Featured Author: Ann Mayburn

Today's Featured Author has not one, but THREE novels due for release this year. Luckily for us, Ann Mayburn was able to find a little free time in her busy schedule for some brain-picking by The Project....

Tell us a little about yourself, Ann.

I'm Ann Mayburn, Erotic Romance author and Mom of three crazy boys. In my past lives I've been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. I also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead(though I will deny to my children that it ever happened).

You have three books due for release later this year, can you give us the basics on those?

Daughter of Lust, a Paranormal Romance, is due out in Spring/Summer 2011, Sodom and Detroit, a Contemporary Erotic Romance, is due out in June 2011 and Blessed, is an Alternate History/Paranormal Romance, release date TBD.

What are your stories about?

Daughter of Lust- The year is 1870 and opium use spreading across the earth at an alarming speed. Belal- The Demonic High Prince of Sloth- is behind opium's rise as he benefits from the sloth it induces. The only hope that Heaven and Hell have of stopping Belal is in the form of a half-demon peasant girl. Natalia Shura, daughter of Asmodeus-The Demonic High Prince of Lust- must come to grips with the dark side of her soul and embrace her heritage as the Daughter of Lust.

Sodom and Detroit- Maeve Burgundy has devoted her life to her career and uses it as a shield to keep out anyone that might have a chance at gaining her love. Burned too many times in the past, she has a strict policy of only dating men that will never be anything more than a warm body in bed. When she wins a stay at the erotic luxury Virtual Reality Resort, Sodom, she isn't exactly thrilled and is forced into taking it by her co-workers and best friend. 

What Maeve doesn't know is that her old college boyfriend, Angel, and his lover Luke have rigged the contest. Each agrees that Maeve could be the perfect woman to complete their committed ménage, but first they have to convince her to open her heart to them. They own Sodom and plan to use the VR fantasies with Maeve to seduce her and show her how amazing the love of two men can be. Unfortunately, Angel and Maeve parted on very rough terms and the realization that he has been lying to her about his identity might kill off any chance of the perfect love that all three have been looking for.

Blessed- Eliana Shay is an ordinary college girl with an extraordinary birthright. Handsome professor, Aiden Klemenson, singles her out as a potential Chosen of the benevolent Gods of Creation, and his perfect woman. He tries to convince Eliahna that she is born to do the work of the Gods-Eliana believes she has lost her mind. Eliana has been raised as an atheist in a world surrounded with magic and Gods. The very notion that a God she has been raised not to believe in has picked her as some type of magical warrior seems absurd.  Despite her better judgment, desire burns between them with an enchantment all its own. 

The Gods of Destruction will stop at nothing to keep Eliana from fulfilling her destiny; to become a formidable warrior against evil. Cunning and deceitful, they send demons and magical serial killers to exterminate her before she can become a threat. Aiden convinces her that in order to survive, she must accept her fate and learn to harness the fierce magic within her-and open her heart to his love.

How long have you been writing? Have you been at this for a while, or is this a new journey?

I decided to start writing in June of '10 after the premature birth of my third son. He was born at 31 weeks, nine weeks early, and it was a very rough delivery. I lost a great deal of blood and had some touch and go moments. While I was recovering from my c-section, without my baby, I had a lot of time to think. In my morphine pumped induced state, I considered all the things that I'd done and what I still wanted to do.

I'd had A LOT of fun in my life, and marrying my husband and having my children was a joy that I can never fully explain. One thing I'd wanted to do was write a book. I've always been a heavy reader, my husband used to moan at my monthly bills from the bookstore, and I have an over-active imagination. The trouble was focusing my ADD 'Oh look a squirrel, oh look a penny' self to sit down and write.

 

Basically, I stopped making excuses about why I couldn't do it, and sat down and DID it. I found that once I started, I couldn't stop. My muse went into overdrive and I have more ideas than I have hours in the day. Blessed was the first novel I wrote and the first draft was a hot mess. After joining up with critique groups, reading articles, talking with established author's, I cleaned it up a ton and ended up selling it to Liquid Silver Books.

What inspired you to write these stories?

Daughter of Lust: For the Love of Evil Book 1- This book was a result of a 'what if' question. I like taking really odd situations and plots and making them work. In this case, it was a matter of 'What if the Opium Wars were demonic in origin?" Why would demons care about opium? How does the structures of the Seven Deadly Sins/Seven Virtues actually work? And how would the love of a Russian peasant girl be the catalyst of saving Heaven, Hell, and the Mortal World?

