Today we have paranormal romance author, Caris Roane with us! Please give her a warm welcome as he talks about her latest release, OBSIDIAN FLAME and her Guardians of Ascension series.
I am a writer, a mother of two and grandmother of one beautiful little girl, I have two cats, I live in the metro Phoenix area (southwest USA), Iโve been published in both the Regency genre and the paranormal genre for a couple of decades now, and I LOVE to create my stories.
Here are five things about me you might not know. 1. I was a tour guide at Anaheim Disneyland many moons ago. 2. When I was a little girl, I grew up in a lumber town in Northern California. 3. Iโve been published for over twenty years during which time I wrote mostly Regency romance. 4. I wrote very sweet novels before embarking on my sexy vampire novels. 5. I rode a roller-coaster once just so that I could say I did and so I would never have to do it again!
For readers who haven’t read your The Guardians of Ascension series, can you tell us a bit about the books?
The Guardians of Ascension, is the world of the vampire but set in ascending dimensional earths. There are six known dimensions at this time but the action takes place mostly on Second Earth and Mortal Earth. Once a mortal ascends to Second Earth, he or she becomes a vampire. But the world is at war, with the vile Commander Greaves working to take over both worlds. He uses death vampires as the backbone of his growing army. At the helm is a fashion-challenged woman, Endelle, who is wonderfully profane and dictatorial. Her elite group of warriors, the Warriors of the Blood, work constantly to save Second Earth from Greavesโs ambitions. Each story features one of my beloved, overworked, and super-sexy warriors. What inspired you to write about winged vampires? When I originally started developing the series, I wasnโt thinking about โwingsโ at all. But one day, I was writing a scene that involved a death vampire, which is an evil creature addicted to dying blood. Suddenly, the vampire was hanging in the air, supported by massive glossy black wings and spinning in a slow circle. The image was so compelling that I had to see it through and winged vampires were born.
Both Marguerite and Thorne go through major intense changes in OBSIDIAN FLAME, which makes their romance both rocky and extremely passionate. Thorne actually changes shape physically and Marguerite must come to terms with her massive obsidian flame power. What would you say is Thorne’s greatest strength? What would you consider his greatest weakness? Thorneโs greatest strength is that he is a leader, a very powerful leader. His greatest weakness is that he never quite knows where to draw the line with Endelle.
Actually, I do! I absolutely fell in love with the cover of BORN OF ASHES and use it as my avatar on the web when Iโm posting on Facebook or on blogs. BORN OF ASHES tells the story of the hunky French warrior, Jean-Pierre, and the blood slave, Fiona. I was in the middle of a very emotional scene, when I first saw the cover. I wept because if ever a couple represented a hero and heroine it was the couple on this book cover.
You also have the Blood Rose series. What can you tell us about this project?
The Blood Rose series is a novella series that I created to self-publish. I developed a world with vampires in the lead role, because vamps are my fav, but itโs also a world of trolls, elves, fae, shifters, and the evil Invictus wraiths. Itโs set in a parallel position to Earth with access points, for each realm, near major cities. The concept came about because I asked the question: what if the master vampires who ruled each realm suffered from blood-starvation and only one woman could satisfy that need? I loved the idea right away and decided I would call these special women: blood roses! So each story will focus on the arrival of the blood rose in the masterโs life. Of course romance and passion follows! Were there any particular writers that influenced your craft or your desire to be a writer? Georgette Heyerโs work influenced me the most in my desire to be a writer. She wrote Regency romance earlier in the previous century. In fact, you could say she created the genre without intending to do so. The genre just emerged in her wake. Originally, I found her books in the library and couldnโt get enough. Then one day I was in a bookstore and saw that there was a whole genre dedicated to the era in England, between 1810 and 1820, called the Regency. I was hooked from that day forward and knew I had to write Regencies.
Can you give us a peek into the day of a writer? Do you write every day? If so, for how long?
