Author! Author! JOANNA CHAMBERS

Back in the heyday of romance blogs, I stumbled across this very smart, witty, civilized pundit (which sounds better than yon sonsie lass) by the name of Tumperkin. Er...even then I knew that probably was not her real name, but then--well, anyway. Tumperkin not only shared my love for Georgette Heyer and crazy-ass Charlotte Lamb novels both, she had mastered the rare ability of being passionate and polite at the same time. I liked what she had to say.

And when she turned to writing fiction as Joanna Chambers, I liked what she had to say then as well. A lot.

As I was considering my first interviewee of the New Year, naturally my thoughts turned to Joanna. Who better to provide the first footing of 2017?

Share your favorite recipe for porridge. COME ON! You're Scottish. You must have a favorite recipe for porridge. What about mince and tatties? DON'T BE SO SECRETIVE.

JC - I am indeed Scottish! And my Scottish working class credentials are so spotless, it hurts. My dad, who is Keeper of the Family Tales, used to tell me that his grandmother (who had thirteen children) used to fill a drawer in the kitchen sideboard with porridge every morning and when it hardened, she would cut it into squares and the sons would take a square each down the pit. True! My recipe, however, creates a porridge so silky and creamy and soft it would have dribbled out of Marann’s drawer and landed in a puddle on the floor. It is this: put some rolled porridge oats in a pan with a splash of milk and loads of COLD water. Like, 4 times as much water as oats. Plus a generous sprinkling of sea salt. Then you put it on the very lowest possible heat for 30 mins and completely leave it alone. Don’t touch it. Don’t even look at it. After 30 mins it will be perfect. THEN sprinkle over a teaspoon of demerara sugar and, dribble some cream over - I swear it’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted. The key thing is getting a good balance between sweet and salt.

 Do you believe the sins of the father shall be visited upon the sons? What about the sins of the mother?

JC - Let’s look at this from a writerly angle. 

 

This calls for an example. Let’s call the son in the following example, Adrien. Adrien’s mother—let’s call her Lisa—murders Adrien’s grandmother, resulting in Adrien unexpectedly inheriting his grandmother’s valuable ranch. Let’s say that Lisa is motivated by a hatred of people with golden-brown eyes - which Granny has. Adrien has nothing to do with plotting or carrying out the murder.

 

Question: Do we think the sins of Lisa should be visited on Adrien in the following scenarios? 

1. Adrien shares Lisa’s hatred of people with golden-brown eyes, was aware of her intention to murder his grandmother and did nothing to stop her
    
   Answer: In this case, surely the sins of Lisa should be visited upon Adrien to some extent? Adrien is not innocent here, even if his sin is on only one of omission, namely not acting to save Granny? (Although it may be that Adrien didn’t act because he was unable to do so, e.g by reason of grave illness, such as rheumatic fever). In a satisfying story, how would Adrien end up? Would him losing the ranch be enough to restore ‘order’ at the end of the story? If I was writing this, I’d burn the ranch to the ground and have Adrien make a moral choice to redeem himself.
    
2. Adrien does not share Lisa’s hatred of people with golden-brown eyes but again, he was aware of her intention to murder his grandmother and did nothing to stop her – this time because he wants the ranch
    
   Answer: In some ways, this feels worse than (a) from a moral perspective – but why should that be? Is there a moral distinction between someone who does (or fails to do) something out of a vile but genuinely held belief and someone who does (or fails to do) it for purely monetary gain? Hmmm. If I was writing this story, Adrien would probably be hounded by his grandmother’s ghost till he throws himself from the battlements—or whatever it is ranches have instead of battlements.

       c. Adrien does not share Lisa’s hatred of people with golden-brown eyes—indeed he has argued with her about the subject vociferously—and was also entirely unaware of her intention to murder his grandmother . 

Answer: In this case, Adrien is innocent - surely Lisa’s sins should not be visited upon him? Nevertheless, he is benefitting from the ranch as a direct result of murder. So, should Adrien pay? If I was writing this, I think Adrien would go to the ranch and meet a man with golden-brown eyes—let’s call him Jake—and together they would unravel of the mystery of how his grandmother died and then live in the house together happily ever after. (And it may even turn out that the murderer wasn’t Lisa anyway, but some… I don’t know… English dude called Guy or something).

 

Does that answer your question? I think, long story short, I got to Yes.

I-I'm still reeling after the revelation that Lisa English is a cold-blooded murderess. WHY AM I ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW?
Okay. Um, leaving the unexpectedly dark and twisted murderous inclinations of the English family for a moment...standalone versus series? What do you prefer as a writer? How about as a reader?

JC - As a writer? Well, there are pros and cons of both, I’m not sure I have a strong preference, though I do look back on the trilogy I wrote fondly—having said that, I tend to forget how difficult each book was to write, after some time has passed.

 As a reader, I don’t really have a preference, but I do think that series can bring additional satisfaction. I remember the first series books I ever loved were Enid Blyton’s all-girls boarding school books about Malory Towers. Every book featured friendship conflicts, a major sporting victory for Darrell (the MC), pranks on teachers, a midnight feast and a final crisis. And each book ended with a sense of resolution about that school year, with Darrell having generally become better at life/ a better person. At the end of the last book (sixth form) she leaves school and goes to university. I cannot express how much I loved these books. I loved them the way I love romance books. I loved the shape of them, and the elements. It didn’t matter that the shape and elements were predictable. In fact, that was a major part of why I loved them. It was very much about the execution and the anticipation of the inevitable pay-offs.

 I think for a series to be ‘more’ than a standalone for me, I want something bigger than the individual books. Something that builds through all the books—that might be a single relationship or it might be a story that unfolds and reaches its denouement in the final book.

Is it true that your day job is bounty hunter? Why not? That's a very cool job. You would be good at it.

JC - No, that is not true. Unless you’re talking about moist, tender coconut drenched in dark, silky chocolate? In that case, yes and I am, thank you.

Bonbons and bounty hunters. It sounds like a cozy mystery. What do you think is the most important thing to remember when creating fully realized main characters?

