Can you tell readers a little bit about
yourself and what inspired to write in this particular genre?
I am a full-time writer and live in Florida
with two dogs who graciously allow me to share their home—as long as we don’t
run out of treats. Gracious can become
cranky when we run out of treats.
I have been a voracious reader since age nine,
and was lucky to have parents who didn’t censor my quest for the written word
shaped into fantastic stories.
I
was inspired to write Urban Fantasy by the stories of C.L. Moore. I didn’t have much money when I first started
reading, but I did have a library card.
Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance were not as readily available then
as they are now, so I had to work hard to find them among the stacks.
C.L.
Moore wrote stories in the 1930’s and much later they were collected into a
volume titled Northwest of Earth. Moore’s
character Northwest Smith could have been an inspiration for Han Solo, and
Jirel of Joiry is the original queen of kick ass warriors. Jirel is the inspiration for every kick
heroine I’ve ever written.
Please tell us about your latest
release.
Vicious
Moon is the third book in the Earth Witches Series. It follows Viper Moon (2011), Vengeance Moon
(2012). The story involves a witch named
Nyx, who ran away and joined the army to escape the ridged rules of her family
and coven. She’s made a life for herself
and eventually ends up in San Francisco working as a private investigator. Nyx is suddenly called home by her
grandmother and then sent to find her sister Marisol. Marisol has gone to the city of Duivel,
Missouri to study with another witch and is missing. Nyx does find her sister, but she also meets
her match in Etienne, a man who has walked in the shadowy world of mercenary
soldiers and criminal enterprises.
Was one of your characters more
challenging to write than another?
In Vicious Moon, the character of Laudine,
the witch Nyx’s sister went to study with was a bit difficult. I wanted her to be devious and manipulating,
but in the end, the reader could find a little compassion for her, even if Nyx
cannot.
As Nyx sees Laudine:
Laudine, long
and lanky at six-foot, wore an ankle length multihued skirt worthy of a gypsy
fortuneteller. Her hair, obviously dyed
jet black, was secured in a bun at the nape of her neck. She had an angular face, but it was smooth,
regal. That face formed an expression of distaste aimed directly at me. The thing I noticed most was her eyes. Dark as her hair, they gave the impression of
power. Impression being the key
word. I’m not an expert at determining
the power of other witches, but years of observation told me she had no more,
maybe even less, power than I did. Or
she was exceptionally successful at hiding it.
Is there a character that you
enjoyed writing more than any of the others?
In Vicious Moon, the character I enjoyed writing most was
Herschel, Nyx the witch’s familiar and friend. She hasn’t seen him in a long time and he certainly surprises her when
he does show up:
I was barely
winded and pursuit fell further behind with every step—until something massive
slammed into my back. It rolled me over
into some brush and banged my ribs across a rock. Then an enormous slimy mouth locked on my
ankle and a large body plopped down on me.
The body farted in my face.
“Herschel!”
The ridiculous
canine that the Earth Mother given to me as my familiar. I hadn’t seen him in ten years. I didn’t have time to think about how he got
to California. I pounded him with my
fists.
“Get off of
me.”
I wrestled with
him, pushing and shoving, but he wouldn’t budge. Since he was my familiar, I couldn’t use
magic on him without hurting myself.
Nyx describes
him:
The morning after my capture I sat in the
hotel lobby handcuffed and feet chained, with Herschel’s massive head on my
knee. His floppy jowls slimed my pants with slobber. Herschel’s heritage seemed to be mostly Bull
Mastiff crossed with a Great Dane. He
weighed in at two hundred pounds, far larger than any domestic dog. Black as the inside of a deep mountain cave,
he could be mistaken for a small pony at a distance. I did love him, in spite of my
irritation. I’m told he arrived on the
doorstep the day I was born. His primary
functions in life were sleeping, eating and farting. And there was the incessant drooling.
What is your favorite scene from the
book? Could you share a little bit of it, without spoilers of course?
My favorite
scene is where Nyx meets Etienne.
A man stepped through the doorway.
He stood over six feet and had a
rugged body, slim and lean, but at the same time well muscled. Jet black hair curled slightly against his
neck and around his ears, and his eyes…oh, those eyes…cold dark and dangerous
as black ice on a frozen highway. He had
copper-colored skin with sharply defined black tattoos down his taut
forearms. Not pretty colored tattoos or
pictures, but inked midnight curved like pieces of a puzzle. His jeans fit that impressive body, as did
the gun he wore openly in a shoulder holster over his T-shirt. There are places in the world where that
might be done, but this was Middle America.
