Interview and Giveaway with Nalini Singh

We can't even begin tell you how excited we are to have here today the lovely Nalini Singh.  She's one of our favorite all time authors, both as a writer and as a person.  Please help us give her a warm welcome to UTC!

TANGLE OF NEED is your latest book! Can you tell us a bit about it?

Tangle of Need features SnowDancer Lieutenant, Riaz, and Senior Soldier, Adria. Riaz is a man who has already found his mate—only to discover that she is married, while Adria has just come out of a relationship that’s left her with deep emotional scars. Neither one of them is looking to get involved, least of all with one another.

This book also significantly progresses the overarching plot of the series, and sets a number of elements in place for what’s coming.

What do you think makes Riaz appealing and sexy?

When he’s not emotionally battered, he’s sensual and affectionate as only a wolf changeling can be. He’s also the kind of man who’ll take care of the woman he claims as his own in small but important ways that tell her he pays attention to her needs and wants.

As for when he’s brooding—there’s something to be said for tall, dark and dangerous. ;-)

The SnowDancers have been dominating the last two books. Have you decided who will have the next book after TANGLE OF NEED?

Yes.

How many books do you have planned for the Psy Changeling series? Do you know how it will end?

The series has always been flexible in terms of the number of books—I’ve always felt I’ll write as many as it takes to tell the story. Having said that, I feel we’ll reach the end of the original story arc within the next two or three books, and it will be a strong conclusion, one that I believe will satisfy readers who’ve been following the arc from the first book.

After that, I’d like to write some spinoff books featuring characters or aspects of the world we’ve only had a chance to see in passing. There’s just so much to explore!

Which team are you on? Team DarkRiver or Team SnowDancer?

Never ask a writer to choose favorites from their own works! It’s an impossible task.

This may sound weird but we may have a bit of a crush on a certain rat, Teijan. Are you planning on giving him a book?

Teijan does have a certain charm to him, but no, I don’t plan on giving him a book. However, he may end up with a storyline in the series. We shall see.

You have created two very different, but very exciting and interesting new worlds in your two series. What gives you the ideas for them? Is it something you have to think and plan, or were the ideas already in your mind?

I tend to see a very strong mental image, or get a strong “what if” concept in my head, and then I just go for it. I sit down and write and see what happens.

Many readers have grown to love Illium aka Bluebell and are hoping to see him get a book. Do you have plans to give him a HEA?

I’d like to write about him, but only if it is the right story. I don’t want to rush things and short-change him.

Do you plan on doing a story for each of Raphael’s Seven? And if you are can you name Aodhan’s girl Suzanne?

Lol! The answer is the same as for the Illium question. It must be a natural process. I don’t want to force any one of them into a story.

Which of your heroes was hardest to write and which was easiest? Do you have any soft spots for any particular characters?

Each and every character is unique, so they all provide different challenges. I don’t think I can compare them. As for soft spots – see my earlier comment about favorites!

Are you planning on bringing out any merchandise for your books?

I occasionally think about this, but I’m not sure how much interest there’d be (show of hands if you’d like some!). Also, since I’d definitely want to be involved in the design process, it would mean a certain amount of time commitment on my part, even if someone else was handling the store, and I haven’t wanted to take on the extra project.

Now for some fun questions! If the SnowDancers had to team up with a pack from any other series, who do you think they would choose to join forces with?

Hmm… To be honest, they don’t really play well with others, not unless they’ve had years to develop trust with the other group (as with DarkRiver), so I think they’d prefer to go it alone.

If Hawke and Lucas met up with Raphael for a beer, would they get along, and what kind of things would they chat about?

Wow, wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall during that conversation? I think they would get along—they’re all strong men who know how to make tough decisions, and they respect the same kind of will in others. As for what they’d talk about...that is something I’ll leave to your imaginations.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past--one as unpredictable in love as it was in war. Now comes a new territory, and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.

For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal. For Adria, his dangerous lone-wolf appeal is beyond sexual. It consumes her. It terrifies her. It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life. But fighting their wild compulsion toward one another proves a losing battle.

Their coming together is an inferno...and a melding of two wounded souls who promise each other no commitment, no ties, no bonds. Only pleasure. Too late, they realize that they have more to lose than they ever imagined. Drawn into a cataclysmic Psy war that may alter the fate of the world itself, they must make a decision that might just break them both.

 OUR REVIEW

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