Author Spotlight: Faith V. Smith, Paranormal Romance

Please welcome Faith V. Smith, creator of the Bound By Blood series and a dear friend of mine. I believe with her are a couple of very hunky Vamps to keep things interesting:)

Hello, Faith!

Hey, Dayana. Thanks for having me today. Can't wait to get started. Our last get together was such a hoot!

I know. It was a lot of fun and so steamy with those big vampire hunks you travel with, LOL I don't suppose they'll be joining us today, will they?

No, sorry. They had other obligations. To be honest, Dayana, I think we wore them out last time.

LOL That's a good possibility. Well, let's get started then...

Tell me about yourself. What makes you angry, happy, sad, snoopy dance?

Angry:When people don’t seem to listen, and when I can’t fix something myself.

Happy: I am happy when I’m peaceful.

Sad: Sad, well thinking of things I could have done that might have changed things.

Snoopy Dance: When the blessings come in from above.
When was the first moment you felt comfortable saying, “I am a writer?”

I don’t think I have a first moment. I’ve always thought I was a writer since I penned my first poem in my teens. If we had to define it, it would be when my first 3 songs I wrote were recorded.

Wow, Faith! You wrote songs and got them recorded? That's pretty impressive. What kind of songs?

Southern Gospel songs with soul and some where you just had to tap your feet.

Sounds fun and inspirational. What type of stories do you like to write and why?

I try to write stories that give hope, are full of sensuality, and make readers believe anything can happen.

Where did you get the inspiration for (your current book)?

A Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention in Kansas City. The Vampire Ball that Heather Graham threw.

How many manuscripts had you written by the time you had your first publication?

3 full.

Do you have an upcoming release?

Dunbar’s Curse, the second book in the Bound By Blood, The Legends, my vampire series will be out March 19th 2010. Miles is a great character, and I love how he loves the heroine, Hope.

Where can we find your upcoming release? When will it be available?

The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and others. March 19th 2010.
Dunbar’s Curse, the second book in the Bound By Blood, The Legends, my vampire series will be out March 19th 2010.

Tell us about your Hero. Do you have a favorite, if you’ve written multiple books?

I think my first hero in my medieval. He’s not had his place in the limelight yet, but I’m hoping. So please don’t tell my vamp boys. They might get upset…lol.

Your secret is safe with me, no worries:) Now I think I'd like to hear a bit about your current release, Kensington's Soul. Zacke is one hot vamp. I know I've met him up close and personal:)

Vampires can be such sensual and titillating creatures when it comes to what they want or whom they want. It’s been my pleasure to tell one such vamp’s story in Kensington’s Soul, Book 1 of the Bound By Blood, The Legends series with The Wild Rose Press.


Zacke was an excellent vampire, hot, edgy, tormented and determined to protect the woman he loves while he tries to redeem his soul. In Dunbar’s Curse, Book 2 of the same series, Miles is a vamp also driven by emotions. He wants what he is sure he can’t have and when he gets it, he is frightened it will be snatched away.

Please enjoy a short blurb and excerpt. Zacke and Miles both will be here to field any questions from curious and intrigued readers.

A VAMPIRE WITH MORALS AND A DOCTOR WHO'S AFRAID OF MONSTERS.


Erotic dreams haunt Dr. Hope Morgan. The man who makes her burn with desire is only a figment of her imagination—or so she thinks until she meets him at a party. She fears she is losing her mind and flees the handsome stranger but finds she can’t seem to get him out of her heart.

Miles is over four hundred years old and a bit long in the fang department to fall in love. But when the child he rescues grows up into a beautiful and sensual woman, he can’t keep his heart or desire under control. When Hope’s life is in danger once again, he moves Heaven and Earth to protect her but wonders who will protect her from him.

Excerpt:

She stepped off the bottom step and almost tripped over an uneven patch of floor.

