YA Author Spotlight Presents...

Dana Davis!!!

Author Sandra Cox brought Dana to my attention and I am so glad that she did because her books are very intriguing and I was excited to have her here!

I recently got new glasses (progressive bifocals - eek!) and I have been getting used to them ever since I got them.

Why am I telling you this?

Because, the adjustment period is sort of messing with my reading because I'm still trying to figure out which parts of the lenses I'm looking through the most.

Why does that matter?

Because I wanted to have Dana's book read by today. Unfortunately, that's not happening! (While I did get this posted today, my eyes need rest, so I will finish the formatting later, after some sleep. Am I too honest? Is that really more than you wanted to know?) My eyes are rested now (11:33pm Tuesday night) and I am now going to properly format this feature! Thanks for being such a trooper Dana!

ME: March has a few popular dates to celebrate. Which one are you more apt to celebrate, St. Patrick’s Day, or the First Day of Spring, or both and why?

DANA: I celebrate both, since they’re connected to my family lineage. I come from Irish, Scottish and British stock and my husband has a line that goes back to Celtic times in Wales. As a young child, I remember hunting leprechauns at my great-grandmother’s house one spring. She told me she saw one in the bushes in her yard, and I spent hours crawling around her hedges in an attempt to lure him out. Now, I hunt ghosts with a paranormal investigative team.

ME: Because of its Irish heritage, St. Patrick’s Day is a big party day in Wisconsin (and many other areas) in which everyone gets in on the action from free pub crawl busses to breweries making green beer/spirits and some stores selling green colored/decorated food and sweets. Does anything similar occur in your area? Even if you do not participate, please tell us what activities are going on around you. Anything you feel is unique or especially interesting?

DANA: It’s a pretty big deal here too, since there’s a large population of Irish-American descendants living in the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix, AZ). Our local Irish Cultural Center has a festival and parade every year for St. Paddy’s Day. Hubby and I have attended them in the past and they’re a lot of fun. Many other festivals go on around the valley too.

We also have several Irish pubs that offer Irish song and dance entertainment on St. Paddy’s Day and throughout the year. And you can find green sweets in grocery stores and bakeries. I just love a chocolate cupcake with green butter cream frosting. Yummy!

ME: Do you like to decorate for spring/St. Pat’s Day or is this the time of the year where your house has a break from special décor?

DANA: Well, we don’t decorate too much, but the past couple of years I’ve been looking for some shamrock LED lights to hang on our saguaro cactus in the front yard. I finally found some in a local store. And I sometimes buy cut spring flowers to put out on our table. We recently had fresh cut tulips in the house. That’s about it for decorations.

ME: Ireland is steeped in myth, legends and lore. Do you have any favorites? Please briefly share them with us (include links to other information for interested readers).

DANA: Oh, yes. One of my favorites is the legend of Boudica, the warrior queen who led her army and fought the Romans when they invaded Briton and slaughtered many Celtic Natives. The Romans actually wrote about her battles. Otherwise, we might not have even known she existed, since the Celts didn’t have a written language. Boudicca at unrv.com

Also, I love the faery lore and tales that come from Ireland. Who couldn’t resist a half-human, half-faery helper like the grogoch? I sure could use one of him around my place. Grogoch at Irelandseye.com

ME: Spring is considered a time of renewal, a time of rebirth. Do you do anything “special” to commemorate this idea such as planting flowers or cleaning out your house? Please share with us your way of celebrating this time of rebirth.

DANA: We don’t have seasons like those who live in cold-weather places, but we do plant heat-hardy shrubs and flowers and prune others in March and April to prepare for our long, hot summers. Arizonans love the outdoors, so hubby and I take nature hikes and do what we can to help the environment. Cleaning out closets to donate stuff we no longer use is sometimes part of my springtime ritual.

ME: Magic is often tied into Celtic myths and legends, or at least we like to think it is. Why do you think that is? Why, in your opinion, does Ireland carry so much mystery and magic for the rest of us?

DANA: If you look at many Native cultures around the world, magic is an integral part of their legends. A way to explain things they didn’t understand or had no control over. Irish Celts were no different. The creation of the world, diseases, births, deaths, natural disasters, celestial bodies, and other mysteries were woven into magical tales to make them understandable to humans.

