Hot Wings

Coming soon from Ellora's Cave...

The first in a new series!

Hot Wings!

An Awesome Interview and Even Awesomer Giveaway

Okay, so maybe awesomer isn't a word. Yet.
Here follows my totally sweet interview with Leona Bushman. I had a lot of fun doing it and look forward to doing more.

Hi, Leona! Thanks for letting me interview you, Facebook-Twitter-Breathless Press- anthology buddy!

You're welcome! We've had fun, haven't we? Get us going and twitter breaks down! Or steams up, depending on the fun we're having ;-)

So, what are you currently working on? Any looming deadlines? Monkeys on your back? By the way, what do your monkeys eat?

OH good lord. I have SEVEN contracted items. Although one is on proposal. I'm past due on that one. Have to do a rewrite. *frowns* That one's a fantasy. I'll get it done. Watch me. That's the biggest monkey on my back and it eats brains…wait, maybe it's a zombie!! Oh, monkey just told me it's not my brains it's eating. That's been long gone. It's apparently chomping on my muse now and then, but calling it love bites.

The others, well, they passed while this taunted me in my inbox. I have The Captain's Christmas I just finished pre edits for, I'm going to try to get into a service anthology. But that deadline is looming and I've barely started what I think will be a regency. I approved my new cover for the Naughty Nursery Rhyme I have coming in November. That's always a blast. They make some pretty hot covers at Breathless Press.

And, I had another edit deadline for my short in the Crimson anthology and that one's about vampires :D Speaking of bites. There are others (sequel to The Ulfric's Mate for example) that I'm working on in between all this craziness.

For those folks out there new to your work, tell us a little about The Ulfric’s Mate and the inspiration behind the story.

The Ulfric's Mate is a shapeshifter suspense romance. I live on the Yakama Nation Indian Reservation, I'm married to a descendant of the confederate tribes, so it was natural for me to want to set my book here. But there was this guy, Nolan, and this woman, Alex, and they WOULD NOT SHUT UP. Here I was trying to write this awesome devil's son with a soul story, and they kept chatting away in my head. Finally, just to shut them up, I wrote a short story sent it off to two publishers that took short paranormals. One said, I like this, but what about this, and this, and that? Make it longer and resubmit. I told the devil's son he'd have to wait his turn and rewrote and resubmitted. She—my editor— said yes. *Cue screaming and loud music* It made my holidays!

We’ll be appearing in the Breathless Press Crimson anthology next year. What’s the title of your story and what is it about?

*Lets out a happy dance squeal and tries not to wake up the house* I love that we're in another one together. How fun is that!!

Daryn's Slayer is the title and it's, as I stated, a vampire short. It's set in Victorian times even though I wanted it set earlier. Stinking Muse. Kept making me change it. *Glares at muse in remembered frustration* However, my story has a twist. *forgives Muse as remembers the brilliance of this twist* If this short is well loved, then I'll make a full novel and build this world even more. The biggest difference in my book is that vampires can walk in daylight—if they have werewolf blood to feed from. It creates a symbiotic relationship with them that can cause many problems even as it solves others. Without Werewolf blood, they burn in the sun.

Our heroine, Ernestine Primrose, is the granddaughter of a werewolf. A nasty coven of vampires kills her grandmother and she becomes a slayer. She knows what she wants and goes after it, whether it's killing a vampire or kissing one.

She is returning from a vampire kill when she meets Daryn whom she thinks is hotter than any vampire has the right to be!

Daryn Lancaster III is a black sheep among his fellow vampires, just trying to stay out of the evil coven's leader clutches. Together they make sparks fly. *Note: My editor will likely make a much better blurb. I'm no good at that LOL I want to tell you all the awesomeness that I've fallen in love with about my characters. I've had to pull back here. Especially with Daryn. I could go on forever about his hotness. Whew.*

And it's now occurred to me that my hostess now has a sneak peak at my story for the Crimson anthology and I have yet to know hers. *crosses arms* Don't think I didn't catch that little extra deviousness here.

What’s your writing lair look like? Is it naughty or nefarious like a dungeon or bright and cheery like nothing bad ever happens there?

