Guest: Interview with Nicole Hines.

My first guest this month is indie author Nicole Hines. Take it away Nicole!



1. When and why did you begin writing?

I think I first started out writing fan fiction as a teen, mostly Harry Potter, then that progressed into having all these ideals and worlds come into light. Random characters started talking to me and I just knew that I had to get it all down and make it mine.

2. When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I’ve always been a writer; I just recently became an author.

3. What inspired you to pen your first novel?

My characters. They had so much they were constantly telling me and wanting to me to know. I knew the only way was to write it down and get it all in writing.

4. Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way?

I can think of two authors that have influenced my writing. The first would be Keri Arthur, the way that she built her worlds and her characters made me feel like it was possible for me to do it as well. The second would be Iris Johansen. I understand that generally a lot of dialogue isn’t liked in written works, however, she put a lot into hers and it showed me that it was okay to have a lot of dialogue.

5. Do you have a specific writing style?

No. I’ve talked to many people who write an outline first or they write in order. I’m jumbled. At times I write an outline or maybe I’ll start in the middle of the novel. I’ve never been consistent.

6. What genre are you most comfortable writing?

Romance. Mainly paranormal, though I recently ventured into contemporary.

7. Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

No, but I imagine it was just from me wanting a living count of my characters.

8. What do you see as the influences on your writing?

Other writers, family, friends. Everything around me.

9. Can you share a little of your current work with us?

Yes, I can. This is a small snippet from my current work, a YA novel. In this scene she is trying to find medicine to help her very sick sister.

The snow fell in a steady fall. It blanketed the ground in a dusty white. The white trees were bare, their leaves having fallen off in early autumn. It looked too cold, too desolate. No animal life survived in these parts anymore.

Cambrie picked up a stone and looked at it. She had to get Crysillis some medicine, but the only place was nearly fifty miles away. It was well over two days journey. Cars didn’t exist anymore unless you were a part of royalty, which meant making the trip with horse and buggy.

The stone fell to the ground as she stood and headed over to the barn. Only one horse remained, the rest knocked out by sickness and starvation. She harnessed him and led him out where the buggy sat. It was little more than a wooden slab on wheels. She expertly attached the horse before she went into the house, back to her sister’s room.

Crysillis’ coat hung on the side of the bed and Cambrie grabbed it before she maneuvered Crysillis in an attempt to dress her. The young girl was still unconscious, the fever raging. She carried Crysillis outside, covering the girl in all the blankets in the house. She didn’t care about their possessions, they owned nothing.

10. What got you interested/started in writing?

The want for everyone to know about the worlds and people that lived in my head.

11. How long have you been writing?

Since I was little, more seriously when I was a teenager, then I got very serious about 18, so 5 years give or take.

12. Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us?

I’m currently in the works of 3 different novels. I apologize now I’m not very good at writing short summaries.

The first is the second in my Angels and Demons series, which stares Keaira Murphy as she tries to get through life with the burden of being an outsider in a very strict world.

The second, Wanted Moon, would be the sequel to my very first novel. In this one we learn more about Roe and about the trials he has to face to get to a place that makes him happy.

The last one is the YA novel. In this one Cambrie learns that she’s a long lost princess and that her parents had purposefully gotten rid of her as a means of hiding secrets they don’t want the world to know.

13. What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

That I love it and have always wanted to do just this. Even if I never get famous for what I do, at least I’ve tried and that’s what matters.

14. Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

Oh, that’s a hard one. There are just so many. While Keri Arthur influenced me the most , I would have to say that my favorite has got to be J.K. Rowling. She started with nothing but a napkin and it’s amazing to see the lives that she’s changed just because of a boy named Harry Potter.

15. Finally, the question I ask everyone I interview - if you were a plant in the next life, what would you be, and why?

Oh, goodness. I don’t know. I would say a tulip, the reasons why is something that I know and one other person. It’s a secret.


Forever Moon
By Nicole Hines.

Buy Link: http://amzn.com/1480142301

Blurb: Many years ago an ancient war was started by the Daeva, vampires, as an attempt to wipe the world of all werewolves. Avery Bennett, alpha of the Vilkas Pack, has always protected his pack and was capable of doing what was needed of him. However, that all changed the moment that Melanie Brios got thrown into the mix. Targeted by the vampires, Melanie needs all the help she can get in order to keep from being the next in a long line of victims. Melanie had always known she was special. Ever since she was a little girl she had a special connection with animals. As the vet of a small town clinic, her world changed the moment that Avery Bennett entered it as an injured wolf on her doorstep. Now, can she trust him enough to keep her safe or will she risk losing her heart as well as her life?

Deadly Liasons

By Nicole Hines.

