Welcome back. 🙂 We have another special guest for you. So, settle down, grab some iced tea and say hi to our newest victim–erm, guest. Romance author Casey Wyatt.
Hi Casey, thanks for being with us today. Please feel free to tell us a little about yourself so my readers can get to know you.
Casey Wyatt: Can I be honest? This is my least favorite question in the world. I’m not sure why. It may be that I’m pretty much like everyone else. Nothing remotely interesting happens to me in daily life (not that I’m complaining!). I always think it’s funny when writers are given the advice – write what you know – because I don’t know any Greek Gods, elves, vampires or shape-shifters. At least none have made their presence known to me.
I’m married, have two teenage boys, some adorable cats, and a full time day job. On the side, I like to write paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels! I love to read. And I also enjoy knitting, crocheting, The History Channel (really H2) and visiting historic sites. This year I became media director for my local RWA chapter, so I’m never without something to do.
Sounds like a fun post, congrats! So tell us who were your influences, literarly speaking?
Casey: My writing influences are many. As a kid, the two books that had the biggest influence on me were The Lord of the Rings and Interview with the Vampire (I was eleven when I read Anne Rice!). Later, as an adult, I was thrilled to discover paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I love Rob Thurman, Jim Butcher, J.R. Ward. Jeaniene Frost, and Simon Green.
Ah, I see a favorite among our staff too. 🙂 So, what inspired your new book, Mystic Ink?
Casey Wyatt: The short answer – a baby name book.
I was looking up names for a different story and I stumbled across – Eudora: one of the fifty daughters of Nereus. I immediately stopped what I was doing and looked up Nereus. A short time later, I was struck with a scene of Nix and Cal arguing in an alley (the scene in the excerpt below.) I was very lucky with Mystic Ink. Once I had the initial idea, the rest kind of fell into place.
Don’t you love it when that happens? So now that Mystic Ink is officially out in the world, what can curious fans expect from you next?
Casey Wyatt: My next book is called The Undead Space Initiative (Pink Petal Books). Here is a teaser:
Cherry Cordial, vampire stripper extraordinaire, spectacularly messes up her life with a single act of kindness. How could she have known when she rescued gorgeous rogue, Ian McDevitt, that she would be implicated in the vampire queen’s murder? Soon, she faces the wrath of the entire vampire community. To escape retribution, she joins a settlement program to colonize Mars. Her choices are grim: possibly die on the red planet or stay on Earth and face certain annihilation.
Ooh, sounds interesting!
Casey Wyatt: I’ll be honest, I never thought in million years anyone would buy a story about a vampire stripper who goes to Mars. I banged the story out last July in about a month. Then, I sat on it, avoiding doing clean-up until I saw Pink Petal’s call for pitches on Facebook. I thought – what the heck? I pitched it. They liked it and bought it. So you never know. I say to writers: write the story and worry about what to do with it after!
Good advice. If you weren’t a writer, what career might you have pursued instead?
Casey Wyatt: If I had access to a time machine, I’d go get a job at Pixar. Or I’d be working in a museum as a curator. I do have a full-time job. Sadly, it’s not writing, but it pays the bills.
Working for Pixar would be a fun job! Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Casey Wyatt: Only this – pursue your dreams as best you can. For a long time, I had this fantasy that I’d be able to quit the “necessary day job” so I could write full-time. I put all this pressure on myself to succeed as a writer. Instead, it made writing a lot harder. Once I realized that I could do both, it took a lot of pressure off of me and I was able to write more productively. If, someday, I can quit the day job – great! But if not, I still have books I can write and I’m still a published author. And I can’t beat that!
Mystick Ink Blurb:
The last thing Nix, a Sea Nymph, wants to see behind the dumpster near her tattoo shop is another dead mortal. She also doesn’t want to hear Hades piss and moan about how the souls of the dead aren’t making it to the Underworld. And Nix certainly doesn’t want to be attracted to supernatural police agent, Calder Quinne when he comes to investigate. All Nix really wants is to run her tattoo shop in peace and quiet. Hey, we don’t always get what we want, now do we?
Excerpt:
Nix, thoughts still swirling in her mind, headed toward the side door. After she unlocked the deadbolt, her eyes automatically went to the dumpster. Nothing. Thank the Gods. Her sigh of relief was quickly sucked back in. A dark shape further down the alley caught her eye. Maybe it was a heap of clothes or a bag of garbage. Whatever it was, it was lying near the entrance of the Underworld Gate. The Gate was invisible to all eyes, except Guardians—like her, Hades, and Charon. Whoever or whatever was back there couldn’t have known how close they were to the Underworld.
“Hell. Now what?” Please, be trash that some rude asshole left in my alley.
Rather than kick it with her foot, she decided to be more prudent and find something long to use as a poker. While grabbing a shop broom inside, she registered how quiet the place was. Of course, Basil wasn’t there. He was still with Jason.
Back in the alley, Nix slowly approached, straining for a better look. The pile was inside the building’s shadow. The closer she got, the more the lump resembled a body. She cursed. “Oh, come on! Why does this keep happening?”
Broom at the ready, she gave it jab. The mass was solid and there was no crinkle of plastic. So much for the garbage bag theory. Man, she did not want to have to call the police. At the rate she was going, they would probably arrest her just on principle.
Stupid mound.
She lifted the broom, ready to strike. An arm sprouted from the pile and shot up, stopping the handle from falling.
Nix barked, “What the hell?”
The broom clattered to the ground.
A dark figure rose up. The set of the shoulders, the short black hair . . . it was awfully familiar. “Cal?”
“Nix,” he said, his voice strained and tired. His arm extended, propping his body against the brick wall.
“If this is your idea of a joke, it’s not funny.” When he didn’t respond, Nix came up behind him and placed her hand on his back. “Are you—”
The words choked off. There was something wrong. Really wrong. His energy, the essence of his life, was out of whack. Like he was missing . . .
She put her hand up to her mouth, swallowing dread as he turned to face her. “Cal, where’s your soul?”
Mystic Ink can be found at:
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Ink-ebook/dp/B0071R3JI0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327585790&sr=8-1
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/casey-wyatt?keyword=casey+wyatt&store=ebook
Soul Mate Publishing: http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/mystic-ink/
About Casey:
Casey Wyatt has no personal knowledge of the paranormal, but she hopes someday that may change. If there are ancient Gods, elves or satyrs living nearby, they’re more than welcome to visit. Bring pizza and chocolate please!
Casey’s paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels have won or placed in numerous RWA contests. When not writing, Casey enjoys time with her family, loves to read, and enjoys knitting and crocheting.
She lives in a bustling Connecticut town with her husband, two sons and an assortment of pets (none of which are shape-shifters).
Visit Casey on the web: www.caseywyatt.com or at http://secretsof7scribes.wordpress.com/. You can also find Casey on Facebook and Twitter (@CaseyWyatt1).
Thanks for having me Juli!
You’re quite welcome, dear Casey! Folks, Casey’s giving away an e-copy of Mystic Ink to one lucky winner. Please leave her a comment or a question and we’ll pick the winner and announce the name tomorrow.
Thank you for taking the time to visit, Casey. Best of luck to you with Mystic Ink and all you do!
Juli D. Revezzo, author of the Gears, Cogs, and Puppy Dogs series and more 