Gothic Angel Book Reviews: Author Interview: Natalie Hancock, Author of Eternal Darkness and Many More.

Hi Guys *waves*

I am lucky enough to have been given an interview by author Natalie Hancock. I am really looking forward to reading Eternal Darkness in the next couple of weeks.

As most of you guys will know by now, I am a cover-magpie, I LOVE great cover art and Natalie sure has some hot, HOT, HOT! covers. Shall we take a little look?....

(click on image to enlarge)

So, on with the interview...

Hi Natalie, Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm a talkative, hyperactive writer of Erotic Vampire Paranormal Romance books. I love both reading and writing, and I love listening to loud rock/hardcore music. I was born in Devon, Plymouth in 1991. I didn't stay there for long and moved to Lincoln. I wasn't always a lover of books. I was more an animal person then. I went to University of Lincoln, Riseholme College, where I studied an animal course for two years. It was only when I saw J.K Rowling's, Harry Potter books that I start reading.
Over the years, I read more books, including Twilight and House of Night and soon I became a huge lover of books. I love reading so much, and all the books that I've read have inspired to start writing my own, though reading vampire books did not inspire me to write vampire books myself, my dreams did that for me.
I own more than a hundred books, mainly vampires, and read over double. I plan to have my very own library of books that I love and will continue to read repeatedly, without getting bored.
I'm a true believer of all things supernatural, and hope that one day I'll have the pleasure of meeting a vampire or werewolf.
I live in the middle of nowhere with my partner, Reece and my little zoo which consists of hamsters called Crunch, Rue, and two baby hamsters who I’ve named Shayle and Tallis (Reece doesn’t know that yet), a hyperactive chinchilla called, Hektor, and two guinea pigs, Smudge and Squig. We hope in the near future that we can get an army of guinea pigs, hamsters, and chinchillas. Along with a goat.

What genre do you prefer to write and why?

Erotica Paranormal Romance/ M/F, M/M, M/F/M, F/M/F and so on
I love writing this genre because I feel I can really show the readers how much my characters actually love each other, whether it’s just the way they look at each other, think about each other or when they’re together, intimately or not. It’s not all about saying “I love you” and my main characters in my Cursed in Darkness Series, Layla and Shade show that. They don’t even say the words until the very end of the fifth one, so before that book, you can see and feel the emotion coming from them.

Cursed in Darkness, that sounds interesting. Tell us a little about your series.

Cursed in Darkness is an ongoing series and my first published books. There are seven books in this series and already, six of them are available. Eternal Darkness, Dark Shadows, Dark Awakening, Dark Secrets, Ascend from Darkness and Darkness Arising.
The last book is called Darkness Unveiled.

The books are full of bad-ass fighting, hot, steamy sex, secrets, lies and death—just your normal vampire book really. Just with a twist because the vampires in my books don’t have your average enemies.

Their enemies are us...humans.

The series is about the life of half-breed Layla (dhampir) who hungers for vampire blood, or the blood of other creatures, anything to stop the beast from rising.

From the beginning, she resides within a hundred acres of land, full of vampires. As she goes about her daily life, she not only begins to struggle with her hunger for blood, but also the touch of sexy Shade, who is a vampire. The desires and lusts they both share is forbidden within the land, but the lure of his voice and the power of his touch is too much for Layla to resist.

As the story goes along, you begin to find more about Layla and how she came to be the dhampir she is from memories she has through her dreams or when she’s thinking about them, and also from the way others act around her, especially her guardian, Nikalye.

She has many secrets kept inside and struggles to keep them just that. A secret. And as something that many think should not exist, for being who she is, many hunt her and she has to fight keep others around her safe, and keep herself out of Deaths hands as he constantly reaches out.

Are there any other books you’ve written, or are still writing? Tell us about them.

I have two written. Vampire Erotica Paranormal Romance book, and book one of the Soul Bite series, Pleasures of the Soul. Which is the very first third person POV book I’ve written.
Here is the blurb:
-Aaliyah didn’t believe in love-at-first-sight until she met Aidan—he was everything she could ever want and more.

When Aaliyah discovers Aidan is a vampire, and that she and her best friend have been chosen as potential mates for himself and members of his vampire clan, she runs, losing her best friend along the way.

Desperate to win her over, Aidan arranges to have her found and brought to his mansion where she could be protected from outside vampires who wish to do her harm as a means to punish him.

