Thursday, June 30, 2011

Shea Macleod - Kissed by Darkness (1st look) Giveaway, Author Interview, And Book Review


 Kissed by Darkness
by: Shea Macleod

Bailey Morgan is busy Hunting vampires, demon spawn, and the other supernatural creatures that haunt the modern day city of Portland, Oregon when a strange new client hires her to hunt down and destroy a mythical Sunwalker.

It's a mission which will pit her against one of the legendary Templar Knights, make her a target of the local vampire clans, and awaken within her an ancient Darkness that frightens her to her very core. Not only must Bailey discover the truth behind her mission in order to save an innocent, but the truth about herself before the Darkness swallows her whole.


My review

This book was awesome. With a man to die for and a heroine that kicks Vamps but. I enjoy the plots twists, turns of mystery, a new breed, templar knights and atlantean myth.  The sexual tension is hot. The writing style was good, and the world setting well done. I found the book to be completely original and keep me guessing. I absolutely love the mix of the different type of magical influences. It was an awesome read one I would recommend.

My rating 5 stars 

Author Interview

Can you tell us a little about yourself? 


I'm originally from Portland, Oregon, but have been living in London, UK for the last five years, thanks to a relationship that went wonky.  But that's another story.  I decided to stay and I've never regretted the decision.  It's given me the chance to indulge in my love of travel and history as well as explore this amazing city.  I enjoy Latin dance, am a voracious reader, am addicted to chocolate, and think that everything's better with dragons.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? 

Of course!  When my brothers and I were small, my mother used to load us into our red Radio Flyer wagon and haul us to the library.  I would run my hands along the spines of all those beautiful books and imagine my name was on one of them.  That people were reading my story.  And now they can. :-)

What surprised you the most about the writing/publishing process? 

That there's more to it than just writing.  There's rewriting and editing and dealing with the cover artist (who is awesome) and the editor (who is also awesome) and formatting.  That was just the beginning!  After the book is done, there's the whole business side of things.  Like promotion.  And taxes. :-) lol

How do you develop your plots and characters? Do you use any set formula? 

I want to say there's no formula, but I guess I do sort of have a loose one.  I daydream a lot, so I work plots out that way. I tend to have the idea of how the story begins and how it ends, so I write those and by the time I'm done, I've figured out a bit more, so I write that.  Eventually the whole thing comes together.  As for characters, I don't really develop them.  It's more like they develop me. ;-)

What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing? 

Telling a good story.  Of course, you need to have some technical skills such as grammar and whatnot, but you can use all the flowery language and proper sentence structure you want and not necessarily come out with a good story.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? 

As you know, Kissed by Darkness is out TODAY! :-)  Very excited about that.  It's an urban fantasy about a young woman who kicks some serious bad guy ass while discovering she's not who she thought she was.  Right now I'm working on a non-related novel which is set in a post-apocalyptic future.  With dragons.  (Did I mention everything's better with dragons?)

In Twitter Fashion use 140 characters or less, sum Kissed by Darkness for us. 

"You're dripping blood on my carpet.  Again."

How did you come up with a story that was such a whirl wind of events?

I used to love watching Buffy and I had this idea back then that it would be cool to have a private detective agency that was a front for something a little more paranormal.  I also wanted a heroine that was a little older, closer to my own age at the time.  Someone with a little more life experience and a lot more baggage.  That rattled around in my brain a long time before morphing into anything vaguely resembling coherence.

How long did it take you to write it, and did you have any writer?s block along the way? 

Time from start to finish was about a year.  Actual writing time was closer to two months.  It wasn't so much writer's block as the intrusion of life.  Subsequent books have been written much faster.  But yeah, I do get writer's block sometimes.  Mostly because my characters are being stubborn or something about the plot isn't quite working. I just go work on on another project until things become clearer in my mind.

Will we be seeing a following book to this stories? 

Absolutely!  The second book in the series, Kissed by Fire, is currently in rewrites.  It's scheduled for release in August.  There will be six total books in the Sunwalker Saga.


How did you come up with the character Morgan? 

I just looked in the mirror.

Kidding!  Sort of.  There's a lot of me in Morgan.  I guess she's who I'd want to be if I got to kick bad guy ass for a living.

I always must ask, If you could pick one actor to portray Jackson on the big screen who would it be and why? And I must say He was so hot I had to clinch my legs together LOL.

LOL!  Me, too. :-)  And there's just one actor who could portray the dishy Jackson to my mind: Gerard Butler.  Nom nom.  I mean, have you SEEN that man in a kilt? lol


Was there anything you find particularly challenging when writing this book? 

When I initially started writing, I couldn't keep the Britishisms out of the writing.  I was trying to write an American character, but she kept using British words and expressions.  I've lived here long enough, my speech is peppered with them (Though, no, I haven't picked up an accent. lol).  I finally decided to give her the backstory of having lived in London.  Sorted! lol  There are still a few Britishisms sprinkled throughout, but I think it gives it flavor.  :-)  I love Britishisms.

What were your feelings when you first saw the cover of your finished book? 


I was totally overwhelmed.  The cover is AMAZING!  Even better than I could ever have imagined.  To me it embodies everything the book is, which is just how a cover should be.


Follow this Author And Her Books At:

Blog/Website: http://sheamacleod.blogspot.com/

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/70109
AMAZON:
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kissed-Darkness-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B0058PIWJ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1309425440&sr=8-1
US: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Darkness-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B0058PIWJ8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1309425653&sr=8-2
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/Kissed-Darkness-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B0058PIWJ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309425688&sr=8-1
5 Lucky People Will Win A EBook Copy!!
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