24 March 2012
Come in. Come in. Well hey there, well aren’t I the lucky interviewer today. A double whammy! Come in both of you and find somewhere to sit. Hey, just had a thought – If I put the microphone on a stand between you I can give you centre stage to introduce yourselves and talk as you want. It saves me butting in. I will keep quiet until you need me. However, before I do I will make sure you have a drink to wet your whistles. J
Lisa: Oooh… Peach Schnapps, with lemonade and cranberry juice for me please. How about you Laura?
Laura: I’m okay thanks.
*Passes Lisa a drink, and places the microphone on a stand.*
Lisa: I’m Lisa Worrall and I live in a little seaside town called Leigh on Sea, in Essex, in the UK. It is about forty miles outside London. I am a single mother with two children who fill me with joy and drive me nuts in equal measures, and we have a four-month-old puppy who thinks she rules the roost J
Laura: And I am the other half of the writing duo …I’m Laura Harner, aka LE Harner, depending on the genre in which I’m writing. I live in Arizona, but have lived all over the US and in Japan. The most interesting place I’ve ever lived was in Grand Canyon National Park. The craziest place was probably New Orleans. Or, maybe Yokohama.
I must say you do very well being as you are oceans apart. Sorry, carry on please.
Lisa: I have been in love with writing and creating stories since I was a kid. A couple of years ago a friend introduced me to Fanfiction, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Eventually I plucked up the courage to submit to a publisher, and the rest is history.
Laura: *Laughs* I had no choice. Three years ago, I woke from a sound sleep with the idea for a book pounding away in my brain. It wouldn’t go away. So, I ignored a houseful of company and started to write. Three years on, here I am. *Smiles at Lisa.* we enjoy our writing don’t we?
Lisa laughs. Yes, we’re a good combination. Our most recent release is Continental Divide, which Laura and I wrote together. She came to me and said, “Wanna write a book together?” That has now turned into a four book series! The woman is voracious! I can show you the blurb.
Cool.
Detective Remington frickin’ hates the missing persons detail, but a cold fury builds in the pit of his stomach when he realizes that over the past three months six boys have disappeared from the smaller communities that surround the greater Phoenix area. All reported to be runaways looking to escape their shitty lives, but Remy’s starting to put together a different picture and he doesn’t like it one damn bit.
Inspector Jamie Mainwaring stares at the six reports, willing them to make sense. Six boys, six months, all from just outside of London, which meant six different investigations. All of the boys were between the ages of ten and fifteen, all purportedly runaways from dysfunctional families. Something was rotten in Denmark.
*****
Exciting!
Laura: We’re both lucky in getting plenty of support from family friends, both at home and online. And I’ve just started to write full time.
Lisa: I think reading and writing occupies a lot of my time too. I’m influenced by nearly every one I read, but I have a few favourite authors in Sue Brown, Patricia Logan and of course Laura Harner.
Laura: Ah, thanks hon J
Lisa: I get a lot of ideas from music. Or, don’t laugh, sometimes I dream them, you know, just the spark of an idea and it turns into something more. Even just walking down the street you can see a couple together, or even a guy on his own and you wonder where they’ve just been, or where they’re going, or who they’re going to meet and it comes to you that way.
Laura: Usually I’m not running fast enough to escape them. Sometimes they come, as Highland Shift, and the Highland Destiny Series, as if they were percolating in my subconscious for a long time before shooting to the surface. Other times a picture might inspire me, as was the case with Ty Hard. I’d seen a picture of the mostly naked cowboy and I was driving my son to school when the idea hit. I made him write several key phrases for me on the back of a grocery receipt because that was all I had at that moment.
Lisa: Hahaha, you didn’t tell me about the grocery receipt!
Lisa: I love writing M/M, in fact my favourite character from one of my books is Carter from Thirst. Because he just doesn’t offer any apologies for what he is, a vampire, or try and excuse the fact that he kills people. As far as he is concerned, he’s just going out for a burger, because that’s how he sees people. I’d love to be brave enough to say, look this is who I am, this is what you get, if you don’t like it, there’s the door J I have a computer station in my living-room and that’s where I spend a lot of my time. I try to write during the day as a rule, so I can spend time with the kids before they go to bed, and then I get back to it.
