Author Interview - Sabrina Garie

I have fellow SFR Brigade author Sabrina Garie over today to talk about her new release, Thirteen Nights. She's the second author I've interviewed, so this is quite exciting. I'm hoping to do these interviews more regularly since it's always fun to learn about other erotic romances and how they came to be. 

As Sabrina's book just came out, she's a very busy lady. So let's get right to it:

Click the image to get to Sabrina's Website!

1. Thirteen Nights came out on December 6. You must be excited. But this isn't your first published work--can you tell us about the other two?

I am very excited about Thirteen Nights. I had so much fun writing this book. Its fantasy and I loved the world building. My other books include Fires of Justice, which is a paranormal romance, between a fire witch and a fire shifter. I combined elements of western lore (witches, and shifters and gods, oh my) with eastern lore (elemental magic, chakras, and energy). The results were a lot of fun. My third book is Next Move, a contemporary second chance romance between a tough as nails single mother and CEO and her daughter’s soccer coach. That is about real people with real problems, who overcome their own issues to find love again. All books are published Ellora’s Cave. You can also find them on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

2. How did you get your start as an author? Why did you choose to write erotic romance?

I have been trying to write for a long time, always starting new projects. A children’s book here, a play there, a poem way over yonder. Only when I sat down to write romance did I actually stay down and finish a book, and then another. I pitched Fires of Justice to an Ellora’s Cave editor on a Passionate Ink pitch opportunity, and was asked to submit. The first version was not accepted but the second was. The rest as they say is history. For those not familiar, Passionate Ink is the Romance Writers of America chapter for erotic romance.

Why erotic romance? The easy answer is that’s how I like to read romance. I am often disappointed when I get the fade to black in romance novels. More importantly, I prefer sex scenes to be explicit because how people make love is an important part of their relationship dynamic. To me, to fully understand a couple’s love story, it’s important to see that part of it. Despite all the hype, sex is not always easy, and having a safe place to explore it is one of the real values of erotic romance. And finally, for some reasons, when I plot stories, it tends to be around sex scenes because they serve as clear milestones of a relationship.

3. Let's chat more about your book. How do Annie and Tai end up together (for thirteen nights)?

Thirteen Nights is a yearly ritual that pairs up Amazons and their male counterparts, known as Gargareans (I got that from history books, I did not make it up) for conception, since neither group marries. Both groups are committed to a warrior’s life. I modernized the myth and hid the ritual in a speed dating event. Tai and Annie end up as partners for Thirteen Nights because Tai, who’s a coding whiz, hacks the speed dating database to make sure they do end up together. Although they choose each other during the speed dating event, the pairs are really matched by genetics and Tai, who is a half human, does not have the right genes. Annie is of the royal amazon genetic line.

4. I have to admit, I'm a bit shallow when it comes to male leads. Can you tell us more about Tai? How would his driver's license read...and what other attributes might catch a gal's eye?

I love Tai. He’s 6 foot 2, leanly muscled (all that warrior work out stuff), with tattooing that runns from his left shoulder to his wrist, detailing all of his battle victories. He’s got black hair that lands at his shoulders, a little wild. And his eyes are deep brown. Annie describes them as tender and soulful, pledging warmth and humor. He is single-minded, determined, quiet but absolutely lethal. When he makes up his mind, he lets nothing—absolutely nothing—stand in his way.

5. Fantasy and world-building go hand-in-hand. Tell me more about the world of your new Divine Temptation series. How did you manage to get Amazons and Greek Gods in one (very yummy) book?

The world assumes all the pantheons and their gods and goddesses still exist and live hidden among us. Their powers are waning, stripped away by modern life. To survive, the pantheons shun the mortal world. The Amazons, which are genetically enhanced humans, serve as the guardians of the Greek pantheon gods. When they are not battling for the gods, they have to find ways to earn money to survive on Earth. Annie is a bounty hunter in the human world, Tai is cyber security expert for the FBI.

6. Alright, I'm hooked. Where should I go to buy your book?

Right now, it’s available from the following online sites (links are clickable): Ellora’s Cave, Amazon, Kobo, and Goodreads

It was a pleasure having Sabrina over. Scroll down for more information about the book and author, and please leave a comment if you have a spare moment.

