Renae: AAAAAAAAAAAAaaannnnddd – WELCOME! Welcome back to my blog, the wonderful, the hyper, the peppy…. MISS BEANY SPARKS.
**applause**
Renae: Hiya, Beans! Welcome back. What can I offer you to drink?
Beany: Hm, how about a green tea?
Renae: Right-o. Give me a sec. I could really do with a coffee myself… **runs off**
Beany: *counts* Your second is up…
Renae: Smart-arse. Here you go. **passes over cup ** So, I hear you have a new story out? Exciting much?? Let’s look at the blurb.
An explosion sends Ethan running...straight into the arms of his mate.
Ethan White is a witch whose days are spent in his apothecary with his familiar, Beema. While making potions for the townsfolk keeps him busy, nothing exciting ever happens—until one day when a surprise visitor walks in and his world crumbles around him. Suddenly Ethan and his familiar are on the run, heading for the Fae to seek sanctuary.
Grayson is an alpha wolf. His two best friends are his betas, but there’s one thing missing—a pack. It’s for that very reason that the three of them were volunteered by the council to act as representatives. Their mission? Try to convince the Fae Queen to get the Fae involved in a battle with the Midnight Coven, the witches suspected of using the dark arts. However, the mission takes a back seat when Grayson meets his mate for the first time.
With revelations and lies around every corner and a battle looming, they have to be ready to fight if they want to have a life together.
When a prophecy about the Shades of Power comes to light, both sides want the power for the battle against the other. The question is—who will unite them first?
Beany: Yup. There’s also a few other characters running around.
Renae: So where’s the dragon??
Beany: Uh…
Renae: So no dragon? **pouts**
Beany: Uh…
Renae: Stories are much better with dragons in them...**Gives Beany a searching look before moving on to the next question.**
So in this world – does it have a name? – the witches and Fae are allies? But they’re against the shifters? Why is that?
Beany: They’re not really against the shifters, the Fae just don’t see why they should bother helping them, or anyone else. Ethan has a connection to the Fae, but the shifters don’t and they’re the ones needing help against the Midnight Coven.
I haven’t named the world, not really… there’s kingdoms, but this book only looks at the Fae kingdom.
Renae: And they need to unite to fight the bad witches? Who are using the dark arts? But aren’t the dark arts the fun ones? When I was growing up, it was the kids in black that did all the fun things.
Beany: Haha probably, but the ones wielding the dark arts are naughty, not fun *winks* As shifters, they don’t have much of a chance against dark witches so they go looking for an ally.
Renae: Tell me – do you ever just look at world politics to get your story lines? Do you think “Well this country and this country are at war, but when this country comes in…”?
Beany: To be honest, I don’t watch a lot of TV and especially not the news. Politics bore me and it seems to be just doom and gloom on the TV so I don’t really bother.
Renae: So where do these wonderful worlds come from?
Beany: PITA has some very interesting ideas…
Beany: Shifters are normal, at the point we’ve only heard of wolf shifters, PITA hasn’t told me it that will change. Ethan is definitely happy to find his mate, although Grayson does annoy him at times.
Renae: Now, I understand that this is the start of a series?
Beany: Yes. It was initially planned to be a standalone and now it’s Book 1 of at least 3.
Renae: Who is publishing the book? Where can we find it?
Beany: I am, or rather, my company Rainbow Ninja Press is. Currently it’s up on ARe and Smashwords and it’ll be up on Amazon sometime this week. I’m also getting the publisher website setup and readers will be able to buy directly from there and once that’s up, I’ll have a special link for EU readers.
Renae: What else are you working on?
Beany: I’ve got first books in two other series that have been partially written as well as ideas for a lot more.
Renae: So do you think you’ll ever write anything other than fantasy? Is that what comes easy to you? For me, I love the realism of my characters and I’m interested to hear where you think your future writings will be?
Beany: It’s what I mostly read. I’ve written a contemporary but I have more fun writing fantasy because it gives me a lot more room to play. Plus, fantasy stories can have dragons!
Renae: Oooh! Dragons! **grin** Is this a lifelong desire to write? Have you always wanted to? I came to write quite accidentally. Like, “Oh, whoops – look I just produced a 60,000 word manuscript.”
Beany: I’m the same. I have always loved to read, I devoured books from a young age. Although I have an active imagination, it wasn’t until the beginning of 2014 that I decided to try and write and that ended up as a, “I wrote a story over 40,000 words? How did that happen?” Unfortunately, now PITA won’t shut up.
Renae: What about your other series, Paws and Magic? How is that going?
Beany: Jackson’s Fox is the third book in that series, but the characters are not talking to me! Grrrr! Even the Merman Tales boys are keeping quiet, it can be very annoying. Then again, other characters are popping up…
Renae: Now, imagine this. You’re sitting in a café having a coffee and then one of your characters turn up. Let’s say the Fae Queen. What would be your reaction?
Beany: Honestly? I’d ask where’s Beema? (Ethan’s familiar) Beema is just awesome!
Renae: What is the HARDEST part about writing fantasy?
Beany: For me, finding the time to write in general is pretty hard at the moment. There are so many stories in my head, but not enough hours in the day to get them down!
Renae: Where can people contact you?
Beany: I’m on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/beany.sparks), Twitter (@BeanySparks) or people can email me at [email protected]
Renae: Thanks for joining me today. It’s been lovely to have you and your characters come to visit **grin** I need more fantasy character writers on. I hope you had fun?
Beany: I had lots of fun! Thank you for having me and for my tea **grin**