What inspired you to become an author?
I’ve always been a lover of the written
word and since I picked up my first romance novel at the tender and scandalous
age of fourteen (thank you, Jude Deveraux),
I wanted to tell my own stories. It took me awhile, but eventually did
so.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I’m very big on the use of imagery. I like
the idea of painting pictures with words. Rather than saying the sun set and it was pretty, I like to
flower it up a bit. The sun dipped down
below the horizon, painting the sky in an array of pinks and purples that bled
out into the clouds. That may be a
bad example. Oh, I’m a pantser, which I do NOT recommend, haha. I simply can’t
plot. I jot down a few ideas in a notebook that I look at every day before I
write, but I don’t have the patience to outline. I do, however, have a wall of
Post It notes, that makes zero sense to anyone but me.
How did you come up with the title for your latest
book?
It basically came up with itself. Wow,
that sounds insane. I was batting around ideas, things that would seemingly
appeal a bit more to a romance audience, but one day, Chaos and Moonlight just
popped into my head, as well as the title for the second book in The Order of
The Nines series, which is Mayhem Sonata. I loved both titles instantly. As to
what I will call the rest of the books? That is still up in the air.
Is there a message in your novel that you want
readers to grasp?
Yes, a big one, although wading through a
world of vampires, it may not be immediately obvious. I wrote the main
character Taris as a coping mechanism when I was living through domestic abuse.
Once I got out of it, I put my experiences - in an allegorical/ metaphorical
way, of course – into the novel. Some of the characters act in a certain way
and do certain things that may be a bit of a head scratcher to some people, but
the ultimate crux of the story is survival. The survival of a race, the
survival of heartache and heart break, of love and loss and the survival of an
abusive relationship; it’s all in there. One reader sent me a message and told
me that they were a domestic violence survivor and that the book made them want
to thrive again. I knew then that I’d conveyed the theme properly.
Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a
true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?
The character that I most identify with is
Bane. Yes, I compared myself to a murderous transvestite vampire villain. His
journey hasn’t been an easy one. He’s suffered abuse at the hands of someone
that was supposed to love him and the end result was a monster that was in
desperate need of redemption. No, I haven’t gone on bloodletting rampages, but
there have been moments when I was in my abuse cycle, that I didn’t recognize
myself. I was convinced that the monster I was becoming was who I was destined
to be. I found myself eventually and am lucky enough to be here with everyone
today. Will Bane get his redemption? Who knows, but whatever happens, it will
be a very wild ride.
What is your current “work in progress” or upcoming projects?
I currently working on Mayhem Sonata,
which is book 2 in The Nines series. After that, I will be frantically working
on the rest of the books in the series. I would be hard pressed to work on
anything but my vamps for the moment. They consume me and I like it that way.
Do you have to travel much to do research for your
books?
Maybe someday. Oh, how I hope the answer
to this is someday.
Who designed the cover of your latest book?
Fiona Jayde Designs did the cover and I
have to be honest, when I opened the email with the mock-up, I cried. I’d seen
her work before so when Full Fathom Five asked me who I thought would be a good
designer, my editor and I all but screamed Fiona! I was very particular about
what I wanted and she delivered about a million percent.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Write your story. Don’t write for what is
selling now or what you think is going to sell. Dig deep into your soul and let
it bleed out into your work. Your readers can tell when you are writing because
you think it’s what they want and when you are writing because it is what you
want to tell them. Don’t sugar coat a plot line or water down a story arc
because you are worried about what people will think. Will you have some
nay-sayers? Of course. In the end, will you be a happier author? Most assuredly.
And if you’re ever worried about whether your work is good enough to be
published, just remember that stupid-real-life-football-player book porn is a
thing. Now pat yourself on the back, and fix yourself a drink, because YOU are
awesome.
Do you have a song or playlist (book soundtrack) that
you think represents this book?
Yes! I don’t listen to music while I’m
writing but I have songs that work as inspiration before and after the fact.
Here’s a wee list. To put them all down would take up WAY too much room.
