An Interview with Author Sultry Summers

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*18 and over please*

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Ride out your hump of a Wednesday with interview #9. On board today is Sultry Summers, author of seven published books, including Heirs of the Dragon's Eye: Book 1, Startyger and Heirs of the Dragon's Eye:  Book 2, Revenge Immortal (coming April 2011), both from Melange Books. Click the link below the picture to visit Sultry's website (**18 and over only please!**) and see her other books, read excerpts, interviews, and an author bio. She also has a nice blog HERE.

Welcome to Unwritten, Sultry! Get comfortable, and tell us a little about yourself. Who is Sultry when she's not writing?

I’m a wife and a mother – like a good number of other women. I’m also a cook, a painter a gardener and an astronomer.  I enjoy other hobbies as well, I sew, knit, embroidery and occasionally make jewelry, However everything except the wife and mother falls after being a writer.  That takes up most of my time. I waited to start writing seriously so late in life that it seems imperative to write – almost like I’ve so many stories to tell and not enough time to tell them. Which is a real pain at times because I do miss my other hobbies, I’m a good seamstress and embroiderer and a good cook, I bake from scratch including making bread but writing is always with me and now when I do anything else, I feel like I’m cheating my writing.

Just from looking at your titles and excerpts, it looks like you write a wide range of romance sub-genres. Do you have a favorite? Is it hard to switch gears from say, a erotic sci-fi to a contemporary?

A favorite – yes, science fiction always my first love and fantasy both are always my favorite however, when the muse to write other genres strikes – I must write it. I have several stories planned that are even further away from the sub-genres mentioned, World War II, and prohibition Chicago being two of them. I love mythology as well and though I’ve written two in Greek mythology – I have a couple coming in Celtic Lore and one to re-write that is a Vampire story. I do jump around – my imagination is geared that way and always has been. Time is my nemesis – I sometimes feel I could write 24/7 – but I have a sleep problem – I have trouble getting to sleep and to do so must take meds then it makes it very difficult to get up. It’s a funny, vicious cycle but I also write late sometimes until 2 or 3 am. Once in awhile, I write even later – or would that be earlier? Hmm – see the dilemma? As for switching gears – no problem at all. I’ve recently discovered if I spend a couple of hours a day on one or two different stories I make better progress plus some time on promo – my weak spot. I can go from say sci-fi to contemporary without a break in stride.

From your website, I see you've ridden motorcycles, went scuba diving and white water rafting. Have these experiences helped to shape your novels? Are your characters adventurous folks too?

Oh yes – my younger days hobbies have given me great experiences for my characters and the background knowledge to write it or at least enough to know when to research it.  I’ve watched various shuttle launches, I use to live just south of the Kennedy Space Center so that gives me insight into the sci/fi space for my characters there.  Florida did have its moments for some wonderful tales – one story I’m re-working now and hope to finally get it back out this year. I’ve had some great experiences from driving across country to seeing U.F.O. being lost in Flaming Gorge Utah in the middle of the night – (that was one weird night) things like add to my character’s adventures from first hand experiences.

Coming in April!

Are you working on anything at the moment and can you tell us anything about it?

Sure, I’m working on a story, half way completed about a corporate takeover, the former C.E.O. loses her family’s business to a man whose company buys out companies in trouble but this one didn’t quite go the way he planned.  It has great m/f tension between.  It involves some time travel back to the 1700’s and a very heated, erotic love story.  Also, as I mentioned earlier – I’m getting a story that was well reviewed and well received but only out for a couple of months due to the publisher crashing ready for a re-publish – this one has been requested by several fans.  It’s a fantasy that takes place in Florida and deals with the Devil’s Triangle.  Also a futuristic – post WW3 series called Hope Eternal – the first book is finished the second half way. Of course the third book for Heirs of the Dragon’s Eyes is brewing in my warped mind, the first book, Star TyGer was just released and the sequel is due out next month. 

I've got to throw a random question at you, of course. What are your biggest pet peeves?

OH my! Let me think – Promo, and my lack of ability. I’m working on it. At one point I had gotten pretty good at it. Then I was slammed with a major life move that took almost a year bite out of my writing – I barely kept my head above water – So getting back into that end of the game has proven difficult.  Before – there were posts and such – now there’s blogs, facebook, twitter, and book trailers  - I’ve got it in hand now but still not quite up to speed – As the song say – I get by with a little help from my friends and I will.  And I’ll give you one more – computer problems and having to send my computer out to be fixed.


Finally, Ms. Summers, can you share a short excerpt from a published work or a work in progress?

This excerpt is from my latest release with Melange Books – from the series, Heirs Of The Dragon’s Eyes – Book One – Star TyGer – Where Myng the Cruel discovers the theft of his book of power The Book Of Life Over Death

Myng and Solana approached a door worked in a heavy, wrought iron patina design of a dragon with fierce ruby eyes. Though there was no apparent lock – the door was secure. Myng waved the ornate Dragon’s eyes ring he wore on his right middle finger past the glowing red eyes of the dragon. The door opened with an ominous, hollow moan that rolled down the long corridors on both sides of the door.

He led Solana through the portal, and to her amazement, the atmosphere instantly changed from the normal comfortable temperature of the Destructor to ice cold. Myng snatched a long, satin, hooded cape from a chair beside the door and threw it around Solana’s shoulders.

