SUPERNATURAL SUNDAY

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BARBARA SHERIDAN MIXES UP

SOME LACE AND POISON

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Barbara Sheridan is the author of over twenty books and she writes in the genres of romance, gay and lesbian, science fiction and fantasy. She’s written for Linden Bay Romance, Cerridwen Press, Loose Id, Noble Romance Publishing, Liquid Silver Books, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain and Ravenous Romance. Whew! That was a mouthful, but it also shows how successful she’s been in this industry.

Her latest novel is Falling Through Glass and is on sale now at Liquid Silver Books here: sale link -- http://tinyurl.com/ydktugj

To learn more about Barbara and her various other works, please visit her on the web:

Website: http://www.barbarasheridan.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/barbarasheridan
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/barbarasheridan

Now, that you know the basics about Barbara, let’s learn some ghoulish information about her…LOL…:

1. Do you have a movie that you must watch every Halloween? What's your favorite scary movie? Do you have a favorite scary character or character type?

It’s not scary but I love “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

My favorite movie “monsters” are definitely vampires which goes back to the days of Dark Shadows and watching old B-horror films on late night local TV

2. Do you have any Halloween traditions like decorating your house, having house parties, wearing costumes, etc.?

My girls are grown now and I’ve slacked off the past couple years but I was always in the Halloween spirit decorating and costume making-wise from late September on.

3. If you do you dress up for Halloween, what will you be dressed up as this year? What was your all-time most favorite costume that you ever wore? Why?

I haven’t decided yet but it will most likely be something bloody.

4. Are you superstitious? Do you find yourself knocking on wood or throwing salt over your shoulder? If not one of these two, what is your superstition?

I’m not too superstitious. * knock wood * LOL

5. Do you believe in ghosts? If so, have you ever had a ghostly encounter and tell us about it?

I do believe and have a weird old house with inexplicable shadowy “things”.

6. Tell us 3 funny or strange things that happened to you, or someone you know, on past Halloweens.

The most amusing to me is the year I freaked out a passing little “Harry Potter” when I was in my Deatheater costume.

7. If you could be any paranormal creature, what would it be and why?

I don’t know. They all have their appeal and drawbacks. It would be a tough decision.

Now, let’s get to your writing:

8. Why the paranormal genre? What was the draw for you?

As I said above I grew up in the days of Dark Shadows, Addams Family, the Munsters and Twilight Zone. And loved creepy comic books and the universal monster movies.

9. If you could describe your paranormal writing with a word or phrase, what would it be? Please be creative and look beyond words like vampire, werewolf, etc., and delve into the core of your writing to tell us what word or phrase you want readers to take with them when they've finished reading your story.

I guess “Truth is stranger than fiction” is a good one. I try to make the paranormal elements as believable or plausible as I can. I’d like readers to think “I can actually see that happening…”

10. Do you prefer playing tricks on people or bestowing treats? Does that show through in your writing? If so, how?

Well I’m a big believer in HEA treats but ya know sometimes characters (and readers) have to put up with a trick before that final big treat payoff.

11. Who decides what creatures you write about, you or your muse? What kind of influence do you have over your story, or is the muse always the one stirring the cauldron?

I don’t want to even talk about that dratted Muse who flits off when I need him most and leaves me to pull my hair out. LOL

12. What was the creature that you had the most fun creating and why?

I think that would have to be the big bad Asian vampires Anne Cain and I came up with for our Dragon’s Disciple and Blood Brothers books.

13. If you had the opportunity to meet just one of your characters in real life, who would it be and why? Which of your characters would you never want to meet under any circumstance and why?

I think the one I’d most love to chat with is Emmi Maeda the heroine of my latest release. Why? Because she got to go back in time and meet some historical samurai I’ve always wanted to learn more about. I’d want al the gossip on what hey were really like.

The ones I’d never want to meet would definitely be Shu and Sakurai two of our very baddest vampires.

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I have an awesome video trailer for my latest Falling Through Glass here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4WgfyKgFA

The book is on sale now at Liquid Silver Books here:
sale link -- http://tinyurl.com/ydktugj


BLURB:

Swept from the glitz of Hollywood to the bloody streets of feudal Kyoto, Emmi Maeda encounters the love of her life and the greatest fear she’s ever known.

