ParaYourNormal - Where Para Is Our Normal!

This week's interview is with author, Viki Lyn. She's giving away one ebook copy of The Hunter Within. After you read the interview be sure to enter for a chance to win!

Hey, Viki, it’s really great to meet you. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about yourself.

I’ve been writing for a few years now and don’t see myself slowing down any time soon. I especially enjoy writing paranormal/fantasy romances because it’s just too darn fun to create new worlds! I write the occasionally contemporary, because that’s my favorite genre to read J. I was pleased to win the Rainbow Award last year for the 2010 Best Paranormal for Last Chance. This is the first book of my vampire series published by Loose Id. Fighting Chance, the second, was released this summer. I love to travel and just returned from a tour of Eastern Europe – Hungary, Austria, Germany and Czech Republic. I spent a week in Prague which was so cool because I set a part of Fighting Chance in Prague. My favorite color is red and so I treated myself to a red (white top) Mini Cooper for a milestone birthday! My best times are spent with family and friends, which come first over my writing career. I truly feel blessed!

How did you get started?

Ah, well, I started with fan fics and found I really enjoyed writing stories, but that was limited. I wanted to create my own characters and settings. I’ve always had a vivid imagination, making up stories in my head, creating whimsical mermaids, princesses, explorers with time machines. That sort of thing. I didn’t pick up a pen to seriously write until a few years ago. It’s been quite a learning curve, and, always challenging. I hope to keep improving and writing better books year after year.

I have been enjoying reading up on all your books! How many do you have out there and how long have you been publishing your work?

My first book was published in 2006 under another pen name. I wrote hetero historical romances for about three years when I decided to change genres after seven books. My first gay romance was published in 2009. I just wrote and published my eighth m/m romance! I love writing in this genre and have plenty more tales to tell. Series, sequels, stand-alones.

What drew you to gay erotica?

I’m an avid Japanese yaoi reader (boy’s love). I’ve collected over 400 books for my library! Crazy I know. I feel comfortable writing gay characters, having lived in the San Francisco area and having close gay friends since my college days. I love the idea of two men in love, and the courage it takes for them to be openly gay in a society that at times is very intolerant of people’s differences. 

What can you tell us about Hunter Within and can you give us a little blurb of it?

This is the second book in my White Tiger shape shifter series. It's a continuation of Antoine and Jack's story.

Here's a short blurb: Jack is shocked to learn his wife is engaged to another man. She believes Jack died during the war, and has no idea he was altered into a soldier of super human powers. Now he's a Sentinel agent fighting supernatural beings. He remains dead in her eyes. But now he wonders if he should tell Alice the truth. All he wants is to have his old life back and to be normal again. Alice can save him from his crazy life and his sexual need for men; especially his burning passion for a shape shifter who claims his body and now wants his heart.

Shape shifter Antoine Fortescue travels to New York City to find out why Jack went AWOL. What he discovers disturbs him. Jack has traveled to California to spy on his wife's fiance. Was Jack going to confront Alice with the truth that he is alive? Or the real truth - that he is gay? Antoine will stop at nothing to capture Jack's heart.

What inspired this book?

There was so much left unsaid in the first book – The Tiger Within. It’s a novella and I see it as an introduction to the characters and their situation. Jack didn’t come to grips with his sexuality and his attraction for the tiger shape shifter, Antoine. So book 2 focuses on Jack and his struggles to come to terms with his homosexuality and his deep need to reconnect with his wife. He believes he wants his old life back – his wife (who thinks he died in the war), a home and family. This means leaving the Sentinel and his French tiger. But love does crazy things to Jack’s heart, and it’s not so easy to leave Antoine behind. There’s a lot of angst and conflict in this story!

What can you tell us about Jack and Antoine that we wouldn’t know by reading the book?

Jack is a great cook in the kitchen. He loves to cook, garden, and is quite the homebody. This isn’t brought up in the books. Antoine wears his emotions openly and is a romantic, but he is very forceful and pragmatic when dealing with politics and business. He can be quite hardnosed in his liberal views. We haven’t seen Antoine in action when he’s fulfilling his ‘princely’ role as the alpha of his demesne.  

Where can readers purchase your book?

Several places have my books – the publishing houses, of course. Amazon sells the Kindle versions and All Romances Ebooks has all my books for sale. My books are in several digital formats but not in print.

Where can readers connect with you on the web?