At various times throughout history, invaders tried to annihilate Celtic cultures. Ireland had its share of invaders. It must have been terrifying to think that your people’s entire history could be wiped out and lost forever. I think that’s why today’s decedents continue to foster those original beliefs. At least in part.

ME: If you could be any mythical or legendary Celtic creature or character, what/who would it be and why?

DANA: Actually, I would have loved to see Boudica kicking the Romans’ butts! And I think it would be fun to be a Moruadh (an Irish sea faery) for a while and explore the oceans up close and personal.  merrows at Irelandseye.com

ME: Please tell us some of the favorite/best books you’ve read with Celtic myths/legends or ties in them. (They can be fact or fiction, just be sure to indicate what type of books they are in case our readers might want to check them out.)

DANA: For fiction reading I loved the Boudica series by Manda Scott and the Cloudmages series by A. L. Farrell. A non-fiction book that I use for my own research is Women in Celtic Myth by Moyra Caldecott. And a really fun, illustrated book that includes Celtic faeries is The Great Encyclopedia of Faeries: Secrets Revealed by Pierre Dubois - illustrated by Claudine and Roland Sabatier.

ME: Oooh, some great reading there! However, it's time to switch gears and now and focus on your writing. What genre is your writing considered to be? Why this genre? What was the draw for you?

DANA: Speculative fiction is my genre. That’s a term that covers science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, post-apocalyptic, horror, and other similar genres. I grew up hearing stories about my great-great-aunt who worked as a medium back in the early 1900s, along with other paranormal family legends. And my grandfather worked for NASA, so science was part of my childhood as well. I was drawn to sci-fi and fantasy TV shows and movies even as a small child. And I fell in love with books in these genres in elementary school when I read The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key.

ME: If you could describe your writing with a word or phrase, what would it be? Please be creative and delve into the core of your writing to tell us what word or phrase you want readers to take with them when they've finished reading your story.

DANA: Escapism! I write fiction to entertain because I read fiction to be entertained. I want readers to forget their problems for a while and just enjoy the ride.

ME: Do you prefer magical or human ingenuity for problem solutions? Does that show through in your writing? If so, how?

DANA: I wanted to be Tabitha from Bewitched when I was little. Does that count? As for my books, it depends on what I’m writing at the time. When I have magic in a book, the characters use a mix of magic and human ingenuity in various levels, depending on the situation. Those who use magic without thinking to much usually end up in a heap of trouble. But then, that can be lots of fun too.

ME: Who decides what you write about, you or your muse? What kind of influence do you have over your story, or is the muse always the one strumming the harp?

DANA: Haha, good one! I have several muses actually. Characters stomp around in my head, giving me direction on where they would like the story to go. If anyone ever got inside my head, they’d probably come out screaming. Sometimes I have an internal struggle with a character when I want something different to happen, but I listen to my subconscious, because it’s usually right. So, I’d have to say my muses lead me where they want me to go.

ME: What was the character or creature that you had the most fun creating and why?

DANA: I have a great time with all my characters. They’re like family to me. But if I had to pick just one from my young adult books, I would have to go with Master Prag in Breach of Worlds. He’s a blustery old man with endearing qualities, who enjoys teasing the main character Nara. The Master bullied his way into my thoughts one day, and I had great fun watching him take shape as I was writing.

ME: If you had the opportunity to meet just one of your character/creature creations in real life, who would it be and why?

DANA: Ooh, this is a tough one because I’m not sure I would want to meet any of them. I do an awful lot of nasty things to my characters during the course of a book, and they’d probably be very upset with me. But if I were to meet a character, I would choose Janai from my teen sci-fi Quest for Freedom. She tends to have compassion for those who “done her wrong” and I might actually survive an encounter with her.

ME: Which of your character/creature creations would you never want to meet under any circumstance and why?

DANA: Haha, see previous answer. There are so many. Okay, I’m going to go with the Morgee from Quest for Freedom here. These aliens have no compassion for anybody, are relentless in their pursuit of slave labor, and can’t be reasoned with. I wouldn’t last very long in their hands.

ME: Of all the stories you wrote, which was the storyline that you had the most fun fleshing out? Why?

DANA: I have fun with them all. Otherwise, I would never write them. I have to say The Mask of Tamirella has a special place in my heart, though. This post-apocalyptic teen novel wasn’t the first book I had ever written, but it was the first one published. The main character, Caitlanna Mullen, came to me during a writing exercise and just wouldn’t let go. She hounded me for days before I finally gave in and wrote her story.

