Please share a little about yourself, your genres,
any other pen names you use.
I was born in British Hong Kong and immigrated to
Australia with my family when I was six-months-old. I spent much of my
childhood travelling the world with my family as my Dad is an architect. Now, I
divide my time between Sydney and London, and enjoy visiting the cathedrals,
crypts and museums all over the world. My dream project is to do a series of
book tours in the Champagne region of France and High Tea establishments
everywhere.
When I was a little girl I wanted to be a princess,
a ballerina, and eventually a children’s doctor. But I always enjoyed writing. When I was in high
school, I would write short stories and poetry for the school magazine and even
entered a few newspaper/ magazine writing competitions. I never formally
studied creative writing – I think if you love to write (and have people read
your work/s) then you’re a writer whether you’re published or not. Instead, I
studied Humanities at university, majoring in English Language and Literature
and Linguistics (Semiotics) and became a university lecturer. But I continued
to write for fun and it was only when some of my students encouraged me to
publish my novel that I thought about writing professionally (and not just
publishing academic essays and articles for journals which many people would
consider boring!)
My genre is YA/ NA paranormal
romance (which I also love to read – you’ve got to be a fan of the genre to be
a writer of the genre!)
Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming
release.
SEED is best described as The Mortal Instruments meets The
Da Vinci Code. It follows the journey of Sage Woods, the seventeen-year-old
daughter of an eminent archaeologist, who uncovers the disturbing secret about
a powerful,
hidden artefact; unearthed in modern day Southern Iraq (formerly ancient
Mesopotamia). With its discovery, an ancient conflict is reignited and Sage is
placed in terrible danger as, unwittingly, she stumbles into an invisible war.
She is embroiled in a quest that takes her from the British Museum to the
Louvre to the Vatican Secret Archives and realises that her blossoming romance
with the mysterious, alluring St. John Rivers is inextricably tied to the
artefact. Up until now, St. John has managed to keep his true identity hidden,
but Sage is determined to delve deeper to uncover his dark secret and his
connection to the artefact. It is a decision that will have a devastating
effect on humankind…
Are you a mom?
Yes, I’m a mum and I have four children (aged from 2
years old to 18 years old) who keep me on my toes!
If yes do you find it hard to juggle writing and
parenting?
Always!
Parenting comes first. I often feel guilty that I might
need to lock myself away to write and have to leave the kids to my husband to
take care of (he’s wonderful with them but I hear them through the closed door
and just itch to get involved in their dramas) – though mainly I try to write
late at night when the kids are in bed and asleep. I don’t write every day or
to a schedule but I am trying to be more disciplined as I admire writers who can write
2,000 words a day and stick to a schedule. But I’m more a stop-and-start,
when-the-mood-takes-me, bash out a chapter in a day then take a hiatus for two
weeks, get some inspiration from other authors/ reviewers/ readers and bash out
another few thousand words, get distracted by my family (kids demanding food/
drinks/ misplaced toys/ misplaced clothes/ toilet trips…) and grind to a stop
(swearing in frustration because I want to write but have to prioritize), then
do it all over again.
On the upside, I do have a
plan of where I want my novel to go and work around that. I always have a
mental map of about half the chapters (including the beginning, climax and
denouement) and let the rest work itself out.
Also, I get to spend time with
the kids (dance class, soccer practice, baking brownies, school concerts, kids’
parties all have their place in my life) – but my secret is to be organized
with everything else so that when I get time, I can lock myself away for an
hour or two to write (and try not to feel guilty!)
Have you ever based your book or characters on
actual events or people from your own life?
I wish!! I would love to meet these characters or go
to these places but my life is much more ordinary than that! I think the only
sections I can safely say are based on events in my own life are the recipes in
the novel and the Christmas celebrations I describe with the specific cultural
and familial traditions and customs. The character of Sage’s mum is, perhaps,
similar to my own mum who was also an artist/ designer – so she’s the only
character in the novel that is close to being real.
Is there a theme or message in your work that you
would like readers to connect to?
I think there’s quite a few messages within the
novel. One of them is that history is often stranger than fiction or fantasy.
If we can understand the past, we can make sense of ourselves and our world.
Also, I want readers to understand that some things
have to be taken on faith. There is much to discover still in our world – the
unknown, the unexplored, the unseen – but, in the end, the story is about us;
about love and mortality; the human condition.