Most everyone owned a gun of some sort—they usually kept it out of
sight. He obviously didn’t give a shit.
I’d met men like him before--powerful,
dangerous. They were usually lovers or
enemies. The look on this one’s face
said he didn’t have love on his mind.
Can you tell readers a little bit
about the world building in the book/series? How does this world differ from
our normal world?
The Barrows is a section in the City of
Duivel, Missouri. In appearance, Duivel
is an average Midwestern town. Perfectly normal—until you look deeper. Beyond a magical ward created by the Earth
Mother, is the Barrows. There is a bit
of the history of the Barrows on my website.
In Vicious
Moon, Nyx says of the Barrows:
Before me stood a long, narrow street in ruins. So many buildings had crumbled into that
simple roadway it was impassable by car.
I walked closer, threading my way around piles of glass and
debris. It was as if time had suddenly
turned malevolent, overcome its human keepers, and crushed their dwellings.
Laudine flung out a hand. “This
is the Barrows. From here north are
square miles of ruins, some like this, some better, some completely collapsed.
Near the center is the heart of evil, the Zombie Zone they call it. That’s where the demon hides.”
I didn’t know what to say. I’d
seen ruins before. I’d walked through
many from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, some ancient, some blasted to
rubble by modern warfare.
“What caused this?” I demanded.
“An earthquake. I’m told. Mass
exodus sixty or seventy years ago.
Some witches say the Earth Mother drove people out. I know the Mother deliberately hides the
ruins from people living uptown with a spell.
Beyond that…” She shrugged.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s
block? How do you deal with it?
Writer’s block? No.
Procrastination? Yes. I always have stories and ideas circling in
my mind, but sitting down to put them on paper is another thing.
Do you have any weird writing quirks
or rituals?
I require silence. No music, television, just focus on the words
before me. Some writers go to libraries,
bookstores, or coffee shops. Not
me. I have to be firmly locked my
fictional world for it to come alive. This writing style wouldn’t for writers with
kids in the house. That’d probably why I
didn’t get serious about writing until mine hit their late teens.
I’m most creative
in the morning. The earlier I can kick
myself out of bed the better. After one
o’clock, my attention wanders. I always
envied writers who could sit down a computer at any time of the day and
actually produce great scenes.
What was the last amazing book you
read?
Amazing books. I could never pick one. Illona Andrews and the Kate Daniels Urban
Fantasy Series is fantastic. I’ve read
each book in that series three or four times. Richard Kadrey’s dark, gritty
Sandman Slim Series. Kadrey is not for
the faint of heart. If you want sunshine
and roses, look elsewhere.
Where can readers find you on the
web?
Readers can check out my web site at
leeroland.com, and I’m on facebook.
Would you like to leave readers with
a little teaser or excerpt from the book?
This is how
Nyx’s adventure begins.
Disaster loomed
like an earthquake-born tsunami. The
moment the woman climbed into my car, that watch your back feeling kicked me in
the ass and I wanted to hunch my shoulders and duck. I ignored it, as I had many times in the
past. I based my decision on the often flawed theory that catastrophe wasn’t so
bad if you saw it coming.
She’d stood
waiting in front of a convenience store, right where I’d been told to pick her
up. She said her name was Mara, but she
didn’t offer a surname and refused to make eye contact.
I’m Nyx Ianira. I’m a
licensed private investigator in San Francisco. I’m twenty eight years old, a
former soldier, armed guard, and an earth-witch with magical powers that
unfortunately didn’t include the ability to discern lies. I stretched my legs, trying to ease the
tension. Waiting is something every PI
gets used to, but this time I couldn’t relax.
At least I’d
changed from my suit into more comfortable jeans and a T-shirt. I did wish this
job was over with, though. I had a date
with the owner of a dive shop later. He
wants to give me lessons. Actually, I’m pretty
sure he wants to take me to a beach in Mexico and talk me out of my
bikini. He’s not a deep philosophical thinker
but he likes what he sees. I have
gold-brown hair with lighter blonde streaks, nice perky breasts, and a tall
slim body that curves in the right places.
