Dariel's Feature: Interview With Natalie Gibson #RomTrp


Join me in welcoming author Natalie Gibson to my site! Natalie and I have worked on a number of events together, and in addition to being an exceptionally creative writer, she's a caring person with a rare penchant for fairness. While taking site inventory and writing my New Year goals, I realized she'd never been featured at my site. Something had to be done and quick, so here's a peek at her life and a peek at her work. Enjoy :-)


Interview
  1. What do you want readers to know about you as a person? Yikes. I've never been the kind of person who was interested in my favorite authors as people. I only want their creations for my enjoyment. So it's a little difficult for me to imagine that anyone would want to know anything about me. Here goes: A. I am a country girl, no matter how sophisticated and fancy I want to be. Get me too far from the forests and I can't breath. Any time at all in a large city and I feel claustrophobic and seriously stressed. B. I am not as depraved as my books might suggest. My imagination is overactive. C.
  2. What are some of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned during your career as a writer/author? The importance of a professional editor and design team. To ignore everything and everyone else and just write what you enjoy. Treat other writers with respect even if you don't like their books – I know how much time and effort went into each one and every book isn't for every person.
  3. What lifts your spirit when you’re discouraged? My husband. Without Eric I would have given up, thinking myself a piece of crap writer, a long time ago. Reading also works for me. Both a great book and a terrible book can inspire me to write.
  4. How do you spend your time when you’re not writing? Any other hobbies or passions? I love seasonally appropriate crafts but I often see these amazing things in my head and then they come out like a kindergardener did them. I love reading. We have a huge collection of movies and quality t.v. shows on DVD. I don't watch t.v. because I don't like commercials.
  5. Tell us about your books – genre, titles. Any favorite characters? I write what I like to read. No matter what genre, my stories are filled with action and adventure that will keep you turning the page, haunting images that stick with you, and endings that keep you coming back for more. My blend of paranormal and urban fantasy, whether it be contemporary or historical, provides for an entertaining read. If you enjoy your romance on the steamy side and heavy on the paranormal, then try the books ofSinnis. If you're looking for something darker with mind-bending thrills, then check out the Carrier Trilogy. As far as favorite characters, I am partial to them all, but if I could only pick one it has to be Maeve Lovejoy, heroine of book 1 of Sinnis, because she is the one that started it all for me. She is the first character I created.
  6. Is there a common thread in your books? If so, what do they have in common? What do you want readers to take from your creations? My books are for entertainment. They don't hold life lessons. I want my readers to lose themselves in my stories, to start reading thinking they will just read a chapter before bed and then BAM it's morning and the book is finished. I write strong women, because I am a strong woman. I don't do the shrinking violet. In my stories the women don't need a man to save them. They want a particular man, and usually end up being the one to do the saving. Just because I find the alpha male sexy in the bedroom doesn't mean I want to be bossed around in regular life. I am not a submissive woman and I don't like to read or write about fainting, weak, ignorant, helpless females.
  7. What can we look forward to from you in the near future? Works in progress? Projects? Wretched Blood, Book Two of the Carrier Trilogy, follow up to Hateful Burden is now finished and in the hands of my editor and design team. I have a vampire horror stand alone I am itching to write and a couple short stories that won't leave me alone.
  8. What are some of your favorite writers’ resources? Online sites? Resource books? Describe your research process. Oh, man. Wikipedia is of incalculable value. As far as online sites, none specific.
  9. What advice would you offer a writer to help increase productivity? Share the load. Don't try to do everything. It takes time to figure out the programs that design covers. That is time you should be writing. Find a group of supportive people to be on your team.  Get out of your comfort zone. Write in a strange place, where the dirty dishes aren't calling to you and the half watched season of Game of Thrones isn't tempting you. Write something for fun. Write every day. Even if you hate it the next day, just put words on the screen. Worry about editing later, but don't forget about it completely. 
Natalie's Books
The Sinnis series is my attempt to combine all the elements I enjoy in a good read: action, adventure, magic, mystery, romance, and racy sex. The stories center around the Daughters of Women, a secret order of magical adepts, each with abilities granted to them from their mother's bloodlines. Some will be, and some will give birth to Sinnis, a generation bound to an ancient race of men they call Guardians—the Nephilim. 
If you enjoy your romance on the steamy side and heavy on the paranormal, then try the books of Sinnis.  These are currently priced cheaply (first 2 at .99 cents and the other 3 at 2.99 each) because they are being professionally edited, redesigned inside and out with all new covers, and offered in paperback for re-release all during next year with new titles as The Nephilim Bound Series.  The 6th and final book will be written in 2014 and released at the beginning of 2015.

