Reading Goals for 2011

As of this writing I read 96 books, 4 books short of my reading goal for the year. I actually had two goals--100 books/25,000 pages. I reached the 25,000 pages goal about a week ago. I'm a little bummed about not reaching both, but glad to have been able to read as many books as I did, and to have discovered quite a few new, excellent authors. Unfortunately, I'm anticipating reading even less for 2012 as my own writing kicks back into high gear. I'd still like to finish no less than 50 books, hopefully more, to put a dent in my numerous TBR piles (and with my purchase of a Kindle, my TBR piles have been growing by leaps and bounds in the virtual and physical realms ;)

The usual refrain for me comes to mind: So many books, so little time. Of course this hasn't stopped me from piling up on books--both electronic and print. Helping me to feed my book purchasing addiction is this nifty little site I recently discovered http://www.pixelofink.com I'm about a week and a half into my subscription and I've already dowloaded at least 15 free or bargain e-books for my Kindle and looking forward to enjoying even more new and up-and-coming authors as well as my reliable auto-buys.

How about you? Did you reach your reading goals for the year?

AUTHOR BIO: My first three novels were historical fiction involving pre-colonial African explorers. Since I was always either accused or praised (depending how you look at it) for writing overly steamy sex scenes, erotic romance was the natural next step. I am currently writing about the rough and tumble life of the California gold rush, and I live in Northern California with my Newfoundland dog.  I just put her into my current release, Sure as Shooting.  The heroine didn’t want another child after hers was murdered by Indians, so she begged the hero for a “large fluffy dog”!

THE INTERVIEW:

GRACIE: I’m excited to have you here at The G-Spot, Karen! Please tell us a little about yourself (or a lot J) and how and when you got into writing?

KAREN: Oh gads, I had to teach myself to read and write when I was three simply in order to write.  I knew I wanted to write novels, so I somehow taught myself.  I guess I looked over my mother’s shoulder when she read aloud to me, and put two and two together. 

I taught myself to type when I was about six using my mother’s cursive manual typewriter.  Of course the “books” involved my best friend and our highly suspenseful journeys into a volcano or the sewer.  Or maybe it was just the schoolyard.

I wrote dozens of novels over the next few decades, just for fun, never attempting to get published.  It was just a stress reliever, I guess, something I obviously would’ve done anyway, a hobby.

GRACIE: Is there any one thing or person in your life that inspired your writing? Any one thing or person that influenced the genre you write in?

KAREN:  It’s the same answer for both questions: Henry Miller, the Brooklyn writer who was banned for writing The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy starting in the late 40s. 

My mother had his books on her shelf, so being hard up for reading material, I’d pull them down and read, starting with the sexy parts of course.  Then I realized it was pretty good writing, so read a bit before and a bit after the sex scenes.  Soon I said “Hell, let’s just read the entire book.”  I’m sure that’s how I started out inserting highly explicit sex scenes into otherwise serious and staid historical fiction novels. 

My theory was, why not have explicit sex in the 1800s?  They did it back then.  Just because it’s a highly “serious” to me about a revolution in pre-colonial Africa doesn’t mean they can’t have balls-to-the-wall sex. But a lot of people seemed confused, as though I was writing in two separate genres simultaneously.  You normally don’t see much sex at all in serious hist-fic.  Which is a bummer for people who like their history and their sex as well.

GRACIE: When did you get The Call and what was your first published book?

KAREN:  In 2005 I finally got serious about writing a book to sell.  I wrote The Hinterlands as a romance novel and sold it as a romance novel to Medallion Press, who then switched it to the hist-fic category because I was “so heavy on historical detail.”  Medallion wanted to be well-known for publishing novels in unusual settings, and this one was set in 1897 Nigeria and dealt with an ancient secret kingdom with highly advanced art that practiced human sacrifice.  And had wild sex. J

GRACIE: What do you know now about writing and the publishing industry that you wish you’d known before you started?

KAREN:  That you’re not automatically going to make tens of thousands of dollars right out the gate!  After I published my first book, everyone automatically assumed I was rich enough to stop working my day job.  That became highly annoying very fast.  Especially since I had assumed that, too.  “Wow, a novelist?  They must be jet-setting to the Caribbean every week.”

GRACIE: Please give us a little story behind the story and what inspired your Siren Publishing historical series, Going for the Gold.

KAREN:  That’s kind of funny.  I had three novels out, and I wanted to do something set in California instead of Africa.  So, knowing me and my penchant for detail, I spent about six months researching everything about the California gold rush.  I took 150,000 words of typed notes, all categorized by topic.  Boy, what an anal retentive.  Then I had to actually write the first three chapters, so all told it took me about eight months.  Well, my old publisher rejected the proposal.  I thought I was screwed.

Not necessarily.  I’d always thought I was well-suited to write erotic romance, so I thought “Why not take all this research and turn it into an erotic romance series?  Just leave out the Mormon part.  And most of the ‘boring’ historical detail.”  Voila.  Going for the Gold was born, published by Siren. 

GRACIE: What are the challenges you’ve faced in writing historical romance, in general, and multiple-partner, menage stories in a historical setting, in particular?

KAREN:  Well, the hardest thing about historical writing is probably the lingo.  I can’t use words like “dick” and “boob.”  Believe it or not, this is highly frustrating for someone fascinated with slang etymology.  So I’ll be typing along and have to stop to look up which year a word was first used. I’ve been doing historicals so long I don’t really have to stop and wonder if, for instance, a typewriter was invented yet.

And without a doubt, the most difficult thing about ménages is juggling three POVs, not to mention their limbs and appendages.  I love MMFs, so when you have two men, you can’t just write “his arm.”  Whose arm?  And some of those positions can get pretty athletic, almost like there is no gravity.  You have to really envision how everyone is positioned.

GRACIE: In Working the Lode, what facet of Zelnora Sparks’ personality do you think the most helps her thrive and survive in the male-dominated Wild West?

KAREN:  Her husband back east abandoned her, so she’s pretty independent to start with.  She had mining experience and she’s in her ideal environment, finding the gold that the men mine.  I’m an amateur mineralogist so I had fun writing a heroine who knows her heavy metals.  She knows how to thrive in a masculine atmosphere.