What would your readers be surprised to learn about
you?
Probably that I have very little background in
archaeology and history. I love the subject but I never formally studied it
beyond my first year at university. Yet, in the novel, there’s a lot of
historical details which I tried to make as accurate as possible.
On a personal note, they may be interested to learn
that I wrote the novel virtually one-handed whilst nursing my infant son. Typing
one-handed is not my forte but I managed to write SEED within three months – a
fact I’m very proud of!
When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have
any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
I love to cook. I especially love baking – cookies,
cakes, brownies, scones … just about anything really. I use it as an excuse to
procrastinate when writing. When I was young, the kitchen was my mother’s
domain but the thing she’d let me cook was desserts. So every Saturday when my
brothers went to play soccer and after my netball games, I’d rush home and bake
a cake or cupcakes. It seemed to give lots of pleasure to everyone. Now I bake
for my kids.
I really love planning events for my family –
birthdays in particular – and everything from baking the cake to table decorations,
room decorations, even hiring performers. For one special occasion I planned a
medieval feast and was lucky enough to hire the basement cellar of the old
castle near where I live. It had been renovated but retained its charm –
sandstone walls, dim lighting, flagstone floors. And I had the invitations made
up as scrolls complete with tassles (made in India because I couldn’t find a
local person to do it) and got everyone to dress up in medieval costumes (so we
had friars, Vikings, maidens, knights, etc…) and I even had performers and a
glass blower (so everyone went home with a little gift as a memento of the
night).
And, by the way, my guilty pleasure is drinking
champagne. An expensive hobby but I collect the corks and tag them to display
them in glass jars. Each cork is marked with a special occasion, date, time,
location, who was present and what we were celebrating – it makes for an
interesting conversation piece but also happy memories.
Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you
don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?
Of the classics, I wish I had written Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as there is
something rather wonderful about the story of a young, headstrong, independent
woman marrying the ideal man (who appreciates her for her brains and not just
because she’s attractive).
Of the contemporary novels, I wish I had written The Time Traveler’s Wife by Hiffenegger as it made me laugh and cry and think about a love that
lasted a lifetime and beyond.
Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that
you haven’t tackled yet?
Futuristic dystopian novels – I know that this is
probably a trend with The Maze Runner,
The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc… out at the moment, but I
have a couple of ideas that are slightly different from the books published at
the moment and I’m hoping to be able to write them down when I finish the
KEEPERS OF GENESIS series.
Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is
your favorite and why?
This is a tough question but I think … I think it
would have to be Gabriel Chevalier because he’s such a charming, capricious,
mischievous figure. Think Loki in The
Avengers and Thor film series –
that’s Gabriel. But Gabriel is quite charismatic and humorous too (and he’s
secretly a very deep character but the right girl will be needed to unlock all
his secrets).
If this book is part of a series…what is the next
book? Any details you can share?
The next book in the series is SCROLL. It follows
Sage’s sister’s journey (so the narratives in the novels are alternating
between books) and her trials and tribulations. Unlike her sister, she’s
confused about love and involved in a love triangle – but she’s very attracted
to the Byronic hero-villain/ the bad boy figure, Phoenix (also known as Finn).
Here’s an extract of the next book (soon to be published):
He leant
forward, his eyes now so dark a blue that they were almost black in the
emptiness of the shadowy gallery.
‘Oh, I
understand perfectly,’ he said, his tone now mildly amused. ‘But do you?’
I scowled up at
him as I took a step back. ‘Do I what?’
‘Do you
understand what it is that you want?’
He stepped
closer to me as he spoke, forcing me to retreat until I found my back pressed
up against the stone monument that I had admired only moments before,
ironically mirroring the event of the previous night.
I shook my head
hesitantly. ‘What are you talking about? You’ve lost me. You constantly speak
in riddles and I don’t understand you.’
‘Again, you do
not see, because you do not choose to see, Saffron.’
This time when
he said my name it was like a caress that tingled through me, electrifying
every nerve ending in my body.
‘You make me
forget, Saffron…’ His voice drifted off.
Staring up at
him, I asked, ‘Forget what?’
But he ignored
my question.
‘Is it so
wrong?’ he mused again, speaking more to himself than to me.
I frowned in
dismay. ‘What?’
‘Is it so
terrible to want what you should not? To crave what you cannot have? Do you
fear to seize what you desire? What is forbidden?’
