INTERVIEW: with Maya DeLeina

A book to get your teeth into before the sun comes up

Check out the book data over at Goodreads. 

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Conducted by Sassy Brit

Can you share a brief outline of your book, Flesh Fantasy, please?

First and foremost, the prologue suspends the reader. The reader must always have the events of the prologue in the back of their mind because it will come back to bite in a big way.

Flesh Fantasy is essentially diary entries from Rain and Rhys. It documents their chance meeting; taking the reader through their excitement in exploring each other, their struggles, heartache, triumphs and their eternal love. The entries are creative as they take on point of views from Rhys and Rain. This allows the reader to see how judgment, opinions and inner struggles influence situations in a different ways. Women between the ages of 30-40 will relate to the heroine, Rain. The story picks up where Rain has gone through a personal transformation, getting over that midlife crisis and really coming to terms with life and understanding and loving who she is.

Flesh Fantasy’s plot revolves unexpected twists and turns of a lover triangle between one human woman and two male vampires. Along the way, the reader is introduced to select members of the Ambrose Heights family.

Flesh Fantasy is book 1 of the Ambrose Heights Vampires series. The series is slated for 7 installments, all of which the characters weave in and out of each book’s tale and can be read in any order.

Who is your favourite character in Flesh Fantasy?

Most people that ask me this assumes that I am going to say Rain. While I love her lust for life, no-nonsense approach, strength and wit, the character I absolutely fell in love with was Rhys.

Rhys really came out of nowhere. His character was loosely molded after several different people in my life, but as I wrote, he took on a presence that I had never known and never intended on.

Yes, Rhys is a vampire, but just like humans, not all vampires are alike. Rhys is this larger-than-life, macho man. He has an air of over-confidence that surrounds him. He can make men shake in their boots and women weak in the knees. Yet, under all of this deliciousness is a man that has inner struggles and doubts just like everyone else. And to add just the right amount of spice to this dish, Rhys has an uncanny way of making you laugh with his insistent need to recite movie lines to temper his inner demons.  I don’t know what I was drinking the night that all came about.  I wonder if readers will identify all of the movie lines he uses throughout Flesh Fantasy and in future installments of the Ambrose Heights Vampire series.

Well, whatever you were drinking it worked! LOL 

Rain has three dogs. Do you own dogs?

Yes. I have three babies, I mean, dogs; two Shih-Tzu's and a Ridgeback mix.

In the story, Rain has Kaima, Kylie and Max- I attached pictures of these guys so readers can get a sense of what Rain's dogs looked like.

Thank you so much for sharing they're gorgeous! I love dogs!

Kaima passed away tragically and unexpectedly at the age of 5. She was my little angel- her passing absolutely broke my heart. She had an immune disorder that went undetected and she bled to death one day while I was at work. She died 3 days before I was scheduled to visit my family in Hawaii.

Max was my parent’s dog. Since I moved away from home, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him. He was a smart and very athletic dog. I will never forget the way he could catch a basketball with his two front paws in midair.

Kylie was truly my first dog. After moving out on my own, I got Kylie as a companion. She was always by my side. As Kylie aged, she became diabetic, dependent on insulin. I had to learn how to administer her shots and adjust her diet. A year after being on insulin, she went blind. Insulin and blind, she was still a feisty and happy dog. After having her for 11years, I had to make the painful choice of putting her to sleep. She had developed bloat after eating dinner one night, and surgery didn’t have a hopeful prognosis. Kylie died 2 months after my parents lost Max. Sadly, Kylie also passed away 3 days before my parents were arriving in Colorado for a visit.

So, this was my tribute to all of them. The final chapter in the book is titled with dates— these were the dates of their deaths. Dealing with death is never easy, but I harbored a little guilt in all each of their passing. I guess this was my way to immortalize their memory that helped me get past the guilt.

You seem to know a lot about taking insulin, does this mean you are affected by diabetes in your own life?

The diabetes really came about because of the insulin that I had to administer to Kylie. With a person, you can always ask how they feel; inquire what it is like on insulin. For a dog, I wondered what changes were going through her body. And none of what she was going through she could tell me. So, I did a lot of research on insulin. Then, a friend’s son was diagnosed with Juvenile diabetes. It was so progressive that he eventually had a pump implanted in his body to regulate his insulin dose. For a child that young to be so well educated on diabetes and have a life so different from other children broke my heart. As I was talking to my friend, I believe I was trying to make light of the difficult situation she was facing when I asked, “I wonder if insulin could do anything funky to a vampire?”

What about a book club for erotic paranormal romance readers, where Rain reads out an excerpt of one of her own stories. I think that's a great idea. Is this something you do as an author?

I hosted a paranormal book club for a little while. We called ourselves the PEARLs (Paranormal Erotic Adult Romance Lovers). The group was made up of some aspiring authors among the avid readers group. The aspiring authors would share their short stories, if they chose to do so. It was a great group of people, but with the hectic schedules we all faced, we were unable to continue. What is very interesting is that I had a handful of readers in the club where English was not their first language. It didn’t even dawn on me that for some, conversation English is strengthened by reading. I know what people are thinking since the club was based on erotic literature— but it helped them and the way I see it, learning the fundamental of being “naughty” was a good thing!

What's your favourite writing quote?

·         "I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper." -Steve Martin

Where would you most like to live? 

• On Lankikai Beach

How often do you exercise?

• 3-4 times a week

What are your hobbies?

• Writing, reading, traveling, music, wine, interior decorating,

Which author would you most like to meet?

• Anya Bast

What car do you drive?   

• A Black Hummer  
  As an author I suspect you have lots of books for writers, which tell you about the art of writing. Do you have any favourite books you keep returning to for advice? Is there anything else you use for reference you also find invaluable?

While I don’t have any books to offer, I find that using a good friend to bounce ideas off of or have them read very rough draft of ideas is the remedy for writing. True friends have no problem telling you if something you wrote were a complete piece crap or something that was worth pursuing.

Absolutely! 

What's the most useful tip you've ever been given, that has helped you advance in your writing career?

Write what you know and what excites you. I never work with an outline. I sit and write, weaving my tales as I write. Vampires and delving into naughty and taboo subjects is a passion of mine- so ideas and story angles come to me with ease. My poor father says that he wishes I wrote about history than Vampire Erotica. History? Really? I sucked at history, no pun intended! I would totally be on a perpetual writer block with that subject.

What can fans hope to read from you in the future?

• On the horizon:
• Book 2 of the Ambrose Heights Vampires series. Book 2 is the story of Ambrose Heights leader, Steffan Matthews.
• A collection of Vampire short stories that I am calling  “Quick Bites”
• Over the long haul:
• Seven installment of the Ambrose Heights Vampires series
• More Vampire shorts
• Collaboration for fiction paranormal novels

Where can we find more about you and your work?
www.mayadeleina.com

Or Friend me on Facebook. I love meeting and chatting with new friends. Plus, I add to my “Male eye-candy” photo album when I am in need of inspiration or just some smile time! Also, I have been known to be the target of having weird things happen around me. I seem to always have a story to tell that starts, “You won’t believe this but…” Don’t believe me….check out my recent posts about the angry driver next to me with the rolling heads and body parts in his car. 

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions, Maya! I've really enjoyed getting to know you better.

Keep up to date with author Maya DeLeina at:

www.mayadeleina.com

www.facebook.com/people/Maya-DeLeina/100002350757956

Maya DeLeina

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