GRACIE: What is businessman Gage Lassen’s Achilles’ Heel and how do you go about stomping it?

KAREN:  Gage is trying like hell to be a hard-ass toward women after his wife ran off with his brother and child.  So he imagines he’s an “invert,” what we now call homosexual.  It’s easy for him to admit he’s falling in love with another man, but a woman?  That’s a different subject.  He treats Lola like shit, worse than the housemaid she is to him, not even acknowledging she also is a journalist for the San Francisco newspaper.  It takes him awhile to admit he has feelings for her.

GRACIE: What about adventurer Harrison Bancroft’s character traits do you think makes him a perfect match for Lola and Gage in Either Ore?

KAREN:  Harrison is a fairly laid-back fellow so he’s perfectly suited to be smack in the middle of this love triangle.  Sort of a mediator.  He spent years on the plains living with “red Indians” painting their portraits.  So he has patience and is open-minded to new things.

GRACIE: What do you find the most enjoyable about researching your stories? What do you find the most demanding?

KAREN:  I’m constantly amazed at the stories I stumble upon in history.  Things I never knew actually occurred, things that sound incredible now.  But folks, this really happened!  That’s the fun part.  I love driving around to historical sites and hearing the stories the crazed docents tell.  Guys posing like 19^th century medicine show men, for instance.  Guys re-enacting battles, getting all anal about the details of their uniforms.

Then, by the same token, it’s the most demanding aspect.  You’re never sure how much historical detail to throw in, especially in an erotic romance when that’s not necessarily what readers are seeking.  So you’re kind of stuck maybe just calling it a horse, when you just researched for days about appaloosas.

GRACIE: Of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

KAREN:  Of course I’ve got to say my recent release, Sure as Shooting.  I think I like this because I based one of the heroes on the first black physician in America, James McCune Smith.  For his body I borrowed Shemar Moore, lately of Criminal Minds.  How can you go wrong with Shemar Moore? 

This character, Dr. Whitman Whitney, is absolutely unashamed of his heritage or his sexuality—he’s half-black and half-Cherokee. 

This brings a lot of natural conflict because his California battalion is battling some Indians who have moved into the Yosemite Valley.  Naturally, back then the sentiment was almost universally anti-Indian.  It wasn’t illegal to murder an Indian, for example.  And it occurred to me—why not have Dr. Whitney be the hero who gets married in the end to the heroine?  Why should the heroine always choose the white guy?  They’re a menage so of course they “marry” each other, but legally she can only choose one.

And let’s face it.  Who wouldn’t marry Shemar Moore?

GRACIE: What about your characters makes them unique?

KAREN:  I tend to write very offbeat characters.  That’s why I write about frontiers, places that haven’t been very settled yet.  The most off-the-wall people were drawn to frontiers—bold people with nothing to lose, who have been shunned from “normal” societies and want a new life.

GRACIE: Are you a pantser or do you outline?

KAREN:  I was always a diehard outliner until my current WIP.  I can’t believe I’m actually somewhat pantsing it!  I think it’s because for the first time in years, I’m actually not following actual historical events.  If you follow an actual chain of events, of course you have to outline, to an extreme degree sometimes. “Well on Thursday the 19^th of November, they blew up the armory…” 

GRACIE: If you weren’t a writer, what other profession would you have chosen to pursue?

KAREN:  I wanted to be a journalist in Africa until I realized I’m not terribly confrontational or aggressive.  You really need that, especially in Africa, to be a journalist.  My dream job is to be a Philly Soul backup singer.  “Get on board, and join hands, on the Love Train, Love Train!” 

 

But I’m really an awful singer, so I’d have to say a location scout for a film company.  Can you imagine?  Flying about the globe seeking out obscure spots to film?

GRACIE: Who are some of your favorite authors and why?

KAREN:  It’s embarrassing that I don’t have time to read for pleasure.  So all of my favorites are people like Dostoevsky, Knut Hamsun, D. H. Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, and of course Henry Miller—authors I enjoyed in my teens.  Fellow Siren authors I have enjoyed recently, though, are Reece Butler, Sophie Oak, J. Rose Allister, Missy Martine, and Natalie Acres.

I like historicals because it’s so much easier for me to believe that back then, men were men.  They’d cross a mountain range for the love of a woman.  Nowadays?  It’s pretty difficult to get a fellow to go to the corner Starbucks for you.  I can more easily suspend disbelief in a historical.  I tend to think things were much more romantic and dramatic back then.  There was so much more at stake.

GRACIE: What are you working on now and what should readers be looking forward to from you in the future?

KAREN:  I’m working on #5 in the Going for the Gold series about the California gold rush.  This one involves paddlewheel steamers and how they used to race them up and down the Sacramento River.  Unbelievable how many explosions were caused by men stoking the boilers just so they could win a race.  Bodies flying everywhere.  One guy sailed out of his stateroom on a mattress and landed on the bank unharmed, “like a flying carpet.”  I mean, you can’t make this shit up.

Next, I have a plan for a new historical paranormal series, but I guess I shouldn’t talk too much about that!

GRACIE: Do you have a website and/or how can readers contact you?

KAREN:   www.karenmercury.com

GRACIE: Where and how can readers purchase and/or read samples of your work?

KAREN: http://www.bookstrand.com/karen-mercury

GRACIE: What advice do you have for beginning writers?

KAREN:  This is going to sound weird, but I’d say do not listen to other writers, and especially wannabe writers.  Don’t get a crit partner.  You’re going to get so much conflicting information it’s going to saturate your brain and confuse you even more.  As if writers need more confusion.

I suppose that’s another way of saying to write your heart’s desire.  If you do, the passion will show through, and eventually some editor will notice that.  Hey.  I sold my first book, the editor later told me at dinner, thanks to this masturbation scene I wrote.  I didn’t know that was even remotely popular at the time, and it was supposed to be a “serious” historical romance, but she said she ran screaming into the next hotel room to tell the President “we have to buy this book!”  Some adventurer was jacking off in a river while the heroine sneakily watched from behind a tree.

So, you really never know.

