Touching the Moon
Lisa M. Airey
Genre: Romantic Suspense with a Paranormal Twist
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent, NY
Number of pages: 272
Cover Artist: www.reese-winslow.com
Book Description:
A gifted healer with a genetic secret and a haunted past, Julie Hastings takes her new veterinary degree to South Dakota hoping to bury memories of a physically abusive stepfather and unprotective mother.
Although intending to lead a quiet life, she finds herself relentlessly pursued by two unwelcome suitors: the Chief of Police and a powerful member of the Sioux Indian Nation.
The man she chooses shatters her world-view.
Her stepfather taught her that not all monsters run on four legs. Now Julie must face another truth—some beasts are good.
An Interview with Lisa M. Airey, author of “Touching the Moon”
Q: How long did it take to write “Touching the Moon”?
A: Three months. And I wrote every day. My daughter was away
in college and homesick, so I started sending her chapters of my manuscript to
keep her spirits up. Her requests for “more” kept me moving at a very fast clip
to the finish line. She made for a super beta-reader and editor; her immediate
critiques allowed me to write and revise simultaneously so my first-draft was
more like a second-draft!
Q: How did you land your publisher?
A: Ah! That is a crazy story! My daughter and I were on a
Route 66 road trip in New Mexico and stopped in a local bookstore to get some
reading material. We picked up a murder mystery written by local author and
Lefty Award Winner, J. Michael Orenduff entitled “The Pot Thief Who Studied
Escoffier”. It was fabulous! The author had
included his email address on the back cover so I wrote to tell him how much I
enjoyed the book and to point out that his main character’s favorite libation,
Gruet sparkling wine, was not really “champagne” (as referenced in the book).
Champagne comes from Champagne, France; Gruet is sparkling wine made in New
Mexico. (I’m in the wine industry.) A number of emails followed and I became a
beta-reader for him. When I worked up enough courage, I asked him to read my
manuscript. He liked it and recommended me to his publisher…who then offered me
a book contract. In a nutshell, my book contract was the result of a pot thief,
New Mexico and champagne! (I highly recommend all three!)
Q: How long did it take to move from signed book contract to
book on Amazon?
A: Approximately ten months. There was a lot of work to do.
The publisher had me change the title from “Wounded” to “Touching the Moon”
(too many other books out there with the “Wounded” title). I had to change the
name of the town in which the story takes place. I had to cut 35K words! The
publisher wanted me to move the story from South Dakota to Colorado…but I
lobbied hard to keep my story where it was. (And won.) The manuscript had to be
re-formatted and checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation. Then there was
cover design! All of this took longer than it took to write the novel itself!
But I have to say…as soon as the book went live on Amazon, I bought a copy!
What a thrill!
Q: What has the journey been like for you?
A: To be honest, the easiest part of the process was writing
the story. I had no idea that the editing process would be so gut-wrenching,
nor promotion so exhausting. There are 700 new titles published every day.
Trying to get noticed in “haystack” that large is very hard, especially for a
debut author.
Q: Have there been any shining moments?
A: Yes! I ran a Halloween promotion on Amazon and gave away
free Kindle downloads for five days. My publisher was hoping for 500 downloads
to generate some buzz. In the end, there were 7,255 downloads to Kindles in the
USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Spain, India and France! And the reader reviews
are still coming!
Q: What have been the challenges?
A: Learning the industry jargon. Learning how to work within
the world of social media (I tweet but still don’t understand Twitter!)
Choosing how to spend my time: do I promote the book in print or write on the
sequel? There are not enough hours in the day!
Q: How to you fit writing into your life?
A: It’s tough. I’m the Education Director for the French
Wine Society so I write wine study manuals for the wine trade by day. Sitting.
In front of a computer. I can usually get a couple hundred words in on my WIP
(work-in-progress) each night…but most of my quality writing time comes in
longer chunks on the weekend. The challenge is to make sure I don’t sit 24/7.
I’ve taken up gardening to keep me moving.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Interestingly, the characters in my novel kind of take
over and take charge. They write their own story. I would have never admitted to this except for
the fact that I’ve heard other authors say the same thing. So I guess I’m not out
in left-field and that it’s a fairly common occurrence.
Q: Has writing a book changed the way you read a book?
A: Absolutely! I look for breaks in character, breaks in
plot, breaks in logic. I am aware of pacing, typos, natural vs. unnatural
dialogue. I can’t help but dissect a book now!
Q: Does this take the fun out of reading for you?
A: No. But it has to be a really good story for me to lose
myself completely now. I read with both sides of the brain these days!
Q: Favorite authors? Favorite books?
