YA AND GLBT AUTHOR OF THE WEEK : KIA ZI SHIRU

I’m pleased to have with me here today gay fiction author Kia Zi Shiru.  Kia, as you know I’m a big fan of your work; you had me at Magical Roads, your initial effort. Thank you for taking time out to join us today.

COULD YOU PLEASE SHARE THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU?

Restless, curious, weird

PLEASE ORGANIZE THESE WORDS, PLACING THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU FIRST AND BRIEFLY EXPLAIN YOUR REASON. 

FAMILY, WRITING, SEX, MUSIC, FRIENDS, ANIMALS, LOVE, SPORTS, CHILDREN

Family, Friends, Love, Writing, Sex, Music, Animals, Children, Sports.

Not sure how writing ended up in the middle but there are some things that are more important than writing. Sports are at the end, I haven’t found a sport that I like enough to put it any higher.

Family, friends and love are at the beginning since these are the most important for me, I wish I could stack them since they are all equally important for me.

Sadly enough this doesn’t show how much I love animals I really love love them but they rank lower than the other things on the list. Ahh, well.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING?

On and off since I was 8, though serious since I was 21, which is almost 4 years ago now.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?

A vampire and vampire hunter story, with twins and guys with long sexy hair.

WHICH CHARACTER IN YOUR BOOK(S) DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH, AND WHY?

Anne from Black Sheep. She is strong and caring and even though she is flawed she doesn’t let it get her down.

SHARE THE NAMES OF A FEW AUTHORS WHO INSPIRE YOU.

Sean Michael, Daisy Harris, Tom Lennon, Alex Akira ;)

OMG, YOU PLUGGED ME! REALLY? LI’L OLE ME?

SHARE THE MUSIC/MUSICIANS THAT YOU LIKE AND HOW THEY ADD TO YOUR LIFE OR WRITING?

I listen to a lot of Japanese rock and metal music. It inspires me to keep writing and because I can’t understand the lyrics it’s easier for me to concentrate on something else but the music. Plus the music is very scenic and you can really hear the themes in the music, which makes it really easy to match music and type of writing I like to do.

IF YOU WEREN’T A WRITER, WHAT OTHER CAREER WOULD YOU CHOSE?

I always wanted to be either a vet or a teacher. Though teacher is probably more likely.

SHARE A BRIEF EXCERPT FROM YOUR LATEST WORK WITH US.

 

Excerpt from Disturbed Fate Book II

On impulse Chris unlocked his door, opened it a fraction and sat on his bed with a book. He hoped he could catch a glimpse of Alec without seeming too obvious. He started reading the book though he kept glancing up at the door. Anything to not seem too stalkerish, because that would be a bad first impression to make. He heard the door to the bathroom open and footsteps in the hallway. Travis had told him that after taking a shower they usually didn’t use the doors directly to their own rooms since it would fill up the rooms with steam—annoying maybe on other days, but lucky for Chris today.

He caught a glimpse of Alec as he walked through his line of sight. Then the footsteps stopped. Chris quickly looked at his book, acting as if he hadn’t opened the door on purpose. He heard Alec come over to his door and knock on it.

“Hey, you settling in okay?” Alec’s voice was light, not as deep as he expected it, but it was melodic, happy even.

“Yeah, everything is fine.” As Chris answered, Alec pushed the door open and leaned against the frame. Chris swallowed as Alec dried his long black dreadlocks and stood there, all innocent and open, in just a towel. He seemed to be unaware of his staring and Chris got enough courage to look him up and down.

Alec looked even better than the last time he had seen him. Not too bulky, a slim frame with strongly defined muscles. His chest and arm muscles moved gracefully under his tanned skin as he dried his hair. The moving stopped and Chris looked up, catching the sly smile in Alec’s eyes.

“Very well, I see.” The guy grinned. “I’m Alec.”

“I’m Chris. You’re Travis’ sparring partner, right?” Chris acted like he didn’t know much about him, though he probably knew more about Alec than he himself did.

“Yeah. How do you know him? You don’t seem like the type he normally hangs out with.” Alec walked into the room a bit further, one towel now fastened around his huge bundle of dreadlocks and the other still around his well-defined hips.

“We went to the same school.” Huge understatement, but Chris knew that there were parts of himself that Travis would rather not talk about. His past before he awoke as a vampire was one of them.

“Cool. So what do you think about the rest of the house, have you met them yet?”

“They seem nice, especially Jasper.” Chris grinned.

Alec reflected that same grin. “Nice doesn’t really cut it with him, but he is okay. He’s a good guy under all that scary muscle.”

“Good to know.” Chris looked away from Alec, trying to keep himself under control and not pull the towel off of him.

“Hey, um, I’m getting dressed. Do you wanna go to the party downstairs after? They seem to be having a great time.” Alec turned around and Chris got a good look at his back before he found his voice.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll join you.”

“Great, I’ll be back in a bit then.” Alec shot him one last glance over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

Chris sighed. Damn, Alec was even sexier than he remembered. Chris didn’t get why Travis didn’t want him—Alec was way hotter than that Nick Travis was dating now.

IT’S BEEN LOVELY HAVING YOU HERE WITH US KIA. TELL US WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ON THE INTERNET?

