Welcome to Celina Summer's guest blog

Welcome Ms. Summers to Love Romances and More, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure to spend time with the wonderful folks here at Love Romances. You’ve always been very kind to me and to my work.

Did you always want to become a writer?

Except for a brief spell in the fourth grade when I fell in love with the word ‘anthropologist’ I always knew I’d be a writer. I spent over ten years as a professional actor and director, and I probably wrote three or four really bad novels even then when I was in lonely hotel rooms in unfamiliar towns. Writing has always been such a part of my life. I wrote my first poem at 7, my first story at 8 and my first full length novel at seventeen. Writing wasn’t just destiny; it was my doom.


What is the most, and the least interesting fact about writing?

The most interesting thing about writing is that every time I open my laptop to a blank document it’s the beginning of a brand new adventure. The least interesting fact about writing is that the first draft is always crap. A story isn’t good until you’ve rewritten it many, many times.


How did you celebrate your first release? What was it like to see your book in a bookstore? Do you have a special ritual for celebrating a book release?

I drank a bottle of champagne of course! Then, covering one eye with my hand, I stayed online and kept hitting refresh while Googling my book title. When I have a new book release, I usually write a blog entry at midnight on release day and go to bed. Then I wake up and start hitting the chat circuit. Then, that night when I finally close my laptop and turn out the light over my desk, I make a special ritual of framing a copy of my book cover and hanging it over my desk.


How did your family react to fact that you also write romance novels? Have your family read your books?

My novels aren’t strictly romance novels. I’m a speculative fiction writer—mostly epic fantasy—with strong romantic elements. My family is very proud. My father has owned a farm supply store for years, and when my first book came out he irritated every farmer that came in by showing them my sales page on Amazon. Both of my daughters have read my books, and beg to beta the ones that aren’t done yet. My husband reads my work as I write it. I have a very supportive family.

Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?

Wow. This question is always so unfair. I love reading anything. I read cereal boxes for pleasure if I’m out of books. In my genre right now, I’m enamoured of JK Rowling, Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel’s Dart) and Anne McCaffrey. In general fiction, I’ll never get over Helen Santmeyer (The Ladies of the Club), Victoria Holt, Georgette Heyer or Daphne du Maurier. The writer who has probably influenced me the most, surprisingly, is Mary Shelley.

Your characters come to life in your books. Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example? Do you have living role models for your characters?

My characters definitely live with me. They’re just like my teenaged daughters—they won’t shut up. They drive me to tell their stories. When I’m vacuuming my carpet, one will inform me that they really want to have an argument with their husband in the next chapter, thank you very much. The protagonist of my epic fantasy series The Asphodel Cycle, Tamsen, is a good example of this. She is a strong-willed woman, one who brings my modern feminist sensibilities to a male-dominated stereotypical fantasy world and forces them to see things my…er…her way. I want my characters to take the familiar, comfortable archetypes of my genre and bend them into something unrecognizable. So as a result, Tamsen is a powerful woman—not a brass bra-wearing Xena the warrior princess type, but a political genius who can use a sword if she absolutely has to. She is a sorceress with frightening amounts of power, but every time she uses it, it incapacitates her for days. She has to practice temperance in everything that she does. Because of that, now I have to as well. My vodka habit has lessened substantially. It’s impossible to write a powerful woman when the author is having trouble typing.


Where do you get the inspirations for your books?

Everywhere. The inspiration for the Asphodel series came from a very odd thought I had one day when I was sitting at home alone. What would happen, I wondered, if at some point there was a Trojan War II—like there had been a World War II. Then I took it a step further and pondered the consequences of making Elves fight it. The rest, as they say, is alternate history and a heck of a lot of fun.

Do you find it difficult at times to write love scenes?

Never. I write about the human condition, the conflicts and emotions that every mortal being experiences. Love scenes are an integral part of that.

What is your favorite book from the books that you have written so far? Who are your favorite hero and heroine, and why?

