Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Awesome Vivi Andrews -- The Abs-olute Truth Interview!

My guest today is a multipublished best-selling author, a multitalented woman who’s traveled the world. Applause and warm welcome to the Awesome Vivi Andrews!
Thank you, Mary!  I’m thrilled to be here.
Your new book, The Sexorcist, looks like another incredible ride of romance, excitement, and laugh-out-loud fun. Can you tell us a little about Brittany and Luis?
Brittany is the single most optimistic person on the planet.  Not even demonic harassment can get her down.  Luis is the oh-so-sexy exorcist paired with her when a mischief demon starts wreaking havoc on the wedding she’s planning for one of the Karmic Consultants.  And hilarity ensues… along with a dose of True Love.
(Oh, my. Fun, true love and those abs? Yum!)

You write both the wonderful Karmic Consultant series and the popular Serengeti Shifter series. Is one easier to write? Any special challenges or joys?
I flat out love the Karmic Consultants books.  I love writing them.  The biggest challenge there is living up to the hype inside my own mind.  I always have this image in my head that the book is going to be beyond awesome.  And then I have to actually write it. 
But I also love the Shifter books.  When I’m burned out on humor, they give me a chance to explore sensuality and emotional depth without the veil of comedy.  And the big, muscle-packed Alpha males in that series certainly don’t hurt. 
I need the variety.  It helps make every new book feel fresh to me.
(Pictured: Serengeti Storm)

You write in many different genres. Any stories you particularly want to see soon in a publisher’s queue?
I’m always excited by shiny new ideas, but for now I’m mostly attracted to contemporary romances and various flavors of paranormal.  A few years ago, I said “I’ll never write paranormal.  I’m too lazy for all the world-building.”  And now I’m writing two paranormal series. Then I said, “I’ll never write category contemporary” but I’ve recently submitted one of those.  It seems like whichever book I say “I’ll never write (fill in the blank)” turns out to be the next one I find myself writing.  (Anyone want to fill in the next blank for me?)
(Pictured: Serengeti Heat)

You say in your bio that you’re a movie buff. What are your favorites? Any of them life-changing? Any that your friends groan about when they see you barreling down the hallway toward them with your Special Edition Copy and conversion mania on your face?
If you have not seen The Philadelphia Story and you do not want to be strapped to a chair with duct tape and forced to watch it, you should run when you see me coming.  If you admit to ignorance of The Princess Bride, His Girl Friday, How to Murder Your Wife, Bull Durham, To Catch a Thief, or Noises Off, I am not to be blamed for forcing you into a marathon for your own good.  You’ll thank me later.  After I remove the duct tape…
(Pictured: Tickle My Fantasy)

Is there an untapped corner of your life that would bring on a new story? (My husband really wants to see one based on your minor in mathematic theory.)
Nerd lovin!  One of the next books on my To-Be-Written list has a molecular physicist heroine – which delves into my perverse fascination with quarks.  That’s about as close to linear algebra and chaos theory as I’m likely to go in my books.  I learned a long time ago that most people don’t love math like I do. I’ve watched their eyes glaze over when I start to wax poetic about how you can write computer code to use a series of finite iterations to mimic infinite repetitions to approach solutions for unsolvable differential equations… yeah.  You’re all bored.  This is why I don’t write about math geeks.
(Pictured: Shifting Dreams)

How do you choose a topic to blog on? Are your amazing posts stream-of-consciousness brilliance or incredible writing/editing talent?
LOL.  Dude.  You just called my blog posts amazing. You are so good for my ego.  The Truth About the Blog: Usually I just braindump all my crankiness or glee over a certain topic and hit “post.”  I try to rein in my natural tendency to swear like a drunken dockworker and once or twice a week I’ll actually hit spellcheck before posting, but more often than not, what you are seeing is unedited me.  Once in a blue moon, I’ll save a post for later and look back at it to make sure I’m not saying anything too inappropriate – but those saved posts tend to get sucked into the internet ether, never to be posted or seen from again.  I don’t have the patience to edit my blog posts. That’s just where I play.
(Pictured: The Ghost Exterminator)

Well, I love the brilliant way you handle some very nuanced topics. And the fun. Oh, and the contests. Vivi's highly enjoyable, thought-provoking, and always-entertaining blog is Ramblings from the Road. And visit Vivi at her website ViviAndrews.com.

