Warnings... if you weren't curious about Choices Meant for Gods or Sandy Lender before this interview you're going to be chomping at the bit to get this book to devour! Mwuahaha...

1. How did the idea for Choices Meant for Gods first come to you?

Sandy Lender: Way back when I was in junior high or early high school, the evil bad guy, Jamieson Drake, showed me Amanda Chariss. She was standing on a balcony, holding back the curtains as if embracing the morning sunrise and she was beautiful. I fell in love with her instantly. I got her name wrong at first...and I wasn't sure how she met Nigel Taiman at first...but I always knew she'd been running (with her wizard guardian) from this nasty old sorcerer Drake since she was a child.

I've got a notebook somewhere with a scene of Chariss and Hrazon meeting up with Nigel in the forest before they get to the Taiman estate. The names are all wrong but the camaraderie between Chariss and Hrazon is amazing. It shows Nigel instantly falling in love with this young lady, which I think is way too obvious, of course!

2. I'm pretty curious about Chariss. Why is she a heroine readers can get behind?

Sandy Lender: On one hand, Chariss is this amazing, kick-butt, no-holds-barred gal who possesses a well-controlled form of magic (the geasa) through years of training and self-sacrifice. On the other hand, she's just a 20-year-old girl who's been running from a madman since age four when the guy killed her whole family in front of her. She's sympathetic that way. She doesn't think of herself as any great shakes. She's done all this training so she can protect herself; not to impress anyone. She doesn't believe she can do anything great (flaw #1); she can't cook (funny flaw). She loves her guardian wizard like a father and would lay down her life to save his. She's kind to everyone because she just feels that's the right way to be. When she finds a fledgling dragon, she's excited and wants to feed it. She's just approachable and fun, strong and fabulous. There are reviewers on Amazon who state it more succinctly than I can because I'm too close to her. I've had her in my head for 25 years or so.

Oh. And then there's this amethyst on her cheekbone, high up near the corner of her right eye that she was born with. It's a "birthmark" of sorts that seals her fate...

3. What are some of the overarching themes that will drive your Choices trilogy?

Tolerance

Love

Spirituality

4. What are some of the difficulties in world-building?

Sandy Lender: Tracking those darn moons. I have a big ol' desk calendar, though, that I've plotted the moon patterns on so I know when the two moons in the world of Onweald are both full, both waning, etc. I need that information...

Another difficulty was measurements when I've got a flooding river in the mix. I have the evil bad guy in cahoots with an evil bad goddess (because one evil bad guy isn't enough, you know?) and they've got an evil bad army marching toward Chariss's latest refuge. Well, I've got to measure out how long that's going to take so everyone converges on the same place at the same time in Book III. So far, I think I have it timed just so...

5. Of course world-building isn't all work-a lot of it is fun. What's your favorite fantasy element you've incorporated into your world?

Sandy Lender: This is a really great question, Keira! There are a few elements I love...like Malachi, the dragon. I can't go into "why" because I would be giving away a bit of a mystery that the reader is supposed to solve before the end of Choices Meant for Gods. Chariss doesn't solve it (silly girl), but the reader figures it out. Mwuahahahaha.

I will pick: the geasa. I'm one of those funky Southern Baptists (even though I write bizarre fantasy about polytheistic societies - go figure) that believes sorcery and magic are things you best be pretty darn careful about. So, in my fantasy novels, I didn't want to confuse any impressionable minds (teens, etc.) who would be reading by having my "good guys" using sorcery or magic. So I made up a form of magic that comes from the good side of nature in my world. Now, you can argue that we're still using magic, and I agree, but, hey, it's my fantasy world and I'll cheat if I want to. So I made up the geasa as a god-breathed form of power that some people get while they're forming in the womb and some people don't. It's not necessarily hereditary, but many frightened bigots in the world of Onweald fear that it is, and many families have been murdered for producing Geasa'n children. That's where the theme of tolerance comes into play in the series. People who are intolerant and bigoted don't fare so well in my novels...

6. When it comes to the written word and real life, how do you define love?

Sandy Lender: I've just gone through a 17-month divorce, after a 13-year marriage that was mostly devoid of love, so I might not be the right person to ask. He he he. In fact, not long before I filed, my ex-husband informed me that he'd spent most of the marriage resenting me. Nice. So...I think I'll say that love would be NOT resenting the other person.

To be very serious, though, I would define love as mutual affection, respect, and, in romantic love, passion. Isn't it Eleanor in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility who throws "esteem" into the mix? I agree with the concept. Even for romantic love, the friendship qualities have to be in there or your characters are just having a fling.