Writing that book was an adventure for me, as well, and I had great fun discovering Cait’s world with her, danger and all. And the book has won three awards since publication.

ME: As writers, inspiration comes from everywhere. What, specifically, inspired your books, the ones we’re promoting here today?

DANA: Yes, I do get inspiration from everywhere. There is always that active little part in the back of my mind that latches onto things and causes me to think, Hey, I better write that down. It might make a good story.

Quest for Freedom got its start from a disturbing dream I had years ago and couldn’t get out of my head. As I stated previously, The Mask of Tamirella got its spark from a writing exercise. And I got the idea for Breach of Worlds from a painting I came across one day. The girl in that painting haunted my thoughts and I had to write her story.

BLURB: Quest for Freedom

Kidnapped. Enslaved. Trapped on an unforgiving world far from home.

Fifteen-year-old Janai, a healer's apprentice from a planet called Kritine, volunteers to lead others to freedom. Along the journey, she finds she’s attracted to a boy from her homeworld, but now is not the time to choose a life-mate. She must remain strong as she fights to overcome old and new enemies that don’t want her to find freedom.

Will she succeed? Or is the free-zone merely a fanciful story spread by desperate children? Janai risks her life to find out.

Breach of Worlds

How can a destitute orphan get an ordinary life? Seek out the valley sorceress, of course, a woman rumored to ride dragons and eat young men.

Armed with only her wits and a stolen map, Nara goes in search of the famed sorceress. At age fourteen, when her own powers begin to manifest, she becomes a target for evil. This adolescent girl must help defeat the shadow ones before they destroy everything she has come to love. Orphanage life was difficult, but her future terrifies her as she embarks on a harrowing journey fraught with magic and peril.

Nara's life will be anything but ordinary.

The Mask of Tamirella

Sixteen-year-old Caitlanna Mullen lives in a harsh world where technology no longer exists. In her post-apocalyptic society, she salvages priceless artifacts for trade. One artifact is especially desired. The Mask of Tamirella. Cait steals the Mask from another sanction, putting her own at risk. As punishment, the Elders send her to a hazardous dig. She must travel through a mutant forest without becoming a sacrifice and into Rotted City, where toxic ruins hoard an ancient disease. To complicate matters, the man she loves accompanies her group. Because of their age differences, an intimate relationship with him is strictly forbidden and would bring severe punishment, perhaps even exile. Cait’s life takes an unexpected turn when she uncovers secrets she never imagined.

Will this sixteen-year-old survive in a place where death and injury are daily concerns? Can she quell her feelings for a man forbidden to touch her until she’s older? Or will her confrontations with mutants and toxic ruins cause her demise? One thing is certain - the secrets Caitlanna uncovers will change her world forever.

EXCERPT: Breach of Worlds

It would take several days to reach the valley where the sorceress lived, less if she could catch a ride on some wagon or other. Many people were afraid of the valley woman, afraid to venture there. Not Nara. She’d had her share of beatings. She was anxious to meet this mysterious woman who struck fear in the biggest of men, and wondered what it was like to have such power. 

Suddenly, the hairs on her neck stood on end. Someone watched her. She tugged her hat down and peered around. At first, she didn’t see anyone. Finally, she noticed a girl standing near a dress shop across the street. The girl wore a long, blue dress with a high bodice. Jewels sparkled around her neck and lace decorated her cuffs and collar. Her dark hair hung in deliberate curls around her shoulders, creating quite a contrast to her pale skin. She smiled in Nara’s direction.

Nara slipped into the adjacent alley and flattened herself against the wall. She swallowed hard and cursed. This girl would surely tell someone about her. High ladies were like that, always putting their noses in a stranger’s business.

YA Author Spotlight Presents...

Sandra Cox!!!

The online writing community is a wonderful thing because not only does it give you the opportunity to chat with your favorite authors, but it gives the opportunity to learn about new authors, and I do on regular basis. For example, I found out about Sandra Cox from Molly Daniels, and that's just for starters. I keep discovering new authors of all genres everyday, which is why online writing communities are so important.

Why are we featuring Sandra here?

