Thanks for stopping by to
talk a little about your writing! Let's jump right in. When did you begin
writing and why?
I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Glendale Police
Department and to keep from going totally bonkers – I mean people have no idea
what a real emergency is. Take this for example: I answered, “9-1-1 emergency, what’s your emergency?” And
this hysterical woman yelled, “My bird is in a tree.” Sometimes I really
couldn’t help myself, so I said, “Birds tend to do that, ma’am.” The woman
screeched, “No! You don’t understand. My pet parakeet is in the tree. I’ve just
got to get him down.” Like I said, not a clue. “I’m sorry ma’am but we don’t
get birds out of trees.” The woman then cried, “But… What about my husband?
He’s up there, too.” See what I had to deal with? To keep from hitting myself
repeatedly in the head with my phone I took up writing.
Do
you have a favorite genre? Is it the same genre you prefer to write?
I
love science fiction, paranormal romance books and anything with humor in it. I
write science fiction and paranormal stories because the little voices in my
head won’t leave me alone until I do. Go figure.
Do certain themes and ideas
tend to capture your writer’s imagination and fascinate you?
I’m not your typical writer. I have all these weird critters and hunky aliens
running amok in my head. Wulf, a Coletti warlord, was a persistence bugger.
Nag. Nag. Nag. Write my story. Write my story. The thing about Coletti warlords is; they’re the
ultimate predator with a taste for blood, a passion for battle and the need to
control everything in their lives. I ignored Wulf until he
showed me his man parts. Hoo boy. That got my attention. It was long, snakelike
and had tentacles. Yakira, his long-sought mate, claims the tentacles are
better than sex toys. Ya think?
How do you
balance long-term thinking vs. being nimble in today's market?
The market
is glutted with shape shifters books right now. I don’t follow the trends. When
a story pops into my head, it becomes an obsession and it won’t leave me the
hell alone until I write it. Plus, I
have fun with my characters. Maybe, a
little too much.
How do you
find readers in today's market?
How do I
stand out in the crowd? My cute and cuddly alien critters? My stories are sheer
laugh out loud fun and even the scariest looking aliens become my heroine’s
friends. People want and need to laugh. I provide that service. I also reach
new readers on Facebook, blog spotlights and Twitter.
Do you
come up with the hook first, or do you create characters first and then dig
through until you find a hook?
Even though I hate squeezing 50,000 words into a
one line hook, I don’t work on the blurb until I’ve finished the book. Then I
eat a lot of chocolate and pray to the goddess of creativity for help.
How do you
create your characters?
My story ideas come to me in my dreams.
Weird creatures, hunky alien beings come to life in my mind and the fun begins.
Wanna know a secret? Sex scenes are not my forte. I took a vow of celibacy when
I was thirteen and pretty much suck at all the intimate details. You know? What
goes where. Okay, you can stop laughing now. Geez. I may have exaggerated a
tiny bit.
What's on the top of your TBR pile right now?
Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet
Evanovich. Her stories are hilarious.
Tell me a little about the
characters in Wulf and the
Bounty Hunter.
Wulf’s a Coletti warlord, the ultimate predator. He
found his true mate, Yakira, when she was just ten years old. Her adopted
family whisked her away and he has searched for her for ten long years. When Wulf
finally finds Yakira he’s ecstatic. He’s determined to keep her safe and happy.
He tells her, "Know this. I will never betray, abandon or sell you. Your
family is my family. I'm driven to protect you from any who mean you harm. You
were meant to be mine. My heart is forever yours."
Yakira
on the other hand is not impressed. She
was only three years old when she was captured by the Tai-Kok and taken aboard
their ship. An ordeal she almost didn’t survive. Yakira was rescued by a Bjarke
warrior who adopted her and fitted her with bionic limbs.
Yakira’s
new family is not so law abiding. Ziyad,
her BFF, looks like a creature some mad scientist has dreamed up. She’s half
Askole and half Rodan. She has the face of an T-Rex, tentacles and the black
armor-plated skin of an Askole.
