Happy Release Day: Interview w/Virna DePaul {Chosen by Blood} & International Giveaway

Today I'm excited to have Virna DePaul, author of the new fabulous Chosen by Blood {Book #1, Para-Ops series}, here at Among the Muses to talk about, and share an excerpt from, this new super fantastic book! If you missed my review, please check it out. This is one of the best PNR books I've read! One of the things I had to say about Chosen by Blood was, "With each anticipatory flip of the page, readers are immersed in a world that is spectacularly envisioned and expertly executed in the writing. The perfect 'what if'  paranormal story that seduces, captivates, then seduces some more!"

Without further delay, please welcome Virna DePaul to the blog!

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First, I'd like to say, 'Congratulations!' on your paranormal romantic suspense, debut book, CHOSEN BY BLOOD; book #1 of the Para-Ops series! *throws confetti* The reviews have been fantastic! I can only imagine how happy you must be!

Can you tell readers a little bit about yourself and what got you started as a writer?

Thank you so much for having me here!  I'm very excited about my debut launch.  I’ve always been an avid reader.  I majored in comparative literature in college and did a lot of writing as a lawyer, but I’ve read romance since I was twelve years old.  I still have shelves of “keeper” books from my favorite authors, authors who sucked me into their worlds and characters, and helped me feel inspired and empowered.  When I realized law wasn’t fulfilling me creatively, I finally decided to try and do what I’d always wanted—write a novel that would leave others feeling this way, too.
 

Does your career background play into the creation of your stories? 
 

It has, yes.  Being a criminal prosecutor gave me the background and confidence to start writing what I always loved--romantic suspense stories.  My first manuscript was about an ambitious female district attorney with a dark past, so I was able to reveal what I knew about the criminal justice system and weave in intriguing evidentiary facts/scenarios that I’d encountered in the past.  When I got the idea for combining a paranormal plot with a special ops team, the transition was fairly smooth.  I could concentrate on creating a complex paranormal world and making my vampires, weres, and shape shifters a little different from what was out there.

The Para-Ops  series has a setting of "five years after the Second Civil War ends, with humanlike creatures with superhuman DNA". What inspired Chosen by Blood, or more specifically, the Para-Ops series?

The notion of a nation recovering from war and working towards peace is obviously a timely one in today’s world.  So is cultural prejudice.  I wanted to write a series about a special ops team of supernatural creatures, one where the Others had just as many problems with each other as they did with humans.  Because post-apocalyptic stories are  in vogue, I also wanted to start the story on the brink of a tenuous peace, one that was going to flourish or fall based in part on the ability of the team members to overcome their own pasts and fears.  The team obviously represents a microcosm of society, and through it I can explore issues like duty versus desire, the tension between pain and pleasure, and moving past fear even if you never completely lose it.

What supernatural creatures will we see in CHOSEN BY BLOOD and any future Para-Ops series novels?

The Para-Ops team is represented by a variety of supernatural creatures, including vampires, weres, wraiths, mages, and human psychics.  In addition, there are other creatures that are less public, including shape shifters with a more alien-like exterior.

Could you give us a little backstory on the alpha hero of Chosen by Blood and who will be his perfect heroine? We are, after all, romance addicts! *grins*

I’m so glad you asked!  Knox Devereaux is a dharmire, a half vampire/half human who is the son of the Vampire Queen and a traitorous human who informed humans how to kill vampires.  He struggles to lead his clan, which is literally starving due to an FBI-engineered vaccine that changes the properties of human blood so it can’t nourish vamps.  At the same time, he believes it’s only because of his human blood, the same human blood that his clan despises, that he’s strong enough to lead in the first place.  He’s constantly trying to prove his loyalty to his people, and this means doing his duty to marry another vampire.  The problem is he’s in love with a human female, Special Agent Felicia Locke, who refuses to be his mistress or share him with another female.  When they are placed on the Para-Ops Team together, Knox hopes not only to find the antidote to the vaccine, but to convince Felicia to give up her human notions of morality.  Little does he know she’s the one who’s going to be teaching him about the transformative power of love.

Your debut is in the paranormal romantic suspense genre, but it looks like you have some contemporary romance in store for us as well. Could you tell readers what else they should expect to see from you in the near future?

I’m so excited to be writing paranormals for Berkley, but also contemporary romantic suspense for Harlequin.  My debut novel with Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Dangerous To Her, comes out in September 2011.  It’s about an undercover cop who poses a bailiff in order to investigate a judge.  He ends up reuniting with his college love and discovers she’s harbored a secret for almost a decade.  I’ve also just sold another story to HRS about a woman who must accept the reopening of her mother’s murder investigation by the one man she hoped never to see again.  Finally, in April of 2012, I’ll be launching a new series with HQN.

Am I pushing too much by asking if the next installment of Para-Ops has a name or release date yet? 

Not at all!  Chosen By Fate, Book 2 in the Para-Ops series, is about the team’s ghost, Wraith, and its human psychic Shaman, Caleb O’Flare.  Wraith and Caleb first meet in Book 1 and their strong reactions to one another are the product of complex back stories.  In their own ways, Wraith and Caleb have to deal with the tension between pain and pleasure, a dichotomy that is brought to the forefront when they set out on their next mission, investigating a series of crimes in the feline community. 

