Saturday, February 4, 2012

Whisper On A Scream by Cree Walker. Win a copy of her new book!


I would like to welcome today to Naughty Nights Press blog, the delightful and coquettish Cree Walker, author of Whisper On A Scream.

Now don’t forget readers after you have read the interview and the tantalizing excerpt at the end and leave a comment along with your email address and you might just win yourself a copy of Whisper On a Scream.
Winner will be chosen through Random.org and announced here on the 6th February 2012. An email will be sent to the winner notifying them of their win.

Whisper On A Scream is due out this month...so keep an eye out for its release!

Cree thank you so much for being here today. I can’t wait to ask you some of these questions *smiles*
How did you get the inspiration for Whispers On A Scream and did you have to do a lot of research for it?

Well that’s kind of a weird story. I was going for a ride and listening to some music when this really old rock song came on and in the time it took for the song to play I had the basic idea for the novel. So, I raced home and I spent the next four days typing it out and listening to the song on repeat until I had it’s basic structure. Then I took my time going back through it and filling in the spaces until it felt right.
As far as research is concerned I read a lot of paranormal romance and I’ve always had a fascination for wolves and their complex sociological behaviors, like mating for life and living under a dictatorial rule. I just brought a little human nature into it and imagined what might happen. Hint: All hell breaks loose.    

What can people expect from Whisper On A Scream?

I really hope people don’t expect to sit down and read your run of the mill romance. I wanted it to be unpredictable and I want people to fall in love with Jack and Sugar the way I did.
Have you a favorite scene or character that you would like to share with us?
I have few favorites but I’ll start you off with one in the beginning.
***
That's when I saw it, a nail file caught under the leg of the bed. I struggled to my feet before he could spot what was keeping me down there and tried crossing my arms. Of course that didn't work either, because I was handcuffed to a fucking headboard. I yanked at it and climbed back onto the bed.
 I faced away from him and steadied my breathing to match his until his snoring started. I edged over until the majority of my weight was on my free arm off the side of the bed and swung my leg down. I inched my way higher until I could get a good grip on the metal file and nearly bent it in half trying to pry it from between the carpeted floor and the metal foot of the bed frame. He coughed and I swallowed a scream. I jumped anyway and ground my teeth, waiting to see if he had woken up. The snoring continued. I rolled back onto the bed and pulled myself into a sitting position so I could reach the cuffed hand with the other. I knew better than to try and pick the lock - I had no skill in that - but if I used the curved end of the cheap metal file and scraped away at the neck of the post where the cuff was until I could crack the end of the knob off…I would be free. Of course, I had to accomplish all of this without waking Sleeping Beauty.
I went to work, only scraping tiny amounts of wood off when he snored. Hours passed and the gray light of early dawn wafted in through the tiny cracks in the curtains. I was more than halfway through my post and, bleeding blisters or not, I would not quit … that was not in my repertoire. He shifted in the hours of late sleep - his body was waking up. I sucked in a breath and coughed, yanking my cuff, ripping the heavy knob free along with my right arm. I fumbled for the flying knob, but it went sailing out of reach and bounced hard on the shag carpet. I didn't move except for my eyes and I watched his open, blinking sleepily and looking at me with only minor interest and then his eyes closed again. He rolled away from me, facing the door to the room and started to snore again.
I stood slowly, my cramped muscles screaming in protest. I don't remember ever being this scared in my entire life, and I had had plenty of opportunities, but I was out of practice it seemed. My heart roared blood through my veins until it was the only thing I could hear. I walked around the front of the bed and he still slept soundly until, of course, I stepped on the broken knob, rolled backwards flat onto my back, kicked over the chair, and tore the comforter on the way down, in order to catch my fall. I waited for the pain - broken bones or cracked skull. I was lucky I was holding my breath when I fell because all the wind would have been knocked out of me. It took less than a second for him to sit up and find me laying there on my back with the t-shirt God knows how high on my legs … at least I hoped it was still that far down.
*** 
We all have little quirks when we are writing stories, what are yours?

I can’t write with anyone near me. I have to be completely alone. If I’m not, I spend more time worrying about people trying to read over my shoulder than I do actually writing anything.

