Hailey Edwards's Blog, page 91

Fairy Tales Turned Fantasy

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Today I'm pleased to welcome Bonnie Dee and Marie Treanor to my blog.

Hello ladies! Your coauthored novel, Awakening Beauty, was released from Samhain Publishing yesterday. It's the latest in your Fairytale Fantasies series, so let's talk a little about that.

What made you think there was more to these women's stories than what readers had previously been told?

Marie: I suppose, as adults, we realized there's more to "happy ever after" than a handsome prince and a kiss. Fairytales are full of magic and beauty; and in the end, the good heroes and heroines always triumph over the evil villains. There is something about these tales that stays with us as we grow up. But fairytales are a child's perspective; we decided to look deeper, to blur the edges, and, without losing the magic, to consider the adult emotions and motives of the characters.

Bonnie: I have to add that I find working on fairytale stories relaxing. There are already certain expectations of the story in place and all you have to do is twist them—kind of like bonsai trees. With historicals or contemporaries you have to get a lot of facts right or risk reader displeasure. With paranormals about shifters or vamps you must build a world. But with fairytales, it's a given that magic happens and there's usually a vaguely medieval feeling to fairytale land. Overall, I find these stories easier and more fun in some ways than any other genre I've written in. Plus, there's Marie to apply her clever brain to the plotting and that's a big bonus!

[image error]How did you dream up new twists on classic favorites?

Marie: Largely by thinking of the adult perspective. What happened after Cinderella married Prince Charming? She barely knew him. Was she really happy "ever after"? Why did Rumplestiltskin want the child of the miller's daughter who married the king, and how could she have been happy with such a greedy, gold-digging husband anyway? How would Sleeping Beauty really cope if she slept for centuries and was wakened by a modern, self-made "prince of industry"?

Bonnie: I think finding the crux of a story you want to tell is easy. It's fleshing out an entire plot around the theme that can be difficult. With Cinderella Unmasked, I knew I wanted her to have erotic adventures at some balls. (In fact, at first I wanted to call it Cinderella's Balls, because by the end she grows a pair. I thought it'd be funny.) But having Ella enjoy a series of sexual dalliances was clearly not enough to hang an entire story on. A. she had to learn something more about herself and B. there should be some outside danger. Marie came up with the great story of the stepfamily trying to steal her throne.

Marie had been reading Rumplestiltskin to her daughter and thought the story showed a horrible relationship—king loves girl only because she's pretty and spins gold. What a creep! So in Demon Lover we decided to make the "villain" of the story be the hero instead. The being who helps her spin gold is a powerful king of the underworld. Shades of Persephone.

With Awakening Beauty, I simply thought it'd be interesting to see a medieval girl dealing with modern life. That's as far as it went at first, but we quickly made it about a young woman's awakening self determination and willpower, plus a lot of other stuff with magic and fairies.

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Is there a fairytale you'd love to retell, but consider it taboo or off limits?

Marie: No, we think they're all fair game!

Bonnie: They're fairytales. How taboo could they be? It's only the very adult things we have the characters do that could become taboo if we pushed far enough.

If you have a sequel in the works, any hint on which fairytale you'll tackle next?

Marie: We've been kept too busy with our own solo-projects recently, so we haven't been working on any new Fairytale Fantasies. There are still a few I'd like to play with, though!

Bonnie: I think Marie had an idea for Red Riding Hood and I've always been extremely fond of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, those wild hussies, but we have no immediate plans for another collaboration. Again, we're currently very busy with solo projects.

Thanks for your time, ladies. I have just one more question before you go. How did your writing team form? Can you give us a peek inside your working relationship?

Marie: You're welcome – thanks so much for having us!

Basically, the editor we share at Samhain brought us together. Bonnie had an idea that became Cinderella Unmasked and she wanted to co-write it with someone "compatible". Our editor recommended me, I'm happy to say, and although I'd never co-written before, I found the experience very rewarding! We bounce ideas off each other, discuss various developments in the plot and the characters, and in the actual writing we do a bit each, either a chapter or until we reach a natural break, and then pass it on. The other goes over what was written, makes her own suggestions and then writes the next bit. It works surprisingly well!

