Interview of Cindy Spencer Pape, RBRU Member Author

Today I'm happy to be interviewing someone I've known for a number of years, multi-published author Cindy Spencer Pape.

Latest Book: "Motor City Fae" (Urban Arcana, book 1)
Buy Link:
http://ebooks.carinapress.com/E82B9C9B-9945-4F53-86B0-AEDC93891646/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID={5BE9085B-693F-4276-9380-243C7C300F48}


Video Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3dk2q99so&feature=player_embedded

BIO:
Cindy Spencer Pape is an avid reader of romance, fantasy, mystery, and even more romance who firmly believes in happily-ever-after. Married for more than twenty years to her own, sometimes-kilted hero, she lives in southern Michigan with him and two teenage sons, along with an ever-changing menagerie of pets. Cindy has been, among other things, a banker, a teacher, and an elected politician, but mostly an environmental educator, though now she is lucky enough to write full-time. Her degrees in zoology and animal behavior almost help her comprehend the three male humans who share her household.

Q: Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
A: In Motor City Fae, I really like both hero and heroine. Meagan is an artist who shares lots of characteristics with writers, in that she works at home and is usually alone. She’s a goffball, and that was fun to write. Ric, of all the heroes I’ve written (and this is book 33 for me) is the closest to my ideal hero. He’s got a silver tongue, and still knows how to fight. He can quote the Blues Brothers or Christopher Marlowe with equal fluency, and he’s willing to give up everything for the woman he loves.

Q: Do all your heroes and all heroines look the same in your mind as you “head write”?
A: Not at all. I tend to build physical traits into the personality, so they have to be there in my mind—the character who thinks she’s too plump, too tall, hates her curly red hair, whatever. My heroes vary a lot too. I’ve even written one who was short—and kind of hung up on it.

Q: What hobby do you enjoy when not writing?
A: I think most writers are also voracious readers, but I also enjoy games—strategy, role-playing, cards, whatever.

Q: What is your favorite romance book that you’ve read?
A: Along with hundreds of other women, I’d have to say Kathleen Woodiwiss’s "The Wolf and the Dove", followed closely by Roberta Gellis’s "Knight’s Honor" or "Rhiannon". These ladies were sneaking elements of paranormal into their books back before there was even a name for it.

Q: What genre would you like to try writing in but haven’t yet done so? Why?
A: Straight-up romantic suspense. I’ve put suspense elements in my paranormal, but really focusing on the mystery aspect is a little daunting. In the back of my brain is a murder mystery/romance set in a big-city zoo. One day I’ll get up the guts to write it.

Q: Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Chats, or Twitter. Which do you like best and why?
A: At the moment, I’m having the most fun with Facebook. I think that’s because I’ve reconnected with family from all across 2 countries, though, and not so much for technical reasons.

Tell us where to find you: website(s), publisher’s page(s), blog(s), Facebook page(s), etc. List them all!
My Links:
Website: http://www.cindyspencerpape.com
Blog: http://cindyspencerpape.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CindySPape
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#%21/profile.php?id=100000270304390
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cindyspencerpape
Publishers:
Buy Link for Ellora’s Cave: http://www.jasminejade.com/m-304-cindy-spencer-pape.aspx
Buy Link for Cerridwen Press: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-4129-dragon-in-the-system.aspx
Buy Link for The Wild Rose Press: http://www.thewildrosepress.comindex.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=50&zenid=80060d1da8ddfcbbfca5f4c122de68b1
Buy Link for Total-E-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.comauthordetail.asp?s=ylX56p393777&A_ID=73#booklist
Buy Link for Cian Fey: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=eY7v4p668104&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=401
Carina Press: http://www.carinapress.com

BLURB:
Detroit artist Meagan Kelly has had a strong sixth sense all her life, but that doesn’t mean the gorgeous stranger’s crazy story—that she’s a half-elf, half human heiress—is true. But Meagan can’t deny the evidence of her own eyes—he’s Fae. A tall, blond, handsome, pointy-eared elf—and a man she just can’t get enough of.

Ric Thornhill’s assignment just got a lot more complicated. The more time he spends with Meagan, the harder it is to see her as a political tool to prevent an all-out war between humans and Fae.

Now Meagan’s in a race to master her newly released powers in time to prevent the conflict, convince a jealous Queen not to strip Ric of his powers, and find out if she can build a life that straddles two worlds.

EXCERPT:
Suburban Detroit was a truly odd place.

Ric Thornhill’s vintage Jaguar convertible roared down Woodward Avenue, a wide car-clogged boulevard lined with all manner of businesses from elegant boutiques to seedy liquor stores. To his right loomed an enormous stone church that could have been in medieval Europe. On the left was a strip mall with a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon and a paycheck advance center.

Find Emery of Rose’s long-lost daughter before the next Seelie Council meeting, or live out a miserable human lifespan as a powerless mortal. That was the geas that his boss, the elven queen, had cast on Ric. In other words, find the girl or die. His death sentence would simply take forty or fifty years to be carried out. The geas was a result of telling Her Majesty off the last time she’d sent him on a fool’s errand. One would think he’d have learned by now to keep his mouth shut. The sad part was that on this job, he’d have done his best anyway. The fate of both realms could hang in the balance if he didn’t.

In over eight centuries of existence, he’d been in plenty of sticky situations, but none as bad as this. He’d started the search in New York, where Emery had died. No luck there. He’d also tried Windsor, the hometown of Emery’s human wife. Nothing. Two other agents of the queen had mysteriously disappeared or been killed and now Ric was the only one left. And he was here in Detroit on nothing more than a hunch held by one of Emery’s cousins. Aidan Greene believed his missing relative was somewhere nearby. Now Ric only had five days remaining and he’d gotten nowhere but here, which wasn’t good.

The place was dismal and depressing—hot, gray and muggy on this August afternoon and the five-o’clock Friday traffic royally sucked. Ric had spent the last week checking out every new-age shop, so-called psychic and alternative club in the area—every place he could think of that a half-Fae would be drawn to. If his mediocre scrying skills hadn’t led him to the right place this time, he was probably toast. He was supposed to be at a certain corner in Royal Oak at a certain time. Yeah, he had lots of info to go on.

He accelerated through a yellow light, cranked up the volume on his stereo and settled his black Ray-Ban sunglasses on his nose despite the overcast day. What the hell, might as well go down in style.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks so much for having me today!