| But when hope appears from an unexpected source, both men grab chance by the wings.
Visit Shayla Kersten's web site
Read an excerpt from Angel Moon
About Shayla Kersten
By day, multi-published Shayla Kersten is a mild-mannered accountant. By night, she’s a writer of sexy romances. Torn between genres, Shayla writes erotic stories about hot heroes and their sexy women, as well as hot men and their passionate heroes.
A native of Arkansas, Shayla spent four years in the Army as a missile specialist, stationed in Germany and Oklahoma. After her enlistment was up, she spent eleven years in New York City taking a bite out of the Big Apple. Even her love of theatre and the nightlife of the big city couldn’t cure terminal homesickness for the Natural State. In 1995, she returned to her roots in Arkansas.
Shayla divides her time between her mother, her spoiled rotten cats and dogs, her evil day job and her obsession—writing.
Backlist:
Title, Publisher, Release Date, (Genre)
Thirty Days, Liquid Silver Books, 12/16/2006 (GLBT, BDSM)
The Cost of Eternity, (Eternity book 1) Ellora's Cave, 2/7/2007 (GLBT, vampire)
Gaps In Your Soul, Ellora's Cave, 6/15/2007 (GLBT, contemporary, military)
The Rememdiu, Ellora's Cave (Eternity book 2),7/27/2007 (GLBT, ménage-m/m/m/f, vampire)
Hidden Force, Ellora's Cave, 11/16/2007 (GLBT, contemporary, rom sus, cops)
Double Deutsch (Destination Pleasure), Wild Rose Press ,11/24/2007 (Straight, ménage-m/f/m)
Forever, Liquid Silver Books, 12/17/2007 (GLBT, BDSM)
Past Lies, Ellora's Cave, 4/9/2008 (GLBT, contemporary)
Longing For Eternity, Ellora's Cave (Eternity book 3), 7/2/2008 (Straight, vampire)
A Helping Hand, Ellora's Cave, 8/27/2008 (GLBT, contemporary, rom sus, cops)
Double Happiness, Ellora's Cave, 10/24/2008 (GLBT, contemporary)
Keket's Curse (Masters of Desire), Kensington Aphrodisia ,1/1/2009 (Straight, rom sus )
Positive Possibilities, Ellora's Cave, 2/4/2009 (GLBT, contemporary)
Hidden Hands, Ellora's Cave, 4/3/2009 (GLBT, contemporary, rom sus, cops)
The Shopping List, (Seduction Anthology), Black Lace ,4/14/2009 (Straight, ménage-m/f/f/m)
Fighting For Eternity, Ellora's Cave (Eternity book 4), 6/3/2009 (GLBT, vampire)
In Heat, (Sexy Little Number Anthology), Black Lace ,9/29/2009 (Straight, ménage-m/f/m)
For Olympus' Sake, Ellora's Cave, 11/6/2009 (GLBT, fantasy, time travel)
Angel Moon, Ellora's Cave, coming soon (GLBT, scifi, space opera)
A note from Shayla...
Contest on my website (http://shaylakersten.com/shaylacontest.htm) from February 1 through February 7, 2010. "What is your favorite scifi memory?" Comments will be entered in a drawing for the winner's choice of a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble or PayPal (must have valid PayPal account and email). Contest winner will be announced on February 8, 2010.
An Interview with Shayla Kersten
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Shayla, thank you for talking with us at TRS. Please tell us about your latest release, Angel Moon. SK: Thank you for inviting me! And I love talking about books. Angel Moon is a sci-fi story in the tradition of Star Trek or Firefly. A space cowboys kind of thing but with a twist.
The official blurb:
Terra offers sanctuary to both Angellum and Virkola. Unknown to the humans, a truce exists there. To Terrans, the two species exist as myths. One is a frail, winged creature from religious texts. The other, a demon of the night, living off blood. Both are far from the truth...
Sorin thought sanctuary was the answer to their problems. Terra with its plentiful creatures, full of fresh blood and off limits to the millennia-long war with the Angellumwho wouldn’t think it paradise? Except paradise comes at a high price. Claiming a bounty on a renegade angel hasn’t ended up the way he planned at all.
Teo loves his ship, his life in space, but he loves Sorin more. The plan seemed sound, but the bounty is a fraud and now the price is on him and Sorin. He’ll make the best of the rest of his life with Sorin, even if it’s only for a few weeks.
But when hope appears from an unexpected source, both men grab chance by her wings.
