Kylie Brant Writes Heart-Pounding Suspense

Kylie Brant is the author of thirty-five romantic suspense novels, writing for Harlequin and Berkley until her more recent venture into self-publishing.  She’s been nominated for three RITA awards and five Romantic Times awards while winning RT’s Career Achievement Award and two overall Daphne du Maurier awards.  Her books are published in twenty-six countries and eighteen languages.

THE STORY BLURB

Eleven. For three long years that’s what she was called by The Collector, the sexual sadist who enslaved her.

Mia Deleon fought the odds and escaped only to discover that no one would believe her about the ordeal she’d endured. Not the police. Not her family or friends. Even the investigators she hired couldn’t find a trace of the sexual predator. So with help, she disappeared, always looking over her shoulder, living in the shadows. Knowing she’d never be safe while he was still free.

Security expert Jude Bishop had helped her vanish. Now he’s been hired to bring Mia back. A criminal profiler may have discovered a tenuous link to her case. But Jude is nearly too late because The Collector has already found Mia, too. And their race to trail the sexual sadist turned killer brings Mia ever closer to the man obsessed with her.

Because she became his prized possession the moment she’d evaded him. And he’ll stop at nothing to see his collection finally complete…

READ A LITTLE, BUY THE BOOK

Jan Schliesman: How often to you get lost in a story?

Kylie Brant:  Often, but not as frequently as I’d like.  When I started writing that time came directly out of my reading time.  My favorite books are those that make me forget I’m a writer…I forget to mentally edit and wordsmith and just turn pages, as rapidly as possible.  What I’ve learned is that I need to read in order to write.   Otherwise the words seem to dry up.  Which is wonderful, because now I have a real excuse to take time away from my writing deadlines to read :)

Jan Schliesman: How did you know that romantic suspense was your style?

Kylie Brant:  I was reading most of Harlequin’s lines back in the day and still recall when Silhouette (Harlequin) Intimate Moments’ line was created.  I read the first four offerings that first month and knew this would be my favorite line.  The suspense was that something extra I’d been looking for and I was hooked.  A couple years later when I decided to try my hand at writing a book, I knew exactly what line I wanted to target!

Jan Schliesman: What’s the creepiest thing you’ve done in the name of research?

Kylie Brant:  You have to realize that to a suspense author, creepy equates with cool :)  I’ve done some really fun things for research :)  A couple years ago I attended a week long Sirchie Academy that is usually only offered to detectives for evidence collection training.  It was awesome and we left the instructor a bit awed at how devious our writer brains were, LOL.  The creepiest thing I’ve done was crawling through caves in the Willamette Forest looking for the perfect place for my villain to stash his victims.  It actually took me four caves to recall that *bats* live in caves.  I HATE bats!  But one of the caves I crawled through ended up being featured in the book, so there’s that!

Jan Schliesman: How you do get in the "writer's zone"?

Kylie Brant:  Well, I can tell you my little rituals of needing a Diet Coke and a few rounds of Trivia Crack and maybe one or two of Solitaire Live.  But that’s really all about procrastination.  The zone begins when I edit what I wrote the day before and start getting those new words down on paper.  I have to write enough to get sucked back in…and then it’s just a matter of pages to get to the daily goal.

 

Jan Schliesman: Unhealthiest habit?           

Kylie Brant:  Hmm, that’d have to be my eating habits, LOL.  I have a professed disdain for green things and try to avoid fruit whenever possible.  We’re counting the Diet Coke as healthy, right?

Jan Schliesman: If you could go back and pick a different career, what would it be?

Kylie Brant:  Oh I’d definitely be a homicide detective and/or an evidence tech.  Be invited to murder scenes and figuring out who did it?  That’d be awesome :)

Jan Schliesman: What do you love most about your current release?

Kylie Brant:  This one stayed with me a while after finishing it.  It was like I couldn’t quite let go of the characters.  That was a new experience.   Mia was so damaged, her character arc was a challenge to get exactly right.  But she and Jude were so real to me it was a little scary.

Jan Schliesman: Favorite sports team?

Kylie Brant:  Iowa Hawkeyes.  We have football tickets and tailgate before games with the family.  It’s great fun!

Jan Schliesman: The one question you wish someone would ask you??

Kylie Brant:  Still waiting for someone to ask me to be Supreme Queen Duchess of the Universe.  (I’ve got the title nailed down in *my own* universe…)

Jan’s GOTTA ASK:  

Kylie’s GOTTA ANSWER:   Um… do they have orange sherbet?  That’d be my pick.

Thanks so much, Kylie for joining us today!  Next up for Kylie will be SECRETS OF THE DEAD, a May release.  It’s a return to The Mindhunters series and this will be book 7.

 A QUESTION FOR KYLIE'S FANS...All of our characters have flaws and lord knows I have my own.  Worst writing flaw?  I’m the world’s worst procrastinator.  You know the saying, ‘Hard work pays off in the long run, but procrastination pays off now!”  Which of course bites me as deadlines loom.  
For a chance to win a copy of Kylie Brant's latest release, 11, Answer this question in the comments section below, along with your email address:

 What’s your worst flaw and how does it affect you?

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