GRACIE: Karen, thanks so much for taking time from your busy schedule to share yourself and your work with us at The G-Spot and giving us a little insight into your writing and the writing process! We’ll let you get back to writing those wonderful books you write! All the best!

KAREN:  Thanks so much for having me, Gracie!

Traditional Publishers' E-book Pricing - A Crime

Received this link in an e-mail from Amazon with a list of several other books they thought I might be interested in since I had purchased some other Mystery/Thrillers recently. Just out of curiosity and as I've read Jodi Picoult in the past and enjoyed her, I checked the link out:

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058M8JRG/ref=pe_170410_21550890_pe_epc_dt2

Now aside from the fact that this book is a reissue with a different cover (a rant for another day about how publishers get you to purchase a book that you've already purchased, but luckily I remembered the premise in this case) it's shit like this that just pisses me off with traditional, big publishers. WHY the hell is the Kindle version TWICE as much as the print?!?! And this is just a sample. I've seen other big name authors' books priced like this (J.R. Ward, for example, whose Black Dagger Brotherhood books I avidly follow!). Amazon makes this note beside the Kindle edition: "This price was set by the publisher", like this is supposed to somehow absolve and separate them from the travesty.

When I purchased my Kindle, I thought I would just convert and buy all my books in the Kindle version from now on, but with prices like this, I can see myself buying half-print, half-e, or just stop buying books from traditional, big publishers altogether, except in very special, auto-buy-author instances (and these are getting few and far between, especially since I can find comparable authors and themes with e-publishers). Admittedly, I have found lots of bargains and have downloaded numerous FREE or reasonably priced (i.e., $2.99-$5.99) books in Kindle version (some by big name authors) since I purchased my Kindle, so I guess like with any new technology, one must take the good with the bad (i.e., outrageous, traditional publisher pricing vs. reasonable e-publisher pricing). As usual, the best prices for e-books are coming directly from the source: E-Publishers!

I still like the idea of the Kindle and reading on it, but traditional publishing, hanging on tooth and nail to their outdated models (and pricing accordingly) is, as usual, trying to control the market and stomp on the "little" guy. Except that the little guy isn’t so little anymore as authors like Barry Eisler can attest:

http://writersbreak.com/2011/05/ebooks-and-self-publishing-a-long-dialogue-between-authors-barry-eisler-and-joe-konrath-part-1/

http://writersbreak.com/2011/09/novelist-barry-eisler-launches-the-detachment-explains-why-he-turned-down-500000-in-order-to-self-publish/

So traditional publishers, stomp on! E-Publishing is here to stay. Better check yourself before you wreck yourself!

Interview with Multi-Published, Bestselling Author, Jami Davenport:

GRACIE: I’m excited to have you here at The G-Spot, Jami! Please tell us a little about yourself (or a lot J) and how and when you got into writing?

JAMI: I’ve been writing since I was old enough to know the alphabet. I finished my first book when I was 5 or 6 about a horse named Wildfire and illustrated it myself. I guess I’ve always had the writing bug. I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. I’d never live anywhere else.

My first book was published in 2008 by Siren Publishing. I write sexy romantic comedy, sports hero romances, and equestrian fiction from my small farm on the Olympic Peninsula. I share the farm with my husband, a former Green Beret turned plumber, a Newfoundland cross with a tennis ball fetish, an obsessed barker, a prince disguised as an orange tabby cat, and an opinionated Hanoverian mare.

I work in IT for my day job, and I’m a former high school business teacher. In my spare time, I ride and occasionally show dressage horses and grow roses. An avid boater, I’ve  spent countless hours in the San Juan Islands, the setting for my first two books and my fifth book which is still in progress. The Islands are, in my opinion, the most beautiful place on earth.

GRACIE: Is there any one thing or person in your life that inspired your writing? Any one thing or person that influenced the genre you write in? 

JAMI: Well, I’ve always loved contemporary romances, starting way back with Danielle Steele’s The Promise and Sandra Brown’s Mirror Image. I also love Susan Elizabeth Phillips. As far as personal influences, my RWA chaptermates have been invaluable to me, especially Lucy Monroe, Dawn Calvert, Allie K, Adams, Adrianne Lee, and Theresa Scott.

GRACIE: When did you get The Call and what was your first published novel?

JAMI: I was waiting on a response from a couple different editors who had fulls of “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?” Being the impatient sort, I decided to submit to Siren Publishing just to have another option. Siren offered a contract within twenty-four hours. My first three books are published with Siren, along with five other books under a different pen name. My latest release is with Loose Id.

GRACIE: What do you know now about writing and the publishing industry that you wish you’d known before you started?

JAMI: I wish I had submitted sooner to small electronic presses rather than spending close to five years submitting to New York agents and editors. I believe I could’ve gotten into the digital world on the ground floor and built my reader base back before the digital market exploded. I would advise all aspiring authors to seriously consider the digital route with small presses. I’m not a big fan of self-publishing for new authors, as I think they need to build a name and learn the business before they self-publish.

GRACIE: Please, give us a little story behind the story and what inspired your Siren-Bookstrand series, Evergreen Dynasty.

JAMI: The Dance (Book 1) was originally a fan fiction piece I did. I completely re-wrote it and shortened it for publication. I never intended for it to be a series. When I wrote Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed? I ended up using a plotline and some of the characters from The Dance, which resulted in a series. Who’s was actually published before The Dance. The Reynolds family (except for The Dance) was based on some of the original timber baron families in Seattle.

GRACIE: In The Dance and Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed both Mariah Baker and Harlee Davis have cute-meets with their intended heroes that involve a fair amount of physicality and humor. What do you find appealing about these types of encounters?

JAMI: I love writing cute meets, and I think they’re fun to read also. The cute meet in Who’s was actually based on something that happened to a friend of mine.

GRACIE: In Fourth and Goal, what facet of Rachel McCormick’s personality do you think the most helps her thrive in a typically male-oriented career?

JAMI: Rachel truly loves the game and wants a career in football because of her love for that game and her determination to succeed.

GRACIE: What is wide receiver Derek Ramsey’s Achilles’ heel and how do you go about stomping it?