Bonnie: The very first book I wrote (Finding Home) was co-written. At the time I was too intimidated to tackle an entire novel by myself so I wrote it with a fanfiction pal. Since then I've co-written a few other times just for fun with various writers, luckily finding good matches every time. Writing is a very solitary occupation so sometimes it's good to turn it into play time, to find a writer whose style is similar enough to yours and bounce a ball back and forth rather than hitting it against a wall all by yourself. That's lonely.

Thanks for having us, Hailey.

All of the Fairytale Fantasies are available at Samhain Publishing and many other distributors. You can click on any of the covers above and follow the links to more information.

Leave a comment below and be entered to win a $5 gift card to My Bookstore and More! One lucky winner will be chosen at midnight and announced in this post Thursday afternoon.

Paranormal Pretties

Today is my last post with the Paranormal Pretties group blog. I interviewed Bonnie Dee and Marie Treanor about their newest release from Samhain, Awakening Beauty.

Check out the interview here.

Comment for a chance to win a $5 MBaM gift card.

It's That Time of Year…

…where blogs are hopping and spooktacular contests are in full swing. Since we're getting oh-so-close to October, I'm going to give you a quick rundown of events I'm participating in next month.

First off…

I do a lot of these blog hops. Between Alanna and Booknibbles, they're a breeze for readers and authors. It's the best thing going, and she's a sweetie for organizing them.

Authors, if you want to participate then go here and read the sign up information.

Next up, we have a Halloween Bash at R...

Six Sentence Sunday

I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday. My excerpt is another from Wicked. It occurred to me all this time, all these snippets have been in Nathaniel's pov. So here are a few lines from Chloe.

"I'm wounded you've forgotten my offer so quickly." He hummed with amusement low in his throat and her toes curled inside her shoes. "I guess this means you'd rather keep our relationship professional."

When he tried to step back, he didn't make it far. Her arms had linked around his waist at some...

Gambit by Kim Knox is Out!

Woo hoo! Gambit released today from Carina Press, and while Emergence has my favorite of Kim's short story heroes, Gambit has Daned–oh yeah. I would so wrap his sweet self in gold. *rawr* Actually, I'd like to get some gold for my husband. I mean, Christmas will be here before you know it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind being turned into my gold-plated love monkey.

Gambit by Kim Knox

Captain Chae Beyon is a hustler, a mercenary pilot, a wounded woman who prefers her men to be easily thrown aside.

D...

Rhiannon Leith Interviewed!

[image error]Author Rhiannon Leith is visiting today, and we are talking about her latest release, Edge of Heaven, among other things. Please bear with me as this is my first interview (thanks, Rhi!)

Hailey: Welcome Rhiannon, please tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been writing? Have you always wanted to be an author?

Rhiannon: I've written stories for as long as I can remember. I think the first story I wrote down involved someone not terribly dissimilar to myself being trapped somewhere with a rather famous pop star. I was possibly thirteen. He was yum.

I'd been reading Black Lace books for some time when someone challenged me to do something I had sworn I'd never do – write a vampire story for their vampire anthology Lust At First Bite. I was shocked when it was accepted. And delighted.

Hailey: Are there any goals you have set for your writing career you have yet to obtain?

Rhiannon: Not really. I'm not great for rules, either making or following them. My goals vary though. I like to push myself and I try to write something everyday if I can.

Hailey: Do you have any deep, dark secrets? Anything your fans would be shocked to learn about you?

Rhiannon: I'm a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory. Especially Leonard. (And Sheldon, but not for the same reason) I like a boy with brains. Boys with brains are super-sexy.

Hailey: What are two things you can't write without?