JC - This is the hardest thing about writing, for me, anyway. I think it’s actually really difficult to avoid just writing yourself into characters, especially when you’re writing a scene, and you’ve got some kind of flow going. It can be hard not to just reflect what your own reactions to events would be. It seems kind of obvious to say this but I think the most important thing to remember is that the character isn’t you. Judging by how often I read characters in novels who seem to act/ speak more like someone of the age/gender/demographic of the author rather than of the supposed character, I don’t think I’m the only one who experiences this.
Fashion magazines always ask this question: What is the one cosmetic or grooming tool you cannot live without? And do you have any idea why all these fashion models are always pretending the one tool they can't live without is their EYEBROW GROOMER? 

JC - The one cosmetic I would take to my desert island would be a very red lipstick– that is the best face decoration there is, an excellent enhancement to an expression of curled-lip disgust.

Oh! Excellent choice! Well played, madam! And speaking of hauteur, how do you deal with the criticism that is part and parcel of any job in the arts?

JC - I’m okay with it actually. My RL job is all about winners and losers and there’s a lot of post-morteming/  post-facto rationalisation/ arse-covering. So, with writing, it’s kind of weirdly restful to me that there’s just a range of opinions and some people will hate your book and some will love it and some will just be *meh* about it but no one gets ultimately proved *right*. I’d probably feel very differently if my writing was my sole or main source of income, but since it’s not, I get the luxury of not minding so much.


I'm not sure why this seemed to be a natural segue, but here we go. Have you ever broken a bone? Have you ever broken anyone else's bones? You must have because your day job is bounty hunter. Have any of your victims sued you?

JC - No, no and no! I have never broken a bone, either my own or someone else’s, although I am clumsy and suspect I may have chipped my coccyx more than once. 

Is there any genre you'd like to tackle but you're kinda sorta afraid?

JC - Hmmmm. Well, for the last year or two, my major reading preference has been contemporary US set books—I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of learning about another country purely through reading a single genre of fiction—or that’s my excuse anyway. Would I want to tackle one myself though? Nah. I’m most comfortable with UK early 19^th century and UK Contemporary at this point, but I have written one paranormal-fantasy story and am planning a pair of paranormals set in the 18^th century so that’ll shove me out of my comfort zone on two fronts.

Oh, you have to come and visit us! And by us, I mean everyone in the U.S. We'll show you how the other half lives. Enywho. What are the elements that make a Joanna Chambers book unique? What do you consider your strengths as a writer?

JC - Um… well, credibility is important to me. When I wrote my first novel (a het romance in which the heroine masqueraded as a man – as the hero’s valet) it was because I’d decided I really wanted to write a credible chick-in-pants romance. I’d read a rash of reader blogs talking about how they couldn’t suspend disbelief with chicks-in-pants stories but I’d also read real-life stories about women who did successfully masquerade as men at the time, so I had this whole thing in my head about meeting that challenge and how satisfying that would be.  At this point, I’m mostly known as an

author of historical MM and my ambition with these stories is to have a credible HEA for my characters. When I say a “credible HEA”, I mean two things: credible for the period but also credible as a romance HEA i.e. a proper soaring HEA rather than a limited one. Since I’m a long-term romance reader, I’ve got a lot views on what makes a good HEA and what the end of a romance book should *feel* like and I really didn’t want a limited, lesser version of that for my characters, but it does take a bit of doing.

Where did you and the Mister meet?

In a student union, on the dancefloor. We were shoe-gazing to some Indie song. We shuffled up to each other and the rest is history.

 What are you working on right now? What's coming out next?

JC - My next release, in April-ish 2017, will be a Victorian historical MM set in Cornwall called A Gathering Storm. It’s part of Riptide’s new Porthkennack line featuring a number of other authors (Alex Beecroft, Garrett Leigh, JL Merrow and Charlie Cochrane). My book is set in Victorian times and features an eccentric scientist who is trying to contact his dead brother with the help of a sceptical half-Romany land steward (!) Basically it’s about the twin Victorian obsessions of science and spiritualism.

Oh! I love it already!

 As for what I’m working on now. I’m writing a contemporary spy MM story with Carolyn Crane which I’m sort of super-excited about (hopefully out first half 2017) and a second Porthkennack book for Riptide – a contemporary this time which should be out in August 2017.

 Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life? What about angels?

JC - I’m a no, on angels. I think extra-terrestrials are possible, and probably statistically likely, but I can’t say I get terribly excited about the possibility.  I’m just not fundamentally that interested in the idea of aliens, maybe because I feel like I’ve got my hands full with humans. Humans are terrifying and glorious and I still haven’t got my head round them.

Tell us something surprising. Anything. Go on. Surprise us!

JC - When I was in Brownies (you would call them girl scouts? I was 7 or 8) I was unsuccessful in my bid to win my writer’s badge. 

 Still mortified about that.


LOL. And so you should be. ;-)


You can learn more about the Joanna at her website. AND you can find her on Facebook.

Author! Author! RHYS FORD

This morning we have a little treat for you. Another installment of Author! Author! This month with one of my very first online friends, the adorable Rhys Ford.

Rhys was one of the very first readers I had contact with when I first stumbled into online interaction (back in the days of LiveJournal!). She was always friendly, supportive, and very funny. And now she's a talented writer in her own write...er...right. If you don't know her work, you should -- especially if you enjoy crime and mystery novels.

So without further ado...

Where did we first meet? Wasn't it that funny little café in Monte Carlo? Weren't you running guns at the time?

 

I think it was in Paris. It was raining. You stole my espresso from the waiter’s tray and told me I’d ordered it for you, I just didn’t know it at the time.

 

Wow. When did we first meet? I think I dropped you an email after I read Fatal Shadows when it first came out. Wow, long ride, no?

 

 Last movie that made you cry? STOP CRYING, YOU BIG BABY!!!

 

Huh… Brave? I tear up like a big baby at movies. Hell. Commercials sometimes get me. Dog rescue videos…yep, bawling.

 

Are you a full-time writer?

 

Yes and no. I do graphic design work on contract. Writing…ah, it sucks the brain, doesn’t it but oh so addictive. Heh. I write a hell of a lot.

 

What's the last piece of music you listened to? Did you sing along? Were you in key?

 

Last piece of music? Misirlou as played by 2cellos (Sulic & Hauser). Nope I didn’t sing along…no words. But um… last song I sang along to? Metallica’s Outlaw Born…and yes I sang along. And define in-key.

 

We play Rock Band a lot. I’m the designated singer. Mostly because the scrolling up streams for the instruments make me motion-sick.

 

What do you think is the most important thing to remember when creating fully realized main characters?