Because she has a line of YA Fiction. But it isn't your run of the mill YA Fiction, oh no, and not just because it's paranormal. Her works are special because they focus on the world of cats, but not in the way that you'd think, like those recent CGI movies, but a bit more along the lines of The Secret of NIMH or Watership Down.

Odin Cats is even more interesting than that because it offers a post apocalyptic scenario where a race of Odin Cats vie for control of the earth against man, the reason the earth is in its current state to begin with. My husband likes big fat cats, I wonder what he would do if he saw an Odin Cat which happens to be 100 pounds?

Have I intrigued you so far? I hope so because Odin Cats offers a wonderful feline adventure for all of you adventure seekers out there, young and old!

Want to know more? Stick around because there is a trailer for Odin Cats after the first half of the interview and an excerpt after the second half!

ME: Do you make resolutions for the New Year? Why or why not? If so, please share one or more of them with us!

SANDRA: Yes, I do. The New Year is a time for new beginnings, a chance to start over, redoes. I take full advantage of redoesJ

My one and only resolution this year is to strive for serenity and let the stress, that always tries to jump out and grab me, go.J

ME: Now that the busy holiday time is over, what do you do to recharge?

SANDRA: Nature has the best batteries of any charging system I know. But if weather doesn’t permit, I like to stimulate the synapses with a good movie or book.

ME: Do you have any holiday memories from 2009 that you would like to share with us?

SANDRA: Our house was hectic but fun. We had two-legged guests in and out for about ten days, plus their pets which meant, in addition to the family, we had eight cats and two dogs running around the house during the holidays. We also had to get my son to the airport after the snowstorm hit and get to my brother’s graduation, both out of town. Yikes!

ME: What area of the country/world are you from? What are the average temperatures where you are? What type of clothing would most residents be wearing today? What tips do you have for people to “survive” the weather where you are?

SANDRA: I live in North Carolina. Normally it’s wonderful. I came from the Midwest where winters were frigid. In North Carolina the temps are usually high forties and fifties in the wintertime, oftentimes higher. Normally light clothing works just fine. Not this year. BRRRR.

ME: Do you have any favorite outside hobbies? Can you perform any of these hobbies right now? If not, why not, and is weather a factor?

SANDRA: I like to walk, hike and garden. I can get out and walk, but you’re correct about weather precluding the others.J

ME: Do you prefer your hot tub inside the house or outside the house? Why?

SANDRA: I’ve never been in an outdoor hot tub, but it sounds intriguing.

ME: If you could be any character/creature, who/what would it be and why?

SANDRA: Definitely a cat. We have an affinityJ

Before we get to the second part of the interview, I'd like to give you the chance to watch the trailer for Odin Cats


Now that we've had that fun little break, let's continue with the second half of the interview.

ME: Why YA Fiction? What was the draw for you?

SANDRA: I started out writing romance but romance writing has taken a more erotic turn and I haven’t. I have no problems with erotica it’s just not something that I choose to write. YA is the same as any other genre. You can write: mystery, romance, fantasy, paranormal and sci fi. It just isn’t taken to the extreme. To me its sharper, more vivid and clear yet leaves more to the imagination.

ME: If you could describe your writing with a word or phrase, what would it be? Please delve into the core of your writing to tell us what word or phrase you want readers to take with them when they've finished reading your story.

SANDRA: The improbable is possible.

I love fantasy. I love making worlds where cats rule, where magic amulets, genies, and crystal balls exist. I want the reader to walk away with a feeling that maybe, just maybe, it’s possible.

ME: Do the holidays disrupt your writing schedule? If so, how tough is it to get yourself back in writing mode and what have you found that seems to help?

SANDRA: Yes, the holidays are a disruption but since they are, it’s easy to go back to writing because its chafes me when I’m away from it for too long.

ME: Do you prefer hot chocolate with marshmallows or whipped cream? Does that show through in your writing? If so, how?

SANDRA: You are really making me think hereJ I’d have to say whipped cream. And I believe it does. My heroes and heroines tend to be smooth instead of sticky and clingy.

ME: Who decides what characters/creatures you write about, you or your muse? What kind of influence do you have over your story, or is the muse always the one pouring the soap in the Jacuzzi?

SANDRA: Definitely my muse. I try to outline, but the obstinate creature usually heads in a different direction entirely. I shrug my shoulders and follow where she leads.