Have you got any books coming out soon either with Naughty Nights Press or another publisher and if you do can you share them with us?

As luck would have it, I do have another book coming out summer of 2012 with the fantastically wonderful Naughty Nights Press. It is the sequel to Whisper On A Scream. It’s titled Willing Sacrifice and it is still based around the main character from the first novel, Sugar. It starts where the first book left off and I think after reading the first book people will be intrigued to see how the next story begins. I’d love to tell you more, but I don’t want to ruin the first book for anyone.

When you first started writing were you ever given any advice by someone you admire that you now automatically put into action each time you write?

Sort of, well it’s kind of a funny story. I used to work in a small high end book store when I was in college. One night a woman walked into the store and I asked if I could help her find anything.
She smiled and asked me if I had anymore novels by a certain author.
I immediately went into sales mode and went straight to them, explaining that the author was originally from the area so she gifted us with a few signed copies.
She smiled again and asked me if I’d read any of them.
I grinned and shrugged, explaining that they really weren’t my kind of books.
Then she started to laugh and I realized who I was talking to. Suddenly her hair was brighter, her skin more perfect, her smile brilliantly white and I quickly asked, “You’re her aren’t you?”
She smiled again and I stuttered out an awkward apology and she waved it off pulling me into a friendly hug. “Oh honey if I had twenty of you selling my books I wouldn’t be able to keep them on the shelves.”
I learned something that day, it was one, I’m a complete dimwit in the face of a famous author. Two, if she could do it I sure as hell could and three I really wanted my own blubbering idiot to try selling me my own books one day.


~ Cree, that is a gorgeous anecdote and I am sure you wouldn't be the only one to have trouble with verbal communication in the presence of a famous author *giggles*

As a writer, we all set some type of goals, what are yours and have you surpassed them or still getting there with them?

Being a writer is kind of like being on a diet. There are small goals and with every small success you have to use that as your next foot hold to moving onward and upward. It started with writing the book, then sending it out and actually seeing some interest in literary agents just to see if I was wasting my time, then trying to find out what I’m doing wrong when I get 6 requests for my full and nothing more, then I realized I went wrong with the lit agents and started sending it directly to publishers. I sent it to only three before I got my letter from Naughty Nights Press. I was at work at the time and I had my co-worker a little nervous when I ran into the back room, slammed the door and started whooping and hollering at the top of my lungs. My next step depends on how well Whisper On A Scream and Willing Sacrifice do. If things go well I’ve already begun the third novel and hopefully it too will see the light of day.  

Thank you for being here with us at Naughty Nights Press Cree, I love getting to know our new authors.  But before you go is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

Thanks for taking the time to check out my interview, and feel free to check Cree Walker out on facebook.com, or at my blog http://www.creewalker.wordpress.com. I really hope you enjoyed my interview and I really hope you love my book.

WHISPER ON A SCREAM ~ CREE WALKER
Synopsis

The werewolves are dying. Years of war between the Born werewolves and bitten, along with a lack of healthy bloodlines, has taken its toll on the race and if something isn’t done soon they will all be gone within the next fifty years. They are a strong breed, but they have one major weakness that will probably end them all. Werewolves like their natural counterpart - the wolves breed for life; and if there is no mate, there is no life. A prolonged separation between mates can kill them more efficiently than any bullet ever could, and the Council are playing with fire when they use this very weakness against Sugar Lubec, the Born daughter of two Bitten parents, to carry the off-spring of Alpha Jack Coon. He is the leader of the largest werewolf pack in North America. Ending the war between the two groups is the only thing that can save the werewolves and bring Jack and Sugar together, but can they do it before they end up paying the ultimate price for their long separation; or will that price be the only thing that can end the war?

Sugar is the daughter of two bitten werewolf parents. When born, werewolf Jack is sent out by the Council to eliminate the daughter of their greatest enemy he thinks his chance for revenge has finally come - that is until he meets Sugar for the first time. Now he has to not only convince the Council that Sugar isn't a threat to them, but that she maybe the very key to save their dying race.



1 comment:

  1. Whisper on a Scream sounds wonderful! The cover is AMAZING! I'd love to win a copy of this book.

    sandy(dot)wolters(at)q(dot)come

    ReplyDelete