Enormous thanks to Vivi for celebrating her fabulous new release, The Sexorcist, with me today!


Everything that can go wrong, will…especially when a demon helps things along.
Karmic Consultants, Book 3

When a mischief demon threatens a wedding, who’s a Karmic Consultant gonna call? Brittany Hylton-VanDeere. Brittany’s never planned a wedding before, but how hard could averting demon-induced matrimonial disasters be? Her particular brand of cockeyed optimism has always carried her through—but this time there’s a complication. A tattooed, badass exorcist who’s tempting her to break the no-office-dating rule.

Luis Rodriguez isn’t sure what to make of bright-eyed, somewhat illogical Brittany, but he’ll take any job that gives him a break from exorcising demons for pampered, lusting housewives. Helping pull off a wedding is not exactly his idea of a break, but who knew that Brittany’s infectious enthusiasm would be so, so seductive?

As the demon keeps finding ways to throw Brittany and Rodriguez together, they find themselves sliding deeper into a forbidden romance. But distractions are something they can’t afford. The demon’s aggression is rising, and it plans to stop the wedding. Even if it means stopping Brittany…permanently.

Product Warnings
This book contains a hero guaranteed to heat things up, a heroine bound to tug your heartstrings, and enough demonic mischief to keep you smiling all the way to the chapel.

Read an excerpt at Samhain Publishing

14 comments:

  1. Terrific Interview, Mary & Viv!

    Exciting times at Samhain, and it's great that there's always room for multiple "flavors" of romance. When you're honest and speak (and write) from the heart you can never go wrong.

    Keep up the great work!

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  2. Great interview, Mary and Vivi. It just goes to show you what happens when you get two very talented and laugh-out-loud funny authors together. I'd love to see you go one on one in person sometime. Did I see the phrase "chaos ensues" somewhere?

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  3. Thank you, Mary, for letting me come play on your blog!

    Renee - One of the things I love about Samhain is the variety we have. Great books across the spectrum.

    Vivant - When you said "chaos ensues" I visualized Mary and I fighting back the zombie apocalypse with our razor sharp wits. Hey, it could happen.

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  4. Great interview. I'm currently reading the 3rd (okay, it's really the 2nd as I'm out of order) and loving it. The entire Karmic Consultant series has been great. I hope that this latest one is not the last.

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  5. Hillarious interview as my eyes glazed over the math info...love the Karmic Consultant series!

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  6. Milinda & Maria, I flat out love you. Anyone who loves the Karmic Consultants series automatically gets a piece of my heart. :)

    The Sexorcist is definitely not the last! The Naked Detective is due out in November. After that, I had only planned on doing one more, but my editor planted this bug in my ear and now it looks like there are going to be two more...

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  8. Special thanks to Vivi for enduring...I mean agreeing to my first-ever guest interview!

    Hi to Renee, Vivant, Milinda, and Maria! Thanks so much for stopping by!

    Vivi, you've got more Serengeti in the wings too, right? And more...everything, yes?

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  9. Yes, there will be more Serengetis! Serengeti Lightning comes out in September! One straight-laced school teacher and the lion who unlocks her wild side.

    I'm also hard at work on Zoe's story (I know, *finally*) and it should be out sometime in 2011, if all goes according to plan.

    Thank you so much for letting me be your first interviewee, Mary! Such fun!

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  10. Terrific interview, Mary and Vivi! Congrats on the Sexorcist, Vivi!

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  11. Hello, flchen1! Thanks so much for your kind words, and for stopping by!

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  12. Congratulations on the new release--it sounds like a graet read! :)

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  13. Vivi--Your covers are amazing! And personally, I love "a veil of comedy." It's so hard to write and you obviously do it well.

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  14. Hi to Stacey Joy Netzel and Emily Bryan! Thank you to you two wonderful authors for your great comments. Really appreciate your coming by!

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