Isabeau
Gervase is a brilliant geneticist Though she no longer believes in
angels, she sees a ticket to a Nobel Prize in Gabriel's
secrets—secrets that have led her to a startling conclusion.
Gabriel isn't human, and she fully intends to identify the species
she named the Angel Genome.
Morgan
is ready to come back into Isabeau's life, but this time as a man not
an angel. Will he outsmart his enemies, protect his beloved and
escape death himself? For the first time in eternity, the clock is
ticking.
Wild Women
Authors
is pleased to welcome Linda Nightingale, author of Sinners'
Opera,
a recent release out of the Wild Rose Press and protagonist, Isabeau
Gervase.
Where
are you from, Isabeau? Beaufort, South
Carolina. I now live on lovely, historic Orange Street in Charleston
and work as a geneticist at Life Gen, a genetics and stem cell
laboratory. I love Charleston. From the Antebellum mansions along the
Battery to the cobbled streets that mottle the city, Charleston is a
treat. To describe the city would take my entire time. My love affair
with an English lord played to the backdrop of Charleston’s famous
Battery and to the sound of the waves crashing against the seawall.
This time, too, will remain a part of Charleston to me.
Tell
us a bit about Sinners’ Opera. You’ve
heard the quote, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of
times.” This describes my part in our intense love story...ours was
a Sinners’ Opera, but I wouldn’t spare the tears to miss the
dance. Morgan D’Arcy is beautiful, arrogant, talented, but there is
darkness in him. He’s a vampire, a real one, but not a reanimated
corpse. He’s a viral mutation of human DNA. The result resembles
but is not like homo sapiens.
For five months, we lived our idyll on the Battery. Morgan turned my
life into a fairytale, and I love him still, will never love another.
When the whole thing crashed down, I was shattered. He was my
everything. Our story is passionate, sometimes thrilling, witty as
Morgan himself, and as much about obsession as it is about the kind
of love that comes once in a lifetime. Such love comes only to a man
once because mortals are not strong enough to bear it twice.
What
did you think the first time you saw Morgan? That
he was an angel. Morgan D’Arcy was a man, a beautiful man, playing
a grand piano, but he looked exactly like the angel who used to
appear to me when I was a child. My earliest recollection of Gabriel
was at two when I cried for the light to stay on, but my mother
switched it off anyway. My angel turned it back on for me. He asked
me not to tell anyone, and he became my imaginary friend.
What was your second thought? That
he was the handsomest man I’d ever seen, and in his tux the
most elegant and sophisticated. You have to understand—Morgan is a presence,
a feast for the senses, and the most talented pianist I’ve heard.
Did
you feel it was love at first sight? Yes. He
was my Gabriel. Twenty-five years before that concert, I’d known he
was kind, affectionate, and caring. I remembered the feel of that
silky blond hair drifting through my little fingers, those eyes so
blue they put the July sky to shame. He was my guardian angel, and I
loved him already.
What
do you like most about him? I’m not sure.
He tells me often that I’m beautiful, intelligent, and fun to be
with, but now I’m not certain I believe these compliments. My
innovative thinking, I suppose, and the fact that I can rub elbows
with people from academia to the man on the street. I know he likes
the sex.
How
would you describe him? He’s 6’2” of
gorgeous. He’s blond with long hair, big beautiful blue eyes, and a
perfect body. He is a passionate and tender lover, and the easiest
man in the world to fall in love with. He will enchant you. When he
walks into a room, every woman, from spinster to teenager, stares at
him. He makes people smile. He will make you his princess, but he is
not always what he seems.
How
would he describe you? As the woman he wants
to marry, but his reasons behind this trouble me. I know his DNA
isn’t human. I haven’t quantified the difference quite yet, but
I’m working on it. I call his DNA my ‘angel genome’.
Physically, in his aristocratic accent, he’d describe me as 5’8”
tall, highlighted light-brown hair, and a quick mind. I know my
career has something to do with it, but his purpose escapes me. I
don’t believe in coincidence.
What made you choose to be a geneticist?
My Angel Gabriel. He predicted one
day I’d hold the basis of life in my hands, that I’d
be a geneticist. I love my work,
wouldn’t change professions. I love examining what
makes a person the person
they are, from a genetic point-of-view. My career is
fascinating, and I don’t regret
my choice at all, but I do wonder why ‘geneticist’
when the field was nowhere near
as advanced as it is now.
What
is your biggest fear? That I’ll return to
Morgan and our idyll by the sea…or that I won’t. Most of me longs
for him, but I must stay away. I lose myself in him, become someone
else. I regret leaving, but I can’t go back, you see.
How
do you relax? I listen to music, read, or
hang out with my friend Kirsty. Music, of course, I like piano. Books
I like romance, sci-fi and fantasy. Kirsty has been my best friend
since grade school.
Who
is your favorite fictional character? Dorian
Gray. In a way, Morgan resembles him, but not the seediness or innate
darkness of spirit.
What
is the best piece of advice you ever received? From
Kirsty…Never return to Morgan. He devours you body and soul. I
don’t know. She didn’t live as his lover or be the princess in
his fairytale. He left me alone to work; never interfered. I just
don’t know.
This has
been most enlightening, Isabeau. Thank you for sharing your love and
your pain with us. It couldn't have been easy. Now, it's time to
speak with your creator, Linda Nightingale.
What movies or books have had an
impact on your career as a writer?