When I get up, I have a cup of tea, some walnuts and blueberries, then spend a solid hour going over each project Iโm working on. Right now, for instance, Iโm hoping to do a vampire trilogy for my current pub house and Iโll take 5-10 minutes going through each of those books, making notes, fleshing out characters, setting up my plot-graph. After that, I work on and off all day and through the evening either writing or editing a book, in addition to doing my social networking: Twitter, Goodreads, my website, my Caris Roane and Valerie King Facebook pages and answering any personal messages fans might have sent to my gmail account. I take lots of breaks, drink lots of water, try to exercise and try to eat healthy.
Right now thatโs both easy and hard. I would LOVE to meet my warriors, but I wouldnโt want to have to choose five. Iโd want to meet all nine of them: Kerrick, Marcus, Medichi, Jean-Pierre, Thorne, Leto, Luken, Zacharius, and Santiago. Of course, it probably wouldnโt be a dinner party! This would fast become a brawl! You know how those warriors are?!? LOL!
Angels or vampires? Vampires, of course!
cats or dogs? Sorry, love both equally
coffee or tea?ย Coffee, yum…especially with cream and sugar…bad, very bad…
tattoos or piercings? Piercings
sunset or sunrise? Sunrise
boxers or briefs? Boxers
Readers can find me at:
Website: www.carisroane.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001511486532
Email: [email protected]
Today, Caris will be giving away a signed print copy of the authorโs choice of the first five GUARDIANS OF ASCENSION novels, 5 RTC cards, two bookmarks, as well as a pair of silver, hand-crafted, wing-based earrings. This giveaway is international. To be entered into the drawing, please leave a comment with your email address. Good luck, everyone!ย
Finally, you can ask Caris anything today about her winged vampire warriors, what inspired her to write them, why โwingsโ, why sheโs drawn to vampires rather than other paranormal beings, etc., or tell us what your favorite paranormal beings are and why you like them as much as you do.
To enter, please:
1. Be a follower
2. Answer Caris’s question above. Make sure you leave a valid email address so we can contact you if you win! Good luck!
Wow, this sounds like a great series. Yet another author that slipped past my radar until now that is.
I don’t really have a favorite paranormal. I tend to like them all equally. Though vampires and shifters are definitely at the top of the list.
With vampires, it’s the tall, dark, and handsome thing with that little bit of danger thrown in.
With shifters, it’s that amazing ability to become something other… be it wolf, bird, panther, etc.
Thanks for the great interview.
lisa at vetteklisa dot com
Good interview! I’m ashamed to admit that I have not read any of Caris’ books but they sound great. I like the idea of dimensional earths and things taking place in both a second Earth and a mortal Earth. Thanks for the giveaway!
junegirl63 at gmail dot com
I love Georgette Heyer’s books – my Mom had all of them, and she got me hooked on romance! For years I only read historicals, but lately I’ve been reading PNR and UF. This sounds like such a great series. Thanks for the giveaway!
rwschwarz11ATgmailDOTcom
Thanks for the great post and giveaway! I’m ashamed to say that the first 2 of Caris’ series has been languishing in my tbr pile but I’m determined to start reading them ๐ I love the premise and it’s exciting to see this series continue. How many books do you see/plan for this serie?
Thanks again!
efender1(at)gmail(dot)com
Great interview. I also have not read the series, but will be moving them up on the tbr pile. The series sounds great.
How did you come up with the idea of the six dimentions and what a person would ascend to?
Elizabeth Gray
[email protected]
GFC: Arianne Cruz
email: [email protected]
My fave are vampires – they’re just too sexy ๐
It’s a new discovery for me as well and i’m intrigued by this new kind of vampires^^;;
i love paranormal romance so i would be very happy to win the first book of this series.
So far i will say that my favorite paranormal creature are the shifters because there are really loyal to their soulemates
thanks you a lot for this wonderful international giveaway
all the best
gfc: miki
isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com
Isn’t this a GREAT series! I LOVE the covers too…they’re BEAUTIFUL! I have the first book: Ascension…and would love the opportunity to add another to my collection. My fave paranormal creatures are vamps and shifters. I like their general dominant sexy alpha characteristics…and the sweet, tender, loving side that only their mates get to see. Thx for the VERY generous giveaway op! ๐
barbbattaglia @ yahoo.com
Thank you for this international giveaway ๐ That’s really nice ๐
I love both angels and vampires. They are immortals, strong, and handsome. They are very good warriors. They have a dark side but also a loyal side, they are loyal towards their friends or their beloved.
