woods on either side of the path. Thick brambles and bushes obscured

her view. She tilted her head, listening.



Nothing, she decided, considering going back. But she wasn’t ready

to face the crowd yet, and she remembered there was an old greenhouse

farther down the path. Being out alone in the dark didn’t bother her—

she’d gotten over that fear long ago.



There was a bend in the path, and when she turned along it, the

moon removed its mask. The trees were suddenly outlined in light, their

shadows so crisp they seemed tangible. The path glowed, trailing like a

satin ribbon to the greenhouse that glittered, dark and jewel-like, in the

middle of a tiny clearing.

Thursday's Interview

Today I'm featuring Elaine Cantrell, a fellow EPIC author. Hope you enjoy.

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

That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? The more I read and write the more I think that genres tend to bleed together most of the time. I always thought I wrote straight contemporary romance, but I realized one day that a lot of my work has elements of suspense in it. The Welcome Inn is a good example. In that book, my heroine is being pursued by persons unknown, and she has no idea why. These people break into her home to search for … something, try to abduct her when she and my hero are taking a moonlight swim, try to kidnap her in the grocery store parking lot, break into her apartment to capture her, and finally track her down to a presumably safe hiding place. Of course my hero rescues her each and every time, but just when you think the danger is over, the bad guys pop up again and bring the story to a rousing conclusion. So, the short version is yes, I write in several romantic genres.

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

I guess I probably chose it. I’ve always spun little fantasies in my head, and since most of them revolved around a romantic theme, it seemed like the best place to start.

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

I’ve branched off into sci/fi romance and have one book completed and another one in the works. I also have an inspirational novel written, but they are all in the romance genre. I wouldn’t write erotica. I’m not exactly sure how to explain why either. If it’s well done it can be remarkably er…interesting, but if it isn’t it’s just boring. I like to immerse myself in the plot of a novel, and to be honest some erotica doesn’t have much of a plot. Just one over the top sex scene after the other. Okay, now that I’ve offended all of the erotic authors and readers let me say that if I wrote erotica it would read more like a manual. Insert part A into part B. You get the picture. Nobody would want to read it. That being said, one reviewer said that the swim scene from The Welcome Inn was “near steamy” so …

4. What fiction do you read for pleasure?

I like cozy mysteries, thrillers, ghost stories, books set in the South (I’m from South Carolina.), and time travel novels. Right now I’m reading A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters, and I just finished Juliet by Anne Fortier. Now that’s a good book! I reviewed it on my blog if you’d like to check it out. http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com

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

I’d be delighted to! I’m a Southern girl, born and raised in upstate South Carolina. I say ya’ll, which is always plural, and I like grits. I graduated from Clemson University with a BA in secondary education and went back for a Master’s degree in personnel services. I’m a member of Alpha Delta, Kappa, an international honorary sorority for women educator’s, Romance Writer’s of America, and EPIC Authors. My first novel was the 2003 winner of the Timeless Love Contest and was published by Oak Tree Books in 2004. I’m still teaching social studies at our local high school, and in my spare time, if there is any, I like to read, play with my grandchildren, and collect vintage Christmas ornaments. You can see my vintage collection in my Facebook photos at http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=10000015304148

6. Which of your characters is your favorite?

The character I’m writing about is usually my favorite. I get so involved with them that I almost live as much in their world as I do my own. When I was Writing Return Engagement, I accidentally called my husband Richard. Richard is the hero of Return Engagement. I guess if I had to pick just one I’d take Richard Lovinggood. I liked him and his family so much I just couldn’t give them up. I have a sequel written and a third book planned.

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

LOL. What’s a story without a good villain? Yes, I do have them. When I create a villain, I try not to make a stereotypical, flat character. I want him to have some redeeming qualities or he won’t seem real. Take Travis Abercrombie of The Welcome Inn for example. Travis blackmailed the mayor because he needed the mayor’s support for a pet project. When the mayor refused to cooperate, Travis send a hooker and a photographer to the mayor’s office, and they shot some pictures that made it look as if the mayor, a married man, was having an affair. Travis released the pictures to the press when the mayor still refused to play ball with him. That’s nasty, isn’t it, but as we get to know Travis we find out why he did such an awful thing, and by the end of the book he’s totally redeemed himself.

8. What are you working on now?

At the moment I’m working on a sci/fi romance, and I’ll shortly be doing edits for a book coming out in June. The title isn’t firm yet, but tentatively it will be called Jilted! But maybe not. For various reasons the publisher me to change the original title, and Jilted! Is the one I like best.

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

My latest release is Return Engagement, and the book was written to showcase my ideal hero. I noticed that most of my heroes had certain traits in common, so I compiled all of them and came up with Richard Lovinggood.

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

Besides showcasing my ideal hero, Return Engagement explores the topic of ‘what if’. I bet there isn’t a person alive who hasn’t wondered how their life would be different if they had made different choices. In Return Engagement my characters fall in love when they’re both pretty young, but his father is a powerful senator who doesn’t think Elizabeth is good enough for his son. He breaks them up. Ten years later they meet by accident on a California beach, and the fireworks begin! Richard and Elizabeth won’t waste a second chance to find happiness. Here’s the beginning of Return Engagement which is available at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=819

Prologue

“Stop it!” Elizabeth cried. She scrambled off the bed and
put as much distance as possible between them. “It’s over,
Richard! No, don’t shake your head at me. I mean it.” Her
face blazed with color. “We have to end this, or I’ll be exactly
what the tabloids called me. I can’t, I won’t, live with that.”

Chest heaving, Richard struggled for self-control as he
faced Elizabeth across the bed, distracted by her beautiful
blue eyes and disheveled dark hair. What did the sleazy, tabloid
press matter? They loved each other; why did she panic
over a few nasty stories?

“Honey, you’re an actress,” he soothed, his voice velvety
soft and persuasive. “The tabloids won’t leave you alone no
matter what you do. Half the stuff they print is lies anyway.
Why are you letting them scare you?”

She stared at him with eyes stretched wide. “You’re seventeen
years old! In California you’re still a minor, and I’m
an adult. They have a right to accuse me of cradle robbing!
Don’t you know how many people agree with them?” Her voice dropped. “And that includes my mother and your parents. They’re so mad at us it scares me.”

Richard ignored the fact that his father’s reaction had
scared him too. “You talk like you’re fifty,” he scoffed, “but
you’re only five years older than me. You know it doesn’t
matter.” He lunged for her hand, but Elizabeth danced away
from him.

“It may matter to your career. Have you forgotten Senator
Lovinggood’s plans for you? Your dad wants you to be the
president one day, but a scandal like this could ruin your
chances before you even get started.”

Richard impatiently shook his head. “Don’t you get it?
You’re more important to me than any career in the world!
Without you I don’t care what happens to me.” His eyes softened.
“We fell in love with each other the first time we met
in the studio. Why would you even consider letting five lousy
years ruin things for us?”

Elizabeth dropped her head and bit her lip to hold back
her tears. “I know what I have to do, but why does it have
to hurt so much?” she whispered so low that Richard barely
heard her. She raised her eyes to his. “I love you, Richard,
but we can’t keep our hands off each other. It’s only a matter
of time until we do sleep together.” She made a sound
somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “If we do sleep together
I’ll deserve everything they’ve said about me.
Please, please go.”

For a moment the issue hung in the balance. The air in
the room which already shimmered with emotion now started
to sizzle, but with an exclamation of surrender Richard bent
and scooped his shirt from the floor. “I’ll call you.”

Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears. “No, please don’t. It’s
over; don’t you see?”


Thanks so much for having me today. It’s been fun.