 

Make a personality. Fill in the back story. Even if I never show it on page, a main character should have a back story. But write to the personality. Fill in the blanks and hell, define even some of the little things like coffee or tea? Emboss characteristics and traits. Flaws as well as virtues.

 

 What's with all the nekkid in your newstream? Come on, explain. Don't hesitate to use visual aids.

 

I’m not even sure how it happened. One day I found myself in this daily posting thing of hot men. It’s an odd thing. Suddenly, it became a thing. :D

 

Um… David Gandy is always a favourite.

 

One of the great strengths of the Cole McGinnis series is the way you your own cultural heritage is reflected in the characters of Jae and Cole and Miki and Kane. Was this a conscious decision or was it instinctive? What has the response been from readers?

 

For the Dirty Series, it was deliberate. It’s actually harder for me to write for Cole because it’s first person and I’m writing it from the viewpoint of someone who doesn’t know much about Asian cultures. A lot of Cole’s responses and reactions are borrowed from friends who were experiencing things for the first time.

 

Most responses have been positive although a few times people have left me comments asking why I didn’t just choose “normal” names for the Korean characters. But really, everyone’s been welcoming of the culture clash between Cole and Jae.

The Morgans are… they’re really fun to write. It’s a good sprawl of a family and I’ve enjoyed bringing them and their brash Irishness to life.

 

Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever had a ghostly encounter?

 

Ah, there’s too much in the world for me to say there’s no such thing as… whatever. Ghostly encounters? I’d say boo-wiggly things but nothing definitive. But oh, I can spin you a few old tales from my people.

 

Would you describe the Sinners series as mysteries or crime novels?

 

Wow. Crime? Suspense-thrillers? There’s a bit of romance in them but oh, I’d say crime.

 

Can you cook?

 

I’d say yes. No one goes hungry at my table. I like cooking. It soothes the savage beast. I actually enjoy cooking a lot. It’s like therapy. Food is always a unifying thing among people.

 

I love that you've really pushed yourself to try a variety of things -- steampunk, for example. Is there any genre you'd like to try but are kinda, sorta afraid of?

 

Contemporary. I’m writing one now and man it’s kicking my ass. I keep thinking… you know what would be good right now? A nice murder! A dead body! Really. Always a good thing.

 

I do want to stretch out and try new things on. I’s good for the soul and mind. *grins*

 

Do you still own that crazy classic car?

 

Oh yes. He’s my baby. Not crazy at all. It can do the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs. Heh. I just did a road trip up to Ontario, Ca from San Diego. It’s a good car.

 

What scares you? Does that fear ever find its way into your stories?

 

So much fear. Probably leaving nothing behind of worth. I think I work that into my stories. Fear of relationships, trusting — a lot of those trails in my books. A lot of people have those fears and I think by exploring those issues, it brings characters to some kind of closeness to the reader.

 

What are you working on now?

 

That contemporary I’m cursing out right now. Down and Dirty—Bobby and Ichiro. Then after that, a new series I’m currently trying to let cook in my brain.

 

Tell us something surprising. Anything. Go on. Surprise us! 

 

I like canned peas and mayo.

 

Wow…um… I have a fondness for really bad reality shows about fashion.

 

 

Thank you, Ms. Ford. It is always a pleasure! :-)

Thank you for having me along for the ride. Now get to work. I need some new Lanyon to read :D

Author! Author! LANGLEY HYDE

This morning we have a surprise in the form of the delightful Langley Hyde, the newest and shiniest little star in the Blind Eye firmament. Langley has written a really wonderful Steampunk M/M adventure-romance-mystery by the title of Highfell Grimoires. I got a pre-release peek at it, and it really is something special. (as also noted by Publisher's Weekly, which gave it a starred review)!


1 - So. What's the last thing you stole? KIDDING. I'M A KIDDER. Tell us, young Langley, about this wonderful book of yours, Highfell Grimoires. What's it *really* about? What do you love best about this story? Why this story and not one of lots of other tempting story ideas?

In Highfell Grimoires, the beggared and orphaned Lord Neil Franklin agrees to work in his uncle’s charity school, high among the clouds above the city of Herrow. But there’s more going on in that charity school than mere book learning. And the rough and enigmatic Leofa holds the key that will unlock the mystery—as well as Neil’s own desires.

That’s sort of what the back of the book says anyway. J

It’s a gay steampunk romance full of magic and machinery and secrets and dastardly plans. Plus also a hot, shirtless guy who lacks book learning but is wicked smart…and maybe even just little wicked. Really there’s a lot I love about this story. For one thing: Top hats and goggles. Floating universities. Libraries with books that spit sparks.

By the end of writing it what became most important to me was exploring an aspect of love. I think many people associate love with a strong feeling, one that’s wrapped up in submission, passion, and possession. But I think that what a person decides to do after that, when holding so much power, is more important. And that’s when love really happens.

2 - Lanyon's Haberdashery, Cupcakes and Tiny Hats. I want to open that shop and I believe you'll be one of my first customers. Tell me about the tiny hat you will buy. Seed pearls. Yes or no? I bet you wield a wicked hat pin. True?

I would totally buy a tiny hat from you. I wouldn’t just be one of your first customers. I would be your best customer. I like seed pearls. I would like to buy something with a teensy veil on it. Do you have anything in white satin? Maybe with a mechanical bug on it?

Unfortunately my legendary hat-pin dueling capabilities have been overstated. My klutziness has not been. Probably I would be able to slay myself with a hat pin by falling on it accidentally. Every time I take a hat pin into hand I am risking my own life.

3 - How reliable are your narrators? How reliable are YOU?

I am incredibly reliable. Sadly. I know it ruins an author’s mystique, but I always pay my bills on time, almost never procrastinate, and I feed my kitty at half past six every day. That’s probably why I write characters who are unreliable. I like writing characters who can do things I can’t. Like lying. Or casting spells.

4 - What's your writing schedule like? Do you write full-time?

When I wrote Highfell, I’d just moved. I had mostly freelance work, so I wrote whenever I wanted.

But now I, like many writers, have a full-time day job in addition to my other freelance work. I used to try to write after work but everything I produced after work sucked. Bad. So I had to start getting up before work to do my writing then. This seems to be working.

The catch: My shift starts at five o’clock in the morning. So I get up at two-thirty in the morning to write.  As the novel I’m working on progresses, I may have to start getting up earlier to get more time in before work.

