It’s our lucky day at WGW: The amazing, imaginative, ultra-hot Elizabeth Amber is here to chat with Logan Belle about her new book in the Lords of Satyr series, Bastian. The series has been called “unputtdownable” by Paranormal Romance Reviews, has been a winner/finalist in 8 RWA contests, made her a 2009 Booksellers Best Award finalist, and perhaps most importantly – is a favorite among us gals at WGW. Her new erotic, historical paranormal romance, Bastian, the Lords of Satyr published last week.
EA: Thank you for interviewing me, Logan. I want to congratulate you on the release of your new novel, Blue Angel! Yay you! It’s fun to share release week with you. , and I look forward to hosting your giveaway on my enewsletter group in May. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ElizabethAmber/
LB: I feel *extremely* lucky to share a release week with you – especially since Kensington created those hot e-postcards! So tell us about Bastian.
EA: Here’s the quick lowdown: “Infamous for his archaeological finds in the Roman Forum and more highly sexed than most of his kind, Bastian is admired and envied. Yet he is tortured by visions. Silvia has ties to the Vestal Virgins and seeks to use him to locate a powerful artifact. But she never expected or wanted to love him. For she cannot have him. Bastian belongs to her dearest friend.”
LB: What inspired The Lords of Satyr series?
EA: Terracotta urns decorated with satyrs celebrating the annual grape harvest sparked the idea. Since the satyr are the carnal followers of Bacchus, the god of wine in Roman mythology, I knew they would be highly sexual alpha males. And if the satyr lived in 1800s Italy, they’d likely own fabulous vineyards and olive groves, where they’d guard ancestral secrets. The idea for the physical changes they undergo came from my overactive imagination.
LB: When did you first start researching the Vestal Virgins? Is there a lot of material on the subject? Is there any debate about what their lives were actually like?
EA: I’m a museum and archaeology junkie, and the Vestal Virgins have fascinated me since I learned about them at university. A few years ago, I saw the ruins of the Vestal Virgins’ House and Temple in the Roman Forum. There’s plenty of factual material on the Virgins and, as lead archaeologist in the Forum, Bastian quotes from some of this source material on occasion. The VVs actually did guard relics that were believed to protect all of Rome. No one knows what these relics were, or what happened to them, so I was free to decide what they look like, what powers they possess, and why Silvia—the heroine in Bastian--is trying to trick Bastian into helping her locating them.
LB: In writing your novels, is it a challenge to balance the fantastical elements and the historical?
EA: I stay true to the basic framework of mythology and historical fact as I build upon it, like shaping muscle and flesh on bones. There are always small things in mythology or history that I can’t get out of my mind, like the Virgins’ lost relics, and those become part of the plot.
LB: Do you have a favorite out of your heroes and heroines?
EA: Ooh, hard question! I’ll always be partial to Nicholas in book #1 in the original trilogy because Nicholas was my first novel. There’s something intriguing and sexy about eldest brothers, too. Nicholas is the eldest brother in his Tuscany 1820s clan. Bastian is the eldest brother of the 1880s satyr clan in Rome. Silvia in Bastian is one of my most interesting heroines. She’s an Ephemeral--a creature who must inhabit a series of host bodies, taking them at the exact point of death, in order that she may live on. In exchange for the use of each body she inhabits, she fulfills its owner’s deathbed wish. Sometimes that means finding a new home for a beloved pet, or perhaps letting a family member know where the family fortune lies buried.
LB: Your covers are really hot -- almost NSFW. What did you think the first time you saw one?
EA: I was both shocked and delighted by my first cover, Nicholas. I think the Bastian cover is my second-favorite after Nicholas. I love Bastian’s royal purple, which is perfect for an aristocratic, commanding eldest brother.
LB: Was any of the books particularly more challenging to write?
EA: Every one is a challenge. Once I get an idea for a novel, I can’t rest until I see the vision completed. Sometimes I hear from readers asking that I please, please never let them down by writing a book that is rushed and not in keeping with the books that came before. Have no fear of that because it wouldn’t be any fun for me to write a book that wasn’t my best effort. Although Raine wasn’t more challenging than the others, I was concerned about how its hermaphrodite heroine (Jordan) would be received by readers. It went into a second reprinting within a week of publication, proving once again that romance readers rock!
