Life for Sale by Linda Nightingale

Posted: August 27, 2020/By: achristay@aol.com

Please welcome Linda Nightingale author of Life for Sale

Linda Nightingale will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Life for Sale

by Linda Nightingale

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GENRE: Science Fiction Romance

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

I fancied myself a writer as early as ninth grade. I wrote a science fiction story, starring an alien with pinkish/blond hair, rather than a book report and received a high grade. This masterpiece was set in London. I had to read it in front of the class. AARGH. I remember running my audience through the city to the Thames from Regent Street. Want to go? I still have a map. Seriously, when I again picked up my pen it was much later. Toward the end of last century, I read the Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, I thought Oh, I can write like that, but when I tried to start writing, it sputtered and coughed, and started with a couple of awards. Then I tried to publish my Cardinal Desires and found I couldn’t write anywhere near Anne Rice. That same book, after a lot of learning of the craft, was published by DDP with the same title. It is now out of print and waiting for me to polish it to send it to my current publisher, The Wild Rose Press.

What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

Writing goes better with wine. Can’t you just hear Jimmy Buffet singing “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere”? Now you know why the book plays like a movie in my head. Kidding.

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

When I finish promoting Life for Sale, I’m going to kickstart my Muse and finish a contemporary western for a series call by my publisher. On the half shell, the stories must occur on or near the fictional Old West town, Wylder, Wyoming. Most of the stories will be set in the mid-1800s with a few contemporaries sprinkled in. Mine is called The Wyler Years. I’m at 43,000 words with a chapter to go, then polish and submit. Then cross my fingers and bite my bottom lip.

If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

The hero of Sinners’ Opera, Morgan D’Arcy. He’s an English lord, a concert pianist, and…a vampire. I’d drop the vampire bit. but I’ve always wanted to play piano. Morgan is 6’2” with blond hair, blue eyes, and a devilish smile. He is handsome, charming, and wealthy. There is a drawback. He’s in love with a mortal woman, intends to marry her, and have a child—his centuries old dream—but there is a big problem. Vampyre law prohibits having children with a human. I could pass on the angst. Let’s go back to the handsome, charming, and wealthy as the reason.

If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your leading roles?

If the movie staff could make him look like he did in the Ralph Lauren ads (pre-Vikings)—Travis Fimmel would play Christian. Cameron Diaz could play March. I don’t really know the enough of the names of the actors and actresses to be a casting director.

Do you belong to a critique group? Make that a resounding NO. If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I think, or at least for me, it hinders creativity. I found it stifling. People in critique groups think they have to be critical. I hated coming out with my child bleeding from multiple wounds and on the verge of dying. At one time, I exchanged work with another The Wild Rose Press author, but she’s on sabbatical due to family issues. I miss her feedback and encouragement. To me, a critique should point out faults with a butter knife not with a machete, outlining the strengths, too. The process of writing can be discouraging sometimes anyway. The critique group should be an uplifting experience. Too often, that isn’t the case. Ask yourself—do I enjoy my critique group? Am I getting valid feedback? Am I gaining anything from them, or do I leave the session feeling like a loser?

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

At the time, my friend, author Toni V. Sweeney, and I were exchanging work for critique. She was working with me on a book I never thought would be published. Gemini Rising deals with the sensitive, taboo subject of incest. It’s a fantasy and the reason is explained, but it involves the main characters. She encouraged me to submit the book to her publisher, Double Dragon Publishing in Canada. I did and forgot about it. In two weeks, I received a call at work from DDP. They wanted the book. I put down the pleading I was answering and called Toni!

Do you outline your books or just start writing? I’m a certified panster (or is that certified insane). I never outline. Sometimes, I write scenes out of order, then link them at the proper place, but no, not even a character work sheet. Kiddingly, above I said the story plays like a movie before my eye, but when I get into my zone,that’s how it is. The certifiably insane certification comes from hearing things—like my characters telling me the story as it unfolds and introducing new characters. I love writing this way. It’s not everyday I can do it though. I need to be totally alone, without distractions to jerk me out of the story.
Do you have an all time favorite book? Out of so many, I can’t narrow it down to one. I tried but there’d only be another book vying for the title.
Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book

From the blurb, you’ll learn that four sentient, human-like androids have escaped their creator. After 6 months in hiding, they reunite on a cruise ship. While in route to London, they discover that one of them has suffered a deadly malfunction. One of the black moments comes when they finally admit that one of their own kind is a killer. In the middle of the Atlantic, they must decide how they alone can stop an invulnerable killer. The final, final black moment arrives when they have the robot cornered and must try to destroy it.

