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Elizabeth Amber |
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Author Elizabeth Amber has several fans on the Wild on Books staff! So of course when she was gracious enough to interview with us, more than one member of the team had questions for her. Elizabeth Amber's Sites:
http://www.elizabethamber.com Posted October 9, 2008
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Elizabeth Amber:
Hi Jennifer and Yosha, and everyone at Wild On Books! Thanks for having me and
for helping to get the word out about my satyr series. I’m so excited about
your review site and can’t wait for you to have a first anniversary bash in
2009! Jennifer: First off, how did you get your start writing? Have you written since you were a child, or did you start as an adult?
Elizabeth Amber:
I’ve been hooked on romance since age thirteen, when I was already reading
Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt, Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen, so I always
thought it would be cool to write a romance. But I didn’t write one until the
satyr series idea practically hit me over the head and wouldn’t go away until I
wrote it. Jennifer: What is your writing workspace like?
Elizabeth Amber:
It’s wonderful. I have an entire room dedicated to my work. It’s painted light
yellow and white, with ten bookshelves, two closets, two desks, and a huge
window that looks out on trees. I see deer, squirrels, and birds while I’m
writing. My husband built it for me last year, and I’m loving it. Jennifer and Yosha: Do you listen to music to help set a mood for writing? Do any of your books have playlists you associate with them?
Elizabeth Amber:
My iTunes playlists don’t get much play time. I’ve found that I’m concentrating
so hard when I write that I don’t hear the music. I only play music when I’m
doing mailings or email or other things that don’t require as much
concentration. I tend to like pop, rock, or alternative, with the occasional
country, hard rock, rap, or new age song thrown in. Jennifer: What gave you the idea for your LORDS OF SATYR series? Elizabeth Amber: The Lords of Satyr series is erotic historical paranormal romance, and includes 4 books so far: NICHOLAS, RAINE, LYON, and DOMINIC. Two things contributed to the idea: 1. My background in Greco-Roman history got me thinking about satyrs, who are the carnal followers of the wine god Bacchus. It seemed natural for these descendants of the actual satyrs to be lusty alpha men, who are the owners of an ancient, ultra-successful vineyard. It also made sense for them to be sexually creative. The physical change that occurs during the Moonful ritual (as first described in the NICHOLAS prologue and continued in all of the books) is one of those things that just came to me out of nowhere.
2. At the same time I
came up with this premise, I kept thinking of one erotic scene—the first scene I
wrote for the whole series. It’s the blindfold scene, which begins on page 190
of the English edition of NICHOLAS. I’d never seen a scene like it before and
more than one reader had told me it’s her favorite. Jennifer: I understand you are an art history major. That must help tremendously.
Elizabeth Amber:
With all those Greco-Roman art history facts swirling in my head, it does help.
It’s really fun to take a few basic facts or myths and build an entire new
world, characters, and plot around them. Jennifer: I know that the LORDS OF SATYR books started as a trilogy, but I believe I have heard that there are new stories being planned that are connected to these books? Will they be in a new series or a continuation of the LOS books?
Elizabeth Amber:
I’m talking to Kensington about what’s next. They’re great to work with and are
giving me a lot of freedom. I have 3 more satyr ideas for books 5, 6, & 7 (one
set entirely in ElseWorld that’s related to the original series, and two set in
another region of Italy that’s more distantly related). I’ll certainly keep you
posted! Jennifer: What can you tell us about your upcoming books? Elizabeth Amber: DOMINIC, THE LORDS OF SATYR (#4) releases in March 2009. Set in Tuscany and ElseWorld, it includes 2 interlaced stories: * A full-satyr warrior named Dominic serves as an important weapon in ElseWorld's war. Things heat up right from page one, when he is sent through the interworld gate to find Emma (Jane's sister in NICHOLAS) during Moonful for reasons he must keep secret. * The 2nd story is closely related to the first and involves Vincent (Jane and Nicholas's firstborn son), who's brokering a peace treaty in ElseWorld when he becomes involved with a lovely, dangerous female from that world. His brothers and friend Landon are major characters.
(I love writing brothers--can you tell?) Jennifer: Your books have proved to be a bit controversial within the romance reader community. Were you surprised by this? Does it change the way you approach future plots? Elizabeth Amber: I was surprised. For those who aren’t familiar with the books, these seem to be the things that were controversial: 1. The physical change the satyr men undergo, which first occurs in the NICHOLAS prologue, got a lot more attention than I expected. It got people talking and trying the book, which resulted in a 3rd reprinting within the first year. The book also received nine RWA regional award nominations (and some wins), and lots of great reviews. Romantic Times BOOKReviews said, “The leading man is the sexiest one this reader has seen in a long time!” 2. Then, the hermaphrodite heroine in RAINE was certainly controversial. That book went into a 2nd printing within one week of its release. (I’ll talk more about that in question 10.) 3. The oral m/m scene in LYON fit into the m/f storyline and I thought nothing of it, but even though it was brief, it was graphic and steamy and seems to have shocked some. LYON went into a 2nd reprinting within one month of its initial release.
