In the Author Spotlight & Contest

Sheri Lewis Wohl

CONTEST: The Villainess Goody Bag Giveaway. I love the question about what kind of villain I would like to be, and I’d love to hear what everyone else is thinking too. Leave a comment with your thoughts on what kind of villain you would be and on Sunday, May 10th, I’ll do a random drawing (I always make the hubby draw the name). The winner will receive a goody bag with candy, candles and other assorted fun stuff.

AL: Hi Sheri! Thanks for being in the “Author Spotlight” this week.

Sheri: Thanks for having me here this week. I’m looking forward to the week and hoping that sunshine might finally grace us here in NE Washington State. It was a long, cold and snowy winter, and so far has been a very cool spring. We’re ready for the sunshine.

AL: So, tell us what’s happening with you.

Sheri: Well, I’m gearing up for the summer and the RWA nationals in D.C. I’m presenting my workshop, Evil 101, and am really looking forward to the trip. Washington D.C. is one of my favorite places in this country and I’m always excited to make the cross-country trip. I’m also hoping for some warm weather so I can get my garden planted. I’m not much of a yard or flower person, but I do love the vegetable garden. I take care of the garden and hubby takes care of the lawn. Not a bad deal when you consider the garden is only 10x6 and the yard is an acre and a half of grass!

AL: What do you have for us to read?

Sheri: I’ve brought you a bit of NECURATUL, the first book in the NECURATUL trilogy. You’ll meet Catherine “Cat” Lohr, a Canadian psychic and evil hunter who is a member of the ancient order of Anima Mundi. Along with her shape shifter lover and Spokane Indian, Adam Bell, they follow the trail of the original Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory, who has returned and is hell-bent on creating havoc. There’s danger as well as passion and romance all rolled up in contemporary setting.

AL: You have a shelf of paranormals. What got you hooked on this genre?

Sheri: I always tell people it was actually a movie that got me good and hooked. I remember clearly the day I sat all alone in front of the television watching the original version of The House on Haunted Hill. Scared the crap out of me and from that day on, I could never get enough of ghosts, vampires, werewolves, or anything else that goes bump in the night.

AL: It looks like you’ve done your share of workshops at different conventions. What is the most common question asked? What is one of the more original questions you’ve gotten in your evil session 101?

Sheri: No matter the topic of the workshop, there are actually two common questions I get: “where do you get your ideas for the stories?” and “how do you work in federal finance all day and then switch over and write paranormals by night?” Some of the most original questions come near the end of my Evil 101 workshop when I speak of encountering evil face-to-face or as I title that section, Evil in the Face of a Friend.

AL: Who are some of your favorite authors?

Sheri: I read pretty much everything but for a few of my favorites, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen, James Patterson, Edgar Allan Poe, and my all-time favorite, Daphne Du Maurier.

AL: What do you like best about writing? What is your least favorite thing?

Sheri: The creative process in developing the story fascinates me and it’s fun to see where the story is going. You think you know when you start and often the story has a different idea. What drives me nuts is the rewriting. I’m okay with the first couple of rounds of revisions but by the time I get to three or four, I’m grinding my teeth.

AL: Now for some of the really fun stuff. If you had to write yourself as a villain, what kind of villain would you be? What would you be named?

Sheri: Since I did my Masters Thesis on a vampire story (an 1872 lesbian vampire story no less), I think I’d almost have to be a vampire. My name would be: Aella, which means “whirlwind” in Greek.

AL: You are told you have to meet one paranormal creature, no safeguards, what do you choose? What do you bring with you?

Sheri: Because I’m a big dog person, I’d choose a shape-shifter who takes the form of a wolf. I’d just bring me – after all, he’ll know a dog person when he sees her, right?

AL: Who do you want to keep you warm at night; something cold and dead, or warm and furry? Beware…they’re both gorgeous, but they’ve been known to bite.

Sheri: Oh that’s hard…If you could get me a vampire who looks something like Nick St. John in Moonlight—sign me up. On the other hand, if you’ve read my book NECURATUL, I’d definitely be amenable to shape shifter Adam Bell. Perhaps a threesome??

AL: If there’s one place in the world you could go that wouldn’t break the pocket book, where would it be and why?

Sheri: I’ve got my heart set on Romania. I know that sounds strange but given that I’ve been fascinated with vampires for so long and given my choice in graduate education, it’s got to be the homeland of the historical Vlad Dracula.

AL: With Spring upon us, what’s some of your favorite things about the season?

Sheri: The sunshine is the best and also, I’ve got a beautiful 1940 Ford pickup that I just wait for the nice weather so that I can take it out.

AL: Please share a favorite quote(s) with us.

Sheri: I don’t know who said but I’ve had it taped to my desk for years: Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”

AL: Thanks so much for sharing with joining us this week, Sheri. If you'd like to find out more about Sheri and other current and upcoming reads please visit:

http://www.sherilewiswohl.com/
http://www.sherilewiswohl.wordpress.com/

FEATURED TITLE:

Blurb:

As they said in the movies: the bitch is back! When the sixteenth century, blood bathing psychopath, Elizabeth Bathory, makes her triumphant return to the 21st century, it is a trio of hunters from the ancient order of Anima Mundi who must stop her. For the leader, Martin Ludlum, the clock is ticking and this hunt will be his last. For his two powerful protégées, Catherine “Cat” Lohr and Adam Bell, it is the most dangerous. A single misstep and unrestrained evil will be let loose on an ill-prepared world.

For Cat and Adam the danger lies not only in the evil that is Elizabeth Bathory but also in the growing love that must be resolved between them. Spunky and outspoken, Cat is a Canadian psychic with phenomenal powers and the last thing she needs is to be in love with the shape-shifting Spokane Indian. Adam has none of her qualms and knows what he wants and how to get it. After an awkward interlude during a previous hunt in Romania, Cat is embarrassed to face Adam again but love and lust push her towards her destiny.

Bathory has other ideas not the least of which is picking up and carrying on in her bloody deeds. She is beautiful and cunning. And, she is looking for the man who had imprisoned her yet again fifty years earlier: Martin Ludlum. In the unlikely setting of Spokane, Washington, the hunters follow the bodies, searching for a woman with the black soul that refuses to die.

Excerpt:

“Okay, I’ll buy the part about not taking sex with another member lightly but mate for life? That’s a bit of stretch, Adam. Besides, do you think maybe I can have a say in that?”

His comeback was as simple as it was firm. “Alphas pick their mates.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” she muttered, both annoyed and flattered all at the same time. “Maybe that’s true in your werewolf, shape shifter, tribal, pack thing or whatever it is, but I’m just your basic Canadian psychic, eh, and it’s a little more complicated than that in my world.”

“I don’t think so.”

Her hours of practiced speeches had all been chock full of logic and so far nothing had gone even close to how she’d imagined. In fact, things were beginning to border on crazy. Granted, Adam was a guy who didn’t waste words and he was holding true to form tonight. This whole mate for life thing he was throwing her way was taking things too far, regardless of how her body was reacting, traitor that it was. It was close to impossible to be logical and practical when she was fighting the urge to rip off all her clothes. Even so, she had to give it the old college try. There was much at stake here that involved many more than her and wolf boy.

“I think I’ve got some say in this,” she tried again, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

He smiled that annoying smile that damn him, lit her on fire and said, “I think you did.”

“Oh, hell,” she muttered giving up. “Damn you, Adam.”

Remeber to leave you "villian" post for the contest in order for a chance to win. :-D