I found the very
breath strangled in my throat. Somehow our conversation had wandered down a
different path and I was alarmed by the direction which it was now taking.
I didn’t know if
I was ready for this.
And I had a
strange feeling that Finn wasn’t just talking about me but himself. I wasn’t
afraid of the wild look in his eyes, but it made my stomach flutter in an
uncomfortable way, sent my pulse hammering through my veins.
I moved, but he
was quicker, placing himself directly in my path.
‘Let me pass,
Finn,’ I demanded futilely. But even to my own ears, my voice lacked
conviction.
The top of my
head scarcely reached his shoulder and I felt dwarfed, yet oddly protected, by
his height and solid muscle. He slowly bent down, his lips brushing against my
ear, making me shiver in reaction as his breath fanned the tendrils of loose
hair curling around my left earlobe.
‘Fear and
passion are but two sides of the same coin.’ The scent of fruit was stronger
now. ‘You’ve felt fear, Saffron, but have you ever really felt passion?’
Musical notes
dropped from his lips like pearls, seducing me.
‘We all are
afraid of losing ourselves, of losing control and being possessed, and
consumed. And yet, like moths drawn to the flame, we crave it.’ Finn’s eyes
seemed to see into my very soul. ‘Against our better judgement, we’re tempted …
and it would be so easy to give into that temptation…’
‘Finn, please.
Let me pass,’ I said again, my voice even weaker. I tried to clear my throat,
but instead my mouth felt dry like sandpaper.
‘You give me an
order, Saffron, yet I do not feel the force of it. Perhaps you do not mean it…’
he whispered seductively into my ear. ‘Yet you could make any demand of me, if
you only knew your power…’
What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled
upcoming releases or works in progress?
I’m hoping that Book Two of this series, SCROLL,
will be released early next year, and then I’m planning on finishing off
writing Book Three, SWORD, in the KEEPERS OF GENESIS series (I’m about a third
of the way through). And later I’d eventually like to try writing a futuristic
dystopian text (maybe).
What book are you reading now?
Aravind Adiga’s The
White Tiger
What is in your to read pile?
I love discovering Indie authors so there are a few
books from the #IndieBooksBeSeen movement I’m dying to read (including JC Brennan’s
A Fine Line, Robert A Palmer’s Relyk, CL Schneider’s The Crown of Stones and Renee N Meland’s
The Extraction List) but I’m also
interested in those books recommended to me by my readers. I deliberately stay
away from any books containing angels and Nephilim whilst I’m writing, but I
have just discovered Rachel Caine’s The
Morganville Vampires series and I’d also like to look into Jennifer
Armentrout’s books that so many of my readers just love.
Keepers of Genesis Series
Volume I
DB Nielsen
Genre: YA PNR/ Urban Fantasy
Publisher: LBLA Digital
ISBN: 1908879181
ASIN: B00K75I06E
Number of pages: 432
Word Count: 160,000
Cover Artist: XLintellect PTY LTD
Book Description:
A powerful, hidden artefact is unearthed and, with its discovery, an ancient conflict is reignited. Seventeen-year-old Sage Woods, the daughter of an eminent archaeologist, uncovers the artefact’s disturbing secret and is placed in terrible danger.
Unwittingly, she has stumbled into an invisible war between two primordial dynasties of a supernatural order – a war in which she has a fateful role to play in a race to control the power of the SEED.
Embroiled in a quest that takes her from the British Museum to the Louvre to the Vatican Secret Archives, Sage realises that her blossoming romance with the mysterious, alluring St. John Rivers is inextricably tied to the artefact.
Up until now, St. John has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Sage is determined to delve deeper to uncover his dark secret and his connection to the SEED.
It is a decision that will have a devastating effect on humankind…
Available at Amazon
Excerpt:
I had no idea
where to begin in my quest, so I decided to simply follow the path of least
resistance, working my way around the exhibition. It was like a jigsaw puzzle;
reconstructing pieces of the past and trying to find the bigger picture. I
didn’t really know what I was looking for, I only hoped that there would be
something, some tablet or bas relief, that would be able to shed some light on
the artefact and, more importantly, on what I’d seen. I would have sworn that I
saw it transform before my eyes in Dad’s office but I didn’t know whether I
should doubt myself now. I’d only seen the artefact for a few moments and yet
it had felt like it was speaking to me, imparting some ancient knowledge. Of
course, I didn’t understand any of it, but I hoped to.
