Interview with Susan Hanniford Crowley
Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win!
Please join me in welcoming Susan Hanniford Crowley. Tell me about yourself. How long have you been writing?
I’m married and have grown children. I have a dog named Pete and two cats Bella and Buffy. I’ve been writing since I was eight years old, published a poem in a local newspaper when I was 16, and in 1989 published my first novella “Ladyknight.” I was in science fiction and fantasy for a long time, until a friend brought it to my attention that I should write romance. When I started reading paranormal romance, I completely fell in love with the genre. I’ve been published in romance since 2009.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Read a lot. Be bold. Attend a writer’s conference put on by a chapter of the Romance Writers of America, because the practical educational benefit is astounding. Their workshops are not only for romance writers. If you’ve in Connecticut, register for Fiction Fest (May 14th) at http://www.ctrwa.org. It’s the best thing you could do for your career.
Who is your favorite shifter character (besides your own)?
In the VOLSONGS (Norse sagas), there is a family of shifters. Every brother shifts to a different animal. I don’t really have a favorite, but I loved the shifters in the VOLSONGS. They inspired me to write the shifter family in VAMPIRE IN THE BASEMENT as different animals. I also adore Sam in True Blood who shifts into a dog.
Sam is one of my favorite shifters. How do you balance your day-to-day commitments with your writing life?
That’s still difficult and quite a balancing act. I write every spare moment I get. I make a lot of lists and check things off, so I don’t forget something. I keep journals and notebooks in my purse and type out the story later.
You can never have too many notebooks! Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
My Vampires in Manhattan series is not limited to vampires but includes a larger supernatural community. My books WHEN LOVE SURVIVES and VAMPIRE IN THE BASEMENT features shapeshifters in particular.
WHEN LOVE SURVIVES is about a shapeshifter/financial advisor and a young woman who is half leprechaun and half elf.
They meet and fall in love on the worst day in New York history as they struggle to rescue others.
Blurb:
MAGIC
Regina O’Malley is a college student who’s just discovered she’s magic. Today is the first day of her internship at a prominent brokerage house at the World Center, and she’s late. She doesn’t know disaster is right around the corner.
Regina O’Malley is a college student who’s just discovered she’s magic. Today is the first day of her internship at a prominent brokerage house at the World Center, and she’s late. She doesn’t know disaster is right around the corner.
LOVE
Gregor Vasiliev is a financial advisor at the World Trade Center. This shapeshifter hates the office coffee, and while on a donut run he gazes out the window of his favorite coffee shop. There in the street stands the lifemate he’s been searching for. If he doesn’t act now, he’ll lose her forever.
Gregor Vasiliev is a financial advisor at the World Trade Center. This shapeshifter hates the office coffee, and while on a donut run he gazes out the window of his favorite coffee shop. There in the street stands the lifemate he’s been searching for. If he doesn’t act now, he’ll lose her forever.
IT’S SEPTEMBER 11, 2001.
Excerpt:
The cab stopped and it wasn't for a light. They were in Manhattan. Reggie looked around to see if she could figure out her location. The World Trade Center was only four blocks around that corner at the most. After paying the man, she leaped out of the cab.
She was almost there, pausing only to catch her breath in front of the coffee shop before the corner. A tall man opened the door, pulled her inside, and shut the door behind her.
"What the . . ." Reggie stared up into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. His handsome, sculpted face was framed by thick, dark hair. She was dazed and confused.
Then everything shook. Coffee cups jingled. The customers in line fell into each other. Donuts and pastries slid on the rack. People screamed in the streets. Fire trucks maneuvered through traffic.
Reggie turned to go out, but the man put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't go outside. Please." It was the way he said it that captivated her.
A man covered with soot ran into the shop. "The World Trade Center's on fire!"
Some people hurried out to look. Others rushed out the doors in the opposite direction. Reggie collapsed into the seat of an empty booth. Her head ached, then throbbed, then changed to a pain past describing. She raced for the restroom and upon entering fell on her knees in the first stall to violently puke. Hundreds of screaming voices filled her head. She'd been in the city for two years and had never heard the thoughts of New Yorkers, but now their horror crashed down on her in deafening, unceasing, agonizing waves.
Someone held her hair, which had fallen out of the bun. Then Reggie puked again. Totally devastated, the physical and emotional pain held her captive. She collapsed on the floor and curled into a ball. When Reggie looked up through tear-filled eyes, the same man reached for her. She couldn't stop shaking. The very instant his hand touched hers, the voices stopped. Oh, what sweet relief.
He helped her sit in a small chair beside the sink. "What happened to you?"
"I don't know." Reggie blinked back tears. "What's happening to the world?"
VAMPIRE IN THE BASEMENT features that shifter, his beloved, and his family as well as elves, a leprechaun, and vampires. When the wedding party is cursed, saving them depends on a half leprechaun/half elf unsure of her powers and a bunny shifter sister-in-law who is sure of her powers but not of her heart.
Both ebooks were published by Tease Publishing LLC and are available at All Romance Ebooks and can be purchased at the links below:
In celebration of my shifters and their supernatural friends, I am giving away one pdf copy of either WHEN LOVE SURVIVES or VAMPIRE IN THE BASEMENT to a lucky commenter. All they have to do is say what they would like to shift into and why. The contest is worldwide and ends on Sunday, April 10th at midnight EST.
To discover all my books, visit http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com Drop by anytime. I’m Susan Hanniford Crowley on Facebook and SHCrowley on Twitter.
I’ll be at Connecticut’s Fiction Fest’s booksigning on May 14th, North Haven Holiday Inn Conference Center, next signing my vampires/supernatural romance THE STORMY LOVE LIFE OF LAURA CORDELAIS.
I’ll also be at Authors After Dark in Philadelphia in August on panels and booksignings. It is the ultimate romance readers conference with tons of fun—panels, parties, freebies, parties, booksignings, parties. Did I forget to mention parties? LOL
Now the contest begins. Hoooowwwwwlllll. Tell me what would you like to shift into and be convincing. LOL.
Thanks so much for having me here.
Susan