I have been an author since the age of fourteen and write Young/New Adult historical romance, suspense, supernatural/paranormal thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi, short stories, novellas—you name it, I write it! I am also a classically trained soprano/violinist/pianist and have been performing since the age of three. Additionally, I hold a BA in Management and an MBA in Marketing.
If I had not decided to become a writer, I would have become a marine biologist, but after countless years spent watching Shark Week, I realized I am very attached to my arms and legs and would rather write sharks into my stories than get up close and personal with those toothy wonders.
If I had not decided to become a writer, I would have become a marine biologist, but after countless years spent watching Shark Week, I realized I am very attached to my arms and legs and would rather write sharks into my stories than get up close and personal with those toothy wonders.
1.
Fav song/singer?
My
favorite song is usually whatever I’m listening to while writing. Sometimes, a
scene calls for absolute silence, while at others, it’s nice to have something
pumping in the background to get the ideas flowing. For City of Lights: The Trials and Triumphs of Ilyse Charpentier, I
listened to Lifehouse’s Hanging by A
Moment. This song was a tremendous inspiration for me and became Ilyse and
Ian’s anthem. For Corcitura, I
listened mainly to Promentory from
the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack
when I was writing dramatic/conflict or chase scenes (the constant beat really
helped focus my thoughts) and then Bleeding
Love by Leona Lewis when I wrote a death scene for one of the vampires in
the book. Given the sanguinary nature of the lyrics, I thought it was
appropriate. ;)
For
the dystopian/fantasy novel I began last year (and am still working on), I
wrote the entire prologue while listening to Lux Aeterna (the version with LOTR-esque percussion and vocals). My
gosh, that song is great background music when you’re writing about gargantuan
beasts attacking in all their terrible grandeur! So fitting. For the other two
chapters that I’ve written so far, I listened to the Gladiator soundtrack and other epic music compilations I discovered
on YouTube.
Currently,
for Uendelig (the first book in Dwellers
of Darkness, Children of Light, an eight part series of loosely connected
novellas in which young adults battle against creatures and fantastical beings
from the otherworld that have crossed the void and ended up in our own), I haven’t been
listening to anything while writing the opening chapters, but when I get to the
draugr scene toward the end of the book, I know I’ll be digging into my
stockpile of epic music to find something worthy for battle. ;)
Celine
Dion has been my favorite singer since I was eight years old. I was lucky enough
to see her in concert at Caesar’s Palace in 2005. Some singers sound terrible
live, but Celine sounded amazing, even better than she does on her CDs. She was
also really interactive and did quite a bit of dancing and kept up an incredible
energy and excitement level throughout the whole show. It was a tremendous
experience, and one that I’ll never forget!
2. Fav season?
Definitely
fall. Just the feel of it. You can almost sense that it’s time to break out The Turn of the Screw for a millionth
reread. Or is that just me? ;) I love the crispness in the air, the glorious burnt
orange and golden hued leaves, the carte blanche you have to read all the
scary/classic Halloweeney books (think The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, etc.) you want and classify them as “seasonal
reading” without making all your Goodreads friends wonder if you’ve been bitten
by a vampire and somehow developed strangely macabre reading tastes. ;) Plus,
fall also means I get to bake these delicious chocolate chip pumpkin spice
cookies that have become a tradition with me over the last few years.
3.
Worst vacation?
I
haven’t had one yet, thank goodness, although when I visited Paris in 2004, my
hotel room was the size of a shoebox. There was also only ONE iron in the
entire hotel, as we discovered when the concierge knocked on our door the
second day we were there and asked for it back! But that’s beside the point. The
important thing was, I was in Paris, and apart from the smallness of the hotel,
the location was fantastic! I spent most of my time seeing the sights and
wandering around the Rue de Rivoli, making daily stops at W. H. Smith English
Booksellers. They were running a £2 for £5 and £3 for £10 sale, so I stocked up
on all the UK Penguin editions of the Jeeves
novels that weren’t available back home. I would go back to Paris just to shop
there! ;)
4. Guilty pleasure?
British
detective & mystery shows. I can’t get enough of them! Midsomer Murders was the show that launched me on this trajectory
three and a half years ago, and I haven’t looked back since, moving on to Miss Marple (with Joan Hickson), Campion, Inspector Alleyn, Rosemary
& Thyme, and, my most recent favorite (and probably most favorite of
all) Inspector Lewis. As if visiting
the haunts of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien weren’t incentive enough to go
to Oxford, there is now the added chance that I might bump into Robbie Lewis
and Jamie Hathaway while they are on a case. ;) Thanks to Netflix (I love you
streaming!), I’m currently time-warping back to the 1920s and enjoying Tommy & Tuppence. Such fun, and
Tuppy’s hats are amazing!! :D
5. Fav book and/or
author?