Buy Link: http://amzn.com/1481110160

Blurb:
In the life of Keaira Murphy, an unusual succubus/angel hybrid, things are never normal. This though takes the cake. As an assassin for Death, Keaira has seen her fair share of evil and death. Most of it dealt by her own hand. However, things change when she's ordered to kill her brother and after that things go from bad to worse. First, she's attacked in the hospital by zombie-like dead people, then almost blown up, and the next thing she knows her daughter has been kidnapped. Now she must join forces with two unruly men. Men who aren't what they appear on the surface. Together they must work and fight against a very powerful being in order to find her daughte. Preferably before she loses Evangeline and her own life. Just another Monday.

Less Than Three Blog Hop: The Way To Your Heart.

I've been giving this some pretty serious thought. I mean, I'm 40 now, I should know what the way to my own heart is by now, shouldn't I?

Well, it turns out that the answer is sort of. There are things that I love—books, films, TV, music (and music isn't just a love, it's *life*--for me, a life without music is not life), art galleries, travel, cooking, sleep, writing—but there is also one thing that I love to itty bitty pieces, and that thing is history.

Nothing makes me happier than to hear of new archaeological discoveries. I'm fascinated by Byzantine history particularly, and the histories of the Third Crusade, North and Southern Song Dynasty in China, the Silk Road before 1300AD, pre-revolution Russia, imperial Rome, and Three Kingdoms period in Korean history, to name a few.

Google Maps now has street view for the Via Appia, the original Via Appia, known now as Via Appia Antiqua, the road that led to Rome and which hundreds of legions feet marched on, where the rebels who followed Spartacus were crucified, and where the rich and powerful walked with the poor and enslaved. It's absolutely fascinating to take this virtual walk down the Via Appia Antiqua and I keep going back to look at it, not the least because Panoramio links photos of places along the Via Appia Antiqua to investigate. If you're like me, then the idea of walking the road without having to leave your home is the next best thing. So hop over this way and enjoy!

It's quite timely that I write this post, actually, as I'm working on edits for "City of Jade," my novel set in the 1130sAD from Constantinople to Hangzhou. I'm extremely invested in this book, prepared to go to great lengths to make sure I get the history right. Not just because I'm a history buff but because it's important to me to get it right for readers. When we think of the Silk Road, we think of deserts, camels and donkeys with goods and packs laden on their backs, of merchants wearing long robes. There's plenty of that, but there's also different foods, clothing, music, cities, market places and souqs and bazaars, fruit and precious stones, castles and houses.



There's something endlessly wonderful about castles, I think. From those of the Crusader states, like the incredible Krak de Chevalier in Syria to those in Europe and the UK, like Pevensey Castle in East Sussex (above) or those incredible abandoned and forgotten castles and chateaus that urbex photographers spend hours exploring and photographing for us all to see and wonder, wistfully, if these places will ever be saved and restored, the magic of the castle never dies.

China is doing something about its history and I could not be more excited. The ancient city of Chang'an, now modern day Xian, was once the eastern terminus of the Silk Road. The Chinese government are preparing to restore that ancient urban layout and I'm very excited to see what they end up with when they've finished. It's certainly increased my desire to visit Xian, that's for sure! The recent discovery of an urban center in Thesaloniki, Greece, of Byzantine origin, also has me excited, and a little fearful. Greece is in an economically precarious position right now, so I'm worried that the finds will be damaged. Another recent find is the discovery of the fourth century AD town of Myra and the church there. And another find at Ur (which appears in "No Shadows Fall," book three of the Archangel Chronicles) has me utterly delighted.

All wonderful things and things that will always fascinate me and keep me thinking and dreaming and hoping that one day, maybe, I can see these wonders for myself and walk among them on my own two feet, not just gaze at photographs with longing.



I've had the great pleasure to visit the Oregonian ghost towns of Bridal Veil, Antelope and Shaniko. I can honestly say that my glee and delight in hobbling around Shaniko was unparalleled. In fact, spending time in the town (what's left of it) of Centralia in Pennsylvania came a very close second to the time I spent in Shaniko. This place will be forever in my heart and it's such a great site and the history is so real and so vibrant, it was impossible not to be touched by it.

So that's the way to my heart. History.

As part of this blog hop, I'm giving away a pdf copy of "The Body on The Beach," my 1920 m/m whodunit, set in the city of Adelaide, where the people may be polite but murder never is. Leave a comment to this entry to go into the draw!

Blurb: In 1920, a body is found on Brighton Beach, Adelaide. Billy Liang has been living a respectable life as the representative of Adelaide’s Chinese community—with his lover, lawyer Tom Williams, discreetly at his side. When evidence seems to implicate the people Billy represents, he steps up to help solve the murder. He and Tom deal with illegal opium dens, fantan games and gambling, racism, and being shot at. Though Billy’s family accepts the love he and Tom share, Australia’s laws against sodomy and homosexuality pose a constant danger. Now, the body on the beach brings a whole new threat to Billy and Tom’s life in Adelaide.

Part of the Under the Southern Cross anthology.