Are you currently binge watching anything on Netflix or Hulu ? What keeps you glued to the screen?
I'm not currently binge-watching anything, although I have in the past. In my younger days, I was almost religiously faithful to Man from Uncle and Star Trek on TV. (In fact, Tevis McLeod, the elf character in my books, is based, physically, on Illya Kuryakin from the old TV series.) The characters are mostly what keep me coming back.
Do you prefer movies or TV series?
I generally prefer TV over movies, mainly because with my job (I work for Sheridan Media, a news outlet with 10 radio stations and a website), it's easier to find time for TV. I managed to see all three of the Lord of the Rings movies, and all three of the Hobbit movies, but I haven't been able to find time for movies in a couple of years now. And it's killing me, because I really, really, really want to see the recent Star Wars flicks!
When it comes to reading do you prefer standalones or series?
I really do like the series books. I don't like saying goodbye, even to fictional characters, so once I get to know a character, I want to keep reading about him or her.
Do you prefer to start new book series when the first book is released or do you want for a several books in the series to be released so you can binge read?
I enjoy starting a book series with release of the first book.
What are some of your hobbies, interests or guilty pleasures?
Chief guilty pleasure – Dungeons and Dragons. Even though I no longer play (the group I was part of has broken up through the years), I still keep up with changes in the game. And I'd leap at the chance to play again.
Other interests … I manage to find time to paint now and then. I don't think I'm that good at it, but it's fun. I'm also a kind of amateur historian. One of the first things I've always done when I move to a new community is start researching the history of a place.
What's your guilty “nerd” pleasure?
I love the Star Wars and Star Trek movies. And when FaceOff was part of the lineup on the Sci Fi channel, I never missed a show. (Note to the Sci Fi folks: Bring Back FaceOff!)
Have you ever peeked at the ending of a book?
Fiction books … Every time! I hate investing time and energy into a book only to discover on the last page that the author has killed off the main character (or even a secondary character that I've grown to love). So when I find a book that looks interesting, I first read the opening paragraph or two – then I flip to the ending to see how it turns out.
When it comes to your own writing are you a plotter or a pantser?
I'm pretty much a pantser. Now and then I've been known to spend a little time plotting, but I really like the feeling of just letting things develop. At heart, I'm a storyteller, and the first person I tell my stories to is … me. On occasion, I've surprised myself, and I think that's a good thing.
Unholy Cause
PortalsBook 5
P.L. Blair
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Police Procedural/
Light Romance
Publisher: Studio See Publishing LLC
Date of Publication: Sept. 30, 2017
ASIN: B0763FMV4S
Number of pages: 220
Word Count: 78,670
Cover Artist: Ron and Sarah Richter
Book Description:
Corpus Christi, Texas, police detective Tevis McLeod, an elf, must make an impossible choice: aid the evil Queen of the Unseelie Court in a quest that will allow her to become ruler over two worlds … or watch Kat Morales, his Human partner, and lifemate, die.
Excerpt:
Kat
Morales felt a tingle of nerves between her shoulders as she and her partner
entered Miguelito's. Something watched them – not some one, not anyone in the
knot of uniformed police and civilians gathered at the doors into the
restaurant's kitchen. What burned at the nape of Kat's neck, and turned the
greenblack amulet around her neck into ice so cold it almost burned, came from
some … thing. A creature, definitely not Human. Kat stopped a couple of steps
past the entrance, scanning her surroundings. Miguelito's had gone lavish in
Christmas decorations: arrangements of poinsettias on every Spanish-tiled table
in sight, bright-colored pinatas around the bar at the far end of the room, a
six-pointed star of Magic-enhanced light strands hanging from the ceiling in
the room's center, with more light strands radiating outward toward the walls
in a simulation of starlight.
And
overriding everything, the decorations, murals on the walls – everything –
That
sensation prickling at the nape of Kat's neck, that feeling of being watched by
something dark and malevolent.
“Invisible,”
Tevis murmured, his gaze meeting hers.
Not
her imagination then. He felt it too.
He
nodded, as though in response to her thoughts. A couple of inches taller than
Kat's own five-feet-six, hair a pale gold in color, eyes the most incredible
shade of blue Kat had ever seen, Tevis Mac Leod at first glance could pass for
a late-twenty-something Human. But then you noticed the ears, pointed as those
of a fox, that identified him as an Elf – an Aalfar. One of those beings that
Humans had long dismissed as “fairy tales” and fantasy until more than four
years ago when Portals had opened between the world of Humans and … the Other
Side … the world ruled by Magic and inhabited by all of humankind's ancient
fantasies and worst nightmares …
Tevis
had been Kat's partner on the Corpus Christi Police Department's detective
squad for nearly a year now, and more recently – her lifemate. Although they
were keeping that part secret for a while yet. The CCPD officially frowned on
its officers … “fraternizing.” A corner of Kat's mouth twitched a smile that
quickly disappeared as she re-focused her attention on the business at hand.
All the restaurant's tables were empty, all but one. She moved toward it, Tevis
close at her side.
The
two men standing beside the table straightened at the detectives' approach. The
third man, the one slumped over his unfinished lunch, was beyond any kind of
movement.
“Morales.”
Corpus Christi Police Captain James Harley nodded to her, then to her partner.
“Mac Leod.” He pronounced Tevis' name “Leed” instead of the way Tevis himself
said it: “Lee-ud.” The other – living – Human at the table, Nueces County's
Deputy Coroner Roger Branson, gave Kat and her partner a curt nod. Kat had
fewer dealings with Branson than with his boss, Paul Herrera. But Paul was on
vacation this week.
Kat
would've bet her next paycheck that Roger was wishing his and Paul's positions
were reversed.
About the Author:
A native of Tyler, Texas, Pat Blair lived for a few years on the Texas coast, in the Rockport and Corpus Christi area, before moving to Sheridan, Wyoming, since 1986. Writing as P.L. Blair, she finished her first book in her Portals series – Shadow Path – in 2008 while still employed as a reporter at The Sheridan Press newspaper. After taking a short semi-retirement, she resumed working as a reporter for Sheridan Media, a company that boasts ten radio stations and a website, sheridanmedia.com, in 2013. Blair's writing career was briefly disrupted by a – fortunately small – heart attack in January 2016, but with medications and a change in diet, she's recovered and back on track. She shares her life with three dogs – a basset hound, dachshund/cocker mix and a “Jack Russell terror” – and a cat. All are rescues.
1 comments:
Roxanne ... Thanks so much for hosting me today!
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