There will be no great soul-mate meeting of the minds with this date,
but it promises to be fun.
Harold, my
erratic and occasionally inebriated partner at Single-Eye Investigations had
called last night and asked that I take a pro bono case for him. I was to retrieve a child from a
non-custodial father. While I’m always
happy to help a kid in danger, the agency has firm rules against that kind of
high-risk intervention. I helped write
them when I became a partner in the firm.
Those situations are best handled by the appropriate official
authorities, the kind with warrants, guns and badges. Harold said he’d made an exception for this
one because the father was an abusive, drug-dealing fiend. Apparently he feels
I’m more qualified to face abusive, drug-dealing fiends than he is. He’s right, of course, but that didn’t make
it less dangerous or less a violation of the rules.
Dynamic Urban
Fantasy by Lee Roland
The Earth Witches, the keepers of the world’s magic, find chaos and
desire in the hidden ruins of the Barrows. Servants of the enigmatic
Earth Mother, they battle men, monsters and personal conflicts to protect the
world. With magic, modern weapons and strong companions, they persevere to
save mankind from evil.
The books from this
series:
Viper
Moon
Earth Witches #1
ISBN-13: 978-0451233769
352 Pages
Cassandra
Archer is the huntress. She has faithfully served the earth Mother for years,
rescuing kidnapped children from monsters—both human and supernatural—dwelling
in the ruins of the Barrows District. But when two children are kidnapped under
similar circumstances, all clues point to a cataclysmic event on the next dark
moon. Aided by police Detective Flynn and Michael, mysterious and dangerous
resident of the Barrows, Cass must race against the clock and prevent a
sacrifice that could destroy the entire town…
Vengeance
Moon
Earth Witches #2
ISBN-13: 978-0451236432
352
Pages
Madeline
Corso can’t rest until she hunts down the three men who killed her father and
witch mother. Two of them are now dead by her hand. Unfortunately, her
second kill had witnesses. Sent to prison, she is rescued Sisters of
Justice—a mysterious order of female warriors with ties to her mother. Her
fighting skills are honed by the Sisters, and they have tracked the last
murderer to Duivel, Missouri. He is hiding in the dark underworld of the
Barrows. Once in the Barrows, she discovers that things aren’t what they
seem. The danger goes far beyond her need for revenge. Can she rely on
Michael, a handsome and possibly deadly stranger, to help her navigate a world
of men and beasts? Or will she lose her heart before the mission is complete?
Vicious
Moon
Earth
Witches #3
ISBN-13: 978-0451238269
320
Pages
Ex-soldier and Earth Witch Nyx Ianira is working as a
PI in San Francisco when she sees the last thing she ever wanted to see: the
Sisters of Justice—the mysterious Earth Witch police force. Three
Sisters, a Triad, is usually a squad of executioners. This time,
thought, the Sisters mission is to capture and escort an unwilling Nyx back to
Twitch Crossing, Georgia. Nyx ran away from Twitch Crossing ten years ago
to escape the stiff rules and duties of being a true Witch. She wanted a life
of her own. Now she’s been dragged back to her swampy hometown because another
life is in danger—her little sister is missing, and Nyx is the only one who can
go to Duivel, Missouri and track her down. But the key to
finding her may lie with the dark and tempting Etienne—a sinister criminal with
a fearsome reputation, a ruthless attitude, and a total immunity to magic…
Lee Roland
began her writing career in middle school when she wrote a short story for her
brother. He turned the story in to his teacher as his own work. To his
amazement and terror, the teacher was so impressed that she read it aloud to
the class—and asked him to write another one.
Lee notes
that, other than motherhood, she’s never had an exciting job. She might
have dreamed of being a lawyer, nurse or police officer, but finding the
right person to share her life with changed her plans. Her only
credentials for writing are a terrific imagination, life experience and the
love of words in a good story. She reads voraciously, but particularly
loves Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance.
Lee lives in
Florida and is a full-time writer. She is a member of RWA National and
the Florida based First Coast Romance Writers.
Before being
published, Lee won many RWA Chapter contests and garnered a Golden Heart
nomination in 2008 with her post apocalyptic novel, LILITH’S CHILD.
Lee is the
author of the Earth Witches series published by NAL, beginning with VIPER MOON
in 2011.
Contact
Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeeRolandM
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