In the Author Spotlight

TRACEY H. KITTS

AL: Hi Tracey! Welcome back to Blog Bites.

Tracey: Hi, Ann. Thanks for having me.

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

Tracey: Well, I’ve recently been reunited with an old love of mine. Kickboxing. I used to be a certified instructor and am considering getting re-certified sometime next year.

AL: What book would you like to share with us?

Tracey: The book I’d like to share today is Sex Symbol. It’s my latest release from Ellora’s Cave.

AL: What other tales are you busy weaving?

Tracey: Well, I’ve always got a few in the works, but no definite titles right now.

AL: What do you feel is the most important thing that a first-time author should know?

Tracey: You will be expected to promote your book. The publisher does not automatically do this if it isn’t in your contract. It isn’t like the movies.

AL: What is one glaringly/specific personality trait that you put into your hero/heroine that is all Tracey? One that a family member or friend says, “Hey, this is so you.”

Tracey: Everyone says that when they read my Lilith Mercury: Werewolf Hunter Series. The character Lilith is definitely me, right down to her flaming red hair. Ha. Ha. It’s probably her sarcasm that is most obviously mine. I do that from time to time in other characters. When people say, “Hey, so-and-so has a sassy mouth.” (Meaning it in a funny way) That’s usually when I let the character say what I was really thinking.

AL: What do you hope for your writing career in the next few years? Any goals that you have yet to obtain that you have set for yourself?

Tracey: The biggest goal is to be able to make a living solely from my writing. I’d like to reach a bigger audience, continue to get my name in front of people with new releases. I’m always working on how to make this happen.

AL: Get comfy and let’s get personal! Besides writing, what other things do you like to do in your spare time?

Tracey: Well, like I said before, I enjoy kickboxing. I also like to paint and draw. Sometimes I sketch my characters just to get a clear picture of them in my head. I love music too, of all kinds. And I like to sing. I was in an opera once years ago. Ha. Ha.

AL: With the holidays around the corner what's your favorite tradition?

Tracey: My favorite tradition had just passed. Halloween. I absolutely love to dress up.

AL: Sometimes people envision an author’s life as being really glamorous. I like to set them straight, so tell us what’s the most unglamorous thing you’ve done in the past week?

Tracey: Clean my tub, which included removing some of my long hair from the drain. Yuk. If it isn’t done once every two weeks (cause I have a lot of hair) it gets clogged. I also dusted the entire house and next I’m going to shampoo my carpets. Definitely not glamourous.

AL: What would people be surprised to know about you?

Tracey: I’ve studied hand-to-hand fighting techniques and know how to blind someone and break their bones in under five minutes. Okay, so maybe some people won’t find it that surprising.

AL: Fun question! If you could go anywhere in the world and in any time…where would you go? What would you do? And why that time-period?

Tracey: I’d go back to when I was around 8 years old and harvest pumpkins with my dad, just because it was so much fun the first time around. Daddy still grows pumpkins, but not like the huge ones he grew when I was a kid.

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

Tracey: “Your home is a scrapbook of your life.” – Shubhra Krishan

AL: Thanks so much for sharing with us, Tracey.

Tracey: Thanks again for having me. I had a lot of fun :-D

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

http://www.traceyhkitts.com

FEATURED TITLE: SEX SYMBOL

Blurb:

Sex Symbol is the story of Lucy Harper, an ordinary woman who suddenly finds herself in extraordinary circumstances. Not only is her new boyfriend a werewolf, but her new tattoo might be more than a picture of her favorite flower. According to the local werewolf pack, it’s a “sex symbol.”

Excerpt:

The room was lit by candles. There was one small table and a few shelves in one corner of the room. A shelf of some sort blocked my view, but when I stepped around it I saw where the sound had come from. Eramus was chained to the wall. One arm was locked above his head and his feet were shackled where he stood. I ran to him.

“Eramus, who did this to you?”

I started to look around for a key, but he stopped me, putting his free hand on my shoulder.

“I did.”

I stood there for a moment and just stared at him.

“I don’t understand. Why would you do this to yourself? How do you expect to ever get free?”

“The shackles are controlled by a machine. In twelve hours, it will release me.”

“Why? What happens for the next twelve hours?”

The look on his face was pained and though I made a move toward him he turned his face away, stopping me once again.

“The full moon,” he answered.

It took me a minute to find my voice. “Eramus, a wolf chased me he—”

“I don’t know who’s doing this,” he said. “But if I am to have the strength to fight him, I have to stop suppressing what I have become. I thought that I could pretend to be a man in order to…in order to love you.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I ignored them. “If you’re not a man, then what are you?”

“A beast.”

The pain in his voice was like nothing I had ever heard. And all the sadness in the world was in the eyes that looked back at me as they slowly turned to amber. I understood what he was trying to say and it made no difference to me. I touched his face and as his fangs grew he started to cry.

“Get out of here,” he said.

“I’m staying.”

He was still human to all appearances except for the short fangs and amber eyes. He looked like something wild and a passion stirred in me such as I have never felt before. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and when I placed my hand against his chest it seemed to me that his flesh burned.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he pleaded.

“Then don’t.”

When he looked at me I felt a flame ignite in my soul like hellfire. Anything I felt before was in comparison to a match. The tortured look in his eyes broke my heart in two. I didn’t think it could ever be repaired, but he was surely welcome to both pieces.

I kissed him and my heart leapt. It danced against my ribs to a beat all its own and Eramus trembled at my touch. Sweat shown on his forehead like a fine mist and as I trailed my hand down his face I could feel his stubble already starting to grow.

A low growl escaped his throat as he said, “You should be running.”

“Didn’t you know? Beauty is incomplete without the Beast.”

I didn’t call myself beautiful because of my own opinion, but because he always said that I was. It may seem ridiculous, but I was not afraid. Not just because he was chained, but because whatever he became, he was still my Eramus underneath. And I was completely and irreversibly in love with him.