Friday, August 28, 2020

Interview with sci-fi romance novelist Linda Nightingale

Novelist Linda Nightingale is in the hot seat today, and she’s chatting with me about her new sci-fi romance, Life for Sale.

During her virtual book tour, Linda will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a luck 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:
After 14 years in Texas, Linda returned home to her roots in South Carolina. She has 8 published novels, four of which are available from Audible.com in audio. For many years, she bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses. So, she’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer. Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers’ Magnolia Award for Excellence, the Raven Award in Anthologies, and the SARA Merritt. Sinners’ Opera is a finalist in the 2020 Raven Awards. She loves horses, sports cars, music, reading, writing, and piano—oh, and dressing up and hosting formal dinner parties.

Welcome, Linda. Please share a little bit about your current release.
Life for Sale is a sci-fi romance that probably leans more to the sci-fi than the romance. The book is Book II in the Tomorrow’s Angels’ series. The first is Love for Sale, which begins the journey of the main characters, Christian, a sentient android, and March, a human and a dreamer. It is, as one review said, a ‘study of a chaotic mind, albeit lab created’. Christian and March race to stop an insane killer—one of his kind—trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic.

What inspired you to write this book?
Four years after Love for Sale was released, I came to feel Christian’s and March’s story wasn’t told, wasn’t complete, that there was something else I needed to say. Christian was telling me the story, but I needed a villain. Kind of a requirement! One day as I was rereading what I’d written, a what if moment struck me. What would happen if one of the almost invulnerable androids malfunctioned? I had four suspects. Not Daniel, he had a story coming. Not Trevor because I hardly knew him. Monica II was perfect. The sexy android hadn’t found anyone to love her, and she wanted someone badly enough to kill anyone who had him. Long answer to short question. The long and short of it is, Love for Sale inspired this story.


Excerpt from Life for Sale:
“Why are you here? To spout more nonsense?” Spitting mad, Monica reared up in her enemy’s face.

“Not at all.” March’s hand flashed, almost too rapidly for Monica to see, and came down hard below her nose in a Judo-like attack.

Shocked and in pain, she stumbled back, switching modes as she pushed off the bed. “That’s it, whore. You’re a dead woman.”

“I don’t think so,” her rival gritted out, hands braced on her hips, her expression as cold and hard as her mediocre brown eyes. She shook her head. “Look, Monica, I know you’re aware of your actions. I’m going to give you a chance. You must deactivate until we can safely transport you to Dr. Cross for testing. Surely, you know something is wrong.”

“As they say in the films, you and whose army?” She squared her shoulders, preparing to strike without notice. “I didn’t do anything to that bloody dog. I didn’t do anything to you, fool.”

 “You didn’t mention Anne.” The other woman seized Monica’s arm. “What did you do to Anne?”

Claws out, Monica lunged. March darted beneath her guard, stabbing at a spot beneath her left earlobe. Monica shoved her back. “Looking for my off switch, fool? It’s well hidden, like where Ms. Goodie Two Shoes wouldn’t even think about going.”

Her insane human rival stood at the locked door, her stance as much as saying to leave Monica would have to get past her. No prob. She stalked toward her rival, murder in her eyes. March didn’t move. When Monica threw a punch at her eye, she moved by the gods.

The American whore lurched back, crossing her arms across her face, anticipating Monica’s next attack. Forearm struck forearm. A human bone should break, but March stood her ground, her limb intact. She recovered too quickly, dealing Monica a hard blow beneath her cheekbone, barely missing her eye, slamming her back against the wall.

“I don’t know what you are, March Morgan,” she sneered. “But it’s not going to save your butt.”

“No, but I am.” Looking like an avenging angel, Christian—in a Houston t-shirt and khaki shorts, his long hair disheveled—had somehow appeared behind March without either of them hearing.


What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m actually trying to choose between two. My contemporary western must come first. I have an approval in hand. Afterwards. I can work on the sequel to Sinners’ Opera, a vampire paranormal, titled Sinners’ Obsession. If not Sinners’ Obsession, then my centaur book where the hero is a golden palomino centaur who dazzles a Dystopian girl when she discovers a time portal from a ruined Earth to his idyllic home.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I got a high grade on a story I’d written instead of a book report in 9th grade. The rest of the world wasn’t as sure.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I do write full-time, but I can only write well when I’m in my zone. Interruptions pull me out of the story, and that’s that for the day. I know that sounds temperamental but past experience like throwing away a ton of pages has taught me it is true.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I must be totally alone to get into the space where I am transported into the story, living it with the characters, seeing what they see and hearing what they hear. It’s a wonderful place to be, but a fragile bubble that can be shattered by the ringing of the phone.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An auto mechanic. My dad was always tinkering with our cars (maybe he wanted to be an auto mechanic, too), and I was right there with him under the hood. To this day, I wish I could work on cars. For fun and profit. I love cars, particularly sports cars.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I love you. I mean really. I write for you and me. You’re the biggest part of my passion for writing—to have someone appreciate my work, to enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. That’s a good feeling. Every time I get a five-star review, I happy dance. Thank you.

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5 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thanks for hosting!

Nightingale said...

Thanks for the lovely introduction, Lisa, and for letting me tell your readers about my new release--only Monday in fact.

Rita Wray said...

I liked the excerpt.

Victoria Alexander said...

Happy Friday - Thanks for the wonderful tour, I've enjoyed following and can't wait to check this one out!

Nightingale said...

Thanks Rita and Victoria for following the blog tour! I'm glad that you took the time to follow and comment. You're the best!