Interview: Dani Harper (Storm Crossed)

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Hello and Welcome All!

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Dani Harper, author of Storm Crossed.

Hi Angela! Thanks for the warm welcome, especially in such freezing weather! Brrrrr! I’m just going to wrap up in an afghan here while we talk, and I brought hot coffee and fresh cinnamon buns to share.

Please share a few reasons why someone should try the Grim Series…

I love to write about romance mixed with magic in a contemporary setting, especially if there’s a myth or legend involved. I love to place ordinary people face to face with the extraordinary and the impossible, and see how they react – and how they grow and change in order to accept this new reality. I want there to be high stakes, action, and danger. But I need some humorous moments mixed in, as well as romantic and sexy ones.

If that’s the kind of story you like to read, then maybe Storm Crossed is for you. Oh, and don’t worry about getting lost. Even though this is Book 4 of the series, every story is a standalone.

How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?

The concept of the Grim Series sprang out of my lifelong fascination with mythology and folklore – and fond memories of my Welsh gramma! Each book has its beginning in Wales, where legends claim that faery realms were once hidden far below the human world, in a place where time did not exist.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would it be like if the fae still lived? And what if they were no longer content to remain in their own kingdom? Especially when the faeries of the old stories are nothing like Tinkerbell! They are not cute. They are not little. And they are certainly not nice. The real fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly.

What would happen if these ancient beings came to modern-day America? How would people react? How would the fae respond?

Storm Crossed gave me an opportunity to explore a whole new aspect of the world I’ve created. Love is so rare among the fae that most do not believe it exists. Could a faery truly fall in love with a modern mortal? And what would be the cost?

Please share a few lines from Storm Crossed….

“What are you doing here?” demanded a new voice, a rich, masculine voice, and every one of her friends fell silent.

Oh, great, we’ve attracted a park ranger, thought Lissy as she turned to face this new issue. How are we going to explain—

It was no ranger. The first thing her eyes took in was a heavy black cloak, thrown back to reveal strange leather clothing. Ornately tooled and trimmed with silver, it hugged a lean frame.

No, some instinct decided, not lean but lithe. Lithe like a big cat, all coiled agility and snake-strike muscle in a deceptively relaxed package. She was forced to tilt her head to see the strong jaw that underscored the man’s angular face—and beneath it, the silvery scar that ran diagonally across his throat from beneath his left ear until it disappeared into the right side of his collar. Far from being a blemish, however, the scar only added interest to otherwise perfect features. Less obvious was a strange otherness to his appearance that she felt rather than saw. Human, yet decidedly not. And no human she knew boasted hair like that. Pulled into a thick braid that fell halfway down his back, it was white in the way that snow was white—not a single shade but many.

She had to remind herself to breathe. This was no lost cosplay enthusiast or a Lord of the Rings extra but an actual living, breathing member of the faery race. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a faint thought protested that such a thing was completely impossible. It wasn’t very convincing, however, with a flesh-and-blood dog the size of a goddamn Volkswagen already in front of her.

The man’s pale hair glowed in the fire’s light. A fistful of loose strands fell across his face, and beneath them his eyes were watchful, alert. A panther scanning for prey.

And he had found her.

Tell us all about your main characters — Who are they? What makes them tick?

Trahern is a powerful fae sorcerer who has left his title and his wealth behind, and chosen to ride with the Wild Hunt. He can’t accept that love even exists, never mind consider that he might be susceptible to it. And as for mortals? He barely notices them.

Lissy is an independent human woman with a lot on her plate. She believes in love but between her career as a university professor and her responsibilities as a single mom to a young son with Asperger’s, she doesn’t have time for it.

These two people could not be less alike on the surface. And what will they do when they discover they have more in common than either of them ever dreamed? Can mortal love survive fae magic?

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

Contrary to popular belief, the writer isn’t really in charge of the story. So, the best part for me is the sheer surprise of what my characters come up with. I love to see how they grow and develop, and the story of Trahern and Lissy is one of my most satisfying works to date. I’m so proud of both of them!

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview.

Thank you so much for inviting me today! I’m looking forward to visiting with your readers in the comment section.

 

Storm Crossed

Grim Series

Book 4

Dani Harper

Release Date: January 9, 2018

Publisher: Montlake Romance

ISBN-10: 1503948943

ISBN-13: 978-1503948945

Book Description:

The latest stand-alone novel in Dani Harper’s Grim Series will delight old and new fans alike, transporting them to the ancient fae realm beneath the modern human world, where magic rules and menace abounds . . .

