In the Author Spotlight
ZOE WINTERS
AL: Hi Zoe! Welcome to Blog Bites.
Zoe: Thanks for having me!
AL: What work are you deep into right now?
Zoe: Right now I’m working on book 3 of my Preternaturals series, which sadly doesn’t have a name yet. This is the longest I’ve gone without a title for a book. I might have to make it an open contest to name it if I can’t come up with something soon.
AL: What is one glaringly/specific personality trait that you put into your hero/heroine that is all Zoe? One that a family member or friend stops and says, “Hey, this is so you!
Zoe: The smart-assery. Most definitely. And if that’s not a word, I just made it a word. :P
AL: How do you decide upon your settings? What about the names of characters? Do you ever change either mid-stream into a story?
Zoe: I like smaller towns; they feel easier to manage, and they often have weird quirks which are fun to play with. I also like to write totally made-up places because I don’t want people who live in a place to go: “Hey there’s no coffee shop on that street corner!”
I’m awful about character names. Sometimes they just come to me, but usually I ask Twitter, lol. People on Twitter helped me name Zane (Z) and Fiona, the main characters in my next book. Z has to go by an initial because I’ve got too many rhyming names for major characters: Jane, Zane, Cain, Dayne. You can see where I need an intervention. And I try not to change those things, mid-stream. It’s too jarring for me.
AL: What got you jumping feet first into writing paranormals?
Zoe: The Buffy and Spike relationship on BtVS.
AL: It’s time to get personal! What’s your favorite comfort food?
Zoe: shepherd’s pie. It’s seriously the most perfect food ever created.
AL: What favorite movie; or T.V. show makes you hunker down on the sofa and settle in for the night?
Zoe: I really don’t have a TV. If I watch something it’s on Netflix Streaming or Hulu. And generally I watch in 15 minute increments. I just don’t have the attention span to sit and watch a full show, plus I’ve got too much to do. Though I will sometimes sit and watch a movie which completely contradicts my above statement. I’m wacky that way.
AL: What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
Zoe: I’ll let you know when I do it. :)
AL: 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?
Zoe: Far into the future. And anywhere, really. I just want to see if we’re still here and if we became really really stupid like in the movie Idiocracy (scariest movie I’ve ever seen) or if smart people started procreating again.
AL: Can you share some of your plans for 2011 and beyond?
Zoe: Well, I’m on a ten-yr-plan and the plan is basically... write a lot of books. Keep making a living. Maybe get rich because that would be nice, and then I could write purely for passion exactly what I wanted instead of having to worry about if it would sell.
AL: Thanks so much for sharing with us, Zoe.
Zoe: My pleasure!
AL: If you’d like to find out more about Zoe please visit:
http://www.zoewinters.org
http://zoewinters.wordpress.com
http://www.twitter.com/zoewinters
FEATURED TITLE: SAVE MY SOUL
Blurb:
All he’s asking for is her soul.
After buying the antebellum home she’s fantasized about since childhood, Anna Worthington discovers Luc, a dangerously seductive incubus who has been trapped in the house by a fifty-year-old curse. To rid herself of her problem house guest she’ll call on a priest, gypsies, ghost hunters, and the coven of witches from lust bunny hell. All she has to do is resist him long enough to break the spell so they can go their separate ways. If she doesn’t, she could die. And that would be the best case scenario.
Excerpt:
Instead of Beatrice, it was about the best looking man Anna had ever laid eyes on––airbrushed magazine spreads notwithstanding. Dark hair fell around his face, framing an olive complexion and cold, bright green eyes that appeared to burn with a light of their own.
They seemed to pull her in, hypnotize her. They were eyes that had known violence. Whether as the victim or the perpetrator, it was too hard to tell, but she suspected the latter.
His lips were as full as any man’s had a right to be, and Anna had to stop herself from imagining nibbling on his lower lip. He had the kind of cheekbones sculptors spent a lifetime learning to chisel into stone. Rather than sitting in the chair, he seemed to drape. Casually. Sinfully.
Shirtlessly.
She closed her eyes and raised a hand to her head, feeling for bumps. After what she’d just experienced the last thing that seemed normal was lusting after a hot stranger in her bedroom. Maybe she was dreaming again.
The next words to fly from her mouth were so stupid she would later blame a mild concussion. “You should know this house is haunted, and the last guy who tried anything got beaten bloody for his trouble. So you should ask yourself if it’s worth losing your good looks over.”
His deep, familiar chuckle slid into her, too fluid to be human. Anna vaulted out of the bed, taking the sheets with her, wrapping them around her frame as she went.
“I’ve seen it all,” he said waving a hand away as if he could never be moved by such banal things as nudity.
Not while I was conscious, Anna thought. She backed farther away as he stood and advanced on her. “Um . . . so Beatrice isn’t here?” Diversionary tactics weren’t her strong suit.
There never was a Beatrice. It was him. Her throat tightened again as that thought slammed fully into her brain. She tried to shut out the memories of all the times she’d been a little too naked in the house, either ignoring the ghost or thinking it was a woman.
A slow smile spread over his face. “I’m the thing that killed her.” Fear pulsed through her at his words, and he seemed to savor it like wine. “Beatrice went to Heaven where all good girls with intact souls go when they die. Tell me, my dear, do you think your soul will be intact when I’m finished with you?”
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