HH: A bounty hunter and his lover in a world where things aren't what they seem? Where did you get the idea for this amazing story? SK: "Angels and vamps". That’s how the story started. Brandy Walker (http://brenaereads.blogspot.com/) said in a live chat that she’d like to see something with angels and vampires. I’ve written vamps before. My Eternity series is about vampires and immortals but the vamps are more traditional, earth based folklore. I wasn’t sure about writing another story about vampires when I already had a series in progress. I also couldn’t think of how to add angels to Eternity. Especially because one of Brandy’s requests -- which can’t reveal because it would spoil the surprise for those who haven’t read it. *cackle* But the idea was intriguing. Especially the super secret part. *winks*
So I filed the prompt "angels and vamps" away for future reference. A couple of months later a buzz went around with the online writing community about space opera being one of the next “big” things. My brain went, "Space... Vampires and angels and space. Vampires and angels and space." (Read that like "Lions and tigers and bears." LOL) A kernel of an idea formed and the plotting began. I decided to make the vamps the good guys. Why shouldn’t the demons get a fair shake every now and then. LOL I’ve always been a big fan of science fiction but never found an idea I liked well enough to attempt writing one. Brandy’s suggestion started something but it’s totally different from what she expected.
HH: How did you approach world-building for this story? SK: World building is always interesting. Even in contemporary books, an author has to world build but she can bank on a reader’s familiarity with the real world to help her along. However, if she’s writing about someone in Paris, she needs to show Paris. With science fiction, the world is all in the author’s mind and she needs to explain it to readers who’ve never been there. So I started with a bible of sorts. Cultures, history, planets, moons, space stations, names, ships, scientific theory as in modes of transportation, weaponry. Lots of stuff to think about. A bible helps keep track. I have bibles for my paranormal stories and my contemporary series as well. The Eternity one is quite long with four books worth of characters and legends. The contemporary series, Tennessee Cops, is more to keep track of names, jobs, physical descriptions and backstory.
For Angel Moon, I tried to steer away from putting a lot of hard science in the story. Science was never my strong suit in school. LOL I was more of a history/creative writing sort of person. Strange that I ended up an accountant in the day job. But that’s another story. Instead of a lot of technobabble, I focused on the characters. Don’t get me wrong. I love the tech talk part of sci-fi I adore Amanda Tapping as Carter on Stargate SG1. She’s the queen of technobabble. I just can’t write it. And I find character and story development more interesting.
HH: What do you like best about these two men? SK: I love Sorin and Teo’s bond and that they will do anything for each other.
HH: Will there be other stories set in this world? SK: Absolutely! Why waste a perfectly good universe on one novella? I planned three stories from the beginning. The first was Angel Moon. The second will concentrate on a new pair but Sorin and Teo will play a big part. The third is about a character that shows up in the end of Angel Moon. However, I can see other stories stemming from the first three.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers? SK: Lucky, eh? I hope they feel that way! *cackle* I’m working on final touches of a short contemporary about an uptight businessman and a beefcake of a baker. There will be icing involved. LOL
I’ve started the second book in the Angel Moon universe. I’m about a quarter of the way through the story.
I also have new ideas for my Tennessee cops. The first three books - Hidden Force, A Helping Hand and Hidden Hands - won’t be the last. I have three new stories mulling around in my head. Some old friends will show up but won’t be the main focus.
I also need to write book five of the Eternity series. It will be the final one for that universe. At least for a while. Never say never!
And there’s more. The voices are constantly talking! So many ideas, so little time!
HH: What do you enjoy about writing M/M fiction? SK: There’s just something about two men together that is so sexy. The give and take when both are of equal strength is something you rarely find in straight stories. Most women can’t match their lovers strength so their male partners have to hold back in lovemaking. But I also like bringing out the emotion most men I’ve known like to hide.
HH: What do you consider a really satisfying writing day? SK: I could say a high word count but more doesn’t always mean better. Usually I’m happy when the scenes come together the way I envisioned them. Of course, I’m ecstatic when the story works and I also have a high word count for the day! LOL
HH: What do you personally enjoy reading? SK: A little of everything. I love reading gay romances, like Allie Blue, T.A. Chase and J.M. Snyder. I also read straight erotic romances -- Delilah Devlin and Desiree Holt are two favorites. I even like tamer romances such as Elle James, Susan Gable and Holly Jacobs. I also have a shelf full of classics and old science fiction. Good writing is good writing regardless of genre. I don’t have near as much time to read as I would like. Writing takes up most of my free time.
HH: What would you most like to accomplish this year? SK: Write good books. Not much more I can ask than that! Oh, and lose a lot of weight. *cackle* I think the odds are better on the writing goal.
Thank you so much for allowing me to play on The Rainbow Studio!
HH: Thank you!
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