Featured Author: J Annas Walker

J Annas Walker

walker.j.annas(at)gmail(dot)com

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BIO

Born and raised among the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, J. Annas Walker was brought up listening to oral history and traditional storytelling. Her hobby of writing short stories bloomed out of this tradition. With the encouragement of her sisters, husband, an aunt, and a very supportive cousin, she took a chance to turn her hobby into something larger.
After acquiring a bachelors of science in civil engineering technology, she worked for a number of years as a transportation designer. Designing road construction projects by day, she continued writing by night. Today, she writes more than she ever did and blends fantasy and paranormal into romance storylines. The fanged, spectral, magical, and furry have become everyday life.
J. Annas Walker lives with her husband, two teenage sons, and her cat/office assistant.

Getting To Know This Weeks Featured Author

Author Questions:

What inspires you to write? Everyday things like a snippet of conversation in line at the grocery store or a picture that catches my eye can spark an idea. The story just takes off, and I feel compelled to write it down.

Are you plot or character driven? I let the character do all the talking. It’s their story. I’m just along for the ride.

Do you listen to music while writing? If so, what kind? If I listen to music at all while working, I need something without words. I found myself typing lyrics instead of the story one day. Now, I try to find quiet modern instrumentals or traditional classical without words.

Tell us about the different types of characters you like to write about? Why are these types so appealing to you? I like heroines with internal conflict. They have to struggle with what is expected of them versus what they want from life. I think real women are like that. It’s a hard balance to strike. I try to approach that idea differently in the two series I write, House of Dracul and Jewel.

Are any of your characters like you? And if so, in what ways are your characters like you? I don’t think it’s possible to completely divorce yourself from your characters. I can see a little of myself in all of them, good and bad. Claire tends to roll with thing, even when they make no sense, and take the impossible on faith. Cassy wants her own life on her own terms. Sabrina feels out of step with those around her and just wants a quiet normal life.

Is there a particular genre you prefer to write? I love sci-fi, but I write romance. Fantasy and paranormal gives me the opportunity to create a world with my own rule book.

Do you have a favourite character from your books? Eleanor from Midnight’s Jewel is a particular favorite. She’s not the heroine, but she totally kicks butt. A demigoddess with a deep sense of duty and several life times worth of knowledge and power makes a formidable enemy.

Reader Questions:

What are your favourite genres to read from? I read everything, literally. It isn’t unheard of for me to read sci-fi one day, a technical manual the next, and have a poetry book read for tomorrow. Nothing is off limits.

Who are some of your favorite authors and why? Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Darynda Jones and Stephen King top the list. These authors often take an everyday item or subject and make the dark side of it seem perfectly normal, expected even. After reading Cell by Stephen King, I never looked at my phone in quiet the same way again. Bravo, Mr. King!

What are your comfort reads when you are sick or feeling low? J. K. Rowling and J. R. R. Tolkien works for me.

Do you have a favourite character from another author? I like Sookie Stackhouse. No matter what happens or how her world changes, she remains herself. She doesn’t have a glamorous job, isn’t rich, and is incredibly kind. She has wants and needs, like we all do, but she never seems to lose sight of who she is as a person and where she came from.

What’s the one book you can’t live without and why? The Harbrace Handbook. Don’t laugh. As someone with a highly technical background, almost all of my college courses centered around science and math. I need a guide to tell me where all those flipping commas go.

  

Quickies:

Night or Day? Night. There’s more mystery in the things we can’t see.

Coffee or Tea? Sweet iced tea. I’m from the Southeastern US. It doesn’t come any other way.

Leather or Lace? Steel-boned Satin

Chocolate or Sex? Chocolate covered sex!

Pajama movie night or Cocktails at the bar? Pajama movie night with my hubby.

Formal or Casual? Casual

Scion's Avalon

Three years have passed since vampire princess Cassy Daniels, Scion of the House of Dracul, gave up her title to turn and marry David Ashe. Together, they live in exile with the Council of Crones, a group of elder witches. Isolated from the world, they found bliss. However, vampire politics soon intrudes.

Born vampire women are being kidnapped, and Cassy’s next on the list. After a failed attempt to take Cassy from the Council of Crones estate, magical portals lead back to the missing women. Cassy and David are tasked with bringing them home. David is sent after Elisabeta, Cassy’s sister-in-law, who is still on Earth. Cassy, however, has what it takes to enter the elf-kingdom of Avalon and retrieve the other three vampires.

Can Cassy and David hold onto their bliss or will Avalon’s magic lure her from home?