Author Interview with Felicity Heaton

My author guest this week is Felicity Heaton. I am taking part in her Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour. Eight Books. One Author. Vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and demons. One year long book tour!

So I hope you will take the time to check out Felicity's books! There is definitely something for everyone among her variety of releases in the Paranormal genre. Want a little romance? She has it! A little sci-fi? She has that too!

Enjoy the interview and make sure you check out Felicity's links and maybe you will be tempted by some of her books!

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Amber - Welcome to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you here as a guest! Could you start things off by telling us a little about your latest release!

Felicity – My latest release is Ascension, an urban fantasy romance novel and the first book in my new Shadow & Light Trilogy. Ascension is the story of Lealandra, a powerful witch on the verge of going through a process known as an ascension. It’s where the magic that lives symbiotically within her will reach the pinnacle of the power it can achieve with her, and it’s a very dangerous process as most witches don’t survive it because the magic can easily seize control of them and kill them during the final stage. Lealandra’s chances of survival are dramatically lessened when her counter-balance is killed and she realises that someone is after her. That’s where the hero comes in. Taig is a half-demon half-human, and a seriously snarky sexy guy. He’s also Lealandra’s ex-lover, and the two parted under not-so-good circumstances six years ago. It takes a lot for Lealandra to walk back into his life but she needs a hunter and he’s the best she knows. Without Taig, she doesn’t stand a chance of surviving the dark force that is after her or her ascension. She needs both his ability as a hunter and his demonic power to save her, but he has a price in mind that she isn’t sure she wants to pay—her. Readers can head to my site to check out the excerpt and find out where they can buy it – http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk

Amber - You have quite a few books under your belt already! Can you tell us a bit about some of your favourites?

Felicity – One of my favourite books is Love Immortal. It’s an epic vampire romance novel that twists Greek mythology to create the origins of vampires, and pits them against werewolves. There’s a Greek legend about Lycaon, who was cursed into wolf form by Zeus because he tricked the god into eating human flesh. In my story, Lycaon has embraced his werewolf side and is out to destroy Olympus and Zeus. Lauren, the heroine, doesn’t realise that she is a reincarnated demi-goddess and that her duty is to defeat Lycaon before he can achieve his revenge. She’s a normal thirty-something until the night she’s attacked by werewolves and rescued by Julian, her handsome immortal protector, and pulled into a dark new world full of people with supernatural powers, necromancers, gods, vampires and werewolves. It’s full of action, and also packed with emotion, and I loved writing it and having a cast of secondary characters that came to life on the page as much as the hero and heroine did.

Amber - Are all your books e-books or are some in print? Which format do you prefer?

Felicity – I have both e-books and paperbacks. I’m not sure which format I prefer. I like e-books because they’re really portable and I can carry them on my smart phone or my Kindle, but there’s something about a paperback. It’s nice to hold a physical copy of a book and breathe that lovely paper smell.

Amber - What are you working on at the moment? Any new projects?

Felicity – At the moment, I’m in the middle of the second draft of Her Guardian Angel, which will be the fourth release in the Her Angel series, and I’m gearing up for the release of Forbidden Blood, which is the first book in my new Vampire Venators series. Both of them are paranormal romance books, and Forbidden Blood will be available on June 18th, and Her Guardian Angel will be released on July 30th. I’m also starting to write the first draft of Masquerade, which will be the tenth story in my Vampires Realm series that I write as F E Heaton.

Amber - How do you come up with the idea for the a new book? Is it a long process or do the ideas just come to you?

Felicity – Normally the characters come to me and they have the idea for their story. I just have to wait for them to pop into my head, and then the fun begins. I try to think about everything because I’m a big world builder and want the story to be as colourful and full of detail as possible. I can spend days plotting a story and writing down aspects of the characters and the world they live in. It’s one of my favourite parts of writing. I’m an outliner too, so I always have a blow-by-blow outline of the book, often separated into chapters or at least scenes. I do allow myself to go off-plan if necessary, but most of the time I write what’s in my outline as that’s the story I’ve spent hours crafting.

Amber - What kind of research have you done for your books? Anything interesting or is the research boring?