This is War (entire album) - 30 Seconds to
Mars
Birth, Conquistador, End of All Days - 30 Seconds to Mars
Moonlight Sonata - Ludwig von Beethoven
Teeth - Lady Gaga
When Worlds Collide - Powerman
5000
Love is A Losing Game – Amy
Winehouse
All I Want Is You – U2
Knock Me Out – Linda Perry and Grace
Slick
Viva la Vi – Coldplay
Edge of Desire – John Mayer
Chaos and Moonlight
Order of the Nines
Book 1
A.D. Marrow
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Full Fathom Five Digital
Date of Publication: May 6th, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63370-053-6 (epub)
ISBN: 978-1-63370-054-3 (mobi)
ASIN: B00U9QUJ9W
Number of pages: 280
Word Count: 91,993
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde Media
Book Description:
The Nines, an elite group of vampires, was established to stand as protection for their race. Fractured by centuries of betrayal and loss, the group is now little more than myth, its remaining members scarred and shattered.
Taris, the oldest living vampire, is no stranger to loss and heartbreak. He is all that holds the Nines together as they struggle to save themselves from total extinction.
Enter the beautiful and brilliant Dr. Sarah Bridgeman, whose medical research has resulted in a breakthrough for both humans and vampires. Her work may be the salvation this weary band of guardians has been looking for.
Taris needs to reach Sarah and enlist her help—before those aligned against him can act. Can a vampire king convince a stunning young scientist to save a species that isn’t even supposed to exist?
For now, only one thing is certain: no science can explain the explosive chemistry between them.
Chaos and Moonlight is the first installment in the Order of the Nines series, and is A. D. Marrow’s debut novel.
Add it on Goodreads
Excerpt:
"It was
several minutes before Sarah realized she wasn’t dreaming. The tall guy in her
room, the creepy guy on the stairs, all of it had been real. After about five
miles of telling herself to wake up, then looking at the tall guy who was
driving, then pinching herself, then telling herself to wake up again, then
looking at the tall guy some more, reality and the promise of a full-fledged
panic attack set in.
“I swear, if you let me go, I won’t tell
anyone, okay?” Sarah finally found her voice. She had a moment where she
thought that maybe this was a dream again, judging by the way the driver of the
car looked. He was dark and mysterious, chiseled from head to toe—she should
know, she all but crawled into him when they were running away from that other
guy. She couldn’t make out much in the dark of the truck’s cab, but even in the
faint light of the street lamps, something about this guy made her feel
different. Maybe it was his voice—that deep, gravelly, slightly British voice.
Maybe it was the smell that came off him, that man-mixed-with-leather-and-aftershave
smell.
“Who are you?” Her damned voice box
rebelled against her and her question came out in a whisper.
He was focused on the road, his eyes never
leaving it as he maneuvered the giant diesel truck in and out of the one a.m.
traffic. “I’ll explain everything when we get to where we are going. In the
meantime, just sit back and try to relax, okay?”
“Relax? Okay, yeah. I was taken out of my
bed in the middle of the night by some guy I don’t even know, and then I was
chased up the stairwell by a Sherman tank of a drag queen, and you tell me to
relax? Yeah right, pal! Listen, seriously, whatever ransom you’re asking for, I
can pay it. Just bring me to an ATM, and you can have whatever you want, okay?
Just let me go.”
“It’s not that simple, Dr. Bridgeman.”
“The hell it’s not. Look, just let me out,
and anything you want, it’s yours. Cross my heart, I won’t tell a soul you took
me.” She made a little crisscross motion over her heart.
“Like I said, Dr. Bridgeman, it’s not that
simple. I don’t need your money. I need you to do a job for me. That Sherman
tank drag queen apparently wants you to do the same job. I think, circumstances
being what they are, you might want to consider working for me.”
“Work, my ass.” Sarah mumbled to herself.
“Who the hell are you, anyway? And what job could I possibly do for you? I’m a
medical researcher, you dickhead.”
He didn’t bother looking at her. He took in
a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
“My name is Taris. I’m an
eight-hundred-year-old vampire, and I need you to use your medical research to
help me stop the slow yet brutal extinction of a race of people who really do
exist but are made into horror movie villains and romance novel heroes.”
When he was met
with silence, he glanced over to see her passed out cold in the seat.
“I knew it wouldn’t work.”
About the Author:
A.D. Marrow is a registered Sapiophile, a proud geek since before geek was chic, and believes that everyone deserves a happily ever after.
She lives in the foothills of North Carolina with her ridiculously hot and amazingly supportive husband, three kids that rock so hard there should be a national holiday for their awesomeness, two really stupid dogs and a plethora of Post-it notes with book ideas to last her until she’s 90.
Her childhood dream is realized in the fact that YOU have cause to read her bio. She hopes that one day, it lends her enough credibility to live out her second dream, which is to write an episode of Doctor Who.
Her personal mantra echoes that of Morticia Addams: “Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”
Twitter: @admarrow
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