Australian Romance Author Showcase with…Erica Hayes

As part of Australian Romance Month, Romance Specialist Haylee Nash will be interviewing one Australian Romance author per day. Much like a beauty pageant, each author will be using their charm, wit and grace (and the power of social media) to take home the Booktopia Romance Bestseller crown. Booktopia invites bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance Erica Hayes to the stage.

1. Describe the perfect date.
Good food, fun times, no worries. I don’t ask for much! Oh, and it should be summer. After a year and a half living in England, I’m over cold weather.

2. Which of your books are you most proud of?
I’m proud of them all in different ways. But if I have to pick one? Probably my second book, Shadowglass, the one with the cool and dangerous fae hero. Everyone says the second book is the hardest for a new author, and I think I managed to write one that’s equal to or better than book 1 in every way. So I’m quite proud of that. Also my first fallen angel/apocalypse book, Revelation, which proved to me that yeah, I could write and sell more than one series.

3. What is the hardest thing about being a romance author?
Apart from wading through the piles of money in my living room? Concentrating on writing, while so many other things make demands on my time. We’re constantly bombarded with stuff we’re told is ‘must-do’, but really the only ‘must-do’ for an author is to keep producing books.

4. What is the best thing about being a romance author?
Inventing new worlds and characters! Book release day is nice, and it’s exciting and delightful when people read and love my stories. I like doing mass book signings, and I get a buzz out of meeting people who enjoy my books. But that rare occasion when I have a day where I’ve actually got nothing to do but work on my WIP? That’s the best part. That’s what it’s all for.

5. Who (aside from a significant other) do you swoon over?
I am hopeless for the troubled anti-hero who’s his own worst enemy. Who does terrible things because he’s following his heart. Of course, it helps that men like this tend to be totally hot, at least on TV. My favourite Game of Thrones character is Jaime Lannister. I also have a secret crush on Cesare from The Borgias. Hmm. I see a pattern forming there…

6. Tell us something very few people know about you.
I can’t draw. Worst artist ever. Stick figures are a challenge, and as for staying inside the colouring-in lines? Forget it.

7. Describe your writing style in three words.
Evocative, colourful, gritty.

Click here to buy Shadowglass from Booktopia,
Australia’s local bookstore

8. What is your definition of a good book?
One that I like, of course! Generally that’s one where the characters are compelling and the writing skilled and unusual. But it has to have a plot. I want something to happen! And yeah, the writing has to be good. Sorry. I’m not one of those readers who can overlook bad prose. I think a lot of writers suffer that!

9. Which author would you invite to a dinner party and why?
Probably a dead one. Everyone alive’s on the internet these days – why go to the trouble of holding a dinner party when you can just message them on Facebook? So yeah, maybe Robert Louis Stevenson, or Edgar Allan Poe.

10. Finish this sentence: I would do anything for love, but I won’t do_____
I won’t eat mushrooms. Sorry, but eww.

Erica Hayes was a law student, an air force officer, an editorial assistant and a musician, before finally landing her dream job: fantasy and romance writer. She writes dark paranormal and urban fantasy romance, and her books feature tough, smart heroines and colourful heroes with dark secrets. She hails from Australia, where she drifts from city to city, leaving a trail of chaos behind her.

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