Hello and welcome to my blog, Author Interviews. My name is Fiona Mcvie.

Let’s get you introduced to everyone, shall we? Tell us your name. What is your age?   

I’m Linda Nightingale and ‘I am not young enough to know everything’, or so says my favorite author of all time, Oscar Wilde!  😊

Fiona: Where are you from?

I was born in Anderson, South Carolina, but spent the last 14 years in Houston, Texas. I love Texas. I love South Carolina. They are very different from each other, but remarkable in their separate ways.

Fiona: A little about your self (ie,  your education, family life, etc.). 

I’m an only child, so there was just my mother, father, and the string of children pulled in to entertain me. My maternal grandmother figured largely in my younger years. When I married, I had two sons and a British husband.   One of my sons lives in Yorkshire, UK; the other lives in Houston.  I have four wonderful grandchildren—two boys and two girls—living in England.

Fiona: Tell us your latest news.

I’m waiting on the final galley for my new book, Sinners’ Opera. A vampire has everything he wants except what he most desires—Isabeau.  I haven’t finally chosen my tag line. What do you think of:  Death is his punishment. She is his prize.

Blurb:

Morgan D’Arcy is an English lord, a classical pianist, and a vampire. He has everything except what he desires most—Isabeau. As the Angel Gabriel he’s steered her life and career choice, preparing her to become Lady D’Arcy.

Many forces oppose Morgan’s daring plan—not the least of which is Vampyre law. 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.

Fiona: When and why did you begin writing?

I began writing in the last century. In the late 90s, it was easier for a writer to get published. Though I won several writing awards, I didn’t get published until 2012 by a Canadian publisher, Double Dragon Publishing, with a book I thought would never be published. Gemini Rising is an erotic romance with a taboo twist.  It has now been republished as Her Brother’s Wife from Lot’s Cave Publishing. (My erotic novels are under the pen name Bianca Swan) I write because I have to and have always been compelled to do so. I hope the fire burns until the day I die.

Fiona: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Oh, about age fifteen when an English teacher allowed me to write a story instead of a book report.  I first considered that I might be a good writer when Gemini Rising was published in 2012.

Fiona: What inspired you to write your first book?

Once upon a time, I lived in Miami, Florida. I’d been out on a Saturday night partying  on the famous South Beach, and the next morning these two characters, particularly the hero, woke me up demanding I write their story.  I was not happy with them, but I wrote the first part of the book on a pink legal pad with purple ink and my Iguina poking his head through my hair.

 Fiona: How did you come up with the title?

The first book, I came up with the title because it’s about identical twins, and Gemini is the astrological sign of twins.  Sinners’ Opera was the name of a band on a marquee outside a nightclub as I drove past. Most often, the titles just come to me.

Fiona: Do you have a specific writing style? Is there anything about your style or genre that you find particularly challenging?

I tend to border on purple prose, and the challenge is to keep the writing lush and descriptive without becoming purple or having too much narrative or too many words in a sentence. I have been known to describe every noun in the sentence.

Fiona: How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Very little. I once fashioned the villain on my ex-husband. Tee hee

Fiona: To craft your works, do you have to travel?

Sometimes, I get out of the house.  Seriously, I should have taken a trip to Jamaica for The Summoning. (Hardship. No) but I didn’t and one reviewer said the setting was lushly portrayed.  Never been there., Before or during the process? I rode up and down the Battery on the ocean in Charleston, South Carolina, until they must have thought I was either stalking someone or a new resident. (A chance to live there would be a fine thing.) I was trying to find Morgan’s house of that historic strip.

Fiona: Who designed the covers?

My son designed the cover the first time Sinners’ Opera was published with DDP.  While I’ve been writing for The Wild Rose Press, the marvellously creative Debbie Taylor (http://www.dcagraphics.com/) has designed my covers.

Fiona: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Sinners’ Opera is about love and obsession. Love For Sale is about love and tolerance. Gylded Wings is about love and judgment. Gambler’s Choice is about people who love horses. With each book I have a theme, but my goal in writing is to transport my reader to another world, to submerge her/him in the story so that when the book ends, that reader feels as if she/he’s surfacing from warm water.