EXCERPT:

Within seconds, Emmi began coughing. She flailed her arms and legs, swatting a blanket from her face. Her brain took its own sweet time processing the Japanese words someone called out. "Calm down. You're safe now. You're safe."

Coughing, she sat up and scrambled to her knees as much as the cumbersome layers of clothing and the blanket covering her would allow. She bent forward taking in large gasping breaths, hacking to expel the smoky air from her lungs.

"Daijoubu desu ka? Daijoubu desu ka, oni?"

Was she a demon? What the hell kind of question was that?

Still kneeling, Emmi straightened and swiped her tousled hair from her eyes. She then turned to look over her shoulder. Had her mother sent some distant relative to watch over her and taunt her with the demon epithet in her stead?

"Are you a demon?" the man kneeling before her asked again.

Emmi blinked and wiped her eyes; they still stung from the smoke. She glared at her supposed rescuer. "Yes, I'm alright and I'm not a demon, you idiot."

She looked around. This did not look like the sound stage. Where was the storm? Why were there no firefighters or paramedics?

Where on Earth was she?

"What?"

Emmi looked back at the confused man. He was around her age and seemed rather familiar somehow.

"What?" she asked in answer to the very same question from him.

"Nani? Nan desu ka, oni?" he repeated.

"Look, I know I should be grateful to you and all, but…"

She broke off as his look of bewilderment grew. She closed her eyes a moment. She hadn't carried on any long conversations in Japanese since she'd last seen her grandparents at the funeral. In fact, that hadn't been quite normal since a lot of the time they chose to use the old, classical Japanese...…which was exactly what this guy was speaking.

She spoke to him slowly in Japanese, hoping he'd get it straight that she was not a demon and that she was indeed all right.

"What is i-di-ot?"

Emmi coughed and wondered if coughing more might distract him from wanting to know what idiot meant. However, when he repeated the question, she knew that wasn't much of an option. She looked at him and translated 'idiot' as best she could.
She gave a start when the look of bewilderment, which she thought might be his natural expression, turned to one of fury.

When he jumped to his feet and grabbed the katana lying on the floor a few feet away, Emmi knew without a doubt that he was not holding any movie prop.

It didn't look like any unsharpened practice or prop swords she'd ever seen, but it did look exactly like the antique sword her father had owned. She knew without a doubt that this katana was very much the same, very real and very deadly.

She looked around the room again. Why wasn't she in the same room? Why wasn't it a shambles? Where were the security people or the paramedics, the police, and the firefighters? Where the hell was she?

Before she could figure it out, the man ordered her to stand. She knew that to refuse would not be wise--even if he insisted on calling her a demon.

He pointed the katana at her. "Go back to where you came from, demon. Now!" he ordered in Japanese, pointing the blade to the mirror lying face down on the floor near a small lacquered cabinet.

The mirror!

Emmi ran forward, fell to her knees and picked it up, making sure it was unharmed.

It was her mirror, but it was different. It looked newer, shinier, and while it had a dent on the right side, the other nicks and dents were missing from the base. Where did the cloth tacked onto the back come from?

"Go back inside, demon! You will not have my soul! Not now or ever!"

"Wha--?" Emmi's voice died the instant she turned. The man had the tip of his katana a fraction away from the base of her throat.

"Go back inside to where you came from."

What was happening?

Was she dead and in some kind of hell for causing the accident that killed her father?

Was she unconscious and having some freakish dream?

"Go back now, demon!"

Shaking in fear, Emmi blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes and prayed she wasn't screwing up any old Japanese pronunciations. The last thing she wanted was to say something wrong, something that would push this guy over the edge.

"I'm not a demon. I swear I'm not. I don't know how I got here. I was caught in a storm at a place I was working. The wall fell on me. There was a fire. That's all I remember. I'm not a demon. I swear I'm not. My name is Emiko. Maeda Emiko."

"Maeda?" he asked.

"Yes. My family comes from Kanaz--the Kaga han," she added.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Then how did you come to be in the mirror? If you are human, and truly a Maeda, what did you do to disgrace yourself? Why would your family send you here to Shimabara to be a whore?"

He pointed the tip of the sword to her throat.

"Prove to me that you are human."

Emmi licked her dry lips and tried not to flinch. "How do I prove I'm human? Maybe by dying if you stab me?"

"Perhaps," he said flatly.