So great to have you here, Siobhan :-)
Q. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
A. How to answer that question…I’m a scientist with the
desperate need to find the magic in the ordinary. So I write it into every one
of my stories, blending realism with fantasy to make a kick-ass adventure with
hot sex.
Q. What made you write ‘this’ story?
A. Actually it was the frustration with the double standard
placed on men and women when it came to sex. For the last few centuries women
were supposed to be chaste (and have no sexual desires) just because men
couldn’t tell when a woman was likely to get pregnant. It was acceptable for
men to “sow some wild oats” but if a woman was caught having sex before
marriage or worse, pregnant from it, it was her fault, not the would-be
father’s. Oh, yeah, that set my fury going. So I wrote Not a Dragon’s Standard Virgin with the question, what would I do
if I had to choose between being fed to a dragon because I hadn’t had sex or
being thrown out of town because I gave my virginity away? In this day and age
it’s not as big a deal, but in 1547 Scotland, virginity was a commodity men
traded like baseball cards. Isabelle Andersen answered my question the way only
a forthright Scotswoman could. ;)
This is so going on my TBR list. It sounds fab!
Q. Tell us about your cover.
A. Harris Channing designed my cover. In fact, she’s done all
my Siren covers. She always nails the characters and the backgrounds perfectly.
I told her I wanted Scotland without a castle, and a leg-less dragon. She found
some of the best images to put together. I’m really pleased.
Q. Describe a typical day’s writing for us
A. If I’m not promoting a new release, like I am now, I usually
come home from dropping the kids off at school and allow myself 30 minutes of
fooling around on the internet. That includes catching up on emails, Facebook,
and promoting on Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter. After that, it’s open a
world doc and away I go on a WIP. I only have about 2 hours to write each day
because the youngest gets out of school early and I have to be there to pick
her up. Sometimes I even get time in the evening after the kids go to bed, but
that’s also my time to be with my husband and I don’t squander that if I can
help it. ;) Next school year, I’ll get six hours to write rather than two, and
I’m looking forward to that.
Q. What inspires you?
A. Music, movies, other books, social dilemmas or problems,
questions to be answered, and magic. None of my stories are simply from this
world. There’s always something just a little magical about them – or I
couldn’t write them. I need a little extra beyond the day-to-day.
Q. If you weren’t a writer what would you be?
A. What do you mean? I’ve been a writer since I was 9 years
old. There is nothing else. However, I have been trained as a mammal
paleontologist specializing in Pleistocene aged canids (wolves, coyotes, and
foxes). I still do a little paleo on the side – in fact, I have to clean up a
specimen and identify the teeth left in it for a colleague this summer. Eep!
Better get on that.
Q. Do your characters ever surprise you?
A. Yes, they do. The first time was when Jeff Lightfoot, the
hero from Queen Bitch of the Callowwood
Pack, started talking to me. I’d never had a character talk to me before. And then he went on to do something I didn’t
expect. Jon from Not a Dragon’s Standard
Virgin developed a clumsy side. Didn’t see that one coming. :D
Q. What could not do without when you’re writing?
A. Water or coffee. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? I live in the
Mojave Desert, the driest desert in North America and I always need something
to drink. Not only does it keep my hands busy when I’m thinking something out,
but it keeps both me and my Muse from drying out while the inspiration is
flowing.
Q. What words of wisdom do you have for the aspiring authors
out there?
A. First, edit out the word “aspiring”. You’re either a writer
or you’re not. Aspiring means to “think about” doing something, not actually
doing it. If you want to be a writer, write. Even if it’s crap. You can always
go back and edit the daylights out of it. I do that all the time. :D Also, if
you’re serious about being a writer, get your voice out there. Make a blog and
get Twitter and Facebook accounts. It may take awhile, but readers want to know
more and interact with the writers they like. Starting this now gives them a
place to find out and try out your writing. When you write on a blog, it lets
everyone, including prospective agents, editors, and publishers, learn your
voice and your style. Blogging will also allow you to refine your particular
style.
