Interview with paranormal dark fantasy author Aidee Ladnier

Author Aidee Ladnier is with me today and we’re talking about her new paranormal novel, The Moonlight Market. The new adult LGBT novel also has a touch of magical realism and dark fantasy.

During her virtual book tour, Aidee will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Aidee Ladnier, an award-winning author of speculative fiction, began writing at twelve years old but took a hiatus to be a magician’s assistant, ride in hot air balloons, produce independent movies, collect interesting shoes, and amass a secret file with the CIA. A lover of genre fiction, it has been a lifelong dream of Aidee's to write both romance and erotica with a little science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, or the paranormal thrown in to add a zing.

Please share a little bit about your current release:

The Moonlight Market is a story about Cory Long, a college senior, who tracks his missing sister to the magical Moonlight Market. There he finds a disorienting world of performers and hawkers, and one very familiar showman, Sanderson Beets, his on-again, off-again hookup from campus. But Sanderson has a secret. He made a dangerous bargain with a woman known as the Weaver of Dreams. Second chances always come with strings attached—and sacrifices. Sanderson’s debt has come due, and the only payment he has to offer the Weaver is Cory, and their chance for a relationship.

What inspired you to write this book? 
This book contains two story elements that I adore: the “up all night” motif and the “disappearing places” trope. An “up all night” story is one where characters literally spend all night wandering around from adventure to adventure, growing more exhausted, and more emotionally vulnerable as the morning nears. You know the genre from movies like “After Hours”, “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist”, or “American Graffiti”. In The Moonlight Market, the two main characters, Cory and Sanderson, meet at dusk and spend the entire weekend alternately searching for Cory’s sister, dodging the dangers lurking in the shadows of the Market, and realizing they want more than a few stolen moments together. The Moonlight Market also has the feel of a “vanishing village” in that it assembles in a little town up the coast, once a year for a single weekend, and then is dispersed until the following year. The denizens of the Market scatter to the four winds, some following a performance circuit, others scheduled at craft fairs, and some to the far reaches of the Earth in search of the extraordinary. When I set out to write this story, I knew I wanted to write an “up all night” story and I wanted a unique setting. Giving the Market a transient feeling made Cory and Sanderson’s time together feel all the more fleeting and finite, and a little magical.


Excerpt from The Moonlight Market:

He almost ignored it.

Almost.

Tiny bells tinkled nearby.

They sounded closer.

His skin tightened with goose bumps.

Niari glided into the pool of light cast by the lantern hanging on the back of the tent. Her long, inky dress brushed the bells on her ankles and pulled the shadows forward with her.

“Your debt is coming due.” Her trilling, accented voice floated over the noise from the fairway beyond. In front of the tent children giggled and laughed, the calliope blared out its joyous concert, and the lanterns burned away the darkness. But Sanderson stood in the shadows behind…with her.

Sweat coated his palm, and it slipped from the curtain. He swiped at the bead of perspiration on his upper lip, the pit of his stomach icing into a lump.

“I found someone.” He blurted out the words. “A lost soul. Someone who’s lost something.”

Panic bloomed in Sanderson’s chest. Was he actually going to offer Cory to the Weaver? Cory who just wanted to find his missing sister. Cory of the soft hair, bitable nipples, and beautiful, slim cock. Who made Sanderson feel normal. Like a regular guy.

“Good.” Her smile widened, filled with too many tiny teeth that gleamed bright in the lantern light. “Are they tasty and ripe?”

“Madame?” Sanderson’s gut twisted at the hard glitter in her eyes. A chill crept down his spine. She looked…hungry.

He blinked. Niari stood before him, still and silent, waiting, just a woman again. The malevolent flash must have been a trick of the dim light. He shrugged off the unease and shook the numbness from his fingers.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m currently editing a short story to make it into a novella. My first story in the Busted Labs series, The Applicant, was originally published as part of an anthology. In it a young roboticist is surprised to find a time traveler on his doorstep in answer to an advertisement he placed for a lab assistant. Oh, and the lab is being demolished by a wayward teddy bear robot while the time traveler introduces himself. Some of my readers may recognize the characters of Forbes and Oliver from my story The Break-In. In that story an older Forbes relates the time traveler story to a younger Oliver. So The Applicant is the original story with some embellishment and a little more filled out from the original short story. I think fans will enjoy the same humor and more of a peek into the lives of my roboticist and his time traveler lover.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I began writing around twelve years old. I had a dream about an intergalactic kidnapping and a handsome prince dashing off across the galaxy to save his love. I also wrote poetry all through my teenage years. I had a mentor during that time that pushed me to submit my work to magazines and contests. I didn’t get in many magazines, but I won a few contests. I also accumulated quite a collection of rejection letters. I still have all of them because once I had that first letter, I felt like an actual writer. I’m still very proud of my submissions even if not all of them found a home. Those rejection letters are badges of courage.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I have a full-time job but it’s not as a writer. I’m the website manager for a medical non-profit. I’ll be honest and say it’s a dream job. I love being able to make a difference in the world and I’m so lucky that I’m able to do that both at my day job and in my writing. As for finding time to write, it’s really tough. My go to is always waking up extra early in the morning to write, when everyone else is still asleep—let’s be frank, I’m also still asleep. But my subconscious is awake, and it loves to write. I often manage to squeeze in an hour of writing at lunchtime. And if my husband wanders off after dinner, I drag the laptop out and get a few more hours of writing in at night.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

LOL! I have fingerless cloth gloves I wear while I’m writing. Printed on them are lines from a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle. They make me feel a little closer to one of my favorite writers while I’m toiling away—and they keep my hands warm.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I totally wanted to be an astronaut! I’m intensely curious about everything and the idea of getting to explore something for the very first time is very appealing. Plus, my favorite book was Robert Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit Will Travel.

           

I dreamed of making a spacesuit and traveling into space. And I cried so hard when I realized that my nearsightedness would take me out of the running for astronaut training. Sigh. So instead, now I write science fiction. Which is actually a little better, since I can dream up things only future astronauts will be able to do. Just like Robert Heinlein did.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I’d like to thank everyone for reading the interview and you, Lisa, for hosting me today. I enjoy sharing little tidbits about my books and love hearing from readers even more. I hope you’ll look me up and say hi!

Links:

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