Special Guest - Poppet!

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting a phenomenal and one of the most elegant writers I've had the pleasure of reading - Poppet.... 

JET:  Can you tell us about your most recent book?

Poppet: Master of Umbra is about Ewan, the chief of the Eagle clan in the Scottish highlands. The Frost giant series continues in this book saturated with humor, friction, and impending war. Someone has incited the Eagle's and Raven's to wage war with one another, the reason is clear when Emma displays her gifts which mark her as one of the last surviving Thurs (like Thor, but a race of them). The sexual tension is overwhelming when Ewan finds a lost eagle and takes her home. Little could he know Deliah was on the cusp of death, her ex boyfriend having reached her first. Given two choices by Odin, two friends come head to head to handfast with Deliah, all while dealing with outside stresses and drama. This is sexy, dark, and violent.

JET:  What drew you to paranormal romance?

Poppet: Anything is possible in this genre, and that's why I love it.

JET:  What’s been your most challenging hurdle on the road to publication? 

Poppet: It's still challenging.

JET:  What was your favorite moment in the journey?

Poppet: Being signed to Wild Wolf Publishing and finding that they are the best group of individuals to ever own a publishing house. I love them to bits!

JET:  Which authors had the most influence over you growing up?

Poppet: Enid Blyton had a big influence as a young child, from there I jumped to Koontz and King, reading them before I was even a teen, finding I love horror. Horror movies gripped me early on in my life, I love being scared witless.

JET:  When did you know you wanted to take the plunge into the writing world?

Poppet: Sometimes life circumstances leave you with just your dream as an option. I decided to try, or die trying.

JET: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of book research? Most interesting fact you uncovered? 

Poppet: Drowning. I didn't mean it to be research but boy have I used that experience!

JET:  Of all the novels and stories you’ve written - which one is your favorite?  Why?

Poppet: At the moment my favorite is Ye Mistress of Baphos Hall. Why: because it's an olde worlde classical fairytale, set in mediaeval Alba, which is also three stories in one. No two people will read the same story.

JET:  Any advice (from a writer’s standpoint) for the novices out there?

Poppet: Just hang in there. It doesn't get any easier, be careful who you trust, and expect to have your heart broken regularly.

JET: All right - now that I’ve hammered you with the big questions, let’s tackle my favorite (and geeky) quick ten. . . starting with...Paper or Plastic?

Poppet:  Paper

JET: Steak or Tofu?

Poppet:  Neither

JET: Beach or Mountains?

Poppet:  Mountain

JET: Country or Rock-n-Roll?

Poppet:  Rock'nRoll

JET: Leather or Lace?

Poppet:  Leather

JET: Angels or Demons?

Poppet:  Demons

JET: Paper or Digital?

Poppet:  Paper

JET:  Silent Film Classics or Cheesy B Rated Horror?

Poppet:  Silent classics

JET: Twilight or True Blood:

Poppet:  True Blood

JET: Coffee or Tea?

Poppet:  Coffee

JET:  Thank you for indulging me.  Before we wrap this up, can you tell us what you're working on now?  What's next?

Poppet: The sequel to Darkroom (Over Exposure), Moonshine Express (a diabolical train ride), Viridian Vamporium (the final book in the series), Ascend in Ius (a new PNR series), and the final novel in the Valhalla Series, The Master of Skadi.

JET: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat on my blog.  Folks, you can find out more about Poppet and her work at the following places:

Facebook

Goodreads

Twitter

Website

Blog

Pinterest

But before I let you all go, I thought I'd give you a teaser - the book blurb for Master of Umbra and an excerpt, courtesy of Poppet...

Deliah is in grave danger, running for her life from a man who needs her dead, when serendipity plants her in the path of the Master of Umbra.

Inducted into the mysterious Eagle clan of the Scottish highlands, Deliah is torn between her fate and destiny when kin clash for her affections. Falling for the scandalous villain who heads the Berserkers of the Hebrides, her fragile hope is snuffed out early by revelation and impending war.

The only mantra she can cling to is the one uttered in heartfelt promise; that love comes back.

Because that's what love does.

Link on Amazon US:

http://amzn.com/B00D4E8UWE

Link on Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D4E8UWE

Excerpt:

Weary after setting Emma up for the night, I walk into my chambers when a loud purr calls me to my bed. The ragamuffin stretches, lifting her tail to pad soundlessly over my quilts, pawing at my jeans for me to lift her.