Yakira
and Ziyad go into the bounty hunting business to raise money to get their
family out of jail. Their quarry
is Gulog the Mad. To Yakira’s horror Wulf is after the same bounty.
Yakira
does feels safe and cherished with Wulf, but he is a Coletti warlord who needs to control
everything in his life. The big question is; how does she make Wulf understand
she’s a powerful psychic with kick-ass bionic limbs and quite capable of taking
care of herself?
Where’s the story set? How
much influence did the setting have on the atmosphere/characters/development of
the story?
I like unique aliens and I wanted to start with
Gulog the Mad in the Sharqi Pleasure Palace. It’s a male's wet dream. Species
from every corner of the galaxy swarm the dimly lit, disgustingly gaudy
interior. All with two thoughts on their feeble minds. Sex and booze.
Next is a visit to Igator prison to bail her
family out. Yakira uses a transporter to
appear on the prison’s visitor’s platform. Or as Yakira likes to call it, the
kill zone. She is surrounded by dozens of automated laser canons. If she failed
the prison's body scan, she would be incinerated. The book spends a lot of time on a Coletti warbird as they zoom around the galaxy in pursuit of the
villain.
If you had to write your
memoir in five words, what would you write?
Bat shit crazy.
How often does your muse
distract you from day to day minutiae?
My house has dust bunnies
and I don’t hit the gym as often as I should.
What
do readers have to look forward to in the future from you?
My next Coletti Warlord book
is Game on Askole. This book
contains non-stop action, tongue in cheek dialogue, snarky heroines, hot alpha
males and unique sidekicks. Warning!
Warning! Hysterical laughter will occur while reading my books.
Blurb for
Wulf and the Bounty Hunter:
Wulf knows Yakira is his soul mate. The only person he
needs to convince is her, but with intergalactic terrorists on Yakira’s trail,
there’s little time for romance. What’s a hot-blooded Coletti warlord to
do?
Yakira feels safe and cherished with Wulf, but he is a
Coletti; the ultimate predator with a taste for blood, a passion for battle and
the need to control everything in his life. The big question is; how does she
make Wulf understand she’s a powerful psychic with kick-ass bionic limbs and
quite capable of taking care of herself?
Genre:
Science fiction/romance – Publisher – Loose Id
Book cover:
Attached
Excerpt: Wulf
nibbled a sensuous path down to my thong-style panties. He took a bite. The
expression on Wulf’s face went from turned on to appalled. “Licorice! Colettis
are severely allergic to lickric.”
“What?” To my utter
horror, his lips ballooned up, his eyes swelled shut and hives covered his face
and body. I quickly clamped my hands around his face and sent healing energy
into him.
“Our special night was
supposed to be sexy and romantic and perfect.” Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“And I almost killed you.”
“Oot nek feck.” Wulf
switched to mind talk. “It’s not your
fault. I have many enemies.”
My temper flared to
life. “We are going to hunt them down and leave them on Gansu for the
snakes to eat.”
Wulf hugged me to him. “Goddess, I do love you. You are perfect in
every way.”
“I
am?”
He wiped away my tears.
“You have a warrior’s heart. I know you
will stand at my side no matter what comes.”
“You
bet I will. We’re a team.” A sigh of relief broke from me. His face
was still a little puffy, but the hives were entirely gone. I gave him another burst of energy. “You itch anywhere?”
Wulf put a finger to
his mouth. “Here.”
The puffiness had
vanished, but the playful gleam in his eyes told me he was ready for some bed
sport. Drawing on his vast experience, I traced the seam of his lips with my
tongue, then delved into his mouth; learning its shape and texture. “Anywhere
else?”
Buy Links:
Bio: I was
a 9-1-1 dispatcher for thirty-one years and to keep insanity at bay, I took up
writing. Not to worry. The insanity isn’t catching – much. Other than the
addiction to chocolate and the twitch in my left eye, I’m good.
Author links:
www.gailkoger.com
Twitter: @Askole
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