Heir to a noble fae house, Trahern is forced to watch helplessly as his twin brother is cruelly changed into a grim—a death dog—as punishment for falling in love with the wrong person. Trahern doesn’t believe love exists, but he will do anything to keep his brother alive—even join the Wild Hunt and ride the night skies of the human world.

Lissy Santiago-Callahan believes in love but has no time for it. She’s busy juggling her career as an academic and her home life as a single mom to a young son with Asperger’s. Her hectic life in sleepy Eastern Washington is made even more chaotic with the sudden arrival of a demanding fae and his unusual “dog.”

Mortal and immortal have nothing in common, and the attraction between Lissy and Trahern surprises them both. But when their desire places Lissy and her child in the path of a deadly faery feud, will the connection last, or will their separate worlds prove too great a divide?

Amazon 

 

Legend, lore, love, and magic. These are the hallmarks of Dani Harper’s transformational tales of faeries, shapeshifters, ghosts, and more, for a mature audience.

A former newspaper editor, Dani’s passion for all things supernatural led her to a second career writing fiction. There isn’t anything she likes better than exploring myths and legends from many cultures, which serve to inspire her sizzling and suspenseful stories.

A longtime resident of the Canadian north and southeastern Alaska, she now lives in rural Washington with her retired mountain-man husband. Together they do battle with runaway garden gnomes, rampant fruit trees, and a roving herd of predatory chickens.

Dani Harper is the author of Storm Crossed, Storm Warned, Storm Bound, Storm Warrior (the Grim Series), as well as First Bite (Dark Wolf), for Montlake Romance. She is also the author of a Yuletide ghost story, The Holiday Spirit, plus a popular shapeshifter series, which includes Changeling Moon, Changeling Dream, and Changeling Dawn.

For more, visit her websiteAmazon Author Page,  FacebookTwitter or @Dani_Harper

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

I'm an outdoor sun loving reader living near San Fransisco. I’m a mother, wife, animal & book lover. I'm the owner, reviewer & mind behind Angel’s Guilty Pleasures. My favorite animals are horses & dogs. As for reading I love all things paranormal & urban fantasy & my favorite shifters are dragons.

77 comments on “Interview: Dani Harper (Storm Crossed)

  1. congrats to the lucky winner 🙂

  2. How many books are you planning in the series?

  3. Do you see yourself retiring and never writing again or will you write until you die and then they’ll find 200 unfinished manuscripts ?

  4. Do you set a specific time to write or is it when the mood strikes?

  5. Do you have any plans for Valentine’s day?

  6. Do you re-read books or do you just try to read all new books, all the time?

  7. I think of the books I read as a mini-vacation. Do you read for a get-away in your mind or do you read to analyze, etc.

  8. I havent’ watched TV in years but the one time we had netflix there was this fae series on…. something girl… have you seen it?

  9. What type of chickens? We are thinking of getting chickens in a couple of years when we get our own house. Any advice?

  10. hotdogs or hamburgers OR Are you a vegan or vegetarian?

  11. DO you like books that make you think or do you like stories to enjoy? I’m a “enjoy ” type of reader..I want to be entertained. I don’t want to learn anything except what the stories about lol

  12. So a co-worker gave us a chicken to eat, which we cooked up last night and I have leftovers so what is your best left over Chicken recipe

  13. I’m running out of questions, so…whats your to go meal when you just don’t want to make anything or have no time to make a huge meal ..tacos.. sandwiches?

  14. What do you have in your To Read Pile

  15. What’s your biggest challenge as a writer?

  16. Do you go on vacation and NOT work or does your brain work overtime and see things you NEED to add to a book?

  17. Do you prefer ebooks or real books?

  18. If you could meet any author past or present who would it be and why?

  19. Do you have a reading challenge of your own or are you too busy?

  20. Are you part of any book club/writing or author workshop group?

  21. DO you ever have a book writing challenge with other authors? LIke , trying to help motivate each other?

  22. DO YOU HAVE pets that distract you? From doing your work?

  23. About how many books do you read per year?

  24. Was there ever one quote or part of a book that stuck with you? That you can recall to this day? for me its the dark tower series and King writing about mutan spiders under the one way station (yay spiders)

  25. What books did you read growing up?

  26. About how many books do you write per year?

  27. Do you believe in glamours? some women can weave a glamour and even should you how on youtube !!

  28. My husband and I are wanting to get some chickens. Can you have only 1 chicken? That’s all I want.

  29. What’s your favorite TV show?

  30. Do you take characters from people you know?

  31. How much travel research do you do for books? (oh I’m writing about fae, have to go to Ireland…lol)

  32. do you eat chicken, or just have chickens or you just know trivial stuff about chickens

  33. If your book was made into a movie who would you want to star in it?

  34. IF YOU were Invited to dinner by the fae, would you want to eat?

  35. If you could invite any three authors (living or dead) to dinner, who would they be and what would you discuss?

  36. HOw long did it take you before you were published.

  37. What other genres are you interested in?

  38. Do you have chickens? How many? We are thinking about getting some. Thanks for the awesome giveaway. I love your blog!