In Choices Meant for Gods, when Nigel and Chariss first see each other, Chariss is so distressed over a plot development that's happening that she doesn't really notice too much about him. But Nigel is instantly enamored. He wants to come to her rescue. A friendship builds between the two before Nigel ever announces his intentions. Chariss wouldn't have had it any other way.

7. How did ArcheBooks first hear of Choices Meant for Gods?

Sandy Lender: I had a pitch session with the publisher, Bob Gelinas, at a writer's conference in Southwest Florida. He took my proposal, synopsis, marketing plan, first three chapters, and then requested the full manuscript a few days later. Woo-hoo! That was probably the most stressful interview of my whole life. Bob was a kind person, rather informal, just havin' a conversation about my book, but he probably doesn't realize I was on the verge of cardiac arrest the whole time.

8. Fill in the blank: If you're not writing, you are irritable.

9. What do you hope readers will gain from Choices Meant for Gods and the rest of your trilogy?

Sandy Lender: Even though life isn't always fair, even though we don't always get what we want, there are amazing people we meet during our journeys who lift us up. Without these people, the journey wouldn't be worth much.

10. Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

Sandy Lender: This might seem a wee bit odd, but in addition to my Choices Meant for Gods, I would encourage folks also to read Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. This novel is one of the best ever written. It's my favorite of all time. There are elements in Jane Eyre that influence my writing on a conscious and subconscious level, and folks who have already read the book will probably pick out a few of those elements in Choices Meant for Gods.

Also, thank you so much for hosting me! And thank you to all the visitors who've stopped in to read our interview today. It's been a fun exercise.

Thank you so much Sandy for sitting down and doing this interview with me! I'm so excited about this book and I hope everyone else is too.

If you're interested in WINNING an autographed, hard cover, first edition of Choices Meant for Gods leave a COMMENT on today's post AND tomorrow's post because at the end of each week one commenter (from all the blogs in the tour that week) will be randomly drawn and awarded. It might be you!

Buy: Choices Meant for Gods

To learn more about Sandy and Choices Meant for Gods check out the rest of her blog tour:

Originally posted 2009-06-12 03:39:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Goblets, Glasses, Mugs Dragons Fantasy, Mythical Magic Collectibles
• Pins, Buttons Harry Potter Fantasy, Mythical Magic Collectibles
• Candles, Holders Fairies Fantasy, Mythical Magic Collectibles
• Wands Harry Potter Fantasy, Mythical Magic Collectibles
• Figurines, Statues, Busts Lord of the Rings Fantasy, Mythical Magic Collectibles

I liked the other Violet Winspear so much that I picked this one up without a moment’s hesitation.

The story revolves around the Greek tale of Hades and Persephone. The hero is Don Diablo and the heroine is Persepha. A perfectly convenient match, but a delightful one nevertheless.

However that’s about the last good thing that I can say about this book. It’s definitely period as it was published in 1975 for the first time. Knowing it was period was really the only fact that kept me reading after they hero and heroine joined in a quick marriage of convenience.

The heroine wakes up from grief of her loved and recently departed guardian. She says it was a mistake to marry in such haste. Diablo refuses to let her go and what followed was the least romantic series of events.

She struggles. He overpowers. It’s not said in so many words but it’s clear it’s rape or at the very least an extremely forced seduction. He wears her out and then proceeds to “love her.”

The hero sums up their relationship quite succinctly when he tells her later in the novel he believes she didn’t cuckold him on his business trip despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

“I should hate to think that I had misjudged you after all, querida, and you were not so intrinsically virtuous that even a husband feels he is raping you each time he takes you in his arms. It isn’t a pretty word, is it? But to the point.” -- pg 155

Another Greek myth is mentioned and very nearly plays out in full. Don mentions reenacting out the story of Lucrenzia. I looked it up. The story of Lucrenzia is a story of a young wife who was raped in her own bed because the man threatened to do it anyway and then kill her and a slave and arrange their bodies to look like she’d committed adultery. Afterwards she confesses to her husband and family and then takes her own life.

The last ten pages (180-189) the heroine still is crying out how much she hates the hero, doesn’t love him, doesn’t like him, doesn’t want his kids, wishes he’d die, etc. He overhears her telling this to his grandmother and she realizes he’s heard. Off she runs and manages to run to the very spot where his mother committed suicide. He thinks she’s about to do the same – grabs her and hauls her back to her room. He explains about his brother’s death, his mother’s actions and in less than five pages she claims to have fallen in love with him.