LB: WGW blogger Saranna DeWylde says, “I was impressed and awed by Jordan's character. She was so well-written. I read Raine twice. I am curious about her research and source material or if it all came from her wonderful brain.”
EA: Having someone read a novel more than once is the best compliment I could ever get, Saranna. Thank you! The idea for Jordan came from a reclining hermaphrodite statue (see photo) I saw on vacation in Europe. Later, I did research about the lives of actual hermaphrodites who lived in the 1800s. Some were infamous--almost sideshow freaks. I wanted to create a hermaphrodite heroine who was unashamed of her body, yet was forced by her family to play the part of a male. In true heroic form, Raine offers her unconditional love and acceptance. I love him for that.
LB: Who did you read growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?
EA: I read Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, and Charlotte and Emily Bronte when I was about thirteen. There’s so much cross-genre diversity in romance these days—it’s a really exciting time for both authors and readers. I’m a fan of so many authors—Nalini Singh, Lisa Valdez, Lora Leigh, Kresley Cole, and Anna Campbell—to name just a few.
LB: Do you write in any other genres? If not, do you want to?
EA: There are other romance genres that I would love to try. Hybrids of steampunk dystopia, and some other paranormal genres. I love a challenge that keeps things fresh for me.
LB: In your mind, what’s the main difference between your romantic heroes and men in real life?
EA: I fall a little in love with my alpha heroes--okay, a lot in love. But I want to leave them neatly wrapped in their HEA in the pages of my book. In real life, give me a man who cleans house and does the taxes, so I have time to write fantasy heroes!
LB: Ha! I hear that. So tell us what fans can expect next for the Lords of Satyr?
EA: Next up is Sevin. He’s the owner of the Salone di Passione, an exclusive club where Satyrs and other ElseWorld beings can pursue physical pleasures away from the prying eyes of Humans. Developments at the end of Bastian create new business opportunities for sexy, business-savvy Sevin, who has dimples he refuses to call dimples and has always been the brother women flock to.
LB: Sounds irresistible, as always! Okay, is there anything readers who are new to the series should know?
EA: There are two Satyr clans. They're related by ancient blood, but do not cross paths, so each clans' books are very separate. The two clans are:Tuscany 1820s: Nicholas, Raine, Lyon, DominicRome 1880s: Dane, Bastian (May 2011), Sevin (2012), Lucien (maybe)
All the books are stand-alones.
LB: Where can readers find you?
http://www.elizabethamber.com/books/bastian/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1351688841
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ElizabethAmber/
Thanks so much, Logan! I look forward to chatting with readers who drop by to comment.
EA: Thank you for interviewing me, Logan. I want to congratulate you on the release of your new novel, Blue Angel! Yay you! It’s fun to share release week with you. , and I look forward to hosting your giveaway on my enewsletter group in May. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ElizabethAmber/
LB: I feel *extremely* lucky to share a release week with you – especially since Kensington created those hot e-postcards! So tell us about Bastian.
EA: Here’s the quick lowdown: “Infamous for his archaeological finds in the Roman Forum and more highly sexed than most of his kind, Bastian is admired and envied. Yet he is tortured by visions. Silvia has ties to the Vestal Virgins and seeks to use him to locate a powerful artifact. But she never expected or wanted to love him. For she cannot have him. Bastian belongs to her dearest friend.”
LB: What inspired The Lords of Satyr series?
EA: Terracotta urns decorated with satyrs celebrating the annual grape harvest sparked the idea. Since the satyr are the carnal followers of Bacchus, the god of wine in Roman mythology, I knew they would be highly sexual alpha males. And if the satyr lived in 1800s Italy, they’d likely own fabulous vineyards and olive groves, where they’d guard ancestral secrets. The idea for the physical changes they undergo came from my overactive imagination.
LB: When did you first start researching the Vestal Virgins? Is there a lot of material on the subject? Is there any debate about what their lives were actually like?
EA: I’m a museum and archaeology junkie, and the Vestal Virgins have fascinated me since I learned about them at university. A few years ago, I saw the ruins of the Vestal Virgins’ House and Temple in the Roman Forum. There’s plenty of factual material on the Virgins and, as lead archaeologist in the Forum, Bastian quotes from some of this source material on occasion. The VVs actually did guard relics that were believed to protect all of Rome. No one knows what these relics were, or what happened to them, so I was free to decide what they look like, what powers they possess, and why Silvia—the heroine in Bastian--is trying to trick Bastian into helping her locating them.
