Darkness Haunts
The Sensor Series
Book One
Susan Illene
Genre: Urban
Fantasy
ISBN: 1481861182
ASIN: B00B0RSNG0
Number of pages:
387 pages
Word Count: 92,000
words
Book Description:
Melena Sanders
faced her fair share of danger with insurgents and terrorists when she served
in the U.S. Army, but now she is about to go up against a new threat. Her best
friend, Aniya, has disappeared while on a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska—a
supernatural haven. Most humans have no idea darker races lurk amongst them. Mel
knows better. If she wants to get her friend back, she’s going to have to go in
alone—but not unarmed.
Melena has a few
special skills the Army didn’t provide, but the odds are still against her.
She’s got to come up with a plan fast that doesn’t involve her, or her friend,
dying. But danger likes to play it rough. A war for power is about to rise in
Fairbanks and if she wants to get Aniya back, she’s going to have to step right
into the middle of it.
Darkness Taunts
The Sensor Series
Book Two
Susan Illene
Genre: Urban
Fantasy
ASIN: B00DTQP4GM
Word count: 101,000
words (approximate)
Book Description:
Melena Sanders has
managed to avoid all things inhuman for most of her life, but after coming to
Fairbanks, Alaska to rescue her best friend from supernaturals she hasn’t been
allowed to leave. That is, until her
long-time nemesis comes to collect a favor she owes him. Lucas might be half angel, but he’s all bad
as far as she’s concerned.
Paying him back
might get her out of town for a while, but her new destination will be anything
but enjoyable. Mel’s got to help the
nephilim take care of a demon possession outbreak in Juneau. Although something like this hasn’t happened
for thousands of years, Lucas is certain Melena’s rare abilities are the key to
solving the problem.
With violence in
the capital city growing, she’s going to have to figure out how to stop it fast
before the trouble spreads to other places.
Not only that, but working closely with Lucas is changing the dynamics
of their hate-hate relationship—worrying her even more than the demons. Getting back to her captivity in Fairbanks
never looked so good.
Interview:
1. Where did you get
the idea for the novel?
I’d wanted to write
a book/series with a female veteran as the heroine for awhile. Though it has since changed, at the time I
hadn’t been able to find any military women as leads in urban fantasy. The trick was coming up with a storyline that
would work. Darkness Haunts was my third
attempt and the one that finally came together.
I played with so many plot ideas I can’t even remember what triggered
the one for it, but I can say I’d always been fascinated with Alaska and wanted
to use it for my third try. The setting
really helped fuel my imagination because there was so much to explore and there
aren’t a lot of books based there.
2. Your title. Who
came up with it? Did you ever change your title?
I come up with all
my titles, but Darkness Haunts was not the original one for the book. The working title while I was writing it was
Senses Awakened, but I dropped it later because I worried it would sound more
like romance than UF.
3. Which came first,
the title or the novel?
Definitely the
novel. I didn’t even come up with the
working title until half-way through the book.
The rest of the novels for the main series have had names for them ahead
of time, though. Once I started a
pattern for them, it got easier. The
only trick has been to make sure no other books have the same title.
4. Since becoming a
writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?
To be honest, it’s
every time a reader tells me they just finished my book and that they loved it
so much that they turned around and read it again. I can’t describe how flattering it is when a
total stranger enjoys my writing enough that they want to experience it all
over again. It keeps me motivated.
5. What book are you
currently reading or what was the last book you read?
The last book I
read was Caged Warrior by Lindsey Piper.
I love books with strong female leads and that one grabbed my attention.
6. What was your first
book that you ever wrote (very first one you wrote, not published)?
It was a contemporary
fantasy romance about a woman who’d died in a past life centuries ago and was
reborn. She starts having dreams about
the man she’d once loved and feels she has to find out if he’s real. She eventually meets him again in Italy (he
was immortal) and goes through a journey of discovering herself and finding
love with him again. I enjoyed that
story so much I wrote all 71,000 words of it in about a month, but I made so
many beginner mistakes it wouldn’t be publishable without serious revisions. It’s one of those books I’d just rather keep
to myself J
7. What is your
writing process?
Usually I like to
brain storm for awhile, at least a couple of weeks, and then write out the
first couple of chapters to get a feel for the story. Once I have a handle on it, I finalize the
plot and then finish the rest from there.
I’m not a stickler for staying with the plan, though, and will make
changes when I think something else will work better.
8. Who are your
favorite authors of all time?
Jeaniene Frost,
Karen Marie Moning, and Ilona Andrews
9. At a book signing,
do you just sign your name or do you write a note? How do you come up with
stuff to say?
I haven’t done an
official book signing, but I have mailed signed copies to readers who won them
through giveaways and I’ve given some to family/friends. If they are a fan who has already read some
of my work, I try to personalize it in some way. It varies each time as to what I write
depending on who they are.
10. What is something
people would be surprised to know about you?
Very little scares
me. I have no significant fear of
heights, closed spaces, the dark, roller coaster rides, jumping out of planes
or most other things people are commonly afraid of. The irony of this is I developed a strong
fear of garbage disposals when I was fifteen after a couple of bad
experiences. Many family/friends found
this rather funny. The first time I
forgot to check the disposal before running it so a knife flew out at me. Getting smart the next time, I put my hand
down to check and got electrocuted. I
gave up after that and refused to be near one while it was running to the point
I’d leave the kitchen if it was turned on.
This got rather tricky when I lived alone and I’d actually go so far as
to invite friends over to run it for me, lol.
It has only been recently that I’ve begun to work past that fear.
11. How do you react to
a bad review?
I don’t pay
attention to them anymore, but in the beginning I’d go read the bad reviews on
my favorite authors and that always made me feel better. If the bestsellers can get them, who am I to
think everyone is going to like my work?
12. How did you
celebrate the sale of your first book?
I slept, lol. Publishing a novel is exhausting! (later I
went out to eat with my husband)
Thanks to Alisia for having me here today on her
blog. I enjoyed the interview questions
and opportunity to talk about myself and my work!
About the Author:
Instead of making
the traditional post high school move and attending college, Susan joined the
U.S. Army. She spent her eighteenth birthday in the gas chamber...an experience
she is sure is best left for criminals. For eleven years she served first as a
human resources specialist and later as an Arabic linguist (mostly in Airborne
units). Though all her duty assignments were stateside, she did make two deployments
to Iraq where her language skills were put to regular use.
After leaving the
service in 2009, Susan returned to school to study history with a focus on the
Middle East. She no longer finds many opportunities to test her fighting
abilities in real life, unless her husband is demanding she cook him a real
meal, but she's found a new outlet in writing urban fantasy heroines who can.
Ever since super star, Arial Oakley, could remember, she's been in love with her hunky co-star Bryce Valentine. The only problem: Bryce has been in a relationship with another actress for quite some time. Not wanting to be “the other woman”, Arial never pursued any of her feelings for him despite how well they connected.