HAHAHAHAHAHA LAIR? I have three kids still at  home, 11, 8, and 3, the last has Down Syndrome and is VERY high functioning physically. My writing space has things I've put up out of his reach, some of my painting things, lots of art and writing books, and paper. Loads of paper. And movies for me to listen to while I work. And, when the older two use my space, I then end up with all sorts of extra things…

What’s your daily goal? A certain word count you like to achieve?

That's tricky. Before I had so many different things in different stages (from idea, to rough draft, to polishing, to submitting, to editing, to marketing) I had a goal of 7k. I can make it too. Now, I'm aiming between 3-5k. Couple weeks ago, I wrote 21k in less than 72 hours. When I know where I'm going, nothing can stop me. Except a hungry three year old.

That would stop anyone. You just can't ignore a hungry child.

And your hours. Daytime author, nighttime or any time I can type a word in edgewise? Btw, I don't think typing edgewise is possible.

Edgewise is what I do best :D Daytime has become more for edits and organizing my time, with as much edgewise writing as I can get in. The nighttime, *strokes the night, pets the darkness* why it's the time your dreams and muses have a chance to run and play if you'll only let them out. *kisses muse and pinches cheek* *you're a good muse*

Now you also paint. Tell us about that. When did you start? What do you paint? Materials of choice?

I love to paint. It all started when I needed two more credits to be a full time college student, 9+ years ago. I took an experimental 2 credit oil pastel class. I. Was. Hooked. I have five children, two are now grown, and have had to work, so I've taken classes here and there. (it's been three years now. Boo!) But I took an art class every quarter I was in college. In the middle of all this, I found out I had cancer. Painting got me through. That class got me through. I sometimes go months without painting because of life around me. But then it overwhelms me, and I HAVE TO PAINT.

I like to paint photos I've taken. But in reality, I paint whatever I want to paint unless I've been commissioned for something. I've done abstract, knife work, realism, and in between. But my paintings that seem to impact people the most are of a style I call, "Expressionist impressionist".

Mostly, I use oil paints for painting, Ultrech and DaVinci being my brands of choice. Which probably means little to most people LOL But DaVinci has a great texture for knife work. I use little to no mediums, just straight paint when using a pallet knife for painting so texture/consistency is important in my paints.

But for drawing/sketching, I use oil pastels, soft pastels, and charcoal the most. Oil pastels will always hold a special place in my  heart for introducing me to my artistic self.

What is your biggest inspiration? The thing(s), people or ideas that get you really fired up and keep you fired up?

Inspiration? That's tough. Wanting to improve my children's quality of life is what keeps me working even when the odds are against me. That, and that I need to write in the same way I need to paint. If I'm going to write anyway, might as well make life better while doing it. Right?

My kids inspire me all the time to do better. The ideas that get me fired up are injustices and cruelty. I'll get madder than a wet hen being chased by a wet cat. Oh, you mean, happy fire?

Feedback. Positive, constructive feedback. Whether it's someone telling me which of my paintings are their favorites, my CP telling me what she loved or didn't love so much about something I've sent her, or a reader telling me they downloaded my book and finished it already because they couldn't put it down—it's happened more than once!—I love having people take the time to look at my work and care enough to tell me what they think. It's an amazing feeling. Wanting to have my kids proud of me—er, they don't read these books. They just know momma has them out and *gasp* people are buying them—and to show them you can go after a dream, keeps me going even when I get the rejection letters, or my sales don't hit fifty shades of neutral color stardom. :P

I'm curious, what gets you all fired up? *grins* You have that purty red hair. I'm sure something gets you fired up…

By the way, did you know that Alex has red hair, even as a wolf. She's very pretty in wolf form. I like red. Always wished my hair was red. And, sorry Nolan, but she sort of took over the story when we went to the longer version. But no worries, they all make a comeback in the sequels. I'm writing two of the sequels simultaneously. Talk about a glutton for punishment!

See. I TOLD you it'd be a hoot.

Wanna some free books? How's about a copy of Leona Bushman's The Ulfric's Mate and Ravaged featuring stories by Leona, myself and a bunch of other awesome authors? Both books are published by Breathless Press. It's easy peasy. Just leave a comment! Told you it was easy. :)

Here's some cover yum to tempt you.