Fabulous advice right there.
Q. Where do you see yourself in ten year’s time?
A. Multipublished, well-known with large fan base, and
royalties that can help with the monthly expenses. J
Q. Do you have a favourite quote?
A. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judge
that something else is more important than fear.” – Meg Cabot
Q. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
A. No, but that’s because I have several stories going on at once.
If I get stuck on one, I move to another and let the Muse run on that one while
the first one percolates in the back of my mind. Eventually I get ideas to push
it forward. Queen Bitch sat still for
about a month before I knew what would happen after the Selection Party.
Q. What other books can your readers look forward to?
A. Not a Dragon’s
Standard Virgin should be on Amazon soon, along with A Hell Hound’s Fire, a short free read introducing my new
Cloudburst, Colorado series. You can find A
Hell Hound’s Fire in most retailers from my Books page on my website. The
second book in that series will be out June 24th, entitled The Beltane Witch, and it’s a hot one. Later this year, I should
have a ménage ‘a SEALs ready for publication.
Q. And finally can you share an excerpt with us?
Isabelle damn near dropped the
pottery flagon she’d cleaned when the stranger stepped inside her father’s
tavern.
Glory be! I have never seen such a beautiful man.
He stood tall, even taller than
Angus MacLeod, the blacksmith’s son who stood at exactly six feet. Dark-brown
hair hung, braided at his temples, with the rest pulled back to the base of his
neck with a leather thong. Brilliant blue eyes the color of lupine flowers
looked out beneath dark, arching brows and long lashes. His neatly trimmed
beard framed a generous mouth beneath a slightly flattened nose that looked as
if it had been damaged in a fight and healed incorrectly.
Isabelle trembled with his
intangible power, reveling in the sight of his masculine beauty. His rugged
features made him look mysterious and dangerous, sending a feminine pulse
straight to her womb. If ever a man existed to whom her virginity should be
given, this was him.
Oh, aye, and now all you have to do is ask him. Her gaze swept down
his body as he pulled his plaid off his head and surveyed the great room.
William MacLeod, the only elder still left in the Careless Wench, stood talking
with her father, and the stranger strode toward them with the sinuous grace of
a warrior. He reminded Isabelle of the stories she’d heard about William
Wallace of old. The sword sticking up over his left shoulder and the chainmail
shirt confirmed it, but so did the way he moved.
She sighed a little as he gave
her a view of his broad back, and she had the odd urge to see if it was as
heavily muscled and powerful as she guessed.
Bloody hell, lass. Focus on what you’re doing.
“Welcome to the Careless Wench,
good sir. Are you lookin’ for a pint?”
“To be sure, but also for a warm
bed. Have you one of those as well?” The stranger’s voice painted images of
comfort, contentment, and far more lustful things in Isabelle’s mind.
“Well now, I may have one for
you at that. Isabelle!”
She set down her cloth and
straightened her skirt before answering her father’s summons. She could feel
the violet gaze of the stranger on her, and it made her skin tingle, but she
kept her own eyes on her father’s chin.
“Aye, Father?”
“Have the extra rooms been
cleaned since our last guests?”
Isabelle wanted to snap at him
that of course they’d been cleaned, but it would only irritate her father.
Usually she liked nothing more than to needle the philandering prick, but she
made herself play the dutiful daughter in front the elder and the stranger. She
wouldn’t give them a reason to select her for the Virgin Sacrifice until she’d
secured her ineligibility.
“Aye, Father, they have been
cleaned.” The beautiful warrior met her eyes, and everything heated as if she’d
caught on fire. How could one look do such things to her?
“Very well.” Her father narrowed
his eyes and grunted with suspicion, but he turned to the stranger with a
smile. “There be a free room at the top o’ the stairs that should suit you well
enough. Say five coppers a night with supper.”
“Done.” The warrior reached
beneath his plaid for his belt pouch, but his gaze returned to Isabelle. “How
much for a bath? It’s been a long road between them.”
