Rayna Vause on Writing and her new release Twice Bitten (guest blog and giveaway)

Twice Bitten by Rayna Vause

Dreamspinner Press
Cover Art: April Martinez

Buy Links:

Universal | Dreamspinner Press eBook|

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Rayna Vause here today talking about writing and her new release Twice Bitten. Welcome, Rayna.

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview with Rayna Vause

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing?

Absolutely! I’ve always been a fan of stories with paranormal elements. When I think back I recall reading stories like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle, Witches and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl as bedtime stories. My mom and I would take turns reading to each other. It was fun and I’d get so caught up in the fantasy of the stories. For example, I always thought it was so cool that in a Wrinkle in Time Meg’s brother could read her mind at times and I loved the three immortal characters Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. But I also enjoyed the science aspect of it, although I didn’t really realize that until I got older. I mean how cool is it that both of Meg’s parents are scientists. Plus, here’s a kids book that’s exploring the world of quantum physics. How cool is that?! (Yes folks, I’ve been a geek since birth)

Next came Nancy Drew and Christopher Pike’s books, all of which laid the groundwork for my love of mystery/suspense and, of course, romance. Then as an impressionable high school freshman someone handed me my first true romance novel and my fate was sealed. I don’t think I’ve written a story yet that doesn’t include some combination of all of these elements. Do to get back to the original question, yes my childhood and teenage reading very much shaped my writing.

Do you like HFN or HEA? And why?

I actually like both. I think there are some stories in which the characters have gone through a lot together and come to a place of happiness, but they still have more work to do on the relationship. Other stories the characters have reached that place where they are truly ready to commit to forever with each other. I find both equally satisfying, but perhaps that’s because in my head all the HFN stories eventually get to their HEA.

How do you choose your covers? (curious on my part)

It’s part marketing, part gut, and part what speaks to you the most. It all starts with an art information sheet which is the most painful thing to complete ever because you have to pick your book apart to really get to the essence of the story so that the graphic artists can then bring it to life visually. When I get mock ups from my publisher there is usually one design that speaks to me more than the others. Then I tweak.

Have you ever put a story away, thinking it just didn’t work? Then years/months/whatever later inspiration struck and you loved it? Is there a title we would recognize if that happened?

I actually have a book on my to be written list that I walked away from for years because I’d written myself into a corner, and didn’t know how to get out. So, I put it down and let it percolate. Then one day I saw this call from a publisher and it sparked an idea. Next thing I know I’ve got a fully plotted book outline ready to roll.

Also, my current release Twice Bitten is another one that I put on the shelf for a while. I wrote the original version ages ago, then I put it away. At first, I just needed a break from the story. It was too short and basically needed to be ripped apart and put back together again. I just couldn’t figure out how to do that. Then I saw a call from a publisher…(I’m noticing a pattern here.)

If you could imagine the best possible place for you to write, where would that be and why?

My own private island, possibly on a lounge chair in the shade with cool island breezes blowing and nothing but the sound of the wind and the crashing waves. Of course, knowing me I’d get distracted staring out at the blue water, then fall asleep. Honestly, my ideal place to write is some place where I have drinks, snacks, a comfy seat, and zero distractions. I can be like the dogs in Up. You know…SQUIRREL! So, the fewer things that can draw my focus the better.

With so much going on in the world today, do you write to explain? To get away? To move past? To widen our knowledge? Why do you write?

I write because I’ve got so many crazy ideas flitting through my brain that I feel compelled to put them down on paper. I write because I enjoy telling stories. I write for the challenge of it. I write because of the sense of accomplishment I feel every time I get to The End no matter how much I agonize getting there. Plus, writing is a way for me to bring the science geek side of my personality together with my creative side. Finally, I continue to write because it’s brought me together with an amazing tribe of people who encourage me to keep cranking out my crazy ideas.

What’s next for you as a writer?

I’ve got a couple stories ideas that I’m poking at. One is a series featuring heroes with different psychic abilities. Another, story I’m working on features the royalty trope because it’s one of my favorites, on par with the secret baby trope. But, the one I’m going to focus on is a medical romantic suspense.

Blurb:

With a new species of vampire stalking the streets, the stakes are high. But that’s not the only reason hearts are on the line.

Danny Reynolds thought Kieran McCade was the one—true love and hot lust forever—until Danny found out Kier’s bloody secret and ran away screaming. Months later, Danny is facing his own paranormal crisis, and he needs Kieran’s help, but are there enough ways to apologize for breaking a vampire’s heart?

Nothing about Danny’s transformation is normal—not the attack that led to it, and not the symptoms Danny’s plagued with—but being in close proximity to Kieran is even worse than becoming a thing that goes bump in the night. Danny and Kieran aren’t the only things threatening to bump each other off, though. Secret organizations and clashing vigilante agendas want to get their hands on Danny. His only hope is to find a fix for his problem before he’s either captured or his abnormal transition starves him to death.

Danny and Kieran might have a real chance to repair their broken romance… but only if they keep Danny alive!

