Q&A with #UF - #PNR Author Shéa MacLeod (& Book G*veaway)

Today, I’m pleased to welcome paranormal romance author Shéa MacLeod to Preternatura to talk about her Sunwalker Saga series, from which KISSED BY DARKNESS and KISSED BY FIRE were released in early October. You can learn more about Shéa from her website. And read on for a chance to win copies of both new books! 

ABOUT KISSED BY DARKNESS:  Danger is always on the menu for Morgan Bailey, a sexy and street-smart bounty hunter, who prowls the dark underworld of Portland, Oregon hunting creatures of the night. Morgan's never met a vampire she couldn't dust or a demon she couldn't kill until she's hired to destroy a new kind of mystical threat: the Sunwalker.  A powerful immortal once believed myth, the Sunwalker carries with him an ancient secret which, if left unchecked, will destroy Morgan's world. Pursued by a passionate Templar Knight and the target of the local vampire clans, an ancient power is awakened within her, unlike anything she's ever known. Morgan must uncover the truth behind her mission and about herself, before the Darkness lurking inside swallows her whole. 

ABOUT KISSED BY FIRE: Vampire hunter Morgan Bailey’s life is about to take a turn for the weird. As if Sunwalkers,a Templar Knight, and an ancient Atlantean artefact weren’t enough. When a MI8 analyst is brutally murdered, Morgan is called to London to investigate. She stumbles across a conspiracy involving an extinct supernatural race. Dragons. But the dragons may not be as extinct as everyone thought. The Darkness grows inside her. A new power rages out of control. She is stalked through the streets of London by the vampire who murdered her. Morgan must hunt her own killer. She must uncover the truth. Or humanity will be plunged into a war it can never hope to win

Now, let’s hear from Shéa—welcome!

Give us the “elevator pitch” for your latest work.

Girl gets bitten by vampire. Girl gains awesome supernatural powers. Girl kicks bad guy ass. Girl eats pancakes. (Suz: okay, best elevator pitch ever. Must steal this!)

What is your favorite scene in the book?

It’s hard to pin down just one, but most of the scenes between Morgan and her best friend (and boss) Kabita are super fun to write. I love the snarky repartee between them. The comfort they have in knowing that each will always be there for the other.

Hardest scene you’ve ever written:

I don’t want to give too much away, but in the second book of the Sunwalker Saga, Morgan and Jack have a confrontation and Morgan has to make a decision about their relationship. It was tough to write because I’ve been there, done that. But I think that’s also what made it so raw and real, because I knew what she was going through. 

Favorite book when you were a child:

Anything by Dr. Seuss. The man seriously knew how to play with words. I loved how the stories sounded in my ears. I enjoyed rolling all those lovely words around in my mouth. And I adored the way those seemingly simple rhymes fired my imagination. He was pure genius.

Your five favorite authors:

Just five? In general I tend to be a favorite book girl rather than a favorite author girl, but there are a few authors who have me scrambling to read every word they’ve ever written. I’ll list my top five in the paranormal romance category (though some of them write other genres): Norah Wilson, Nalini Singh, Alyssa Day, Ann Aguirre, and Gail Carriger.

Book you've faked reading:

It was a Margaret Atwood book: the Assassin. For whatever insane reason, I’d decided I needed to join a book club. I am not a book club book kind of girl. I like sci-fi and fantasy and romance. I like vampires and angels and spaceships with dinosaurs. (Anyone who gets the reference gets extra brownie points. Or just brownies.) I dig smexy-time scenes, heroines with attitude, and heroes with lots of muscles (and lots of heart). These are not the sorts of books that ladies at book clubs typically read.

So, after struggling through three or four books that I really didn’t enjoy, I was faced with this Margaret Atwood thing. I think I got through three pages before I gave up. It wasn’t that it was badly written from a literary perspective, it was just that I was bored out of my skull. Of course at book club I totally pretended I read it and no one could tell I hadn’t. I quit book club after that. Life’s too short to read books you don’t enjoy.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Justin Cronin’s The Passage. I’m surprised I had any fingernails left after that one. I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the entire time and when I wasn’t reading it, I was obsessing over it. And despite it being nearly 1,000 pages long, I was gutted when it was finished. And that’s the way a book should be, I think.

What’s next?

Right now I’m about halfway through my current WIP, which is the third installment in my post-apocalyptic romance series, Dragon Wars. Then I’m cracking on with the fourth book in the Sunwalker Saga, Kissed by Moonlight. Morgan is off to France this time. Crepes are like pancakes, no?

Thanks, Shéa!

Shéa is generously offering a giveaway of both of the first two books in the Sunwalker Saga—digital if the winner is international; choice of digital or print if the winner is in the U.S. or Canada.

Up to five entries possible: +1 for comment (have you read any steampunk and, if so did you like it?), +1 for blog follow, +1 for Twitter follow, +1 for a Tweet or RT about the contest, +1 for a Facebook follow. Contests end at midnight CDT U.S. on Saturday, and winners are announced on Sunday’s blog.