Monday, February 25, 2013

All About the Argeneaus: Interview, Excerpt and Giveaway with Lynsay Sands


All About the Argeneaus
with Lynsay Sands:
 
Q) You write the popular Argeneau vampire series, but you also write historical romance novels.  What is it like switching from vampires to corsets?  Do you prepare, or approach the writing differently?
 
A) Hmm… no.  My style of writing is the same regardless of the genre I’m doing. The only issue is that characters have to come to me when they want to be written about so if I’m supposed to write a historical but an Argeneau keeps appearing well then the Argeneau might be sent in first. 
 
Q) Vampires have been a mesmerizing subject since the eighteenth century.  Why do you think readers love them so much?  When did you first decide to write about vampires?
 
A) What you have with a vampire is someone who is really old with all the experience that comes with that, but who looks young.  So you have a mysterious, sexy, smart guy who’s seen and done a lot, met probably thousands of women over the ages and yet (at least in the Argeneaus’ case) chooses one woman to be his lifemate.  She’s got to feel special with a guy like that, don’t you think?  And don’t we all want to feel special?
 
I never had any intention of writing vampires.  I never even read them before starting the series.  The inspiration came from a writer friend.  She, myself and another friend (who does write a very popular dark series of vampires) were chatting via instant messenger and she suggested that the three of us do a Halloween anthology of vampires.  She would do her own version, the other friend could do one of her dark stories, and I could write a light funny vamp story.  I laughed and said, “If I did something like that you know my vamp would have to faint at the sight of blood or something.”  We all laughed and I tossed out a couple more ideas before we changed the subject.  We never did that anthology, but those ideas stuck in my head until I finally just had to write the story. 
 
 
Q) Your vampires are not the typical sinister undead characters.  Can you tell us how and why you came up with the idea of the nanos and Atlantis?
 
A) Well, quite simply, I couldn't do the dead soulless version as a hero. I needed a different source for my vampires to be able to write them with any sort of believability, so had to come up with an alternate source. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that. I looked around at what was possible and nanos that used blood as a propellant and to perform the necessary repairs to the body seemed the most viable answer. But I wanted my vamps older and that’s where Atlantis came into play since it's legendary for being advanced technologically. I combined it all and then added that when Atlantis fell, the nanos evolved their hosts to have fangs and be stronger and faster to be better predators and get the extra blood they needed (nanos use more blood than a mortal body can produce to do their work.) It all just kind of came together for me

Excerpt that ties in with the Avon FB Sweepstakes:

 “Mmmm, this really is good,” Valerie murmured, dipping her spoon into her ice cream and scooping out a large mouthful.
“I told you it was.”
Valerie shifted around in the front seat and smiled at Leigh. The pregnant woman was seated between Bricker and Marguerite on the SUV’s back seat where all three of them were gobbling up their own Rocky Road sundaes with marshmallow topping, nuts and a cherry.
“You were right,” Valerie complimented the woman and then settled back in her seat, her gaze sliding to a scowling Anders in the driver’s seat. The man had been scowling since leaving the house. Her gaze dropped to the sundae sitting on the floor between them and she said, “You really should pull over and eat yours before it completely melts, Anders. It will only take a couple minutes.”
“I don’t have a sundae,” Anders said grimly. “That’s Leigh’s. She said she wanted two, so she has two.”
“And I told you I lied so you could have one because I knew you were too annoyed to order one for yourself,” Leigh said patiently. “Pull over and eat it, Anders. I promise you it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted.”
 When he didn’t respond, Marguerite said, “Why don’t you feed him, Valerie. That way he doesn’t have to stop, but can still enjoy it.”
Valerie’s eyes widened. “Oh, I don’t think--”
“Just pretend he’s a sick and cranky child you have to feed.” Marguerite said with amusement.
Valerie’s eyes shot to Anders in time to catch him casting a dirty look into the rearview mirror, no doubt at Marguerite. Since the woman suddenly chuckled, she supposed Marguerite caught the look.
Valerie glanced down at the melting sundae. It did seem a shame for it to go to waste. It was good ice cream. And it hadn’t been cheap.
“Just give him a taste, Valerie, so he’ll stop and eat it,” Leigh suggested.
Valerie hesitated, but they were pulling up to a red light and it wouldn’t interfere with his driving, so she scooped up a healthy selection of her own ice cream and topping and leaned over to offer her spoon to him.
Anders eyed the offering, but didn’t at first open his mouth. She was just about to give up, sit back and eat it herself when he suddenly did. Valerie moved the spoon between his open lips, watching silently as he closed his mouth around the spoon and ice cream. She could have sworn the gold flecks in his eyes flashed bigger and brighter in the black irises and then he closed his eyes on a long moan that sounded almost sexual.
Valerie stared wide-eyed as he savored the food, then withdrew the now clean spoon and sank back in her seat uncertainly.
“Told you you’d like it,” Leigh said with amusement from the back seat.
When Anders didn’t respond, but remained still, eyes closed, Bricker said, “Yo, A-man. The light’s changed.”
Anders blinked his eyes open, saw that Bricker was telling the truth and urged the car forward again. He only drove half a block though before pulling into a mall parking lot to finish his sundae.


