About The Author

Katie Salidas is a USA Today bestselling author and RONE award winner known for her unique genre-blending style.

Since 2010 she's penned five bestselling book series: the Immortalis, Olde Town Pack, Little Werewolf, Chronicles of the Uprising, and the all-new Agents of A.S.S.E.T. series. As her not-so-secret alter ego, Rozlyn Sparks, she is a USA Today bestselling author of romance with a naughty side.

In her spare time Katie also produces and hosts a YouTube talk show; Spilling Ink. She also has a regular column on First Comics News where she explores writing from a nerdy perspective.

Author Spotlight & Ebook Giveaway with Willsin Rowe



K.S.  Hiya Willsin and welcome to the blog. I am so excited to have you here as my guest today. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell the readers a little about yourself. 

W.R. I’m a 40-year-old man (with the body hair to prove it), I’m six feet tall, 190 pounds and very good at masking my disarray. I have all the makings of ‘cool’, yet I’m arguably as far from cool as it’s possible to be. I ride a motorbike...but it’s a boring commuter bike. I play in a swampy blues band...but I play bass. I also play drums...but I’m not very good...

K.S.  Any interesting writing quirks or stories you would like to share with my readers?

W.R. Not sure if this qualifies as a quirk, but most of my inspirational moments occur when I’m riding my motorbike. Whether it be a plot development, an entire story idea, a solution to a story’s dead-end or even a bass-line for a particular song, the finest sparks seem to be out there on the road, waiting for my head to run into them at speed.

K.S.  When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first book?

W.R. I remember waiting until age 10 to tell my grandfather I wanted to be a writer...whereupon he insisted I’d starve and should learn a trade instead. So far I’ve not managed to prove him wrong! As far as the spark...well, it’s always been there. I frustrated myself in the early years by expecting the goddess of inspiration to dump an entire story into my head, characters and all, and would sit with pen in hand for ages and write absolutely nothing. Thankfully, I learned how to work through such insanity.

K.S.  What genre do you write?

W.R. Erotica, straight up (so to speak). Most of my characters, and their embodiment as a couple, are unfailingly romantic in some way. My stories, though, don’t seem to follow the rules required of Romantica or straight Romance. I do like a bit of grit and darkness, and a pained but poignant ending.

K.S.  What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career? Or, who is your favorite author and why?

W.R. The two parts of that question overlap and have changed greatly over the years. Dr. Seuss made me love stories. Douglas Adams made me want to write. Then Terry Pratchett made me want to write really well. Lately, though, Elmore Leonard has made me want to write “real”.

K.S.  What does your family think of your writing?

W.R. My parents and sister don’t think much of it, either positive or negative. They have their own stuff to deal with. My wife is quietly proud. She’s a primary school teacher, so it’s probably best that she doesn’t shout from the rooftops that her hubby writes smut.

K.S.  What inspired you to write your book?

W.R. Well, “The Three-Day Hump” came about simply because I heard the phrase itself. The fact that it had the word ‘hump’ made it stick in my mind. Then when I realised the saying referred to addiction, and the struggle to overcome it, I found a story in it.

K.S.  What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book?

W.R. I did a lot of reading about addiction, specifically with substances. It made me realise what an addictive personality I have. I’m glad I never took up smoking, because I don’t know that I’d have had the strength to give it up.

K.S.  Can you tell us a little about your book?

W.R. It seems I’ve always been attracted in some way to people who’ve had a checkered past. It’s quite easy when you’re a musician to find people who have been damaged or who have damaged others. I guess I see within them a similar darkness to the one I try to hide within myself.

In Luther I found a voice to express a very masculine frustration: the sensation that any power he had has amounted to nothing, and the fear that he has been numbed irreversibly by life. In Opal I found him a wonderful foil. She’s a sensual and open young woman, the kind who, for a mid-thirties man, can be an antidote to the poison of drudgery. Both characters have great strengths, but it’s their weaknesses, their darknesses, that control them through the course of events.

Also, the story takes place in present tense with extended passages of flashback, so I really enjoyed the challenge of meshing the two time-lines coherently.

Synopsis - The Three-Day Hump

34-year-old Luther Prescott has a solid career as a lawyer and is married to a world-famous lingerie model. Despite the verve of his youth, his life has grown comfortable and he drifts from day to day without dreams or aspirations. He can’t remember how it felt to truly want something…anything.

One night after work he is introduced to Opal, the younger sister of a workmate. Despite their differences, the lawyer and the barmaid begin to spark off each other like shards of flint.

Opal is 25, debatably single, and has lived a life poor in everything but experience. She has a lush and fiery darkness emanating from within and it pulls Luther to her like a black hole. He suddenly remembers what want feels like.

The sharp desire in his eyes slices through Opal’s prematurely jaded heart, and they begin to flirt shamelessly. When the flirting inevitably turns physical, they each strive to escape the gravity of their lust, but lust turns to obsession, obsession to addiction. They can’t see a future, but they can think of nothing but the present.
Even when careers, and possibly lives, are in the balance, they can’t fight their craving. The sex is so potent and consumptive that every time, as soon as it’s over, they feel hollow. They don’t know how to stop, they only know they need to.

An urban myth tells that three days of abstinence will break the back of an addiction. They hole up together in a hotel for a long weekend.

Naked.

The ultimate test.

Can their addiction be beaten? Maybe. But first, they need to make it over the three-day hump.

K.S.  I've been lucky enough to read this ebook and I must say, I loved it! Please, tell the reders where they can find it?

W.R. It’s all over the place! Both my titles are available at my publisher, eXcessica. They’re also on Amazon, Fictionwise, Smashwords and a bunch of other places.

K.S.  Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that we can visit?

W.R. I’m on myspace ( www.myspace.com/willsinrowe ) and on Facebook (under Log Dawkins, the name I use in my band). I blog weekly at Coffee-Fueled Erotica ( http://coffeefuelederotica.blogspot.com ) and fortnightly at eXcessica ( http://excessica.com/blog ).

K.S.  Do you have any closing advice to aspiring writers?

W.R. For what it’s worth... Read every day. Write every day. Edit only when you’re done.

And now for the part you've all been waiting for!

THE BOOK GIVEAWAY!


Willsin has made available ONE a free copy of his Ebook!

All you have to do is leave a comment, indicating you want to enter, and your email address.

Only one entry per person.

Willsin will pick one lucky winner (at random) from the comment section.
If you do not wish to leave an email address, please make sure you are signed in to your blogger profile so we have some way to contact you.)


Winner will be announced no later than Monday April 5th.

Good Luck!