Today I’m thrilled to welcome over Annie Nicholas, author of Scent of Salvation, Chronicles of Eorthe Book 1. Not only are we celebrating this ‘hot off the press' release but I’ve also included a fabulous interview!
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date of Publication: July 30th, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61921-748-5
Word Count: 98,000
Cover Artist: Kanax
Book Description
Love blooms across species, culture, and time.
Chronicles of Eorthe, Book 1
Stranded in another dimension, on a primitive version of Earth, Dr. Susan Barlow needs to find a way to survive. There’s no electricity, no cities, and to her shock, no humans. Instead, she faces a population of werewolves, vampires and incubi. The people are vicious but she must find her place among them. And live.
An illness is killing Sorin’s pack. As alpha it’s his responsibility to save them, but it’s a battle this warrior doesn’t know how to fight. Then a blue light in the sky brings a creature he’s never seen. She calls herself human, but to him she smells like hope.
Sorin offers Susan a safe haven in return for a cure, but she’s not that kind of a doctor. She’s a doctor of physics, not a physician. Yet as they search for a cure to save a dying people, they find something special—each other.
But even with Sorin’s protection, Susan can’t help but wonder how long she can survive in a world without humans…
Time for the interview!
SKY: What inspired you to write this book?
ANNIE: I love telling this story because it shows how twisted my mind is. LOL
Both my sons were very ill with strep throat. Fever for days. When one was awake, the other was asleep, and vice versa. In other words, I had slept more than a few hours in days. I felt like the Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and antibiotic dispensing machine.
About two in the morning, I had both boys in one bed so I could watch them together. My oldest’s fever was raging and I was waiting anxiously for the meds to kick in or I’d have to place him in a cool bath. Again. I was sitting on the floor and rested my head on the mattress and fell asleep.
In a matter of minutes, I dreamt of this whole world. I spent the next nine months writing book one and about a year editing it. If you’ve read where this story comes from and read the book, you’ll see much of the inspiration within it. By the way, my boys are fine. Thank goodness for antibiotics. :D
SKY: What made you choose the main setting for your book?
ANNIE: I love creating elaborate worlds. Creating Erothe gives me so many options. If I get tired of writing wolf shifters then I could go to the dragons in the far east or the incubi in South Amerigo or the vampires in Europa.
SKY: Tell us a little bit about the conflict in your story.
This is series about Eorthe, an alternate Earth, where humans never existed. Instead it’s populated by every creature in our mythology. The first book is to establish this new world where the people like vampires, shifters, and many other things have never been influenced by human morals or culture. The shifters are feral, the vampires blood thirsty, and incubi to die for…literally.
Dr. Susan Barlow, a human physicist on our Earth, has created a Dimensional Gateway machine that the US military has seized. Feeling betrayed by her colleagues, she destroys her life’s work to keep it from being abused. This causes a gateway to open and tosses her through to the unknown. This city girl born and raised is lost in the woods, in another dimension, where no one has ever heard of a human.
SKY: Tell us about your book cover and how it relates to your story.
ANNIE: The cover has the face of my hero, Sorin, on it. This world is fierce and savage just like my hero. I think it depicts the flavor of the story very well.
SKY: Are you currently working on another story? If so, we’d love some details.
ANNIE: I am currently working on the third book of The Angler series titled Release. It’s due to be available on October 21, 2013.
SKY: Did you enjoy writing one scene above all the rest? If so, share.
ANNIE: There are many scenes I’d share but these three male shifters together crack me up.
Scratching his chin, Sorin continued watching the guards pace the wall but the eastern sentries passed at a slower march than the northern. “We’ll have to climb the wall under cover of night, take out the guards and search the castle.” With an army of shifters, they might succeed. He gazed at his exhausted, recently poisoned companions.
They were doomed.
“And how do we escape with the females?” Ahote asked.
“On my magic unicorn.” Sorin pointed at his cock then punched the hunter in the shoulder. “How do I know? We run. My main concern is getting inside. I must have missed the lesson on raiding castles as a pup.”
“I didn’t.” Peder spoke into the thick silence. He crouched low under both their sharp gazes. “I listened to stories the old ones told. Actually, I begged them to re-tell them when I could. About when the vampires first arrived on our lands.”
“And what is your idea?” Sorin prompted his resourceful omega.
“We’ll need a cart, some peasant’s clothes that fit me and a skunk.”
Sorin refused to blink, afraid if he looked away, he’d miss his Peder blooming into a possible hunter.
“Sounds like the making of a nasty joke.” Ahote chuckled.
“We’ll separate and meet back here. Peder, you find the clothes and I’ll get the cart.”
“What? That leaves me with the…“ Ahote’s eyes went wide and he grimaced.
SKY: Are your book/books available in audio? In other languages? If so, give us more details about where we can get them and what languages they’re in.
ANNIE: I have three audio books. Starved for Love a very hot succubus/incubus love story from Carina Press, Bait book one of The Angler series, and Catch book 2 of The Angler series.
SKY: Do you write books in series? If so, share a bit about the series you currently have published or are coming soon.
