welcomes Gabriella Hewitt!
SHADOW VISIONS (c) 2012 Samhain Publishing
Manuel has been tracking down a demon bent on sacrificing women with hummingbird tattoos. He is in danger of losing his humanity to his eagle spirit until he comes across Ixa Reyes, a beautiful San Diego Detective working on the same case, who also bears the mark of Huitzilopochtli. She is his salvation and redemption from a past filled with failure. Only she wants nothing to do with him or her heritage.
When a demon kidnaps her grandfather, the wind god, they must work together to save him and all mankind. He has twenty-four hours to help her control her elemental power over wind, that is if he can control his own desires to claim her body and soul. Because if he should fail, then the god of war will bring in a new era filled with blood and destruction.
When the last Shadow Warrior falls, so will humanity.
EXCERPT:
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot.” Her gun shook in her hands as if she were a damn rookie. She fought to control her emotions but they swirled inside her. If she didn’t pull it together another tornado would manifest, and that frightened her more than the half-naked man with the eagle eyes in front of her.
“Not another step,” she ordered, but he continued to stalk towards her.
She held her stance. Her finger trembled on the trigger.
He reached her. His chest pressed to the muzzle. He easily towered over her. She stared up into his golden eyes. No fear. Instead, she read another emotion in his eyes.
Desire.
She should have felt threatened, and she did, but not because she believed he meant to hurt her—it was much more fundamental than that. Her whole body seemed to come alive in his presence. Her breath shortened and she felt a flush stealing up underneath her tanned cheeks. She lowered her gaze and let her weapon fall to her side. Keeping her fingers tightly wrapped around the grip reminded her to remain grounded. Her reaction to him was so totally unlike her.
Up close, she found herself staring at a broad chest covered with a mantle of feathers. The man was made of solid muscle. Without volition, her gaze traveled upward, noting the powerful shoulders, the hard jaw, the firm lips and the stern expression he wore.
“You’re very brave, but your gun won’t help you against the tzitzimime.”
Ixa swallowed, searching for her voice. “Who are you? What are you?”
His hand came up. Gently, he traced the image of the hummingbird tattooed on her right bicep. Her muscle quivered under his touch. “Just as I thought. You bear the mark,” he murmured.
In the distance she heard the confused shouts of her fellow officers. “They’ll be here soon.” They would have heard the shots. They’d be searching for her.
“I distorted the sound so they check in a different area. They will not be upon us yet.”
“You can do that?” It didn’t seem possible, except she didn’t have an explanation for anything that had happened. Her brain seemed to be functioning in first gear, unable to catch up to anything that required substantial thought.
“I can do many things, you will find.”
He cupped her chin and tilted her head. His golden eyes came closer until his head blotted out the sky and everything around her. Helpless, she waited for his lips to touch hers.
His lips brushed hers, once, twice. She let out a sigh. He pressed down a third time and she leaned into him, but before she could deepen the kiss, he released her and stepped back.
Her entire body zinged with energy. She stared up at him, bemused.
He chuckled, which snapped her out of her daze. Had she lost her mind?
“Don’t ever do that again.”
He smiled, an incredibly sexy smile that made her nerve endings sing with need. Before she could lash out at him again, he raised his arms up. A breeze passed around them, ruffling the feathers adorning his chest. His image wavered and bent. She heard bones cracking, reshaping. Wave after wave of feathers burst forth in a soft, rippled covering. Where a warrior once stood, now a large eagle spread its wings and gave a loud cry. The eagle flapped its wings and took to the skies.
Ixa gasped. The gods will find a way to convince you. Her abuelo’s words echoed in her mind.
Gabriella Hewitt is the pen name of creative writing talents Sasha Tomaszycki and Patrizia M.J. Hayashi. Together they weave tales of romantic suspense and dangerously sensual paranormals. Check out the website www.GabriellaHewitt.com to find out about upcoming releases and events on her blog.
P: I’d love to meet Christine Feehan. Her Dark series was the first paranormal romance I ever read and I was hooked on the genre. She is amazingly prolific and I’d give anything to know how she does it. I’d also go all “fangirl” with Jayne Ann Krentz. I used to read only her historicals, yet she’s created her Arcane series that spans her contemporary and futuristic pen names as well. Now, I’m picking up her novels in all three genres. Way to go on building a fan base, that’s for sure!
S: I once was a “fangirl” and then I met my fav authors in person, Caridad Pineiro, Nora Roberts, Maggie Shayne and realized they are real people, wonderful and lovely women who are down to earth and sincere. I also met another author who didn’t turn out to be as cool as I had expected and that threw me for a loop but again it made me realize that authors are human.
Ali: If you could co-write with another author who would it be and why?
P: I’m already part of a writing team. Sasha and I have been paired for six years and it’s a wonderful partnership. We have a rhythm that works for us. Sasha is often the one who comes up with the big ideas. I’m the one who usually fine tunes them. We really write as one. It’s difficult to imagine writing with someone else. As far as I’m concerned, my partner rocks!
S: Back at you! Wouldn’t want it any other way.
