It's my pleasure today to host Lorelei Bell, author of VAMPIRE'S TRILL! (Doesn't she have a fantastically freaky cover?) Read on for an interview and some fun facts about the author!
(Q) Thanks for stopping by my blog! Let’s start with the basics: where are you from? Is there any place online you’d like to direct us to learn more about you? (A blog, facebook, etc.?)
(A) My main blog is Lorelei's Muse at: http://loreleismuse-lorelei.blogspot.com my fan page on face book is: http://www.facebook.com/lorelei.bell1?ref=profile#!/groups/170436689719229/
(Q) I always love hearing about how the idea for a particular book came about. Please fill us in on how you got the idea for Vampire’s Trill.
(A) I've always had a deep interest in vampires—movies first and then reading and then writing about them. I've actually had a book written for the past 30+ years trying to get it published. When the trend of a vampire's being more romanticize than demonized began, and after discovering Charlaine Harris' books—the covers are what caught my eye—I thought, well, I could write something like this. And so began working on Vampire Ascending. It took me 4-5 years to write/develop their world, characters and so forth. And then a year trying to find someone to take it. I won't go into detail, but my current publisher basically “found” me.
(Q) Which authors have most influenced your own writing?
(A) Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, J.K. Rowling, Dean Koontz, Janet Evanovich, and others, but those are the main ones.
(Q) What do you do for fun other than writing?
(A) My husband and I like to travel out west. We both enjoy nature, and getting out into the forest preserves. We actually manage one. However, a lot of my time is usually spent writing.
(You manage a forest preserve? That sounds wonderful!)
(Q) If you could describe your ideal writing spot, where would it be? What music would you listen to (if at all)? What treats would you have on hand?
(A) I actually have a large room in our house that serves as my office. I've painted the walls orchid—my favorite color. If I listen to music it is from movie scores, and even though I don't like much singing in the background, there are a few I do have from “Forever Knight” I listen to. I might take coffee or hot cocoa or iced tea, and maybe a snack—but I don't snack per say. I actually don't notice I'm hungry until I'm starved!
(Your office sounds great! And I totally know how wrapped up a person can get in their stories--I've forgotten far too many things because I've been caught up in another world :)
(Q) Plotter or pantser? Both? Neither?
(Q) Plotter or pantser? Both? Neither?
(A) Actually, if I think about it, I'm both. I don't like to outline—gag me—but when it comes to writing, I have to know the ending—where I'm going—before I even begin. I have to get my character's bios down and so forth. When it comes to writing, the scenes merely come to me and I write them. I make notes whenever and wherever I happen to be.
(Q) Do you have any new projects that you are working on? Care to share?
(Q) Do you have any new projects that you are working on? Care to share?
(A) I have book's 3 &4 in the works. I want to work on a paranormal mystery series. I'd like to work on a novella... if I didn't have a day job, these things would get done! But, yes. Things are definitely in the works. I also will be in a novella, one of my short stories was picked up called “The Spy Who Bit Me”, it was an older short story which I tried to publish a dozen years ago, and finally I had the chance to polish it up and send it out to Dark Moon Books. This is going to be available for Christmas, it’s a special vampire publication.
(Q) What kinds of marketing do you think are the most successful in terms of getting your name/book out there? (Curious minds are taking notes!)
(A) Facebook—if you have a book definitely get a group started on facebook. Mine is called Fans of Vampire Ascending/Sabrina Strong Series. You can add all your friends to it, and people can request to join it as long as it's an open group.
Twitter too. Get your friends to tweet things.
If you do have a book out, make book marks and some sort of business card too, so that you can easily hand it to people who seem interested in your work.
Get a book signing and make sure all friends and relatives you can scrounge up will come.
Interview in your local papers, and if you aren't shy, call your local radio. I'm terribly shy and have not done the radio interview as yet.
(Q) If you'd like to add anything, please do so.
(A) There are contests running throughout the month of December at places where I'm being featured, and there are contests for a copy of the book or ebook. I announce them on both my facebook fan page and at my blog. I've been on VampChix and Suburban Vampire this week already. I'm to be on a few more this month. Check in at my blog for further information.
(Q) How about an excerpt to tantalize the readers?
(Q) How about an excerpt to tantalize the readers?
(This is from chapter 8 of Vampire's Trill)
I knew I wasn't asleep but in a fog—or rather deep in a vampire's thrall. I recognized that when I opened my eyes as the thrall lifted. The aroma of straw and horses caught in my nose. I realized that I lay in a bed of straw in the second floor of a barn. Most importantly, my Knowing also told me that I wasn't alone. He was here with me.
My movements set in motion the male form across from me. Vasyl slowly turned around. His dark silhouette bisected silver moonlight framed in the open haymow door in the upper section of the barn. His white silk shirt almost glowed against the ebony of his long, wavy hair. The wings were gone, now. Invisible, or whatever it was master vampires could do with them.
Vasyl slowly, sinuously stepped toward me, cutting the distance in half. Unable to avoid my fear — because he had lifted his thrall — I sat up and scooted further back into the pile of straw. As I did, I felt tightness and pain over my right shoulder. I grimaced, trying to stifle a groan, but it gushed out. My mind replayed vague, swirling scenes of being in a car, going way too fast, and someone shooting at me.
Oh. Right. Shot in the back - I had been with Leif. The moments of the car chase and wreck replayed in my mind's eye in a quick flash, stunning me briefly. How had this happened? It was all like a blurry half-remembered dream.“Where am I?” Now there's an original question to ask your abductor.
A little more about the book:
Lorelei Bell has created another unique and mesmerizing mystery masterwork that tops its prequel Vampire Ascending in drama, fast-paced action, love, passion, heartache, and devastation. New friends, new adventures, shocking revelations, and harrowing experiences make for riveting reading in this second installment of the Sabrina Strong Series.
Lorelei Bell has created another unique and mesmerizing mystery masterwork that tops its prequel Vampire Ascending in drama, fast-paced action, love, passion, heartache, and devastation. New friends, new adventures, shocking revelations, and harrowing experiences make for riveting reading in this second installment of the Sabrina Strong Series.
Sabrina learns more details--through Vasyl's recounting of his human and vampire life--of what her role as a sibyl means and how the past and the future will come together. She finally learns what role Vasyl has played in his search for the next sibyl and why she is so tremendously important.
As Sabrina's partner, Dante, puts himself at risk to help all of mankind, Sabrina learns why newcomer, Bill Gannon, is so interested in her, and she works to protect Bjorn Tremayne from losing it all. Sabrina's past catches up to her, and she discovers that not everyone is, or was, what she thought. New characters, some kind and trustworthy, and some not, contribute to a captivating story line, and Sabrina finds herself on a journey she never thought possible.