Thirteen Nights

Annie’s always been different. An empathic Amazon, she hides her emotional anomaly beneath her legendary fighting skills. To avoid passing on her genetic disorder, she’s always avoided the Thirteen Nights Ritual—the annual breeding rite among the warrior races of the Greek Pantheon. Only months away from 30, she is now duty-bound to participate. When she meets Tai, a half-human warrior who revs her up beyond legal limits and nurtures the gentleness she’s had to keep secret, thirteen nights of pleasure don’t seem nearly enough.

As a half human, Tai has survived by being faster, more lethal, and a whole lot smarter than his brethren. While the male warriors accept him for his achievements, the Amazons have never given him a second look. Until he meets Annie, whose smile is warm and real and whose body shudders with desire—for him. Determined to have her, he hacks into the Thirteen Nights database and rearranges the pairings to make Annie his breeding partner. Together, their strength and tenderness combust into pure love.

But Tai’s actions are forbidden under Amazon law, subject to a death. To stay together and alive, they must take on the Greek Pantheon and win.

About the Author

Sabrina Garie is on a journey to create the most kick-ass heroine romance fiction has ever known and the hero who can take her. A believer that big, audacious goals spice up life, she relies on coffee, red wine and laughter to make those goals (and her characters) come alive. When not at the computer, she wrangles vegetables and extra helpings of homework into her fashion-loving progeny, kowtows to a fat cat and reads, a lot. Since it is more fun to travel in packs, come along for the ride.

Blog/Website: www.sabrinagarie.com
Facebook: facebook.com/sabrinagarieauthor
Twitter: @sabrinagarie
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Sabrina_Garie

Author Interview - Anna Zabo

Welcome to my stop on the Absolutely Erotic Blog Hop! This May, we showcase erotica and erotic romance authors from the Absolute Write forums. Interviews are posted each day, and when it’s all said and done, some lucky commenter will win a huge prize!  Click here for the entire blog schedule, details about the contents of the prize, and how to win an armload of ebooks, a $25 Amazon gift card, and more. Today, I’m hosting Anna Zabo . We first met on the Absolute Write forums, and she’s the lovely lady who introduced me to the #SFFSAT blog chain. We’ve commented on each other’s blogs and chatted on Twitter (@amergina), so hopefully she feels quite at home.

Incidentally, this is my first time interviewing anyone, so please pardon the excitement.

Hi Anna, can you tell me a little about your latest release?

Hi Tara, thanks for having me! My latest release is Slow Waltz, a Spring Fling short story from Loose Id. It’s an m/m erotic paranormal romance and continues the story of Rhys and Silas from Close Quarter. However, Slow Waltz is stand-alone, so it can be read without having read the other book.

It’s about Rhys coming to terms with the relationship he’s suddenly found himself in. And about dancing and learning to trust your partner.

Let’s chat about the two male protagonists in Slow Waltz and Close Quarter. I’m most interested in their physical attributes—they look quite fetching in the cover art.

I adore the cover art! *sigh* It’s actually very close to how I picture them. Rhys is jus about spot on, from his reddish hair to his very green eyes and that smirk. He’s about 5’11” and pretty well-built. He’s a sculptor who specializes in larger works in metal, stone, and wood, so he’s used to hauling around some pretty heavy objects (often mechanically assisted, but still).

Silas is a bit taller than Rhys at 6’, has dark, near black hair that likes to settle into waves if it gets too long. He was born in what is now central Italy, so think Mediterranean sun-kissed skin and classic features, with amber eyes. That’s what a human would see, for the most part. As fae, he’s pretty much stunningly beautiful to every human near to the point of enthrallment, if he’s not glamoured. Rhys isn’t affected by that, though.

Now that you’ve got my heart all a flutter, tell me about their paranormal abilities. What cool powers do Rhys and Silas have?

Silas is a forest and field fae, so he can manipulate plant life to some extent. Make it grow a bit faster, cure any disease or damage. But he also can take that energy into himself and use it to become faster and stronger. To heal himself or other fae and humans. Lack of access to plant energy won’t kill him, but being wounded away from energy to heal himself can.

You know, like on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. 

All fae have the ability to glamor themselves and others around them. So they can pass for human and often hide what they’re really doing, even in a large crowd.

Rhys is one quarter fae, which is extraordinarily rare. Legend has it that quarters are vast batteries of energy that a fae of the same element can harness, but the quarter fae has no inherent talent to use the energy at all. Let’s just say that legends aren’t always correct. Even fae legends.