You can find me:

Website www.5timeschaos.com

Twitter http://twitter.com/kiazishiru

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/KiaShiru

And if you want to keep up to date 

you can sign up for my newsletter here: 

http://eepurl.com/vvShb

M/M ROMANCE AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: ELIZABETH NOBLE

I’m pleased to have with me here today MM Romance author Elizabeth Noble. Thank you for joining me today, Elizabeth, let’s get started.

COULD YOU PLEASE SHARE THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU?

Hmm that’s a hard one, but I’ll go with determined, loyal and entertaining.

PLEASE ORGANIZE THESE WORDS, PLACING THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU FIRST AND BRIEFLY EXPLAIN YOUR REASON.

 -FAMILY-WRITING-SEX-MUSIC-FRIENDS-ANIMALS-LOVE-SPORTS-CHILDREN-

I am one who considers family/children/animals all one thing. I have three grown children and my other job is a veterinary nurse so I understand and believe that animals become family and are equally important as our human family. Love goes right along with the first three words. Sports, music and sex are also all equal though very different. They’re all important for health and well being.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING?

I’ve been writing since I was little and made up stories in my head or talked about them. So I guess I’ve been writing since before I could actually write.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?

I’m finishing up book 5 of my Sentries series, Tethered Pair.

I’m also working on an urban fantasy series with Anne Barwell called The Sleepless City. Anne has just completed the first book, Shades of Sepia, and I’ll be finishing up book 2, Electric Candle in the next week or two.

WHICH CHARACTER IN YOUR BOOK(S) DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH, AND WHY?

 I think I could identify with all my characters, or at least with a part of them. I did create them and every one of them has something, even if it’s very small, that comes directly from me. Nick in the Sentries series shares my love of coffee, for example.

SHARE THE NAMES OF A FEW AUTHORS WHO INSPIRE YOU.

Michio Kaku tops that list. He takes a confusing and sometimes dry subject and brings it to life—and he’s brilliant.

Glenda Larke because she’s cool.

Greg Bear because he writes such wonderful stories and isn’t afraid to do new things in them.

SHARE THE MUSIC/MUSICIANS THAT YOU LIKE AND HOW THEY ADD TO YOUR LIFE OR WRITING?

I like music, but unlike many authors I’m not a huge music expert. I’m mostly a classic rock fan and my ultimate favorite is Meatloaf.

IF YOU WEREN’T A WRITER, WHAT OTHER CAREER WOULD YOU CHOSE?

I do have another career, a veterinary nurse. I wouldn’t mind learning how to design websites.

SHARE A BRIEF EXCERPT FROM YOUR LATEST WORK WITH US.

This is from my current WIP, Tethered Pair , our heroes, Todd and Nick Ruger find themselves investigating some strange things on a riverboat. Todd is thrilled, Nick could have skipped this:

“Could you be anymore obnoxious about this?” Nick had a headache, a big one. It was roughly Todd sized.

Todd stopped in his tracks and pretended to be deep in thought before saying, “Yes.” Then he started walking toward the pier once more.

“Of course you could, what was I thinking?” Nick grumbled and trailed behind his mate, reminding himself yet again, that Todd was his world, the love of his life, his everything. Right now that everything was getting on Nick’s last nerve.

They were walking along the boardwalk leading to the pier. There was an absolute crush of people which was the other thing giving Nick’s nerves a serious jolt. Being around so many strangers was making him more irritable than Todd ever could. Their luggage had been taken right from the train they’d traveled south on to the section of pier where their riverboat was boarding passengers.

Todd had wanted to walk to get the full ‘experience’. Nick could have done without any experience just fine.

Nick had to admit his mate cut a very dashing figure in his crisp black suit, white shirt, narrow black tie with the silver clasp and wide-rim black hat. Glancing at the river, Nick wondered if he grabbed that hat and threw it just the right way if it would sail clear to the other side of the river.

“Oh, come on, we have to check this out before we board!” Todd grabbed Nick’s arm and hauled him along faster

It was the third vendor they just had to check out. Nick sighed and stood behind Todd as best he could while Todd looked over the selection this vendor showed off. At least it was weapons, guns and knives, so more interesting to Nick than the dice, fake luck charms and playing cards of the previous place. Todd tolerated Nick’s fascination with finding books everywhere they went, so it was only fair Nick returned the favor. He simply wished there weren’t so many people brushing by them.

When the proprietor gave Nick a sour glare, Nick puffed out an impatient breath, rolled his eyes and dropped to one knee, arms crossed over his other knee. He rubbed his temples while Todd chatted happily with the merchant.

“Oh, Nicky, look at this, it’s just like the one Jack James had.” Todd held a small gun with a pearl handle under Nick’s nose while Nick grumbled the words ‘just like Jack James’.  “And check this out. It’s got the spring strap for under my jacket.”

“Are we hunting chipmunks now? Is it loaded?”

“Oh, right, good thought.” Todd turned to the proprietor, and asked, “Do you have bullets for it?”

“Damn, not loaded,” Nick muttered. “Probably doesn’t have enough power to pierce my skull anyway.”

Todd finished paying for his purchase and looked down at him. “Huh?”

WELL, ELIZABETH, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DROPPING IN. OH, BEFORE YOU GO, WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE?

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