“Interview
with a Vampire”, in part I guess. I liked the surreal qualities and
the drama. When I was young, I read the old gothic romances—Mary
Stewart, Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy, for some. I read one super
romance about the Doan Boys, Quaker outlaws during the American
Revolution, called “Firebrand”, and that book stays with me
today. I love to read, be transported to another life and world, put
under a spell so that you surface from the book when it is over.
That’s what I strive for in every book I’ve written.
What
event in your private life were you able to bring to this story and
how do you feel it impacted the novel? This
book is purely fiction. If my life had anything to do with it, I’ve
been left before, and I could write the pain. Oh, and I made my
ex-husband the villain though he wasn’t the one who left me. I
wrote briefly about the Andalusian horse, as I always do, because I
love the breed. I bred trained and showed the Andalusian for many
happy years. Sinners’ Opera is a long figment of my imagination.
Tell
us a bit about your publisher: how did you hear about them and what
influenced your decision to submit to them? The
Wild Rose Press is a fantastic publisher, and I’d recommend them to
both writers and readers. They publish between 4 and 5 books per week
and are very well known in publication circles. For several years,
they’ve won the Best Publisher in the Preditors & Editors Poll.
They are currently seeking submissions, and often run special calls.
I heard about them from a friend and fellow author Beth Trissel. What
she told me about them and what I found out when I did my research
influenced me to submit. I don’t regret that decision.
What
book[s] currently rest on your TBR pile? A
classic old gothic, the Mary Stewart Merlin trilogy; the final in the
Game of Thrones series, and the list goes on. Like the old saying,
“My eyes were bigger than my belly,” my case is, “My stack is
bigger than my eyes.” Between promoting, being fairly active on The
Wild Rose Press loop (supportive group of authors), writing, and
doing general living things, my reading time is woefully limited.
Last week, I joined the Elks Lodge BPOE #1206, and I plan to devote
some time to their charitable works. So, I’m now an Elk!
Lastly, what's up next and when can we expect
to see it on the shelves? Yesterday,
I received my rights to Sinners’
Obsession back from the
original publisher. It is the sequel to Sinners’
Opera, but it has yet to
even be submitted. I’m working on Mr. Piano Man, a companion story
to Sinners’ Opera, starring Morgan, of course. It’s told in a
frame, beginning in the roaring 80s in Charleston, flashing back to
WWII during the Blitz in England for an entire story; The story then
returns to 1989 for the conclusion. When either of them will see
light is a ways away. The next probably is Life for Sale, the sequel
to Love For Sale. It is at least with my editor! I’ve more ideas
than time it seems.
Linda brought along an excerpt for
us:
Isabeau
halted inches from Morgan, and a wonderful sense of release flooded
her. Against a backdrop of stone and fragrant flower, he stood alone.
People moved but they were outside the sphere of power he radiated.
“Isabeau.” His voice still enchanted, but his
expression twisted her heart.
A band tightened around her chest. Why was he frowning?
Morgan didn’t touch her with his hands. His gaze
touched her like a physical caress. “You needn’t go home with
him.”
She shook her head. “I can’t just leave him.”
His voice dropped an octave, eyes dark, stormy. “Will
you sleep with him?”
The question was too personal for strangers. Yet she
wasn’t offended. He took her hands, and he took her breath away.
She longed to counter with, “Will you sleep with the brunette
tonight?” but, gazing into his eyes, she couldn’t speak.
“You hesitate. Is it such a difficult question? Are
you going to bed with him?” He trapped his lower lip between
sharp-looking incisors.
She glanced at his hands—cool, strong, elegant—and
his grip tightened. “No, not tonight. Nor ever again I think.”
How could total strangers speak vows, ignore polite
banter to dive to the heart? But they weren’t strangers, were
they? She didn’t know when, but her belief that Morgan was Gabriel
had solidified. Too many similarities teased her; coincidence not a
word in her vocabulary.
The anger faded from his eyes, again luminescent blue.
“Good.”
People scattered to a staccato of rain. A hand at her
waist, he guided her into the shadow of an eave, shielding her from
the storm. Sheet lightning flashed across the sky. Thunder crashed
as the storm gathered momentum. Even in darkness, she could see his
eyes. He seemed to have stopped breathing, seemed on the verge of a
confession. She waited, trembling inside.
To purchase Sinners’ Opera in
print and eBook go to:
About Linda:
After
14 years in Texas, Linda just returned home to her roots. She has
seven published novels, four of which are available from Audible.com
in audio. For many years, she bred, trained and showed Andalusian
horses. So, she’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of
a truck pulling a horse trailer. Linda has won several writing
awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers’ Magnolia Award and
the SARA Merritt.
She
retired from a career as a legal assistant at MD Anderson Cancer
Center to write full time. She has 2 wonderful sons—one in Texas;
one in England—and 4 equally marvelous grandchildren. She loves
horses, sports cars, music, and piano, and enjoys dressing up and
hosting formal dinner parties.
To
learn more about Linda Nightingale and the stories she creates, go
to:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/LNightingale
Web
Site: http://www.lindanightingale.com
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/
Intriguing interview, Linda Nightingale! Enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks, Karen! Glad you stopped by and enjoyed meeting Isabeau.
DeleteGreat interview! Good luck with the book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting me today. I love your blog and am always eager to appear with a new release.
ReplyDeleteI loved the interview so much! Enjoyed the excerpt as well!
ReplyDeleteWow..great premise!
ReplyDeleteGood luck and God's blessings
PamT