Interview & Giveaway with author Calinda B.

Today we have author, Calinda B. swinging by for an interview and to share her Wicked series with us. She's also offering a $20 amazon gift card to one lucky commenter!

Calinda B was told early on that she should be a writer. She heard frequent praise for her writing, as well as her sense of humor. Scoffing at such admonitions and praise, she went on to pursue her life of adventure, chock full of the things that make up a well-rounded adventurous life: music (yup, she was a singer in a rock and roll band), dance (even performed hip hop in Russia), rock climbing (ever hung from a rock wall a few stories up? Yikes!), fire walking (taught high-ranking Moscow fire officials how to walk the coals), kayaking, scuba diving (she’s in love with sharks), travel, and falling in love again and again.

For more information on Calinda, check out her website.

You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook. 

Thank you Calinda for stopping by to chat with us! Now before we roll into the questions do you mind just telling our readers a little bit about your Wicked series?

The Wicked series is a set of super steamy paranormal romantic adventures. The characters have the same goals as many of us – manifest passionate love, experience greater pleasure, make the world a better place, become a better person – only they find themselves dealing with all sorts of twists in the process. Take Chérie, the young woman from Walla Walla, WA who is the main heroine of the series. She sees herself as a simple, awkward, tongue-tied girl. Who knew that she channels the force of the universe through her body and can do amazing things when she gets turned on? Not only that, she learns that she can trip-hop through galaxies with her lover, stepping on stars, zooming through star-dust and brilliant colors. Her boyfriend Cam, Mr. Here and Now, has to deal with a star dreamling, a vicious creature from another planet that wants to kill him. Every character has to deal with some big issue to get to their goal. Thing is, they never imagined the kinds of obstacles that will get in their way.


Where did the Wicked series come from? What sparked the idea for you?

I’ve always been intrigued by individuals who experienced abuse, sexual insults or addiction and yet healed from these insults, ending up with fascinating, fulfilling lives. What is it that allows a person to cultivate joy and passion out of the ashes of a life that appears tragic? And what if, as an added twist, the characters were immersed in paranormal realities? I decided to write such a series.


Is there is Wicked #4 or perhaps a new project in the works? And if so can you give us a sneak peak?

Oh, I am really excited about A Wicked Ending: Book IV in the Wicked Series! The book features free-spirited, voluptuous Zuri Davidson and her crush on the big, beefy Manoko Wikaira-Williams, a 6’4” Spirit Tracker. When their friends Cam and Chérie embark on a scuba diving adventure, they find a dead wolf pinned to the rock wall 100’ deep. It is speared to the wall in a ritualistic manner, with streaming red silk ribbons, undulating like kelp from the stakes. They bring it topside and the mystery unfolds. Turns out everyone – Cam, Chérie, Zuri, the whale whisperer Kai, his wife Cassie, and Manoko – all play a part in getting to the bottom of this strange finding. There’s mystery, intrigue, sizzling hot passion and even more wicked madness from the villains as all speed toward their goal of finding love and happiness. Here’s a little taste of Zuri to whet your appetite:

Zuri rolled her head side to side against one of the burgundy pillows, as if her skull was undulating in a calm sea. A tangle of her long, mahogany hair flowed like a piece of kelp along the silky surface.

“Mmm…” Let’s stop with these foolish thoughts. Her cheek drifted over a piece of rabbit fur. With fluttering eyelids, she twined her fingers through the creamy strands. “Mmm…” She guided it along her porcelain neck…traced it along her buttery breasts. “Mmm…” This was better. Much better than wallowing in what she could not have…wasn’t sure she genuinely wanted.

The image of a tattoo-covered, caramel-skinned Manoko Wikaira-Williams bobbed to the surface of her awareness like a buried treasure released from the sea floor. Hey there, big guy. A smile stretched across her face. The memory of sitting up all night with Manoko in that freaky spirit-tracking ritual many moons ago stirred liquid heat between her legs. Now he was hot. What happened to him? She hadn’t seen him in a while, not since Cam and Cherie had air-hopped north to Alaska. She was sure he shared their attraction, but…whatever. She was too stoned to care about much of anything.

Fondling her naked body with the furry hide, she jerked, startled when something akin to cool plastic dropped onto her belly. Bolting upright, she shrieked, gaping at a shiny, red-eyed, black-bodied insect. The thing was as large as her hand. Its numerous legs crawled up her goose bump peppered skin. It fixated its multi-faceted, crystalline, red eyes at her. A ripple of revulsion ran up her spine. She screamed and batted at her tummy, hands fluttering madly. “We don’t have bugs like this in Seattle!” she cried, flailing her arms madly at the waxy body. The insect jack-knifed its outer shell and whizzed to the top of the twenty foot ceiling. “Damn it. Get down here, you disgusting thing, you!”

She stared up to where she’d seen the insect disappear. A tiny red glow appeared where the insect had landed. I must be more stoned than I thought.

She dashed into the kitchen and returned with insect spray. She unsheathed the nozzle and began to spray furiously in the cicada’s direction. The toxic fumes merely floated ineffectually to the luxurious tiled floor, making her cough and her eyes water. Crap. Double crap. Her gaze drifted back towards the ceiling. Red smoke was now streaming down from the rafters. She jerked in surprise. The red smoke streamed down and swirled around her head, causing a feeling of dark disturbance in her brain. It felt both hypnotic and horrid. Once more, she gasped. The plumes of smoke streamed around her torso like a silken ribbon, making her stomach convulse, and then wound around her legs and moved away from her. She felt as if she were encased in cement with a fog screen around her brain. What am I going to do? As if she were peering in from across the street, her dark blue eyes watched, mesmerized, as the smoke headed towards the entrance to her sleek apartment and undulated underneath the door jamb.


Since you write erotic romance, would you say that is your favorite genre? 

It is indeed. I like to read a good, nail-biting mystery now and then, or a fantasy mind-warp, but I always wander back toward the steam. I love the writing of JR Ward, Jacqueline Carey and Karen Marie Moning – those authors keep it hot AND interesting!


Our blog is called Book Sniffers Anonymous after all. So I must ask, are you a book sniffer? 

Now that’s an interesting question. I do like the smell of fresh new paperback books, if that’s what you’re asking, it’s true. Technology, however, in the form of Kindles, Nooks and other reader devices, has no discernible smell. The feel is hard plastic. You can’t dog-ear a page in a Kindle. Many scents and textures are lacking. I wonder if we’ll be missing essential ingredients to a good read as our world evolves into the rigid manufactured reality of techno-reading.


Since we always finish our reviews with a favorite part/quote, what's your favorite part/quote from the latest Wicked novel, Wicked Whispering? 

Here’s my favorite quote segment, uttered by Kai Williams after he’d accepted and embraced his abilities:
“I think there’s no real life purpose. I don’t think we’re supposed to do anything as much as we’re supposed to be something, in a state of perpetual evolution. Like those tendrils all around us. I don’t think they’re doing anything. I think they just are. I think humans get all tripped up assigning meaning to their lives and meaning to their abilities and shit like that.”

One randomly drawn commenter from the tour will win a $20 Amazon gift card.

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