Interview with Author Adrianne Brooks

Hey everyone! We are happy to welcome Author Adrianne Brooks to the blog and page today. 

What is your book(s) about?

I prefer writing paranormal/fantasy. There will usually be some aspect of romance in my books. I don’t always intend for it to happen that way but there’s often no helping it. I like looking at untold aspects of a story. Taking on an angle that most people don’t get to see.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I started writing when I was in the second grade. I entered some nationwide writing contest where I had to make a story and then do pictures to go with it. I almost won but then the judges told me that my children’s book wasn’t appropriate for children and I was disqualified. I’ve been writing ever since, but I’ve never mastered the art of a good kid’s story. Oh, also I eat a pint of ice cream a day and I own a cat. I imagine that my thirties are going to hit me pretty hard given my current lifestyle of debauchery.

What started your interest in writing?

When I was three or four my mom took me to the public library in Atlanta and it was so big that we had to ride an elevator to go to the different floors. I got a book about a princess who was given a pair of magical red slippers. The slippers made her dance until she died and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever read then or since.

What are you currently working on?

The Dragon King and I was originally a standalone but enough people liked it that I was asked to write two more for the series. Right now I’m finishing up book three and making plans to begin a Young Adult series once it’s done. On a side note, I’m also working on the first book in a zombie series but I have no idea when that will be finished.

How long did it take you to get your rough draft finished on your latest release?

Four weeks. I usually set goals for myself so that I have at least one thing published a year, no matter how small it is. I’ve upgraded to the point where I can turn out a book a month.

If you could be any paranormal creature what would you be?

I would be a shaman. My grandmothers on either side were Native American and I love books that surround Native American culture and beliefs. I.E. Jane Yellowrock, the Urban Shaman Series, and the Stormwalker books.

What do you do when your not writing?

I read, or I watch ridiculous shows on netflix like Bob’s Burgers (Louise is my spirit animal).

What was the lastest book you read?

Kim Harrison’s The Undead Pool

Are any of your characters like you?

My best friend text me when she first read Kissed by Moonlight and she goes, “This isn’t a paranormal romance. This is a biography. About you. With werewolves in it. You disgust me.” Well I added that last part but it was implied. In short, apparently I’m like Phaedra Conners.

What genres do you write in?

Romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, and etc. I like to touch on pretty much everything.

Is there anything you will never write about?

Nope. During my work as a freelance writer I’ve written about pretty much everything, some of it pretty offensive. I’ve learned never to shy away from where the muse decides to lead you. I may not feel completely comfortable with a topic, but at the same time working on it helps generate new ideas.

Do you have a favorite quote from your book(s)?

I dreamt that I danced.

Dressed in a glittering white gown with a slashed skirt and a button up bodice I was held in the arms of a man with golden hair and dark red eyes like old blood. His hair fell in waves down his back and his features were soft, like that of a man not fully grown. His smile was sharp, mischief ruled his face, and when I looked into his eyes I saw the Devil. There was a beauty mark beneath his left eye that fascinated me and in this dream I reached out to touch it as he spun me faster and faster around the dance floor.

Then in the dream... he started to cry.

A river a honey fell from his eyes like rain and dripped from his nose to land between the upthrust rise of my breasts. It glittered on my skin like dull metallic gold and when I looked back up from it, the man's eyes sparked like liquid garnets. Old blood given life and purpose again.

I found myself entranced.

In the dream...

In the dream I leaned forward, for this man for all his strength and power felt no hesitation in lowering his face towards mine, and licked the honey away so that it swam and sunk into my tongue, coating the cavern of my mouth in liquid gold made sweet. I lapped at his tears and he caught my eager mouth with his thumb. Held me open and still so that he could slip his tongue inside and taste what I’d fed upon. Hunger turned the taste into a caress, the caress into a dance.

Then the dance turned savage.

The almost cruel pressure of tongue and teeth forced my head back as he devoured me, and the sticky, sweet, residue still coating my mouth was washed away under the gentle slide of milk.

Honey and milk, honey and milk, I fed and drunk and tasted of him until I was trembling and throbbing. Until my hips pressed against his on their own volition.