It’s completely ridiculous and I closed the book miffed.

Rating: 0.5-1 Stars

Buy: The Devil's Darling

House Of Storms Violet Winspear Good Book

US $4.99

Sale

The Castle of the Seven Lilacs 51514 Violet Winspear

US $4.99

Sale

No Man of Her Own Harlequin Presents Violet Winspear

US $4.99

Sale

Brides Lace Violet Winspear Acceptable Book

US $1.00

Sale

The Chateau of St Avrell Violet Winspear Good Book

US $5.49

Sale

• Land Real Estate Opportunities
• Splash Pages Original Comic Art Comics Collectibles
• Toy Story Pixar Collectibles Contemporary 1968-Now Disneyana Collectibles

Do you like paranormal romance? Did you at one point enjoy Anita Blake? Well, My Wicked Enemy just pwned Anita Blake, but don’t take my word for it see for yourself! I read this in a day, I couldn’t put it down!

Our heroine is a terrified (rightly so) woman who experiences intense migraines. She’s seen something she shouldn’t (a ritual sacrifice) and it on the run from her guardian (the bad guy). Carson took nothing with her, and that includes her medicine, in hopes to escape. Being in a hurry might seem like a disadvantage now, with a pulsing multi-colored migraine rearing its ugly head and a man who’s stalking her through the streets, but it will in fact be a blessing in disguise.

Nikodemus is a warlord, a fiend with natural leadership, and he is the one stalking the pretty and petite Carson Philips through the streets. Killing her is on his to-do list, just below mage Magellan. He can’t believe how easy it is to track the witch. Her magic is fluctuating all over the place. One minute it’s there and the next it’s almost as if she were a human. When he corners her, Nikodemus asks just one question, “Why shouldn’t I kill you?”

The answer leads them through a dangerous adventure that spins out of control as they face mageheld fiends, evil mages, skitterish warlords, blood twins and more! The book starts out like it ends, by taking your breath away.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Marked interracial because the heroine is a witch and the hero is a fiend.

Buy: My Wicked Enemy

• Paranormal Romance Audio Books
• Interracial Romance Audio Books
• Paranormal Romance Books
• Interracial Romance Books

A Duke to Die For is an amusing romp across land, air, and ballrooms. It combines one randy and obscenely jealous duke, the best kind, and one beautiful, forthright but tragically cursed miss. Match made in heaven – or at least on paper.

It was nice to see an heiress story where the money is not needed at all by the hero. It’s just like a really, really big bonus… and who wouldn’t want that? Very refreshing and many props to Grey for writing it that way.

It all begins when the beautiful and intelligent Miss Henrietta Tweed shows up out of nowhere on the Duke of Blakewell’s doorstep claiming that she is his ward. Blake is flabbergasted and can’t believe that he is now a guardian for anyone let alone a young female of marriageable age. So what does he do? He decides to put her through a London Season in order to marry her off, which while not working perfectly with Henrietta’s plans at least ensures he won’t be affected by the curse that follows her like a plague.

Spoilers follow be wary:

Blake’s opinion on the curse as being complete poppycock is true. I expected the mystery behind the curse would be more than plain dumb luck coupled with a bunch of circumstantial happenings. I kept waiting for a person to be responsible for everything in an attempt to get the Henrietta’s huge inheritance. After all it made sense to me on that level. It would also explain everything and allow Blake to ride to the rescue.

However the non-curse self-fulling curse makes for an interesting twist as it were also. But how does an intelligent girl fall for it? Well, I suppose it isn’t completely unlikely for her to completely hoodwinked if you think about the time period where there are still many elements of lingering superstition. Henrietta was also seven, an impressionable age, when she was first told about the curse by an irrational old ninny who looked like a witch. By the time evidence stacks up, doubt is already firmly entrenched. In time, following the deaths of all of her guardians save Blake, she’s utterly convinced that the witch woman was right and that she is indeed very cursed. It’s a good thing Blake has a plan to show her that she’s not or they’d never be able to establish a happily ever after.

Rating: 3 Stars

• Pins Girl Scouts, Girl Guides Fraternal Groups Historical Memorabilia Collectibles
• Books, Manuals Girl Scouts, Girl Guides Fraternal Groups Historical Memorabilia Collectibles
• Girl Romance Audio Books
• Girl Scouts, Girl Guides Fraternal Groups Historical Memorabilia Collectibles
• Badges, Patches Girl Scouts, Girl Guides Fraternal Groups Historical Memorabilia Collectibles