Sunday, 14 August 2016

Author Interview - Shari Elder

Very belatedly, because I am doing everything very belatedly at the moment, I'm delighted to welcome Shari Elder to the blog for a chat! Her novella SHIFTER TRIALS was recently released and promptly added to my TBR pile. Shari has kindly agreed to answer a few questions for me, and I have finally carved out the time to actually post them, so let's get to it!


Welcome, Shari! Let's start by hearing a little bit about your newest release.

First, thanks so much for hosting me. I’m thrilled to be here and to share my novella, Shifter Trials. Its based on the greek myth, Atalanta, a huntress who would only agree to marry a man who could beat her in a footrace. I turned Atalanta into Talia, an alpha shifter, who would have trouble finding a mate who is her equal in strength and spirt. Voila, Shifter Trials. Here is the blurb.

On the night of the full moon, any male shifter can call the Trials to race against Talia Orion, alpha of the united wolf-eagle clans. Clan law requires Talia to marry the winner of the Trials, a grueling twenty-mile marathon through dangerous, rugged terrain. The product of an unhappy, political alliance masquerading as a marriage, Talia trains obsessively to ensure she avoids her parents’ fate.  Her newest vampire trainer, Hayden Mitchell, makes her powerful even as he knocks down her defenses, and finds his way, first, into her bed then into her heart.

Hayden has loved Talia since the first moment he saw her. As the destined ruler of the vampire clan, he has another agenda – to politically unite Talia’s clans with his own—what Talia fears most, and will never forgive him for.

I love a bit of mythological re-working! It's a great source for story ideas. Do you have a favourite genre to write in?

I love to create worlds and culture, design cities and governments, imagine what ifs. Given that, I love paranormal and science fiction romance. Both genres give me the freedom to pull out the entire mental lego set, throw it on the floor and just create.


If you could have dinner with any three writers, living or dead, who would they be?

Jane Austen, Mary Shelley and Maya Angelou. Each one created rich, innovative stories that challenged how we saw the world and how the world should look in fact. The weren’t just writers, their lives broke barriers for all women. I would love to sit at their table and soak up their personal stories, and be a better person for it.

Are there any books you can just read over and over again and never get sick of?

Yes, my favorite children’s books – Dr. Seuss‘ Oh the Places You Will Go, Green Eggs and Ham and Yertle the Turtle; Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Shel Siverstein’s The Giving Tree, and Ogden Nash, The Zoo and Custard the Dragon. Even now, I find them inspirational. If I need a lift, I always turn to these classics.


The tough one: tea or coffee?

I have to choose! I can’t get out of bed or get to the page without a cup of coffee. But, in the afternoon, I crave a good cup of hot tea. Earl Grey. Hot.


Nothing beats a good cup of Earl Grey, it's true. What else are you working on right now? What's up next from you?

I am completing a science fiction romance novel at the moment, called Race to Redemption. Here’s a quick summary.

Terran Alliance storm racing champion Elaina Carteret has it all—wealth, celebrity, respect and a god-of-a-fiancee—until betrayal and tragedy sends her into exile.  Resurfacing as Lainie Carter, a medical transport driver on the isolated desert planet of Ranhar, her rule-bending approach to her job infuriates the med facility director, Dr. Erik Hansen, who runs the outpost with an iron hand, a permanent scowl and the tightest bod on the planet.

So if you fall in love with SHIFTER TRIALS, you know there's more coming from Shari soon! Thanks for dropping by, Shari :)
 
Thanks, again, for hosting me. I love visitors, so please come by and chat. Virtual coffee and cookies for all. You can find me at:

Twitter: @ShariElderBooks

You can pick up a copy of SHIFTER TRIALS at:


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