In the dream his eyes were blood, his fingers cruelty, the knife, when it came, bliss. Pain was pleasure and pleasure was pain and I danced and bled and screamed for him.

In the dream...I met the Devil and he turned my world into blood soaked honey.

- War on Souls: Raison D’etre

Is there anything you would tell aspiring writers?

Just keep swimmin’

If zombies attacked what kind of supplies would you want?

A knife, some brownies, and an ipod that has gangasta rap and GaGa playing on repeat. I can handle myself from there.

Who designed your cover(s)?

Kellie Dennis from Book Cover by Design does all of my books and her work is beautiful https://www.facebook.com/bookcoverbydesign

What was the hardest part of writing your book(s)?

Letting other people read them. I’m always afraid that I didn’t do it right. Like I failed somehow or didn’t do as well as I should have. I think someone called it the creator’s curse or something. Where you improve during the course of a project so by the time you finish that project your standards and skills have changed. Which means that you’re never really satisfied with anything you do because you think you can always do better.

If you could sit down with any author dead or alive who would it be?

The list is endless, but the first name that comes to mind is Charles Dickens. I read a Tale of Two Cities in middle school before the teachers told us we had to and it was just so…I don’t know. I learned the true meaning of what it meant for a book to be considered a ‘classic’. It was the kind of story that made me think. I cried at the end of it. The only books that made me feel that way since then have been the Talisman and Black House by Stephen King, The Orphans of Chaos series by John C. Wright, Daughter of the forest by Juliet Marillier, and the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It may seem like an extended list, but it’s so hard to find a book that really fucks with you on that level, you know?

What is your favorite paranormal being?

I like humans who have mind powers. The possibilities of all that they could accomplish is just fun to consider.

How do you react to a bad review?

If it’s constructive, I learn from it. If it isn’t I start dropping four letter words and try to ignore them.

Do you keep a notebook near your for when new ideas pop into your head?

I have dozens of journals where I write all of my ideas, quotes, ect. I keep one in my purse at all times just in case something comes to me. When I die, my friend has orders to either burn it immediately or use it to make herself a millionaire.

If you write a series do you reread your previous books before you begin the new one?

Nope. I never read a book after I write it. I’ll read sections of it. Get lost in huge portions of it. But I won’t read the whole thing from cover to cover. It’s funny because a lot of times readers will know more details about my series than I do. In fact, I read something the other day and I was all “Who the hell wrote that?” I was really pleased when I found out that it was your’s truly. 

Is there anything you wish to say to your readers?

Thank you for putting up with me. For liking me. For talking to me (I like talking to people about stuff). I love you guys.

Facebook link - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAdrianneBrooks

Amazon Page - http://www.amazon.com/Adrianne-Brooks/e/B00HG20SEI

Author Blog - http://adriannebrooks.com/

Blurb 

The city of Briarcliff is full of secrets, and Phaedra Conners had spent most of her life digging them up. 

Unfortunately, she may have bitten off more than she can chew when she begins working for the enigmatic, and charming, Gabriel Evans. Gabriel isn’t your average CEO, and all too soon Phaedra finds herself caught up in the deadly machinations of the Wild Hunt. 

Between battling the Mad Sidhe and helping the two natured survive persecution, it’s all Phaedra can do to stay alive, let alone sane. She’ll find that following your heart isn’t nearly as easy as she’d once thought and that more often the not, the monster under the bed isn’t nearly as frightening as the one in the mirror.

NOTE: 
This contains all three books in the WILD HUNT Trilogy: 
Kissed By Moonlight 
Haunted By Moonlight 
Touched By Moonlight

Blurb 

Alexandria Greyson is cursed! How else can she explain why every man within sniffing distance comes running to her rescue? She’s not even trying the least to look pretty but she attracts men like a magnet. When a man is killed while trying to bring her an umbrella, she realizes that her condition isn't going away on its own and she’ll need to find a cure if she ever wants to live a normal life. 

So when her "Fairy Godmother" sends her on a quest to cure the curse that’s been plaguing her, Alex is doubtful but willing. Together with her beastly Prince Charming, she starts gathering all 6 ingredients that make up the cure. Everything was going smoothly…Until the last ingredient involves the heart of the one person she has learned to love: A dragon’s heart.