I’m all over the place – Facebook, Twitter, blogs…you can find all my information at my website: http://www.vikilyn.com. If readers want to know the latest news about my books they can join my Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VikiLynNewsletter/join. I love to hear from my readers so I encourage them to send me an email.

May we read an excerpt from the book?

I thought you’d never ask. *g* Here’s a short excerpt:

Unedited version of The Hunter Within, copyright Viki Lyn, 2011:

Lowering his gun, Jack kept his gaze on the beautiful creature. A sleek tiger wrapped in snowy white fur and chocolate stripes. Le Tigre stopped a few feet from where Jack knelt, icy blue eyes blinking. Then the body shimmered, and before Jack could stop him, Antoine transformed into his human form.

Naked, on all fours, licking his lips, Antoine grinned. A dazzling smile lit up that aristocratic face, a face belonging in the past.

“Darling, it’s been too long,” Antoine drawled, then sat cross-legged on the ground.

Jack averted his gaze from that too-tempting thatch of dark curls. He stood up and put away his gun, swallowing the lump in this throat.

“What are you doing here?”

Antoine’s mouth puckered into a sultry pout as he rose to his feet and brushed off pine needles from his body. “I’ve missed you.”

Jack rolled his eyes as he slipped off his coat. He walked over and draped it around Antoine’s shoulders. If he stared at that sleek, strong body for much longer, he’d do something rash, something totally foolish.

Returning to his surveillance, he could hear Antoine stir behind him. Then a moist, hot tongue licked the curve of his ear. Shivers raced along his arms and legs. He parted his mouth, yet his breath caught in his throat. A groan formed, but he held it back, afraid if it escaped, he’d be lost to Antoine’s charms.

“Antoine, stop.” Jack twisted and pushed away the roaming hands. He looked Antoine over and noticed how his coat hung like a sack on him. Had the shifter lost weight? He’d always been slim, but his cheekbones were more pronounced, and there was a hint of fatigue in his eyes. “Where did you leave your clothes?”

“Near the highway, safely tucked away in my suitcase. It’s lovely here.” Antoine inhaled deeply and swept back his tousled curls.

The man insisted on keeping his hair in the style of his youth. Unfortunately the eighteenth-century do screamed flaming poof. But the truth was, Jack loved the springing chocolate whorls, how soft they felt when he buried his fingers in their thickness, and the long hair, much as he hated to admit, looked devastatingly sexy on Antoine.

Now if he could just talk him out of his frilly shirts…

Wait -- what did he care? He should end the absurd relationship between them. If he could just concentrate on his task and not be lured by the temptation Antoine presented…naked under the coat…willing…

“You haven’t answered my question.” Jack scowled to cover up the nervous excitement coursing through him. Already an uncomfortable swelling fought against the confines of his pants.

“I’m here to help you,” Antoine said.

Jack narrowed his eyes. “How did you find me?”

“Ricky. He’s a lovely young man. He misses you. He doesn’t like to go to the cinema alone. You really should send him that postcard you promised him.”

Jack turned on his heels, away from Antoine’s prying eyes and dripping sarcasm.

Antoine turned Jack around by the shoulder to face him and slid his hands around Jack’s waist in a viselike grip. It always surprised Jack how such a slim body held such strength. He had seen it -- experienced it -- firsthand. This silly fairy could wrestle him to the ground and completely overtake him if he so desired. And the way Antoine looked at him -- passion leaping from those ice blue eyes.

God have mercy.

His cock stirred as he breathed in Antoine’s scent.

“I’ve longed for you, my khalid.”

Jack stiffened and pushed away from the warm embrace. He missed the companionship of holding a man who he cared for, but the comforting sensation was the problem. He refused to acknowledge Antoine’s belief that he was the shape-shifter’s khalid. They were not soul mates.

***

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt. Thank you so much for having me today. Happy Reading! Viki Lyn

If you'd like to read Viki's books, you can find them through the following links:

For The Bite Of It: http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/books/forthebiteofit.htm

The Hunter Within: http://www.loose-id.com/The-Hunter-Within.aspx

All other books: http://www.vikilyn.com/books.htm

A big thanks to Viki for letting us interview her. If you'd like to win a copy of her ebook, just leave your name and email in a comment below, and we will announce the winner on Sunday. If you'd like to learn more about Viki, then tune into our Blog Talk Radio show this Wednesday at 3:30 PM PST. Click here to set a reminder for it.