My goal is to create well-written books that are unusual, but I don’t set out to
be controversial. Still, I don’t self-censor. That wouldn’t be any fun for me
or readers. I let the characters take things where they will. If that leads to
less steamy or more steamy situations, that’s where I’ll go. Jennifer: Why did you choose the Satyr as the paranormal creature for the brothers?
Elizabeth Amber:
The minute I thought of satyr men as lusty winemakers, I was driven to write
about them. It seemed such a natural extension of the satyrs in mythology that
I could hardly believe someone else hadn’t already written it. Then, when I
read about the phylloxera epidemic, that really fueled the plot. Yosha: Where did the idea for Jordan, the heroine in RAINE, come from? Elizabeth Amber: In my original proposal to Kensington, Jordan wasn’t a hermaphrodite. But I came across some non-fiction writing about how hermaphrodites lived in the 1800s, and I was fascinated. Some earned their livings by exhibiting themselves for study by medical professionals.
This isn’t exactly
what’s going on with Jordan, but from birth, she’s forced to live a lie—to
pretend she’s male. She has never had a sexual relationship with anyone and
fears she’ll wind up marrying a female if things go on as they are. Yet, she’s
dying for a relationship with a man. Enter Raine. He has been hurt before by
non-acceptance from his family and former wife, and is distant, but is also
instantly attracted to Jordan. The most important thing to me in writing this
book was to have both Jordan and Raine accept her for who and what she is. Yosha: How did you come to make the wine fungus part of the centerpiece to launch the LORDS OF SATYR storyline? Elizabeth Amber: Once I’d decided that the satyrs were going to own a lavish vineyard in Tuscany, I began researching the history of winemaking. I learned about the phylloxera epidemic that nearly wiped out all of the grapevines in Europe and beyond in the 1800s. It was caused by an aphid-like pest brought to Europe on an American vine, and was eventually cured by grafting vine stock.
I wove this into my
ongoing plotline, saying that the cause was actually of ElseWorld origin and the
cure was found by Nicholas and his brothers. Reading about the various “cures”
that were tried during the desperate times the phylloxera was rampant was sad,
but entertaining. For instance, one thing they tried was having choirboys
urinate on the vines. I mentioned some of the other cures in RAINE. Yosha: Would you ever write a strictly M/M book? What or why not? Elizabeth Amber: Wow! I’ve never been asked this question. My ideas seem to focus on m/f as the central romance, but there’s an f/f scene involving the villainess in NICHOLAS, and an m/m/m/f scene in both NICHOLAS and LYON. I think a romance is a romance is a romance. If I care about the people involved, I’m into the romance. For instance, Brokeback Mountain broke my heart. What a fantastic movie and book! I was grieving for those two guys and their wives.
I’m open to writing any
combination of male or female, including groups, as everyone who reads my books
has probably figured out by now, but I never stick any kind of sex scene into a
book for shock value. It has to fit into the plot, and I have to believe it’s
something the characters would do. Yosha: What are your inspirations, non-romance or non-fiction, if any?
Elizabeth Amber:
One inspiration comes from knowing what I want from a romance novel as a reader.
And that’s ROMANCE! I read romance for the thrill of watching the loving
relationship between the main characters grow and develop, so that’s what I want
to write. I do want plot, characters I care about, voice, sex, and all of those
other things, too. But whether I’m writing or reading, romance comes first.
Everything else comes second. Yosha: Could you write a book with another author? If so, who would it be?
Elizabeth Amber:
Oh, yeah! I definitely could. It would be like having a crit partner who’s as
invested in the book that’s being created as I am. Our writing styles, methods
of working, and personalities would have to mesh. There’s one author I’d love
to work with, but I don’t know her, so I’m reluctant to say. Yosha: Which history did you draw the inspiration for the King from? Celtic, Norse, etc.?
Elizabeth Amber:
King Feydon’s not a central character in the series, but he’s very important
because he causes trouble that galvanizes the plot from the beginning. All we
know about him is that he’s of the Fey, had no qualms about visiting the beds of
women and giving them children when they were unaware of it, and he didn’t want
to face his own mortality so he didn’t name an heir before he died. This leaves
his daughters in danger and his world in turmoil, so Nicholas, Raine, and Lyon
have to find and wed these women to protect them and sire heirs. I’d say this
king is loosely based on kings of England in past centuries. Jennifer: What would your fans be surprised to learn about you?
Elizabeth Amber:
NICHOLAS was the first romance novel I wrote. It took about a year of writing
off and on, but I finished it in 2006. I sent 3 chapters of it plus a short
series synopsis for the 3 books (Nicholas, Raine, Lyon) to Audrey LaFehr at
Kensington because I’d heard she was looking for hot books at the time. She
called six months later with an offer for the whole series! Jennifer: Elizabeth, thank you again for your time on this interview. Before we finish, is there anything else you would like to share with readers?
Elizabeth Amber:
Thank you, THANK YOU to every one who has read my books. I couldn’t keep
writing without you! |
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