David Copperfield. I read this book close to sixteen years ago
and can still quote passages and remember scenes vividly. All the suffering and
hardships this young 19th century Englishman endured and all the
mistakes he made in love and in life transcended the ages and became so
relevant to me, a preteen living in the United States in the 20th
century. That is truly a testament to the genius of Charles Dickens. It is also
what I think makes a book a classic—its timelessness.
My
favorite author is Agatha Christie. I’ve read 40 of her books and plan to spend
many happy years reading the rest of them. :D
6. One item you cannot
live without?
As
a writer, this would definitely be…my computer!!! I cannot even imagine writing
a book, let alone a 700 page novel like Corcitura,
in longhand. My admiration for Charlotte Bronte and Dickens especially (who was
not known for his brevity) has skyrocketed ever since I became a writer. How did they do it?!
7.
Hobby?
I’m
a classically trained violinist, pianist, and soprano and have been performing
since I was three. I wouldn’t call this a hobby, but for something completely
frivolous and unbookish, I can probably recite the entire script of Jaws, complete with dialects and sound
effects, and enhanced by the singing of various sea shanties! You wouldn’t want
to watch the movie with me. I can also do a pretty mean Gollum impersonation, precious.
8. Fav
movie/actor/actress?
Jaws. No question. I started watching
Shark Week the year it premiered and
became fascinated with Jaws around
the age of five when I went to Pic ‘n Save and saw the movie poster. I didn’t
see the movie in full until I was 15, but I can’t remember a moment when I
wasn’t aware of Jaws. It’s been a part
of my life for years.
My
other favorite movie is The Fellowship of
the Ring. I love the whole trilogy, but The
Fellowship (and Gandalf) had a direct
bearing on my decision to become a writer, so it will always hold a very
special place in my heart.
Favorite
actor…hmm…how about we do a modern one and one from the past? Russell Crowe for
modern (I love him in every movie I’ve seen him in, but am a huge fan of his
historical epics Gladiator, Robin Hood,
and Master & Commander), and
Danny Kaye, who has provided me with countless hours of laughter since I was a
kid. There are also many classic actors I’m a fan of, including Humphrey
Bogart, Tyrone Power, James Cagney, and Gregory Peck.
Favorite
actress…Judi Dench. Love her! Her movies are great, but I’m a huge fan of her
BBC sitcom As Time Goes By. I can
watch that show over and over again, and have. I own the complete series (plus
the reunion specials) on DVD, and am actually rewatching the final few seasons
for what is probably the millionth time. It’s such a great show—like visiting
with old friends. :D
I also
love a bevy of classic actresses, too, such as Greer Garson, Vivien Leigh, Lauren
Bacall, Maureen O’Hara, and Grace Kelly, just to name a few.
9. Fav food?
Jarlsberg
cheese! Give me a handful of Jarlsberg, and
I can write for hours.
10. Who would you like
to meet? (dead or alive?)
Can’t
I invite them all over for a ghostly dinner party and count them as one? No?
Ok, then, let me think. I’ll keep it in the authorial realm and settle on C. S.
