Author/Book Showcase: Elizabeth Hunter and the Elemental Mysteries Series

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Elizabeth Hunter is the author of the Elemental Mysteries Series. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College in the Department of English (Linguistics) and a former English teacher.

A native of Central California, she currently lives in Southern California with her husband, son, and an assortment of dogs.  She enjoys reading, writing, travel, and bowling (despite the fact that she’s not very good at it.) Someday, she plans to learn how to scuba dive. And maybe hang-glide. But that looks like a lot of running.

A Hidden Fire, This Same Earth, and The Force of Wind are now available from all major online e-book retailers. Book Four, A Fall of Water, will be available in Summer 2012.

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Q&A 

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A.  Well, other than living a dangerous life of intrigue and mystery in suburban Southern California, I'm very inspired by character. I'm a big people-watcher, so I think that's translated into a fascination with creating compelling characters and the stories follow from that. I also listen to a lot of music, which is very involved in my creative process.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an author?

A.  I'm able to consider yoga pants my work clothes. That's kind of awesome. And I'm sure this sounds cheesy, but I really do love hearing from readers. Knowing that my stories made someone laugh or cry or even made them mad is very cool. I'm incredibly flattered that someone loaned me their imagination for a little while to read one of my books.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an author?

A.  Negative reviews are always hard to read, but you have to accept that sometimes, a story just isn't going to be a reader's favorite. It's also really tough to wait for all the pieces to come together when you're writing a series. Sometimes I just want to spill the beans about everything that's going to happen, but that would pretty much ruin the books, wouldn't it?

Q.  If you could not be author, what would you do/be?

A. I love photography, and I do some of that on the side. (I'd say a chef, because I love cooking, except I have friends with restaurants, and I know how much work they are.) Possibly a librarian! (I love books, of course.) Or a ninja. Probably a camera-wielding  ninja who stalks libraries. There's a pretty big future in that, I think. Or... it might be better if I just kept writing.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A.  Unexpected Adventures of the Pen-Wielding Ninja.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A.  How can I possibly answer that question? I have a different answer for every genre. Fantasy? Lord of the Rings. Romance? Pride and Prejudice (No Zombies). Literary fiction? The English Patient. Poetry? The Captain's Verses by Neruda. That's the best I can narrow it down! And that's actually a very small list for me.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A.  Maybe Hermione Granger? I was a huge know-it-all in school and have very frizzy hair, though luckily, my teeth never needed a charm. If I'm not like Hermione, I wish I was. She was awesome.

Q.  What character from all of your book(s) are you most like?

A. Ooooh. Caspar, maybe. I make an excellent martini. Just kidding (kind of). I'm probably fairly evenly split between being like Gio and Beatrice both. I think there are aspects of both characters that are like me, though none are exact.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A Fall! I like rainy weather a lot. We don't get much rain, so it's a treat. I'm sure if I lived in the Northwest, I'd appreciate sunshine more.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book(s).

A.  Nothing really hilarious is springing to mind. People are usually very nice, or they have been so far. I do write under a pen name and not everyone in my life knows that I write novels. So I have actually had people mention my books to me or my husband without knowing that I'm the one who wrote them. That can lead to a few funny conversations.

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A.  I'm always working on something new! I tell my poor husband I'm going to take a writing break when I'm done with a book, and then I immediately start writing something else. I just finished the first draft for the fourth Elemental Mysteries book right now. Gio and B's last book will probably be on the market in June. And I'm in the middle of writing a companion novel for Carwyn, as well. After that, I do have another series not related the the Elementals World that I'd like to dig into.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  You should read my books! Even if you're not usually a fan of paranormal romance, download a sample on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or you can always check out my website. The first chapters of all my books are posted there, and you just might like them. There's a lot of mystery and humor. Plus, A Hidden Fire contains what I consider the best academic defense for watching professional wresting, ever. If that doesn't tempt you, I don't know what would.

To see my review of A HIDDEN FIRE click HERE

Learn more about the Elemental Mysteries series at ElementalMysteries.com or contact her by e-mail at elizabethhunterwrites@gmail.com. You can follow her on twitter at @E__Hunter or like her Facebook page "Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter."