Author Interview: Melanie Atkins
Melanie Atkins is my interviewee today. She has a new release out with Cobblestone Press, Voodoo Bones. (Can I tell you how much I *love* that title?) Let’s find out a little more about her…
Q. I see on your website that you are fond of quotes. Which is one of your favorites and why?
A. “Talk happiness; talk faith; talk health. Say you are well, and all is well with you, and God shall hear your words and make them true.” – Ella Wheeler-Wilcox
I like this one because I believe it’s true. Not that I do that all the time, but I should.
Q. You write pretty dark books. How would you categorize your writing?
A. I write romantic thrillers. Suspense is my favorite genre, and I love gritty plots.
Q. What can you tell us about your newest release, VOODOO BONES?
A. I came up with the idea after reading an online article about a real mutilated body found above a voodoo shop in New Orleans. I just thought, “Cool! What a great premise!”, developed my characters, and a book was born. In VOODOO BONES, Noel Galliano has always wanted her own business, and despite critics who believe she won’t succeed, she opens a tiny French Quarter Voodoo shop. What she doesn’t count on is finding a dismembered corpse upstairs. Detective Mathieu Bergeron is considered a screw up around the district station, until he puts away the Bayou Ripper. Then another body is found mutilated, and both his arrest and his competence are thrown into question. Matt and Noel must work together to solve this terrifying crime in the Big Easy…and along the way, they fall in love.
Q. Being a cat lover myself, I have to ask…how many do you have?
A. I have two cats; a gray tabby named Widget, and a white/gray-spotted manx named Shipper. She’s insane.
Q. What are you working on now?
A. Right now, I’m working on a 70K romantic suspense to submit to a major print publisher in NY, and a 100K single title romantic thriller.
Q. Is the South the setting for all of your books?
A. Yes. I’m from Mississippi, and have traveled to New Orleans quite often. I love using The Big Easy as the setting for my books, as well as rural parts of my state. My latest single title project, a three book series, is set in Atlanta, so I’ve had to make a road trip and do a lot of research. I want to get it right.
Q. Do you use your “Guys with Guns” page for writing inspiration? I think my favorite is Ryan Reynolds!
A. You bet I use those guys for inspiration. Chris Meloni from Law & Order SVU is my favorite.
Q. What can you tell us about your next two releases with Cobblestone Press, HAUNTED MEMORIES and EMILY’S NIGHTMARE?
A. Both titles were previously released in ebook form by Triskelion Publishing, which folded last year due to bankruptcy. I’m very excited that they’ll be back out there.
HAUNTED MEMORIES is a 75K single title romantic suspense. In it, Olivia Bartlett is stunned to find her old friend, Deputy Tucker Hawkins, living in the house she has inherited, but she’s even more shocked to glimpse her cruel stepfather lurking in the shadows. Has Walter come back to haunt her, or is he really alive–and trying to kill her? To survive, she must turn to Tucker, who not only stakes his claim to the old house, but also to her heart.
In EMILY’S NIGHTMARE, a 37K novella, Detective Emily Rawson has always considered fellow detective John Cutter a friend, until she finds herself falling head over heels in love with him. She’s managed to keep her distance so far, even taking the huge step of changing squads so she doesn’t have to work with him. Then she hears he’s following her to her new unit, and they argue. Heat turns to heat, and their passion flames to life—which changes their lives forever. Will their intense attraction for one another keep them together, or break them apart?
Q. Tell us one unusual fact about you!
A. While I was attending my local Citizen’s Police Academy (for research purposes, of course!), I went on two ride-alongs with Jackson, MS police officers and witnessed a drug bust. It was exciting!
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Thanks so much, Melanie, for stopping by today!
Kris