Please join me in welcoming writer Vivi Anna to the Release Your Inhibitions Contest! Vivi is the author of steamy paranormal and fantasy novels. Here’s a photo of Vivi at the Romantic Times 2008 award ceremony, where I saw her win an RT award. (She’s up for another award this year).

So with no further ado, say hello to Vivi!

Vivi’s Interview:

Beth: Welcome, Vivi!

What book are you going to tell us about today?

Vivi: I’m going to talk a little about my upcoming Nocturne book called THE VAMPIRE’S KISS. It’ll be out in July and I’m really excited to return to Nouveau Monde and the crime scene team there.

This book is about crime scene investigator Olena Petrovich, who is a three hundred year old vampiress with attitude. But she meets her match and equal when Interpol agent Cale Braxton comes to Nouveau Monde to take over a bank robbery case from her. Tempers flare, sparks fly and danger lurks around every corner.

I don’t have a cover yet, but I’m hoping it reflects the hero I had in mind. I fashioned Cale after Jensen Ackles from Supernatural fame. That sexy, charming, bad boy with the quick wit and killer smile.

Here’s a little except from the book:

Chapter 1

Olena Petrovich had close to three hundred years to perfect sin to an art form. In the past, she’d used her vampiric charms to get whatever she wanted in life—money, sex, power. It helped, she supposed, that she was curvy and possessed a mouth some men had said was made for sin. But it had always proven to be too easy.
She didn’t want easy any longer. She liked working for the things she’d received. Like this case.
This was Olena’s first time as lead investigator and she was excited about it. She didn’t want to make one mistake. It wasn’t often that Inspector Gabriel Bellmonte let go of the reins. But he had for her. Or it could’ve been because she had begged him for the past three months.

The crime scene at the National Bank of Nouveau Monde wasn’t typical for a bank robbery. Usually the robbers took the money, but instead these guys—four armed, masked men—had herded everyone in the bank into the vault then blasted apart the safety deposit boxes.

Olena and her team wouldn’t be able to get a clear view of the situation until they pieced together all the boxes that had been destroyed. And by the looks of the mess, that was going to take considerable time.

The heady odor of smoke still hung oppressively in the air as Olena eyed the wall of boxes taking in the destruction. Charred residue marred an array of the shiny metal squares in a circular pattern. The explosion caused a lot of damage.

“I wonder what they were looking for.” She glanced over her shoulder at her investigative partner, Sophie St. Clair, who was busy taking pictures of the metal and plastic shrapnel scattered all over the black and white tiled floor.

“I guess someone must’ve lost his key.” After snapping her last photo, Sophie stood beside Olena and surveyed the destroyed wall. “Kellen called, he said he’d be on scene in about fifteen minutes,” Sophie informed her.

Olena nodded. “Good. He can figure out this blast pattern on the remaining safety deposit boxes.”

Kellen, a recent addition to their crime scene team, was a damn good ballistics expert. He had come from America to France for treatment for a rare blood disease and had ended up completely cured, with a new job on the team and an engagement to Sophie.

Beth: Very nice, Vivi. So glad you shared.
What’s your favorite Vivi Anna book cover and why?

Vivi: My favorite cover would have to be Hell Kat, my Kensington erotic futuristic that came out in 2006. I think the cover encapsaluated the main character and the flavor of the book. It has a very graphic novel look that I really dig. Unfortunaely the sequel Inferno originally has a similar cover, done in red, but at the last minute the publisher changed the cover. I was really bummed about that because I thought the pair of them together, would’ve looked sexy on the shelf.

Beth: What’s the best thing you ever heard from a reader?

Vivi: The best thing I’ve heard was that I gave a reader the courage to do something in their life, to change something for the better. That really fills my heart that with my words I was able to make a difference in someone’s life. I love hearing from all readers.

Beth: I’m curious about the mind-workings of paranormal authors. How real does your fictional world become to you? Do you ever find yourself dreaming about the world you have created, for instance, the world in the Valorian Chronicles?

Vivi: Hmm, I’m not sure it becomes all that super real. I do dream about it but only when I’m having plot issues with it. I do SEE it in my head like a movie, so it’s always playing when I’m writing. But I don’t know if I’d call that real or not.

Beth: What would you like people to remember about you as a writer?
Vivi: That’s a tough question. Probably that I always try and offer a good raucous time. I’m not all about symbolism or meaning, but excitement and danger and action. If a reader is looking to be entertained, then I’m their author.

Beth: You are not allowed to bow out of this—I can’t believe how modest authors usually are, refusing to do this part!—please give us a paragraph or two from your writing of which you are particularly proud. Why do you like this portion?

This is from my UF WIP called GLIMMER:

Some paintings were lovely, with exquisite attention to detail and eye appealing color, and some were so dark, so violent and twisted, I even had trouble looking at them. And I knew that was what his soul looked like, a mixture of beauty and darkness, twisted together. Light and dark in conflict. Always in conflict.

That was what being fae-struck did to a person. Made them fractured, disjointed, with a mind barely able to hold onto reality. And an aging withered body to match it.

That was my legacy, my secret and my curse. My mother was from the realm of the dark fae, a place steeped in darkness and mystery. I was born to it, but would never see it. Never wanted to either.

I love this small piece because it really sets the tone of the book, and it’s musical in my ears when I read it. And that musical whimsy mood is what I wanted to portray in this book.

Beth: What will you bring to your readers in 2010?

2010 will bring two books from my Valorian Chronicles series. THE VAMPIRE’S KISS will be out in July, and THE WOLF’S HEART should be out in October or November. And I’m also hoping to have a couple of ebooks out in 2010 as well.

Beth: It’s been terrific having you here today, Vivi!

Leave Vivi a comment today and I’ll send one random commenter a copy of one of her Valorian Chronicles books. See your choices here.