Books-n-Kisses is pleased Zoe Archer to the blog today to chat a little about life and her newest book Skies of Steel

Zoe, can you please share with us a little about yourself

I was born in New York, but grew up in Los Angeles, and went to college and grad school in different parts of California.  The first time I lived out of state (aside from right after my birth), was when I attended the University of Iowa for their MFA program in Fiction.  That was the first time I’d ever lived anywhere that snowed—but I didn’t mind so much because I’d come home to my boyfriend (now husband) in Southern California every holiday break.  Snow’s easy to take when you know it isn’t forever!

Basically, I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl.  I wrote all the time—all different kinds of stories from murder mysteries to fantasy epics.  In high school, a friend of mine introduced me to romance novels, and almost immediately after, I started to write them.  I’m pretty glad that those manuscripts, printed on a dot-matrix printer, are long lost.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

Yep!  I went through a few different phases during high school, college and grad school—I thought about being a book illustrator, a costume designer, a dramaturge, a literary professor—but it always came back to writing.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

I write full time, so I try to get up at a reasonable house and plant my butt in front of the computer.  I like having music when I write, since it helps me focus.  Also, I have to have my outline and research books (and the internet) handy.

Most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

Some of the most difficult aspects of writing involve motivation.  You’ve got to be responsible for getting the words on the page.  Nobody else is going to write that book for you.  I had a bunch of full-time day jobs after I finished my MFA program, and I’d get up early to write in the morning before work.  I knew if I left it until I came home, I’d be too tired, so I made time to get it done, even when I just wanted to keep sleeping.

The most rewarding is definitely hearing from readers.  It still amazes me that people I’m not related to or know people I’m related to read my stuff.  And when they not only read my books, but like them—that’s just incredible.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?

SKIES OF STEEL is part of the steampunk romance series THE ETHER CHRONICLES.  The Ether Chronicles was actually co-created by me and my husband, Nico Rosso.  As we were creating the world for me, we realized it was expansive enough and had enough stories to have two writers telling different tales within it.  Nico writes the steampunk Westerns, and I write the steampunk everywhere else.

In SKIES OF STEEL, British anthropologist Daphne Carlisle finds herself in a terrible situation.  Her archaeologist parents have been kidnapped by a ruthless warlord in the Arabian Peninsula, and the British government is unwilling to help her rescue them.  The Mechanized War between different nations rages on, and if Britain gets involved, things could get very dangerous, politically.  But Daphne’s determined to free her parents.  Desperate, she turns to the one man who can help her: Captain Mikhail Denisov.

Not only is Mikhail an untrustworthy mercenary, he’s also a rogue Man O’ War, making him doubly dangerous.  Man O’ Wars are men who have been enhanced through technology to be faster and stronger than normal men.  Those technological enhancements also make them capable of powering and flying airships.  It takes a lot of convincing and the promise of lots of money to get Mikhail to agree to help Daphne.  So the scholar and the mercenary set out on an adventure in Arabia, but of all the perils they encounter on their travels, the most dangerous is the unexpected attraction between them.  And not everything is precisely as it appears.

Oh, did I mention Mikhail has a Mohawk?  He’s one sexy mo-fo!

How did you come with the idea for this story?

It was a collaborative process between me and Nico.  I liked the idea of a supposedly prim and proper woman tangling with a scoundrel Man O’ War, and so we thought about what kinds of situations would find them thrown together.  Plus, I really wanted to set the story in Arabia so we could see how the Arabic world interpreted steampunk technology.  It was so much fun!

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

In addition to working on the next Ether Chronicles book, I’m working on a new historical romance series for St. Martin’s Press, called Nemesis, Unlimited.  It’s gritty and dark and sexy.  I’ve been pitching it as Leverage/Burn Notice in Victorian England. The first book in the series, SWEET REVENGE, comes out June 2013.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

For romance, I love Julie Anne Long, Joanna Bourne, Meredith Duran, Sherry Thomas, Tessa Dare, and Courtney Milan.   It’s been a while since I read something that wasn’t romance, but Jane Eyre was always one of my favorites, and I love Austen, of course.  When I read Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, I was stunned.  His writing and ability to get into so many characters’ heads is incredible.  Some other authors I like include Lorrie Moore, Graham Greene, Michael Ondaatje, Vladimir Nabokov, Alice Munro, and Deborah Eisenberg.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style? 

I can’t point to a specific author, but my love of language comes from reading, and that’s what compels me to write: I love words.  Beautiful, elegant, rough, crude, rich, spare, luminous, complex, simple words.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

As soon as Joanna Bourne has a book on the shelf, I’m there.  I’m also really looking forward to Julie Anne Long’s A Notorious Countess Confesses.  And I have Sherry Thomas’s Tempting the Bride on my TBR. Of course, when it comes to steampunk, it’s all about Meljean Brook’s Iron Seas series.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

SKIES OF STEEL

Links to buy: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Books A Million

In the world of The Ether Chronicles, the Mechanical War rages on, and appearances are almost always deceiving . . .

The prim professor

Daphne Carlisle may be a scholar, but she’s far more comfortable out in the field than lost in a stack of books. Still, when her parents are kidnapped by a notorious warlord, she knows she’ll need more than quick thinking if she is to reach them in time. Daphne’s only hope for getting across enemy territory is an airship powered and navigated by Mikhail Denisov, a rogue Man O’ War who is as seductive as he is untrustworthy.

The jaded mercenary

Mikhail will do anything for the right price, and he’s certain he has this mission—and Daphne—figured out: a simple job and a beautiful but sheltered Englishwoman. But as they traverse the skies above the Mediterranean and Arabia, Mikhail learns the fight ahead is anything but simple, and his lovely passenger is not entirely what she seems. The only thing Mikhail is certain of is their shared desire—both unexpected and dangerous.

Excerpt

Zoë Archer is an award-winning romance author who thinks there’s nothing sexier than a man in tall boots and a waistcoat. As a child, she never dreamed about being the rescued princess, but wanted to kick butt right beside the hero. She now applies her master’s degrees in Literature and Fiction to creating butt-kicking heroines and heroes in tall boots. She is the author of the acclaimed BLADES OF THE ROSE series and the paranormal historical romance series, THE HELLRAISERS. She and her husband, fellow romance author Nico Rosso, created the steampunk world of THE ETHER CHRONICLES together.  Her steampunk romance, SKIES OF STEEL, is now available from Avon Impulse, and Nico’s steampunk Western, NIGHT OF FIRE, is also available now. Zoë and Nico live in Los Angeles.

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