About the Author

Rayna Vause is a lifetime learner who wants to live on a Disney cruise ship travelling the world and thinks purple should be considered a natural hair color. She’s fascinated by the magic and mystery in the world; things like psychics, demons, cats (especially cats!) and true love. A proud geek, she injects some of her science and tech-obsessed soul into every story she writes. When not writing she’s pursuing another degree, running a conference, working through her massive TBR pile, losing herself in a video game, and plotting her next novel.

Links:

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/raynavauseauthor

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/Rayna_Vause

Website – http://www.RaynaVause.com

Contest/Giveaway – http://raynavause.com/contest/

An ebook copy of Demon of Mine. Leave a comment for Rayna and an email address where you can be reached if chosen. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

DSP GUEST POST Rayna Vause on Extrasensual Perception

Extrasensual Perception by Rayna Vause
Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by Paul Richmond

Available for Purchase at

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Rayna Vause, author of Extrasensual Perception, one of our highly recommended stories. Welcome, Rayna!

I want to thank everyone here at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for having me here today to celebrate the release of my latest novel, Extrasensual Perception, and for taking the time to get to know me a little bit better. This has been an exciting week for me, but I think release weeks is for all authors. So, let’s dive into these questions shall we?

Where do you normally draw your inspiration for a book from? A memory, a myth, a place or journey, or something far more personal?

My inspiration for a story can come from anywhere and everywhere. A news story, a television show, a movie that you would have like to have seen go in a different direction. The possibilities are endless. My book Demon of Mine was inspired by a combination of the show Supernatural and the movie Office Space. My latest release Extrasensual Perception was the result of a writing prompt. We were challenged to look at old school Harlequin romances and write a gay romance in a similar fashion. Some of my favorite category romances were the ones that pushed the boundaries of the line. I was drawn to the books that had paranormal elements such as psychics. So, when I was issued the challenge of writing a Dreamspun desire a psychic seemed like the perfect choice for my book.

Are you a planner or a pantzer when writing a story? And why?

I’m a total planner with a hint of pantser. I need a story road map or I get nowhere fast as I write myself into corners. If I have my outline when I sit down to write, I know what scenes I need. I know what they need to accomplish. The pantsing comes in with how the scene unfolds on the page.

Contemporary, supernatural, fantasy, or science fiction narratives or something else? Does any genre draw you more than another when writing it or reading it and why does it do so?

I have eclectic tastes. I like to read a wide variety of genres. Although you’ve got a better chance of catching my eye if there are paranormal/urban fantasy elements as I like getting caught up in other worlds or alternative realities. When it comes to reading, if it’s an engaging story, with a strong romance and an HEA I’ll go along for the ride.

As to writing, I love paranormal/urban fantasy. I love for me a story is that much more fun to write when I can take the everyday world and toss in something strange and unusual. I love the idea of the werewolf or demon next door. Someone who’s a regular joe, but has the one extra special quirk like magical abilities or shapeshifting. There’s are a certain level of freedom as well as control to paranormal and UF. It’s my world and I make up the rules.

If you had a character you’ve written you would write differently now at this time in your writing career, who would it be and why?

At this point, I can’t say that there are characters that I would write differently. As write more and your craft gets stronger. When I look at my books I see things that I would strengthen technique wise, but not in character development.

Can an author have favorites among their characters and do you have them?

I absolutely think authors can have favorites among their characters. Generally, it’s the characters in the book I’m working on at that time that are my favorites. However, I will always hold a special place in my heart for the cast of characters in my in-progress Hell Inc. series. The first book being Demon of Mine. My favoritism is likely a byproduct of sentiment. I spent years with these guys. They are the stars of my first full length book to get published. They let me poke and prod at them as I got a better handle on my writing voice and improved my storytelling craft.

If you were to be stranded on a small demi-planet, island, or god forbid LaGuardia in a snow storm, what books would you take to read or authors on your comfort list?

Good question. I’d have to say:

Charlie Cochet. I’m absolutely addicted to her Thirds series.

Tere Michaels. I just love the way she tells a story.

Mary Calmes I love Jin and Logan and well pretty much anything Mary has written.

I figure that’s enough to keep me busy for a while. Thank god for ereaders so I can carry the bulk of my library with me. This way I don’t have to choose just a couple books to take with me.

How early in your life did you begin writing?

I started writing in grade school around 5^th or 6^th grade. I remember having assignments in English class where we were supposed to make up our own fable or tall tale or something. I remember writing this story about how ocean waters become salty (PS it’s because the sky giants knocked over an enormous salt shaker. LOL!) We were always doing creative writing in that class, when we weren’t diagramming sentences, and I absolutely loved it. You know, I think my mom still has some of the short stories I wrote around the house somewhere.

Were you an early reader or were you read to and what childhood books had an impact on you as a child that you remember to this day and why?

I was indeed an early reader, but I think that’s because I was read to as a child. As a baby my mom would read to me then as I got older we would take turns reading to each other. Some of the earliest books I remember reading with her was a series about a vampire bunny, the first book in the was entitled Bunnicula. From there we moved on to A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engel, and a bunch of books by Roald Dahl (The Witches, James and the Giant Peach). It seems, even as a child I leaned toward books with a paranormal bent. I don’t remember if these were books that mom choose for us to read or if we picked them together. But I do recall loving every minute of them. I loved the magic and mystery and adventure in these books. I guess they had a bigger impact on me then I realized because in my books I try to incorporate a little magic, a bit of action/adventure, and a ton of fun. That’s what these authors gave me as I was reading the tales the wove and that’s what I hope to give to my readers.