LB: In writing your novels, is it a challenge to balance the fantastical elements and the historical?
EA: I stay true to the basic framework of mythology and historical fact as I build upon it, like shaping muscle and flesh on bones. There are always small things in mythology or history that I can’t get out of my mind, like the Virgins’ lost relics, and those become part of the plot.
LB: Do you have a favorite out of your heroes and heroines?
EA: Ooh, hard question! I’ll always be partial to Nicholas in book #1 in the original trilogy because Nicholas was my first novel. There’s something intriguing and sexy about eldest brothers, too. Nicholas is the eldest brother in his Tuscany 1820s clan. Bastian is the eldest brother of the 1880s satyr clan in Rome. Silvia in Bastian is one of my most interesting heroines. She’s an Ephemeral--a creature who must inhabit a series of host bodies, taking them at the exact point of death, in order that she may live on. In exchange for the use of each body she inhabits, she fulfills its owner’s deathbed wish. Sometimes that means finding a new home for a beloved pet, or perhaps letting a family member know where the family fortune lies buried.
LB: Your covers are really hot -- almost NSFW. What did you think the first time you saw one?
EA: I was both shocked and delighted by my first cover, Nicholas. I think the Bastian cover is my second-favorite after Nicholas. I love Bastian’s royal purple, which is perfect for an aristocratic, commanding eldest brother.
LB: Was any of the books particularly more challenging to write?
EA: Every one is a challenge. Once I get an idea for a novel, I can’t rest until I see the vision completed. Sometimes I hear from readers asking that I please, please never let them down by writing a book that is rushed and not in keeping with the books that came before. Have no fear of that because it wouldn’t be any fun for me to write a book that wasn’t my best effort. Although Raine wasn’t more challenging than the others, I was concerned about how its hermaphrodite heroine (Jordan) would be received by readers. It went into a second reprinting within a week of publication, proving once again that romance readers rock!
LB: WGW blogger Saranna DeWylde says, “I was impressed and awed by Jordan's character. She was so well-written. I read Raine twice. I am curious about her research and source material or if it all came from her wonderful brain.”
EA: Having someone read a novel more than once is the best compliment I could ever get, Saranna. Thank you! The idea for Jordan came from a reclining hermaphrodite statue (see photo) I saw on vacation in Europe. Later, I did research about the lives of actual hermaphrodites who lived in the 1800s. Some were infamous--almost sideshow freaks. I wanted to create a hermaphrodite heroine who was unashamed of her body, yet was forced by her family to play the part of a male. In true heroic form, Raine offers her unconditional love and acceptance. I love him for that.
LB: Who did you read growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?
EA: I read Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, and Charlotte and Emily Bronte when I was about thirteen. There’s so much cross-genre diversity in romance these days—it’s a really exciting time for both authors and readers. I’m a fan of so many authors—Nalini Singh, Lisa Valdez, Lora Leigh, Kresley Cole, and Anna Campbell—to name just a few.
LB: Do you write in any other genres? If not, do you want to?
EA: There are other romance genres that I would love to try. Hybrids of steampunk dystopia, and some other paranormal genres. I love a challenge that keeps things fresh for me.
LB: In your mind, what’s the main difference between your romantic heroes and men in real life?
EA: I fall a little in love with my alpha heroes--okay, a lot in love. But I want to leave them neatly wrapped in their HEA in the pages of my book. In real life, give me a man who cleans house and does the taxes, so I have time to write fantasy heroes!
LB: Ha! I hear that. So tell us what fans can expect next for the Lords of Satyr?
EA: Next up is Sevin. He’s the owner of the Salone di Passione, an exclusive club where Satyrs and other ElseWorld beings can pursue physical pleasures away from the prying eyes of Humans. Developments at the end of Bastian create new business opportunities for sexy, business-savvy Sevin, who has dimples he refuses to call dimples and has always been the brother women flock to.
LB: Sounds irresistible, as always! Okay, is there anything readers who are new to the series should know?