Oh, Lord, why does the idea of this man bare tease me so?
“Three coppers, four if you want
some of my wife’s special soap cakes.” Her father always pandered Elizabeth’s
soap cakes for no other reason than to get extra money out of people. The soaps
smelled heavenly, though, and her stepmother made them from fresh herbs,
improving everyone’s scent. “They cause a healing, they do. Best soap cakes in
the Highlands, I warrant.”
The warrior chuckled, and his
laughter sent a shiver up her back. He could laugh around her any time he
pleased. The timbre of his amusement made her think of the richest velvet
sliding against her skin. She clenched her teeth as her womb tingled, and she
shifted her legs to relieve the ache. Dear Goddess, perhaps she’d already
become no better than a brazen hussy if his laughter could get her wetter than
a soft Highland rain.
“Four coppers it is, if I can
have it tonight.” The warrior’s brilliant blue eyes fastened on Isabelle as he
smiled, creasing the edges of his mouth upward. She wanted to kiss them.
Sounds fabulous, Siobhan. Thanks so much for stopping by today.
Stalk Siobhna in these places
MY LINKS:
BUY LINKS NDSV:
BLURB for Not a Dragon’s Standard
Virgin:
Sacrificial virgins are so sixteenth century, but unless Isabelle finds a man to take her innocence, she’ll likely be next.
Sacrificial virgins are so sixteenth century, but unless Isabelle finds a man to take her innocence, she’ll likely be next.
For Isabelle Andersen, being a virgin
in a dragon-plagued Scottish village is dangerous. Potentially the next dragon
sacrifice, Isabelle’s only solution is to lose her innocence, and fast. All she
needs is one handsome stranger she can coax into bed, but Lochmore Cott doesn’t
get much in the way of visitors.
Jonarrion Swiftwind has sworn off
virgins. The last time he took one to his bed, his family paid the price for
his lust at the hands of her demon-possessed father. He’s made it his mission
to destroy all demons. Nothing distracts him from killing this demon until
lovely Isabelle offers him tea. And her virginity.
Just one night of passion makes
Jon realize he doesn’t want to let the independent beauty go. But will Isabelle
accept him when she discovers the only real dragon in her village… is him?
BIO:
Siobhan Muir lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband, two daughters, and a vegetarian cat she swears is a shape-shifter, though he's never shifted when she can see him. When not writing, she can be found looking down a microscope at fossil fox teeth, pursuing her other love, paleontology. An avid reader of science fiction/fantasy, her husband gave her a paranormal romance for Christmas one year, and she was hooked for good.
Siobhan Muir lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband, two daughters, and a vegetarian cat she swears is a shape-shifter, though he's never shifted when she can see him. When not writing, she can be found looking down a microscope at fossil fox teeth, pursuing her other love, paleontology. An avid reader of science fiction/fantasy, her husband gave her a paranormal romance for Christmas one year, and she was hooked for good.
In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado
Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored
inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens
and to the bottom of Meteor Crater.
Siobhan writes kick-ass adventure with hot sex for men and women
to enjoy. She believes in happily ever after, redemption, and communication,
all of which you will find in her paranormal romance stories.
Siobhan’s recent release, Not
a Dragon’s Standard Virgin, is from Siren Publishing, and she has published
Queen Bitch of the Callowwood Pack
through Siren, and Her Devoted Vampire
through Evernight Publishing. She also has a free read out entitled A Hell Hound’s Fire introducing her new
Cloudburst, Colorado series.
Thank you so much for having me today, Doris! :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic interview. Very interesting history about your book, I'll have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dee. Isabelle really took the idea and ran with it. She surprised the heck out of me. Thanks for commenting. :)
DeleteGreat interview and interesting story premise.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Kiru. :)
DeleteGreat Interview!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cherie. :)
DeleteSounds like a great read :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jorja. I hope you get a chance to read it. :)
Delete