It’s kind of serene. In a hellish way.

5 - Is it true writing erotic romance is kind of a family tradition?

Yes. Completely true. On both sides of the family. But my husband’s grandfather wrote pornography during and after World War II to support his wife and his daughters. He also wrote science fiction, but the softcore was what earned him the money. Who would’ve guessed that soldiers like porn?

He had tons of sex manuals to do research and help him get ideas in his office and he wrote all the stories out by hand, in this tiny cramped script, to conserve paper. Then he marked it all up with these crabbed corrections. Once he was done it was almost incomprehensible. He paid one of his teenage daughters—my mother-in-law, actually—to type it all out for him on his big old typewriter. She’d earn about four hundred marks a book, which was a lot then, so I think he did earn fairly well from writing erotica.

So when I talk to my in-laws about what I do, it’s hardly shocking. Instead my mother-in-law gives me a little philosophical shrug while my father-in-law glances at his wife with this sly grin, like, “I got myself a girl who was really informed.”

6 - If you were a Disney character -- any character you want -- who would you be? Why?

At first when you said that I wanted to be Aladdin. But then I realized I could never be Aladdin because I’m horrible at lying. If I were Aladdin, I would just run up to Jasmine and be like, “Guess what? I’m totally pretending to be a prince! Ha! And I have an all-powerful genie.”

My husband says he’s not worried about me cheating on him. Because if I did, I’d come home and be like, “Honey! Guess what I did today! Bet you couldn’t guess.”

I’m not very interested in being a Disney princess, although Belle does have an awesome library. Maybe I could just nick her library?

So I guess I would be Stitch. I am more like Stitch anyway. You know. An intergalactic terrorist trying to be a house pet. Cute but deadly. Big googly eyes. Grumpy when hungry, and like Stitch, I tend to express this with biting and laser cannons.  But I am trying really hard to be domesticated.

 

7 - It's clear your research on HG was painstaking and intensive. Are you a research-ahead-of-timer, a research-as-you-goer, or a research-after-the-facter?

Can’t I be all three? Usually I go through phases of intense obsession over a subject. I research it exhaustively. I read book after book. Then I stop. And maybe about three years later I can write about it. I try not to write about anything I’ve read too freshly, because I’m afraid of splurging on facts.

When I’m writing, certain things come up. How does a dark lantern actually open, for example? Then I spend time on museum websites, taking a look at artifacts. Do they actually have lace parasols at this time? So I look that up. I spend always a lot of time looking at contemporary housekeeping books, which can tell me a lot about meals, manners, and sensibilities—how people thought things ought to have been, and therefore by inference what they were actually like and what people did about it.

So probably the least amount of research I end up doing is after the book is written and I’m checking out the copyeditor’s remarks. I’ll usually go with the copyeditor, unless I can find primary source material to back up my instincts.

8 – Do you own a grimoire?

Sadly not. I own very few books, actually, which I always find very embarrassing when people come over. Other people apologize for the mess. I’m like, “I’m so sorry! I don’t have very many books!”

Because my husband is from Europe, I’ve moved back and forth between the continent and North America several times. Weight restrictions on transatlantic flights have done my personal bibliotheca in. So mostly I stock up on public library books. I put them on my shelves and pretend they are mine until the library sends me to collections. So the only thing I’m reliably late at is returning books.

 Also, although this doesn’t exactly qualify as stealing since I do eventually give in and give the books back, this might answer your first question. The last thing I borrowed for so long as to be construed as stealing was a copy of Packing for Mars by Mary Roach and I still feel guilty.

Whenever I’m thinking about buying a book my husband gives me this sad look, like he’s saying, “Will I have to carry this for you in the future? In a box with other books? Up four flights of stairs?” But on the upside, whenever he tells me to go ahead and buy one, I know what he’s really saying is, “I’ll carry this for you. But only because I love you.”

9 - What is the single sexiest thing about the Age of Steam?

Oh my! Do I have to chose one?

But the most fascinating aspect to me is the element of a society in an immense moment of change. In the late 1800s, we went from cooking by fire and carting our water from pumps and throwing our waste out the windows to electricity, automobiles, telephones, and the most wondrous invention of all: indoor plumbing.

10 - Is there any genre you'd like to tackle but you're kinda sorta afraid?

Humor. I want to be able to write books with a lot of jokes in them. But I’m a little afraid of writing a book that relies heavily on humor. What if my jokes fall flat? How embarrassing would that be?

Maybe not as embarrassing as receiving the proofreading remarks on a sex scene – granted.

(Ha! Just wait till you have to listen to the sex scenes in first your audio book!)

After that, I think I would be most intimidated by thrillers. I like the breakneck pacing of thrillers, but I think that kind of writing is hard for me.

That said, the only way I’d ever consider writing in one of those genres is if the book had a fantastical element. I get bored writing contemporary novels. For some reason any novel without magic seems incredibly unrealistic to me.

11 - What do you love most about writing? What do you find most challenging?

I love the act of writing. Once I start writing, it feels like my brain is functioning correctly and the rest of my life has been a dream. It’s like running and playing a new song all at once. When I’m running, I sometimes get to a point of timelessness, when the world around me seems ordered yet imbued with meaning. I used to play clarinet and violin—I don’t anymore—but writing a rough draft is also like playing an unfamiliar melody, like that moment when I’d play and I’d hear the song for the first time. It fell into place. It was something that had always been there and I was just discovering it.

It’s the rest that’s hard for me. Plotting and editing. Really the parts that make a book a book. I would basically rather go to the dentist than do those things. And that’s saying a lot because anesthesia doesn’t work on me very well.

12 - What are you working on next?

It’s a secret. It’s about spies, and mercury, and magic, and impersonation, and has romance and adventures and scheming. But I can’t tell you anything more because I haven’t finished it and I’m superstitious. But I promise to send it to you when I’m done.

I also want to say what a pleasure it’s been to be invited over onto your blog, Josh! Thank you so much for having me over.

Author! Author! ASTRID AMARA

This month's interview subject is the wildly talented and always amusing Astrid Amara. You may know Astrid through her classic rom com Hanukkah novellas and/or her brilliantly original epic fantasy novels. I would usually try to burble on a bit but I have succumbed to the flu, so I can only say that I love Astrid's work and I'm delighted to have her here on the blog.

