Interview with Airicka Phoenix

I've wanted to interview Airicka for a while now, and i've finally had the opportunity today! Thankyou Airicka for taking the time to sit down and answer my questions. Let's take a look inside Airicka's mind shall we?

1. Firstly, in your bio it says you would love to take a look inside Stephen King’s mind. Do you have a favourite Stephen King novel?

That man is a genius! I think my favourite of his would have to be, Bag of Bones. There were a few others like Salam’s Lot and Dreamcatcher.  As I said, the man is absolutely brilliant.

2. I was watching Under the Dome last night, a show based on Stephen King’s 2009 novel of the same name and noticed something similar to a plotline in Games of Fire. Did this book inspire Games of Fire?

No, actually. I actually never got around to finishing Under the Dome, but I did watch the show as well last night and I know which part you’re referring to. But no, Games of Fire was inspired while I was writing Touching Eternity. It was originally supposed to be a simple contemporary, boy meets girl, falls in love, etc. The suspense and murders came as a surprise even to me.

3. How do you approach each new project?

With a lot of determination and planning. I write mountains of notes before I jump into any book. I like to know where I’m going and how I plan on winding up there. Granted, a lot of the time the stories like to take their own turns, like Games of Fire, but so long as I have a clear picture in my head, I’m good to go.

4. Lets talk Octavian. Firstly, that boy is HOT, secondly I want to push Riley out of the way and call him mine. Where did the inspiration for this series, Sons of Judgment come from?

Octavian’s Undoing, believe it or not was meant for an anthology I got asked to participate in. The theme was being turned into something supernatural for the first time. It was supposed to be under 3K, but two days later, I had 300 pages and it was still growing. By time it was edited we were standing at 600 pages.

5. I noticed there’s a bit of the Gaelic language in Octavian’s Undoing. Did you have to do a lot of research before writing this book, Gaelic, selkie lore etc?

I did! I absolutely love the Gaelic language. I love Irish accents and Ireland plain and simple. I spent over a week doing online searches and making calls to all manner of places asking for information on Ireland myths and lores. I wanted it all to be as close to the stories as possible with my own unique twist.

6: Can you give me a spoiler to an upcoming book?

One of my upcoming novels is Touching Fire, book #2 of the Touch Saga. It will be released this summer so I’m really excited. As for a spoiler…

[…] “Stop touching me,” I gasped, cotton-mouthed, half-crazed by the possibility that he might take me seriously.

“Why?” His breath fanned over my dry and already parted lips.

I opened my eyes, surprised to find them closed. “Because I won’t want you to stop.”

The band of steel around my waist tightened until I was supported only by him, by his arm, his chest, his heat, his scent… God, I was home! My fingers curled into the soft material of his fresh, clean shirt. He must have changed, but it was yet another black t-shirt.

“I can’t.” His lips wrote each word against mine in the caress of butterfly wings.

My bones liquefied. I nearly fainted.

“Why?” The single word was a mere movement of my lips.

His free hand shackled my chin, guided my face up, held me prisoner to eyes much too animal to be human. “Because I don’t want to stop.” […]

 Now for a bit of fun:

Chocolate or strawberry? What is this strawberry business you speak of…??? :P

Fuzzy socks or slippers? Slippers! Fuzzy socks tickle my toes and I hate being tickled. LOL

Wine or spirit? Neither. I actually don’t drink anything stronger than coffee.

Coffee or tea? Tea. Coffee sits weird in my stomach, not that you wanted to know that, but there you go. I like oversharing. :D

Dogs or cats? I’m going to say cat, but that’s a secret that my dog can never know about.

Winter or summer? Summer!!! I loathe the cold. I’m a sucker for heat. The hotter the better.

Read the book first or see the movie, then read the book? I will always read the book first. I like sitting there and thinking, Ha! That was in the book, or wait a minute… that’s not right!

A message from Airicka: 

Thank you, Laura, for having me pop in and chat with you for a bit. It was wonderful to meet your readers and I look forward to chatting with you again soon. <3