Interview and Giveaway with Caris Roane!

Caris Roane

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.

Thanks so much for visiting Under the Covers! Let’s get to know you a little better. Who is Caris Roane? Can you tell us 5 interesting things about you that would surprise your readers?

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), I’ve 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. I’ve 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 Greaves’s 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 wasn’t thinking about ‘wings’ 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.

Your latest release is OBSIDIAN FLAME. What is in store for Marguerite and Thorne? 

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? Thorne’s 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.

You have some amazing covers! Do you have a personal favorite?  

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 I’m 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 it’s also a world of trolls, elves, fae, shifters, and the evil Invictus wraiths. It’s 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 master’s life. Of course romance and passion follows! Were there any particular writers that influenced your craft or your desire to be a writer? Georgette Heyer’s 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 couldn’t 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 I’m working on. Right now, for instance, I’m hoping to do a vampire trilogy for my current pub house and I’ll 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.

Say you are hosting a dinner party and could invite 5 fictional characters, who would you pick and why?  

Right now that’s both easy and hard. I would LOVE to meet my warriors, but I wouldn’t want to have to choose five. I’d want to meet all nine of them: Kerrick, Marcus, Medichi, Jean-Pierre, Thorne, Leto, Luken, Zacharius, and Santiago. Of course, it probably wouldn’t be a dinner party! This would fast become a brawl! You know how those warriors are?!? LOL!

Quick-fire questions! 

Angels or vampires? Vampires, of course!
cats or dogs? Sorry, love both equally
coffee or tea?  Coffee, yum...especially with cream and sugar...bad, very bad...
tattoos or piercings? Piercings
sunset or sunrise? Sunrise
boxers or briefs? Boxers

Thanks so much for answering our questions!  

Readers can find me at:
Website: www.carisroane.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001511486532
Email: carisroane@gmail.com

Today, Caris will be giving away a signed print copy of the author’s 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! 

Finally, you can ask Caris anything today about her winged vampire warriors, what inspired her to write them, why ‘wings’, why she’s 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!