Aaliyah’s determination to resist him despite how she truly feels, proves to be a tough obstacle for Aidan, but the closer Aaliyah gets to him, the stronger their bond grows and the lure becomes impossible to deny.

Will Aaliyah give in? Or will the past, they don’t realize they share, come back to haunt them both?

My first werewolf book in the series Wolf Hunt—with the same genre—Forbidden Love.
-Keta is a vampire hunter with revenge deep in her soul. She is hunting and killing all vampires until she finds the one responsible for her torture and the one who changed her into something more than a werewolf.

Elijah was born as a vampire but bitten by a werewolf. He is the only known half-breed in existence. The connection between his werewolf master, alpha male and pack leader, Rio, and himself can’t be broken, even by vampire law. So when Rio’s daughter, Katrina, goes missing, Elijah is ordered to search for her.

Keta and Elijah’s paths cross and an explosion of deep lust neither of them understand is awoken, threatening to destroy everything Keta believed in and unmask the identity she tried so hard to keep intact.

Can Keta trust Elijah before their forbidden love kills them both?

I’ve nearly finished the first book in the World of Darkness series (which is connected to the Cursed in Darkness series) written. Unfortunately, I can’t say what this is about at the minute. It would be spoiling the last book in the Cursed in Darkness series.
I have the next four books in the Soul Bite series planned and ready to write.
I also have a random book I just thought of that I’m writing when I have the time. It’s called Love Kills and is about Immortal, Rayne, who is the only one of her kind, living among Demons. She’s destined to change the fates of their lives as an apocalypse nears. Not knowing what will come with that apocalypse, Rayne can do nothing but train hard to prepare.
When Kade, a Demon of Death and Destruction arrives, Rayne and he fall for each other instantly with just one problem, Kade is the only person who can take Rayne’s Immortal life away from her, and although Kade himself doesn’t want to harm her, the Demon inside him does, and this complicates things when it reigns free and wants nothing more than to take that away from her.

Do you have a publisher?

Yes, Extasy Books: http://www.extasybooks.com/
They were the first publisher I contacted when I first set out to get my books published, and I really loved the site. I was contracted within two hours of emailing my finished work, and have never regretted it. Everyone at Extasy Books is like a family and they’re all so nice and welcoming.
My publisher gave me the chance I needed to prove I had potential and I haven’t let her down yet.

Is there anything challenging about writing?

My writer’s block—when I get it, I can have all the ideas in my head, but when it comes to writing them down, I can’t. It’s like I don’t know how. It’s so frustrating! Sometimes I would have to wait a week without writing because I can open my work and have the idea’s come to me, as though they were waiting the entire time for me to write them down.

Do you have any rituals you do before or while you write?

Stick on rock/hardcore/screamer music on loud, so I can’t hear myself sing (because that always puts me off) and I just write, first on paper because that’s how I prefer to write, and then on the laptop. Without my music everything around me distracts me from my work and I can usually find myself staring out the window for hours on end, even when there’s nothing to see.

There are new writers wanting to publish their work out there. What advice would you give them?

The same advice I always give. Never, ever give up. If you believe your work is good and have spent months or years working hard on it, then it deserves that chance, whether you get it published with a publisher, or publish it yourself.
Just make sure you edit, edit, edit. I see a lot of work out there that has such an amazing story, amazing characters etc, but the editing is that of a four year old. That really puts me off reading because I notice all the mistakes from hours of finding my own. I’d hate to think there are amazing books I’m missing out on because of that.
I know some mistakes can’t be avoided, take me for example. I have a few mistakes in my books, ones that both my editors missed, but I worked on the books for years, reading and re-reading through them repeatedly. I was bound to miss something and so have others.

Where can we get your books?

My publishers site, Extasy Books. Amazon, Smashwords, Fictionwise, Barnes & Noble, All Romance E-books, Nook, Bookstrand.

Although the sixth one is only available from Extasy Books at the minute, as it’s a new release.
Eternal Darkness is also available in print form, but only on one place until my publisher sorts everything out. This is very exciting for me as my publisher and her site only release e-books. Having my book out in print is such an amazing feeling. http://www.lulu.com/shop/natalie-hancock/eternal-darkness/paperback/product-20360477.html

Where can we find you?

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com /#!/Author.Natalie.Hancock
Cursed in Darkness page: http://www.facebook.com/CursedInDarkness/
Blog: http://natalie-c-hancock.blogspot.com
Email: natalie.c.hancock@gmail.com