Book Faery: Author Interview with Larissa Ione + Giveaway (2 winners)!

I'm so sad that this will be the final post for Demonica week! It was so much fun talking about all of these books with you. But we must continue, so I'm here to present to all you lovely readers and participants an author interview with Larissa!

Larissa Ione is a NYTimes best selling author. Here's an excerpt from her bio, courtesy of Hachette:

"I began writing the way so many writers do—the moment I learned to wield a pencil. But even as a child, I didn't write "kid" stories. I preferred something more dramatic. Something that didn't include Dick, Jane, and a dog named Spot. I wanted my characters to be named Dracula and my dogs to have names like White Fang or Cujo. I'll always have my parents to thank for that. They never censored my reading material (though I suspect that if they had truly known what was between the covers of some of the books, they'd have been a little more careful,) so when other girls my age were reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and Judy Blume, I was immersing myself in Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

Later, after I'd joined the Air Force and was in dire need of something to read between shifts at the weather station, I continued to read horror, but I'd branched out into fantasy, and then, finally, romance (though I admit I went kicking and screaming to the latter.)

Turned out that I loved romance! So I started writing it, but again, my style and voice leaned toward the dark, paranormal side. Fortunately for me, paranormal romance, as a sub-genre, was booming. I let my imagination fly, and soon I'd sold a series of dark, sexy paranormal romances to Grand Central Publishing.
I still read a lot of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and in fact, one of my all time favorite books about writing is On Writing, by my favorite childhood horror author, Stephen King. If you're an author or a reader, I highly recommend this book for an insight into an author's mind—which can sometimes be a very scary place.

Go ahead; Seduce your dark side."

Great to have you here at Book Faery, Larissa! Could you tell readers a little bit about yourself that we can't easily find on your website?
Thank you! Great to be here! Let’s see...something you can’t find on my website...well, I hate gardening. Yep. If it has fur, I can keep it alive until it begs me to let it die, but if it has leaves...it’ll shrivel up and die if I even look at it. Naturally, my husband handles the yardwork. I’m a vegetarian (see...I keep the animals alive but kill the plants! *g*), I drive a Subaru (OMG, Subarus are like, the best vehicle ever,) and I have a Star Wars bowling ball. Yep, seriously. I’m a Trekker, but I couldn’t find a Trek ball, so I have Princess Leia. Oh, and I hate pink, but for some reason, I LOVE pink electronics! I have no idea why, but I need my electronics to be pink. My iPod, my laptop, my cell phone...even my laptop cooling mat is pink. Yeah, I’m a freak...

Special Ops Romance is coming out on May 11, 2010. From the looks of it, this book is a compilation of stories from you and a bunch of different authors. What is your particular short story about in this book?
The story is called Code Word: Storm, and it’s by my alter ego with Stephanie Tyler, Sydney Croft. The story is focused on Annika and Creed from the ACRO books, and takes place between book one (Riding The Storm) and book two (Unleashing The Storm.) The Sydney Croft books are erotic science-fiction/paranormal. Think: Erotica meets the X-Men.

X-Men huh? Sounds like my kind of books. For those that are new to your writing: what are your future plans for the Demonica series?
Well, the last book in the series is Sin Undone, but...it’s not really the last. Sin Undone will kick off a spinoff series called Lords of Deliverance, and it’s about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. These books are set in the Demonica world and will feature many familiar characters, so hopefully Demonica fans will find some fun new characters but still be able to visit familiar ones. You’ll get a sneak peek at the back of Sin Undone. The first book, Eternal Rider, will release in April 2011.

Are any of the female characters in your Demonica series based upon yourself in any way? Do you secretly wish you could be any of them?
None of the characters are like me at all, so none of them are based on me in any way. If I could secretly be any of them...hmm. I love Tayla’s toughness, so I wouldn’t mind being her. But I’d love to be Serena too, because she gets to sleep with Wraith. :)

When you have spare time away from working and writing, what do you like to do?
I don’t have a lot of spare time, but what I have is spent with the family. I love to watch movies, read, play Wii, bowl, and travel. We’re planning a family trip to Great Britain this fall, and I can’t wait!

Now for a few quick questions:

Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate? Milk! Dark chocolate is nasty!
Coffee of Tea? Coffee. I love tea, but for some reason, hot tea tends to upset my stomach. Love unsweetened ice tea on a hot day, though!
Pepsi or Coke? I’m not a soda drinker (I prefer straight seltzer water,) but if I have to drink a soft drink, I pick Pepsi.
Chocolate or Vanilla? Ooh, tough one. I used to be a strictly chocolate person, but I’ve really come to appreciate good vanilla.
Print Books or E-Books? Print books. I do like my e-reader — it’s great for travel. But I prefer to read my favorite authors in print.

Okay, so now I’m curious -- readers...chocolate or vanilla? And did your tastes change? I used to be chocolate, but when I got pregnant, my tastes definitely changed. What about you?

Thank you so much for stopping by Larissa! Please feel free to come back again anytime :)

Sorry!
This giveaway is now [CLOSED]

Giveaway Guidelines:
1. Open to US residents only.
2. Include your email. If you are uncomfortable posting it publicly, contact me.
3. Answer Larissa's question in order to be entered.
4. Giveaway ends 5/14 Be sure to check back after that and see if you've won! Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email before a new winner is picked.

Advertising for this interview/giveaway (Tweeting/Facebook/etc) will earn you extra entries. Please provide the links at the end of your comments or REPLY to your original comment with the link(s).

If you have noticed, I am taking away the follower requirement for these contests. I would rather people follow my blog by choice over a requirement. So while following is no longer required, it is highly appreciated!