Felicity – I don’t normally need to do much research. It’s more about the world building for me, and creating paranormal creatures that belong to me rather than copying what other authors have done. I’ll spend a lot of time considering my species and their world, and will focus heavily on that. I have had to do research in the past into things like social hierarchy and uses of titles, and also settings for my books. I base a lot of my stories in European cities that I have visited and know, and that is anything but boring. I love exploring new cities and I’m an avid photographer, so I have plenty of reference material for my novels.

Amber - How do you pick the names for your characters? Do they have any special meanings?

Felicity – I spent quite a bit of time coming up with the character names as I want them to really suit the characters, and I want them to be different and stand out from other books. A lot of the characters I’ve written have very different names or ones that have a meaning significant to the book or their character. I can happily spend hours searching for new interesting names and I keep a list of them on hand so I can name characters as they come to me. Sometimes I opt for making up names so they suit the character. Lealandra is one of those cases. I wanted a unique name for her.

Amber - Did you always wanted to be an author? Why did you pick the Paranormal Romance genre?

Felicity – No, I didn’t always want to be an author. I wanted to a designer, and I am one, and I’m also a web programmer. Writing came after I had started out in my career as a web designer / developer, and I never thought that I would make it my full time job, but it is now. I’m still coming to terms with that. I’ve always been a very creative person so it didn’t surprise me when I found myself writing stories. It was something I had enjoyed doing in school during my teen years after all. Now it’s become an obsession and I’m very passionate about writing. As for writing paranormal romance, that was an easy choice. I’ve been into vampires, witches and werewolves, and all other creatures of the night since I was very young, and even daydreamed about a vampire world within our world during my school days. I love everything paranormal, so it was an easy leap for me to make and I don’t think there’s anything else in this world I would rather be writing about. Vampires are very close to my heart and I doubt I’ll ever stop writing stories about them.

Amber - Is there any genre you have not tried yet that you would like to?

Felicity – Not really. I’ve tried my hand at historical romance, contemporary, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, urban fantasy and fantasy, and science fiction romance. I think I’ve covered most genres now, and I’m sticking with the sci-fi/fantasy section.

Amber - What other paranormal creatures would you want to write about besides the ones you've already written about?

Felicity – Hmm, that’s a difficult one. I’ve written quite a lot of paranormal creatures in my time. Vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, angels, demons, gods and goddesses, and human with amazing powers. I’m trying to think of one I haven’t had a chance to write yet. I haven’t written a god or demi-god as a hero yet and that’s on the agenda with a series of seven books that I’ll be starting to write this year, but I guess they’re not exactly paranormal. It’s the closest I have to something I’m yet to write and want to write.

Amber - Is there a paranormal creature you just don't like, and would never use in your books?

Felicity – I’m not really into the succubus and incubus thing. I don’t really see the appeal of them, although they’re probably quite handy if you’re writing an erotic romance novel. They don’t do anything for me though.

Amber - What are you listening and watching lately? Is there any music or other media that influences your writing?

Felicity – Everything influences my writing. It doesn’t even have to be related to the paranormal romance genre. I’m currently listening to Digital Summer, Ryan Star, and Lifehouse a lot. As for watching, I’m really into movies at the moment and I go to the cinema with my husband most Thursdays to watch a double bill. I’ve always loved movies, and it’s great spending time with him.

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

Felicity – I’d be a vampire. No doubt about it. Like I said, I have a soft spot for them, a place reserved in my heart, and have adored them for probably around 25 years now. I’m a sucker for vampires.

Amber - Thank you so much for being a guest on Amberkatze's Book Blog!


Ascension
Felicity Heaton
A witch on the verge of achieving phenomenal power, Lealandra must turn to her half-breed demon ex-lover Taig for protection from the dark force that is after her and also from her own magic.

With her Counter-Balance dead and her coven against her, Taig’s blood and power is the only thing that can help her control her magic and survive the ascension and gain the strength to defeat her enemy.

Old feelings come flooding back as Taig allows her into his world and Lealandra finds herself fighting not only for survival but to win his broken heart again and heal the pain in their past. Can he forgive her for walking out on him all those years ago and will he ever believe her when she tells him that he’s not a monster but the man that she loves?

Available in e-book from:

Author's website
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle Germany
Amazon Kindle UK
Barnes and Noble

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com

Biography:

Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.

Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.

If you want to know more about me, or want to get in touch, you can find me at the following places:

My website
My blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads