Author: Siren Allen

Happy Monday Ladies and Gents.

Today I have the wonderful Aoife Brennan joining me on my blog. Everybody clap real loud for Aoife.

Aoife Brennan is the author of, The Cougar Diaries, Part I. It is a Comic erotica and a must read, trust me. Her book was released February 18th, with books two and three to follow this year. Now it’s time to get to know Aoife Brennan and her book a little better. 🙂

Siren: Aoife, where can we find you on the web and your next blog stop if any?

Aoife: You can find me on my blog which is http://thecougardiariesireland.wordpress.com/

Siren: I must follow you on wordpress! Where can your readers find your book?

Aoife: It is available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Cougar-Diaries-Part-ebook/dp/B00BHIUK6S and also in hard copy on lulu.com http://www.lulu.com/ie/en/shop/aoife-brennan/the-cougar-diaries-part-i/paperback/product-20923825.html

Siren: Tell us a little bit about your book.

Aoife: The Cougar Diaries is a year in the life of Aoife Brennan, A newly single woman, Dubliner and mother to two teenage boys – she has to fight for her way of life, overcome the antiquated legal divorce system, and secure a fair future from her estranged ex and LIVE! This is about a woman living and loving again, making mistakes, embracing life and giving it lots of welly!

Book Two brings Aoife into more crises, more adventures and battles to be fought. Book three does the same but there is a solid ending. I am currently writing book two and book three will be started in a month or so. I know the final line.

Siren: Wow! Sounds like a great series. How old were you when you realized that writing was what you wanted to do with your life?

Aoife: I was always a writer but poverty inspired me to take the step to actually write my books.

Siren: Who has inspired you the most along your journey as a writer?

Aoife: My mother. She believes in me and knows there are some very good books inside of me. She likes my cougar series but knows the best is yet to come.

Siren: Your mother sounds wonderful. It’s wonderful to have someone on your side who believes in you even when you fail to believe in yourself. Aoife, how did you come up with the idea of your current book?

Aoife: My own life. It was too mad not to use as source material.

Siren: 🙂 How did you come up with the title?

Aoife: I experimented with various titles. I was reading Bleak House and wanted to use ‘I begin the World’ but it had been taken for a religious book. Then I was influenced by Susan Coolidge and her ‘What Katy did’ books and I wondered if I might do ‘What Aoife did’ Finally I did some focus group research and found the Cougar resonated with older women and so I thought – let’s go with The Cougar Diaries, Part I, II & III.

Siren: What advice would you give to others who are interested in/or currently working towards becoming a published author.

Aoife: Write, write and then write some more.

Siren: What books/authors have influenced your writing?

Aoife: I love reading so while I may never aspire to their heights; I love Cormac McCarthy, Iris Murdock, Carol Shields, Ann Patchett, Kevin Barry, Sebastian Barry and many more.

Siren: Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Aoife: Yes, I often reach a point where I find it hard to put one word in front of another. At times like that, I go for a walk, putting one foot in front of another.

Siren: Do you write an outline before every book you write?

Aoife: No, not always. My first Cougar book just flowed. The second I had to plot as it was getting more complicated. I am not sure what will happen with book three.

Siren: What is your favorite time of day and place to write?

Aoife: Morning. In my bed.

Siren: I love writing in he morning. But if I try to write in bed I always fall back to sleep or end up watching Supernatural and Charmed on T.V. 🙂

Aoife, Do you believe in love at first sight?

Aoife: Yes, I do, despite having been in love more than once. You’d think I’d figure out what was causing that particular state of affairs by now, wouldn’t you?

Siren: LOL, What’s your idea of a perfect date?

Aoife: I think a day on the beach, drinks in a beach bar, dinner in a marina restaurant, cocktails in a late night watering hole. If I’m on a budget, then anywhere with a nice guy, where I can look into his eyes.

Siren: Awww, sounds romantic. How did you come up with the names of the characters in your book?

Aoife: Aoife is me so that is cheating. The other names were names of people I do NOT know!

Siren: LOL. Let us make this clear readers, the other names are of people she does NOT know! Since this is a Romance and Fashion blog, I have to ask you a fashion related question… Which do you prefer, high heels or flats?

Aoife: I must prefer heels – I am over six feet tall and I love that!

Siren: Yay! I love me some heels. 🙂 Thank you Aoife, for joining me today. I have enjoyed this interview. We must do this again sometime.

Readers Aoife Brennan has included a little more information about herself and why she chose to began writing this series. I read over it and found it to be very enlightening. I would like to share it with you and hope you find her words as encouraging and uplifting as I did.

Things I have learnt from STUFF – or rather the lack thereof!
The majority of our spiritual leaders had nothing. Or if they had stuff, they gave it away. Jesus, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama were known for the little they had. They did not build massive churches, erect huge edifices or pour vast statues of themselves. They were not commercial. They did not need ‘stuff’. Stuff was the stuff that got in the way of the real stuff. We all know that. We all know that to truly be oneself, one has to shed belongings and find the true path, preferably without designer gear, cool wheels and the latest ipad.

We know that, but to lose the stuff you have is not so easy, especially when it is not done on a voluntary basis. I wouldn’t have minded if I had chosen to give away my worldly goods, shave a tonsure on my head, don a hairsuit and walk the pavements. If I had chosen? I mean, if I had chosen then I would have felt sanctimonious, cool and really, really special. I think I might have even walked on water!

Freedom definitely comes from giving away your stuff and relying on your core. But what if you didn’t choose to give it away and it is taken anyway? Is that called being robbed, mugged or just recessed (as in recession)?

So when I lost all my possessions, one by one, then the rest in a great big flood of things, I stood in the receding wake like a tsunami victim. Waving not drowning, yet I was drowning in the loss. I thought my world had come to an end. A commercial end – and me with it.

But I learnt two very important things after my own personal tsunami-letting of goods. The first is that hings are not important. I knew that before. I was never very ‘brand’ focused before, preferring shoddy to chic. Shabby-chic I called it. My ex called it cheap as chips – that is just one of the reasons he is my ex. But going from not being particularly bothered about things to not having them at all is a pretty emotional experience.

I minded less the loss than the fact that my two children were unprotected and vulnerable. Losing for me was tough, but I felt losing for them was devastating. Not that they complained but I felt such the inadequate parent. They never moaned or asked for things out of the ordinary, and indeed often spent their own birthday money on necessities such was their acceptance of our combined financial stress.

I’d like to say at this point it was cathartic, but I can’t. I did not choose to lose my worldly goods, such as they were, and I did not feel the better for their loss. Quite the opposite. Guilt was strapped onto me tight as a backpack. I fretted over shoes for the children, tickets for outings, monthly shopping bills. I agonised over meeting friends over wine, but I still did it, and agonised all the more afterwards. What?

You bad mother you, that bottle of wine would have bought face wipes, stewing meat, insert whatever six euro substitute you can find. Someone may have said once that life is too short to drink bad wine. I’d answer and say you drink to your price range and now, yes, I was cheap as chips.

Knowing that things were not important allowed me to let go of the big things in my life, my home, my life savings, my security. But knowing I had children meant I had guilt every step of the way. I thought, frequently, if I were sick or they needed an operation, what would happen. Or even if they wanted something frivolous, what would happen. Oh, how easily your expectations are cut short and curtailed like the clipped wing on a bird of prey.

But I always knew things are not important. If I won the lottery in the morning, I would not go out and buy stuff. In fact, and very ironically, my ex and I used to fight over imaginary lottery wins as I would threaten to give away at least two thirds of it – but this was fictional winnings, maybe I might have been a lot greedier with the real stuff. I think, however, if I did win the lottery now, I might pop in Primark and buy some dresses. I might book a holiday – but not very far and exotic, and preferably with family. I might buy a Micra with power steering. Oh, go on I might buy a nicer car. But not much nicer. Nice enough!

So I have learnt that even forcibly removing goods from a person is tough, but you can survive. I cannot claim to have learnt any deep stuff from this shit. I probably should be able to point to a moment and a feeling and say – Yes that is when I knew who I was or some sort of thing. I can’t. I can’t even claim to feel good about hitting the bottom, because I have hit more bottoms than Mr Grey, without any pleasure, and I see no sign of that downslide abating – yet!

But it has reinforced my knowledge that possessions are much less important than things, experiences and people. Always people. But I always knew that Universe, so why did you take everything away? I can only hope so you can give it back, tenfold! Lol
However, while I know that stuff is not important. Hey, I was brought up by two great parents and a brother, so I knew that, but I learnt something else, something quite surprising.

You’d think that losing everything would make me very weak and vulnerable. It would turn me into a churchmouse who was scared of everything. I would be looking over my shoulder at shadows, jumping at noises in the bushes and terrified of authority. It didn’t. Actually the opposite was true. Now don’t get me wrong, I have spent nights crying myself to sleep, I have spent days unable to get out of bed, I have walked in a daze and known no one before me. But I am not afraid.

I admit to being scared. I worry about the future (although I recognise that is futile in itself). I alternate between great enthusiasm when I wake, to extreme tiredness at the end of day, and yet still fail to sleep through a full night. But I am not afraid. So, I looked at my talents and writing is my passion. While gainfully employed I had no time to write. Now, I had nothing to distract me, so, I took out my metaphorical pen and I wrote a bonk buster. A real page turner with lots of steamy sex. When I say steamy, a recent reviewer said I made 50shades look positively monochrome by comparison. But the difference is that I put my heart and soul into the book. It is a book about a 40 year old woman coming to terms with life, children, dating and basically holding the can.

I thought long and hard about this writing, especially the steamy side of it, but I knew at the end of the day I am not afraid. Of course, my two children are mortified. They are teenagers and the thought of their mother writing about sex is terrible, worse than if I was found guilty of shoplifting at Aldi. I don’t blame them but I am not afraid of them either, or rather their reaction.

I have two more books in this filthy series that I am writing now. And do you know the nicest thing? This is fiction. I can write the ending and while I lead my main character through the valley of death, despair and trouble, I am giving her a fabulous ending! Oh the power of the pen!
So, when possessions depart – and bravery enters by the main door – then it is time to write!

***I love it. Thank you Aoife, for sharing this with me and for allowing me to share it with others.***
xoxo Siren

Hi Ladies and Gents. I am so excited that Braxton Cole has included my blog on her blog tour. Braxton Cole is the author of Blown, an Erotic Romance. Blown was released 5/1/13 and if you haven’t read it yet you need to hurry up and do so. This book is smoking hot.

Braxton’s bio: Braxton Cole lives in the Pacific Northwest where she spends most of her time holed up in her office writing stories. When she’s not writing, she can be found riding her bike, hiking the fabulous local trails, chasing her kids, or wishing that her thumb was a little greener. She has a bad habit of killing what she tries to grow, but hasn’t given up hopes of one day being a successful urban farmer.

Now that we’ve had a glimpse into her life, let’s dig deeper and ask a few questions.

Siren: Where can we find you on the web and your next blog stop if any?

Braxton: http://www.braxtoncole.com

Siren: How old were you when you realized that writing was what you wanted to do with your life?

Braxton: I started writing in my mid thirties, but didn’t consider writing as a career until my early forties. I was a late bloomer.

Siren: Who has inspired you the most along your journey as a writer?

Braxton: Wow, that’s a really long list of folks. I have some fabulously supportive friends and family.

Siren: How did you come up with the idea of your current book?

Braxton: A friend and I were tossing around ideas and agreed that Route 66 would be a great theme for an anthology. I decided that anthology or not, I wanted to write a story set along Route 66.

Siren: How did you come up with the title?

Braxton: The main character, Roni, is an undercover detective. Her cover gets blown very early on when she runs into her ex-boyfriend, Mateo.

Siren: Mmm…Mateo. (Readers you are going to love Mateo.) Sorry about that. I’m back on track now. Braxton what advice would you give to others who are interested in/or currently working towards becoming a published author.

Braxton: The hardest part of writing a book, for me, is the discipline of actually doing the writing. I can think of ideas, story line and characters all day long, but the chair time in front of my computer takes prolonged focus. For me, I set a daily writing goal, usually words per day, and I don’t stop until I done.

Siren: What books/authors have influenced your writing?

Braxton: Let’s see, I love Willa Cather. Her writing inspires me to try harder.

Siren: Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Braxton: Writer’s block is just your brains way of saying that it’s busy with other things. If I legitimately can’t write for some reason or another, I just accept it. I’ve been doing this long enough now that I trust myself. I know that eventually my brain will settle down and I’ll start writing again.

Siren: Great idea! Do you write an outline before every book you write?

Braxton: I have in the past. My last few projects have been written without an outline. I have a better grasp of the process now, so an outline isn’t necessary. For my first few novels though, it was critical.

Siren: What is your favorite time of the day to write and your favorite place to write?

Braxton: I write in my office. Typically, I’m more creative late morning/early afternoon, but that’s not absolute.

Siren: Name one book that’s out, that you wished you would have written instead of the actual author that wrote it.

Braxton: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, but if I’d written it, I wouldn’t have been able to read it, so maybe not.

Siren: That’s true. Tell us a little bit about Blown. By the way I love this book.

Braxton: Veronica “Roni” Guard is an undercover cop trying to bust a drug ring. Unfortunately, she runs into her ex-boyfriend, Mateo Vargas, at an illegal street race in the California desert. He just happens to be a pretty big criminal himself. That’s why they split originally. No matter how much chemistry they have between them, a cop and a gangster are not a good match. Roni Convinces Mateo to help her with her case, his reluctance derailed by the one thing that always worked between them–sex. Yes, he’ll help her. But on one condition. In his world, she belongs to him and him only.
Will Mateo’s possessiveness unravel Roni’s case? Or, worse, blow her cover? And if they get out of this alive, is there a future for them together?

Siren: I know the answer to that but readers you have to stop by amazon, purchase the book and find out for yourself. I must say this again, I LOVE THIS BOOK (didn’t mean to yell.)

Blown can be purchased at: Amazon

**excerpt***

“What are you doing here?”

I gave him a onceover. He was an interesting guy. A total thug according to law enforcement, but an absolute gentleman when we’d been together in the past. We’d dated a few times, nothing serious, just long enough for us to get naked and sweaty together. And God, was he glorious in bed. Then I’d realized who he was and he’d realized I could arrest him and that was that. All things considered, I felt pretty damn lucky that he hadn’t dropped me into the bottom of an open construction site. That tended to happen with Vargas family enemies.

A small smile worked its way onto his face, then disappeared far too quickly. “Stop smiling at me and answer the question.”
In fairness, I hadn’t realized I was smiling. He had this amazing golden God effect on women, and knew it. I’d felt it too many times to pretend it hadn’t happened, and I’d seen way too many other women respond the same way. For some reason, despite his edict that spending time together was bad for my health, he still showed up at the same clubs that I liked to frequent.

“I’m working.”

He stepped closer and my breath caught in my throat. He stopped too far away for me to touch, but close enough that I could feel the energy emanating from his body. That was part of his charm. He was wild, with his impulses barely controlled.

“Working?” He chewed on the word like he couldn’t quite believe I’d said it. “Roni, you think this is a joke? Crimson won’t let you live if he figures this out.”

“That’s true of most undercover assignments.” I shrugged like Crimson didn’t scare the living shit out of me. He did. Between him and Luis, I was two seconds from pissing myself. I’m all badass and shit, but those guys are real life gangsters. I’d spent too much time looking at their jackets to not know what I was doing when I agreed to take this assignment.

He covered the last few feet separating us and cupped my cheek in his hand. “Then tell me what’s worth dying for?”

*************************************************************************

Siren: You Mateo…you are worth dying for! (Once again I apologize for my outburst.) But Mateo is the kind of bad boy you can’t help but love and want to touch, bite, kiss, lick….(sighs)

Thank you Braxton Cole for stopping by. I have enjoyed this interview and I love your book. Everthing about your book was enjoyable. From the cover to the characters it was a very good read and Congrats on your new release.

Readers, Braxton Cole has a wonderful giveaway going on. (Gotta love giveaways.)

Enter The Rafflecopter Giveaway!
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/385a180/

Once again thank you for joining me Braxton Cole. Readers if you love hot steamy reads packed with excitement then this is the book for you, Blown by Braxton Cole.

xoxo
Siren

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to have Ariadne Wayne over at my blog today. Ariadne is the author of The Sultan’s Bride, which was released January 31, 2013. Everyone clap real loud for Ariadne.

Siren: Ariadne I’m sure all the readers want to know where they can find you on the web?

