Conversation with Kimberly Llewellyn

Q&A with Kimberly Llewellyn
Author of the Best-selling Romance, Almost a Bride

Kimberly Llewellyn is the author of several best selling romantic comedy novels, including her newly released Almost A Bride.

Hi Kim, thanks for being with us today. You’ve recently self-published several titles, what made you jump into self-publishing and have you been pleased with the results? Did it live up to your expectation?

Kimberly: I’m traditionally published (Kensington, Penguin/Berkley) and the time just came for me to dip a toe into indie publishing. Little did I know that my initial foray — with two books, Siren Call and Almost a Bride — would land me on the Amazon Best Sellers List. It’s been a thrilling time. And so, yes, it has lived up to my expectations, but it comes with its share of hard work, too!

Congrats on the Best seller status! What inspired Almost A Bride?

Kimberly: I wanted to explore a social situation many women still face today, The Madonna/Whore Complex. We are expected to be a good girl, but also be a bad girl. Some call this, “a lady in the living room, a whore in the bedroom.” What’s a girl to do? So I decided to tackle the dichotomy between these two expectations through the character, Ivy Hammond, in Almost a Bride. This very dilemma actually caused her broken engagement.

(And readers, guess who broke off the engagement? Feh, men! ) Ahem, so Kim, by what authors would you say you are influenced?

Kimberly: Too many to list! Each and every book I’ve ever read has had a great influence on me, from Margaret Atwood’s hauntingly poetic language to Kathy Lette’s over-the-top humor. But the one author who had a huge influence on me was Norman Mailer. One summer, many, many years ago, I got to hang out with him in Provincetown, MA. He taught me to go for your dreams. His attitude about “going for it” changed my life.

Oh, wow! What a neat occurrence for you!  Now that Almost A Bride is out, what can curious fans expect from you next?

Kimberly: Oh, goodness, I’ve gone old school with my next novel, a medical romance. It’s a heartrending doctor-nurse love story. It’s a curious experience when your own story gets you choked up. I’m worried about these two people, truly worried. Don’t get me started about the baby whose life they’re trying to save!

Aw!! Of course I’m sure all will work out for them. Is there anything you haven’t yet achieved in your career—or any specific thing you haven’t written about yet—that you dream of doing something?

Kimberly: Besides hitting the New York Times Best Sellers List (Hey, I’m working on it!), I think it would be fun to see one of my books made into a movie. While I love writing romance, I do have some young adult novels inside that are clawing to get out. But we’ll see!

I’m sure you’ll get the NYT list/movie deal sometime!  Maybe with Almost A Bride?

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Feel free to visit my website at http://www.kimberlyllewellyn.com and
connect with me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kimllewellyn. I would totally love that.

Until then, below is the back cover copy to my fun, sexy contemporary romance. Thank you so much for letting me share with you!

Almost a Bride
available at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Almost-a-Bride-ebook/dp/B006NUK0OM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332767421&sr=8-1

Award-winning author, Kimberly Llewellyn, introduces a sexy fun story about two people who discover they have a lot more to share between the sheets than they ever bargained for.

Ivy Hammond got dumped at the altar, all because she was too much of a good girl in the bedroom. So when a research study on sex appeal needs participants, she jumps at the chance to learn what it takes to be sexy.

Kip Lockehart owes his foster brother his life. He repays the debt by agreeing to participate in a new sex appeal study. From the first sizzling assignment, Kip is immediately intrigued by the lovely Ivy, who’s innocently curious about what makes a woman sensual. Kip is more than happy to show her. But as each passionate assignment brings them closer, he fears they may break the study’s number one rule–don’t fall in love. But when he can’t stop picturing Ivy as his bride, he sets out to convince her some rules were made to be broken.

And how about a book trailer?

About Kimberly Llewellyn:

Known as “the Wedding Writer,” Kimberly Llewellyn has worked with four publishing houses over the years and is the author of seven contemporary novels. Berkley Books, part of Penguin Putnam, published her most recent releases, two humorous comedic women’s fiction novels in trade paperback. Her current indie books include Siren Call and the best-selling romance, Almost a Bride.

Thanks so much for being with us, Kim! Good luck with all you do. Folks, if you’d like to, please leave a comment or question for Kimberly and Friday, we’ll pick a winner for a free Kindle download* of Almost A Bride. Until later then, keep reading–and laughing!

*Giveaway has ended.

Q and A with Casey Wyatt

Welcome back. The Mistress hasn’t broken out of bonds yet, so the castle’s sort of kicking back on a long spring break. Never fear, we’ve been at work behind the scenes and have  another special guest for you. So, settle down, grab some iced tea and say hi to our newest victim–erm, guest. Romance author Casey Wyatt.

Hi Casey, thanks for being with us today.  Please feel free to tell us a little about yourself so my readers can get to know you.