Angels have very beautiful wings and can fly (so as vampires in some books). Vampires are night creatures and i love night ๐
Thank you again ๐
Mรฉlanie A
[email protected]
love love love vampires!!! I can’t wait to read this series it sounds great. Gale [email protected]
My all time favorite characters are Vamps…they’re scary, sexy and so totally committed to their women…
Great giveaway…
Cindy
ctrim at wi dot rr dot com
This comment has been removed by the author.
I’ve always loved vampires. I’m pretty sure it’s their immortality that draws me. They’re always eternally beautiful and stuck at the perfect age.
molly(dot)frenzel(at)gmail(dot)com
I was just reading about this author on amazon. I hope I win because her vampires do sound yummy
OH, I love the covers of those two books, I thought they would be about angels. Winged vampires is a new twist, that’s great. I haven’t read any of Caris’ books yet, but you can bet I will.
Paranormal is one of my favorite genres. Vampires in particular. I love how there can be so many authors writing about vampires and they are all still very different.
luvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com
Sounds like an interesting series. Definitely need to check it out. I’m a fan of both angels and vamps but winged vamps is definitely a twist I haven’t read before. Can’t believe this has slipped under my radar for so long, I love books with angels and vamps. Especially when you combine them and get winged vamps!! Can’t wait to read this series!!
tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com
This was a great interview! I love to learn about authors lives outside of their books. I bet it was fun to be a tourguide at Disneyland. Once I tried a roller coaster I was hooked even though I did more to show that I could do it, I will do almost anything just to prove someone wrong.
[email protected]
Hi, everyone, I had hoped to sign in much earlier but my day got crazy! I’m here now and if any of you would like to ask me questions, I’ll answer on Friday as well!
So, I’ll start with Lisa! Though I enjoy reading ‘shifter’ stories, I’m totally stuck on vampires! Not sure why! Although I’m sure a psychiatrist would have a field day with that one!
Best,
Caris
Hi, Maria,
I think you’ll enjoy the dimensional world that I created. In the later books, for instance, I have two significant characters who are from Fourth Earth!
Enjoy,
Caris
Rebe,
I collected Georgette Heyer books and years ago found a hardback in a used book store. I think the price was $1.45! Let me tell you I took that book trembling to the counter because if they’d known how much it meant to me, they would have charged me about five hundred bucks, lol!
Reading is the best!
Caris
Erin,
No more languishing, lol!
I’ve had more fun writing this series, more than I could ever express. It has my heart and soon I hope it has yours!
As for the length of the series, I have 10 books planned that take place on Second Earth. Then I hope to go to Third!!!
Best,
Caris
I love vampires and shifters because of their raw animal magnetism plus they’re really sexy!!!
[email protected]
Hi, Elizabeth!
Coming up with the idea of 6 dimensions was in response to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. I just loved that her world was so BIG. When I decided to create a paranormal series, that’s what I wanted…a BIG world! So, I thought, a dimensional world with unlimited dimensions would be HUGE! In the end, I chose 6 dimensions just to give the whole thing a sense of structure!
Hope you enjoy my series!
Caris
Arianne,
I’m with you! Vamps are just plain sexy…I’m especially a forever fan of Jean-Claude…yum!
Caris
Miki,
You’re welcome for the ‘international’ giveaway. It’s my pleasure!
One thing I like to read in shifter books generally is about the pack-mentality and how the group of shifters functions as a whole, including all the dominance elements. Really fascinating…but I still prefer my vamps, lol!
Caris
Barbara,
I think you’ve said it exactly right. In a vampire romance, you get to watch all these super alpha men become the most loving guys when they find their vamp-mates!