A: The “Alchemist” has earned a spot on my list of all time
favorite books! And Isabelle Allende writes powerful stories that leave
long-lasting impressions. I’m a big fan of Anthony Capella. Loved his book
“Food of Love”, a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac for foodies. Jonathan Stroud
did a masterful job with “Amulet of Samarkand” creating my favorite “bad guy”
of all time: Bartimaeus. I enjoyed Laini Taylor’s “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”
and “Days of Blood and Starlight”. (I’m fascinated by the world she has built.)
J. Michael Orenduff has a super murder-mystery series set in New Mexico. My
favorite in his line-up is “The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy”. Love Charlaine
Harris. Love Patricia Briggs. I enjoy Janet Evanovich also. (Sincerely hoping
that Stephanie Plum will pick Morelli!)
Q: What do people say when they find out you’re a writer?
A: They assume I’m rich or they assume I’m unemployed. Neither
assumption reflects reality so I always end up doing a lot of explaining.
Q: Why did you choose to write a book in the paranormal
genre?
A: I read books to relax. I prefer not to read something
with a box of Kleenex at the elbow. (This pretty much knocks out every
selection in Oprah’s Book Club.) I’m not big on Science Fiction because it takes
too much work to learn the “world” and the rules within it. Paranormal gives me
that comfortable sense of the familiar with just the right amount of
“otherworldly-ness”. I thoroughly enjoy it…and I like the dystopian genre for
the same reason.
Q: Is your book categorically paranormal romance?
A: [Spoiler Alert] No. It’s more romantic suspense with a
paranormal twist. There’s romance but the heat is “closed door”, i.e. no
explicit sex. However, the sexual tension runs very high and the main plot
revolves around a love triangle. There are some murders and a dark stalker element
that tie in, hence the suspense. And as to the paranormal twist…well, as I
mentioned, there is a love triangle--it’s just that, on occasion, one of the
three runs on all fours!
Q: How strong is the paranormal element?
A: [Spoiler Alert] The book is a shifter novel, but you
don’t know that straight away. The book is firmly grounded in reality. It starts
out as a simple love story, so many readers are totally caught off-guard by the
big “reveal”. And I did that on purpose. I have read so many books where the
hero or heroine is given introduction into an alternate reality and they are relatively
un-phased and quick to accept. I don’t think that would happen in real life. No
one in their right mind would say: “Oh, you’re a
vampire/leprechaun/faerie/werewolf. Cool!” There would be shock, denial, and
fear as they tried to reassemble themselves within a world they didn’t know
existed. As a result, this makes the paranormal element of my story very
believable. As one reader put it: I put the “normal” in paranormal.
Q: Why did you choose (and fight for) South Dakota as the
setting for your novel?
A: My great, great grandmother was Sioux. She married a man
in the 1800s that took her back to the east coast. They walked from the Black Hills of South Dakota to Maryland. I set the
story in the Black Hills to honor them both, but her in particular.
Q: Do you incorporate Sioux culture into your novel?
A: I do. One of the men involved in the love triangle is
Sioux. I tried to be as authentic as I could with regard Sioux customs and
ritual. That wasn’t easy. Information is scarce. Many Native Americans tribes
are justifiably worried about revealing too much of their culture for fear it
will be misinterpreted or misused.
Q: Have you been to South Dakota?
A: Yes! I have visited the Black Hills. It is stunningly
beautiful. And quiet. In fact, the silence is so pervasive that even the sound
of the wind is a statement with an exclamation point. Last September, I flew
out to participate in the South Dakota Festival of Books in Deadwood. Prior to
the festival itself, I contacted the stables in Custer State Park to book a
two-hour trail ride. When I offered my credit card to confirm the reservation,
the woman said simply: You told us you
were coming; your word is credit enough. There’s a lot of old fashioned
trust out there. It’s a great state filled with great people.
Q: Do you have any advice to aspiring writers?
A: Throw away your television. It’s the biggest time-waster!
Once the tv is gone, you’ll read or write or do something interesting and
active. You’ll be amazed how much more you will accomplish for yourself each day!
About the Author:
Lisa has worked in the wine industry for 20 years, the most recent eight in education with the Society of Wine Educators and the French Wine Society. In these roles, she has authored and/or edited wine study manuals and developed or expanded certification programs for the wine trade. In her free-time, she writes fiction...naturally, with a glass of wine at the elbow. She is a Maryland Master Gardener and puts that training into practice in her sizable vegetable garden. To assist her, she has recruited the services of a very helpful staff: two Chinese geese, two mini-Rex rabbits and 2,000 red wigglers (worms)…all of which are “master composters”. An adopted feral cat guards the perimeters and keeps the groundhogs at bay. She resides in Monkton, Maryland.
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5 copies of Touching the Moon in print or Kindle format (winner’s choice- print open to US Shipping Only)
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