Well, at the moment this is easy. Tamsen de Asphodel, my heroine, and her husband, Brial Ka’breona, are my current favorites. They drive The Asphodel Cycle (and its poor author) as well as each other. They’re perfectly matched in a lot of ways. She’s probably the most powerful mortal on the planet. He’s probably the most domineering Elf that ever existed. Their relationship is constantly a conflict between the two of them for dominance. She usually wins; she’s his monarch. Occasionally, he’ll put his foot down and she’ll give in. But, when it comes time to make an important decision they have learned to work together. That, I think, is what makes them so special. They didn’t just wake up with that ability to cooperate; throughout the series they’ve had to learn how to adapt to each other and their changing circumstances. It makes them realistic. Besides, they have the best arguments—and they are way too much fun to write.


Which book was the hardest to write and which the easiest?

The easiest book to write is always the last one. The hardest one to write is always the next one.

If you could change places with one character from your books, who would it be and why?

I would change places with a secondary character named Myrielle. She has no power at all—she’s a seamstress who marries another character in the book. Every other character in the series is absolutely terrified of her. She can take a knight in shining armor by the ear, drag him out to the bathing chamber and order him to take a bath and he will do it. Quickly. She’s one of the few characters who can keep Tamsen in check and she has some of the funniest lines I’ve ever written. Most importantly, she never gets wounded. All of the other major characters do. I’m not real fond of pain, so Myrielle it would have to be.

If you could travel through time to visit a special time period or famous person, what or who would it be and why?

I would go to Elizabethan England and I would talk with Queen Elizabeth herself. I think we’d get along famously and I’d love to get a first hand idea of how her brilliant mind worked.

Do you listen to music while you are writing and if so what music is it?

Classical. Always. I have special playlists for specific types of scenes. I don’t want to hear words, just the music. The Asphodel series was written to Mozart’s Requiem Mass and several of John Williams’ works from the last Star Wars series—specifically the fight music and the music when Anakin betrays the Jedi Order. One character has his own theme music—I only play that song (in incessant repeat) when I’m writing one of his scenes and I’m usually bawling by the time I get it done.


If you could choose of your books for a movie, which one would it be and who would you as the cast?

Oh, goodness. That’s tough. I’d have to pick The Reckoning of Asphodel, since it’s the first book of the series. Now to cast it…um…let me think. Tamsen could be played by Natalie Portman, but I think I’d like to see a newcomer in the role. Brial could be played by Johnny Depp. Aside from the fact that Depp can play anyone, well, then I’d have an excuse to be on the set every day. You know…for character notes. Anner de Ceolliune could be played by Gerard Butler—and boy would that make Tamsen’s decision hard. And for my villain, Gabril de Spesialle? Robert Downey Junior would be just perfect.

Oh, and since I was a professional actress for over ten years, I think I’d play Kaldarte, the Elven Seer. I would have said Myrielle, but I’d want more lines than that. Heh—just a little narcissistic actor humor there…feel free to laugh at me or just ignore me.

Are you working on anything right now, and can you tell us a teaser about these projects?
The final book in The Asphodel Series, Apostle of Asphodel is completed and will be released in the spring or early summer of 2009 by Aspen Mountain Press. I’m also working on a second four-book series, Compulsion of Dis, set in the same world, using many of the same characters.

I have a lot of new books on my desk at the moment. I have a co-writing project with my fellow Aspen Mountain Press author Rob Graham—a trilogy of a vampire war set in the time of the French Revolution. We’ve completed the first book Breaking the Covenants, and it should be released in 2009.

I have an anthology of short stories, Metamorphosis, which has fantasy, horror, and paranormal stories—including a short story that is a prequel to the Asphodel series.

Besides these, I have about 15 different works in varying stages of completion in genres ranging from paranormal romance to urban fantasy. It’s safe to say that I’m always working on something.

Reviews of Celina Summers' books:

The gift of redemption