Caris
Melanie,
I was at an author-reader event recently in Phoenix where I live, and I had someone comment that by blending the wings of angels with the vampire mythos that I had blended dark and light together! I thought it was a beautiful rendering of the whole concept.
I hope you take to my series!
Caris
Gale!
Me, too!!! Love, love, love vampires! Hope you find something in my work and how I create my hunky warrior vampires that appeals to you!
Caris
Cindy,
Scary, sexy and totally committed to their women! Yup…you’ve described my warriors exactly!
Caris
Molly,
I love the idea of ‘being stuck at the right age’! You never read about an old fat vampire, no?!?
But that’s what’s great about writing fiction…my heroes never develop love handles and my women never age!
Caris
Chinyere,
My vampires are TOTALLY YUMMY! I take a lot of time to describe my warriors, to help the reader feel like they know exactly what these men look like!
Caris
Julianne,
I had more fun writing about vampires with wings. Mounting the wings alone becomes a very sensual experience and the flight was just a blast to put on the page!
Caris
Emily,
I think you’ll enjoy this series! Just remember, there are NO ANGELS anywhere! These are strictly vampires…with wings…super, hunky warrior vampires, who wear black leather kilts when they go into battle!
Caris
Leanna,
I wish more than anything that I had enjoyed that roller coaster ride! I don’t know why I didn’t, except that I was scared the whole time. I hear it helps to scream, but then I was too inhibited at the time to let loose, lol!
Caris
These sound great- I love vampires! So many books, so little time! :-))
Congrats on your latest release. I didn’t know that you write Regency romances too, i hv to check it out. Love historical romance & always on the look out for new books.
I love roller coaster rides! The more hair raising the better ๐
[email protected]
I have to say that my favorite paranormal beings are Angels. They qualify right? There is something so mesmerizing about these Heavenly warriors. Not the benign creatures of my Sunday School lessons.
GFC: Mary Preston
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
I haven read this series yet, but now I’m going to. What drew you to the six dimensions idea?
Also, why winged vampires??
My favourite paranormals are shifters, because I love the hidden animal and loyalty to their mates
hi caris!
jean-claude from anita blake series?? i like him too!
you said it’s mostly on second earth and mortal earth. any chance you’ll develope the story to include the other 4 dimensions?
[email protected]
Timitra,
I know! Vampires and shifters have become SUPER-sexy in recent years, haven’t they?!!! Of course, my preference for both species (shifter and vampire) is when they also serve as warriors either in the shifter clan or in a war as in my Guardians of Ascension! Then naturally, the shortest among the warriors is 6-5! Squeee!!!
Caris
Susan,
You are sooo right! So many books, so little time! But if you like the books sexy, the warriors hot, and the heroines growing in power, you might just enjoy my series!
Caris
Linda,
I know I lost something by not taking to roller-coasters! *sigh*
As for the Regencies, I’ll be launching my backlist, new sweet Regency novellas and hopefully some Regency historicals in the next few months. Stay tuned, therefore, to ValerieKingRomance.com
Caris aka Valerie King
Marybelle,
Yes angels qualify as paranormal beings! Afterall, paranormal is all in the writing and I think an angel can be whatever the author wants the angel to be. We don’t exactly have manuals on what they are, LOL!
Caris
Karen,
The six dimensions idea came from needing the world to be big, to have big potential because I wanted to write a long series. As for the wings, I was looking for a way to set my world apart from everything else that was out there. I didn’t automatically think ‘wings’. What actually happened was that during the writing process a really bad death vampire showed up, floating in mid-air because he had these huge gorgeous glossy black wings. I was hooked from that moment on. So, my vampires have wings!
Caris
Sienny!
Yes! Jean-Claude from the Anita Blake series! I LOVE him and wish that LKH would write a new series from his point of view. I think the character she built with JC is just amazing!
As for going to other dimensions, my fondest hope is to take the series to Third Earth next…and yes, I already have characters living there and I know what the major conflict is in that dimension as well!