“Hello Bella, why is your mommy sleeping in daddy bear's bed?” I whisper, giving her a chin scratch, distracted by Liah curled into a pillow, exposing the gun for all to see.

Circling the bed quietly, I silently take off my bloodied shirt as I don't want to alarm her. Peering closer, inspecting her pale cheeks, it looks to me like she's been crying.

What the hell happened now? I'm in just the right mood to crack open a few more skulls.

Foul tempered, I shake her, “Deliah? What's the matter darling?”

Brown eyes as dewy as a doe's open to engage my stare, her dilated pupils contracting against the light, when the waif jumps up to fling herself at me, clamping my neck with skinny arms and hiding her face in the crook, giving poor Arrabella enough of a fright to arch her back and crab-walk to the edge of the bed.

“Liah?”

I've expended energy this day to heal Emma and am not inclined to deplete my reserves to scavenge her mind for the details. She can just tell me the old fashioned way.

“Sweetheart, tell me what happened.”

“Just...” she sniffs, pulling back from her noose tight grip to stare vulnerability up at me, kneeling on my bed, precious and pretty and far too lithe in those thigh hugging jeans. “I feel stupid now.”

“It wasn't stupid if you decided the only safe place in my kingdom is the king's bed. Who threatened you?”

Thanks for swinging by today.

Until next time...

Ciao

JET

Special Guest Interview with Poppet

JET: Can you tell us about your most recent book?

Poppet: My newest books came out a few weeks apart as I wrote them the wrong way around. I started writing Indigo Vamporium, was midway when the second book wouldn't give me peace, so I wrote that (Scarlet Vamporium) and then went back to complete Indigo Vamporium. I released Scarlet earlier than Indigo on fan request. So to me these two books feel like 'my latest book' as a unit.

Indigo Vamporium takes my adult series and characters and examines the vampyre family as teenagers. Seithe was the first book in the vampyre series, so I set Indigo Vamporium in the same city to give it continuity as the book revolves around Seithe coming to terms with and trying to perfect his own abilities. He has a lot of responsibility on his young shoulders and doesn't get on well with his guardian; his father's brother Venix.

In IV he has to dive for hidden halos, has a close call with a ghost ship out on the high seas, is sent into the Vamporium alone to battle the scourge of the underworld, and falls for a local human girl, Tasmin. Ellindt, his twin sister, is on a mission to engage human love and redemption and does what most girls her age do, this has her uncle banishing her to Scotland to stay with her aunt for punishment, severing the close bond Ellindt and Seithe have had since birth. It all falls apart for Seithe and it gets ten times worse when the karma collector kidnaps his human girlfriend.

Book 2, Scarlet Vamporium, follows 17 year old Ellindt as a foreigner in Glencoe, where she meets a wonderful varsity crush. Luckily for her Douglas believes in monsters and beasties because Scotland is rich in tales of the Fey, (the Seelie and Unseelie courts), loch monsters, and has a unicorn as their national animal. It's a match made in heaven, until her family interferes.

JET: What drew you to paranormal romance?

Poppet: I've always found vampyres an intriguing and enigmatic topic.

JET: What’s been your most challenging hurdle on the road to publication?

Poppet: Lordy, where to begin? I tried to get published MANY years ago, but ran into many roadblocks. I write paranormal fantasy and horror, and when I submitted my books to local publishers was told they don't publish these genres, I must write for the 'local' market. So I thought I'd try overseas, only to be met with the issue that I needed an agent. At that time this country had 2 literary agents. I went to the only one in my 'state', only to find out after paying her all the money I had and she'd given me the runaround for 2 years, that she only publishes diaries and autobiographies by famous people. I was so frustrated, the world loves reading romances and, horror and romance are to date the best selling movie genres worldwide, and yet I couldn't even be heard because of the local clampdown on these genres. I tried my hand abroad, but had not enough money to send the printed MS's to big publishers, it was only when the publishers started using the internet broadly and widely that I finally had a chance at knocking on doors. I got an agent in Ireland who did nothing for a year and answered my emails to her twice. So I gave up on the agent idea, joined Authonomy, learned A LOT, and started submitting to any and all publishers who allow you to submit manuscript's unagented. It was a heartbreaking journey, one that often depressed me severely (it seemed so hopeless just because of my geographical location). And often I nearly gave up. It was only the friends I made on Authonomy that kept me going at all. I was even told by a big publisher represented locally that they'd consider my book if a main character was black. They deny it now and I wish I'd kept the email. That shocked me!

