Get Lost with Romantic Suspense Author Lena Diaz

Today, GLIAS Readers, I’m thrilled to present my friend, and 2010 Golden Heart sister who, how shall I say this gently, likes to scare the bejeezus out of people.  She is one terrific romantic suspense/mystery/thriller author wrapped up into one.  So it’s my turn.  Just wait to she has to answer MY questions.  Please welcome, Lena Diaz.


(Note: Lena's cover quotes aren't out for Simon Says Die.  But check out what authors said about HE KILLS ME, HE KILLS ME NOT)

“Chilling from the first scene on. Diaz has crafted the kind of tense psychological thriller that’s impossible to put down.”
~National Bestselling Author Eileen Rendahl w/a Eileen Carr

“It’s all there. . .sizzling love scenes and a shivery good thrill ride.”
~Romantic Suspense Author Margaret Carroll

iT'S NOT A CHILD'S GAME WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.  ABOUT SIMONS SAYS....

Simon says: I'm watching. Simon says: I'm coming. Simon says: Die.

Madison McKinley knows someone is stalking her. The police tell her she's imagining things, and they're too busy trying to find the "Simon Says" killer to investigate. But day by day, hour by hour, Madison's terror grows stronger, and not even the return of FBI Special Agent Pierce Buchanan into her life can calm her fears. Besides, how can she ask Pierce for his help after the way she ended things between them?

Pierce still wants Madison's love, and his drive to protect her is more powerful than ever. He believes she's in danger, even if the cops don't. Finally, as more people start dying and the evidence mounts, the police turn their attention to Madison—as a suspect. Was Pierce a fool to trust her again, or are they both caught in a complex game that neither will survive?

Well, I'm scared, readers, How about you?  Let's have a little fun with RS Author Lena Diaz, AUTHOR OF SIMON SAYS DIE!

DONNELL:  Lena, are you a small town or big city girl?

LENA:  Thank you so much Donnell for having me on GLIAS. To answer your question, it depends on my mood. I was born in a small town, so small you could fit everyone from my hometown into a football stadium and still have room for about forty thousand more people. But my father was in the military, so we didn’t stay in one place very long. We moved. A lot. And we ended up in a very large city where I lived most of my adult life. Then, a few years ago, I moved to a small town again. Actually, it’s more like a subdivision-island surrounded by a sea of cows. And goats. And pigs. Most days, I’m a country girl, all about the small town life. Love it. Other days, when I need something at the store and have to drive thirty or forty minutes to get there . . . not so much. I’m all about convenience, so it’s a toss up.

DONNELL:  Favorite room in your house?

LENA:   Any room without a mirror.   

INTERVIEWER'S NOTE.  Are you kidding me? Lena is gorgeous, inside and out!

DONNELL:  What character would you run from if he showed up on your doorstep?

LENA: Only cowards run. I would use my seductive powers to distract the villain at my door while I reach behind my back for my car keys that are sitting on the decorative table in the foyer. While batting my lashes at the villain and darting my pink tongue out to moisten my lips and draw his attention, I quietly thread my keys through my fingers so they stick out from my closed fist (think Wolverine blades in Xmen). Then, just as I lean toward my villain and he reaches behind his back for his knife, I take the keys and (insert off-page gory carnage here).

DONNELL:  Have you ever used a rack in one of your stories?  Why or why not?  Have you got something against racks?

LENA: I’m insulted you even asked that question! OF COURSE I’ve used a rack in my stories. I’ve also used hot oil, stocks, and my personal favorite, a dunking chair. After all, who am I to second-guess time honored interrogation techniques? Unfortunately, (sigh), my editor doesn’t share my love of medieval implements. For some reason she doesn’t think they work in contemporary romantic suspense novels. Crazy, right? Some of my best torture . . . er . . . interrogation scenes have ended up on the cutting room floor.

DONNELL:  What’s the first thing people say to you when they learn you write suspense?

LENA: “What is romantic suspense?” Seriously - that’s what they say. I think most readers don’t know what our genre labels mean. So, if I’m explaining what I write, I tell them I write thrillers with romance in them. And then I list several well-known romantic suspense authors. That’s when the lightbulb goes on and they ‘get’ it.

DONNELL:  What’s in your refrigerator right now?

LENA:  Top shelf - insulin for my daughter. She has type 1 diabetes, which means she’s insulin dependent. Which means I really, really want a cure for this horrible disease. So all of you should go, run, right now, to your checkbook and write a check to the American Diabetes Association so we can find a cure. And go to www.BrendaNovak.com and support her annual diabetes auction. Okay, I’m thinking it doesn’t really matter now what’s in the rest of the refrigerator. Next question.

DONNELL:  You’re in a burning building, with terrorists plotting your demise on the outside.  Write your way out of this plot.