Rhiannon:

1) Noise. I'm so used to noise in everyday life that if I try to write without it, I can't really concentrate. I need to have noise, be it the tv or music or simply the usual chaos of my life.

2) A large mug of tea. I love tea. Almost as much as Leonard and Sheldon.

Hailey: Do you remember the title of the first romance novel you read?

Rhiannon: I think it was The White Raven by Diana L. Paxson. It was wonderful. Romance, Arthurian legends, magic and a nice sprinkling of sex. What more could I ask for? I was hooked. (http://www.amazon.com/White-Raven-Dia... – it had this cover too!)

Hailey: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Rhiannon: A bit of both to tell the truth. I tend to switch from one to the other – generally when my characters don't cooperate with my intended plots. Then I have to start pantsing like crazy. Until I run out of ideas. Then I revert to plotting to try and figure a way out of it.

Hailey: What's next for you?

Rhiannon: I'm not entirely sure. I took a little break and now I need to buckle down again. Next on the agenda is most likely a companion book to my futuristic romance With a Touch, set in the world of the Guild.

Hailey: Thanks so much for stopping by, and congratulations! Now let's take a look at that new release of yours.

[image error]Her only hope is to reach for heaven—and hang on to hell.

Lily's psychic "gift" for hearing the dead and helping them pass over into the afterlife has left her friendless and broken, teetering on the edge of sanity. Not much of a challenge for Sammael, a demon who's been sent to seduce her soul for hell.

But something stands between Sam and his prize. Micah, the guardian angel whose constant support keeps Lily sane. Yet Sam senses that Micah's feelings for his charge are less than angelic.

Excellent. It'll be his pleasure to tempt them both into pure sin.

As Lily succumbs to unearthly pleasure, she finds herself caught between the demon who sets her on fire and the angel who lifts her to unimagined heights of ecstasy. It's a choice she can't bring herself to make.

Then a serial killer with preternatural abilities makes Lily his next target. Danger mounts as he repeatedly outfoxes even heaven and hell. To protect her, an angel must fall, a demon must be redeemed—and Lily must travel to hell and back for the men she loves.

Warning: Contains steamy sex, bondage, voyeurism, and a ménage a trois between a tormented angel, a devilishly sexy demon and a woman who can't choose between them. And why should she?

Read An Excerpt Online

Buy from MBaM!

Links:

Website: www.rhiannonleith.com

LJ: rhiannonleith.livejournal.com

Twitter: @rhiannonleith

Samhain Author Page: http://samhainpublishing.com/authors/...

If Facebook Existed Back in the Day…

I got these images in an email today. Some I've seen before, others were new to me. Still, most made me laugh. Love or hate Facebook, I hope you get a kick out of these.

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Six Sentence Sunday

Another Wicked six for your Sunday enjoyment.

With her face cradled in his hands, he leaned in close enough her tongue could have traced his lips. Near enough she smelled caramel on his breath and decided he had a thing for hard candy. "Forget your plan. I've forgotten mine."

His mouth covered hers and she had no trouble forgetting everything but his taste. His kiss migrated down her chin and throat as he sank to his knees.

Check out more SSS excerpts on the official blog, right here.

Everlong? Naughty?

I guess it must be, because I found a review for it on Naughty in the Backseat today.

Everlong by Hailey Edwards

Everlong by Hailey Edwards is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Edwards has created a complex world filled with danger and intrigue. Her characters are complicated and well developed. The pace is fairly fast for most of the book, and even when it slowed a bit, the characters and their world were enough to hold my interest. And the touches of humor only add to the...

Youtube Strikes Again

Earlier today, while Cait was hard at work on her homework, and I was hard at work on revisions, this link to a song perfect for the future Mrs. Jericho Barrons (You might know her as Jayzee) somehow found its way from Cait's computer to mine.

(Let's not over analyze here.)

Now, I'm not a fan of country music. I like some of the older stuff I grew up listening to, and I do love me some Taylor Swift, but this Sugarland video is worth watching for laughs.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.