Welcome back to Anna’s World! Today I am honored to be talking with the talented Alicia Sparks. I’ve asked her my usual questions and she’s provided me with some very interesting answers. Let’s see what she has to say!

 What inspired you to choose your genre (genres)?

I’ve always had a love for all things supernatural and paranormal. When I was younger, I wanted to be a parapsychologist and I’ve worked with several groups on “ghost hunts.” I guess you could say I’ve always been attracted to the unknown. My first love was Lestat but now I’m more of a werewolf/shifter kind of girl.

We all have issues with balancing our time between writing, editing, promoting, along with other obligations and personal time. What works best for you? There’s nothing that works! I teach full time and our state has instituted a new curriculum this year, so I constantly find myself having to go to meetings and stay late for work. I have four boys and a wonderful husband at home who help keep me balanced and a little crazy. Most of my writing takes place marathon style. I’ll write for several hours in one evening then won’t write again for two weeks. I try not to pressure myself to get the work count!

I know that feeling. It’s hard when you work another job and have other obligations. Tell us about your characters. What type of hero do you normally choose? What type of heroine?

I love Alpha males who are strong, big and know what they want. But I also want them to have a soft side and not be afraid to say those three magic words. I like a little bit of mystery as well. I want my heroines to be strong. I don’t like those who are too weak to handle themselves. They don’t need to be rescued but they sure don’t mind an extra hand in the battle!

Who are some of your favorite authors? Did they inspire you to write?

I grew up reading anything with a romance cover on it. I love the old bodice ripper romances. I want something sexy, fun, dark, mysterious with a kickass heroine and a hunky hero. My first big inspiration was Anne Rice. I read her Beauty books and her Vampire Chronicles as a teenager. Talk about changing your perspective on things! I’ve always thought of Rhett Butler as the ultimate romantic hero because he loves Scarlett but he also calls her out on all her bs. I like that in a hero. I love the Black Dagger boys even though the stories got tedious in places. One of my all time favorite books is a little novella by Cara McKenna called Willing Victim. It contains all the elements I love in a story…well almost all. There’s nothing paranormal but the hero is definitely out of the ordinary!

OMG! We could be twins! I too, read those kind of books for as long as I can remember. Rhett Butler is my ultimate hero…Now tell me what has been the most difficult aspect of your writing career?

The most difficult aspect is probably what everyone else says. I have a constant Catch 22. When I have the time to write, I don’t feel “inspired” and when I can’t do anything other than think about the story, I don’t have the time. Every moment of my day is spent thinking about a story, researching a story, talking to people and collecting their stories or listening to music to set the tone for a story. If I had as much time to write as I do to think and plan, I’d have a million books out!

This summer has been that way for me…so many ideas and not enough time to write. Moving along…give us a little dirt about yourself. What’s your favorite guilty indulgence?

I love trash tv. I used to watch Dance Moms and Project Runway but decided to give

up cable this year. So right now my indulgence is Netflix. I’m rewatching all of Lost

from the beginning, and let me tell you, it is just as fun the second time around. I’m

also hooked on the very bad remake of Beauty and the Beast on the CW. It’s awful

but I can’t look away. I like to watch bad tv and think about what I would do to

change those shows. How would I add depth to the characters? Where would I add a

plot twist? I’m absolutely no fun to go to the movies with! Oh, and I am slightly

addicted to chocolate and diet coke!

Now for the important stuff! Tell us about your newest book.

My newest book is actually a series that will be coming out soon from Beau Coup. It is set in Louisiana and deals with Louisiana’s strange obsession with all things tigers. You may have heard of our little football team down at LSU. Anyway, years ago, I drove through town (I live in a tourist town in Central Louisiana) and I saw a sign advertising white tigers, like a sideshow attraction. I always thought that was strange. The sign only stayed for about two days and I never went to see the tigers, so as far as I know, they weren’t even real. But it had me wondering what would happen if a tiger was trapped in a roadside attraction but the tiger was actually a shape shifter. As time progressed, I saw that the Ian Somerhalder Foundation was working to help free some tigers that were being held at a truck stop near Baton Rouge. All this culminated into the story of the Maddux family, a group of shape shifting tigers in South Louisiana. Kenyon, the hero of the first story, is trying to break his brother out of the roadside attraction before his identity is discovered. In order to do so, he needs help from Sage, a wolf who is destined to be his mate. However, Sage is tired of cleaning up Kenyon’s messes and is determined for this to be the last time she bails him out. When they attempt to rescue his brother, Nik, Nik escapes into the swamp. His story is the second part of the novel. We learn why he was in the roadside attraction in the first place and what kind of woman it will take to tame the beast inside.

Bio: Alicia Sparks is a Southern girl with a flair for all things a little naughty. From writing about sensual ice cream to sexy tigers, her stories all contain a high level of heat, which she blames on her Southern surroundings and her smoking hot husband. She has been writing for ten years and shows no signs of stopping any time soon!

Book Blurb 1: Wild Shifters Anthology: When Hailey Conrad and her best friends head to New Orleans for her fortieth birthday, she has no plans for a hook up, but the mysterious stranger in the French Market seems to know exactly what she needs to mark the big 4-0. He gives her a wishing lamp with one warning: don’t make a wish. Of course, when she rubs the lamp, her most carnal fantasies come to life in a way she never imagined, leaving her knowing exactly what to wish for. http://jupitergardenspress.com/shop/wild-shifters-copy/

Blurb 2: Dragon’s Law: Damon Dragon’s Law – Damon By Alicia Sparks Second in the Dragon’s Law series. Damon has lived with guilt and regret for six long years and has finally decided to put an end to it. He knows his betrothed, Kira, is alive, and now it’s time to find her. When he travels through space and time and lands on the foreign planet, Earth, he finds more than he ever dreamed. Kira awoke six years ago with no memory of her past and no idea about the strange bite mark on her shoulder. The only thing she knows for sure is that the moon controls her, forcing her to have feverish dreams of a time and a man she doesn’t remember. Their destinies collide in New Orleans as Kira goes to a sci-fi convention to unveil her latest video game created to help rid her of her demons. Standing before the audience, she never expects the man of her dreams to literally step forward and cause her entire world to come spiraling down around her.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Law-Damon-Alicia-Sparks/dp/1419952765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379283887&sr=8-1&keywords=Alicia+Sparks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alicia-Sparks

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Alicia! It’s been fun chatting with you and good luck with your series. It sounds great!

 Now, don’t forget to stop back by in a few days when my spicier side, Isabella Kole, is debuting her first erotic romance. I’ll introduce you to IzzyB and tell you how she came about. And I’ll give you a sneak peek into Accepting His Terms!!!!

 Love,

Anna