LENA:  Could you come up with something harder please? Geesh. Okay, well, if the building is on fire and the terrorists are on the outside, I’m actually assuming they ALREADY plotted my demise. That’s why the building is on fire. Duh. What they don’t know is that I had already figured out their plan before I went into the building. And since I’m dating a fireman who is also a chemist, I asked him last night to treat my hair, my skin, and my clothes with a special new invisible fire retardant. I also had my chemist-fireman-boyfriend add a special meat-flavored chemical to the fire hydrant in front of the building. And I timed my entry into the building so that the dog-walker, who passes in front of the building every day at noon, will be walking Mrs. Finkleman’s rottweilers right when the fire hoses begin spraying their meat-flavored water on the building. And because I was extra nice to my chemist-fireman-boyfriend last night, he turns the hose on the evil terrorists in the crowd. The rottweilers go crazy, pouncing on the terrorists, and I stroll out the front door of the burning building without so much as a singed eyebrow. My other boyfriend, the oh-so-handsome secret-agent who doesn’t mind sharing me with my chemist-fireman-boyfriend, arrests the evil terrorists and finds their dirty bomb hidden in the flux-capacitor of the Delorian sitting on the curb just down the block. I happily go home with both of my boyfriends as they take turns wooing me and trying to help me decide which one to choose as my life-long love. I plan on taking a very, very long time to make my decision.

DONNELL:  Ha!  Great answer, but brutal :) Have you ever played the game of Simon Says?  After your book, will you ever play again?

LENA: Well, I had this boyfriend once named Simon. And one day he told me to . . . um, never mind.  Nope, I can never play that game again, not after writing Simon Says Die. The game doesn’t turn out so well for the people who play. If you don’t do what Simon says, he kills you. But if you do what he says, you die. It’s a lose/lose kind of game. Me, I prefer win/win types of choices, like white chocolate or milk chocolate. Win/win.

DONNELL:  Coffee, tea, or something stronger?

LENA: The only way I can drink coffee is if I de-coffee it, meaning, add so much sugar and cream that it tastes like a hot milkshake. And the only thing tea is good for is throwing it into a harbor to protest high taxes. Something stronger? Like alcohol? I used to love drinking strawberry daiquiris once a week with friends while we watched episodes of Miami Vice (music by Huey Lewis and the News, Don Johnson - AWESOME show - but I digress.) Somewhere along the way, I developed a reaction to alcohol. If I drink, I get short of breath, have horrible abdominal pain, and end up in a fetal position for about thirty minutes. My doctor thought taking out my gall bladder would cure it. I trusted him and tried a post-gallbladder surgery margarita. Loved it! It was two-for-one night, so I started drinking a second margarita. Then . . . bam. Short of breath, pain, fetal position. So, I’ve discovered the joy of virgin daiquiris. And Diet Dr. Pepper. LOVE Diet Dr. Pepper.

DONNELL:  Are you organized?

LENA:  I say yes. My husband says no. I say he just doesn’t understand my organization strategy.

DONNELL:  What authors inspired your writing?

LENA: I admire other authors, want to be successful like them and create amazing stories like them. But they don’t inspire me. Readers inspire me. The idea of creating a story that a reader will love so much that it will become their favorite, that inspires me. The idea of creating a story someone would choose to take with them if they were stranded on a desert island, that inspires me. The idea of someone choosing my story above all others, that inspires me. Readers inspire me to write every day, to dig deeper and to create the best stories I can create.

DONNELL:  How many shoes do you have in your closet?

LENA: Too many to count, but I only have three pair (pairs?) that I wear. All the other shoes sit there looking pretty, tempting me to wear them, until I pick them up and remember how uncomfortable they were the last time I wore them. One day I’ll stop buying pretty, uncomfortable shoes that I’ll never wear.

DONNELL:  What does it mean to be happy?

LENA: Allow me to wax philosophic. (If it helps, pretend I’m one of those serious literary types for just a moment, instead of a genre fiction author.) Here’s my theory. Happiness is not a noun. It’s a verb. It’s not a state of being. It’s a journey. The pursuit of happiness is what makes us happy. Think about it. If you want something, and you work really hard to get it, once you get it you feel kind of let down, don’t you? You immediately want something else. Case in point, I want to be a New York Times bestseller. But if I become an NYT bestseller, it won’t make me happy, because I’ll immediately think of a new goal to pursue. But, hey, I could be wrong. I admit it. My entire theory could be based on unsound facts. So, to test my theory, I would appreciate it if everyone - EVERYONE - would please buy my books and put me on The List. Okay??? For scientific reasons only of course.

LENA, NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.  QUESTION FOR READERS.

I seriously had so much fun with these questions. You’re an awesome interviewer Donnell.

Ha!  If only I didn't screw up the date!   DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR READERS?

LENA:  Here is my question for the readers. Do you prefer to know the identity of the villain up front, or do you prefer to figure it out along with the hero and heroine?

Dear Readers.  Your friendly GLIAS interviewer misread today's author's date. We will be re-running Lena Diaz's interview on April 7 & 8.  I will be giving away a $50 Barnes & Noble or Amazon gift certificate, so be sure to spread the word.   Comment (and yes, you may comment more than once) to be entered in the drawing on either April 3, 7 & 8.   Also, Lena will be giving away a digital book.  So answer Lena's question and let's talk about SIMON SAYS DIE.