10 Questions for Angel Martinez

Bestselling Author, Angel Martinez will be celebrating her Amber Allure debut on November 28th, 2010 with A Different Breed. What an amazing cover... don't you think? Remember folks, all month long I'll be putting the names of those people making comments on my blog into a hat and giving away a copy of Silent Vows (e-book). So join my newsletter and ask Angel a question while you're here.

Now... onto my questions for Angel.

1. You write quite a bit of Science Fiction... in fact most of your romance novels have a ton of fantasy in them. Tell me, do you think you were born in the wrong era? - If you could choose, what time would you travel to?

AM: I used to think I was born in the wrong era. When you’re young, knights and horses and simpler times are so appealing. But I know enough about the real issues of earlier times to know I’d miss little things like sanitation and heating. I think I’d have a terrible time trying to choose one time to visit, though. Renaissance Europe, Pre-Columbian Mexico, Ancient Rome, Minoa…don’t make me choose just one.

CB: Ahhh, no, not getting off that easy. If I said okay... for one day you're going to_______?

AM: *grumble* Fine, fine...Renaissance Italy during the later half of the 1400's, during Lorenzo de Medici's rule. Have to go have a talk with Leonardo. Maybe drop in on various artists.

2. If you could pick one person (dead or alive) to sit down and talk to, who would it be and why?

AM: Martin Scorsese. Wait. I heard your jaw hit the floor. Hear me out. Yes, his movies are often filled with brutality and violence. I don’t always enjoy everything in them. However, if you’ve ever heard him speak, he’s an incredibly intelligent man with a love of history, a unique understanding of the craft of storytelling, and a marvelous sense of the creative process. He could simply talk the whole time. I’d be content to listen.

CB: No jaw slacking... but I did look him up since the name didn't ring one bell in my head. Ohhh, 5 wives. He and my dad should talk. Here is the link for those of you reading this interview. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/bio And wow... lots of violent films. Here is a quote from the bio "His lead characters are often sociopathic and/or want to be accepted in society."

AM: Creative personalities are often difficult to live with. He's directed violent films but he also directs a lot of documentaries and bio-pics, has a show where he talks about the history of film and so on. I think my favorite movie of his was The Aviator, about Howard Hughes. Like me, he's drawn to people who don't quite fit.

3. What book, or story, that you wrote surprised you the most.

AM: I think over the years my SF continually surprises me. Fantasy tends to grow organically, sometimes like a single, lovely poppy, and sometimes wild like a tomato plant in August, but it happens in a one thing arising from another sort of way. My SF ambushes me. Leaps upon me. Trips me in the dark and demands things. Romenel was written from a single scene that occurs well into the story. I had to figure out how, what and why to finally reach that scene again.

CB: I love it when stories evolve that way.

4. Do you believe that opposites attract in real life?

AM: Absolutely. Often to our detriment. We seek the other, someone unlike us for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it means you’re fighting with your parents about your hoodlum boyfriend. I do think, when it’s right, it’s because we need someone to complete us, to supply the qualities we lack. A couple has to have something in common, sure, but I wouldn’t want a mate exactly like me. Horrid thought.

CB: For the record, we (you and I) are quite opposite and yet click as friends and CP's. Just saying... Although I'd probably drive you crazy if you lived next door.

AM: LOL, possibly. But as long as you didn't mow your lawn in the dark (one of my neighbors does), I'd be OK with everything else.

5. If you could only write one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

AM: Oh, dear. Just one? I think I’d have to keep the Fantasy. The rules are more fluid, the possibilities endless. With Fantasy, you get to put in whatever other genre you like (mystery, suspense, action, even a bit of SF) and not break the ‘rules’ so long as you don’t break your own world-built rules.

CB: I'm with ya... I think paranormal would top my list, too.

6. When did you realize that you HAD to write novels? Was there a defining moment or occurrence that made you put pen to paper? Or fingers to keyboard?

AM: I always loved spinning stories. Told them to my stuffed animals at bedtime. Loved the English assignments that allowed us to make stuff up. However, I’d always been told that fiction writing was a pipedream, a waste of energy since it wouldn’t support a family. It took a soul-draining corporate job to bring me back to reality. Half my job there was spent sitting in silent conference rooms waiting for other people. Apparently, only peons were expected to be polite and be on time. I started to write in the backs of notebooks, in blank pages in my day runner, tiny, crabbed, desperate script that grew and grew into…novels. When I finished the first one, I had a moment of shock. Wow. I wrote a whole novel. Followed swiftly by a moment of clarity. Wow. I felt good again.

CB: So if you won the lottery you'd quit the day job and write... right? Love the peons bit. So very true in life.

AM: Oh, heck yes. I'm not counting on the lottery, but someday there will be a time when I can "retire" from the day jobs and write full time. The job I have now is non-demanding - forty hours, leave the job at the workplace kind of thing. No corporate ambitions for me.

7. Since Christmas is around the corner, a little holiday question for you. What was the one gift you wanted as a kid and received... and what gift did you 'just have to have' and didn't find under the tree?

AM: My parents were never well to do, but they always made sure we felt special at Christmas. This is going to sound so geeky, but I longed for a microscope at one point. I can still smell the wood of that microscope box…oh, the wonder of it all from the workings of the device itself to all the cool little slides that came with it. Algae. Plankton. Euglena. Honestly, I never recall pining for something that didn’t materialize.

CB: Okay, I did laugh at the microscope. Good thing I wasn't drinking something or my computer would be trash... I think mine was an E-Z-Bake Oven. Could you and I be more different? LOL

AM: Yes, we could. You could be like the lady who sits next to me at work who finds fantasy "boring".

8. One more Christmas question... When did you realize that Santa was part of the fantasy world.

AM: Ha! I have an older brother. I think I was in First Grade when he made sure I understood there was no Santa. Doesn’t matter. I still leave out cookies.

CB: Oh, give me that boy's number so I can go kick his butt. I had an older brother too, but he sure as heck didn't say a thing knowing that if he did there would be NOTHING under the tree for him. One year he peaked at his presents to wake Christmas morning finding all his gifts missing. Don't think I didn't gloat on that one. *still shaking my fist at your brother*

AM: Catherine to the rescue! LOL. That "boy" is a Geophysics professor teaching in London now, with a family of his own. I think he simply felt it his duty to make certain I knew the truth about the world. But, yes, my parents weren't pleased with him.

9. Back to romance: You write M/M romance, but who (what author) of M/M romance is on your auto buy list?

AM: I have several authors I absolutely adore, both for their choices of subject and their skill as storytellers. I will buy anything by L. E. Bryce. She’s amazing. Ava March, adore her Regency romances (it’s a tough thing to pull off, M/M in that era.) Andrew Grey – very uplifting stories, I read his when I need an emotional boost. There are many others I’ve enjoyed, but these are the ones I take special care to search for.

CB: Writing these down.

10. If there is one thing about the publishing world that you could change, what would it be?

AM: I would ensure that e-publishing enjoys the same rights as the big print houses. Copyright infringement is a serious issue and all things printed enjoy protection under the law. But a too-large slice of the population still believes e-books are fine to steal, to copy, to redistribute as they please, robbing hardworking authors of the little bits of compensation we scrape out of hours and hours of labor. The laws are in place, of course, but government needs to get serious and crack down on the thieves.

Sorry, got all stern and soap-boxy there. I’d also like to ensure that there are more kittens and fluffy clouds in publishing firms.

CB: Don't forget the instant redial at month three of all submissions so the author knows what the heck is happening with their MS. I think we'll see e-publishing go through all these changes and more in the next ten years. Sadly, I think a hard copy is going to be difficult to come by some day soon.