If they were both at a bar, what kind of drink would they prefer? (Not that I’ll try to bump into them or anything)

Silas likes hard things. *cough* Like single-malt Scotch. Rhys is more of a beer kind of guy. But he’s learning to enjoy hard things too.

*Laughs* I hope he learns quickly. By the way, those are two really cool names. Are Rhys and Silas namesakes of someone you know?

Nope! Silas got his name because I was hunting down Roman names and came across Silvanus, which seemed perfect for a forest fae. Silas is a variant of that.

Rhys is a name I’ve always loved, and that seemed to roll of the tongue well with Silas.

Sometimes, the names just happen...Rhys is one of those characters whose name just was there.

Of all the ballroom dances they could learn, why the waltz?

I wanted something elegant. But also something fairly easy to learn! The actual steps to the waltz aren’t hard.

Why did you set Rhys and Silas’ stories on a cruise ship?

I had a dream about a fae vampire hunter on a cruise ship. It was much more action-oriented and kind of steampunky, but the idea stuck with me. And it seemed like a nice problem for a forest fae to be stuck in the middle of an ocean...quite literarily out of his element!

Were you inspired by any cruise line in particular?

I spent a lot of time on the webpage of the Queen Mary 2, just to get the feel of a larger, luxury cruise ship. While I was writing Close Quarter, I took a Mediterranean cruise with HollandAmerica, on a much smaller ship (the Prinsendam) and that helped inform a lot of the things about cruising in general.

Lucky you. So where exactly on this cruise ship did they first do the naughty things?

Silas gives Rhys a rather spectacular hand job in a hallway...

*Fans self* And I’m sure it gets much hotter elsewhere. Since we’re trying to keep this PG--If you could only meet one of them in real life, who would it be?

Rhys. He’s more down to earth and human. I adore Silas, but he’s a little otherworldly at times. Rhys is someone I could sit down with, drink beer, eat popcorn, and watch an awful movie.

What’s the most romantic scene these two share?

Probably the one in Slow Waltz where they dance with each other in public.

Now you’ve got me all dreamy eyed. *Pleading Look* Do you have more adventures planned for Rhys and Silas?

Yes. There’s at least one book set in New York, once they arrive, since there are some loose ends that need to be wrapped up there. That may take more than one book, though.

There will also be a book featuring Vasil, the waiter who ends up seeing far too many things otherworldly in Close Quarter.

What writing project(s) are taking up all your time these days?

I’m working on the Vasil book and also an m/m contemporary novella about a guy who has a fantastic on-night-stand while on vacation, only to come home and find that his ‘stand is the new CEO.  Ooops.

Are you active on social media? Where can fans hunt you down?

I am! I’m on twitter here: http://twitter.com/amergina And I blog here: http://www.annazabo.com And I’m on FaceBook here: http://www.facebook.com/AnnaZabo

Where can readers buy Slow Waltz?

Slow Waltz is $0.99 from Loose Id.

Thank you for visiting this stop on the Absolutely Erotic Blog Hop! Please be sure to visit Anna Zabo’s blog tomorrow to read an interview with Scarlet Day, and comment for more chances to win the grand prize!

Slow Waltz

New lovers Rhys Matherton and Silas Quint finally have a chance to breath easy and enjoy a well-earned respite on board a transatlantic cruise to New York City. But the lack of danger gives Rhys too much time to think about the enormity of falling in love with a man who isn’t human. He’s not sure love at first sight can last, especially when your lover is fae. Sure, the sex is fantastic, but that’s not enough to hang the rest of your potentially immortal life upon.

To distract himself, Rhys suggests he and Silas take a set of lessons to learn to waltz. The plan backfires when they are paired with two older women—one of whom reminds Rhys of his recently deceased mother. Instead of being able to ignore thinking about his future with Silas, he’s actively questioned about his lover. And it seems the whole boat knows who he’s sleeping with.

As Rhys learns the steps of the waltz, he has to decide if he’ll continue to dance around what he feels for Silas or if he’ll finally learn to trust in his partner’s love for him.

About the Author

Anna Zabo writes erotic paranormal romance and fantasy. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which isn’t nearly as boring as most people think. A lover of all things fae, and wonderful, she looks for the magical in the cracks of her city.