Presenting: Exit Stage Left by Catherine Russell

Posted: September 4, 2018/By: achristay@aol.com

Please welcome Catherine Russell author of Exit Stage Left

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

Exit Stage Left

by Catherine Russell

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GENRE: Dark Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

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INTERVIEW

Do you have any tattoos? Where? When did you get it/them? Where are they on your body?

Answer: Actually, I’m the only one in my family who DOES NOT have a tattoo. However, I do have one chosen, should the opportunity ever arise. It’s a Celtic design of my own that was actually created on a Welsh bracelet many years ago. When my son was an infant, teething, he used it frequently to gnaw on and it now holds his little bite barks engraved in it. So the same design on the bracelet, will hopefully with any luck, be placed upon my upper back, atop my shoulder blades, below my neck line with dark indigo, dark purple and forest greens for coloring. Someday…it’s on my bucket list.

Is your life anything like it was two years ago?

Answer: Yes…and no. Yes being that I’m still a mother of a teenager, though a bit older, however he’s become wiser and more independent in his thinking and opinions, especially about social media and our gov’t and current administration…and not in a good manner either I might add…which I perfectly endorse. He needs to learn early to make one’s voice heard and to be an active participant in the community. No I’m not the same as I too have grown older and now cherish every memory we can make together. I enjoying being more active in our community, giving back when I can and supporting causes that make forward movement and improve the lives of those who need it the most, the ever-increasing homeless population.

How long have you been writing?

Answer: I actually had to do math for this answer. It took me approximately 3 years to pencil…yes pencil…the first The Stage manuscript. As I didn’t have a home computer at the time, I borrowed one of my son’s “5 subject” notebooks for school and a #5 pencil…and hand wrote the entire thing first. Long story short…I self-published in 2011, then with a stroke of luck, was picked up by Barking Rain Press in May of 2013. They re-released The Stage Book 1 in 2015 after much-needed editing. So my journey continues after 10 years.

What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?

Answer: This is a common question I get when I do book signings. Many would-be-authors ask “Should I write it in this style? How do I approach a publisher? Does my story need a different direction?” The one piece of advice I always give is this: Always listen to your heart first, don’t edit ANYTHING until you know you’re finished. You can always keep what gets cut, use it somewhere else. Let it flow organically not completely structured as this restricts the imagination too much. Get to know your characters, think of them as real people, flush them out to see who they are. And when someone advised you to cut something, revise it…remember that it’s just advice…that you DON’T have to but to ask will it make a difference in the scene or not. And to keep it true to your story…don’t let others make it their story when it’s being edited.

Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.

Answer: This is a very unknown fact. The Stage Chronicles: Exit Stage Left Book 2 is set in Vegas due to my own adventure during my 1^st trip there, a few years ago. We stayed at a hotel neighboring The Luxor. At the time, I had never heard nor watched reality TV, which included the resident illusionist at The Luxor, Criss Angel. That trip changed everything for me as I enjoyed my first Cirque De Solei show at The Luxor, featuring Criss Angel. Needless to say, I devoured the MindFreak series via Netflix the moment I arrived home. His performance and subsequent TV series was the catalyst for a character in Exit Stage Left, originally named Cris. However, after meeting and speaking with Criss Angel’s manager/lawyer, I was politely told I couldn’t use the name as it was too close to the performer’s actual name. Therefore I held a “Name that Character” contest via Twitter and my Loyal Stage Hand, my followers’ nick name, Tammy Kirby’s submission was chosen and now the new character is named Stefan. When I first walked into the main atrium at The Luxor, the vertigo inducing illusion inside the pyramid was totally confusing and disorienting to me…the same it does for Megan when she arrives there in Exit Stage Left. Needless to say…Megan and I are quite alike.

BLURB:

Megan O’Day seems to be navigating the unpredictable relationship with Geoffrey Drake, her centuries-old vampire guardian angel, rather well. But then his past suddenly rips him from her, forcing her to face the unknown future alone in the gripping sequel to The Stage.

Still bound to Geoffrey through the power of the Link despite his unexplained absence, Megan’s mind is flooded with his haunted memories. While she relives the darkest moments of his previous life, she discovers his attachment to a woman who bears a striking resemblance to her.

As she questions Geoffrey’s love for her, she strikes up a dangerous alliance with Geoffrey’s brother, Alexander, who is also a vampire. She hopes that he will help her find a way to rescue Geoffrey: instead, he seems to be awakening new emotions and desires within her.

As the past and present collide, Megan struggles to fend off Alexander’s dark seduction. Is Geoffrey truly beyond the reach of her love forever? If not, what must be sacrificed to bring them back together again?

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EXCERPT:

An image of Dawn’s mangled, bloody body filled my thoughts, and I stopped sorting through my art supplies. It had happened just before Christmas. There was poor Dawn, distraught over her break-up with Ian, wearing my jack, and waiting in Geoffrey’s car in the alley behind The Stage.

They thought Dawn was me.

They- The Inner Circle, Geoffrey’s first coven-wanted him back.

Marco, his sire, was the head honcho there, and I its prime the coven had been quite large with a very strong presence in the community. As the years passed, it prominence had faded, but Marco still clung to his power. Geoffrey said that the older Marco got the more manipulative, abusive, and obsessive he became. It didn’t make sense. Marco had exiled him, and now he wanted his prized son back, even though Geoffrey’s twin, Alexander, was part of the Inner Circle. To top it off, they wanted me dead. Why? Because I came between Marco and Geoffrey? Was it because of the Link?

Shh, my love,said Geoffrey’s sweet, cool voice though the Link.

But I couldn’t keep my thoughts from whirling. Nerdy Chase Montgomery, my neighbor, was Geoffrey’s Guardian- a scholar of immortals, more or less. He was assigned to watch over Geoffrey, but he had trouble staying close to him. So he had followed me instead, filling my apartment with micro-cameras and audio pickups. When Geoffrey finally confronted Chase, I got a look inside his apartment-and at his computer screens. Nearly every inch of my apartment was under surveillance.

How fast everything had happened! Only four months ago, I started working at Ashleigh’s bar, The Stage, which was now the hottest club in Seattle. Geoffrey and his family which made up his band, The Darkness, were the house band there, and he and his family lived what they jokingly called an “alternative lifestyle”- even for vampires. Believing our human lives were too short as it is, they found other sources for their drug of choice, blood.

By the way, did I say reality bites? Yeah it does. I guess that comes with the territory when the one you love is a vampire.

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