However someday I may have a shot at heterosexual.
Laura: Really?
Lisa: You never know!
Laura: I write in several genres. MM and Ménage are published as LE Harner and my MF, mysteries and pranormals are published as Laura Harner. I sit in the family room at a large kitchen table. The whole space is now my office. I also sit on the back patio with my laptop or write on my iPad at Diamondbacks games or at my son’s baseball games. I don’t stop.
My favourite character without a doubt is Remy from Continental Divide. The latest book written with my trophy wife Lisa Worrall. He has a tortured soul, an unhappy past, and an inability to see his own worth.
Lisa: I have several WIP’s at the moment, including wanting to get Book 2 of Laura’s and my book Oceans Apart. However, I’ve brought along an excerpt of Summer Heat for you to read. That’s ok isn’t it Laura.
Laura: Sure.
Summer Heat Excerpt:
Frowning, Matt crossed to his bedroom window and pulled back the curtain. He couldn’t see anything past the rain as the wind threw it against the glass. Damn it. Matt squinted into the darkness but couldn’t see any vehicles at the front of the house. The knocking must have been his imagination. The house was miles from anywhere and only accessible by car. The nearest neighbors were the Hendersons and they were eleven miles away on foot. He was obviously still half asleep, the storm having awoken him. How could there possibly be anyone out there?
The knocking was louder this time, as if whoever held the brass ring firmly ensconced in the in the mouth of the lion’s head door knocker, was getting angrier with each bang. “What the fuck?” he mumbled, grabbing his cell, what for he wasn’t entirely sure, and heading down the stairs. The only sound the slapping of his bare feet on the quarry tiled floor of the hall as he cautiously approached the door. Rising onto the balls of his feet, Matt peered through the small stain glass window inset into the wood. He cursed softly; all he could see was driving rain and darkness. There’s nobody there, idiot. Matt ignored the derisive sneer of his inner voice and narrowed his eyes as he looked out into the night. Yeah, real genius. Cut down your field of vision. That’ll help you see the monsters better. Matt shook his head at his wandering imagination and turned away from the door. There was nobody there. It had probably been the wind lifting the knocker and slamming it back down.
“Jesus!”
The heavy slam of the knocker tightened his bowels and had his balls trying to creep back up inside his body, his heart pounding in his chest, blood rushing in his ears. Pressing his hand against the sleek wood, he swallowed hard. “Who’s there?” He cursed inwardly, wishing his voice sounded a little more quarterback and a little less band camp. “Who’s out there? I’ve got an…” he gazed around and grabbed the first thing to hand, “umbrella?”
“An umbrella would be good,” a deep voice shouted through the letterbox. “But inside would be better!” Matt worried at his lower lip and the owner of the voice obviously took the lack of response to mean more information was required, because he added, “My car broke down a couple of miles back and my cell died. Do you have a phone?”
Another flash of lightning lit the sky and Matt gasped as a man’s face pressed to the stain glass window in the door. All he caught was a glimpse of dark eyes and rain dripping off a straight nose. The thunder rumbled immediately and Matt sighed heavily, his hand reaching out and sliding back the deadbolt on the door. What the fuck are you doing? His inner voice screamed in his ear. He could be the poster boy for Axe Murderers ‘R Us, you moron. You can’t let him in. You want your mother to smell your rotting corpse all the way from France? Matt rolled his eyes and lifted the latch, but left the chain on as he opened the door.
Mmmmm sounds really good.
Before you head off, can you let me have some links please, buy, blogs and websites. To get traffic to you J
Lisa: You can find me at:-
Laura:-
Thanks so much. You guys are fun to have around, I do hope you’ll drop by again.
You two are great...good interview! *hugs* Love learning more about the ones I crave...um...I mean...yeah...*hangs head and blushes*
ReplyDeleteGreat Interview, you two :) I can't wait to read a novel you guys wrote together, I haven't yet, but I will!
ReplyDeleteE~