Author Interview with Denise Verrico

Won't you all give a great big Hook welcome to the lovely and talented Denise Verrico!
 Denise is a multi-published Urban Fantasy Writer. Each of you who takes a moment to leave a comment here will receive a link and free coupon code for an eBook copy of Annals of the Immortals, courtesy of Denise!

Hello, Denise! It's so great to have you here! Please tell us a little about yourself and the novels you’ve had published.

 I was born in New Jersey and grew up in the Pittsburgh, PA area.  I’m from a fairly large family.  My background was blue-collar, but I always aspired to going to college and getting a degree.  My parents encouraged me a lot.  As a child, I wanted to be a marine biologist or veterinarian.  Later, I was bitten by the theater bug and I became an actress.  I lived in NYC city and Northern NJ for a long time.  In college, one of my acting professors used to say I was destined to become a writer because I was so into theater literature.  I also used to write humor pieces to entertain my friends.  Eventually, I turned to writing plays and fiction.  Blame it on Anne Rice.  She killed off one of my favorite characters and made me want to write my own vampire world.  I live in the Columbus, OH area now, with my husband of 22 yrs. and our 19 yr. old son.  We have six pet birds, including a Timneh African Grey Parrot. 

I have four urban fantasy novels published by L&L Dreamspell, Cara Mia, Twilight of the Gods, My Fearful Symmetry and Servant of the Goddess.  Cara Mia is the prelude to the revolution.  Mia and Kurt are locked up in a biotech lab in California.  Mia tells a mortal neuroscientist the story of her becoming a vampire and her struggle to survive as a modern woman in an ancient culture.  She and Kurt strike the first blow for freedom.  In Twilight of the Gods, Kurt rises to become the charismatic rebel leader.  My Fearful Symmetry switches POV from Mia to Cedric, who observes the start of the revolution from within the Immortyl ruling class in India.  He becomes a pawn of the chief elder and involved in court intrigues.  Servant of the Goddess brings Mia, Kurt and Cedric together in NY.  In this one, Mia, with Cedric’s help, kicks some major butt.

 What genre do you prefer to write? Why?

I like writing fantasy and sci fi because they allow the writer to build an entirely new world, even if it exists within the one we live in.  Also, I find you can be philosophical and take on the big questions outside of the politics of our world. 

Complete this sentence. Nobody knows this about me but...I really love to sing. Actually, my close friends know this and my family does. I was a musical theater major in college, but I don’t think my readers and a lot of my writing colleagues know this.  I sing everything from show tunes to Queen.  I sang karaoke at my last sci fi con and a lot of people who know me from these conventions were surprised.

Do you have any writing rituals? Self-imposed rules?

Right now my laptop is out of commission and it’s killing me, because I like to write curled up on my sofa.  I will sit there with the TV or music on, but I don’t really pay them much attention.  It’s background noise-- as if six parrots wasn’t enough. 

I write 2-4 hours a day when I’m not doing book promotion.

 Regarding writing, what one piece of advice do you consider most valuable?

Less is more.  Keep modifiers to a minimum and don’t rely on description.  Let your characters tell the story in their words and actions.  I find long passages of narrative without dialogue between characters to be exhausting. 

What do you believe to be the high points of being a published author?

The high point is when I meet a reader at a signing, and she says she loves my books and has read them multiple times.  She’s there to buy copies for her friends.  I do this with books I love. 

What about the low points, if any?

Isolation.  A writer spends a good deal of time sitting and writing alone.  I don’t have time to do theater anymore, which I miss. 

What are you working on currently?

I’m writing a fantasy set in an eighteenth century technology.  I’d call it picaresque in tone.  The world is somewhat inspired by New Zealand and Maori mythology.  I’m also writing another urban fantasy that is magic based.

What is your favorite quote (any topic)?

All of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking to the stars- Oscar Wilde

You’re on a desert island, which three books (other than your own) would you have with you to read and re-read until you, hopefully, are rescued?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I Claudius by Robert Graves and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley—but maybe I should have a book on how to survive alone on a desert island.  Funny, but my favorite book as a child was The Island of the Blue Dophins by Scott O’Dell, where a young girl survives alone on a desert island.

How can we find you? 

Denise Verrico Links:

My website: http://bit.ly/JhW2sw

Blog: http://www.immortylrevolution.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/KIxyt2

Twitter: http://bit.ly/Mywg8f

Cedric:

https://www.facebook.com/cedricvampire

@cedricmackinnon

Servant of the Goddess Excerpt: http://deniseverricowriter.webs.com/excerptbookfour.htm

My Trailer: http://deniseverricowriter.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/12715998-immortyl-revolution-trailer

Amazon:

My amazon Page:http://amzn.to/K3NhVS

Servant of the Goddess Trade PB: http://amzn.to/K8uwPb

Servant of the Goddess Kindle: http://amzn.to/J0R2Id

Barnes and Noble:

Servant of the Goddess Trade PB and Nook: http://bit.ly/IIz7ru

Forget the fairytale vampire romance…

Mia Disantini thought she found the man of her dreams, but is trapped in a nightmare from which she can’t wake up. 

Kurt Eisen makes a monstrous bargain to survive a Nazi concentration camp and begins to understand what a monster truly is.

Cedric MacKinnon was once a celebrated vampire courtesan. Now he’s a deadly assassin, who has cheated death too many times.