In her words, here's Miz Amara.

Okay, Pony Girl. Come on. Explain about the horses. Is it true you are the Imelda Marcos of the Equestrian World? How many equines do you actually own? Is that horse on your website yours? Or are you just stalking him?

Oh I *wish* the horse on my website was mine! Actually, strike that – I only want that horse if I’m a millionaire and can afford barn slaves, because it takes a hell of a lot of work to keep a grey horse clean. That’s why my dream horse is a black Arabian gelding….

I actually only own ONE equine, but he’s enough for me. He’s a 20 year old asshole of a smarty pants, all gentleman until he sees a pretty mare. He’s a Polish Arabian, and in a former life before I owned him he won dozens of amateur dressage competitions. Now he and I fart around and pretend to do dressage when we’re feeling ambitious, and go for lazy strolls around the countryside by his pasture when we’re not.

He is scared of the color white, butterflies, and that sunspot that appears on the arena floor. He is NOT scared of me, little dogs, or the horse-sized soccer ball he rolls across the arena for treats.
I love him to death; and I owe all my readers for being able to have him, because my Porn for Ponies is more than just a clever name. It’s what allowed me to buy him, feed him, and tend to his medical issues.

 What's the last piece of music you listened to? Did you sing along?

My favorite album to write to at the moment is Woodkid’s The Golden Age, because not only are his videos amazing, but Iron is the best song to write a cavalry story to. Watch the video for “Run Boy Run” on Youtube now if you haven’t seen it. Seriously. Do it. Now.

I cannot wait for The Devil Lancer, your upcoming AU Crimean War epic. What's the best part of the Crimean War?

“The best” is a hard thing to define in this circumstance – I think the thing that most impresses me about the Crimean War was the absolute, insane levels of bravery and honor the soldiers had, on both sides. This was an atrocious war, fought for a stupid reason, in terrible conditions, under idiotic leadership, and these men accomplished incredible feats.

It was hard to write because I wanted to throw in every little detail about the war that I came across. Choosing what was relevant to the story and what was just being included for the gore factor was difficult for me.

Who is your all time favorite villain?

Ooh, good one. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the first one who comes to mind. As a Trekkie and Benedict Cumberbatch fan, the new  Khan is pretty hot. Er… I mean “scary.”

What do you love most about writing? What do you like least?

I love the finished product, two months later, when I have a chance to re-read my work and go, ok, that’s what I wanted to read. Before that I hate the whole thing. I hate sitting down and writing. I hate difficult plotting problems. I hate middles. Deadlines stress me and without them I do nothing. And when I’m working on a project every page I read is the worst drivel I’ve ever come across. I can’t stand my own story as soon as I finished it – I always need several weeks before I can bare to re-read it, and there are a few stories out there I still can’t re-read because I don’t like them.

What do you think is the most important thing to remember when creating fully realized main characters?

Motivation is important – I hate bad guys that are just bad for no reason (I call it the Orc Problem). There has to be a reason they suck. And our good guys have to have bad traits too. So I think it’s crucial to conceive of your character as a fully-rounded human being. Base them on a real person if that helps. Do character worksheets and plan out their whole life if you have to – but remember they need to be like the rest of us, with good days and bad days, things that make them angry, things they aren’t good at, things they’re GREAT at, etc.

Have you ever broken a bone?

Oh, the bitter irony! When I started responding to your interview questions I could say no. But since I started this interview, my horse stepped on my pinky toe and broke it! I was walking him past a field where there are cute mini horses and he gets all insecure because they’re tougher than him. And when he’s busy ogling  something like a horse or a plastic bag he doesn’t pay attention to where he’s walking.

But that won’t stop me! As Steven Wright put it, “I intend to live forever. So far, so good.”

You're an astonishingly versatile writer, penning everything from adorable romantic comedies to these intense epic AU historical fantasies. Is there any genre you'd like to tackle but you're kinda sorta afraid?

Hard-core science fiction, with lots of that “science” stuff, scares me, mostly because I’m not very informed when it comes to physics and chemistry, and even many aspects of biology stump me. But I really respect stories that stay true to the real laws of physics and are scientifically feasible.
And I do want to tackle what I fondly call my “Anti-Twilight” series – a 2-3 book young adult scifi/fantasy series for young girls. I’m scared because it’s not what I read, but I think the challenge of writing something like that, out of my comfort zone, might be kind of fun.

Is it true about Jewish Guilt?

I just closed my bedroom window so my brother can have more air. Does that count?

What are you working on now?

I’m going to take a second crack at a story I started a few years ago and never finished. It’s an amalgam inspired by books I was reading at the time – one on homesteaders, one on the cholera epidemic of London, one on diamond mining. It’s the story of a doctor who has to work in a remote homesteader outpost when an epidemic breaks out, killing large numbers of the population. He has to team up with the local reverend to investigate what is killing the townsfolk and why only certain members of the population are falling ill. And of course there’s some secrets that draw the two men closer…

All time favorite dessert. Do you have the recipe?

If you love chocolate and love mint flavor, these brownies will KILL you with happy. Be warned: Don’t eat the thick dark chocolate layer on top by itself, it tastes bitter on its own because its bitter chocolate. But when you bite into it with the rest of the brownie?.... Hells Yeah.

Chocolate Peppermint Bars

Layer #1 Ingredients:
2 oz. unsweetened bitter chocolate
½ cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup sifted flour
½ cup chopped almonds (optional)
Layer #2 Ingredients:
1½ cup powdered sugar
3 T butter
1-3 T milk
1 t peppermint extract
Green food coloring
Layer #3 Ingredients:
3 oz. bitter chocolate
3T butter

Instructions:
1. Melt chocolate and butter in a pan.
2. Cream eggs and sugar together in a bowl.
3. Add flour and chocolate mixture to bowl and mix well.
4. Grease an 8X8 pan and pour in the batter.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then turn of heat and bake another half a minute. Let cool completely before next steps.
6. Cream together sugar and butter in a bowl.
7. Blend in peppermint extract and milk – enough milk to make the icing, not too liquidy but spreadable.
8. Add green food coloring to tint the icing.
9. Spread icing onto cooled first layer and chill.
10. For third layer melt chocolate and butter in a pan.
11. Pour evenly on top of cooled icing.
12. Chill for at least 1 hour, enough time to harden the top chocolate layer. Cut into squares.