ME: What creature/character did you have the most fun creating and why?

SANDRA: Each time I write a new novel that character is the one I enjoyed the most. So, I’ll have to say Grounded, a paranormal YA coming out in February. Gillian Stone is unique. From sunset to sunrise, she’s just a typical girl…well a typical rich girl. But from sunrise to sunset, she’s grounded in stone, in a statute that sits in the middle of her estate.

ME: If you had the opportunity to meet just one of your characters in real life, who would it be and why? Which of your characters would you never want to meet under any circumstance and why?

SANDRA: Probably Bella Tremaine from Rose Quartz, The Amulet Series. She’s a modern day Southern Belle who carries herself with panache. Her motto: ‘Just because the bad guys are after you is no excuse for not looking your best.’ Bella would be a riot to hang out with. Plus there’d never be a dull moment since men and mayhem follow her wherever she goes.

The characters I never want to meet are Victor and Victoria Price (father and daughter) also from The Amulet series. These two are insanely evil. Just the thought of meeting up with them sends chills down my spine.

BLURB: Odin Cats
Man with his constant desire to enslave and assert his will has destroyed the earth. From this destruction the earth has been rebuilt similar yet different. Guns in a primitive form exist but no cars or planes. There are no resources to fuel them.

Now two factions vie for power. Man who did not learn from his mistakes and Odin Cats.

There is a legend among the Odin Cats. An Odin will come with the pure blood of royalty flowing through his veins. This cat will lift the ferals out of their oppression and unite the kingdoms of Odin and man.

EXCERPT: Odin Cats
“I want to go!” Sittchuk-Seth’s silver plumy tail lashed back and forth. His jaw tightened, his expression grew obstinate.

His father Thut sat upon his throne. His beautiful russet paws rested on the burnished gold arms of the regal chair, his expression both indulgent and annoyed. “What say you, Furrlin, shall we take this whelp of mine?” he asked the soothsayer.

Furrlin padded over to the blue crystal ball that stood in the corner near the throne. Standing on his hind legs, he rested his front paws on the crystal. The interior of the globe began to stir, to roll and flash in a prism of color. Furrlin stared unblinking into the ball as the blinding colors flashed. After a long moment, the storm of lights receded and once more lay dormant.

“Well,” demanded Thut.

Furrlin turned and shrugged. “His destiny is already written. Do what you will.” He dropped to his four paws and padded back to the king.

Odin Cats, whiskeycreekpress.com

BLURB: Shardai, The Cats of Catarau:
Shardai is a large sleek cat with attitude. He has the courage of a tiger and the disdain of a king. The fearless feline has only one weakness... his guardian. When the white cat dies, he finds Catarau, where cats go when they pass on, much to his liking. It is an idyllic setting where the sun always shines and there is never any sickness or pain. But how can he be happy when his guardian still grieves so over his death? So asking permission of the Council of Nine, he returns to earth.

Wings-press.com

BLURB: Akasha, The Cats of Catarau
Mother’s love takes a little calico cat on a perilous journey as she frantically searches for her missing kitten.

Wings-press.com



BLURB: Makita, The Cats of Catarau
When Makita meets with a violent death, her best pal Bennie the Boxer is left frightened and alone…until Makita comes back to earth to find him.

Wings-press.com

Thanks for having me, Carrie. I’ve enjoyed it.
[We've enjoyed having you and hope that you'll come back and share new releases with us!]

I’d like to invite your guests to my new YA Blog: downtownya. The week of January 10th we’ll be running ‘Sunday at the Movies’ with YA Book Trailers.

[There are some very cool ones here, so be sure to check this out!]

YA Author Spotlight Presents...

Molly Daniels!!!
For our first guest here in the YA Room, I invited one of our regular readers to join us this week - Molly Daniels. I first met her here and it wasn't until sometime later that I discovered she was a writer and a bit later until I discovered that she wrote YA books. Okay, so I don't always do my research. If someone is stopping by, reading and commenting and I develop an online acquaintance with them, I don't always need to know every thing about them because it's their personality that matters most. From all of our back and forth dialogue at Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem's Romance section and on Facebook, I have come to like Molly. So, when I discovered (or remembered, not sure which) that she wrote YA, I thought she would be a great author to start with, especially since our goal is to make readers aware of YA Authors.