JAMI:   Derek has lost his self-confidence. He doesn’t believe in himself anymore. Rachel helps him with the physical aspects of his game, improving his timing and his concentration. But even more than that, she believes in him.

GRACIE: What are you finding the most enjoyable about the research that’s going into your latest series, The Seattle Lumberjacks and how do you use that research to lend an air of authenticity to these stories set in the world of pro football?

JAMI: I attended the Seattle Seahawks Football 101 last October, which was held at their headquarters on Lake Washington. It was an incredible experience to see the facility where the players work out and listen to the coaches, players, players’ wives, and Seahawks staff talk about different aspects of pro football. We even did player drills on the practice field. I’m definitely attending again this year. I can’t wait.

GRACIE: Wow, sounds like you had an exciting and fun time researching! So, of all the stories you’ve written so far, which is your favorite and why?

JAMI: Usually, the book I’m working on becomes my favorite book at the time. That being said, Fourth and Goal is pretty much my favorite because it’s been in my head for so many years. Not only did I finally get to see it published, but the reviews on it have been exceptional.

GRACIE: I know this is like asking a mother which is her favorite child, but which of your characters is your favorite and why?

JAMI:  Prior to starting Tyler’s story, I would have to say Derek, but I’m enjoying writing about Tyler so much that now I’d say there’s a close tie between the two. Tyler is such a wounded warrior, a sensitive guy covered with tough guy armor. It’s been fun to strip away that armor little by little.

GRACIE: What about your characters makes them unique?

JAMI: I’m an amateur psychologist. I love to know what makes people tick. I’ll watch true crime shows for hours because I fascinated with why people do what they do. I make an effort to dig deep into my characters and give them multi-faceted personalities full of flaws and strengths. I want my characters to stay with a reader long after they’ve finished the book. That’s a talent very few writers have, and I’m working hard to be one of those writers.

GRACIE: What is your favorite aspect of the writing process? Your least favorite?

JAMI:  First of all I love writing the beginning and getting to know my characters. Once the first draft is finished, I enjoy adding layers to the story. I don’t like writing the 2^nd half of the book because, honestly, I have no idea where I’m going. As a result, I tend to wander and end up changing quite a bit down the road.

GRACIE: Ah, you answered my next question! Are you a pantser or do you outline?

JAMI: The wandering comment above probably gives you a clue. I’m a pantser, or what I prefer to call an instinctual writer. If I try to plot or dissect too much, my story becomes flat and lifeless. I avoid any process which over analyzes the characters and plot. I am trying to work on a one-page synopsis before I write so I don’t wander so much. Plotting is definitely my weakness. Fellow writer and good friend, Adrianne Lee, has helped me with that by encouraging me to use her Conflict Plot Plan. It’s a simple way to plot and make sure you have your motivations and conflict down without getting extremely detailed. You can see a sample here on her website:

http://www.adriannelee.com/ALwriting.htm

I also use Microsoft OneNote to organize every book into an electronic notebook. I’m very organized even though I’m not a plotter.

GRACIE: If you weren’t a writer, what other profession would you have chosen to pursue?

JAMI: Since I have a full-time job other than writing that I love, I would have to say that I’m already doing my other profession, which is in IT.

GRACIE: Who are some of your favorite authors and why? Name some of your favorite books and why they’re your favorites.

JAMI:  Sandra Brown’s Mirror Image is one of my all-time favorite books. The characters in that book stuck with me forever. In fact, the books I love have that in common. Most writers read the same types of books they love to write so I look for character-centered romances as opposed to plot-centered romances. I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips Chicago Stars series and Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. I also love Lucy Monroe, Jaci Burton, Rachel Gibson... I could go on and on. I love straight contemporaries with humor and great characters.

GRACIE: What are you working on now and what should readers be looking forward to from you in the future?

JAMI:  I’m writing Tyler’s story, the obnoxious quarterback from Fourth and Goal. I’m also working on a small-town romance series that won’t be as erotic as my other books. It’s also based on a true experience that happened to a bartender in a small veterans bar my husband frequents.

GRACIE: Do you have a website and/or how can readers contact you?

JAMI:   Lots of ways:   http://www.jamidavenport.com is the best way. I also have Facebook, Twitter, and a blog. They are all listed on my website. My email address is jamidavenport@hotmail.com

GRACIE: Where and how can readers purchase and/or read samples of your work?

JAMI:  Check out my website for my buy links. Most of my books are available at all major distributors.

GRACIE: What advice do you have for beginning writers?

JAMI:   Be careful about being sucked into the current self-publishing craze. I think new authors need publishing experience before they self-publish. Go with a small press first and learn the process including promotion, editing, covers, etc., before you try it on your own. Get a few published books under your belt before you self-publish.

GRACIE: Anything else about yourself or your writing you’d like to share with your readers?

JAMI:   One more thing for authors, write what you love, not what’s currently the trend. Your readers will be able to tell if your heart is in your writing or not.

GRACIE: Jami, thanks so much for taking time from your busy schedule to share yourself and your work with us at The G-Spot and for giving us a little insight into your writing and the writing process! We’ll let you get back to writing those wonderful books you write! All the best!

J.S. WAYNE AUTHOR INTERVIEW:



BIO: Born in Amarillo, Texas, J.S. Wayne has lived, worked, or traveled in approximately two thirds of the North American continent and has amassed a resume that could kindly be described as “eclectic.” He currently resides in the Texas Panhandle with his wife; Munchkin, a terrier puppy who believes socks are a threat to national security; and the newest addition to his mad little family, a border terrier/schnauzer mix puppy named Thor. In his laughably sparse spare time, he enjoys reading, scary movies, strategy games, and collecting obsolete weapons.

The Interview:

GRACIE: I’m excited to have you here at The G-Spot, J.S.! Please tell us a little about yourself (or a lot :) and how and when you got into writing?

J.S.: Hi, Gracie! It’s wonderful to be here today!

The first thing my readers should know about me is, I like to be unconventional. If someone puts up a “Keep Off The Grass” sign, and I see it, someone’s lawn’s likely to get trampled. It’s an odd thing, and this literally just occurred to me, but one way or another, all of my stories are about love, one way or the other. I’m a big fan of love, in all its expressions and incarnations, and I like to study it, try to figure it out, so that I can explain it to myself and thence, it is hoped, to my readers.

