Author Interview & Contest with L.A. Banks

Author L. A. Banks has written over 35 novels and visits a variety of genres such as romance, women's fiction, crime/suspense thrillers, and of course, the paranormal.

Many of you already know and love her books and will enjoy reading this interview. Others who haven't yet checked out her books will hopefully get a craving for them after reading the interview ;) It doesn't matter which applies to you! Just don't forget to enter the contest!

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Amber - Welcome to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you as a guest here and I hope you will enjoy your time here ;) Maybe you can start things off for us by telling my readers a bit about your books?

Leslie - There are two main series that I'm working on now in the paranormal genre: The Vampire Huntress Legends series, aka the VHL (at www.vampirehuntress.com ) is a 12 book saga with a strong love relationship at its core, a family of vampire hunters, and a very unwilling young, urban hip hop heroine who'd rather pursue her music career than be out at night killing demons. Then, her ex-boyfriend (whom she still loves) gets abducted by the vamps... and the epic is on :) The Crimson Moon Novels series brings out the big dogs, so to speak. In this one, heroine Sasha Trudeau is a part of a newly created military platoon designed to wipe out the incursion of werewolves... only problem is, Sasha is a wolf--a Shadow Wolf, to be exact (which is a different species than werewolves.) As she begins her mission, she runs into a very sexy hunk, Max Hunter, who shows her the way of the wolf ain't so bad after all. More on that, excerpts, etc. can be found at www.crimsonmoonnovels.com (I also have a crime series and romances that can be found at www.LeslieEsdaileBanks.com )

Amber - What is your process for writing a book? Do you get an idea and expand on it? Or do you brainstorm?

Leslie - I actually do a little of both... most of my ideas come from disturbing news topics, especially global news. i get the idea and then begin brainstorming all the freaky "what ifs" that come out of that.

Amber - Are you anything like your characters? Are any of them based on people you know?

Leslie - All of them, LOL! There is undoubtedly a little of me in every heroine or female character I write... there's a lot of the close female friends and family members in them, too. With the guys, those are based on guys I've known, loved, or who are/were members of my family. The bad guys, LOL--those are the bas ex-lovers, and terrible bosses I've had over the years... then add a little yeast a little spice, and boom, you have the perfect recipe... c'mon, who hasn't said at least once, "My boss is Lucifer!" (Ha ha ha!)

Amber - What projects are you working on at the moment? What releases can your fans expect in upcoming year?

Leslie - I'm working on so much stuff that I'm crazy :) Right now I'm working on the 5th book in the werewolf series, the second book in the new young adult series--that's a follow on to The VHL (the next generation), a graphic novel extension of the VHL series, as well as a manga prequel script for that which will take readers into how the vampire huntress became who she was... where... I'm working on a new romance series, the Men of delta Force, and trying to figure out how to also get 8 hours of sleep per night--BIG GRIN!

Amber - How did you end up being a writer? Was it something you always wanted to do? What other jobs have you had?

Leslie - I never knew I wanted to be a writer or could write. My daughter was in a bad daycare center accident when she was 6 months old, and I found myself out of work, going through a divorce, and broke. At that time, a quick fix solution seemed to be to enter a short story contest that was in a magazine... which I never did because the story got too long and my friends couldn't help me cut it down. So, I finished the story--which became a book and promptly threw it in the closet. They mailed it out on my behalf to publishers. It landed and stuck after I'd gone to a writer's conference. Before and during that, I was in sales and marketing for big computer firms (Xerox, Hewlett Packard, and DEC), then did a lot in economic development after my child got hurt... from there I retired into writing (but that took 10 years from the first book to become a full time writer.)

Amber - How did you end up writing paranormal genre books? Was it a genre that always interested you?

Leslie - The first book I wrote, although it was shelved in the romance section, was a paranormal... "Sundance," pubbed by Kensington/Arabesque--dealt with a 500 year old curse and two adversaries who were lovers back then having to find out who was trying to kill them both. The second book with them, Slow Burn, was also a paranormal romance--and again it got shelved in the romance area because at that time (1996, 1997, respectively) there really wasn't a category for what I write. After a while I was asked, briefly, to just write traditional romances, which I did for a while... but then when an opportunity came about with St. Martin's Press (the editor was looking for a strong paranormal with a kick ass heroine), I jumped on it.

Amber - What books do you like to read when you have time? Do you have
any must read authors/series?

Leslie - At this point, sad to say, time to read for pleasure is such a luxury--as I can't read this genre while writing in it. I always read Tananarive Due's new stuff, though :)

Amber - What do you like to do to relax?

Leslie - Music and Movies and family BBQs always chill me out... I also like to go walking in the park (gorgeous trails here in Philly) with my cousin--we gab, get metaphysical, and get exercise while doing it. I love to swim, the beach is my friend--when I can get there... I love the ocean... also enjoy hanging out with my daughter--she's a hoot (19 and hilarious.)

Amber - Lots of authors have playlists for their books. Do you have any specific music/artists that you like to listen to when you are writing?

Leslie - Absolutely... depends on the scene I'm working on, though... love scenes are Celine Dione, (I Surrender), Mariah Carey, Barry White (LOL--seriously, the bass in dudes voice is ridiculous), Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Seal, Chaka Khan (Through the Fire), Earth Wind and Fire... the stuff that got me my daughter, LOL! For fight scenes, there is NOTHING like Pit Bull Miami, Little John, DMX, et al So, it depends -- BIG SMILE!

Amber - If you could be any paranormal creature what would you be and why?

Leslie - I'd be a Were Jaguar, able to shift at will... because I would want to be alive, I like food and eating food--so being a vamp is out... also I'm a sun freak, so the night thing would literally suck for me... and the feline grace would be awesome, the power of the big cats is majestic.

Amber - You are stranded on a desert island. What 5 things do you hope to have with you?

Leslie - An endless supply of fresh water and fresh fruits/veggies (to survive, that's 2 items), a fabulous lover/friend (for company and to keep my sanity, that's 3), the Internet (so I could be connected to the outside world, stay current, keep writing and be able to FB my daughter, BIG SMILE--that's 4), and a fully gased up luxury yacht that had all amenities and navigational equipment onboard (as #5, so when I got sick of being away from civilization, I could go back to it.) LOL! Can you tell I've actually wished for this already? Some days I really do long for that island!

Amber - Thank you so much for being a guest on Amberkatze's Book Blog. I hope you will pop by again sometime!

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Contest Time

This week there are two prizes up for grabs! First prize is a cool Vampire Huntress Tote bag from Leslie and second prize is a Vampire Huntress book of your choice from me!

All you have to do to enter let us know what new release/s you are looking forward to!

No Book = No entry!

The usual rules apply!

Earn another entry for each place you link this contest on the net. Make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries!

You can also earn extra entries by emailing your friends about the contest. Just make sure you send a copy of your email or receipt to me at Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot net.

The contest will stay open until Sunday 2nd of August 2009 4pm CET and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.

If you are claiming a prize, have emailed me and have not heard back before the 7 day limit is up then post a comment here on the blog. Your email may get sucked into my spam filter.