Sodom and Detroit- Being a bit of a geek, virtual reality has always fascinated me. I love the idea of using technology to make our deepest fantasies come true. But indulging in a fantasy by yourself is no fun. What if you could have your fantasy with another human being? How would that impact relationships? If you could do anything you wanted, with anyone, what would you do and how would it enhance your real life relationships? 

Blessed: Chosen by the Gods, Book 1 is the result of a dream I had about my main characters. It wasn't one of those funky 'turtles in can can dresses teaching monopoly' dreams, it was one of those 'Wow this feels real' dreams. In it I was in class looking down as my incredibly handsome Professor taught a class on mythology. I 'knew' we had something going on, but that it was forbidden and no one else could know about it. As he finished his lecture he looked up at me in my seat and it was like lightning pounded through my body (thank you again pregnancy hormones). It felt so real, I can clearly remember ever detail of his face, the way his pupils dilated as his green eyes locked with mine and made me fell all kinds of wonderfully naughty things. I woke up so...entertained that I also woke my husband to share my entertainment with him (he thanks you pregnancy hormones).

The dream stayed with me for days, I found myself making up stories about this men I decided to call Aiden. Those stories stayed with me and began to evolve and take on a life of their own, I began to look forward to going to bed(not that I ever don't look forward to going to bed, I need like nine nannies to keep up with my boys) so that I could let my imagination show me what happened next.

What tools have you used in your journey to improve your writing? 

The first major step I made towards improving my writing was joining an on-line critique group called The Next Big Writer. You post chapters of your work, and review other people's work for credits to post more of your work. I had some awesomely amazing feedback and a couple good friends who really took me by the hand and showed me the basic building blocks of writing. I will be forever and ever grateful to them for their patience and help.

Are you a solitary writer, or do you utilize critique groups?

Solitary. I prefer to keep my work to myself until I think it's ready for a beta.

How much of yourself is present in your writing? Do you look back and find that characters possess a little of your own self in them?

I think my natural snarkiness shows up in all of my female characters. :)  I don't write weak and vapid heroines. Even my 'softer and quieter' heroines have an inner core of steel.

Tell us a little about you, the reader. What authors/genres do you love and why?

What don't I read?-lol- I grew up with a learning disability, dyslexia, that really made school hard for me. Back in those days, they just kind of lumped me into the 'slow' category.  I remember going for testing and I came back with an IQ of 127 the schools then decided that I wasn't slow, I just wasn't applying myself. :P During all of this, my Mom believed in me every step of the way and tried to help me overcome my dyslexia. Part of her at home therapy was reading, and she helped me fall in love with such books as Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and A Cricket in Times Square. I began to devour books and to this day I could easy spend our mortgage on books. 

I love fantasy, the paranormal, and horror. But what I'm really drawn to, in every book I read, is the romance aspect. I love love. ;) I love reading about everything from the first kiss to the down and dirty details of the consummation of all that delicious lust.

Who is your literary idol and why?

Stephen King. The variety and people of his books are amazing. His book It was the first big book I read as a fourteen year old. I was scared out of my mind, moved to tears, and totally living the lives of the characters.

Name one character in any book that you would like to share a cup of coffee with. What would you discuss?

Gah, I have to pick just one? Right now, I think I would have to pick Devon. He is the hero of my current WIP, Steel Rose-Book 2 of the Chosen by the Gods Series, and I'm madly in lust with him. We would discuss who gets to be on top. ;)

Thanks so much for visiting the blog today, Ann! Okay readers, want to learn more about Ann and her stories? Please visit the following links!

http://www.annmayburn.com

http://annmayburn.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/AnnMayburn

Now, for the special giveaway Ann is offering to our readers. A random commenter on this post will be gifted with one book from Liquid Silver Books, Decadent Publishing, or Loose ID, her three publishers. The title will be winner's choice of ANY story from any of these three publishers' catalogs. Don't miss out on a shot at such a great offer! 

For more information on the publishers listed in Ann's giveaway, visit the links below. Winner will be drawn this Sunday. Good luck!

www.decadentpublishing.com
www.liquidsilverbooks.com/
www.loose-id.com