I got into writing early. My mother taught me to read starting around age three, and from there, I was a total information sponge. So it was kind of inevitable that sooner or later, I’d start trying to craft my own stories. My first several attempts were predictably terrible, but I learned a lot.

It wasn’t until I turned thirty and realized I had a manuscript with a lot of potential just lying around on my hard drive that I really got serious about my writing. I’ve come a long way in three years, and I can’t wait to see where I’ll be in another three!


GRACIE: I can’t wait either! Now, is there any one thing or person in your life that inspired your writing? Any one thing or person that influenced the genre in which you write?

J.S.: My mom got me started when I was eleven. She caught me reading a book that was definitely NOT age-appropriate. She could’ve cleaned my clock, and by all rights probably should have. But instead, she asked me what I thought about it. I told her, with all the considerable wisdom and experience of my eleven years, that I thought it was crap and that I could do better. She laughed, tousled my hair, and told me to do it.

Well, you show me an eleven-year-old boy who’ll turn down a dare like that, and I’ll show you a kid who goes hungry a lot at lunchtime. It took me twenty years to do it, and I’m still working on it, but I think I’m getting there.

As to what I write, there’s so much inspiration out there. A simple conversation between two people at a convenience store can breed a wealth of plot bunnies if you’re paying attention. But my favorite plot device is, and always has been, the supernatural. Anything from banshees to werewolves is fair game. (I’m not big on zombies, personally. How many different ways can you write a shambling, mindless corpse? And zombie romance? Urgh.)


GRACIE: I have to admit I don’t get the zombie romance craze either. So, when did you get “The Call” and what was your first published work?

J.S.: The Call came with a short story that I wrote as a one-off, kind of “cute” story for a writing contest. It wound up splitting first prize with a yarn about a mermaid. A few people pestered me about publishing it, and I said, “There is no way in Hell that anyone’s going to buy this. A free read? Okay. But as something people are actually going to buy? You need to up your dosage.” But, as the pressure mounted to quit screwing around and get serious about my writing, I decided to take a chance. So I sent off the story and a query to Noble Romance Publishing. They picked up the story on February 1st, 2011, and it was subsequently published on April 18th. The story was “Angels Would Fall,” and since then, it’s spawned a sequel, a novel, and a work-in-progress novel! More on this later.


GRACIE: What do you know now about writing and the publishing industry that you wish you’d known before you started?

J.S.: *Laughs.* Ah, youthful arrogance. (I say with a healthy dose of sarcasm, considering this was only a year and a half ago.) I had read all the literature, perused all the writing sites, and absorbed every single shred of information I could get. But the biggest thing that I’ve learned: It doesn’t matter how much you THINK you know about the publishing industry. Until you’ve actually been published, had to write and edit on a deadline, tried to juggle your family life, the Evil Day Job (emphasis on EVIL, in my case), and the other demands of modern life, you don’t know. You can get some great advice, but there is absolutely no substitute for experience. And once you’ve done it, you’ll look back and go, wow, I didn’t know CRAP!
Short answer? Everything!


GRACIE: Please give us a little story behind the story and what inspired your novel, SHADOWPHOENIX: REQUIEM.

J.S.: Requiem started off as something very different than what it ultimately became. I started it when I was seventeen, inspired by “anti-heroes” like the Crow and some of the darker iterations of Batman. After fifteen drafts, half a dozen name changes, and a couple of major paradigm shifts in the story, I finally called it done and self-published it.

The basic theme hasn’t changed, though: How far will you go to protect the ones you love? What happens if you can’t protect them? Where is the line between justice and revenge, and are the two concepts mutually exclusive?

Pretty heavy mental lifting for a seventeen-year-old, but I never claimed to be normal. It started off as a way to explain the concept of justice as defined by law and the apparent dichotomy between the law and “true” justice. I believe there are some crimes so horrifying that the criminal is completely irredeemable, but I also believe that there is a universal balance that will always demand a reckoning. Maybe not today. Maybe not in ten years. But sooner or later, the guilty always pay for what they’ve done. If I didn’t believe that, I probably wouldn’t sleep as well as I do!


GRACIE: In trying to live a “normal” life with his human wife, what do you think is vampire Markus Latimore’s Achilles’ heel and how do you go about stomping it?

J.S.: The biggest and most obvious problem is that Markus has to ingest a certain amount of blood every day. Clearly, keeping Robyn from discovering that his dietary requirements aren’t limited to Mexican food is a constant strain. The less overt but more sinister problem is that if the Vampire Council learns that Robyn has discovered Mark’s secret, they’re both dead.

I got around the blood problem by giving Mark the ability to subsist off rat blood. Since rat blood is very similar to human, it serves the purpose, but it’s kind of like a human living on nothing but oatmeal. If you’ve never had anything else, you won’t miss it, but if Mark tastes human blood, well, if you’ve been living on oatmeal and just discovered cheeseburgers, Quaker Oats probably aren’t going to do it for you anymore.

And since Mark usually eats his “breakfast” while Robyn’s in the shower, the odds of him getting caught are very slim. He’s gotten fairly cagey about disposing of the evidence, but he lives in constant fear that Robyn will learn the one secret about him he doesn’t dare reveal.

GRACIE: Aside from dark paranormal elements, characters in flux and the erotic romance genre, your novel and short stories so far also seem to share a common focus of duty and redemption. What do you find appealing about these author themes and why?

J.S.: I think the biggest appeal for me is the idea that my characters’ moral compasses don’t always point to “true” north by society’s lights. The duties that my characters assume are not duties that are thrust upon them by someone else; they choose to take up their mantles. They make their own rules, their own codes of ethical conduct, and once they do, they follow them. MOST of the time. That’s where some of my best internal conflicts come from in my stories, I think. When you bend or break your own rule either because of circumstances or convenience, where do you draw your lines?