You are one of the funniest people I haven't yet actually met. Say something funny.

Wow that’s no pressure. The funny part of my brain is actually small, since most of my brain is consumed with sleeping and ponies. Here, I drew you a picture of why I can’t be funny on the spot.

 Are you a full-time writer?

I wish. I really do. But alas I am also materialistic, which means I like having a nice house and heat and a boot collection, not to mention my expensive equestrian habits, four dogs, two goats, and a husband who likes to cook with organic ingredients. So yeah, I work for The Man during the day. At night I go, “fuck you, Man!” and rebelliously don’t pay my parking ticket.

 What's out next? Are we going to see more of the Bellskis?

 
I’m not sure! It’s always exciting planning out what I’ll write next. Once I finish a Hanukkah story I tend to make promises to myself like “I’ll never ever ever do that again waaaaaah” because writing up-beat, romantic comedies aren’t really my natural mode, they are hard for me. I usually have to counter every happy story I write with something replete with explosions, bloody wounds, heartbreak, and excessive violence to fuel me through the next happy ending.

The Bellskis are my favorite couple of all the ones I’ve written in contemporary romance, so I would like to try something else with them – but it’s also hard because you reach a point where you’ve put your characters through a lot. After a while you’re like – “leave him alone!”

Tell us something surprising. Anything. Go on. Surprise us!

I once fell in a manhole.

Like, a perfect, Astrid-sized manhole. I was walking along the road with friends in Central Asia, where all the manholes have been stolen and melted down. Anyway, one second I’m just chatting “blah blah ermergerd blah” and then I’m in a hole.

I fell straight in, which sort of defies physics, in that I didn’t  hit the sides or anything. I had a large friend with me and he reached down and immediately lifted me out of the hole. He tried to ask “are you all right” before bursting into laughter, but he failed.

Also surprising: I can’t burp. Tight throat sphincter, I’m told. Ew.

Author, Author! Z.A. MAXFIELD

I first met Z.A. Maxfield back in 2007. I was very new to social media and the web and I had just started to blog very tentatively over on Live Journal. I didn't fully (or at all) get how these things worked, so I was mostly babbling to myself, but somehow I began to collect a circle of LJ friends, and we had some really wonderful discussions about books and writing and life in general. One of those friends was Z.A. Maxfield who stood out from the first with her witty, literate, and thoughtful comments. That woman ought to be published, I privately thought. And Lo! It came to pass. Z.A. is now one of the first names to pop up when readers ask for suggestions for smart, funny, and poignant M/M romance.

Next Tuesday, August 20th, Z.A. has her first release with InterMix, the digital imprint of Penguin.  My Cowboy Heart is very possibly the first M/M romance title by an indie author to be  published by a mainstream publisher, and that's exciting news for our little genre. There are a lot of reasons to hope this book is successful, not least is because ZAM has worked hard and earned this moment. Anyway, I preordered the book the minute it was live on Amazon, and I'm thinking YOU should too!

Sha-ZAM!

So we first met on Live Journal, wasn't it? What were you doing there? Is it true you were on parole? But seriously, how did you go from lurking on LJ to published author?

You might find this amusing. I discovered Live Journal because I was looking for YOU Josh Lanyon. I only actually joined LJ because I wanted to comment on your Just Joshin' blog.

At that time I had been writing for a while, although I wasn’t yet contracted for publication. I had three novels completed, and I had just gotten to the point of submitting one to some independent publisher’s slush pile. It seemed logical to choose a publisher from the ones who published authors I had been reading.

My first submission got rejected by one publisher, but then I sent a different manuscript to Loose Id and they accepted it. After I had undergone some edits at Loose Id, I tightened up the other manuscript, and it was accepted at Aspen Mountain Press. The rest, as they say, is history.

Do you believe the sins of the father shall be visited upon the sons?

I hope not, and I hope a mothers’ sins won’t be visiting anyone – especially my kids -- either.

You have a book coming out with Penguin's InterMix imprint. Congratulations! My Cowboy Heart is InterMix's first tentative toe dipping into the turbulent, roiling waters of M/M Romance. I'm excited for you. Are you mostly excited or mostly scared? What do you think this book means for your writing career?

I can’t help but be both excited and scared. For my writing career, it’s very nice to be a Penguin Author. Yet I wonder, as quirky as I am, if I’m the best person to do a gay cowboy novel for the mainstream romance market.

I have to admit, I love, love, loved seeing my book there on their Penguin page: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/pages/intermix/

But I could make a case for fifty authors that I know personally who might be a better fit for a mainstream book line.

I wasn’t going to turn them down, was I?

It was great fun, but I'm not a comfortable trailblazer. I usually leave that to others. I suppose this only means that my friends, writers who deserve to be trailblazers in their own right, have a much better chance of getting their work out there too.

Is it true you set the fire?

I did not, but I worried an awful lot someone might come to that conclusion, because I’d only two weeks before ordered escape ladders for my upstairs bedrooms. (I did that because of a news article about a family unable to escape a house that burned down on Christmas Eve.)

What was the most interesting or surprising thing you learned while researching My Cowboy Heart?

I had to research how long a dog has to be immobilized after an amputation. I wondered how hard my characters would have to work to keep a dog from a fairly active breed contained while she healed. It turns out they’re up on the remaining legs fairly quickly and they heal fast. 

Boxers or briefs? No, seriously. Why should this question be reserved for male authors? Why shouldn't everyone have to answer?

Neither, which -- not to give anyone granny panty nightmares -- should also not be a great surprise.

Are you a fulltime writer?

Yes. My full time job is writing, but it hardly counts because I went from full time stay-at-home mother to full time writer, so it wasn’t as if I had to write enough to cover my missing salary.

What's the last piece of music you listened to? Did you sing along?

Verdi’s Aida, and no. :D

Which of your children is your favorite? KIDDING!!! How did you and the Mister meet?

I met my husband at the Rocky Horror Picture show on Halloween, 1982. I was with a couple of friends, and he sat two seats to my right. After a bit of flirty conversation I invited him to fill the empty seat between us. We haven’t stopped talking since.

 

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on a series called The Brothers Grime, about a crime scene clean up company owned by three men, Jack, Eddie, and Gabe. Each man gets his own story. The first was Grime and Punishment, about Jack. The second is Eddie’s story, Grime Doesn’t Pay, and the third, Partners in Grime, is about Gabe.

