Author of: As Eve Kenin: HIDDEN (July 2008); As Eve Silver: HIS WICKED SINS(August 2008), NATURE OF THE BEAST (September 2008), DEMON’S HUNGER (December 2008)
Favorite Candy: swiss truffles and swedish berries (you know, those addictive little red blobs of gelatinous sugar that stick to your teeth…yeah…those…)
Favorite Cartoon Character: This is tough! I’d have to go with an anime character. Either Onizuka from Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) or Sousuke Sagura from Full Metal Panic. Or maybe Alucard from Hellsing…
Super Power Most Covets: Hulk smash. There are days when you just wanna smash…ya know?
Q.) First tell us about Hidden.
E.K.) HIDDEN is Tatiana’s story. She’s a genetically enhanced supersoldier who’s recently broken free of the horrific hold of a madman who tortured her for his own secret glee. She’s on a mission–part altruistic, part vendetta–to save the Northern Waste from the plague created by her captor. She trusts no one, but she is forced to team with Tristan, an enigmatic scientist who might be her ally, or her enemy. Only time will tell. Problem is, she’s out of time because the plague they’ve all been exposed to will destroy mankind.
Q.) You write in three different sub-genres of romance-paranormal romance, futuristic and gothic. Do you find switching back and forth easy or difficult?
E.K.) Switching back and forth is great. The variety keeps me fresh. It keeps the writing fun.
Q.) What is the highest compliment someone has paid you about any of your books and what made it the best?
E.K.) I treasure each email and review, each accolade and letter. If I have to pick only one to mention, I’d say it is a letter from a woman who read DRIVEN and wrote, “…I can’t remember when I’ve read a book that swept me away so completely! It made me feel twenty again, and I totally forgot my wheelchair!” I keep her letter pinned to a cork board above my desk for inspiration because it reminds me that I accomplished what I set out to do. I started writing romance because over the years, it was romance novels that helped me through so many rough patches, offering a sort of mini-vacation to a different world. This reader’s letter told me that I had succeeded. She forgot her wheelchair because I did it right, my story took her away.
Q.) Who are your favorite authors/books and why?
E.K.) You mean besides yours ?
Honestly, too many to name, but I’ll offer a partial list: Judith Ivory because she writes stories that are layered and textured and so beautiful they make you sigh. Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, Karen Marie Moning, Naomi Novik because each of them has a vast and brilliant imagination and their world-building is phenomenal. Shana Abe, Lauara Kinsale, Glenna McReynolds because they can write such prose and such powerful characters that I am lost in the story.
Marjorie M. Liu because she can really tell a story and I love the dark undercurrent in her work, and Gena Showalter for the cool unique ideas she comes up with.
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, because hers were the first romance novels I ever read. Lisa Kleypas, Jayne Ann Krentz (in all her incarnations), SEP, La Nora, Lori Foster…there are so many amazing authors that I honestly can’t list them all.
Q.) How long have you been writing? Can you tell us anything about your road to publication? How long? Mistakes you realize now or tips for people starting out?
E.K.) My road was long. I wrote my first book when I was nine, a children’s story about an unwanted teddy bear that found a new and loving home. I actually submitted it to a publisher and received my first rejection letter. By the time I made my first sale decades later, I had amassed hundreds of rejection letters. ‘Nuff said.
Tips? Finish the book. You can only sell the book if you finish the book.
Q.) Are you a plotter or a pantser? Character-driven or plot driven? Ever try to be the opposite? Do you have a set method you use when starting a book?
E.K.) Pantser all the way. I sit down at the keyboard and start to type, and hope to h*ll that a story comes out. Some of my stories are plot driven. Others are character driven. I never know what it’ll be until the story’s done.
Q.) Hidden and the first in the series, Driven, are futuristics. What, when you were known as a gothic historical writer, made you decide to make such a drastic move in setting?
E.K.) It wasn’t a conscious decision. I just write the stories that tell me they want to be written.
Q.) What can readers expect to find in all your books no matter the setting?
E.K.) I always write layered characters. Tortured characters. And there’s a thread of darkness that weaves through everything I write, a hint of mystery or suspense.
Q.) Any new projects on the horizon? What would you like to try next?
E.K.) I have four releases in 2008: HIDDEN by Eve Kenin in July, then three Eve Silver releases, HIS WICKED SINS (August), NATURE OF THE BEAST (anthology, September) and DEMON’S HUNGER (December).
Right now, I’m working on muy next historical gothic, a dark, twisted journey into the mind of a monster set against the beautiful, bucolic setting of Cairncroft Abbey.
Thanks for having me guest blog!
Learn more about Eve at her web site.
I really enjoyed the interview.
Great interview, Eve. I’ve enjoyed all your books, especially those futuristics, hurry up with your current projects so you can start the next, lol.