My guest this week is author Icy Snow Blackstone. Thanks for answering my nosy questions, Icy.

Q: What genre do you write in, and why?
A: I write romances–contemporary, paranormal, and futuristic–you name it. If there’s love in it, and a deep, dark secret, or a ghost or two or even a spaceship, I write about it.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: My first novel, The Irish Lady’s Spanish Lover, was published by Double Dragon Publishing in 2007, but I had been writing for 15 years before that.

Q: So, if you don’t mind sharing, would you tell us about your latest work in progress?
A: My current WIP is called The Wizard’s Wife. It’s about a newly-wed who discovers her husband is a faery (note that’s with an “e”) wizard and how she adjusts to the fact that he’s been sent from his own dimension to save the world from a magical invasion. Throw in the fact that his parents disown him because he married a mortal, and there’s a jealous faery ex-girlfriend who sends a banshee after his wife, and a rival evil wizard, stir well and you’ll come up with what I hope is a pretty good story.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: As of now, I suppose it’s Three Moon Station, a futuristic romance. I really liked my hero Sarkin Trant. He was honorable and loving, gentle when he had to be and ruthless when it was needed and he really loved the heroine Katy.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: Generally my best ideas come at night just before I drift off to sleep. It’s a wonder I manage to remember any of them. Strangely enough, I’ve never drifted into sleep with an idea and dreamed about it.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story?
A: You know, I’m coming up blank. Perhaps that means all my sources of inspiration are strange!

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be?
A: Don’t give up!

Q: Do you have an evil day job or do you write full time?
A: I’m searching for an evil day job so I can continue to write without worry.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I have nothing but spare time now!

Q: Name one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you.
A: Icy Snow Blackstone is a real name; she was my great-great-great-great-grandmother.

Q: What’s your favorite dirty word?
A: We genteel Southern ladies never say anything harsher than “fiddle-dee-dee.”

Q: What’s your favorite holiday, and why?
A: Any holiday where I don’t have to cook or put up with visiting relatives. I just like to sleep late, eat when I want, and do nothing the entire day. Hey–that sounds like my non-holiday routine, too!

Q: Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
A: As a well-bred (ha!) Southern lady (no, really!) I could never allow my body to be pierced by metal objects. I do have pierced ears.

Q: If you could be intimate with three people (not necessarily all at one time *g*) without getting in trouble with your significant other, who would they be?
A: Since I don’t have a significant other, I guess that relieves me of the burden of choosing three more, doesn’t it?

Q: If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want with you?
A: A very smart man, an endless supply of chocolate-covered raspberries, and a self-charging electrical generator.

Q: If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you spend the money on?
A: I’d buy myself that fancy li’l red sportscar I’ve been ogling in the car lot, pack a bag and start driving!

Q: Which household chore do you abhor and why?
A. Balancing a checkbook. I’m mathmatically illiterate. I’ve been tested and I have a 3rd-grade knowledge of math. Ten years ago, I quite balancing my checkbook and just check my balance online every morning.

Q: What’s your favorite comfort food?
A: Another Southern favorite: boiled peanuts. Before your readers cringe, let me add you have to be born a Southerner to like them, so it doesn’t matter if others don’t.

Q: Do you have any guilty pleasures you feel comfortable sharing?
A: They wouldn’t be guilty if I shared them, now, would they?

Q: Do you have a favorite book or movie?
A: I have several, in fact. And I’ve pretty eclectic tastes. I like Gone with the Wind, naturally, anything by Stuart Kaminsky. Barbara Cartland Regency romances. Norah Roberts’ stories. The “Sookie Stackhouse” stories by Charlaine Harris. I haven’t been too many movies lately (the last one I saw was Ghost Rider with Nicholas Cage–I’m a huge Marvel Comics fan and collector) but I do like the “Harry Potter” series. I have all the books, too.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?
A: I have half a BLT sandwich if anyone’s hungry. And a Diet, caffeine-free Pepsi.

Q: In closing, tell us a bit about your latest release (& share a yummy excerpt for those who aren’t yet familiar with your work)
A: I have one book out this month: Earthman’s Bride.

The setting is Tusteya, a small planet in another system. Tusteya has been conquered by Earth, beginning a war that lasts 30 years. In order to make peace, the leader of the invaded people calls for a cease fire, and offers his daughter, Rebeka, to Philip, the Terran leader, as a gesture of peace. What Philip doesn’t know is that Rebeka is supposed to get him to trust her and then kill him. Of course, they fall in love with each other and that ruins her father’s plan. There’s a subplot concerning Darius, a Terran android who’s been reprogrammed by the rebels to guard Rebeka and help her kill Philip. Darius used to be Philip’s tutor and he is the only robot containing an empath chip which enables him to experience human emotion. He falls in love with Rebeka and is more than happy to help her get rid of his rival. Rebeka doesn’t kow about Darius’ chip so she thinks any emotion he displays is simulated for her benefit. One of the scenes between Darius and Rebeka won the “Reveal Your Inner Vixen” award for 2008 in the alternate novel category.

In November, I’ll have two books coming out, the sequel to Earthman’s Bride is When the Condor Returned, from Lyrical Press, along with Bargain with Lucifer, from Class Act Books.

EXCERPT:

Dressing in the wedding gown that had been packed in the little trunk the guard brought from the gate, Rebeka had put on her makeup and done her hair and laid out the wedding veils on the bed so they would be nearby when she was called. Her father had said he would see her married before he returned to the village with the treaty.
“Do you think I look all right?” she asked suddenly, and her voice sounded so loud she almost jumped. “Will the Governor like it?”
Darius studied her a moment, those blue eyes critical and serious. Then, for the first time, he smiled.
“She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes.” He spoiled the compliment by adding, “Hamilcar will go to his death willingly!”
She turned away, closing her eyes.
“A mind at peace with all below, a heart whose love is innocent,” he went on, cruelly.
“Don’t say that!” she ordered, angry that there were tears in her voice.
“How long will your mind be at peace or your love innocent if you use it to kill?” he asked.
“Why are you doing this?” Rebeka flung at him. “You know it has to be done. It’s the only way. Why didn’t you say something sooner if you disagreed?”
“Because I can’t actually disagree. Because your father and Master Martin were set on this course. I’m only an android, Rebeka, a machine, and I may hold more intelligence than all the men on this planet in my databanks, but if they don’t want to listen to it, they won’t. So I’ve kept silent.”
“But you think I’ll listen?”
He nodded.
“Then you’re mistaken, Darius! Because I agree with my father. Philip Hamilcar must die, and I plan to kill him!”
There was silence for a few moments.
“He could actually love you, you know,” Darius persisted. “I turned him away from your door three times today.”
“Yes, I heard,” she retorted, and now her smile was sardonic. “And your excuses were a little lame. Really, Darius, sleeping all night and all day? It’s a wonder he didn’t think me ill and call a physician! You should have thought that out a little more!”
“It worked, didn’t it?” His smile matched hers in its cruelty. “Kept him from seeing you, whetted his appetite. I thought you were going to be the lamb who was slaughtered, Rebeka, but after the way the Governor’s acting, I realize that he’s the lamb in this story!”