She aimed the beam of light at where the window should be. What on earth? A bookcase blocked out her expected light source. Miles was the only one who could have done that, but why would he?
The cold penetrated deeper, spurring Hope toward the furnace. Her foot caught on something soft but unyielding. She stumbled and ended up sitting on the something. Her hand recognized the contours of a mattress. A mattress that should have been stuffed in a corner, not lying out in the open.
Once again, she sent the light spiraling over the basement, but nothing else seemed out of place. She brought the beam back to shine on the mattress and a body.
Her heart beat triple time before she recognized the body resting on its side, a scant two feet from her hand. Miles! Why was he sleeping in the basement and not upstairs? Her hand reached out toward his arm. Should she wake him or let him sleep? Common sense won—he had to be freezing. He didn’t even have a sheet. This time her palm brushed his sleeve before she gently shook his shoulder.
A hand caught her wrist in a cruel grip.
She bit back a cry of pain.
A second later she was flat on her back—Miles’ face above hers. But not the face she loved. His eyes were so dark they were almost black. His beautiful lips were drawn back in a snarl. A snarl that revealed one-inch incisors. The hand that held her down sported claws.

Now sit back, enjoy, ask your questions, and have a good time!

Faith

BIO:

Faith started her journey to publication when she joined the Romance board at iVillage.com, where she has long since become a community leader. She has written book reviews for Bridges Magazine, MyShelf.com, and for the past six years, Romantic Times Book Reviews. She also pens a column for a local magazine. Her path veered into editing and marketing for a small press before she joined The Wild Rose Press staff. Her dream of having her own work published is a blessing and an honor. Faith resides in the south with her daughter Amanda, memories of her now angel husband Rick, and a special zoo crew of furry babies.


Please visit me at www.faithvsmith.com, www.faithvsmith.blogspot.com,
I’m also on Twitter! http://twitter.com/FaithVSmith
And visit my fan page on Face Book Access it through my blogspot.

Good Morning! Just a quick note to let you all know and invite you over to Faith Smith's blog today. Faith and I are gabbing over champagne and chocolates and we may even have some special hunky guests dropping by. Isn't that right, Faith?

Have a wonderful weekend!

D~

Interview with Zacke Kensington, Hero of Kensington's Soul part of the Bound By Blood Series by Author Faith V. Smith

Please welcome Faith V. Smith, paranormal romance author and my good friend. She has brought a very special guest today. Take it, Faith:)

Morning everyone! I am so glad to be here with you today. I want to introduce to you a very dear friend of mine who is such a hottie! Detective Zacke Kensington on loan to us from the Savannah Police Department.

Morning Zacke, how are you?

Zacke: Doing great Faith and yourself?

Faith: Much better now that I’ve seen you again. Do you think you could tell everyone a bit about yourself?

Zacke: You already know I’m a detective but I’m also a former vampire. My story began in the late 1500’s and my life or after death in or around 1623 when Lady Gabriella Sanspree turned me into a fanged monster.

Faith: Oh dear, that sounds awfully painful.

Zacke: You cannot imagine the pain of my mortal death and rebirth as a vampire. I truly would not wish that on my worse enemy.

Faith: I completely understand. So what is this about being a former fang-toter? I thought once a vamp always a vamp.

Zacke: So did I. I’m still not sure what happened, but at the moment I’m as human as the next man.

Faith: Well, strictly speaking, I think you make most men look a tad inferior.

Zacke: Thank you… I think. My darling Miranda has told me, I’m a handsome man, but I’ll allow you to judge that for yourself when you read my story, the first novel in the Bound By Blood, The Legends called Kensington’s Soul.

Faith: It sounds interesting. So care to tell us a bit about the book?

Zacke: Within the pages you will discover what makes me tick, what angers me, and what and whom is important to me. There you will also have an up close and personal view of my love life. I’ve not always been a one-woman man, but with Miranda by my side, I find she is more than enough to keep me satisfied.

Faith: How romantic. So how did you two meet?

Zacke: I rescued her from a car jacking.

Faith: No wonder she fell in love with you. I don’t suppose you have any male siblings?

Zacke: No, sorry, Faith. I do have some male vampire friends, you ladies might be interested in.

Faith: I think we just might be, but let’s get back to you. What was the hardest thing about giving up being immortal?

Zacke: I think it would have to be the inability to read my wife’s thoughts. But there are times we both know what the other one is thinking.

Faith: Do tell. Maybe we shouldn’t go there or should we?

