Today I’m interviewing Erica Obey. Her book, The
Curse of the Braddock Brides is a historical romance/mystery and was
released on April 25,2017. Please tell my readers a little bit about your
book.
Erica- It’s the first in the series of historical romance/mysteries inspired by
the historic houses of the Hudson Valley.
Nancy- Describe the genre of this particular title, and
is it the only genre you write in?
Erica- In my mind, it’s an historical romance, but hard-core romance readers
might feel it’s really a mystery. I
voraciously read Gothic romances growing up (and still do), so romance, mystery,
and paranormal elements always blend in my work. However, my books do tend to divide into two
broad categories: historical and urban fantasy/paranormal.
Nancy- Why have you become a published author?
Erica- If I can’t stop the voices in my head, I might as well make a profit
from them, right? A little less
facetiously, writing is my life’s blood – and, as Virginia Woolf would say, opening
your private creations to the court of public opinion is like playing tennis
with a net.
Nancy- Do you have any rejection stories to share?
Erica- Don’t we all, beginning with my first publisher dropping me in order to
concentrate solely on Westerns? And there
was the agent who answered my query by telling me she had given up on being an
agent. I was like, was my book really that bad?
Nancy- What is your writing routine like?
Erica- You can set your clock by me. I
get up in the morning, work on something that’s still in its planning stages
while I have my coffee, then go for a run.
I come back in the afternoon to bear down on the manuscript I have in
progress. I aim for 1500 words on the
latter. I try to keep my goals for the
former more fluid. As a former teacher,
I tend to be very structured, very goal-oriented, and I constantly have to remind
myself that aimless daydreaming is a very important part of this job as
well.
Nancy- What sort of promo do you do? Do you have help?
Erica- I do my own website, along with my FB pages as best I can. Beyond that, I try to stick to what I do
well: giving talks on history and writing at local historical societies and
libraries – which I love to do. I have a
20-year-old genius running my social media and I’m happy to leave that to her.
Nancy- Please Share three fun facts about you that most people don’t know.
1) I both grow
and hunt orchids in the wild – photos only for the latter, of course!
2) I collect books – mostly Arthuriana and lady folklorists, as a result of
writing a dissertation on Lady Charlotte Guest, who translated the first Welsh
Arthurian material. I also collect
classic Gothic novelists: Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney, as well as
lesser known ones – mostly because I love the covers.
3) I’m an avid hiker, but will gladly put in a 15 mile day if it means a
shower and a civilized glass of wine, instead staying out overnight.
Nancy- What’s next for you?
Erica- My newest paranormal, The Avalon Array, is with my editors – and I have
just launched into creating a series bible for it and its sequels. I also finished a first draft of another Hudson
Valley mystery right on Braddock Brides’ release date! This is one is set in Saratoga Springs and
concerning the little-documented history of black jockeys (too often ex-slaves)
in the 19th century.
BOOK BLURB
Lord Hardcastle, a single
man with a title and a slew of poor female relations, may be in need of a
wife, but that doesn’t mean American heiress Libba Wadsworth is
interested. Not with the mysterious, orchid hunter Will Ransome lurking
about.
Rather than endure yet
another awful Coming-out Season of boring balls and vacuous visits from
suitors, Libba Wadsworth, in one of her more self-indulgent moments,
contemplates the romantic thrill of throwing herself off Cora’s Leap to go down
in history as yet another of the cursed Braddock Brides. She knows full well
she won’t do it, but still ... the men she’s had to endure season after season
certainly made a leap into the abyss appealing. Until one Lord Hardcastle comes
to call and Will Ransome, claiming to be Hardcastle’s batman and an adventurous
orchid hunter, shows up. But can she trust either of them? And, more
importantly, are they really who they claim to be?
Nancy- How can my readers
buy your book?
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Obey pursued an academic career specializing in the women
folklorists of the nineteenth century, before she decided she’d rather be
writing the stories herself. Today,
there are three places you can find Erica when she’s not writing: on a hiking
trail, in her garden, or taking tea at a nearby stately home – all in the name
of research, of course! She is the
author of two mysteries, Back to the
Garden and The Lazarus Vector, as
well as The Curse of the Braddock Brides,
the first in a series of romantic mysteries inspired by the historic houses
of the Hudson Valley. You can find more information about Erica Obey
here:
No comments:
Post a Comment