Interview & Giveaway: Roxanne St. Claire

Fellow book bloggers and readers, it is my honor to welcome Roxanne St. Claire on my blog today. Roxanne has written everything from chick lit to category romance to suspense - and she has just recently launched her new trilogy, Guardian Angelos with the first novel entitled Edge of Sight. Let's welcome this New York Times bestselling author to Nikola's Book Blog!

Thanks for having me here at your blog.

Is it exciting to be launching a new series? What are your ambitions with the Guardian Angelos?

Of course it's exciting to launch a new series, and daunting, too. After eight books and two novellas under the Bullet Catchers umbrella (my previous series), it's a little scary to create an all-new cast of characters and put them in compelling, unforgettable situations. I've written the first three books in the series, and found they were grittier, more emotional and tougher than I'd expected, but I loved the challenge.

My ambitions are to continue the series. Publishing is a grueling, difficult business and genres are cyclical. I hope that Guardian Angelinos has lit a chord with readers who love "romantic suspense" - a fast-paced, sexy, emotionally charged story that follows a stand-alone adventure within a bigger world.

Not only are you a prolific writer, but you've written romance, chick lit and suspense! That's amazing! What's your favorite genre to write?

I love to write whatever I'm writing at the moment. I have recently sold my first Young Adult novel, which will come out in hardcover from Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House, in 2012. So right now, I'm loving the fresh, unexpected, pure stories that appeal to teen readers. I'm so excited that this book has been optioned for a feature film, and hope to write many more for younger readers.

When we were talking about this interview, you described my blog as "eclectic". If I were invited over for coffee at your place, how do you think I would describe your bookshelves?

A mess! I stash and stuff and rarely reorganize. My bookshelves have everything from classic to trash. I love Bronte (both of them!) and Austen, spent my teen years devouring hardcore mainstream commercial fiction (Sydney Sheldon, Judith Krantz, Jacqueline Susann) and then moved into the romance genre that I love and write - Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown and Debbie Macomber. I have at least a hundred Young Adult novels, rows of Harlequin category and my share of literary works as well. We're both eclectic!

One of the hot topics in the book bloggers' community is piracy. Do you have any experience with book piracy and what are your thoughts?

I just don't know what to say about this. I don't understand it, I don't appreciate it and I certainly don't condone it. Book piracy takes bread off my table, gas out of my car and tuition from my son's college funds. It's stealing what an author has a right to be paid for. I sweat, bleed and struggle to write the best books I possibly can and someone believes it's perfectly okay to take my work and enjoy it without any compensation to me. I realize there are geographical restrictions on books that I have no control over. I also believe these will be changing over time, and readers in other countries will have access to e-books on an international basis, with appropriate compensation for the publishers and editors. In the meantime, please go to the library, buy a used book, borrow from a friend or seek out the zillions of free reads on the internet. But don't download a stolen book.

The next chapter of the Guardian Angelions is set to be published in March 2011. Are you working on the book or is it almost done? Also, what should we expect?

The next two books are "in the can" as they say - completed, revised, copyedited and on their way to production. They'll be released back to back in March and April. First up is Shiver of Fear, a thriller set in Northern Ireland where Marc Rossi is sent to track down a woman on a secret mission and finds her far more attractive and dangerous than he expects. That will be followed immediately by Face of Danger, the story of Vivi Angelino, who bucks the FBI to step into the shoes of an Oscar-winning actress as a body double and becomes the target of a serial killer. I hope readers love these and all of my books!

Thanks for the interview, Roxanne!

Thanks for inviting me!

Roxanne is very cool and has offered one copy of Edge of Sight to one lucky winner. The rules are as follows:

US/Canada only

Giveaway ends November 27th Extended until December 4th!

Enter by commenting and LEAVING YOUR EMAIL.

Bonus entries:

+2 for following (old and new followers)

+2 for leaving a link in your sidebar (+4 if you leave a graphic!)

+2 for tweeting about the contest (leave the link!)

+4 for blogging about the contest

+4 for visiting Roxanne's website and coming back with a title you'd love to read, other than the Guardian Angelinos series

Good luck!