Still, she shivered in the eerie, icy temperature. He put his warm, muscular arms around her and they proceeded through the thick mist hanging low in the narrow, darkened passage. Occasionally lit by the red, flickering torchlight of live flames, the passage twisted and turned, but had no obvious turn offs. After several turns, the torches disappeared, replaced by an encompassing red glow signaling the end of their trek.

“My lord, are we still inside the Destructor?” Solana asked, suspecting they had entered another dimension.

“You are perceptive Solana, but I knew that. We are – but again, no, we aren’t. In this section inside the Destructor, time, space…” his eyes held hers. “We exist in another dimension. This is the ancient heart of my massive dreadnought, and it is as old as time. Here the combined souls of many – ships exist, but one dominates.” Myng’s voice trailed off to a whisper, his lips found hers for a short kiss.

Together they stepped into the luminous room. Here red torch light lit the chamber bright enough for comfortable reading, but despite the warmth of the torches, the temperature remained cold and dank. Mystery permeated the air of the perfectly shaped pentagram room and shelves containing multitudes of scrolls and leather bound books lined the walls.

Here Myng stored the mysteries of ages, taken from peoples and worlds the numbers of which Solana couldn’t begin to imagine. In the center stood a wooden pedestal carved from a single ancient oak tree trunk. It stood empty. The aged oak, worn smooth from use, appeared imprinted as though it had held a book of great weight and size for centuries of years. Beside the pedestal stood an ancient table on which a large candle burned brightly and a comfortable looking chair sat ready for Myng’s occupancy.

Her first time in the room, Solana sensed something amiss, but it wasn’t clear what it might be. She gazed about, her eyes round from amazement. Myng’s eyes immediately focused and locked on the pedestal. An enraged cry tore from his throat and echoed around the room and down the passageway. The ship shuddered with his wrath.

Solana’s eyes returned to the pedestal. In that instant she knew, The Book he brought her to consult was gone.

Myng’s face became a mask of pain and anguish mixed with rage.

Solana, terrified by his anger feared not for her life, but her soul. Her terror so great, she fell to the frigid floor trembling, the cape billowed around her. Rapidly the icy floor beneath her warmed. The link she felt when the Destructor cried out in pain, returned. Now, feeling her need, the Destructor calmed her by warming the floor beneath her.

“I’ll let no harm come to you Solana – I can stop Myng if it becomes

necessary.”

 A whispered voice rasped in her psyche. She wasn’t sure she heard it or if she was losing her mind. The thought-voice had to come from the Destructor itself, trying to soothe and reassure her. “Here you’ll always be secure…” The voice whispered again in her mind and for a slip in time, she felt what she knew to be the arms of a mighty warrior

wrap comfortingly around her.

Amazed, thinking she was hallucinating, still in fear, she prostrated herself, face down, suppliantly. Had she been closer, she would have placed her forehead on Myng’s shoe. In Myng’s anger, he could do any number of things. Here, in the nucleus of his power base, Myng could without thinking, call up demons or split her body in two with a word. Should he decide she was involved in The Book’s removal, Myng could subject her

to any number of fates too horrible to contemplate.

* * * *

After his initial scream, a deathly silence fell. Myng stood with his mighty hands braced on the pedestal. Such an emotional shock had not racked him since his mother’s death. He was numb, sick with white-hot anger. Ancient evil hexes floated into his mind, horrible dark curses if spoken, the lexis of evil so dark the space around the ship would shake.

How long has The Book been gone? I was in here just before we began the assault on Zantari and it was here then. No one else could have come in here, only I have control of the Dragon’s Eyes ring, the key. He glanced at Solana shivering on the floor. Could she have come in here? No – she has powers – but not so great. Only my ring activates the locks and it stays on my hand – even in my sleep. Only before my death in this dimension can I remove it to pass it to my heir. If she already had taken The Book, she wouldn’t have asked to see it for fear of revealing its theft. She’s frightened and cold I should go to her...

He was stunned her condition concerned him. Then, remembering what the doctor said about her pregnancy, apprehension not only for her, but also for his unborn child entered his thoughts. He’d find out who had taken The Book. The thief had to be on the Destructor. For now, with gentleness in his hands, he lifted Solana, trembling, from the cold floor amazed at his own compassion. Kindness was an emotion he rarely knew

or showed.

“Solana, you’re cold.” He drew the cape closer about her and wrapped her in his arms.

“My lord…” her teeth chattered with cold, numbing fear.

“I don’t suspect you, Solana,” Myng absolved her, though anger was present in his voice. “Had you stolen The Book why would you have asked to see it?”

“My lord, what can I say, could there be something in one of the other writings here that could help us?”

“Possibly, but for now I want to get you to a place of warmth and have the doctor look at you.” Myng escorted her back through the dark misty passage.

“Who else could have gotten in here?” Solana asked her teeth chattering a little less.

“No one! Only I have the ability to open the Dragon’s Eyes and even you don’t know how that is done.”

“No... I don’t wish to.” Solana was quiet until after the doctor had seen her and pronounced her fit. “My lord, doesn’t your chief commander have the secret?”

“No, only I know. Other than me, my mother knew and she is… gone. I’ll find The Book. It contains my family’s line, all the spells of my mother and other vital secrets. It must still be aboard. I doubt The Book would allow its own removal. It has powers of its own.”

“When was the last time you consulted – It?”

“Before I took your world,” Myng told her. “A sun span before.”

“We have a traitor in our midst.”

“I would say so, but whom? And how could they have gotten in?” 

Thank you so much for visiting, Sultry! I wish you much success!

Thank you and thank you for the interview.
Sultry Summers