Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Wednesday Guest- Cindy Speer

The hardest thing is to try and figure out what other people’s readers want to hear. You come to a website with certain expectations…I figure people who come to my website come because they are interested in re-told fairy tales, fantasy, and murder mysteries. Or maybe fencing, because I talk about that, too. Or pretending to garden (I love to garden, but I hate to mow the yard, so my gardening slowly becomes a game of procrastination and denial. But, being a fantasy writer, I’m good at denial.)

Romance is something I have in common with Paty. I am in love with love, a condition that has seeped into my writing from the beginning. Two people finding each other and figuring each other out, often during very trying situations, takes a story and gives it that extra but of magic.

My newest novel is called Unbalanced and it takes place in a world where vampires and werewolves and all those good mythical beasties exist, but have become very good at keeping themselves a secret from most of the world of mankind. Andromeda, an agent who has gotten promoted and is returning to the area, is in charge of solving problems (such as a murder at a party) before they become disasters. When she lived in the area before, she had fallen in love with Alaister McDuff, a sometimes English professor and herb shop owner. The problem is that both of them know things that they think the other person can never know…and that does not make it easy for the course of love to run smooth.

(Other things happen in the book. Murder, mayhem, running around in the woods after creatures who could rip you into a million pieces as soon as look at you…)

The important thing about love is the thing that I believe in real life, too. I believe that the people who fall in love, after the glow and giddiness is past, have to be people who could actually live together. In my life I look for someone who I could actually live with, who I can stand to have in my head with me for huge periods of time. So, when I write romance, it’s important for me to show that there’s a strong bond, too, that they get along because there are traits in both people…strengths that shore up weaknesses, an affinity for some of the same things, the same basic morals…so that when you close the book you really do believe that they will live happily ever after.

Blurb for Unbalanced
Andromeda Pendragon has been trained her whole life to be an agent of Balance, an organization that acts as a supernatural UN to keep the peace among werewolves, vampires and magic users. It’s a busy start for a new agent--all she has to do is prevent a war, solve several murders, stay out of prison, keep the world from learning about things that have been secret for hundreds of years and preserve the stability to the agency she was raised to be a part of. And then there’s Alaister, the man she loved and let go because no normal man wants a girlfriend who hangs out with creatures from his nightmares. The man who re-enters her life at a party the night a young woman is savagely murdered. The man who has a few secrets of his own. But nothing--and no one--will unbalance Andromeda Pendragon...

If you’d like to read more, please visit my website, www.apenandfire.com.

6 comments:

LJ DeLeon said...

Enjoyed reading your thoughts on love. I went to Amazon to buy your book "Unbalanced" but discovered it isn't listed there. When do you think it will be available for the Kindle?

Sarah Raplee said...

I enjoyed your post. Your book sounds intriguing. Are any of your books in the Kobe Book Store?

Kim Bowman Author said...

Love the title, love the blurb. Congrats.

She said...

Enjoyed your post. Unbalanced sounds good. I also understand about wanting to have someone around all the time and in your head while you're writing about them or it's no good. I don't have that type of patience.

Rebecca Zanetti said...

I'm in love with love, too. Great blog post! :)

Cindy said...

Thanks everyone!

LJ, I am sure it will be available soon...I've asked my editor. Usually they come out about the same time.

But Fictionwise has a Kindle compatable version (I'll show you the link below.)

Sarah, I couldn't find it, but it is available at Fictionwise, in a lot of formats, maybe one will work for you?

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b119304/Unbalanced/Cindy-Lynn-Speer/?si=0

Thanks again, everyone! Feel free to comment at my blog if you have further questions, and I'll be sure to check back here again.