Ariadne: You can find me at http://www.ariadnewayne.co.nz\

Siren: Where can your readers find your books?

Ariadne: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, All Romance, iTunes, Diesel.

Siren: How old where you when you realized that writing was what you wanted to do with your life?

Ariadne: I always enjoyed writing and when I was in high school I decided I wanted to be a journalist, specifically a sports journalist and not just for the hot guys. When I left school I did the odd piece of writing for a local magazine but started working in a computer shop and decided I wanted to work in IT. I still work in that field but last year realized that the stories I’d been making up in my head for the last 20 years were no good there and I should start recording them. I haven’t stopped since then!

Siren: I’m glad you haven’t stopped! 🙂 Who has inspired you the most along your journey as a writer?

Ariadne: I refer to Neil Gaiman at times on my blog as when I went back to writing I was so unsure of the rules around it as it had been so long. I saw a post on tumblr from him saying that there were no rules. It gave me the confidence to write on the topics I wanted to and as much as I wanted to.

Siren: How did you come up with the idea of your current book?

Ariadne: I am a real fan of historical novels and have read so many over the years and then discovered historical erotica and loved what I was reading. I’m not really sure where the idea came from specifically but it was definitely influenced by what I was reading at the time. There was some thought too about writing a strong female character, she goes through some tough stuff at the start but she comes out on top in the end.

Siren: How did you come up with the title?

Ariadne: The Sultan’s Bride went through a couple of name changes, it started in draft called Harem and then became The Sultan’s Wife. I checked if there were any books out there called that first because I didn’t want to complicate matters and then found when I went to publish there was another book by that name so I changed it slightly.

Siren: What made you decide to self-publish?

Ariadne: The geek in me was intrigued by the technical aspects of it. I have enjoyed learning about formatting documents as I have seeing my work published.

Siren: What advice would you give to others who are interested in/or currently working towards becoming a published author?

Ariadne: The world is at your fingertips as far as information goes, don’t rush anything and make sure you research everything you can. Just keep writing.

Siren: Good advice! Briefly describe the process of becoming a self-published author and the benefits of doing this on your own?

Ariadne: What I love is that I control everything from what the book looks like (although there are some sites that do their own thing and you have to learn how to work with it) through to pricing and seeing sales in almost real time. What I did was write my story and then looked around for what I then needed to do, there are so many resources online and most publishing sites have help files to help you get published.

Siren: Do you belong to any critique groups? Do you think it’s important for writers to belong to critique groups?

Ariadne: I think it’s a great idea though I haven’t gone looking for any yet.

Siren: What books/authors have influenced your writing?

Ariadne: I love Philippa Gregory and Anne Rice’s Beauty series.

Siren: Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Ariadne: It’s pretty hard to say, writing part time I only tend to write when I’m inspired to. I’d imagine if I did this full time and had deadlines with someone that maybe I would.

Siren: Do you write an outline before every book you write?

Ariadne: I did, but I did things back to front. I had an idea for a book and wrote a short story which turned into my draft and then I wrote the outline.
For the next book I wrote the outline first.

Siren: What is your favorite time of the day to write and your favorite place to write?

Ariadne: Normally I write in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed and in my recliner chair in front of the TV. I’m one of those people who can’t sit in silence and concentrate, I have to have noise.

Siren: I need complete silence when I write, lol. Since this is a romance and fashion blog I have to ask which you prefer –heels or flats when it comes to shoes?

Ariadne: That is an awesome question. I love heels but can’t wear them so I just tend to look at pictures!

Siren: I think I would die without my heels. Tell us about the other books you have written?

Ariadne: After The Sultan’s Bride I put out Hot For The Boss which is three novellas. I then collected them into one complete edition and it can be found everywhere that The Sultan’s Bride is found.

You have been a very busy woman. Thank you Ariadne Wayne for taking time to do this interview. I have already purchased The Sultan’s Bride and so far I am loving it!

Short Description of The Sultan’s Bride:

Stolen from her parents Catherine Stanton grows up in the eastern region of Ajara, a ward of the Sultan. When the Sultan claims her as his bride she indulges both his deepest desires and her own. Suddenly reunited with her parents she had to adjust while making a choice between the man she loves and the man she married. Which one will it be? Warning: This book contains explicit sex scenes.