What do you love most about writing? What do you like least?

I love that moment when it all works, when you’re writing with the figurative wind at your back and ideas you’ve seeded into chapter two become really meaningful in chapter 22. I love when everything hits the fan and you know exactly what to do to fix things.

I don’t think I like anything least. I find it difficult emerging from the cave of my imagination to promote the work because it seems like that requires a different set of muscles entirely. I’ll bet you know what I mean by that. I thought writing was going to be all lonely and it turns out, I spend half my time writing emails. I love the people I write to, and I really need the community, but it takes my head out of the game.

Switching back and forth from writer to social animal is what I like least because it's difficult for me.

Have you ever broken a bone? Have you ever broken anyone else's bones?

Nope to both. Which… I’m an old gal, so I’m really grateful. *Goes to find some wood to knock on.*

What do you think is the most important thing to remember when creating fully realized main characters?

Great characters are flawed. They believe lies about themselves. They ache for wanting things they’ll never get. A fully realized character -- to me -- is consistent, but never consistently good, or consistently bad.

Is there any genre you'd like to tackle but you're kinda sorta afraid?

I want to write mysteries. I have always wanted to write mysteries. I fear I lack the complexity of mind. *sobs*. The almost-mystery books I’ve written are mostly only suspenseful, and not mysterious. I keep thinking I have one in the works, but then… Nope. Not yet. Maybe someday soon.

Tell us something surprising. Anything. Go on. Surprise us!

I’m pregnant with my second set of twins. That was a lie. But admit it, you were surprised for a second, weren’t you?

(My jaw did drop, yes!) ;-D

AUTHOR, AUTHOR! Harper Fox

This week our guest is my dear friend Harper Fox. I think Harper is one of the most gifted writers I know, which makes the fact that she is also one of the most humble and appreciative all the more touching. She also has a wicked sense of humor and an unholy love for a gritty and goofy British crime drama from the 1970s called The Professionals.

Harper's latest book is a brilliant romantic saga of Vikings and monks called Brothers of the Wild North Sea. She's been talking about this book practically as long as I've known her, and it's turned out to be both a critical and commercial success. In fact, Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review.

So, without further adieu...Harper Fox.

Didn't you start out as a poet? How did you end up wearing that viking helmet and quaffing meade?

Well, it's so embarrassing - I was meant to reincarnate as Charlotte Brontë but the karmic angel only had time for initials that day and... Well, here I am - Conan the Barbarian. Seriously (as far as I'm capable of serious), I did start out as a poet, yes, and I remain very proud of the work I had published in some tiny but reputable Northumbrian magazines which have since plunged into nonexistence for want of funds, thus adding to the poignancy of the whole situation. But I've always been an ordinary poet, or a poet of the ordinary, and I don't have separate sections of my brain assigned to poetry and prose. No, it all seems to come out of the same murky well, and in many ways Brothers Of The Wild North Sea is a poetic novel. Robust, hairy and sexy, but poetic, if poetry is the compression/channelling of much meaning and emotion into clear and lucid language and the ability to bring that far-flung shore right to your door. :-D Seriously seriously, I just like mead. And how I look in horns.

What do you tell literary pals who smile pityingly at you when you admit to writing romance? Or do you admit it?

I *do* admit it! I do, I do. My first admissions were overcompensating challenges: "I write ebook porn! Wanna make something of it?" Then I switched to defensive mode: "Yes, they're *categorised* as romances, but if you take the time to read them you may find they transcend their genre in sensitivity and substance." Now, through sheer exhaustion, I tell the truth. "I write erotic romances between men, mostly for the US ebook market." I do in fact have that archetypal literary pal, who to give her credit never smiled pityingly, but for whom I proved a bitter disappointment simply because a woman of my gifts is meant to starve in a garret, not catch a lucky niche wave in a genre she loves and do pretty well out of it!

What was the most interesting or surprising thing you learned while researching Brothers of the Wild North Sea?

God, I wish I could say it was a fascinating sidelight on religion or archaeology, but in fact it was underwear. I won't go into details - what, you think I'm gonna blow all my best bits right here?! - and you'll have to read the book to find out, but let's just say that Caius and Fen have something in common in that department.

Is it true your new home is haunted?

At the risk of sounding completely unhinged, I'm afraid so. Yes. Absolutely. The radio-monitor incident was horribly true in every detail. Mrs H and I avoided the subject with each other for months then had one of *those* conversations: "What? You feel like you're being watched from behind when you sit in that chair too? You too catch someone moving from the corner of your eye in the yard? You feel that chilly, heavy sensation in the front room?" Now, granted, we're both hysterical Lit grads scoring fifteen out of ten on the susceptibility scale, but it's getting a little odd. The lady who lived here before us did so happily for a very long time, but she had fourteen Alsatians and - well, let's just say "created her own atmosphere". It's okay. We're airing the place.

 Boxers or briefs? No, seriously. Why should this question be reserved for male authors? Why shouldn't everyone have to answer?

Why indeed? If I'm putting myself out there as a female author of M/M lit, I damn well should have to answer this question, and the answer is... BOTH! Oh, yes, both. When you have to write as many sex scenes as I do just to feed the kiddies and keep the missus in mink coats (*joke!!!* on both counts!) you need plenty of beneath-the-trouser variety just to keep things sparky. Or... Oh! Were you asking for my personal preference? Boxers, definitely. Cojones as big as mine need room to breathe. (Josh, if I've gone too far, please just censor that last bit.)

I wouldn't dream of it, my darling! ;-)

Are you a fulltime writer?

I am. Carve those two words with pride upon my rain-lashed, mossy tombstone, if you will. Er, in due course. I get up at six in the morning and write until nine. Those are my golden hours and if I miss them I spend the rest of the day in a dismal, self-flagellating slough of despond, having failed to answer my purpose in existing. I am actually that serious about it. I find I need to have two projects on the go - one "live" book and one either in the planning stages or finished and in edits, so after paying my dues to the house and Mrs H in terms of gardening/grouting/guttering, I'll attend to project #2 in the afternoons, and evenings are mostly given over to my braindead stuff, like marketing (as anyone who's witnessed my efforts in that department will testify). So, yes - I'm fulltime in the sense of spending my whole working day  as a writer, and also in the scary sense that my writing is now the sole income for our household. Did I say scary? I mean, of course, wonderful. Okay, scary *and* wonderful. Wonderful because I am *so* bloody proud and happy to have the privilege of supporting myself and the people I love in this way, and scary because - at the moment - it's a subsistence wage, a real scrape. But it's there, and it's getting better. Josh, you told me when I set out in this game that backlist was key to income, and I was all, like, "Dude, ain't nobody got time for that sh*t!" And I was right. I didn't. I had to do my Evil Day Job for another three years while I built my backlist. So - um - actually, that means *you* were right...