Fiona: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I guess by ‘new’ you mean newer than Oscar Wilde.  😊 Yes, I like Beth Trissel, Toni Sweeney, and I’ve always enjoyed Anne Rice’s novels. Who is your favorite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you? Ms. Rice submerges her wrier and gives them the chance to get lost in the story.

Fiona: Outside of family members, name one entity that supported your commitment to become a published author.

Author Mary Marvella Barfield. We met at a writers’ conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina, became fast friends, and have remained friends and supported each other’s writing ever since.

Fiona: Do you see writing as a career?

Yes. I retired in 2014 from a position as Legal Assistant with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to write fulltime.  I then became a contract Content Strategist for an advertising agency.

Fiona: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book? 

I can’t think of anything except not letting Morgan take over the book.

Fiona: Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

love hero!  Morgan is the most dynamic of my characters, I think. Reviewers have called him a ‘tour de force’, and that’s what he is. An earl, a classical pianist, and a vampire.

 Fiona: If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

Johnny Depp as Morgan, and Michelle Pfeiffer as the heroine, Isabeau.

Fiona: Any advice for other writers?  

Like many other writers before me, I’d say stay with it and don’t give up on your dreams—or your particular voice and style.

Fiona: Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

I hope you enjoy my books and contact me anytime through my email on my website:  http://www.LindaNightingale.com .

Fiona: What book are you reading now?

A King’s Story by the Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII)

 Fiona: Do you remember the first book you ever read? 

No. I remember some of my favourites over the years, but not the first.

 Fiona: What makes you laugh/cry?

Cruelty, especially to animals. I laugh at myself often.  I do like dry and sarcastic wit.

 Fiona: Is there one person, past or present, you would love to meet?

The Duke of Windsor.  Why?  He is fascinating. I wonder what kind of man would give up a throne for ‘the woman I love’.

 Fiona: Do you have any hobbies?

I used to breed, train, and show Andalusian horses, but that is in the past now. I like to read, attend formal events, and give formal dinner parties.  I collect formals.  In fact, I’m a hopeless clothes horse, and I love to wear wigs—changing up my look from day-to-day—one day lavender, the next long and blonde.

 Fiona: What TV shows/films do you enjoy watching?

I loved Game of Thrones and mourn its passing.  I like Lucifer, Poldark, and Humans.

 Fiona: Favorite foods, colors,  music?  

My favorite color depends on the object. Yum, my favorite food is lobster. I listen to all music, particularly classical and old-fashioned country but not rap.

 Fiona: Imagine a future where you no longer write. What would you do?

I don’t know. Writing is so much a part of my life, I’d flounder around for a while searching for my next passion, and I can’t imagine what that would be.

 Fiona: You only have 24 hours to live how would you spend that time?

With my sons.  Simon and I would have fly to England, but I’d like to be with them, doing absolutely anything.  I might like to swing a leg over a horse—my passion before I became an author.

 Fiona: What do you want written on your head stone?  

I saw this once on a bumper sticker:  I tried to contain myself, but I escaped.

 Fiona: Do you have a blog or website readers can visit for updates, events and special offers?

 Web site:  http://www.LindaNightingale.com

Blog:   https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/ – I have lots of great guests and oodles of prizes.  Stop by and take a look-see.

Bio

After 14 years in Texas, Linda returned home to her roots. She has published six novels, four of which are available from Audible.com in audio. For many years, she bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses on their farm in Five Forks. So, she’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer. She retired from a career as a legal assistant at MD Anderson Cancer Center to write full time—2014, does it seem so long ago? She has 2 wonderful sons, and one very loving and patient computer. However, the word ‘patience’ isn’t in her vocabulary.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LNightingale

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LindaNightingaleAuthor

Web Site:  http://www.lindanightingale.com

Blog:  https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/

Amazon USA :  https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nightingale/e/B005OSOJ0U

UK  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linda-Nightingale/e/B005OSOJ0U?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1563375403&sr=1-6

https://youtu.be/hSsuAW7-UPE

Fiona, thanks much for having me on your blog today.  I hope I haven’t shown too much of my serious side!