  39. Do you think ebooks help or hinder an author? (I don’t have an ereader and won’t read on the computer)

  40. Do you feel you are influenced by authors YOU read? Does that reflect your writing style?

  41. Do authors try to follow the myths or do they add a few things of their own to stir it up

  42. Do you feel your previous job as a newspaper editor has influenced your fiction writing?

  43. Are fae from Ireland only or are there more then one version out there

  44. Do you do any research before bringing in other paranormal creatures?

  45. DO you have a favorite fae author series that you’d recommend

  46. Hve you ever read any Fae books and thought , OK thats something new I would never have considered

  47. What other genres do you enjoy?

  48. Do you have a favorite fae author?

  49. what age did you start writing?

  50. How many fae books have you read

  51. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you use Beat Sheets for plotting?

  52. What is your favorite variation on fae? (ps, I dont know if its been asked already )

  53. I don’t have any questions but I raise chickens ^_^

  54. https://www.pinterest.ca/DANIHARPER/ the pinterest link did not work, is this her?

  55. So about the fae, why is Ash always after humans? Like on an evil scale, how evil is he? Like can we even compare fae evil to human evil?

  56. LOve the cover! So you like chickens, do you have any?

  57. Well I was going to ask about your favorite paranormal creature, but already asked. Guess I ask what your favorite chicken is.

    • I have a weakness for crested chicken breeds like Polish and Houdan. My favorite chicken (don’t tell the others, LOL) is a crazy-feathered silver-laced Polish named Priscilla. She’s the oldest in the flock, and was eccentric from Day One.

  58. Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog, Angela! I appreciate the interview and being able to share my new release. 🙂

    • It was my pleasure. I enjoyed the interview and learning more about the Grim Series and your book Storm Crossed.

  59. Hi Dani, Storm Crossed sounds great! Have you even seen a grim or had a paranormal experience – outside of books and movies that is.

    • Thank you Glenda! I haven’t encountered a grim myself. The closest I’ve come to a phantom dog is a visit from my old pug Scooby after he passed. I woke up in the night to the sound of jingling tags and clicking toenails ambling down the hallway! It happened a few times to me, and also to my daughter who was particularly close to Scooby.

  60. Angela what a cool interview, this sounds like a series I would love and thanks for the fantastic giveaway too!!!! xo

    • Hi Debbie – I’m glad you like the giveaway! I was aiming for something really special to celebrate this book. 🙂

  61. Great interview Angela and dani!!!! I love Dani’s book covers for this series their awesome!!! I have the whole series on my tbr gr and amazon lists!!! Shared on all my socials!!! What your favorite paranormal creature?

    • That’s a tough one — there are so many! I’ll always be fond of my wolfen shapeshifters from my Changeling series, but there’s room in my heart for a dragon or a pooka (pwca). Both made an appearance in Storm Crossed!

  62. I keep trying to decide if I want to read this book. I didn’t realize that it was the fourth book in the series. The blurb says that it’s a standalone, but is it truly? I won’t be confused by character interactions or who characters are?

    • Hi Kim – That’s a great question. I’m one of those people who will pick up a book out of the middle of a series and start there. Because of that, it’s important to me to orient the reader in each of my own books – not by an info dump, but just enough description to understand the world contained in the story. New readers have told me that they didn’t get lost, even though some of the characters recur from previous books — but they went back to read the first three books afterwards because they wanted to find out the backstory of those characters. Some readers prefer an orderly approach, and read the books in order from the start (Storm Warrior is the first). It’s whatever you’re most comfortable with. 🙂 I hope that helps!

  63. Oh this is a new to me series and sounds like a lot of fun! I love the mixture of action and romance with a kick of humor scattered throughout. My favorite kind of story!

    • Thank you, Tanya! Humor is a great coping mechanism for humans when things are tough. And I think the best relationships are seasoned with humor.

  64. I love your books Dani. How many more books do you plan on writing in the Storm series ?

    • Hi Carol – thanks! I’m letting the characters tell me how many novels there’ll be in this series (hey, they’re in charge anyway, LOL) Right now I’m working on Book 5.

  65. Congrats on your new release and what motivated you to be a writer.

    • Hi James – I loved books before I knew how to read. Even as a small child, I understood the concept that SOMEBODY had created the story — and I wanted to make stories too! So that desire was always there.