What's the last piece of music you listened to? Did you sing along?

"Work" by Iggy Azalea. Ought to be ashamed, a woman of my age, but there you are - I love it. "No money, no family, sixteen in the middle of Miami" - ah, I remember how it was, other than the giant generation gap and the totally different circumstances. Not only did I sing but but I tried the hooker-heel strut up and down the greenhouse in my wellies.

How did you and the missus meet?

Ah. Short, true story - just shy of twenty nine years ago, she emerged from a dark corridor in our university building, and her blue eyes shone with their own light, and her hair was like sunshine on a wheatfield, and that was it. Love at first sight. Happens!

What are you working on now?

My "live" project is my A Midwinter Prince sequel, The Lost Prince. Doing interviews with you is obviously very stimulating, Mr L, because I didn't realise until twenty seconds ago that the thing I've been calling AMP2 for months and months even *had* a name. But I like The Lost Prince. It's simple, and as you'll see, does exactly what it says on the tin. I love Laurie and Sasha very much and seeing them through the next stage of their relationship, the tough stuff that lies beyond first romance, is pretty intense. I'm beyond the halfway point now and am about to commit myself with an **ANNOUNCEMENT** - drum roll, naked Chippendales leaping out of cake - that I'll release The Lost Prince in August. Project #2 is my next novella, pinned up on the drawing board and decorated with a million post-it notes and enough arrows to keep the Wars of the Roses in business. This will be called Serpentine, and is set in the wonderful, magical countryside of the Lizard in Cornwall. I'm tackling a period piece for the first time, a post-WWII story, and I can't wait to get cracking on it.

What do you love most about writing? What do you like least?

Most - the dreaming stage, the planning, when everything is fluid and possible and my plot and protags are vibrantly alive to me. I think most writers will know what I mean - that golden time before you have to start making stuff make sense. :-D And the least - oh, the opposite of that, when the outline is written, the deadline is set, it's six in the morning and you have to write a sex scene with a migraine and no inspiration. Doesn't happen often, thank God, but you really meet the pure hard work of writing then. In a weird, bad way it's actually good, because it reminds me that, outside of those ecstatic times of being plugged right into the creative vibe of the universe, this is a job like any other, a possession and a privilege, and I need to treat it as such.

 

Have you ever broken a bone?

Yes, once. Very dramatic story. I was about seven years old and I walked through a field full of horses. Something spooked them and one of them ran me down. You know how horses are meant to do anything rather than step on a prone human body - well, mine had missed that memo, and I broke my collarbone. Now, remember this was back in the days before they had proper medicine, so I had to be kept in bed and immobilised for about three months because the bone had swung down near my lungs. I don't remember anything at all about this time except some brightly coloured building blocks, which I'm told I played with obsessively. Wouldn't read, wouldn't pay attention to my home tutor, nothing. I'd been quite bright up to this point, honest! I suppose it was just a shock response, and I did emerge, although I still gaze yearningly at Lego. But maybe I was in some kind of authorial larval stage, pupating the future, and those building blocks were symbols of brilliant plots to come! (Unlikely, yes, but I do clutch at straws from time to time in a desperate bid to explain myself to myself.)

What do you think is the most important thing to remember when creating fully realized main characters?

A convincing choice between boxers and briefs. Motivation is everything, really; you can't just have the guy turn up in scarlet Calvin Kleins one day for no reason at all. Seriously? The ability to step inside an MC's skin. That's all. Does it feel right in there? Does he walk, does he talk, does he feel and function as vibrantly as you do, or are you trapped outside him, painting his picture from there? If you're inside, you can conjure his perceptions, motivations, complexities - I won't say effortlessly, because it often hurts to make that transition and it doesn't always work - but certainly with conviction. I try to write novels where the MCs exist strongly in their own right and aren't just vehicles for the story. I know it's worked if, a couple of years after the book's been published, I can reach out with my mind and be quite sure what Tom and Flynn from Driftwood or Cam and Nichol from Scrap Metal are doing right now; if the characters have quickened so that they exist for me - and hopefully for my readers - beyond the limits of the book.

 

What is your most favorite dessert in all the world?

Oh, goodness, a really nice creme-de-five-star-review served up with royalty-cheque custard. :-D But I'm also a sucker for Mrs H's bread-and-butter pudding, made with Mighty White bread and big fat juicy raisins and nutmeg.

Is there any genre you'd like to tackle but you're kinda sorta afraid?

I'd like to write an out-and-out ghost story, and maybe Serpentine will be it. Maybe. I fear it because the feedback I get from readers is that they're not keen on paranormal elements in my work, and if there's one thing I value in this life, it's my readership. Hey, I have a readership! I'm faint and giddy even now at the thought. And I'm pretty scared of alienating or p*ssing off a good portion of the amazing people with whom I interact, with whom I've formed real friendships and whose opinions mean so much to me. But the idea of telling such a tale has a huge appeal for me - I was raised on MR James and Conan Doyle, and I love the little shiver down the spine, the glimpse beyond the veil, that a really good ghost story can deliver. Maybe my mission will be to convince the folks who don't like paranormals that they might just like *this* one...

 

Tell us something surprising. Anything. Go on. Surprise us!

I'm Aurignacian! Researching my family tree was a pretty short and depressing exercise, so I decided to skip all that recent malarkey and jump back 40,000 years or so via the National Geographic's human-genome DNA project. Yes, I - and several million other people, but it still feels kind of special - belong to the culture that produced the oldest-known example of figurative art, the Chauvet cave paintings and (debatably) the world's first musical instruments. Are you surprised yet? No? Okay, try this - you can't draw a counter-clockwise circle in the air whilst simultaneously circling your ankle clockwise.

Or *can* you?

Many thanks to my good friend and mentor Josh for hosting this interview and making you try!