Zacke: I will say this, out of all the women I’ve made love to before and after I became a vampire, Miranda is the one woman who makes my knees weak.

Faith: That is so sweet. I just love it when a man admits he has an Achilles Heel. I take it Miranda is yours?

Zacke: Miranda is the light of my life. I would do anything to keep her safe even if it meant giving my own life for hers.

Faith: That kind of love is truly a blessed one. I’m sure Miranda feels the same way. Now, any news on your other male friends? What are they up to?

Zacke: Well I think I’ll let them tell you their own story. Miles Dunbar one of my oldest friends tale will be coming from The Wild Rose Press March 2010. From what I hear, Dunbar’s Curse, is going to be a nail bitter.

Faith: Thanks for the heads up. I’ll make sure to mark it on my calendar. I just want to tell you thank for being here today. May you always fight evil and win.

Zacke: Thank you and may you all be blessed with long life and good health, prosperity, and love.

More about Faith:

Faith started her journey to publication when she joined the Romance board at iVillage.com, where she has long since become a community leader. She has written book reviews for Bridges Magazine, MyShelf.com, and for the past six years, Romantic Times Book Reviews. She also pens a column for a local magazine. Her path veered into editing and marketing for a small press before she joined The Wild Rose Press staff. Her dream of having her own work published is a blessing and an honor. Faith resides in the south with her daughter Amanda, memories of her now angel husband Rick, and a special zoo crew of furry babies.

Visit her at www.faithvsmith.com
Books by Faith V. Smith
Beware What You Wish The Wild Rose Press
Kensington's Soul The Wild Rose Press
Dunbar's CurseThe Wild Rose Press/March 2010

Whew! Is it hot out there!

Hello from overly hot and very sunny South Florida. Just a fleeting comment: to us tropical dwellers this would be our rendition of the nasty winter months of our Northern cousins. You know, the type of weather you stay indoors, or run from one air conditioner to another. The pools are not even refreshing this time of year as they are like diving into bathwater--same goes for the ocean!

Anyway, tried my hand at some outdoor stuff, you know transplanting some stuff, weeding, etc., but dove back on in the house. Found a nifty project I've been wanting to tackle for almost forever and began working on that; namely, scraped all the caulk off my bathtub, bleached the area, cleaned the tub, now waiting for it to dry out so I can recaulk it. Hah! It looks so beautiful. Who da thought, just doing something so simple can give the room a little extra pizazz and such pleasure at the accomplisment, LOL

Oh, I wanted to congratulate Michele Flagg on winning a copy of Faith V. Smith's book, Kensington's Soul, yesterday. You are going to love it, Mickey!

Next up on the guest list is Jaclyn Tracey, author of the soon to be released Eden's Black Rose at TWRP. She is doing something really special for the blog and if any of you know Jack personally, then you know it will not be without humour and belly laughs. I can't wait. Tune in on Monday, the 13th, for her antics.

Don't forget to watch for the Liberty Bell graphic to pop up within any given post during the month. List the post's author and date to qualify for your chance at the grand prize goodie basket.

Well, I'm starving, so I'm off to have some lunch and check the bathroom project progress:)

Talk to you later,

D~

Good Morning! Great News!

Faith will be hanging in a bit longer and drawing a lucky winner who will receive a free download of her book, Kensington's Soul, today! So come on out and get involved. I know there are many vamp loving lurkers out there. Why not join in the conversation.

If you haven't read this book, you have no idea what your missing:) For all the dirt and details, see Faith's post and the ensuing conversation below.

D~

Let the blogging begin and the prizes flow!

Hi, all!

Tomorrow is the kick off of my month-long guest blogging event "Let Liberty Ring." Faith V. Smith will be stepping in tomorrow and will be giving away a free download of her very HOT vamp book, Kensington's Soul. And beleive me if you haven't sampled this one you definitely need to!

There are still plenty of days open for anyone who would like to join the fun. Let me take a moment to give you the details once more.

If you would like to participate in my "Let Freedom Ring" Fourth of July blog event please begin by signing up for Dayana's Happenings on the sidebar.