Lewis. Jack! The Chronicles of Narnia
have been a constant source of inspiration across all areas of my life for many
years. I’ve read and reread my copies of the books to ragged shreds. One of my
favorite of Jack’s quotes is “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by
children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” I would love to hear
him talking about his thought process when creating such magnificent stories
that are relevant to both young people and adults, since that is something that
I strive to do in my own writing. I would also love to have a deep conversation
with him about faith, God, and, of course…The Inklings! Ideally, this chat
would take place between us in the “Rabbit Room” at The Eagle and Child. Then Jack
could give me a tour of Oxford, where we might just run into Professor Tolkien—and
I would make Tollers read the “Riddles in the Dark” scene from the Hobbit in Gollum’s voice. As you can
see, I’m determined to meet at least one
other person from my phantasmal dinner party. ;)
Corcitura. Some call it
hybrid, others half-blood, mongrel, beast. They are all names for the
same thing: vampire—the created progeny of the half-wolf, half-vampire,
barb-tongued Grecian Vrykolakas, and the suave but equally vicious Russian
Upyr. Corcitura: this is what happens when a man is attacked by two
vampires of differing species. He becomes an entirely new breed—ruthless,
deadly, unstoppable…almost.
London, 1888: Eric Bradburry
and Stefan Ratliff, best friends since childhood, have finally succeeded in
convincing their parents to send them on a Grand Tour of the Continent.
It will be the adventure of a lifetime for the two eighteen-year-old
Englishmen, but almost from the moment they set foot on French soil, Eric
senses a change in Stefan, a change that is intensified when they cross paths
with the enigmatic Vladec Salei and his traveling companions: Leonora
Bianchetti, a woman who fascinates Eric for reasons he does not understand, and
the bewitching Augustin and Sorina Boroi—siblings, opera impresarios, and
wielders of an alarming power that nearly drives Eric mad.
Unable to resist the pull of their
new friends, Eric and Stefan walk into a trap that has been waiting to be
sprung for more than five hundred years—and Stefan is the catalyst.
Terrified by the transformation his friend is undergoing, Eric knows he must
get Stefan away from Vladec Salei and Constantinos, the rabid, blood-crazed
Vrykolakas, before Stefan is changed beyond recognition. But after
witnessing a horrific scene in a shadowed courtyard in Eastern Europe, Eric’s
worst fears are confirmed.
Six years removed from the terror he
experienced at the hands of Salei and Constantinos, Eric finally believes he
has escaped his past. But once marked, forever marked, as he painfully
begins to understand. He has kept company with vampires, and now they
have returned to claim him for their own.
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Short Excerpt
Taken from Corcitura,
Chapter 8, A Tavern in Venice
“A toast to you, my brother,” he
said, lifting his glass. “May your eyes be opened on this night, and may you
see as you have never seen before. Knowledge is a very powerful thing. Drink
and be free.”
Red light shot through the glass, red
light reflected from the candle guttering in its holder above my head. My eyes
darted up toward the ceiling. First impressions are tricky things, and mine had
been wrong—horribly wrong. There were no angels in these panels. What had I
been thinking before? Demons cavorted in a pit of rocks and shattered skulls.
Fire licked their hellish bodies as they danced through one torture scene after
another. In the center panel, a huge, black-winged beast devoured something
that was still kicking as it was being forced down the devil’s gullet.
How could it still be kicking? Or,
more importantly, how could I see it kicking?
The figures in the panel were moving.
Their movements were slow, tortured,
dreamlike, but real—undeniably real. I watched, entranced, unable to turn away,
as one poor soul after another was raked across hot coals or had its ashen
flesh stripped by one of the devil’s overseers.
I put my hand to my mouth, but still
my eyes remained riveted to the ceiling. The other panels did nothing to cure
my nausea. Eleven horned beasts—looking like crosses between satyrs and
devils—formed a circle around a giant creature, half dragon, half man, that
held a severed head aloft in its clawed hands. Blood dripped from the stump,
falling into the waiting mouths of some of the beasts, as the others caught the
liquid in black chalices.
The fresco was blatantly hellish, but
its living replica was even worse.
I had lied to myself from the very
beginning, deceived myself into believing that I was being fanciful and overly
imaginative. Surely such monstrosities only existed in nightmares? Yet I had
lived through a nightmare these past months, and that was no dream at all.
I was still fighting against the
awful truth, not wanting to give in, searching my mind for a logical
explanation—but there was none. And the most horrible realization of all was
that I had known, somewhere deep inside, ever since the day I first
set eyes on that silver-tongued devil in Paris.
Plague carrier.
Living death.
Drainer of life.
The phrasing did not matter. No
euphemism could strike fear into the hearts of men the way that single word
could.
Vampire.
And for me, the uninitiated, that
single word meant death.
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