Wednesday Coffee with Ally Shields

Welcome Ally, I’m thrilled to have to here today. Let’s learn more about you.

 Q. What made you pick your particular genre?

A: It picked me! I started out to write a mystery but found out my heroine was a witch. I had been reading both urban fantasies and mysteries for years. An urban fantasy using a mystery framework was kind of a natural for me!

Q. How long have you been writing?

A: All my life. Seriously, I wrote my first novel-length story at age nine, and I have boxes full of stories or story ideas. I have been writing full-time for five years, and absolutely love it!

Q. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?

A: I’ve just started book five in my urban fantasy series. It’s entitled Stirring the Flames and takes place mostly in Europe, primarily Italy. I can’t tell you much more or I would get too far ahead of the published story. You can count on their being plenty of danger and drama!

On the back burner, I have a thriller series starring a female ex-CIA assassin.

Q. Do you ever hit the wall or find you’ve written yourself into a corner? How do you turn that around?

A: I’ve never hit a blank wall, but I have written my characters into a corner. I’ve been able to brainstorm through those issues with friends, or sometimes the answers come to me in the shower, on the treadmill or overnight. I don’t think my muse ever sleeps!

Okay…enough with the business questions! How about some fun stuff. You know, just between the two of us.

Q. The opportunity to go on a surprise vacation arises. You have 90 minutes to pack and get to the airport. Where will you go and what will you pack?

A: Egypt. I adore the country! My laptop, my kindle, Birkenstocks and sunscreen. Oh, and chocolate!

Q. Are you more likely to be spotlighted on the TV show Hoarders or Fashion Police?

A: Fashion Police, needing a make-over!

Q. If they make a movie about your life, who do you want to play your part?

A: Any gorgeous, long legged blonde. This doesn’t have to be realistic, does it?

Q. Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us…it can be a secret…we won’t tell.

A: I used to own several horses and ride a lot. Many years ago I rode across the desert in Arizona visiting ancient Anasazi ruins. It was one of the most fascinating trips I’ve taken, and I think it added to my interest in the spiritual/supernatural.

 [image error]

Fire Within Book Blurb:

A hidden evil stalks the city…

Fire witch cop Ari Calin refuses to believe her human friend Eddie murdered a vampire—in spite of his confession. When a second vampire dies, Andreas, the sexy, charismatic vampire she dated and split from eight months ago, joins her in the hunt for the real killer.

But Riverdale may have a special kind of serial killer who’s looking for its next vampire victim. The roles of hunter and hunted become murky. And while unterHunAri might feel like killing Andreas at times, she doesn’t want anyone else to do it…

Quick Excerpt:

(Ari stopped by the Otherworld forensics lab to see what results they have from the crime scenes. She’s just located Gillian, the elf in charge of the case evidence.)

“Couldn’t wait for me to call, huh? Since you’re here, take a look at this.” She (Gillian) pointed to a jar on the counter in front of her and stood aside.

Ari looked at the squishy mass inside. “It’s a bunch of tiny eyeballs. So what?”

“Eye of newt,” Gillian said.

“What do you want with lizard eyeballs?”

“Technically, salamander. Ari, I’m surprised at you. As a witch, you should be familiar with Macbeth. ‘Eye of newt, toe of frog.’”

Stunned, Ari stared at her. “You’re trying to make a potion? Gillian, that’s an old wives’ tale. That stuff,” she point at the jar in distaste, “isn’t good for anything.” 

Gillian’s merry laugh broke out. “Gotcha! You and I may know that, but the fake sorcerer we raided didn’t. This was one of his staple items. You should’ve seen his crystal ball. It was plastic.”

Ari rolled her eyes. Couldn’t the frauds at least do the research?

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Within-Guardian-Witch-ebook/dp/B00BQN1YUU/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fire-within-ally-shields/1114797385?ean=2940016295343

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-firewithin-1112003-139.html

Author Bio:

Ally Shields was born and raised in the Midwest, along the Mississippi River, the setting for her urban fantasy series. After  a career in law and juvenile justice, she turned to full-time writing in 2009, and Awakening the Fire, the debut novel in her Guardian Witch series, was released in September 2012.  Ally still lives close to the Mighty Mississippi with her Miniature Pinscher, Ranger. When not writing or reading, she loves to travel in the US and abroad. Way too often she can be found on Twitter.

Contact links:

Website: http://allyshields.com

Blog: http://allyshields.com/blog.html

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShieldsAlly

Facebook: http://facebook.com/AllyShieldsAuthor

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6527209.Ally_Shields

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/allyshields