Note: The above and below information is for actual guestbloggers. If you would like to receive newsletters, events, contest information/winners, and just keep up with "Dayana's Happenings" but not participate in the July event, please feel free to sign up as well. Access to the calendar is specific so although you may view it you will not be able to edit it without permission from the group moderators.

Let me tell you a bit about this event.

It will be a month-long guest blog event. I will be offering all visitors a chance at a single grand price that can be a collective effort of all participants or not. Participants will decide before the end of June.


To enter for the grand prize, visitors will have to list sightings of the Liberty Bell graphic I've posted to the left. This graphic will be posted to random blog posts throughout the month. Also, I would like each guest blogger to offer a prize daily within their post. By signing up to my informational loop and if you have an yahoo email address all participants will have access to my loop calendar. All blog participants should access the calendar from the loop page and choose their blogging date, then you should create your blog complete with all links and artwork you would like included and email it to me as a separate document named JulyBlogEvent-Author-blogdate in the email subject line as soon as possible. If you do not have a Yahoo address, you can contact me with your choice of date but please access the calendar to be sure said date hasn't been taken.

More details will be posted to the loop as they become available. Drawing for the grand prize winner will be the first week of August. Visitors should not post their lists to the blog comments but email them to me directly at gothscribegirl@aol.com with "Liberty Bell graphic Sitings" listed in the subject line of their email. Anyone who posts their list to the blog will be disqualified.

Have I confused anyone? If you are interested and have questions you can contact me anytime through this blog or my email address: gothscribegirl@aol.com


Well, there you have it. A refresher on the event and if you check out the calendar link entitled "Dayana's Calendar" on the side bar you will be able to see the open dates if your are interested in participating as well who is coming up next.

Hope to see you in and out this month. Have fun!

Dayana~

Good Sunday Morning!

Well, the seasons they are a changing. Finally, we've gotten a breath of fresh cool air here in Southern Florida and can I tell how wonderful that feels? This is my favorite time of year here. Halloween and cooler temps? Can I just say I'm in heaven:)

Rene Stephens, part of the Black Rose editing team at The Wild Rose Press and our scheduled guest today, will not be able to make it. But she will drop in another day soon. That said, please keep an eye out for her at a later date. She sends her apologies.

Now to explore an interesting topic Faith V. Smith brought up yesterday. Why do we write and how did we suddenly take the craft seriously? I don't know about you but Faith got me thinking and interestingly enough, my beginnings are not all that different that Faith's.

I began writing at a very early age, 10 or 11 if I had to give you an age. Whether it were adolescent thoughts jotted down at will, diaries, attempts at writing my own songs, jingles, poems--well you get the picture.

As a child, I had a very vivid imagination and a whole lot of energy. I kept myself entertained for hours, creating and acting out--believe it or not--scenes from Dark Shadows(I would drape sheer curtains all over my room as cobwebs, LOL and btw, I was always Angelique), lipsinking to favorite songs using my brush as the mic and crooning into my bureau mirror, cording off rooms in the backyard with clothes line poles--remember those? You name it. And writing. My first publication was a poem in grammar school that was placed in my sixth grade yearbook. I'd begun writing a romance novel in a spiral notebook at the age of 12 complete with a hand-drawn cover, a couple arm in arm walking away from the camera, so-to-speak. I had a decent gift for drawing, as well(don't know whatever happened to that, LOL).

I took creative writing in junior high along with journalism and wrote more completely loving it. Fiction has always been my forte. The journalism was interesting but boring to me. Then, of course, life happened. I was a teenaged girl doing girl things. The most important, of which, was chasing boys! That and primping took up all my time:) Then disco and clubbing happened along with work and responsibility and marriage. Writing took a back seat in my life for many years, until...

The year 2000. This had to be the worst year of my life. Everyone for the most part was excited about and celebrating the Millenium but I was watching my hero die-my father. He and I were the typical father-daughter relationship. I was Daddy's little girl and he always my tall, dark, handsome hero. Talking about it still brings tears to my eyes. I miss him achingly so to this day. My father survived three major cancer surgeries, irreversible colinectomy to name one before succumbing to an intestinal scarring repair procedure where his intestine and bladder were nicked during the procedure and he became septic. We lost him not soon after.

