ABOUT THE CURSE GIVER
Lusielle's bleak but orderly life as a remedy mixer is shattered when her husband betrays her and she is sentenced to die for a crime she didn't commit. She's on the pyre, about to be burned, when a stranger breaks through the crowd and rescues her from the flames.
Brennus, Lord of Laonia is the last of his line. He is caught in the grip of a mysterious curse that has murdered his kin, doomed his people and embittered his life. To defeat the curse, he must hunt a birthmark and kill the woman who bears it in the foulest of ways. Lusielle bears such a mark.
Stalked by intrigue and confounded by the forbidden passion flaring between them, predator and prey must come together to defeat not only the vile curse, but also the curse giver who has already conjured their ends.
PURCHASE AT:
ADD BOOK ON GOODREADS:
Thanks for letting usinterrogate interview
you! Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to
be an author?
PURCHASE AT:
ADD BOOK ON GOODREADS:
Thanks for letting us
Nature and nurture. I was meant to
write since as far back as I can remember. It helped that I was part of a
family of avid readers. After I started writing, I couldn't stop. I still can't!
That's why I have to be an author. It's not a choice. It was always meant to
be.
Tell us (we won’t tell, promise!), is it all it’s cracked up to
be? I mean, what are the perks and what are the demands?
I think being an author is all that
it's cracked up to be and more. For me, writing is life's greatest indulgence. It
may be so because I had to work really hard to get to the point in my life where
I could write full time. These days, when I'm happily writing in my studio,
flowing along with my stories, I feel so lucky that I have to pinch myself!
The biggest perk of being an author is
that I get to practice the sweet craft of writing. That in itself is more than
enough for me. But there are other perks as well, like setting up your own
schedule, going to the office in your comfy clothes and working from home. I
relish the thrill of the creative process. I get to spend my days telling
stories, creating characters and coming up with plot twists. How cool is that?
I love the fact that my direct supervisor is a cat and my performance
evaluation comes straight from the readers. The readers are the greatest perk
of all.
The demands are many, continuous and
pervasive. You need time to be an author—lots of time—and that means that other
things, important things, often go by the wayside. Rest, recreation and
relaxation are the first to go. You also need focus, drive and determination.
You've got to be able to balance the self, generate ideas, put down the
stories, edit, persevere and then do it all over again. You've got to have some
staying power. You also have to be comfortable with being alone for great
portions of the journey. For most of us, the earnings curve is slow to grow
while the expense curve spikes a lot faster. The physical demands of the trade are
often overlooked and yet they shouldn't be. Did you know that long hours of
immobility, staring obsessively at a screen, can be as harmful and painful to
the human body as a barefooted sprint across the Sahara?
Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and
can you give us the nitty-gritty lowdown on what that's like?
I went the traditional route with a twist. But then again, if
you've read my novels, then you know how I love a good twist. All of my books
have been published by small independent publishers. I enjoy working with
independent publishers, mostly because as an author I'm part of the publishing
process from the beginning to the end and my thoughts and opinions count.
Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so
much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published,
what have you?
My family has always been very
supportive of my writing. They know how much I love what I do and they take
pleasure in my joy. Or perhaps they know how miserable I'd be if I wasn't able
to write. Either way, I can't complain. On the contrary, when it comes to
family support, I feel like I'm one of the luckiest writers on the planet.
Do your pets actually get their food on time or do they have to
wait until you type just one more word?
My cats are fortunate because someone else is in charge of
feeding them and I'm only the backup plan. Otherwise… yikes.
In writing your book, how did you deal with the phone ringing,
your family needing dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re late?
I quit on my boss, waited until the
kids were old enough to fend for themselves, and wrote at night, and I mean,
really late at night. To this day, I typically wait for everyone to go to bed
before I start writing and then write through most of the night. Call it life
avoidance, but the phone doesn't ring late at night and everyone else is asleep.
I'll admit that my strategy prevents me from ever becoming a morning person,
but hey, we can't all be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed first thing in the
morning.
What was the craziest or most insane thing that happened to you
in the book publishing process?
My first novel ever, Stonewiser:
The Heart of the Stone, won the Benjamin Franklin Award for best debut
novel. After that, every book of the three-volume series won a major national
award. Crazy, right? Finally, I got a book deal for The Curse Giver on my birthday. Can you think of a better birthday
present?
How about the social networks? Which ones do you
believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid?
You know, I kind of like having
different choices to stay in touch with my readers, but I'll admit that keeping
all of the social networks active and current takes a lot of time. For that
reason, I rely on my website, blog and newsletter to communicate directly with
my readers. I also like Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter, although I have been
known to neglect a post or two in favor of writing.
What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream
about?
Common sense. Is there any of it left
in the world?
Okay, too much sugar for you today! Here’s a nice cup
of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves
roll in. Now…can you tell us what you love about being a published
author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all part of
the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?
Yes, I can definitively and honestly
tell you all of that. I love my life. I enjoy the daily opportunity to tell a
story the way I think it should be told: thoroughly and vividly; with energy, patience
and passion; with care and devotion to satisfy the mind, engage the heart and
soothe the soul. Being a published author has been an incredible and wonderful
experience for me and, yes, you are absolutely right, I wouldn't have it any
other way.
ABOUT DORA MACHADO
Dora Machado is the award winning author of the Stonewiser series and her newest novel, The Curse Giver, coming this summer from Twilight Times Books. She is one of the few Latinas exploring her heritage and her world through the epic fantasy genre today. She holds a master's degree in business administration and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown University. She was born in Michigan and grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a bilingual fascination for writing, a love for history, and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. She enjoys long walks, traveling, and connecting with the amazing readers who share in her mind's adventures. She lives in Florida with her indulging husband and three very opinionated cats.
You can visit her at www.doramachado.com
WATCH THE TRAILER!
The Curse Giver Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule
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Monday, August 5 - Book featured at Margay Leah Justice
Wednesday, August 7 - Interviewed at Review From Here
Friday, August 9 - Interviewed at Examiner
Monday, August 12 - Guest blogging at Literarily Speaking
Tuesday, August 13 - Interviewed at Straight from the Authors Mouth
Thursday, August 15 - Guest blogging at She Writes
Friday, August 16 - Interviewed at Beyond the Book
Monday, August 19 - Book reviewed and Trailer reveal at Miki's Hope
Wednesday, August 21 - Guest blogging at Literal Exposure
Thursday, August 22 - Book featured at As the Pages Turn
Friday, August 23 - Interviewed at I'm Shelf-ish
Tuesday, August 27 - 1st chapter reveal at Examiner
Wednesday, August 28 - Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book
Thursday, August 29 - Book reviewed at moonlightreader
Friday, August 30 - Guest blogging at The Writer's Life
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1 comment:
Thanks for having me!It was great chatting with you.
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