Thursday, September 8, 2011

Paranormal Guest Author: Allyson James (Stormwalker Series)
















Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Allyson James!  Allyson is the author of the Mortal series, Tales of Shareem series, Dragon series, and the Stormwalker series including Stormwalker, Firewalker, and Shadow Walker.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Allyson: 
I started writing stories when I was about eight years old. I'd already read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and had started on Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. I realized that these novels were make-believe written down, and I was very good at make believe. So I started writing down stuff I made up. I also knew that people wrote books for a living, and the books went to libraries and bookstores. I couldn't imagine a better job.

I didn't start writing seriously for publication until many years later. I tried "real" jobs, but I always came back to writing. One day I said, "Why not?" and I started writing and submitting. It took about six years after that, off and on, to finally sell my first novel (which I did in 2002).

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Allyson:
  I grew up reading fantasy. I'd read the Lord of the Rings series by the time I was twelve, plus I loved C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. I went from there to fantasy writers such as Terry Brooks, Barbara Hambly, and David Eddings. I've always loved high fantasy and quest fantasy.

I originally wanted to be a fantasy writer, but when I started writing for publication, that market was hard to break into (or so I thought). Plus I always wanted to add romance to my stories, and at the time, romance was a no-no in fantasy (at least, not as much romance as I wanted to include).

So, I decided to be a romance author. I loved historicals (paranormals weren't yet a big thing), so wrote those. I still love historicals and still write them, but as soon as the paranormal romance market really opened up (moving beyond vampire romances), I took it as a green light to write all those stories I'd been saving up.

I kind of had to cajole my editors into letting me write paranormal, because I was doing pretty well at historical, and they didn't want me to stop. But I convinced them, and it's going well! I still write historical, though. Love that too.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Allyson:
  I think shape shifting would be cool. I'd love to have animal senses and be much stronger and faster than I am now (sitting and writing isn't good for your figure). Plus with shifting back and forth, you can take full advantage of your human skills as well as your animal skills. Best of both worlds. And maybe then I'd understand what my cats are constantly meowing at me about.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Allyson: 
Shadow Walker (Book 3 of the Stormwalker series) has plenty of action plus plenty of heartbreaking romance. Janet Begay, a Navajo Stormwalker, has to face the possibility that her boyfriend, Mick (dragon-shifter) might be lost to her forever, and that she will have to lose everything she has and everything she is to save him. Throw in some humor with Coyote, the trickster shape shifter, dragons who either want to help Mick or kill him, and a drag-queen magic mirror, for a fast-paced tale of magic, action, and drama.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Allyson: 
Good question. I'm bad at knowing who is who in Hollywood, or who would be right for my books. So if readers have their own ideas about Mick and Janet from the Stormwalker series (or Liam and Sean Morrissey from the Shifter series I write as Jennifer Ashley), have at it. :-)























Shadow Walker (Stormwalker #3) by Allyson James.

Stormwalker Janet Begay returns home only to have the ground collapse beneath her-literally. After tumbling two hundred feet underground, Janet is rescued by her dragon boyfriend, Mick. But something dark touches Mick while in the sinkhole, and Janet might lose him forever unless she recruites the most unlikely of allies to stop the growing shadow.


Thank you Allyson for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Allyson James and her books, please visit her website.

10 comments:

  1. Great interview. Your take on the paranormal sounds unique and is a side of mythology not commonly written about. I can't wait to get started on this series!!

    Good reading ~ Escape by Fiction

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Allyson. I said in my interview that I would want supper speed, now I like your idea of shifting...all those tricky things one could do. The mind boggles! OK, that's another book. Best of luck with everything.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm still thinking I would want to fly ... although, shifting into a bird would achieve that, I guess ... :-)

    Nice interview - I still remember thinking how weird it was when I read Carole Nelson Douglas' "Sword and Circlet" series that there was romance in the fantasy novel! now you can hardly find a book in any genre that doesn't have romance thrown in ... Heh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic Interview! I love your take on the paranormal/supernatural genre!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Terrific interview, Allyson!! I loved all the same books when I was younger: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne of Green Gables, etc. I just wish I would have turned into a writer, too! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. "I still remember thinking how weird it was when I read Carole Nelson Douglas' "Sword and Circlet" series that there was romance in the fantasy novel!"

    Oh, I forgot about that series. I really liked it. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just bought the entire series over the weekend. I think it sounds great. Thanks for the great interview!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so glad Allyson was able to convince her publisher to let her try a paranormal. I'd hate to think we could have been denied her awesome series.

    (\___/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

    alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
    http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Allyson,
    This series sounds great! I'll have to check them out. Glad that you're writing PNR now.

    Lea Ellen {night owl in IL}

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you all for stopping by! I can't wait to read this series.

    xx,
    E.J.
    Paranormal Author E.J. Stevens
    From the Shadows

    ReplyDelete