GRACIE: Of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

J.S.: “Angels Would Fall” is probably my favorite story overall to date. And it’s because I think I wrote one of the coolest endings I’ll ever pen in it. This is Moradiel, the Soulbearer, speaking to Ariel, his human lover:

“. . .It is no tragedy, love. For this, for you, I will take damnation and shed no tear for what I’ve left behind.”

This may seem a little egocentric, but I actually had tears in my eyes when I wrote that. What person wouldn’t love to have someone show that level of devotion to them? When I write something that makes me feel that profoundly, it tells me that I’m doing something right. If you’re a writer, you know that feeling that only comes when you’ve truly written something magical.


GRACIE: I know this is like asking a father which is his favorite child, but which of your characters is your favorite and why?

J.S.: My favorite still has to be Markus Latimore. He’s kind of a weird cross between avenging angel and wounded human. Sure, he’s got some cool abilities and talents, but he’s also, in a lot of ways, the most “human” character I’ve ever created. The choices he makes and the consequences of his decisions haunt him to an almost crippling degree, and they drive him to sometimes extreme lengths to atone for his own, often-undeserved guilt. He’s capable of being tender in one moment, lethal the next, but once he commits himself to a course of action, the only thing that will stop him is the one rule he absolutely will not break: He will NEVER harm an innocent knowingly.


GRACIE: What about your characters makes them unique?

J.S.: I think all of my main characters are complex, conflicted individuals. I don’t like cardboard cutouts or Mary Sues. No matter how much personal power any of my characters may wield, they also have a dark side. I can’t relate to a character like Superman as readily as I can, say, the Crow. Which probably says a lot about me, not all of it entirely flattering, but once you understand that, you can more readily understand how my characters are drawn.


GRACIE: Gotta love those complex, conflicted characters! What is your favorite aspect of the writing process? Your least favorite?

J.S.: My favorite aspect is crafting a story that I know, down to the smallest fiber of my being, that people will want to read. It’s gratifying to sit down and write 8600 words in one sitting, read it over, and go, “DAMN I’m good!”

My least favorite part is the fact that writing, at its heart, consists of a LOT of waiting. Waiting for the muse to feel like inspiring you. Waiting for the yea or nay on the manuscript. Waiting for the contract. Waiting for the edits. Waiting for release day. Waiting to hear if you’ve covered your advance yet. Waiting, waiting, waiting. I’m good at it, but that doesn’t mean I like it.


GRACIE: Are you a pantser or do you outline?

J.S.: It depends on the story, to be honest. When I wrote Wail, my paranormal horror novel, I was a total outline Nazi. “Ze outline sez zat you vill be here at zis time doing zis! FOCUS!” But then I wrote Angels Cry from no outline whatsoever. I had a list of major points I wanted to hit, and it almost wrote itself. (I vacillate a lot.)


GRACIE: If you weren’t a writer, what other profession would you have chosen to pursue?

J.S.: If my eyes were worth a damn, I’d’ve loved to be a fighter pilot. Too bad they don’t take guys who have to wear glasses. But that also requires college, since only officers are allowed to fly fifty-million-dollar war birds. Thirteen years of “education” was more than enough for an autodidact like me!


GRACIE: Who are some of your favorite authors and why? Name some of your favorite books and why they’re your favorites.

J.S.: Dean Koontz has been the top of my list for 22 years. He has a great gift for weaving together seemingly totally disparate threads of narrative and putting them all together in a way that makes perfect sense, but you’ll never see the twists coming. Lightning is my favorite ever book by him. Time traveling Nazis, a great action story, and a chance for love? How can you miss?

Jim Butcher’s the top of my charts right now, though. His Dresden Files series is a fast-moving magical cinema noir. Take Sam Spade and put him in a blender with Merlin. Add in a dash of Sam Witwicky (from Transformers) and a cast of mobsters, faeries, demons, spirits, vampires, and supernatural you name it.

I’ve also acquired a lot of new favorites whom I’m eagerly awaiting new releases from: K.B. Cutter, H.C. Brown, Margie Church, Elaina Lee, R. Renee Vickers, Shen Hart, and others. Each one of these authors has one thing in common: An ability to weave an incredible story with believable characters and amazing atmosphere. Many of these people I’m proud to call my friends, colleagues, and mentors, and every one of them deserves thanks I’ll never be able to adequately give them.

GRACIE: What are you working on now and what should readers be looking forward to from you in the future?

J.S.: Things move fast in my world, but as I’m writing this, I’ve just completed two short stories: “Dancing On Flames,” a male-male werewolf romance that holds the title of “Most Challenging Story I’ve Ever Attempted;” and “Make A Wish. . .” which is a lesbian supernatural erotica story. Angels Cry was picked up by Noble Romance and should be coming out in mid-August if nothing goes horribly wrong. I’m working on a fantasy erotic romance comedy entitled Once A Knight’s Enough that I’m pretty excited about. Think Monte Python meets Shrek meets Fractured Fairy Tales, with lots of sex in every conceivable ménage combination. That project kind of took over my desk, but I’ve also got Aquus, a novel about the new Sea God falling in love with a human woman; Sinner, a dark erotic romance featuring a succubus assassin and a cop; Angel of Death, the sequel to Angels Cry; and I’m trying very hard to carve out a little time to work on Requiescat, the second novel in the Shadowphoenix trilogy.
So as you can see, I’m not doing anything much! *Laughs*


GRACIE: Do you have a website and/or how can readers contact you?

J.S.: I actually have a fairly large Internet presence. I maintain a website at www.wix.com/jswaynesite/herebemonsters that is primarily devoted to my horror and urban fantasy writing. You can find me on Facebook (Author.JSWayne), on Twitter (@jswayne702), at my blog at www.jswayne.wordpress.com, or you can just drop me an email. I love hearing from my readers, so don’t be shy! My email address is jswayne702@yahoo.com.


GRACIE: Where and how can readers purchase and/or read samples of your work?

J.S.: Most of my current work is available through www.nobleromance.com, www.amazon.com, Barnes and Noble online, and Bookstrand. Shadowphoenix: Requiem can be purchased at www.lulu.com. For samples and excerpts of my work, www.nobleromance.com or www.jswayne.wordpress.com are your best bets.


GRACIE: What advice do you have for beginning writers?