Ishtar Bound (Book One of Sinnis): Surrounded by magical enemies with an intimate knowledge of her abilities, a matchmaking witch of the highest rank must fulfill both her duty to her coven and her desire for a love of her own, even if the two goals collide.

Maeve Lovejoy has always been good at her job even though her services come at a high cost. Though her matchmaking abilities are stronger than ever, the most potent in any coven's recorded history, her introduction to Aaron has confused matters. Believing she's found a partner who can love her and allow her to continue practicing her arts, she shares her secrets with him. Is it a coincidence that soon after someone is locating and murdering Maeve's matches? When Aaron disappears is it because he is a member of a rival black magic sect or has he become their victim?
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The Carrier Trilogy is a gaslight-era paranormal horror series. They are told through the eyes and words of Lady Ramillia Winmoore, daughter of the late Earl of Brooksberry. She finds herself immersed in a society of cruel immortals that will stop at nothing to claim her and to use her for their own personal gain. In this dark urban fantasy, paranormal powers are bred and collected, but she is determined to protect herself and her children—no matter what the consequences may be. These books are dark and gritty in a way only the late 1800s London can be. 

Hateful Burden (Book One of the Carrier Trilogy) is a gaslight-era paranormal horror novel as well as a psychological thriller where friends and foes are not always what they seem. In this dark urban fantasy, paranormal powers are bred and collected.

Lady Ramillia Winmoore, daughter of the Earl of Brooksberry, has suffered from gaps in her memory her entire life. But this darkness is a blessing. Whenever she feels threatened, it takes over and protects her from feeling pain or even the slightest bit of discomfort. That is until the day she awakens strapped to an examining table at the West Freeman Asylum for Lunatics. 

Imprisoned for the gruesome murder of her parents, Ramillia learns she has lost ten months to the darkness. Forced to endure years of torturous treatments in a grimy, hidden cell, salvation arrives in the form of a benefactor named Sir Julian Lawrence. Betrothed to her through an arranged marriage, he helps her gain freedom.

But appearances are deceiving and soon Ramillia learns the cost she must pay. The horrors she encounters in his household are far worse than the asylum when he inducts her into a society of blood-thirsty, cruel immortals. Soon she is forced to join them and accept their way of life. 

Now Ramillia must break free of a prison she cannot see, kill an enemy that cannot die, and find a daughter that she cannot remember—all with the help of an ally she does not know. Who is Sally and can she be trusted? Is this mysterious and frightening woman trying to save her or is she planning on saving Ramillia for herself?


Wretched Blood (Book Two of the Carrier Trilogy) is now finished and in the hands of my editor and design team.  It will be available in ebook format and paperback at the beginning of 2014. 

I write contemporary erotica under the pen name NG Lovejoy.  I have 4 short stories, the Mount Haven Quickies.  If you like your stories hot with a dash of romance in a wide variety of kink, check them out.

Thank you for having me, Dariel!  Thank you readers for joining us.  Feel free to connect with me.  I'd love to hear from you.

About Natalie:
I have always loved reading. In middle and high school, I could be found with my nose in a book between classes while others were flirting and primping. In a small way, I hated to turn 16 because it meant I could drive to school and didn't have the extra hour in the morning to read a few extra chapters. I love paperbacks. I adore my Kindle. I love the ease of buying books and the secrecy I can enjoy them in. No more bright pink or swarthy man-laden covers being seen and judged by cashiers for this gal!
If I had to pick a favorite genre it would be paranormal romance. I do read tons of other stuff. I like action and adventure, and choose paranormal, fantasy or sci-fi over everything else. If a book only has romance without all the running and chasing and fighting of vamps or dragons or cyborgs, then I'll probably pass.
I am married to a kind, artistic, highly intelligent man, who looks like a nerdy biker. He rocks the sideburns and forearm tattoo better than anyone I've ever seen. Eric's paperback collection is one of the main reasons I married him. He had a massive amount lining the walls of his bedroom (how sexy is that!) and I knew I had to have them–and him–as my own. We have an almost 6 year old daughter, who is witty, fun, and too smart for her own good sometimes. I started writing during my maternity leave and now have 7 full length books and a number of short stories available for purchase. I love to play card and board games and I am a sore loser– the worst. I was born and raised in East Texas and I have lived as far from home as Austin, Texas where I earned a BFA from UT in Acting with a History Minor.

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