Author Interview: Nicki J Markus

Nicki J Markus is the author of books such as:


Here you'll find her interesting answers to our questions and discover more about this fabulous author!

1) We would like to know something more about yourself as an author and what lies behind your author persona, so let's start this interview with your beginning as an author. How and when did you start writing?

I have loved reading and writing for many years and always said I wanted to be a writer, but it was only in 2010 that I really decided to give it a go. I did a Creative Writing Course and while working on that I started to scribble some short stories. I had planned to submit to some open submission calls for anthologies, but a good friend (and fellow author) read one and suggested I submit to one of her publishers instead. I did, it was accepted, and the rest, as they say, is history.


2) What's your favourite piece of writing? I mean, from everything you've written, what is your personal favourite and why?

Hmm. I think Awaken to the Night out of those already published as that was my first one accepted and, though I haven't seen sales figures yet, it seemed to do well for me. But I am fond of my vampire story called Day-Walker which has recently been accepted by Silver Publishing and will be released later this year.


3) What do you need in order to get inspired and write?

Peace and quiet. I find I cannot work when my fiance is home and has the TV on - the noise is too distracting. I like to be alone with my thoughts and then the words come.


4) What is the best book you've read this year?

Ohh. That's hard as I've read a few good ones. I guess The Vampire Dimitri by Colleen Gleason springs to mind. I read that last month and really enjoyed it.


5) Where do you get the inspiration for your characters?

Often I dream them - usually just before I fall asleep at night when my mind is wandering. Sometimes I am thinking of existing characters and stories, thinking of ways they could have been different, and then someone pops into my head!


6) Are you currently working on a new book? If so, when can we expect to see it on the market?

Well, as I said, Day-Walker is out in September (provisionally). My Time Keepers miniseries is still ongoing too. Parts 1 and 2 are already available and the final two parts are due early May and early June. My current WIP is a thriller novella. I hope to have that ready to submit to the publisher next month.

7) Where can the readers find your books and discover more about you?

For more info on me and my books (including buy links), you can visit my website/blog: http://nickijmarkus.com

8) Please leave us with a phrase to reflect upon or a quote.

Think of something witty by Oscar Wilde and pretend I said it...no seriously!

Thank you very much for your time!

Thanks for having me!


Check out the Amazon links to Nicki's fabulous books:

Love Fantasy Sci-Fi Novels: Distract My Hunger by X. Williamson

Love Fantasy Sci-Fi Novels: Distract My Hunger by X. Williamson

If you follow the link I posted above, you will get to an amazing blog about books and book reviews. I got many ideas of books to read from there and to be honest, Siobhan, the blog owner, discovers amazing books! I truly have to thank her for broadening my to-read list and making me discover incredible books I didn't even know existed...
After checking it out for a while I decided to ask her if she wanted to read Distract my hunger and she accepted to review it! Well, by following the link you can also find out what she thought about it.
I'm sure that if you enjoy paranormal romance or urban fantasy books you will love her blog!

Book two of Kristie Cook's Soul Savers series: PURPOSE

Kristie Cook did it again with this book!
It was just as good as I hoped it would be. After reading I wanted to read more about the characters, I wanted to continue reading their story.

Purpose was different from book one in many aspects, but that is what made it so good. I could feel how the characters had evolved, Alexis was not in the same state of mind and this helped me empathise with her even more. Many questions I had from "Promise" about the background of the characters and small things that were not clear before were answered in this one. In this book one gets to understand better the Amadis and the Daemoni, and what I most wanted to know personally... what happens with the Angdora!

I can't wait for book three in this thrilling series! I'm sure that this author will manage to make it even better than the first two. Truly it is a series you must read, every page is worth it!

"Promise" the first book of an amazing series by Kristie Cook

I found this book by chance on the net and found its description quite enticing so I decided to give it a try. The ebook is beautifully formated and words flow effortlessly from page to page. I bought it on smashwords in January and to be totally honest, once I started reading I simply could not stop.


It is the story of Alexis, a quite special human teen who holds a huge responsiblility since her birth... though she doesn't know at the beginning.
An amazing lovestory develops between Alexis and Tristan, a completely lovable character that you must read the book to meet...

I completely fell in love with this book, I went from not knowing the author to wanting to read everything she's written so far with this book. In fact, I can even say that "Promise" has become one of my favourite books of all time. It is a perfect mixture between a paranormal story and romance, so well balanced that it gives you action, romance and sexiness in a perfect dose.

Don't miss , book two of this amazing series!

Winner of "Distract my hunger" Signed Book Giveaway 1

I'm so excited about this whole contest we had at my facebook page, it was the first Signed Book Giveaway contest and I'm thrilled with the amount of people that participated!
As in all contests there was a winner, and the lucky one to win a free signed copy of Distract my hunger is a lady called... Pauletta Horn
Congratulations Pauletta!

I wish I could send a copy to each and everyone that participated, it is somewhat bitter-sweet to have the contest come to its end: and that is why I've decided to have another signed book giveaway contest! Perhaps in the next one I can give away 2 books, or a book and some book-markers... Let's see!
The idea is to have the next contest as soon as we get to 200 "likes" on my facebook page, we don't need that many people to join... Last time I checked there were already 132 "likes" :)
Feel free to invite as many people as you want to join, the more the merrier! And of course more giveaways to come!
Just in case you want to "like" the page and have not done so yet, here's the link:

X.Williamson's facebook authorpage

Thank you to everyone who participated and thank you for all the feedback! You can't imagine how valuable feedback is for an author. It helps us write better, feel inspired and want to improve ourselves, so keep the feedback flowing! I love to know your honest thoughts on my writing, if it's positive I must admit I feel happy because one writes for the readers and to share a story... But I also welcome negative feedback if you think I deserve it! Nobody's perfect and there is always room for improvement, right?

Thank you all!
And keep on interacting!

Hush Money

I just finished reading this book over the weekend and couldn't wait to write a tiny review about it.
It is a book in the young adult genre that manages to make a quite paranormal story completely believable! Some teens have special abilities called "talents", those make them different from other people but they also make them almost outlaws. A government agency looks for talents to lock them up and be able to control their abilities.
The story is sort of in the lines of X-men, so if you like them you will probably enjoy this story too! It is nicely written, with an alternating point of view that reminds me of the technique used in "Shiver" which proves to be vaery effective in this story too.
The title itself did not attract me at the beginning, but I'm very happy I got to read it anyway. It was a delightful read. And you know what else? The kindle version is truly inexpensive!
I finished this book wanting to know more about these talents, I will certainly read something else by this author!

Signed book giveaway! Check it out!

Today starts the first signed book giveaway contest at my facebook authorpage:



Check out the note about signed book giveaways!
I'll be giving away a paperback copy of "Distract my hunger" amongst those of you who join the contest. The winner will be posted in X. Williamson's author page, in this blog and as a comment in the note on the 11th March.

The contest closes on the 10th of March.

Entering the contest is pretty easy!

You just have to follow the rules I'll explain below and nothing else!

Good luck!



Rules:

1) All participants must "like" the facebook page by the time the contest closes (if you did not click on "like" remember to do so BEFORE the contest closes, if not you will not be considered: sorry! Rules are rules...)

2) You must read the 3 excerpts of the book added to the note

3) Leave a comment on the note about what motivates you to read the book, what your thoughts are about what you read, or anything else that you are motivated to comment on after reading them.

Check it out!