Author Jami Gray's Quirky Interview

Ladies and Germs…Jami Gray!

Today we’re talking with Jami Gray, author of Shadow’s Edge, an Urban Fantasy.  (Flashes a comforting smile)  Welcome!

(A quick quirk of lips in return) Thanks for having me.

So, (settling into the chair), tell me why you chose Urban Fantasy, Jami.

(Arches an eyebrow-a true talent)  Not so sure I picked it, more like it picked me. 

How so?

I've always loved the idea of being unique, whether you're the only human in a room full of monsters, or the only monster in a room full of humans, either way creating worlds where magic is integral to who you are, what you do and where you live has always intrigued me. 

Did you ever consider writing in a different genre?

(Thinks for a moment)  When I first set pen to paper, I tried Romance, but even then happy ever after left me asking, "But, why? What happen to the wicked witch/evil stepmother/monster under the bed?" 

(Chuckles) So, no romance in your books?

(Shakes her head) I never said that.   (Gives a small smile) There’s romance in every story, because if you throw a man and woman together regardless of bloodlines, romance will make an appearance. Mine just happens in-between knife fights, hunting down evil scientists and dealing with arrogant demons.

Do your characters control you or do you control them?

(Paling a little) Seriously?  I don’t think I’d want to try to control them. It could be detrimental to my health. Since they tend to walk a thin line between what's considered right, and what's considered wrong, they’re generally armed and dangerous. (Shivers) I feel it’s best to let them tell their own stories.

I’m sure I can figure out the answer to this question, but let me ask anyway.  Leather or lace?

Leather. It’s easier to clean the blood off.

Black or red?

Red.

Satin sheets or Egyptian cotton?

(Rubs chin)  Egyptian cotton, everyone needs a soft place to hide.

Ocean or mountains?

Mountains.  They’ve always felt like home to me. However, since I just got back from a  trip to Hawaii, oceans offer their own temptations…hmm…I’d have to think about that one.

Hunky heroes or average Joe?

More like dark, deadly and dangerous, thank you very much.

Okay, last question, Jami.  If you came with a warning label, what would it say?

(A moment of silence passes) If you asked my husband, he’d say “WARNING: Contents highly unstable, may explode upon contact.” 

(Laughing) And if you wrote it?

(Grins) “DANGER: Driver is guessing, follow at your own risk.”

 Shadow’s Edge: Book 1 of the Kyn Kronicles is out November 1^st, 2011

You can find Jami and her books here:

 Buy Link:    www.BlackOpalBooks.com 

Website:     www.JamiGray.com

Blogs:          www.7EvilDwarves.wordpress.com  or www.JamiGray.wordpress.com

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/jamigray.author

Twitter:       http://twitter.com/#!/JamiGrayAuthor 

Shadow’s Edge

It takes a monster to hunt one, and for Raine McCord, forged in the maelstrom of magic and science, she’s the one for the job. In a world where the supernatural live in a shadowy existence with the mundane, a series of disappearances and deaths threatens the secrecy of her kind and indicates someone knows the monsters are alive and kicking.  Partnering up with the sexy and tantalizing Gavin Durand proves to be a challenge as dangerous as the prey she hunts.

When the trail points back to the foundation which warped Raine’s magic as a child, her torturous past raises its ugly head.  Gavin and Raine sift through a maze of lies, murder and betrayal to discover not only each other, but the emerging threat to them and the entire magical community.

Why I Write Historical Romance

Today we have the wonderful and talented Allison Knight, historic author extraordinaire, who gives us her secret on how she started writing historical romance. Please join us in giving her a big welcome!

“One night, while the Earl of Sandwich was playing cards, he got hungry...” So began another dinnertime tale about people to whom my father swore we were related.

Allison's 17th Historic Novel

With every story Dad told, he instilled a love of history in all of us. For example my sister has become a genealogist. I wonder if it isn't inherited for I have a granddaughter following in my sister's footsteps.

But Dad wasn’t the only one. My grandfather, a great story teller, would delight in gathering his grandchildren around him and telling us about his life. He described how the snow came through the cracks of their one room log cabin on the night he was born, why he never got further in school than third grade, although by all standards he was a very successful man. Of course there was the tale about our great grandmother who had been capture by the Sioux and released in a trade in Detroit.

And believe it or not, that story was true. Although I'm not so sure about the Earl of Sandwich being related to us.

Mother also had stories to tell.  Her tales also centered around an antique left to her by a distant relative who journeyed to the US from Germany, Holland, even a bride from Spain who was supposed to have been a purchased bride. I even have a rose bush that has traveled around the US with us, which supposedly came with one of the relatives from Holland nearly two hundred years ago. Notice -- I said supposedly.  Unfortunately, it must not like the southern climes for it has only given me one rose in three years.

Is it any wonder I turned out to be a historical romance writer. Not only do I like to visit the past but I also have to have a happy ending to my stories. Yeh, I really like those fairy tales which have 'and they lived happily ever after' endings. And I find the past intriguing.