I will admit though, that her work is for the more mature YA readers. It isn't for the younger ones due to language and subject matter. Not sure if she's right for your teen? Read the book first, then decide if you feel it's appropriate. Remember, books like these can be used to spark those all too uncomfortable and even embarrassing, "sex," and, "what you need to know before you go to college," talks.

I hope you enjoy my interview with her:

ME: Do you make resolutions for the New Year? Why or why not? If so, please share one or more of them with us!

MOLLY: I used to make resolutions, but rarely kept them. So now I just post my goals for the year; to write, submit, get published, and attend signings. I would like to exercise more, and to drop a pants size or two, and made that one of last year’s goals; I promptly developed arthritis in one foot and came down with bronchitis the following week. So let’s say this year’s weight goal is to be more active than last year, and to stay healthy!

ME: Now that the busy holiday time is over, what do you do to recharge?

MOLLY: I read my new reading material and I usually don’t write anything the month of December anyway! Once the kids are back in school and the house back to ‘normal’, I find it easy to slip back into writer-mode.

ME: Do you have any holiday memories from 2009 that you would like to share with us?

MOLLY: My niece received an Easy Bake Oven, and since I wanted one growing up and didn’t get one, I told her she could bring it to my house. We baked one cake, and now I understand why my mother never bought me one! The real ones are soooo much easier to make, imho!

ME: What area of the country/world are you from? What are the average temperatures where you are? What type of clothing would most residents be wearing today? What tips do you have for people to “survive” the weather where you are?

MOLLY: I’m in the Midwest, and have seen January temps in the sixties, or sub-zero. Some years there is snow; others it’s just cold. If you’re smart, you’ll have at least some sort of warm coat if you step outside. I tend to run cold anyway, so I’m usually bundled up in many layers. And layers is key; you can always take off a sweater if the temperature rises!

ME: Do you have any favorite outside hobbies? Can you perform any of these hobbies right now? If not, why not, and is weather a factor?

MOLLY: I like to walk and swim. I’m not a jogger or a runner, but once the temps get above sixty or seventy, I like to walk three or four miles in our local park. I also like to go to the pool with the kids in the summer time. I am a fan of indoor water parks, and will go down the slides with my kids! And afterwards, there’s always the warm Jacuzzi!

ME: Do you prefer your hot tub inside the house or outside the house? Why?

MOLLY: Mixed on this one. I don’t own one, but my aunt used to, and she loved to get in it every day after work. Hers was outside, and the kids used to play in it on the 4th of July picnics, when they tired of her pool. I’d probably like mine indoors, so I could use it year-round.

ME: If you could be any character/creature, who/what would it be and why?

MOLLY: Princess Leia, at the end of the Star Wars saga. She got to live happily ever after with Han Solo, my dream man!

Now, let’s get to your writing:

ME: Why YA Fiction? What was the draw for you?

MOLLY: I grew up reading Judy Blume and Norma Klein, in addition to older books set in the 50’s and 60’s…those by Anne Emery and Rosamund Du Jardin. I wanted to write a series that would show life in the 80’s, and what I ended up writing turned out to be too steamy for YA, but too tame for erotica. So I jokingly call my series ‘Young Adult Smut.’ There’s something for everyone.

ME: If you could describe your writing with a word or phrase, what would it be? Please delve into the core of your writing to tell us what word or phrase you want readers to take with them when they've finished reading your story.

MOLLY: I think I just did…’Young Adult Smut’. And since I self-published both titles before I understood how to self-edit…’Head Hopper’! No, seriously, what I want readers to take with them is knowledge about how to handle different social or relationship issues; if you recognize yourself or a friend sliding into an unhealthy behavior or relationship and get it stopped before the choice becomes a disaster. And hopefully with book #3, the ‘head hopping’ is under control.

ME: Do the holidays disrupt your writing schedule? If so, how tough is it to get yourself back in writing mode and what have you found that seems to help?

MOLLY: I usually don’t write in December; I participate in NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) and am usually creatively tired by December 1st. After the holidays are over and the decorations are put away, kids back in school, it is somewhat easy for me to slip back into writer-mode.

ME: Do you prefer hot chocolate with marshmallows or whipped cream? Does that show through in your writing? If so, how?