Could you possibly leave us with a little teaser or excerpt from CHOSEN BY BLOOD? *crosses fingers*

Of course!  I hope you enjoy it!

Special Agent Felicia Locke knew the minute she saw the willowy dharmire that there was going to be trouble. She’d chosen the bar because it was as far from Pennsylvania Avenue and the J. Edgar Hoover Building as one could get and still be in Washington, D.C. With its spray-painted façade, dim lights, and ramshackle assortment of tables and chairs, the Black Hole was also light-years away from what a typical federal agent would consider reputable, let alone palatable. In its favor was the fact it served the best brandy in the state, strong and undiluted. That and some privacy was all Felicia wanted.

She’d just locked her car and was walking toward the bar’s back entrance when a dharmire, who couldn’t have been more than sixteen years old, stumbled around the corner of the building and into view. Felicia immediately recognized the female as half-Other; although she had a vampire’s silver hair and black eyes, her skin was sun-toasted, just a shade lighter than a graham cracker. She clung to the arm of a stocky man with no neck, squinty eyes, and slicked-back hair. The man pushed her against the side of the building and covered her slim body with his own.

Felicia’s prediction of trouble formed not because the man was ugly, but because he was unkempt and, considering the foul things he was saying, obviously uncouth. She’d never met a vamp who’d willingly suffer the company of someone so appallingly unrefined. It would be like asking one to wear jeans or, God forbid, drive a beat-up old truck down a public highway. As a rule, vamps didn’t do casual or tacky. Even so, she tried telling herself that maybe the girl just looked young. There was no accounting for poor taste, after all. But the closer she got, the more apparent it became that the dharmire was under the influence. Her silver pupils were dilated and glassy, and she appeared to cling to the man out of necessity rather than affection.

The man shifted to the side just as Felicia walked within ten feet of them. She saw the fine gold chain and pendant around the dharmire’s neck—a smaller, more feminine version of the one Knox wore and an exact replica of the one Noella had worn all her life. The same pendant Felicia’s best friend had been wearing on the day she’d died, a gaping hole in her chest where her heart had once been.

Felicia came to an abrupt stop and blinked her eyes several times to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. But no, it was real and it was a real bitch of a sign. Noella had died exactly one year ago today and it couldn’t be coincidence that, before Felicia even had a chance to get rip-roaring drunk while avoiding Knox at the same time, a female appeared who was from Noella’s clan—Knox’s clan—and in obvious need of help.

Thoughts of Knox assailed her. Had Kyle Mahone gotten in touch with him? She’d been fully briefed on the Bureau’s plan to add a new team to the FBI’s elite, super-SWAT group referred to as the HRT, Hope Restored Team. She knew that team was the crucial step toward stabilizing relations between humans and the Otherborn races they’d once fought. And despite her preference to stay as separated from Knox as possible, she knew he was the right choice to lead it. Most civilians craved peace now, but it was a constant, often bloody battle given the insurgents, humans and Others alike, that resisted.

On the other hand, Felicia thought, still staring at the man and the dharmire . . . There would always be individuals who just naturally preyed on those weaker than themselves.

Okay, okay. Message received.

No rest for the wicked.

Now for some quickie responses…
 

My new release in seven words or less ... Special ops with fangs and sizzling romance

What I love to do outside of writing... Massages, Broadway musicals, traveling, and reading.

A few favorite romance authors of mine... Larissa Ione, JR Ward, Lori Foster, Linda Howard, Anne Stuart, Rhyannon Byrd and many, many more!

A favorite book I’ve read within the past year… Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

My favorite type of hero… Dark and tortured but capable of tenderness and ultimately redeemable

My favorite type of heroine... Imperfect and vulnerable with a core of inner strength that she doubts, but not for long.

If I could be a paranormal creature, it would be ... One from Larissa Ione, JR Ward, or Rhyannon Byrd’s novels so long as I could hook up with one of their heroes!

A supernatural power I wish I had ... The power to heal.

My writing routine includes… Mad obsessive breaks from reality followed by an appreciation for family, friends and fine things (like regular meals!).

Something I always have to have near when writing... Movies and books and chocolate, oh my!

Pantser or plotster? Pantser with plotser tendencies.

If I wasn't a writer I'd be… An aspiring writer.

A place I’d love to visit… Hawaii

One thing I would love to try... LOL.  Not sure I can say that on this site.  Let’s just say it’s purely fantasy and I bet lots of your readers would love to try it, too.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers? 

I’m determined to make you love me (or rather, my stories).  Hopefully it’ll be with my first book, or my next one, but if not, it’ll happen with one of them!

Thank you again Virna, for taking the time out of your schedule to drop by and chat with us!!

Thank you so much for having me here.  I’ve had so much fun!

Find Virna DePaul @:

Website:
http://www.virnadepaul.com/index.shtml
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/search/virna%20depaul

Giveaway Details:

• Virna is offering a fabulous and generous gift to one commenter that includes: a Para-Ops tote with a mug, chocolate, sunglasses, and a copy of Virna's e-novella, A Vampire's Salvation.

• Giveaway is open Internationally!

• To be entered you must: 
• Leave a question for Virna (she'll be in and out) and/or comment on the interview. 
• Leave your email addy with your comment.

• Contest will run 5/3 - 5/7 11:59pm EST

•  Winner will be selected via random.org and notified by email.

Good Luck!!