I also love delving into facts, researching a book. I can get lost in research. Finding an old book, a reference to an unknown fact on the 'net', get fascinating information from ,y sister or granddaughter can mean hours delving into the past, sometimes long past. I spent hours and hours researching the care of King Edward I of England's forests. I also found some of the most interest facts about those forests and the kind of trees that grew there.

However, some facts have a nasty habit of alluding an author, no matter how many attempts are made to discover the truth. So, as an author, I get to imagine how it would have been. After all, it’s called fiction for a reason.

Allison

Award winning author, Allison Knight claims she's married to the world's greatest husband because he's her biggest supporter and works with her on all her projects. The mother of four children, Allison retired from teaching to enjoy her six grandkids but now that they've grown, her three cats. She has published seventeen romances, her latest, available November, 2011, is the third in a series of medieval romances about the  members of a thirteenth century Welsh family drawn into the turmoil of the times.

Because she can never quite step out of teaching mode, she blogs often sharing the knowledge she gained writing and publishing in the romance genre. She also loves to talk  about the growing digital market.

You can find Allison at www.allisonknight.com and at her publisher, www.champagnebooks.com.

New Author Gail Roughton Branan's Unruly Interview

Today we welcome new author, Gail Roughton Branan, who is ready to introduce us to her characters from her upcoming book, Miami Days & Truscan (K)nights. Welcome, Gail! I see you’re brought some people with you...care to explain who they are?

Hello, folks!  I’m Gail Roughton Branan and I’m thrilled to be here with you today to introduce you to my heroine Tess Ames and my hero Dalph appearing directly from the pages of  Miami Days & Truscan (K)nights, coming April, 2012 from MuseItUp Publishing.  First up, …


Flowers On The Wall

Tess:  Okay, enough.  First you have me on a plane flying through a door in the Bermuda Triangle and crash landing in this weird parallel world where I have to be rescued from cannibal pigs by some dude built like Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Conan the Barbarian – and dressed like him too –

Dalph:  Green Eyes!  Manners!  We are guests here.  Wherever here is.  And who exactly is this Arnold Schwarzenegger?  You never mentioned him before.  I thought Carlos Ramos back in Miami was the only man in your past I had to worry about.

Tess:  Exactly!  Where’s here? I think this lady’s got some problems. Where does she come up with all this?  And why does she think she’s got the right to just move us around and plop us down like this? Don’t talk to me about manners! 

Gail:  Hold on!  I didn’t mean to plop you here, there, or anywhere!  Well, okay, I did plop you down in Trusca.  And that’s where you’re supposed to be, so why are you here?

Dalph:  Tess? This Arnold?

Tess:  Oh, give it up already!  I was only trying to let everybody know you’re a hunk, for cryin’ out loud!

Gail:  I’ll say. 

Tess:  Excuse me.  I’m not sure I appreciate the tone those words were uttered in.  You don’t have a life?  You’ve got your eyes on my hero?

Gail:  Well, duh!  I had my eyes on him, my hands on him – okay, let’s back up and not go there.  Let me rephrase that.  I created that man.  You said he was a hunk.  I agreed.  Of course he is.  Why would I make up a hero who wasn’t?

Dalph:  If I might intervene – you also created my Tess.  Might I inquire if it ever occurred to you that she could be a bit less headstrong and impulsive?

Gail:  Look here, your majesty, I don’t know about other writers, but my heroines are always some aspect of me so let’s not get insulting here.  I wrote you into existence, I can write you out of it. 

Dalph:  Though I hasten to add she has the really annoying habit of usually being right.  As well as always beautiful. 

Gail:  Much better, discretion being the better part of valor and all that.  Now, where did Tess go? Oh, Lord!  She’s gone!  Tess!  Come back here!  Honestly, characters are worse than kids, you just can’t take ‘em anywhere!  Hey, Dalph!  Your Majesty!  Randalph of Trusca! Yeah, I’m talking to you!  Come back here!  Where are you goin’ now?

And with that, gentle readers – Gail Roughton Branan has left the building in pursuit of fleeing characters.  So if anyone should see them – could you call BR 549?

Gail and Grandson

Gail Roughton Branan is a native of small town Georgia who grew up on the banks of Stone Creek Swamp, immersing herself in imaginary worlds fueled by whichever book was in her hand at the moment including, but definitely not limited to, Edgar Allen Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and Ray Bradbury. She has spent over thirty years in a law office as a paralegal, having decided during the course of her first work experience that while she was as fascinated by the legal world as the imaginary worlds of her childhood, she never wanted to be a lawyer. Sharpening her technical legal writing abilities all day, every day while working full-time and raising her three children, her “spare” time has been devoted to writing because “I couldn’t have this much fun for free doing anything else.”

Please check out Gail's Blog, Flowers On The Fence, for a special tribute to a friend and much more at http://flowersonthefence.blogspot.com/.