In the Author Spotlight & Contest

Viki Lyn

CONTEST: I am offering one lucky commenter a digital (ebook) copy of my novella The Tiger Within or Blue Skye. Please make sure to leave a comment along with your email addy so I can contact you if you win.

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

Viki: Thank you for having me.

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

Viki: I can't believe it's already going to be October! I'm going to my Mom's 87th birthday this weekend, so I'll be flying to California for a few days. I'm staying with my sister (one of three). It should be a blast. It's always fun when we're all together.

AL: Who’s up for some man love? We know you are. Tell us what you have for us to pick off your bookshelf?

Viki: I have two books that are completely different in style. Blue Skye (published with Aspen Mountain Press) is a contemporary love story about two childhood friends that are reunited after spending several years apart. Will they find a common ground for friendship after the choices they'd made. This is a pure romance with no vampires, shape shifters or evil creatures lurking in the dark!


The Tiger Within (published by Loose Id) is a shape shifter romance set in France in 1948. Antoine Fortescue is a French nobleman and a shape shifter. He's been living on the earth since the 1700's. He meets Jack Hunter, a super-enhanced soldier and a closeted homosexual, and he realizes he has found his lifemate. But Jack doesn't like Antoine, because he brings out his sexual feelings that's he kept hidden. When they find themselves working together, the tension rises and the sparks fly.

AL: What or whom inspired you to write gay romance?

Viki: I'm a yaoi fan girl - and for those who don't know the genre, it's Japanese Boys Love manga. I've always enjoyed reading gay fiction and watching gay movies. One of my het romance trilogies has a very strong secondary gay love triangle. I enjoyed writing about these three men, at times, more than my two main characters! I also lived in a gay neighborhood in San Diego, and became very close to my neighbors, D & C, who had a wonderful loving relationship for years.

AL: What do you have in the works?

Viki: Oh, so many things that sometimes I don't know which way my head is screwed on? I'm writing another M/M romance set in Woodland Village, the setting for Blue Skye. I'm on my first round of edits for my M/M vampire story titled Last Chance that will be released by Loose Id. This was a very fun book to write, featuring a seriously smart biologist and a seriously sexy college jock. I'm plotting out book two this week with my critique partner. I've also been getting feedback that readers want to see a sequel to The Tiger Within. And, I wrote a free ficlet (its posted on my website) that readers have been asking for more. And, in my other writing life, I'm editing a het paranormal romance between an angel and a priestess.


Whew! It makes me tired just writing about it.

AL: Who are some of your favorite authors?

Viki: Oh boy, that's a difficult one. I'm a murder mystery fanatic. Recently my favorite authors are Charles Finch, Scott Sherman, Josh Lanyon, Jacqueline Winspear and Qiu Xiaolong. I want to read Robert B. Parker who's writing is really tight. I've picked up a couple of M/M romance novellas by Katrina Strauss that I really enjoyed.

AL: Now, I’m going to get personal… What favorite movie; or T.V. show makes you hunker down on the sofa and settle in for the night?

Viki: I'm really hooked on Brothers and Sisters! The family is so dysfunctional but you come to really care about each and every one of them. The dialogue is really snappy and right on. And, Sally Fields is just so good in her role as the matriarch.

Ann: What is this romance writer's idea of the "perfect romantic evening" with her real life hero?

Viki: What if I confess I'm not really a romantic? I know, pretty ironic since I write romance, but my idea of romantic time is 'not possible' (quoted by my dh). We really enjoy traveling overseas, so a romantic evening for us is exploring a new city or village, dining at the local restaurant, people watching and ending our evening with a drink or coffee at a local cafe. See, I told you I'm not romantic!

AL: If you had to write yourself as a villain, what kind of villain would you be? What would you be named?

Viki: Oh, this is really difficult for me. If I had to be a villain, I'd want to be really fast on my feet, agile, almost cat-like in skills. And I would have some super powers, too. I really dig comics. I'd shift into a black panther, all sleek dark muscles and intense green eyes. And, I'd have keen sight and smell and taste...let's see...I'd be known as The Black Kat...

AL: Now, that we know what you would be and your name, what nasty things do you have planned for your hero?

Viki: I'd chase him until I had him cornered. Then I used my super powers and stun him with my gaze so he couldn't fight back. He'd be under my power for the night.

AL: If you could have any car in the world; would it be a slow rider, or one that the wind has to hurry just to keep up with you?

Viki: One that the wind has to hurry just to keep up with me! I own a red with a white top Mini Cooper!

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

Viki: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

AL: Thanks so much for sharing with joining us this week, Viki.

Viki: Thank you for having me. I've enjoyed answering your questions. It's been fun.

AL: If you’d like to find out more about Viki please visit:

http://www.vikilyn.com
http://www.vikilynromance.blogspot.com

FEATURED TITLE: THE TIGER WITHIN

Blurb:

Sentinel agent, Jack Hunter, is blessed…or cursed…with superhuman abilities. He's horrified by the unholy creatures he's been hired to kill: renegade vampires, werewolves, and other unworldly beings spawned from hell. But none of these creatures terrify him as much as Sentinel's top agent and shape-shifter, Le Tigre aka Antoine Fortescue…for Antoine knows his most shameful secret.


From an ancient lineage of shape-shifters, Antoine Fortescue is the last of his kind. He is careful when it comes to love, preferring short-term affairs that don't involve the heart. Until the day he meets the enhanced soldier, Jack Hunter. The man fascinates Antoine with his All-American good looks and arrogance, and it doesn't take long for Antoine to realize Jack is his khalid—his life mate.

A stolen kiss in an alley gives Antoine hope that eventually he'll win Jack's closed-up heart. But Jack Hunter despises Antoine for his openly gay manner and outrageous flirting. When they must work together on a case that's close to Antoine's heart, he's hunting not just a killer but his khalid. He will have his prey, his Jack, and unleash the tiger within.

Excerpt:

Antoine stood over Jack sleeping peacefully. Usually Jack was wound tight, but in his sleep, he appeared innocent, setting Antoine's heart racing. How wonderful it would have been to have known Jack as a boy. Before the war, before the ravages to his body, before his life changed.


With his forefinger, he feathered Jack's square jaw and pressed the tip in the dimple edging the side of his broad mouth. Antoine smiled at the memory of those enticing lips and that hot, wily tongue. Their first and only sexual encounter was enough for him to realize the importance of Jack Hunter. All-American in looks: healthy complexion, robust physique, tall and commanding. Once Jack had given in to his desires, he did not disappoint. His American arrogance remained, demanding and powerful. That kiss in the alley two years ago might not have led to sex, but it told Antoine all he needed to know. Jack liked men.

For someone of Jack's disposition, being a sexual deviant was paramount to committing the most horrid of mortal sins. If he learned the reason behind Antoine's seduction, who knew how he would react?

Antoine smiled tenderly as he smoothed Jack's short cowlick. His once-military buzz cut had grown out, his hair now a rich mahogany cap. It was not easy to love this man, but he was worth the long chase. Never had Antoine been in love, not really, and this man was his equal. Equal in power, intelligence, and courage. And equal in the depth of his loneliness, which was evident from the sadness in Jack's eyes.

Antoine kissed the top of his khalid's head, breathing in his scent, letting it seep into his being, exciting him. He knew he would settle for nothing less than love with his khalid, his life mate.

REMEMBER: Viki will be offering one lucky commenter a digital (ebook) copy of my novella The Tiger Within or Blue Skye. Please make sure to leave a comment along with your email addy so I can contact you if you win.