Casey Wyatt: Can I be honest? This is my least favorite question in the world. I’m not sure why. It may be that I’m pretty much like everyone else. Nothing remotely interesting happens to me in daily life (not that I’m complaining!). I always think it’s funny when writers are given the advice – write what you know – because I don’t know any Greek Gods, elves, vampires or shape-shifters. At least none have made their presence known to me.

I’m married, have two teenage boys, some adorable cats, and a full time day job. On the side, I like to write paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels! I love to read. And I also enjoy knitting, crocheting, The History Channel (really H2) and visiting historic sites. This year I became media director for my local RWA chapter, so I’m never without something to do.

Sounds like a fun post, congrats! So tell us who were your influences, literarly speaking?

Casey: My writing influences are many. As a kid, the two books that had the biggest influence on me were The Lord of the Rings and Interview with the Vampire (I was eleven when I read Anne Rice!). Later, as an adult, I was thrilled to discover paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I love Rob Thurman, Jim Butcher, J.R. Ward. Jeaniene Frost, and Simon Green.

Ah, I see a favorite among our staff too. So, what inspired your new book, Mystic Ink?

Casey Wyatt: The short answer – a baby name book.

I was looking up names for a different story and I stumbled across – Eudora: one of the fifty daughters of Nereus. I immediately stopped what I was doing and looked up Nereus. A short time later, I was struck with a scene of Nix and Cal arguing in an alley (the scene in the excerpt below.) I was very lucky with Mystic Ink. Once I had the initial idea, the rest kind of fell into place.

Don’t you love it when that happens? So now that Mystic Ink is officially out in the world, what can curious fans expect from you next?

Casey Wyatt: My next book is called The Undead Space Initiative (Pink Petal Books). Here is a teaser:

Cherry Cordial, vampire stripper extraordinaire, spectacularly messes up her life with a single act of kindness. How could she have known when she rescued gorgeous rogue, Ian McDevitt, that she would be implicated in the vampire queen’s murder?  Soon, she faces the wrath of the entire vampire community. To escape retribution, she joins a settlement program to colonize Mars. Her choices are grim: possibly die on the red planet or stay on Earth and face certain annihilation.
Ooh, sounds interesting!

Casey Wyatt: I’ll be honest, I never thought in million years anyone would buy a story about a vampire stripper who goes to Mars. I banged the story out last July in about a month. Then, I sat on it, avoiding doing clean-up until I saw Pink Petal’s call for pitches on Facebook. I thought – what the heck? I pitched it. They liked it and bought it. So you never know. I say to writers: write the story and worry about what to do with it after!

Good advice. If you weren’t a writer, what career might you have pursued instead?

Casey Wyatt: If I had access to a time machine, I’d go get a job at Pixar. Or I’d be working in a museum as a curator. I do have a full-time job. Sadly, it’s not writing, but it pays the bills.

Working for Pixar would be a fun job! Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Casey Wyatt: Only this – pursue your dreams as best you can. For a long time, I had this fantasy that I’d be able to quit the “necessary day job” so I could write full-time. I put all this pressure on myself to succeed as a writer. Instead, it made writing a lot harder. Once I realized that I could do both, it took a lot of pressure off of me and I was able to write more productively. If, someday, I can quit the day job – great! But if not, I still have books I can write and I’m still a published author. And I can’t beat that!

Mystick Ink Blurb:

The last thing Nix, a Sea Nymph, wants to see behind the dumpster near her tattoo shop is another dead mortal. She also doesn’t want to hear Hades piss and moan about how the souls of the dead aren’t making it to the Underworld. And Nix certainly doesn’t want to be attracted to supernatural police agent, Calder Quinne when he comes to investigate. All Nix really wants is to run her tattoo shop in peace and quiet. Hey, we don’t always get what we want, now do we?

Excerpt:

Nix, thoughts still swirling in her mind, headed toward the side door. After she unlocked the deadbolt, her eyes automatically went to the dumpster. Nothing. Thank the Gods. Her sigh of relief was quickly sucked back in. A dark shape further down the alley caught her eye. Maybe it was a heap of clothes or a bag of garbage. Whatever it was, it was lying near the entrance of the Underworld Gate. The Gate was invisible to all eyes, except Guardians—like her, Hades, and Charon. Whoever or whatever was back there couldn’t have known how close they were to the Underworld.
“Hell. Now what?” Please, be trash that some rude asshole left in my alley.
Rather than kick it with her foot, she decided to be more prudent and find something long to use as a poker. While grabbing a shop broom inside, she registered how quiet the place was. Of course, Basil wasn’t there. He was still with Jason.
Back in the alley, Nix slowly approached, straining for a better look. The pile was inside the building’s shadow. The closer she got, the more the lump resembled a body. She cursed. “Oh, come on! Why does this keep happening?”
Broom at the ready, she gave it jab. The mass was solid and there was no crinkle of plastic. So much for the garbage bag theory. Man, she did not want to have to call the police. At the rate she was going, they would probably arrest her just on principle.
Stupid mound.
She lifted the broom, ready to strike. An arm sprouted from the pile and shot up, stopping the handle from falling.
Nix barked, “What the hell?”
The broom clattered to the ground.
A dark figure rose up. The set of the shoulders, the short black hair . . . it was awfully familiar. “Cal?”
“Nix,” he said, his voice strained and tired. His arm extended, propping his body against the brick wall.
“If this is your idea of a joke, it’s not funny.” When he didn’t respond, Nix came up behind him and placed her hand on his back. “Are you—”
The words choked off. There was something wrong. Really wrong. His energy, the essence of his life, was out of whack. Like he was missing . . .
She put her hand up to her mouth, swallowing dread as he turned to face her. “Cal, where’s your soul?”