What is your favorite reality show? Don’t get me started. I hate reality shows right up there with sitcoms. I rarely watch TV, so when I do, I don’t want to waste my time on either. Instead, I waste it on sci-fi, fantasy, or paranormal.
Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series. Tomorrow’s Angels is my first series. I’m working on the sequel to Sinners’ Opera, but it’s probably a year off. Life for Sale is only the second book in Tomorrow’s Angels. I anticipate another of the androids’ story). What is it like? I’ve found it difficult keeping my strings woven between my fingers so that I can tie them all neatly up at the end of the series. I thought it would be hard coming up with a second book starring the same characters—after all, I told Christian’s and March’s story in Love for Sale—but it wasn’t. Life for Sale was meant to be Daniel’s story, but my editor at the time wanted another about Christian and March. I had to put dread to bed and start without any story. My panster came to my rescue.
Anything else you might want to add? Thank you, Christine, for allowing me to guest on your blog. The interview questions were fun (as you can see from my lengthy answers).

BLURB:

Mayfair Electronics has created life.

But four of their Special Editions—sentient androids indistinguishable from human—have escaped. Rebel, Christian Aguillard and his owner, March, are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator’s plan to destroy him. They’ve discovered that one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure.

Trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer’s next victim.

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EXCERPT:

“Why are you here? To spout more nonsense?” Spitting mad, Monica reared up in her enemy’s face.

“Not at all.” March’s hand flashed, almost too rapidly for Monica to see, and came down hard below her nose in a Judo-like attack.

Shocked and in pain, she stumbled back, switching modes as she pushed off the bed. “That’s it, whore. You’re a dead woman.”

“I don’t think so,” her rival gritted out, hands braced on her hips, her expression as cold and hard as her mediocre brown eyes. She shook her head. “Look, Monica, I know you’re aware of your actions. I’m going to give you a chance. You must deactivate until we can safely transport you to Dr. Cross for testing. Surely, you know something is wrong.”

“As they say in the films, you and whose army?” She squared her shoulders, preparing to strike without notice. “I didn’t do anything to that bloody dog. I didn’t do anything to you, fool.”

“You didn’t mention Anne.” The other woman seized Monica’s arm. “What did you do to Anne?”

Claws out, Monica lunged. March darted beneath her guard, stabbing at a spot beneath her left earlobe. Monica shoved her back. “Looking for my off switch, fool? It’s well hidden, like where Ms. Goodie Two Shoes wouldn’t even think about going.”

Her insane human rival stood at the locked door, her stance as much as saying to leave Monica would have to get past her. No prob. She stalked toward her rival, murder in her eyes. March didn’t move. When Monica threw a punch at her eye, she moved by the gods.

The American whore lurched back, crossing her arms across her face, anticipating Monica’s next attack. Forearm struck forearm. A human bone should break, but March stood her ground, her limb intact. She recovered too quickly, dealing Monica a hard blow beneath her cheekbone, barely missing her eye, slamming her back against the wall.

“I don’t know what you are, March Morgan,” she sneered. “But it’s not going to save your butt.”

“No, but I am.” Looking like an avenging angel, Christian—in a Houston t-shirt and khaki shorts, his long hair disheveled—had somehow appeared behind March without either of them hearing.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

After 14 years in Texas, Linda returned home to her roots in South Carolina. She has 8 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 for Excellence, the Raven Award in Anthologies, and the SARA Merritt. Sinners’ Opera is a finalist in the 2020 Raven Awards. She loves horses, sports cars, music, reading, writing, and piano—oh, and dressing up and hosting formal dinner parties.

BUY LINKS:

Life for Sale – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D2Z5XLC

Love For Sale– https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sale-Linda-Nightingale-ebook/dp/B00XCZ6EVY

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