EA: There are two Satyr clans. They're related by ancient blood, but do not cross paths, so each clans' books are very separate. The two clans are:Tuscany 1820s: Nicholas, Raine, Lyon, DominicRome 1880s: Dane, Bastian (May 2011), Sevin (2012), Lucien (maybe)
All the books are stand-alones.
LB: Where can readers find you?
http://www.elizabethamber.com/books/bastian/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1351688841
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ElizabethAmber/
Thanks so much, Logan! I look forward to chatting with readers who drop by to comment.
LB: Thank you, Elizabeth! And keep those Satyrs coming. (pun intended?)
12 comments:
Great interview Logan! Elizabeth, I just finished Bastian last week and you have another winner on your hands! I really really really hope you're going to do Lucien's book too because I have a major thing for the tortured ones and would love to see him get a much deserved HEA!
Elizabeth!!! What a tantalizing introduction to your work. I feel like i've been living under a rock! How could I have missed such a mouthwatering world??? Time to play catch up! :) Thanks for stopping by. Logan, thank you for making this glimpse into Elizabet's work possible.
*faints* I had a fangirl moment there! I'm so happy you stopped by WGW. Thanks for answering my question.
I have Bastian on Nook right now.
This is an amazing series of books.
And I feel the same way about my heroes. If I don't fall in love with them, why should my heroine or my readers?
Hi Jenna!
I'm so glad you enjoyed Bastian. Yay! In the past couple of days, I learned that it received five-star reviews from Over the Edge Book Reviews, Bookaholic Book Reviews, and RomFan Reviews, so it has been a good week. (Actually, RomFan uses man-hunks instead of stars, so it received 5 man-hunks. :o)
Sue Grimshaw (formerly the lead romance buyer for Borders) spoke at our local RWA and said that readers love tortured heroes. So you and I and many others think alike!
I'll be talking to my editor about Lucien later this summer and will announce one way or another. I appreciate you asking about him!
xox
~ EA
Hi Logan,
Thank you again for inviting me to Writers Gone Wild. The blog looks fabulous, and it's an honor to visit with this group of talented authors.
Congratulations again on the release of BLUE ANGEL, Logan! The cover really has that wow-factor. The blue is so eye-catching as I've said before. Kensington is good with covers, aren't they?
~ EA
Hi Liane,
Good to meet you. I'm glad Logan's interview piqued your interest in the Lords of Satyr. I love when I come upon a series that already has multiple published books. If you're like me, you whip through books in a series quickly and waiting for more is SO hard.
~ EA
Hi Saranna,
I had a fangirl moment when I arrived here. Such an awesome group of authors!
I know what you mean. I've actually had withdrawal after finishing the writing of a book because I fell in love with a hero or a story and am feeling a sense of loss because I'm no longer actively part of that world day-to-day.
~ EA
Well Liz, here I am again and I will boast that I have ALL the books and MAN are they worth it. I couldn't put the books down. Mad husband in tow following me around complaining. :-D
It was worth it! The books are so well written and the scenes are hot, tasty and lush. Thank you for writing this series!
Lizzie, it's great to see you! You are welcome--it was my pleasure to write them and I love hearing that you enjoyed them. Pls apologize to hubby for me. :o)
Logan, Saranna, and all you Writers Gone Wild, if you want to read a great interview with cover model Brooks Johnson, visit Lizzie's blog and take note of the raffle link from Hot Damn. Numerous prizes that authors (and readers) will love, including breakfast in bed served by none other than Brooks himself!
http://bttrfly29.blogspot.com/2011/02/man-candy-monday_21.html
Logan, I'm curious to know where readers can find you talking about your May release, BLUE ANGEL. Any giveaways? Do tell!
Elizabeth Amber
Hi Elizabeth -
Thanks again for taking the time to be with us. Really a highlight.
Kensington did a giveaway, the author Doug Clegg might be doing one on his newsletter but I have to confirm. I reading at Happy Endings Lounge on Broome STreet Friday night as part of the Ravenous Nights reading series, hosted by Ravenous Romance. I'm interviewed by RT on video on their website this week.
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/rt-daily-blog/video-interview-erotic-romance-author-logan-belle-blue-angel-excerpt
Will keep you posted.
Congrats on all your much-deserved accolades. You are inspiring!!
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