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