Hi, folks! Please join me in
welcoming a friend of mine, Shari Elder! Shari and I have been friends for a
few years and often share writing information. Today we're sharing details of
her brand new book!
WHO IS SHARI ELDER?
By day, Shari Elder saves
cities. By night, she builds them—on Saturn’s rings, under a lilac bush, in a
coral reef – then packs them full of shifters, vampires, Olympian gods,
extra-terrestrials or whatever else comes into her head. In all these wondrous
worlds, romance and passion blossom, since she cannot resist writing a happy
ending, especially for those who have given up on ever getting one. Now that's
satisfaction.
Raised on
science fiction and fantasy, fueled by coffee and red wine, Shari writes early
in the morning, late at night, and in between crises at home. She lives,
contentedly albeit crazily, with her teen-age daughter, teen-age dog, and the
elderly cat who rules the roost.
THE STORY BLURB
On the night
of the full moon, any male shifter can call the Trials to race against Talia
Orion, alpha of the united wolf-eagle clans. Clan law requires Talia to marry
the winner of the Trials, a grueling twenty-mile marathon through dangerous,
rugged terrain. The product of an unhappy, political alliance masquerading as a
marriage, Talia trains obsessively to ensure she avoids her parents’
fate. Her newest vampire trainer, Hayden Mitchell, makes her powerful
even as he knocks down her defenses, and finds his way, first, into her bed
then into her heart.
Hayden
has loved Talia since the first moment he saw her. As the destined ruler of the
vampire clan, he has another agenda – to politically unite Talia’s clans with
his own—what Talia fears most, and will never forgive him for.
Website
Goodreads
Blog
Twitter:@ShariElderBooks
AND NOW…
ALEXA:What was the first story you remember
writing?
SHARI:
For a High School
English writing assignment, I wrote what I thought was a masterpiece about
General Strep’s defeat at the hand of the anti-bodies. Yes, it’s a story about
what happens when you get strep throat. Creating non-human characters, building
the world, organizing the plot – it was a total thrill, and what turned me on
to writing. Even though it took me a great many years to embrace that side of
me, I can point to it as the start of it all.
ALEXA:What’s the best birthday present you
ever received?
SHARI:
One year on my
birthday, while I was out shopping, my darling daughter decided to surprise me.
I walked into a house filled with posters, each saying something quite
wonderful, such as I love you, Mom, Best Writer Ever, Best Mom Ever Sleeps here
(hung over my bed), and You’re so pretty. The posters were interspersed with
cut out and colored hearts in varied sizes. In addition to all of this, she
gave me a hand-made coupon books full of free back scratches, do my laundry
coupons, and perfect kid for a day passes. Best birthday ever.
ALEXA:What three things are, at this moment,
in Talia’s, your heroine, purse, satchel, reticule, weapons belt or amulet bag
(whatever she carries)?
SHARI:
She has a phone, a
back-up charger, and a scrunchie in her zipped workout jacket pocket. Since
Talia is an Alpha shifter, who trains almost obsessively to remain strong, fast
and agile, she does not carry a purse or bag. The only things she really needs
is a good mobile phone, to stay in continuous contact with her clan. The phone
also provides her with a camera and music among other key apps she’ll need
during the day in various duties. She has the back-up charger to ensure she can
always use the phone, and a scrunchie to pull her long hair back during a
workout.
ALEXA:What is your favorite trait about
Hayden, your hero in Shifter Trials?
SHARI:
He has a special place
in his heart for children. As one of his roles as heir apparent to the vampire
clan leadership, he trains their disabled children, which are common in this
world. When he was young, he was smaller and weaker, so he knows what it’s like
to be pushed around simply for what he was.
ALEXA:Who’s your favorite villain?
SHARI:
Hans Gruber from the
film Die Hard. Suave, sophisticated, great dresser, charming, dropped a great
one-liner, yet was pure evil. RIP Alan Rickman. We miss you.
ALEXA:What’s your favorite fairy tale?
SHARI:
Mulan, the Chinese
warrior heroine made into a Disney princess movie. She is one of my favorites
because she takes the future in her own hands. As much as I like Cinderella,
Sleeping Beauty, Snow White among others, it feels like they are being rescued.
In Mulan, she rebels against her traditional role, and in doing so, because a
heroine and rescues herself and others.
ALEXA:What’s the last show you binge watched?
SHARI:
Doc Martin. It’s a
British comedy-drama starring Martin Clunes and Caroline Katz with a host of
eccentric characters in a small port town in Cornwall. It’s a cross between
House (grumpy, anti-social doctor, exceptional diagnostician) and Northern
Exposure (classically trained physician in small, quirky town, not fitting in
and not really wanting to). I can’t wait for them to make the next season.
ALEXA:I LOVE Doc Martin! What’s your favorite
rerun?
SHARI:
There’s more than one,
but there is a theme. I adore science fiction series. I can always watch Star
Trek and Dr. Who reruns. No sell buy date. They always work.
ALEXA:What’s up next for you, Shari?
SHARI:
I am finishing up a
science fiction romance novel at the moment, called Race to Redemption. Here’s
a quick summary.
Terran
Alliancestorm racingchampion Elaina Carteret has it all—wealth, celebrity,
respect and a god-of-a-fiancee—until betrayal and tragedy sends her into exile.
Resurfacing as Lainie Carter, a medical transport driver on the isolated desert
planet ofRanhar, her rule-bending approach to her job infuriates the med
facility director, Dr. Erik Hansen, who runs the outpost with an iron hand, a
permanent scowl and the tightest bod on the planet.
ALEXA’S GOTTA ASK, SHARI’S
GOTTA ANSWER:
WHAT’S THE MOST
ROMANTIC THING ANYONE’S EVER DONE FOR YOU?
This
remains one of my most special and most poignant memories. When I was in
college, I fell in love for the first time. We could not spend our first winter
holiday together because my grandmother was taking my sister and me to Mexico
for a special trip over Christmas break, arriving back home on December 30.
When we returned home from the airport when the trip ended, there was a giant
box in my driveway addressed to me. My boyfriend had driven to our house from
another state and packed himself in the box to surprise me. He didn’t want us
to be separated for our first New Year’s eve together. It was an amazing
gesture, and I feel extremely grateful someone would have done that for me.
SHARI: What stories aren’t being written that
you want to read?