JET: What was your favorite moment in the journey?

Poppet: When Wild Wolf published me. I had a previous publishing contract, but I chose to leave that publisher because we didn't see eye to eye. I know I sound like a fangirl but Wild Wolf Publishing just gets me, I adore them, and will stay with them no matter how many of my other books make it or break it in the world.

JET: Which authors had the most influence over you growing up?

Poppet: Enid Blyton. The Magic Faraway Tree changed my perception of planet earth.

JET: When did you know you wanted to take the plunge into the writing world?

Poppet: When I worked for an ad agency and the creative director (also a film producer) read my work and thought it was good enough. His words encouraged me a lot.

JET: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of book research? Most interesting fact you uncovered?

Poppet: I read the Kabbalah, I-Ching, Nag Hammadi texts, dead Sea Scrolls, and five versions of the bible, researched metals, drugs, geography, astronomy, ancient astrology, archeology, the Greek myths and legends, the Egyptian myths and legends, spent 3 months just working out the ancient Greek calendar, read the Popoh Vuh and all the Mayan legends – all for 1 book.

JET: Of all the novels and stories you’ve written - which one is your favorite? Why?

Poppet: Sveta. Because I think the right person for you knows your insecurities and still wants to love you.

JET: Any advice (from a writer’s standpoint) for the novices out there?

Poppet: Never give up. Work at it day and night. Write and write and write some more. Perfect your writing skills, join a group of authors that aren't afraid to shred your work and tell you the truth, and learn from them. They will remove your ego and polish your writing ability like no other. Only by writing and writing some more will you improve. As Steve King likes to say, the first million words are just practice. If you are good enough, someone, somewhere, will say yes.

JET: All right - now that I’ve hammered you with the big questions, let’s tackle my favorite (and geeky) quick ten. . . starting with:  Paper or Plastic?

Poppet: Paper

JET: Steak or Tofu?

Poppet: Neither

JET: Beach or Mountains?

Poppet: Both (lol). But if I had to pick one, I pick mountains.

JET: Country or Rock-n-Roll?

Poppet: Rock – always.

JET: Leather or Lace?

Poppet: Why do I have to choose? :P hmmmm, lace would probably win this war.

JET: Angels or Demons?

Poppet: Both. Demons – but my view of demons is based on their Greek origin. It's a Greek word spelled Daemon. I have this great OLD book that gives ancient astrology lessons by the different cultures (Persian, Greek etc), and it was in there that I first read the Greek definition of daemon. I love daemons!

JET: Paper or Digital?

Poppet: Both (lol) Damn girl! Digital wins, but I like the everlasting aspect of paper. Where would we be now if the scrolls hadn't been hidden in caves for thousands of years? When archaeologists dig up your ebook reader, they won't learn a damn thing.

JET: Silent Film Classics or Cheesy B Rated Horror?

Poppet: Silent Films for sure.

JET: Twilight or True Blood?

Poppet: True Blood

JET: Coffee or Tea?

Poppet: Coffee

JET: Thank you for indulging me. Before we wrap this up, can you tell us what you're working on now? What's next?

Poppet: Aisyx, the final installment of my vampyre / neuri series. It's due out 31st December (after the world ends hahahaha). Call me an optimist, or a non believer in paranoid hype. The first quarter of 2013 will see a number of horrors by me, including Paint (a serial killer), Tithe (a medieval horror on the abuse of religion), Night Blind (more killing and stalking), and a haunting story where antiques end up ruining lives.

Thank you JET!


Thank you so much for taking the time to chat on my blog. Folks, you can find out more about Poppet and her work at the following places:

Twitter: @AuthorPoppet
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Poppet/197111090356326
http://authorpoppet.wordpress.com
http://authorpoppet.weebly.com

Other titles by Poppet include Seithe, Venix, Zauran, Sveta, Ryan, Arelstin's Lair, Scarlet Vamporium, Indigo Vamporium, Darkroom, Erra, Shar, Erra More & the Sibitti, Djinn, Blindsided, Penance, Heresy, Dusan, Fey's Adventures, The Scorpion's Sting (Heresy), Solar Eclipse (Heresy), Quislings, Fractured, The Demenion series, Spellbound, and Ruthless.

Until Next Time,
Ciao,
JET