Good morning! Please welcome guest author Margaret L. Carter. Though I will be away for part of the day, please feel free to leave comments for Margaret and I will post them as soon as I return. Thank you!
~Kate
Describe yourself in three sentences or less.
I’ve been a vampire fan since the age of twelve but never saw a vampire movie until my twenties; I learned about the genre from classic stories and Golden Age pulp fiction. As a writer and proofreader with a PhD. in English, I live mostly inside books. In the mundane realm, I’m married to a retired naval officer, with whom I have four sons and eight grandchildren.
When did you know you wanted to be a romance author?
Soon after my first vampire novel, DARK CHANGELING, was completed. This book has a prominent romance subplot, and I realized my main interest focused on relationships between human and nonhuman characters. As a horror fan from the age of twelve, I’d always wanted to get inside the mind of the “monster” and read stories from the monster’s viewpoint. In fact, while I thought I was writing horror (because I loved the tropes of that genre, such as vampires and werewolves), I was really working in what Jacqueline Lichtenberg calls “intimate adventure.” When paranormal romance became a recognized subgenre, I realized it was a natural fit for me. I don’t write any other kinds of romance (though I sometimes read them), and I consider this work a natural extension of my horror and fantasy interests.
What are your favorite subgenres of romance?
Paranormal and sometimes time travel and historical. I enjoy a witty, humorous (but not snarky) tone in any subgenre of romance.
Tell us your top three qualities needed to make a romance hero.
Integrity, intelligence, and the ability to communicate thoughts and emotions fluently.
If you were a shapeshifter and could become any one item owned by your latest romance hero, what would it be?
The hero of my latest EC novella, “Wizard’s Trap,” is a sorcerer stranded on the astral plane. I would become his journal, because I would receive his deepest innermost thoughts. Don’t we all want a man who really knows how to communicate?
Tell us three fictional characters you find hot. They can be from books, movies, or TV.
Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series; Count Saint-Germain, the vampire hero of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s long-running series that began with HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA; Frank Langella as Dracula.
What was your first release with Ellora’s Cave?
“Night Flight,” a vampire novella about a young vampire-human hybrid woman facing her first heat (estrus).
You’ve written some great paranormal stories. Tell us about three of your supernatural EC heroes and what inspired them.
Claude Darvell, the vampire hero of “Tall, Dark and Deadly,” camouflages his true nature by “hiding in plain sight” as an actor playing horror roles. He was mainly inspired by Christopher Lee and looks like a cross between Lee as Dracula and a young Lord Byron. The lion-like humanoid hero of “Lion’s Bower” was inspired by my favorite fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast,” as well as Vincent in the TV series by that name. In every version of the fairy tale I’ve read, I didn’t want the ravishing beast to change into an ordinary prince! My humorous Lovecraftian erotic novella “Tentacles of Love” began as a twist on H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror,” in which the unfathomably alien deity Yog-Sothoth fathers twin sons on a human girl, one of them outwardly human but with tentacles below the waist, the other a titanic invisible monster that terrorizes the countryside. Blake, the hero of “Tentacles of Love,” embodies my notion of what Wilbur Whateley from “The Dunwich Horror” might be like if he weren’t dedicated to opening our world to horrific entities from another dimension but just wanted to live a normal life and marry a nice girl. His brother, the half-visible alien monster who lives in the attic, is also mild-mannered and lonely, as well as an avid fan of anime with tentacles.
What is your latest or upcoming Ellora’s Cave release?
In my latest Ellora’s Cave release, “Wizard’s Trap,” the heroine rents a house that was owned by a sorcerer who is missing and presumed dead. Actually, he was banished to the astral plane and communicates with her through the pages of his journal. He seduces her into pronouncing an invocation that restores him temporarily to physical form. But to free him permanently will require a greater risk for both of them.
Please give us one sexy or romantic paragraph from your latest Ellora’s Cave book.
The following excerpt is for readers 18 and over.
She was melting. Good thing he held her upright, one hand on the center of her back to hold her close, the other kneading her bottom. By the time he freed her lips to nibble his way along her jaw to the side of her neck, her head was spinning. He ran his hands over the curves of her breasts and hips as if proving to himself that she existed. “Incredible,” he whispered. “You make me feel so alive.” He stretched the collar of her nightgown out of the way and kissed her shoulder. Fire and ice danced over her. “Not only was I a phantom myself, everybody and everything I saw and heard seemed like phantoms. Finally I’m real again, thanks to you.” He grazed the exposed skin just above the curve of her breasts with teasing mothlike flicks of his tongue. “I wish my time on the material plane weren’t so limited. While I’m here, will you let me pleasure you?”
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a vampire romance novel (spicy but non-erotica), and my husband is writing a new book in our collaborative sword-and-sorcery fantasy series.
Where can readers connect with you online?
My website, Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com
Shared blog, Alien Romances: http://www.aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Margaret-L-Carter/212888768731562
My monthly free newsletter, News from the Crypt, with news bits, interviews, story excerpts, and mini-book-reviews:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/margaretlcartersnewsfromthecrypt
I discuss older (pre-2000, sometimes much older), often undeservedly neglected vampire fiction:
http://vampchix.blogspot.com/
Choose one from each pair:
Bad boy or golden hero?
Bad boy with a heart of gold.
Bath or shower?
Shower
Boxers or briefs?
Briefs
Historical or contemporary?
Historical
Menage or a couple?
Couple
Planner or pantser?
Planner
Pretzels or chips?
Chips
Summer or winter?
Summer
Thor or Loki?
Loki
Vampire or werewolf?
Vampire
Social
Hi Margaret! I remember DARK CHANGELING being the first book of yours I read! I love vamps and everything paranormal. But I thought I only love that without the scary! I always said I was a wimp when it came to anything with horror in it but you are one who broke me into the scary hot vamps! 🙂 I confess thou I don’t watch any scary and don’t think I ever saw a vamp movie! I love time travel too. Don’t find much of that new to read but so love the historical romances! Did you write anything or plan to in these genres. Will go check out what I’ve missed of yours.
Thanks, Caffey! I have never written a full-length historical novel, but there are a few historical stories in my collection HEARTS DESIRES AND DARK EMBRACES (Amber Quill Press, http://www.amberquill.com). From Ellora’s Cave, my novella “Dragon’s Tribute” (which has just been given a beautiful new cover) is set in a fantasy version of the Dark Ages.
How fun, Margaret! I’ve read a few of your EC vamps and some of your category romance vamps! Very cool that you’re working with your husband on some books, too!