J.S.: Believe in yourself. Don’t listen to the haters and the naysayers. You’re not going to start out as Hemingway or Shakespeare, so don’t even make the mistake of thinking you will. It’s okay; don’t let that discourage you either. Do what you can do to the best of your ability, and sooner or later, you WILL be where you want to be. If you can, find someone who’s been there and ask them to read your stuff. If you’re going to do that, LISTEN to what they tell you; they’ve been through the landmines and can get you through them as well. Writing’s a tough game, but it’s very rewarding if you do it right.


GRACIE: Anything else about yourself or your writing you’d like to share with your readers?

J.S.: I believe in magic. And magick. I have personally seen love elevate me to Heaven or drag me through Hell. Every time, I’ve become a stronger person. I try to bring that magic to my writing and pass it on. Love can be scary, even outright destructive. Love can heal or it can hurt. But love is always worth pursuing. There is always hope for a happily ever after, but you have to make it for yourself.

If one person can find hope or rekindle a dwindling spark of love because of my work, or if one person remembers the story I wrote after they’ve forgotten other stories entirely, then I’m a happy man.

Thank you for letting me come by and hang out, folks! I’ve enjoyed it. Come on by my places and see me!


GRACIE: J.S., thanks so much for taking time from your busy schedule to share yourself and your work with us at The G-Spot and giving us a little insight into your writing and the writing process! We’ll let you get back to writing those wonderful books you write! All the best!

Author's Bio

Daisy Harris lives in Seattle with her husband, daughters, and way too many pets. When she isn't writing, she's tweeting. And when she isn't doing that, she's camping, biking, reading, spending time with kids, or gardening.
Daisy loves to hear from readers, and looks forward to receiving your emails and feedback!

The Interview:

GRACIE: I’m excited to have you here at The G-Spot, Daisy! Please tell us a little about yourself (or a lot J) and how and when you got into writing?

DAISY: Thanks for having me, Gracie! A little about myself? Hmmm, I'm a mom. I live in Seattle with my kids, husband, and way too many pets. I'm a recovering technical/medical writer, so it's safe to say that I'm not actually capable of doing anything other than writing for a living. It took me a long time to get into writing fiction, though. I've always loved reading and wanted to write fiction when I was a kid, but it took me almost 30 years to get up the courage to try my hand.


GRACIE: Is there any one thing or person in your life that inspired your writing? Any one thing or person that influenced the genre you write in?

DAISY: Sydney Croft's ACRO series set something off in me. After reading those, I was like, "I GOTTA try this!" I LOVE that series. It combined my greatest joys: scifi/fantasy, comic book premises, and sex. I'd read very little romance when I began writing. Instead, I'd come to paranormal romance by way of urban fantasy. Larissa Ione's Demonica series inspired me as well, as did her story as a writer. I bet Kresley Cole's Demons After Dark would have inspired me if I'd read it at the time. I didn't hear of Kresley Cole until I found my first critique partners and started reading their recommendations. :)


GRACIE: Ah yes, I love the ACRO series myself! Kind of like The X-Men with hot sex ;) So, when did you get The Call and what was your first published work?

DAISY: Ha! The Call is such a misnomer. Does anyone call anybody anymore? I got The Email from Siren about Mere Passion when I was a few thousand words into Shark Bait. In fact, I was such a newbie that I subbed Mere Passion without first subbing Mere Temptation (the first book in the series.) I won't even go into why I didn't sub them in order...I was so incredibly green and uninformed. It's a wonder I've made it as far as I have!


GRACIE: What do you know now about writing and the publishing industry that you wish you’d known before you started?

DAISY: Egads! Everything! But honestly, I've always been a learn-as-you-go type. Sure, I started out clueless, but I didn't stay that way. But if there was one thing I wish I'd known? ...Ach, if I'd known any more, I would have been too scared to try. I'm glad I was too clueless to know any better. :)


GRACIE: Please, give us a little story behind the story and what inspired the fascinating world behind your Siren Publishing Ocean Shifters series.

DAISY: The first thing you need to know is that I was born in Miami. My mom loved to sail, and the house I lived in till age three was across the street from a marina. Then we moved to New York City and into an apartment, but I went to Miami several times a year to visit my grandmother. My husband is from Michigan and grew up spending summers on sailboats, and we live together in Seattle, with Lake Washington on one side and the Puget Sound on the other. The ocean is in my blood, and seaside communities are some of the most interesting places in the world!


GRACIE: The heroines in Ocean Shifters are all fiercely independent and strong. What do you think is Ismaelda, Alara and Sophie’s Achille’s heel, and how do you go about stomping it?

DAISY: Wow, good question! OK, let me see. My first heroine, Isa, was a commitment-phobe. Of all my heroines, I think she was the most like me, which made her the hardest to write. I stomped out her issues by putting her in a situation where she had no choice but to finally make a decision. What I liked about her story was that even after she decided to stay with Sidon, her life still had challenges. Her mom was still a hassle, the Key still had dragon problems. Without something to keep her occupied, Isa would certainly have started to second guess herself, so I'm glad I gave her new problems to solve.

Alara projected a tough, belligerent outer shell to hide her central core of fear. She conquered and fought so that she would never again have to feel helpless, and I really loved her for that. But in order to truly love, she needed to let down her defenses. Kai was the perfect guy to help her do that. He's the only true alpha male I've written to date, and though he was totally misguided at first, he had the strength to help Alara fight her demons. (Figuratively and literally.)

I loved Sophia so hard! On the outset, she seemed like a total pushover, a waif, a damsel in distress, but she had an inner core of self-preservation that bordered on conniving. It was that selfish underhandedness that really drew me to her. Her downfall, however, was that she didn't see herself as worthy. Granted, she had good reason. She'd been raised to believe she was unattractive, small, undesirable. So her challenge was to realize she was worth loving and that a male could love her without being tricked, and without her changing. Raider was precisely that male.


GRACIE: Which circumstance do you find most appealing and/or challenging to write about—the “cute meet” situation of characters encountering each other for the first time as with Kai and Alara in Mere Passion and Raider and Sophie in Shark Bait, or the situation of previous flames reuniting to rekindle their relationship as with Isa and Sidon in Mere Temptation?

DAISY: Oh, I love a good cute-meet. Every story I've ever written besides Mere Temptation involved a silly throwing together of characters. Part of that is because the longer I write, the more I realize I like writing comedy. Cute-meets are funny! For example, in my latest release Mercury Rising, the god Mercury hooks up with an event staff member in the loading dock of the conference he's organizing. Then the next day, he learns that his hook-up was assigned to be his personal assistant, and his arranged fiancee is showing up any minute.

I like to toss my characters into ridiculous and impossible situations right off, then watch them sink or swim.


GRACIE: What sort of research and motivation went into creating such compelling and distinctive yet vulnerable alpha heroes like Sidon, Kai and Raider?

DAISY: Research?? No...no research!

Honestly, I started most of my heroes by taking a standard romance-novel type, or a "guy type" I know and hate and turning it on its ear. Normally I can't stand alpha heroes, so I wrote Kai in an attempt to see how a prejudiced, sexist, misguided alpha might be reformed. Raider, on the other hand, was very beauty and the beast. He was my beast!!

Sidon- he was my charmer, the guy every girl wanted, which is why I rejoiced in getting him on his knees. :)


GRACIE: Of all the stories you’ve written so far, which is your favorite and why?

DAISY: Hm. It's a tie between Mere Passion and Lust After Death which was just accepted by Ellora's Cave. Mere Passion was the story of my heart, but I was green when writing it. Kai and Alara were both so larger than life and I really hoped I did them justice.


Lust After Death...teeheehee. It's good. Really, really, horribly good. It's got all the mind-bendy weirdness y'all have come to expect from me, with a wicked-fun premise. My hero, Bane Connor, was my first attempt to write a "lost soul." I don't do that much because I do enjoy writing funny, and I hate heroes who are mopey. But I gave him a horrid past and a dismal future, then I gave him a way out when he meets the heroine, Josie.


GRACIE: I know this is like asking a mother which is her favorite child, but which of your characters is your favorite and why?

DAISY: Oh lord! I love them all! I love Karon, my latent vampire from Mere Temptation and Mere Passion. I love Loki from Mercury Rising. Alara, my kick ass bitch, will always be one of my favs. Sophia, the littlest dragon. Josie, the newborn zombie. I can't choose!


GRACIE: What about your characters makes them unique?

DAISY: My characters always do something unexpected. My overachiever, immigrant hero Dillon had a wild and rebellious streak a mile wide. My gods are insecure. My zombies are the good guys. Yeah, I never, ever do what's expected. It's not in my genetic makeup!


GRACIE: What is your favorite aspect of the writing process? Your least favorite?

DAISY: My favorite part is a tie between the very beginning, when all possibilities are open, and that point in revisions, where the story finally "clicks." I approach revisions like a type of therapy. I think, "What was I really trying to say? What was I going through when I wrote this? What truth does the book convey?" The answers I find always blow me away. It's the greatest feeling in the world!


GRACIE: Are you a pantser or do you outline?

DAISY: I'm a little in-between, but probably more of a panster. I tend to map out what is going to happen in each scene, generally. But it often changes, new scenes get added. I never plan whose point of view I'll be in till I get there. But I can't seem to write without a degree of planning. I think, then write, then think again, playing it by ear and feel.


GRACIE: If you weren’t a writer, what other profession would you have chosen to pursue?

DAISY: I'm not really capable of doing anything else. I would, however, like to do some science journalism at some point. That and be a sex-advice columnist. :)


GRACIE: Who are some of your favorite authors and why? Name some of your favorite books and why they’re your favorites.

DAISY: Larrissa Ione and Sydney Croft- because there's something truly irreverent in how they write, and their stuff has superheroes! Sexual superheroes!

Shelly Laurenston writing as G.A.Aiken- yes, I know I should probably just say Shelly Laurenston, but I really like her Dragon Kin stories better than her other shifters. Not sure why, but I like my shifters cold-blooded. I love Shelly for her humor. She was a big inspiration to me in developing a more comedic voice.

And I love Nalini Singh's psy-changeling series. Nalini's voice is so, so, so different than mine, but I love the control she has over her stories. Her storytelling is so smooth and satisfying.

Of course, the great Kresley Cole.

Recent discoveries include Charlotte Stein, whose scifi work I love, love, love; Cat Grant, who writes great male-male; Tiffany Reisz, up and coming erotica author; and Kelly Jamieson, whose reasoning always makes complete sense to me no matter what genre she's writing.

Ack, there are so many more!

GRACIE: Those are some nice choices and some of my favorites also! What are you working on now and what should readers be looking forward to from you in the future?

DAISY: I'm writing a sequel to my most recent release, Mercury Rising. I'm also working on edits for Lust After Death. And yeah, I've got a zombie sequel in the works. So, gods and undead. What could be better, right?


GRACIE: Do you have a website and/or how can readers contact you?

DAISY: Of course! My website is www.thedaisyharris.com
I'm also on twitter 24/7 as @thedaisyharris. You can email, but it's usually faster to catch me on the twittosphere!


GRACIE: Where and how can readers purchase and/or read samples of your work?

DAISY: Sign up for my mailing list, FREE SEX! You'll get updates, links, and free reads. My books are available on Amazon, B and N, and through the publisher's websites.

GRACIE: What advice do you have for beginning writers?

DAISY: Learn, learn, learn! I had an easy time breaking into this business because I came to it from technical/science writing. I started out with a pretty solid grasp of grammar and composition, and I'd developed the ability to learn any topic fast. Resources are available all over the internet. The best thing to do is to join some writers organizations, like Romance Writers of America (RWA.) Through them, you can meet folks who will critique your work and point you in the right direction. I know I'd be lost without the help of friends I met through RWA.


GRACIE: Anything else about yourself or your writing you’d like to share with your readers?

DAISY: Gosh, if any of you follow me on twitter you probably know too much about me already!


GRACIE: Daisy, thanks so much for taking time from your busy schedule to share yourself and your work with us at The G-Spot and giving us a little insight into your writing and the writing process! We’ll let you get back to writing those wonderful books you write! All the best!