Ali: The world is under attack and you are forced to run for your life. You only have room for one book in your survival kit, what book do you take?
P: Two years ago, I got for my boys a book called “The Boys Survival Guide.” The smart answer would be to take that since it gives instructions on every page for something different to survive. On the other hand, you have to feed the soul. If the world were under attack, I’d want something to make me laugh and smile, so maybe I’d grab one of Chris Christie’s romantic suspense novels that often have me laughing out loud.
S: I’m going to cheat and grab my kindle with all my books on it. I must have over 100 romances, 20 sci-fi, and a boatload of marketing non-fiction (yeah, I ‘m a geek like that.)
P: Sneaking in here. I thought about my Kindle, but then I figured the battery would go and so I went for the paper version. Maybe there’s hope for paperbacks yet! Of course it requires global meltdown , but I’m sure there’s a selling point in there somewhere. LOL!
Ali: Who are your favorite literary characters? (Yours or someone else's)
P: Got to say I love Linda Wisdom’s Fluff and Puff, a pair of piranha-like bunny slippers that keep me plenty entertained. Then there are the dust bunnies, in Krantz’s futuristics. Elvis is a particular favorite.
S: Laurell K. Hamilton’s, Anita Blake, is one of my all time favorite characters.
Ali: If you friends were asked to describe you in one word what would it be?
P: Caring, supportive, busy. Take your pick. ( :
S: Spunky!
Ali: Where do you do your best work?
P: At the dining room table. I live in an apartment in Japan, with a husband and three growing boys. Each of them has a desk, so hubby and I make our office at the table. I type whenever I can. I’ve tried going to a local café, but too many people know me in the neighborhood and stop by to talk. It’s distracting (not that three boys aren’t!).
S: I have a corner office with a view. Actually it is a cluttered computer shoved in the corner of my bedroom right next to the window that faces the front yard, but a girl can dream.
Ali: Do you find it harder to write a full-length novel or novellas?
Our first two manuscripts were novel length. When we tried to switch to a novella, we found it difficult to contain the story in a short length. With practice we got it and sold three novellas. Then we feared being able to go back to novels. Maybe we’d run out of story. We started the third story in our Shadow Warriors series, tentatively titled MOUNTAIN SHADOWS, and realized that each story takes on a life of its own. Originally intended to be a novella, it’s morphed into a nice novel length. So, it looks like we can handle both formats.
Ali: When did you fall in love...with writing?
P: I’ve always loved to read. Stories took me to strange, exciting worlds. Authors, for me, were these magical people with incredible imaginations. I couldn’t imagine trying to be like them. And yet, characters would chatter in my head. One day, it occurred to me that I could be just like them, if I worked at it. I’m thrilled to be a published author and hope that I’m creating magic for others with my stories.
S: In High School when a substitute teacher let us write for an hour and a half uninterrupted. I wrote an entire 20 pg chapter! It was a fantasy. It was really raw but I had no inhibitions then, ironically it would have been the female Harry Potter. HAHA. She read it and said I should be a writer. Funny how, 15 years later I finally took that advice. LOL
Ali: Are you a plotter or fly by the seat of your pants writer?
We used to be pantsters but it became hard to figure out the next step, especially when you have two people writing long distance, so we switched over to outlining our stories first and pounding them out. Have to say it works better than telepathy. One of us comes up with a brilliant idea. We pitch it to each other and the one that sticks we roll with it. We take about a week to figure out exactly the best angle for the story. Write up an outline. Then we hit it back and forth to each other via email every night, so the other one receives it in the morning and can work on it during the day. (Patrizia and I live in two different time zones so it works well). It takes approximately one month to bang out a new novella and three months for us to do a full novel.
Ali: What is your favorite thing to do outside of writing?
P: Reading has always been a favorite for me. It relaxes me. I also began Karate several years ago with my sons and really enjoy it.
S: Reading is top of the list but other than that I like to stay active. Swimming, walking along the Greenway, bike riding and fishing.
Favorite color: Purple
Favorite food: Anything spicy
Boots or heels: Boots
eReader or Print: eReader
Social Media: Love it or Hate it? Tolerating it
Beer, Liquor or Wine: Wine
Favorite place to get it on besides the bedroom: Shower
Favorite TV Show: Once Upon A Time, Ringer, Supernatural, Revenge, Grimm (seeing a pattern here?)
Favorite Book series (besides your own): Anita Blake, Arcane Society, Aregenau novels (Lynsay Sands)
Pj’s or Lingerie: Pjs
Vampires vs. Shifters: Shifters
Favorite Genre: Paranormal and Romantic Suspense
Website / Blog / Samhain Author Page / Twitter
4 comments:
I loved the interview! FUN!
Fun interview! I've always imagined that being a part of a writing team you would need to live near each other but clearly Sasha and Patricia make it work long distance! I have Shadow Visions on my Kindle and just need to get the reading time. Thanks for sharing!
Vickieann, thanks for stopping by. I have to say the interview was challenging. It really made us both think.
Maria D., I'm so glad to hear you have a copy of Shadow Visions. I hope you enjoy it. It was a lot of fun to write. ( :
Thank you both for the interview :)
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