Please help me welcome Stephanie to theJeepDiva. Be sure to
check out the end of Stephanie’s post for a ginormous giveaway!
Would you like to start off by telling us a little bit about
yourself?
I’m a writer, a reader, a wife, a mother to two teenage sons,
a very slow runner and a reformed newspaper reporter who continues to freelance
by traipsing around other people’s gardens all summer and writing about it. I
have a Junior Mint addiction, my favorite drinks are fuzzy navels and mojitos,
and I love hockey, watching not playing.
I know that you write several different series. Can you
please tell us a bit about each of them?
The Magical Seduction series was my first published series
and those books deal with the Etruscan fairy races. Folletti, linchetti and
salbinelli, otherwise known as fairies, elves and satyrs, oh my! The Lucani Lovers series focuses on the
Etruscan werewolves and their hide-in-plain-sight community. The Forgotten
Goddesses is all about the Etruscan Goddesses, losing their powers over the
past several millennia but finally learning to love. Witches and curses are at
the heart of the Darkly Enchanted series. Then there’s the Fringe series.
Bigfoot, Yeti, fairies, cat women. A little silly, way off-center and just a
lot of fun. And, finally, the first in a new contemporary series begins in
January from Carina Press. No paranormal at all. A little suspense, a whole lot
of sexy heat, titled SEX, LIES & SURVEILLANCE.
Of the above mentioned series do you have a favorite that
you prefer to write?
Not really, no. I guess the one I’m working on at the moment
is my favorite. Right now, I’m revising the third book in the Forgotten
Goddesses series. I love Remy and Rom. They’ve got issues but they’re the men
you want at your back if you’re got trouble. And Amity is in serious trouble.
Can you tell us about your current work in progress, perhaps
share a favorite scene or piece of fascinating information it?
I’m actually in the midst of working on a new proposal for
my agent. Think Peter Pan with monsters and time travel. Still in the
rolling-it-through-my-brain stage but it’s been percolating for a while now and
starting to come together. I’m also working on the next book in the Fringe
series (Andy is such a dork, love him) and the Darkly Enchanted series.
I love the uniqueness of your books. The Etruscan’s
certainly adds to your books distinctiveness. Where did this idea come from?
My dad’s parents came off the boat from Italy. My
grandfather was from Sicily, my grandmother from Rome. I wanted to use a
mythology in my books that tied into that heritage but I didn’t want to do the
Romans. They were overexposed. Then I discovered the Etruscans, from whom the
Romans ripped off much of their culture.
The Etruscan beings that live and love in your books were
any more challenging to write or were some of the species easier to write than
others?
The bad thing about Etruscan mythology and Italian folklore
is that there aren’t that many books that deal with it (at least not in
English) so I can’t just pull a book off my research shelves and find an answer
to a question. I really have to dig around to find tidbits to use in my books.
The good thing is, that means I can make up whatever I want. Like with
folletti, Italian fairies. I know what they’re called but there’s really no
description that I can find. That allowed me to play around with them.
What have you read and loved recently?
I’m loving Thea Harrison’s Elder Races books. I’m in the
middle of Serpent’s Kiss. And I’m anxiously awaiting HEART OF STEEL, Meljean
Brook’s next book in her steampunk series, The Iron Seas. Next up, Shona Husk’s
The Goblin King.
What is one thing about you that your readers would find
surprising or never guess about you?
That underneath the suburban mom shell lurks the frustrated
heart of a rocker chick. I love metal and hard rock, love going to concerts,
love to blast Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, Disturbed, Slipknot,
Volbeat, Hell or Highwater, Suicidal Tendencies and mostly anything playing on
Sirius Octane. I have two sons and music became something we shared, a way for
us to connect. Now, I listen because I love it.
If you were to write yourself into one of your series which
would it be, what role would you pick and why?
I’d want to be a witch. Control magic, maybe do some
healing. Forget the warts and funky hat. Witches are misunderstood.
If you could have a romantic dinner with one of your very sexy
characters which one would it be and why?
Well, I’d love to sit down with Sal. He’s a salbinelli, an
Etruscan satyr, with the lower body of a goat and the upper body of a man.
Sal’s got an interesting backstory that I’d love to discuss with him but we
just never seem to get the time. Then there’s Quinn from Spell Bound. He’s such
a sweetheart but still manages to be a hard ass werewolf. Love him
I learned a new blogger trick this week. You can now click on the pics of the books. They link to the books Goodreads.com profile.
Now on to the awesomeness that Stephanie is giving away. They are all the first book in a series. You can enter for all 4, but I am spreading the book love & will announce 4 separate winners. the 3 eBooks are open for international. The paper book is a US only giveaway. I will announce the winner on Saturday November 5.
eBooks: Size Matters, Kiss of Moonlight, and Seduced by Magic.
paper: What a Goddess Wants
