On the Third Day of Christmas....Alinar brings to you...An Interview with Candy Nicks/Alexandra Marell

Welcome to day 3 of our event. Today we have Alinar author Candy Nicks / Alexandra Marell with us. We took a moment of her time to interview her and she graciously answer all our questions. Stay tuned for the daily contest at the end of the post.

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Author Bio:
I don't like my heroes too perfect and I like heroines who aren't afraid to go out and get their man. I love gothic romance, which I hope will come back into fashion one day. I like my romance to have a touch of the epic about it, with strong emotions and unforgettable characters. My favourite novel is Wuthering Heights. I write as Candy Nicks and Alexandra Marell.

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Hi Candy. Could you introduce yourself, please?

Hi all, I write under two pen names, Candy Nicks and Alexandra Marell. Candy writes more adult rated, fantasy and paranormal romance. Alexandra writes what I’d call sensual rather than sultry rating and to date has written contemp, historical and ghostly romance. Talking of ghosts, Saturday nights are very likely to find me lurking in some haunted house, mansion or castle as a paranormal investigator. I’m the group historian and it’s my task to take the transcripts of the sessions and try to marry any phenomena, events or names with real people or happening. Yes, you do have to have nerves of steel to do the solo vigils. Luckily, I’m not easily spooked and have only jumped once when someone or something knocked on a door behind me. A door to a room we knew to be empty. I’m also an avid collector of musical instruments, my pride and joy being my two pianos, one an antique Bechstein and the other a new Bluthner. I’ve been in epublishing since 2005 when I was founding partner and chief publishing editor at Linden Bay Romance. I left after a year to co found Alinar Publishing and pioneer indie publishing and author co ops. I’m thrilled to be part of the indie publishing revolution.

So, what kind of books do you like to write?

I write the kind of romances I like to read - character-based with a tight focus on the hero and heroine and their developing relationship. I'm very fond of romances that isolate the main characters either by place or by circumstance and love seeing how they use their own particular strengths to solve whatever problems the author throws at them. My ideal romance would probably involve stranding two very different characters on a desert island, then watching them slowly find common ground and fall in love. My two pen names may write different ratings, but the underlying themes are quite similar. When I first wheeled out my Candy persona I did it anonymously and my crit partner, while she didn’t know it was me until I told her, said she’d read the story and it bugged her no end that it sounded like someone she knew!

Will you give us a sneak of what you’re working on for next year’s releases?

I’d love to. As Candy I’m writing a two book series called Lords of the Dark Fall. It’s fantasy romance involving two immortal brothers who are displaced in time and have to cope with becoming human. (They’re not impressed, LOL) Fabian’s story is complete at 100 k plus words. Marcellus’ book is 30k done and I need to complete it before I release Fabian’s story in order to keep the continuity straight. You can read the first (unedited) 30K words of Fabian's story in the files on my Candy / Alexandra yahoo forum. http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/CandyandAlexandra/

As Candy I also hope to write book 3 in the Interview series. This will be the final book, and might give us a bit of closure. (Hard to tell with Fay and Dane!)

As Alex I’m planning a series set on an Italian island that mixes mystical elements (ghosts, mermaids, matchmaking cat who is really a cursed princess, that sort of thing) and contemporary romance. I’ve started book one, The Cursed Princess and hope to get these out next year.

Any other news to share?

I’m having new websites designed and hope to be able to unveil them soon. There’s a sneak peek of the front pages on my Facebook author page. Having two pen names I thought it might be easier to put them both in one place so there will be a portal page and then visitors will get the choice of clicking on the Candy or the Alex sites. As well as all the usual blurbs, excerpts and buy links, I want to get some promo videos made with original music, which I want to write myself and also to make some world-building pages for the series.

Thanks a lot for chatting, Candy/Alexandra. Looking forward to the new series and be sure to let everyone know when the new websites launched.

It’s my pleasure, and yes, I’ll be having an official launch when the websites are ready, possibly in the new year.

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We have another giveaway for you today. As always, just comment on this blog post, or just say Hi.

But first, lets list the rules...

Contest Rules:

Just comment to this post to enter. (Be sure you click the "I DID THIS" button on the RaffleCopter form after making your blog comment!) After you've made your blog comment, and clicked I DID THIS, the other tasks will open. Do those tasks for extra entries into the contest if you wish.

We have 3 books up for grabs today. ONE winner will snag all three. We'll draw one winner and announce it tomorrow and deliver the prize at the end of the event.


Here's what we have up for grabs today: Kallysten: In This Life or The Next, Lily Graison's: Wicked: Tempt Me Not, Candy Nicks: Choice of 1 Interview Book