Mystic Ink can be found at:

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Ink-ebook/dp/B0071R3JI0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327585790&sr=8-1

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/casey-wyatt?keyword=casey+wyatt&store=ebook

Soul Mate Publishing:  http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/mystic-ink/

About Casey:

Casey Wyatt has no personal knowledge of the paranormal, but she hopes someday that may change. If there are ancient Gods, elves or satyrs living nearby, they’re more than welcome to visit. Bring pizza and chocolate please!

Casey’s paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels have won or placed in numerous RWA contests. When not writing, Casey enjoys time with her family, loves to read, and enjoys knitting and crocheting.

She lives in a bustling Connecticut town with her husband, two sons and an assortment of pets (none of which are shape-shifters).

Visit Casey on the web: www.caseywyatt.com or at http://secretsof7scribes.wordpress.com/. You can also find Casey on Facebook and Twitter (@CaseyWyatt1).

Thanks for having me JD!

You’re quite welcome, dear Casey! Folks, Casey’s giving away an e-copy of Mystic Ink to one lucky winner. Please leave her a comment or a question and we’ll pick the winner and announce the name tomorrow.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, Casey. Best of luck to you with Mystic Ink and all you do!

My favorite movies-A-z: Aliens

Good morning, folks. Sorry I missed posting last week. I had a little bit of drama in my own personal life.  Trust me, it was sad and nail-biting and heart breaking and you probably don’t want to know more than that.

Anyway, I have another one for you. Ready? The next in my list of favorite movies:

Aliens

The second in Ridley Scott’s Alien series, Aliens, is directed this time out by James Cameron, and sees Ellen Ripley (played again by Sigourney Weaver) rescued from deep space and returned to Earth—fifty some-odd years in the future. While she adjusts to the fact that everyone she loves is gone, The Company decides to hold her responsible for the destruction of the Nostromo. Her advocate is a young man, Carter Burke (played by Paul Reiser) who comes to her, with a group of Marines, to tell her they’ve lost contact with the colony on LV-426. The planet where everything happened in the first movie. Not only is she surprised that the stupid heads at the Company thought it prudent to set up colonies on the planet, they floor her by announcing they want her to go back as a consultant for the Marines. After a vivid nightmare, she agrees and heads off with the squad. Once there, a whole lot of things happen at once: she finds out the company sent along an android (played by Lance Henriksen). If you’ve seen the first movie, you can imagine she doesn’t trust him. On the surface of LV-426, the Marines enter the complex and find evidence of the Alien, and many colonists cocooned in the Aliens’ lair. They find a little girl, Newt (played by Carrie Henn), living in the bowls of the complex, and Ripley gets to play out her long-lost mother instinct.

The Marines face the alien, and of course, many of them die. Then their transport crashes, stranding Ripley and Co. on the planet, and things only get worse. Turns out Burke’s got some screwed up ideas about the Alien that would jeopardize the mission. Then Newt gets lost in the complex and the Corporal Hicks (played by Michael Biehn) and Ellen must find her before the second rescue transport arrives. Meanwhile, Ripley’s taken a shine to Corporal Hicks. And she gets to kick Alien Queen butt.

Aliens is one of my all-time favorite movies. It stands well even on its own, so you don’t really have to see them in order, although you’ll understand Ripley’s fear a little better if you do. And of course you get to see the ultra cool Pvt. Vasquez (played by Jenette Goldstein) in action.  She’s my other favorite character of course. This is definitely a Chicks Kick Butt movie, and I love it. (Did I say that already? ) If you haven’t seen it, check it out.

Trailer, courtesy of Youtube:

new release–Luna Station Quarterly

Hi all. I hope you’ve been doing well. I’m sorry I haven’t posted here in a while. Life’s been happening…But in the meantime, circa March 1st, I had a new story released. This one in a SF zine (Woot!) Luna Station Quarterly. My  contribution is entitled “Chrysalis Convictions”. It’s a steampunk story that takes place on a secondary world (and I must confess, it’s a WIP manuscript that I’ve loved for awhile. Just never found the right home for it…until now. )

Anyway, it’s  in the new issue of Luna Station Quarterly, and can be found directly: here. If you’d like you can download a copy in PDF but you have to register with that site to do so. I hope you enjoy the story, and the issue. There are some interesting tales inside.