ANNIE: Most of my books are in series.
The Angler is a first person point of view books about Connie Bence. She starts her journey as professional vampire bait for slayers and her journey goes from there. These books are action packed and suspenseful. First book, Bait, is free everywhere.
The Vanguards are novellas written in the third person point of view. These stories about a small pack of omega wolf shifters in Chicago and their journey/growth. Each novella is has a new hero/heroine. There are six books in this series. First book is $0.99 everywhere.
Confession of a Succubus series is about Pia Blyton, a succubus with a big broken heart. She wants to fall in love and have relationship but it’s hard when she has to feed from having an orgasm every three days and it can’t always be the same guy or he’ll die. Monogamy just can’t be in her cards. Book one is titled Starved for Love.
Thanks for having me!
SKY: My pleasure, Annie! Wishing you much success always.
Excerpt
Before Susan could explain anything about dimensions and gateways, the door to Kele’s chamber crashed open, and Susan jumped to the balls of her feet, prepared—to what, fight? Was she nuts?
A female blocked the entrance, her muscular physique hinting at enough strength to twist Susan into a pretzel without breaking a sweat. The newcomer flung her black hair over her shoulder.
Rising with grace, Kele straightened her dress before addressing the intruder. “Mother.”
“Daughter, I heard you’ve brought home a stray along with the Apisi alpha.” The female’s stare drilled into Susan, her sneer far from welcoming.
Susan’s breath caught in her throat. Black, soulless eyes ate her gaze. Her fingers clutched the lapels of her jacket as she pulled it closed. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and offered her hand. “I’m Dr. Susan Barlow.”
The female shifter narrowed her eyes, nostrils flaring.
Susan withdrew her untouched hand, then hid it behind her back and glanced at Kele. Maybe she should have sniffed her mother instead? She wished someone would give her the Dummies Guide to Shifter Society and a little time to study it.
Kele’s mother crossed the room in two great strides and swung her arm.
Susan did her best impression of a statue. She didn’t budge as the impact of the slap swerved her head to the side and dragged her gaze from mother to daughter. Both of them were flushed with emotion yet at opposite poles of the color spectrum—one dark as an oncoming storm and the other pale as the moonlight.
The back of Susan’s heel caught the edge of the cushion and she landed hard on her back.
The bitter flavor of blood swept over her taste buds. “What the hell?” She rubbed her jaw and glared daggers at the crazy woman looming over her. Just as quickly, she schooled her expression to something less threatening before she insulted the bigger shifter further. With the tip of her tongue, Susan explored her mouth. She didn’t encounter any big gaps, so no lost tooth. A small blessing.
Kele’s crazy mother hovered over Susan’s face and bared her teeth. In beast form, her expression would have appeared fierce, but in human form it seemed terrifying. With an easy grace, she flipped Susan onto her stomach. A bony knee pressed between her shoulder blades, making her kiss the floor. Pain shot across Susan’s upper back and neck.
“How dare you come into my den and not submit to me.”
“She’s not a shifter!” Kele shouted. “You can’t expect her to know how to be polite.”
Something ran over Susan’s hair, and the sound of sniffing followed. She tried to take a deep breath but the weight on her back made it difficult.
The nutjob exhaled in disgust. “What is she?”
“A human.” Kele peered at Susan’s throbbing face as she stroked her hair. “Please, I wanted to teach her how to behave before meeting you and father.”
“Your father.” The bitch snorted. “It’s bad enough he’s entertaining a vampire and dealing with trespassing alphas. We don’t need any more vermin within the den.”
Susan was jerked from the ground by her hair and dragged across the floor. Pain shot into her scalp while she scrambled to support her weight with her legs.
“Let go. Let go.” The shifter world was more brutal than anything she’d ever experienced. Susan slapped at the crazy woman’s hands tangled in her hair.
“My daughter took too many liberties in offering you shelter. You’ll need to find another den to take you in.”
At a loss, Susan yanked and squirmed but only made the pain worse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kele leap.
The petite blonde used her wiry strength to jump across the room and land on her mother’s back. The collision knocked them both to the ground in a knot of arms and legs.
Untangling her limbs from the struggling shifters, Susan could finally elbow the bitch in the face. The impact made a satisfying crunch. She pulled back her arm for a second shot, but Kele grabbed her and half carried, half dragged her out of the chamber.
“Hurry, we need to reach my father before she beats you into cinders.”
Not needing any further incentive, Susan ran after her new friend. “Your people are crazy.”
About the Author
Annie Nicholas writes paranormal romance with a twist. She has courted vampires, hunted with shifters, and slain a dragon’s ego all with the might of her pen. Riding the wind of her imagination, she travels beyond the restraints of reality and shares them with anyone wanting to read her stories. Mother, daughter, and wife are some of the other hats she wears while hiking through the hills and dales of her adopted state of Vermont.
Annie writes for Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, and Lyrical Press.
Website: www.annienicholas.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/annienicholas
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/annienicholas/
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/yt8Kv
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2 comments:
Thanks for hosting me today!
My pleasure, Annie. Your book is my kind of read!
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