TNA: Hi, Angel, thanks so much for stopping by to visit us today. Let’s talk a bit about your writing. Do you prefer to write fantasy or contemporary genre romance? Do you find you like the challenge of stretching your imagination when writing fantasy, or are they equally challenging but in different ways?
Angel: I much prefer writing fantasy and science fiction. Contemporary romance has its own difficulties, one of them the reader’s expectations, but I’ve never liked contemporary romance much myself. I think I’d feel like a fraud writing it.
Why is this? So many contemporary readers tell me they want to connect with someone they think feels “real.” I shrug. I live in the “real” world. This is where I am all day. But the companions of my imagination, from childhood on, have been otherworld beings. I read to go elsewhere, not down the block. I need the magic, the extended frontiers, the wonder of discovery, of for me it feels like reading non-fiction. The inner landscape of the brain is far more interesting when populated by dragons and aliens.
When writing fantasy, the world-building aspect is perhaps the most fun. The writer gets to be a little godling, bringing things to life from the primordial chaos with a wave of the brain. You can change the laws of physics, create beings that live in fire, visits time periods that never were, and populate the universe with life-sustaining planets. Once you make the rules, you’d better adhere to them, but oh, the making is such a rush.
TNA: I read Diego and Finn in their original release years ago. Did you find when you went back to revisit them that there are things you wish you’d done differently back then, things that you’ve learned with the benefit of writing experience? If so, what were some of those things?
Angel: Thank you for reading them way back when. (Stay with us, there’s more.) Diego and Finn certainly weren’t my first novels, so I’m happy to say I’d already learned a lot by then. I think the most telling things were not what was written, but how they were written, issues with phrasing and clarity, with tightening the writing.
TNA: If I were to ask Diego and Finn to tell us a few things they love most about each other, what would they say?
Angel: How about we ask them? Boys! We have questions!
“Oh, bother. Again?” Finn settles on the floor by the desk. “I’m not answering the ‘boxers or briefs’ question again.”
No, dear, TNA would like to know a few things you love about Diego.
“My Diego? Everything. I love his c—”
Hey! Let’s keep it clean, bucko!
“Curly hair.” Finn winks at Diego where he leans against the doorway. “He’s terribly brave. One of the kindest people I know. And he’s brilliant. Passion, compassion, patience. Did I mention he’s brilliant?”
You did. Diego? What do you love most about this rascal?
Diego holds up a hand for patience. He has to stop laughing first. “That he’s a rascal. Oh, it’s hard to choose. I love that lean, beautiful body, of course, but Finn’s warm and funny. His curiosity is endless, bottomless—”
“But I like to bottom!”
“And top. Mi vida, Angel asked us to keep it clean.” Diego snickers before he can go on. “He makes my life brighter, keeps me steady, and gives of himself selflessly. Those are important things in or out of the bedroom.”
TNA: Are Diego and Finn your favorite couple? If so, why and what do you love most about them? If not, who would you say are your favorite couple among those you’ve written?
Angel: Oof. Picking favorites for an author is always hard. How can we pick a favorite child? Diego and Finn certainly have a special place in my heart since we’ve been through so much together. As a couple, I love them because they’ve been through so much together, too. They fit so well together, my thoughtful, pensive Diego and my rash, impulsive Finn, and these guys are true heroes, scared to death most of the time but wanting desperately to make things right.
TNA: Of all the books you’ve written and published thus far, which would you claim as your favorite, and why?
Angel: Aw, man. That’s just as tough as picking a favorite couple. It’s hard for me since I write so many types of stories, some serious and some not. I think my favorite serious science fiction so far is Rarely Pure and Never Simple – probably because the last SF I write is always my favorite. Finn will, in many ways, remain my favorite fantasy. Life for Finn and I was, in some ways, less complicated then. We’ve lost some of that innocence by now, so it’s nice to revisit.
TNA: Would you care to share some information about your current WIPs with us?
Angel: Why, yes, I’d be delighted. You’ll see a couple of things coming up from me in the next few months, one story for the Love’s Landscapes event and two more Endangered Fae books after Diego.
The Love’s Landscapes event, which is a free story event on the M/M Romance group on Goodreads, attracts just scads of authors every year. Readers write up prompts that go along with pictures, making requests for stories. Sometimes these are incredibly specific requests, sometimes just general prompts. (The prompt I claimed is here if you’re a member of the group and want to take a peek:
My story is a dark fantasy, titled No Enemy But Time – Zagreus, the son of Hades, and his former guardian angel Michael have a peaceful life of gardening, animal rescue, and playful sexual experimentation. Their idyll will soon be shattered by devastating changes neither one of them understands.
Diego comes out 6/6/14, but Semper Fae: Endangered Fae 3 follows soon after on 7/11/14.
Diego: Endangered Fae 2 – Diego and Finn’s peaceful life in Montana shatters when Diego unwittingly rips a hole in the Veil to the Otherworld—mysterious prophecies, dying fae, hostile government agents, and there’s so much more that could still go wrong.
Semper Fae: Endangered Fae 3 – Zack thought he had a strange job before–Marine medic in a secret government base was odd, but personal assistant to a sidhe prince is downright bizarre and damn dangerous.
Author Bio: While Angel Martinez is the erotic fiction pen name of a writer of several genres, she writes both kinds of gay romance – Science Fiction and Fantasy. Currently living part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware, (and full time inside the author’s head) Angel has one husband, one son, two cats, a changing variety of other furred and scaled companions, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate.
Author Links: Facebook | Author Page | Pinterest | Tumblr | Twitter
Blurb: Finn: When Diego rescues a naked man from the rail of the Brooklyn Bridge, he just wants to get the poor man out of traffic and to social services. He gets more than he bargained for when he discovers Finn is an ailing pooka, poisoned by the city’s pollution. To help him recover, Diego takes him to New Brunswick where Finn inadvertently wakes an ancient, evil spirit: the wendigo.
While they struggle to find a way to destroy the wendigo before it can possess Diego or kill nearby innocents, Diego wrestles with his growing feelings for Finn. Kill the monster and navigate a relationship between a modern man and a centuries old pooka. Piece of cake.
Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance eBooks
The Giveaway: An e-copy of Finn: Endangered Fae #1