MOLLY: Whipped cream or marshmallow cream! Don’t ask why, but I don’t like marshmallows. But Rice Krispy Treats, the ones in cereal (Lucky Charms) or marshmallow cream in my hot chocolate…YUM! The only time this shows up is when I’ve had coffee offered and sometimes my girls state their preference.

ME: Who decides what characters/creatures you write about, you or your muse? What kind of influence do you have over your story, or is the muse always the one pouring the soap in the Jacuzzi?

MOLLY: LOL…I decided a looooong time ago which characters would have which storyline. And Susan, the one who ultimately ended up with the eating disorder, came close to being the interracial one! I finally got her back on her path and now am struggling to get Lynn on the road to her turmoil. I’m a firm believer in when the time is right, she’ll talk to me again. I think right now my AU girls are miffed, since my alter ego’s books were accepted on the second try.

ME: What creature/character did you have the most fun creating and why?

MOLLY: Oh geez…I love all of my girls and the men they end up with! You’re going to make me choose? I’ll say the Keri/Kyle storyline, since it encompasses two books. Troy Anderson has an annoying habit of popping up unannounced also. You meet him in book #2, but I think he’s in #4, 5, 6, and 7!

ME: If you had the opportunity to meet just one of your characters in real life, who would it be and why? Which of your characters would you never want to meet under any circumstance and why?

MOLLY: Hahaha…Troy Anderson would be the one in real life. The one I never want to meet? Hmmm….John Cartell, from book #2. He’s a creep.

BLURB:

Can a blind date turn into a romance? Amy Callahan wants to find out, so when she flies to California to spend a week with Matt Slagal, she discovers the ups and downs of a long distance relationship. Which one prevails..."Absence makes the heart grow fonder" or, "Out of sight, out of mind"?

EXCERPT:

Afterwards, they snuggled together, caressing and enjoying the close comfort of their bodies.

"Aim," Matt mumbled, stroking a strand of her hair. "Do you think your parents will like me?"

"I hope so," she answered slowly. "Your lifestyle is quite...different from ours, and the attitudes and customs are-"

"What attitudes?" Matt interrupted. "I mean, shit! They either accept me, or they don't!"

"Well," Amy tried to find the right words. "It's like this: Back in Indiana, my family doesn't drink or curse so much, and I know for a fact that they definitely would not approve of us sleeping together."

"I'm not changing my life! If they don't like it, they can stuff it!" Matt returned hotly.

"Ssssh...I'm not asking you to change." Amy tried to be tactful. "All I’m asking is that you not, er, curse so much," she finished lamely.

"Amy..."

"Please?" she pleaded. She rolled over and looked him in the eye. "All I ask is that you clean up your vocabulary for a few hours while we're with my parents."

"You want me to kiss ass," he commented.

"Not quite...I just want you to make a good impression." Tears welled up unexpectedly in her eyes, and she rested her head on Matt's chest. "This is important to me," she whispered.

"Oh, all right, I'll watch what I say next weekend. Can I smoke and drink beer too, or is that also taboo?"

"Stop it!" Amy locked eyes with him.

"What?" Matt asked, acting innocent.

"You know what I mean," she replied fiercely. "I'd rather you not smoke, but a few beers won't hurt. I'm not asking you to bend over backwards; all I want is for you to be civil towards them!"

"I'm always civil," he protested.

"I didn't mean it like that," Amy put her head down again. "I meant that sometimes, well, you have a tendency to act antisocial, as a know-it-all."

"I do what?"

Feeling herself losing ground, Amy groaned. The conversation wasn't going the way she'd hoped.

"I would feel better if you and my parents were to start off on the right foot," she said, choosing her words carefully. "They have the stereotypical California military officer in their minds, and I don't want them judging you in that way."

"Just out of curiosity, what exactly is the 'stereotypical California military officer'?" Matt was amused.

Amy thought for a moment. "Promise you won't get upset? He's the dedicated officer, but loud, rude, disrespectful when off duty. He's lazy; a womanizer; an alcoholic; not someone to bring home."

"So that's what your parents are expecting me to be," said Matt.

"But," Amy continued. "I've told them your good points, so they're not expecting Godzilla. Now, can we drop the subject and get some sleep?"

"No, we can't."

"Why not?"

"Because," he lowered his voice while sliding his hand down to cup her breast. "This military officer has a naked, sexy woman in his bed, and wants to take advantage of the situation!"




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