Ohhhhh...I'm excited! Our blog special guest is none other than Tori Carrington (aka Tony and Lori Karayianni) and....they're giving away not one, but TWO books!
If you ever get a chance to meet Tony and Lori in person, please take the time. They are one of the most generous and friendly people you'll ever meet. Oh, and their writing is fantastic! They write them hot for Blaze and funny mysteries with Sofie Metropolis.
Without further ado...meet Tori Carrington!
1. Tell us a little about FOUL PLAY and TAKEN.
Oh, two of our favorite topics! FOUL PLAY is our latest hardcover, the third book in our Sofie Metropolis, PI series. As promised, in each story we're raising the stakes for our gal Sof, maturing her from the amateur sleuth/pet detective we began with into a kickass, master PI and...well, pet detective.
Then there's our July Blaze TAKEN...
Where Sofie is a wannabe-bad-girl-in-training, the heroine of TAKEN is a card-carrying member of The Bad Girls Club...literally. She's a sexy con artist who targets hero Ryder Blackwell's very successful company. While she prides herself on doing her homework, not even she could have known that Ryder is from pretty much the same New York City streets that she is...and that he plans to give her a run for her money, both in bed and out.
This title holds special significance for us because it adds to The Bad Girls Club series we did with buds and fellow authors Leslie Kelly and Julie Elizabeth Leto for Temptation back in 2003 -- and both are on board again! With, of course, a cast of brand, spanking new bad girls to cheer for. Check out more info on all three titles on our website on July 1st.
Ah, yes. Life really doesn't get much better than this.
2. Do you write every day and how do you stay motivated?
Since we write full time our days are pretty regimented. We write from about eight in the morning until one in the afternoon, break for a full Greek dinner including wine -- which pretty much leaves us not good for anything more than a siesta afterward -- then are back in our shared office again by seven or eight at night until about eleven or so most every day. Half our evenings are devoted to keeping our extensive web sites (http://www.toricarrington.net/ and http://www.sofiemetro.com/) updated, responding to email and chatting on line with fellow romance lovers and fans. It’s said that technology and the web serve to further isolate people. We disagree. We've met some of our best friends on line (including you, Patti!). And there’s something uniquely beautiful about meeting someone you've talked to for sometimes years on line in the real world. We have fans we call friends in faraway places like Pakistan, Bulgaria and Australia we probably would not have connected with outside our books. That would be a shame, indeed!
As for motivation...need you ask? Rare is the day that Tony isn't wearing that huge, shit-eating grin ready to take on the world and everything in it. What more inspiration could you want?
3. What's the one thing you love most about being an author?
An fellow reader could probably understand this...the thing we love most about writing is spending time in the company of wonderful and wondrous characters. We were both avid readers before we began writing. Now, take the experience of reading a really good book and multiply that sweet sensation by ten. That's what happens when we write. The characters take over and we have to keep writing to find out what happens next.
4. Is there another genre you would consider writing in?
I think the appropriate question here is whether there is a genre we would never like to try at least once. While we've pretty much stayed true to our romantic roots, veering slightly into humorous mystery territory with Sofie Metropolis, we long for the day when we can write a sweeping saga set in Greece, or a fantasy that takes place in a future wonderland with larger than life characters, or a book of short stories based on mental snapshots we've taken of people and situations we've come across in our journeys. The list is endless.
Of course, doing any of that depends on our having extra time. And we don't see that happening anytime soon. Which isn't altogether a bad thing, because it means we're writing something else we love.
5. What's coming up in the next year from Tori Carrington?
Holy cow, that's a question. Let's see, after TAKEN in July, we have a Blaze Extreme coming out in November entitled DANGEROUS (a story loosely connected to TAKEN), then comes QUEENS NOIR, which features a short story of ours as told by Sofie's uncle Spyros before she signs on at the agency, then another Blaze Extreme out next February (the working title is BETWEEN FRIENDS and, well, the story involves two guys and a girl. We'll let your imagination take it from there
Gasp. I got breathless just writing all that. We have been busy, haven't we?
And we wouldn't have it any other way...
Oh! Did someone say something about giveaways? Hmm...what can we come up with? Tony's got a great idea! How about we offer up a signed copy of our original Bad Girls Club title Red-Hot and Reckless, and the first book in our eponymously titled Sofie Metropolis? And, remember, we also host monthly drawings on our site. June's is for a Greek gift basket. Go to http://www.toricarrington.net/ to enter now!
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Psst.......post away, everyone! That's how I'll draw the names and you never know when Tony or Lori might pop in. ;-)
Sunday night I'll draw two winners and let Lori and Tony know!