Because I was in
a reverie, I almost missed the piece altogether. It was a tablet not much more
than ten centimetres in length, containing a cuneiform inscription and a unique
map of the Mesopotamian world. The symbols on the tablet were an exact copy of
some of the symbols I’d seen on the artefact though a little more crudely
formed.
The cuneiform
inscription composed the top section of the tablet whilst, underneath it, was a
diagram featuring two concentric circles. The outer circle was surrounded by
triangles at what seemed to be random distances. The inner circle held more
geometric symbols and cuneiforms. A rectangle in the top half of the inner
circle in the centre of the tablet represented Babylon. Assyria, Elam and other
cities were also depicted. The tablet and its inscription were by no means
complete as it had been reassembled from the broken pieces found by
archaeologists. Information was obviously missing but I was elated at finding
anything that could tell me more about the artefact.
It was because I
was so transfixed with my find that I initially failed to notice that I was
being scrutinized from across the room. The first I became aware of it was a
prickling sensation down my back, the hairs on my neck and arms raised giving
me goose bumps. I turned my head round nervously, looking back over my
shoulder.
He stood at a
distance, a young man in his mid-twenties perhaps, taller than average. No mere
accident of lighting, his slightly curly locks, the colour of polished brass,
formed a halo around a face that was much too beautiful to be called handsome.
The only way to describe him was golden. His skin was golden, his hair, which
he wore slightly longer than was fashionable, curling into the nape of his
neck, was golden and I suspected his eye colour was, if not golden, amber like
mine.
When I caught
him staring at me intently, he neither looked away in embarrassment nor did he
pretend to know me. Instead, he continued to assess me with an unblinking,
hypnotic gaze. It was I who broke contact first; flushing with embarrassment, I
dropped my eyes at once.
This can’t be
happening! I thought, feeling panicky. Dragging in a deep breath, my eyes
skittered back to his. He was still staring at me, his indescribably beautiful
face unmoved.
My heart
fluttered in my chest. I didn’t know what to think – was this some random
stalker or had he seen me before around the museum and couldn’t place my face,
seeming familiar to him? No serial killer looked the way he did. He was dressed
immaculately all in black; a pair of black trousers was topped by a fine
woollen black turtleneck. He wore the sleeves rolled up, exposing his
sun-kissed skin. And the black only accentuated the perfection of his face. Of
course, I had no idea what a serial killer looked like, but I was fairly
certain it wasn’t this golden god.
As curious as I
was, I did the only thing that made sense; I ignored him – or pretended to.
Deliberately turning my back on him, I tried to refocus on the tablet in front
of me. But I was merely staring blankly, nothing was registering. It was all so
unreal.
‘It’s not real.’
A low, attractive voice remarked by my side.
I almost jumped
out of my skin, whirling to face the owner of that voice.
‘Sorry if I
startled you.’ He smiled, apologetically. ‘I saw you looking at the map of
ancient Mesopotamia.’ He nodded in the direction of the display case.
I blinked. He
was even more stunningly golden up close. He belonged in a museum – he had the
kind of face and figure that artists used as a model. Statues should have been
made of this man, posing as Apollo, Phaenon or David. I almost envied him his
looks; such beauty on a guy wasn’t fair.
I had been wrong
about the eyes though; they were an impossible jade green flecked with gold and
framed by the longest eyelashes on any guy I’d seen. He was also taller than I
imagined; a good few inches above six feet. All in all, he was quite a package
and way out of my league.
I somehow
regained my scattered wits to stutter, ‘S-s-sorry?’
Great! Now he
was going to think I was an idiot! An idiot with a stutter!
I almost groaned
aloud.
About the Author:
db nielsen was born in British Hong Kong and immigrated to Australia in childhood. db likes to travel the world with family; dividing time between residing in Sydney and visits to the cathedrals, crypts and museums the world over, doing research for new projects. The author is a university lecturer in Linguistics and Semiotics, and continues to teach English Literature and Language whilst writing fiction.
Goodreads: http://goo.gl/tfpbLH
Twitter: https://twitter.com/db_nielsen
Website: https://www.dbnielsen.com/
1 comment:
Thanks Wenona for having me on your gorgeous blog! It's been awesome! DB xx
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