What’s coming next?

I’ve got two project in progress at this moment. First another urban fantasy. It’s a contemporary set story where Vampires exist and some humans are not so happy about that. The story features an anti-vampire activist and the vampire that he eventually falls for as they work together to save the activists life as after a vicious vampire attack. The other book is Angel of Mine. This is the second book in the Hell Inc series that features Adrian, an angel, and Leland, a demon. There are two men with centuries of a history and baggage that they have to sort through all while trying to stay alive while on the run from someone who wants Leland dead.

If you were writing your life as a romance novel, what would the title be?

It’s not exactly steamy or sexy, but I guess my title would be A Work in Progress and it would be a paranormal romantic comedy featuring a woman who could magically remove all calories from food, a laptop and a cat. ☺

Blurb

If a stalker doesn’t kill them, the heat between them might.

Christopher Vincent is desperate enough for a job that he accepts an offer to entertain as a psychic in a friend’s nightclub. Jackson Whitman, one of the club’s co-owners, is less than thrilled by the new act. To him, psychics are ridiculous and a liability. But when they come face-to-face, attraction flares to life between them.

Someone is watching Jack and Chris from the shadows. What starts as a series of creepy encounters leads to deadly attacks.

Jack and Chris must set aside their differences and work together to survive a homicidal stalker. But can they survive their explosive connection?

About the Author

Rayna Vause is a lifetime learner who wants to live on a Disney cruise ship travelling the world and thinks purple should be considered a natural hair color. She’s fascinated by the magic and mystery in the world; things like angels, demons, cats (especially cats!) and true love. A proud geek, she injects some of her tech-obsessed soul into every story she writes. When not writing, she’s pursuing another degree, running a conference, working through her massive TBR pile, losing herself in a video game, and plotting her next novel.

Author links

Website- http://www.raynavause.com

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/raynavauseauthor

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/rayna_vause

A MelanieM Release Day Review: Extrasensual Perception by Rayna Vause

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

If a stalker doesn’t kill them, the heat between them might.

Someone is watching Jack and Chris from the shadows. What starts as a series of creepy encounters leads to deadly attacks.

Jack and Chris must set aside their differences and work together to survive a homicidal stalker. But can they survive their explosive connection?

What a great story! Suspenseful, sexy, romantic with tones of the paranormal to spice things up! Extrasensual Perception by Rayna Vause has it all and then some. A first book for me by this author, I fell immediately under this writer’s spell when she opened up her story with a chapter that is scary, haunting and ends on a note of uncertainty. Boom, I’m hers. I had to double check…is this really a Dreamspun Desires story? Yes indeed it is but with a tilt more towards the Gothic novels I loved as well.

Christopher Vincent’s mother is famous as a medium but she’s had a stroke. With mounting medical bills (and his mouth without a filter that’s cost him his job), they’ve had to close up her Fortune Telling store. She’s in a slow recovery and rehab and Chris needs a job. On top of that? There are these terrible nightmares he’s been living with.

Vause slowly builds up her characters, and their relationships that are closely intertwined with one another, her settings, until she has a beautiful tapestry of lives and complicated personal dynamics waiting to be sorted out as a murderer stalks them all. Its a crazy wonderful mixture of old lovers reuniting, a brother and sister trying to live their lives with the legacy of a toxic father, a mother and son truly gifted with sight, and a crazed killer on the loose. Vause pulls it all together and makes magic.

Every character here is a layered human being. I love watching Jack go from disbelief over Chris’ gift to full on acknowledgement of his ability to “see” events that will happen, feel things (made all the more real by Vause’s vivid descriptions). And Chris? I fell for him immediately. Someone who doesn’t want to use his gifts, unlike his mother, but who is pulled by forces and the need to protect his friends into using every gift he’s tried so hard to reject.

We also get flashes of pov from the stalker’s/killer. Yes, that definitely ramps up the action and suspense while not taking you out of the narrative.

Yet there is still a terrific lovers reunited storyline here. Not buried like you may think, but woven in as part of the whole. I loved that too.

This ends as it should, a HFN. I would love to see everyone here reunited in a sequel. This is just too superb a couple (and secondary characters) to see them languish with just one book. I hope this author is listening. I highly recommend this book. Grab it up and get started!

Cover art by Paul Richmond is just as terrific as the novel.

Sales Links

Book Details:

ebook, 208 pages
Expected publication: January 15th 2017 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 1634776828 (ISBN13: 9781634776820)
Edition LanguageEnglish

Twice Bitten by Rayna Vause

Blurb:

About the Author

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Extrasensual Perception by Rayna Vause Dreamspinner Press Cover art by Paul Richmond

Available for Purchase at

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Extrasensual Perception by Rayna Vause
Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by Paul Richmond