Caris
Great interview! I love Caris Roane!!! Her Guardians of Ascension series is so sexy!!!! I haven’t read the latest book sadly.:( Vampires with wings, and kilts who could ask for more??!;)
Vampires and angels are my favorite paranormal beings!! However if I were to chose to be one myself, I would like to be a Succubus ๐ hehehe.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway and interview!!:P xoxo
Hi, Miss Vain!
Are you saying you haven’t read Thorne’s book yet (OBSIDIAN FLAME)?!? OMG! You have to see what happens to him! The book was a wonderful surprise to me in so many ways and I’m the author, lol!!!
Succubus, huh?
Best,
Caris
Favourite would be for sure Vampires, no question, I have a slight obsession with them ๐
GFC: Jet
bookdevoteereviews(at)hotmail(dot)com
Jet,
Let me guess: ‘slight obsession with vampires’ translates into – OMG, the woman’s crazy!!! LOL!
Uh, me too, BTW. I know there are lots of great para concepts out there, but vampires just do it for me!
Caris
My favorite paranormal beings are vampires but I can be very open-minded in what I read as far as series goes with supernatural creatures. Vamps have the special place in my heart, for whatever reason. sdylion(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you
I love these Guardians! To be so strong and yet so tender! The icing on the cake is the fact they have wings! Awesome idea!
Thank you for a wonderful interview and giveaway!
PhoenixCarvelli(at)gmail(dot)com
btw – I do not care for rollercoasters either. Scary and the last one just about beat me to death! No more!
I haven’t read your series yet Caris but it’s on my TRL now. Vamps with wings and wearing kilts ? OMG, I’m hooked. I love kilted men and now you’ve given us Vamps with wings.My favorite paranormal character is a toss up of Vamps and Angels. I find them both sexy,strong and loyal in their loves. Thanks for this opportunity.
Carol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sorry forgot to put my email before…
Although this series is on my TBR list forever, I still haven’t started it yet… I know, I should.
As for my favorite paranormal creature that would be vampires and angels. It depends on my mood. I love vampires cause they were the protagonists of my first PNR books and angels for the way they choose to fall
anniech85(at)gmail(dot)com
Great interview!! I haven’t read any of Caris’ books yet. This series sounds great and the cover was very amazing. I want reading this series!!
Thanks for chance to win ๐
filiafantasy at gmail dot com
I can’t wait to read about these vampiric angels, they might be my favorite!!
[email protected]
Caris is a new to me author and I am so glad I learned about herbecause I love paranormal and am always looking for new authors to read.Her books sound amazing I must know all about these winged vampires and their stories .Have a fantastic weekend
[email protected]
I have to say that this series is one of my favorites! What I like the most is that Caris has created an AMAZING, deeply thought out plot with what I consider to be a fairly complex storyline while also writing a HOT, HOT, HOT romance!! I picked the first book when Borders was going out of business and was an immediate fan! If you haven’t tried this series yet you are seriously missing out! Start reading it – TODAY! You won’t be disappointed!!!
I have to say that this series is one of my favorites! What I like the most is that Caris has created an AMAZING, deeply thought out plot with what I consider to be a fairly complex storyline while also writing a HOT, HOT, HOT romance!! I picked the first book when Borders was going out of business and was an immediate fan! If you haven’t tried this series yet you are seriously missing out! Start reading it – TODAY! You won’t be disappointed!!!
I loved learning about why you chose wings for your vampires. This sounds like a wonderful series,
riverinaromantic AT aol DOT com
My mom was a big regency romance fan and I remember her reading your 1990’s Valerie King books. I started out reading her books then shifted to different genre’s over the years. I’m a big pnr fan and vampires and shifters are my two favorites with angels coming in very close.
I have to say its different to hear about having winged vampires but it also peaked my interest so I now want to get this series. Thanks for the interview. How many books do you plan to write in this series?
[email protected]
I have been very interested in this series since I stumbled upon it. Haven’t had a chance to read them yet, but they are on my to-read list ๐ Thanks for the chance to win!!
BTW, my email is grneyedwhttiger at gmail dot com