Looking for a Happy
Immortal Ever After?
From New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands comes Immortal Ever After, the eighteenth book in the bestselling Argeneau series—and these vampires don’t sparkle.
 
Sands is a master when it comes to paranormal romance, and these vampires breathe new life into an immortal trend. An addictive combination of laugh-out-loud funny and red-hot paranormal romance that fans of Lynsay Sands have come to crave Immortal Ever After is a love story with bite! Fans who’ve read about Anders in previous Argeneau novels have been dying to get a peak under his sexy yet stoic outer shell—and now’s their chance to see what makes this enforcer tick!
 
As a rogue hunter, Anders lets his actions do the talking. Yet underneath his calm exterior, this vampire has a troubled past. He never expected to have his foundations rocked so thoroughly by any woman, but now that he’s been assigned to be a mortal’s bodyguard, he’s beginning to realize just how serious finding your lifemate really is. Now, all Anders has to do is to convince Valerie to trust him enough to let him make her dreams come true—and if he doesn’t, he might lose his lifemate forever.
 
***
 
About the Author:

Lynsay Sands is the nationally bestselling author of the Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series, as well as numerous historicals and anthologies. She’s been writing stories since grade school and considers herself incredibly lucky to be able to make a career out of it. Her hope is that readers can get away from their everyday stress through her stories, and if there’s occasional uncontrollable fits of laughter, that’s just a big bonus.

For more information, go to 
www.lynsaysands.net.

Giveaway is a copy of Immortal Ever After 

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10 comments:

Rebe said...

I love this series, and Ms. Sands' historical romances are hilarious!

rwschwarz11ATgmailDOTcom

Heather Sharpe said...

I love this series! Can't wait for the next one!

Heather.sharpe@ymail.com

SandyG265 said...

This is one of the few paranormal series tha I can get my Mom to read too

sgiden at veriizon.net

Anne said...

What a sweet way to realize you've met your mate!

acm05atjuno.com

Debby said...

I read one of these books. I want to read more of them
denbby236 at gmail dot com

bn100 said...

Nice excerpt.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Barbara E. said...

I've so enjoyed every book in this series I've read. I have a few still to read, but I've been kind of trying to space them out so I don't run out. :D

Barbed1951 at aol dot com

donnas said...

I really love the Argeneau's. So excited for the new book.

bacchus76 at myself dot com

June M. said...

I love this series! It is the series that started my romance addiction :) I can't wait wait to read more stories in this series. Congrats to Lynsay on the new release!
June
manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com

Maria Behar said...

The Argeneau series has always been a favorite of mine, precisely because the vamps created by Lynsay are not frightening, ruthless characters who terrorize and kill victims. Instead, they're regular people who happen to be vampires. They have very human concerns, such as how to find a life mate, how to cope with intrusive family members, and many other things. But most of all, they're downright FUNNY. I LOVE reading about their antics!

I really enjoyed reading this interview! It was especially interesting to read about how Lynsay came up with her unique vampire world.

Thanks for the great interview!! : )

 
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