We were, to say the least, devastated at his loss. He had just turned sixty-five and it was only days after his birthday. But that wasn't enough loss for me apparently. A couple of months later, I found out my beautiful Sheltie, Kazzy, had cancer! I was absolutley crushed. He was only eleven years old and was diagnosed with Lymphosarcoma. Not good. We did all we could for him and lost him in the end anyway.

You can well imagine my state of mind by the end of the year. I started to look for ways to deal with my grief. It was just too overbearing, and I was falling into serious depression.

I'd recently gotten a rebuilt computer from a friend and started to look around the internet for writing classes. I thought maybe I could lose myself in the craft and work through my grief as a means of escape. Good idea, right?


I came across a six week free writing class called F2K sponsored by Writer's Village University and signed up immediately. Well, as it turned out, I did my class met lots of people, joined the WVU formed a critique group with another member and wrote through and about my grief and best of all got past the fear of sharing my writing. That is a major step for any author. Putting one's heart and soul out there for someone else to critique! I am still a member of Writers' Village University to this day, and I have them to thank. For without them I would have never written my first novel, nor be where I am today with my newest projects, Curse of the Marhime and my two recent sales, Eternal Obscession(a Scarlet release) and The Changeling(A Black release) both in the edit stages at this time.

I am truly thankful I discovered my muse and that it got me through a very difficult time in my life. I never in a million years would have thought that it would have turned out as rewarding as it has for me, but it just goes to show that you never know what is waiting for you around the next bend in life. No matter the reasons you do what you do or the hows of getting there, the point is you did! My advise to anyone is to follow your heart. Do what makes you happy and don't ever give up. The kudos are your own. Never depend on others to push you forward. Only you can move that foot to take the first step to you dreams and goals. So come on, take that baby step and let's get started. You're future is out there for you to grab and run with.

Have a wonderful day and if you would why not share how you obtained your dreams or what you are doing to capture them.

D~

Today's Guest is Faith V. Smith, Author of Beware What You Wish, A top five English Tea Rose Release and then there's Kensington's Soul...ooh la la:)

Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to write. I did try my hand at it many times, even submitting something when I was a pre-teen. Graciously, the company did not reply to my pencil scribbling. I have scads of poems saved somewhere in the house, and I cannot tell you the times I have allowed my imagination to direct me into acting the heroine of a television show. Yes, even way back then, I made up lines of fantasy.

After getting married, having a child of my own, I still kept that idea in the back of my head. Finally, I begin to get serious, I wrote fifteen pages of a medieval and then got sidetracked. When I started back, I changed sub-genres and turned out almost three chapters of a contemporary. Then I quit. Life interfered; I went back to school, lost my mother and nephew in the arms of death and just tried to get through one day at a time.

Around 1999, I took the plunge and bought a computer. I had no clue as to how to set it up. A fellow DJ at the station I worked with got me up and running on the internet. Worlds began to open up. I found ivillage.com, their reading and writing boards. From there, I was blessed to meet the talented owner of a newly founded review magazine. After that, I became a reviewer for Romantic Times and other publications.


I realized that if I was to ever be published, I had to get serious. I finished the medieval, entered a contest and NO, I didn't win, but I found I also didn't fall apart too badly when it came to rejection. A good thing, because I had several rejections before I entered the Behind The Garden Gate contest at The Wild Rose Press in 2007. I entered under my real name and the name I write under not my editorial name with them. Again, I did not win but was asked to resubmit with a new portal for the time travel. I was over the moon when they contracted Beware What You Wish in January of this year and which is now available at TWRP..

Still reeling from the shock, I found out the first of March, that my vampire tale, Kensington's Soul also had been contracted. The first of my vampire series is close to my heart. My husband, who I lost in 2006, helped me research some of the sights of Savannah where KS takes place. Although it took me several decades to realize my dream it did happen.


My words to anyone out there who is sure they will fail, is you can only fail if you don't try. A rejection can be so beneficial to getting your work up to snuff and when it does happen then it will be worth all the agony of first, second and several defeats.

Write from your heart and soul!

Faith