The News:

Enjoy this article from a fellow EC author's blog, Amarinda Jones. Her link is:
http://www.amarindajones.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
The Wednesday Interview

Rena Marks is our brilliant author this week. Her latest book is Born Again and its another hot cover that entices you to buy the book. Next week Solange Ayre talks about her excellent book One Thousand Brides .

Born Again - The blurb

Sara Michaels is a woman caught between two very different men. Mortal enemies. And she's having a hard time choosing just one of them. Beau Pierson. Blond, blue-eyed, tanned. A boy-toy to worship the ground she walks on. Aric Ishee. Dark-haired, green-eyed and sexy. A sultry promise that whispers in the night. How can she choose?

It's never easy to have psychic visions and feelings. It's even worse if your past life starts to unravel, mixing with your present-day problems. A new boyfriend into the mix causes tension. A second boyfriend causes conflict. Just as in a previous lifetime, Sara must choose between the two, which will surely cause her death. Again.

This time however, there's no chances left for reincarnation. And Sara's last life impacts this one. As Seraphina Samorra, she was caught between the same two men centuries ago. Can she relive the past without influencing the future? Can she change the future before it's too late?


The interview

1. You have some sizzling sex scenes in your book. How hard is it to write sex and make it convincing?

Writing sex is easy for me. I love to make my characters become three dimensional with emotions and heat, using all those luscious senses. How to make it convincing? LOL, research!

2. Romance and the condom. How hard do you find to slip it in or on when the action is hot between characters?

The condom is difficult for me. It interrupts my flow. It's one of those things that you know about and you know happens, but do you have to read it was put on? Like with writing historicals. We love to read them, especially the sex scenes, but do we want real life details pointed out? Like the fact that bathing was rare back then? Following along those lines, then the easiest way so far to slip in the condom issue is to point out that it's a Magnum - your character can slide it on while your reader is thinking ooh-la-la!

3. Do you think romance just happens or do you make your characters work for it?

In my worlds, it just happens. It was meant to, it makes us human. My characters can either like it or not. If not, they'll definitely have to work for it in addition to the conflicts in the story.

4. What is it about your hero that makes him irresistible to women?

I'm not good at writing alpha males so I concentrate on making a tortured hero we all want to hug to our breast. I also try to make my heroes the savior of my heroine. To where she, and the reader, can't live without him.

5. Do you think readers want to escape or do they want to identify with a character?

It depends on the individual reader and their mood at the time. I know I've gone both ways. I think most readers have active imaginations that tend to want more of an escape. Imagine a world where a man is perfect. Perfect looks, perfect body - yet not cocky. Only has eyes for one woman, yet he's not gay. Thinks like a woman - yet he's all male. Perfect in bed, capable of giving her multiple orgasms, never slips up and has the premature.you know. (If I voice it aloud, it may jinx us.) Now as far as identifying with the character - um, who doesn't want to identify with the heroine of the book with a man like that?

6. What do you think is the most important thing to remember when writing romance?

Hmmm. Definitely the happy ever after. I also think it's important to not make the ending too abrupt - the reader feels cheated when they've read two hundred pages of conflict and yummy sex, and then the ending is wrapped up in fifteen.

7. What are you working on now?

I usually have several projects going on at once. One story, called Dark Desires, is about an embittered half woman/half demon who's rage at an ex-boyfriend puts her into a testing phase - the once in a lifetime decision on which dimension gets her, good or evil. Unfortunately, Keara Knight's overzealousness in punishing men attracts the attentions of the demon lord who's decided she'll make the perfect queen with the new-found ardor she uses against them as a revenge mode. Should she fight to stay good and look for love again even though she was burned? Or shall she be naughty and give in to her dark desires, where it's hot?

The other project is called Liquor Again, a sequel to my Liquor Where It's Hot novel about a local bar named Liquor's. Dr. Randall Reed has just gotten bad news and drowns his sorrows there. Amber Norris is a hereditary witch who owns the bar and has the ability to not only read the future, but actually change it. A matchmaker at heart, she's found the perfect barmaid to pair with the doctor. Unfortunately, the doctor's ex-girlfriend got herself pregnant with his child to trap him into marriage. And Rachel, the barmaid, was tricked into pregnancy so her baby could be taken away. Talk about trust issues!

And I just finished Forgotten Kisses, coming soon to Ellora's Cave. Anjelia Romere is a human woman caught between two men, a good vampire and an evil werewolf. Leo the werewolf king swears she's his mate, yet she's already committed herself as a human servant to Julian, the Master Vampire. Then she discovers that Julian has erased her previous memories of Leo, leaving her with questions and doubts of whom does she really love, and whom can she really trust?

Fans of Charlaine Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton will be sure to love this one! My wonderful critique partners call it a cross between the worlds.

The following article is from Lady Jaided, the Ellora's Cave Magazine, featured author April, 2007.

Rena Marks
www.goodnightsirene.com
Born Again

Tell us about your most erotic romantic fantasy. If you could have a 24-hour romantic fling with anyone you wanted, anywhere you wanted, where would you go, what would you do and with whom would you do it?

Definitely, with my boyfriend! He's the most amazing man who has swept me off my feet. A true hero, straight from the pages of a novel. I'd do anything with him and go anywhere, even if it's in the middle of a desert, as long as I'm with him. In fact, he would probably be better at answering this question than I am. I know he loves sunshine and beaches, so he'd be able to name a nice, romantic place while I just say, anywhere!

Tell us about BORN AGAIN and what you hope readers will enjoy about it.

BORN AGAIN is sure to appeal to paranormal fans with its glimpses into the past and present. Sarah Michaels is a human psychic caught between two sexy men she feels an instant connection to. She soon realizes why when she discovers she was a witch in a previous life forced to make a choice between the same two men, leaving her to wonder how those identical men exist today. And if choosing didn't work then, how can it possibly work now?

What's your writing space like?

A mess. LOL! I have a laptop, so my writing space is sometimes out on the front porch watching my neighbors mow their lawns. Or if it's a full moon out and the glow is shining into my bedroom window, I'll grab my laptop and sit up in bed to write. I've even taken it on vacation, writing on airplanes or in airports. I do have an "office" set up, but it's really a joke. I have so much paperwork sitting around in piles that I can't stand to set foot in there!

What do you like about where you live?

It's completely mine! I'm recently divorced, and I kept the house. I live in a quirky little neighborhood, with lots of odd characters I can use my imagination to spin stories on. I'm next to a park that I can use for walking, or sit with my trusty laptop while I watch my kids play on the playground.

If you could have one special super or magical power, what would it be?

I'm insatiably curious. Which is a polite way of saying, "nosy as hell." I would kill for the power of invisibility. Can you imagine being a fly on the wall anywhere you wished? Can you imagine the stories that would come from it? I know, a lot of people are cringing here.

What's your favorite smell?

I love sweet, flowery scents. Lavender, jasmine, rose, lilac. I'm a romantic at heart.

What else do you want readers to know about you or your work?

Fans of Charlaine Harris, Laurell K Hamilton, and Kim Harrison will find themselves smitten with my work with one difference: I'm a romance writer, true to the happy ending. Yet, as with those writers, you get the paranormal element, the action, and the fantastic characterization and fantasy. You get the best of both worlds! Look soon for my series based on a vampire/werewolf world called STILL HEARTBEATS, CONTINUING HEARTBEATS, and ETERNAL HEARTBEATS.

* NOTE: Titles have been changed to FORGOTTEN KISSES, REMEMBERED KISSES, and ETERNAL KISSES.