Monday, March 25, 2013

Get to know Dani R.R. Hermi & Nevi Star, authors of 'Monster'


To kick off their virtual book tour for Monster, authors Dani R.R. Hermi & Nevi Star have taken some time to let us get to know them and their book a little better. Welcome!
 
Monster Book One, a Parliament of Twilight novel from authors Nevi Star and Dani R.R. Hermit (aka Hermie).

What was the inspiration behind this book?

Hermie: Funny enough, most of the Parliament of Twilight books were inspired by reality TV. Monster in particular came from a discussion about RT's back story and the embarrassment of being a judge on a series of reality shows produced by Wolf Productions. (RT is the main character from our upcoming series Inertia where he is hosting yet another reality show.) The two main couples in Monster – Julian & Siris, Chip & J – were inspired by us joking about RT having been on a show where they made a boy band and what might have happened to those guys.

Which character(s) spoke the most to you during the writing process?

Hermie: Definitely Julian. His journey of dealing with his desires versus his morality was an interesting reflection of my own journey during this process. I was struggling with the authentic desire to write erotica, but in order to do it at the level I wanted, I had to make the choice to walk away from my professional Tarot Reader career. It wasn't easy, and I fought with some of the same issues Julian will have to during this series.

Nevi: Siris. His journey of discovering that his destiny was so far from the life he thought he wanted was oh so very personal for me.

Which scene is your favorite?

Hermie: The part at the end of chapter 5 and continuing in the next chapter where Siris is being thrown onto the plastic sheeting in Skye's kitchen. His thought process during this part is so perfectly Siris!

Nevi: My favorite part is the very first scene where they see each other again after all this time. It's so full of all of the potential of what they are going to be to each other, what they are going to go through together. Especially the moment where Julian throws out the cut line from the boy band song! Genius!

How did the two of you come to write this book together?

Hermie: Writing is such a part of our story, it's hard to say HOW we started. But we were writing fan-fiction for years before we tried our hands at originals.

Nevi: It was actually through writing this ridiculous, epic fanfic saga together with a couple of our friends that we realized we were falling in love just like our characters were!

Do you have any other projects in the works as a team?

Hermie: The Parliament of Twilight owns our life! We have two other series we're working on in this same world – Ghost House (book one is out now) and Inertia (coming up in June).

Nevi: We've also done a couple of other stories before we met the Parliament. There's an epic fantasy world with mages and iconic bad guys; a space opera that started out as a Star Wars fic but evolved into so much more; and a handful of wildly off-canon fan fictions that we're talking about converting to originals.

What are some of your individual projects?

Hermie: I'm working a few short stories to submit to some contests and anthologies. There's one I'm particularly excited about for the “Don't Read in the Closet” event on the M/M Romance group on Goodreads.com. I have a very ambitious story in the works, but I don't know what's going to come of it. But really, most of my writing time lately has been used for working on the Parliament of Twilight books.

Nevi: I'm the official artist for Wandering Stars Press, so that keeps me pretty busy. I'm also working on several different Tarot and Oracle deck projects. I have a blog where I post essays about the process of developing the tenets for my burgeoning life-coach path. I hope one day to turn that into a book. I'm working on a novel of my own, a post-apocalyptic story set in a world populated with carousel horses rather than people. I don't want to talk too much about it yet, as I am not sure just when I will be ready to share it with the world.

How do your different personalities affect your writing projects? How do you compliment each other?

Hermie: Nevi comes at all the stories all crazy and spur of the moment. She goes full tilt at the characters' emotions and perceptions. I'm more about setting the scene, describing the action and building the world. We sort of fill in where the other is weak.

Nevi: And the dialogue is organic. We pass the notebook back and forth, each taking on one character, often surprising the other with what they say!

What are the pros and cons to working with another author on a project?

Nevi: There's never a writer's block we can't get over. When one of us is stuck, the other is overflowing with ideas to keep the story moving.

Hermie: We're always surprising each other with what we write. We don't really do much planning, so there's a spontaneity to the writing process that is both a pro and a con!

Nevi: Yeah, you just never know when some one is going to come along and blow a whole in your carefully designed pyramid of doom.

Hermie: (glaring at Nevi) Yeah, you never know. . . Also, being as we're romantic partners as well as writing partners, sometimes our characters' issues become our issues and we have to have a five hour long heart to heart just to make sure we're okay, even if our poor characters aren't!

If you could be any anime character, which one would you choose?

Hermie: Uh, what? I have to choose just one?

Nevi: O___o uh. . .

Hermie: I think that I would pick Usagi-san from Junjo Romantica. His life rocks!

Nevi: If I have to pick just one, I'd say Luffy from One Piece.

Tell us more about Wandering Stars Press.

Hermie: As of now, it's just the two of us writing and our long time friend Seth doing the job of editor and part-time marketing. We found out the hard way that we write some rather dark, taboo subjects that most publishers won't touch. To be honest, I went through about thirty or so publishers' submission guidelines and found that we were unacceptable for what they published for one reason or another. It frustrated us so much that we finally decided to create our own publishing house where there were no “morality rules.” Though it's a long way in the future, we do have the idea of publishing other authors like us as well.

What is something readers may be surprised to learn about you?

Hermie: Um, well I think every knows we're together. That's not a big secret. We are a pair of lesbians that write m/m fiction. That usually surprises people.

Nevi: I'm addicted to QVC. I have a huge Monster High Doll collection and I name all my plush toys after characters in our books.

Hermie: I crochet ponies. Well, only one pony so far and a duck. I also read Tarot semi-professionally.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Nevi: Hermie's the cake baker. She makes all the best sweets.

Hermie: Nevi's addicted to the My Little Pony cartoons!

Nevi: But seriously, we LOVE music. It's such a huge part of our process.

Hermie: We have something like 100 mix CDs designed for listening to as writing inspiration for our stories!

Thank you so much for your time!

About the Authors

Dani R.R. Hermit (affectionately called Hermie) and Nevi Star, are the writers who founded Wandering Stars Press.

What do we write, you ask?

Our genre is gay erotica, with a spice of horror, mystery, comedy, drama and sometimes a western or space opera. We love boys loving boys (in all the wrongest ways). If you love that too, then maybe we can be friends. Both Hermie and Nevi have some solo projects in the works, but more on those as they develop. You can stay up to date on the news from Wandering Stars Press on our blog or Facebook.

Who are we when we’re not writing?

We’re life partners who’ve been together 13 years through all of life’s ups, downs and craziness. Ours has been a long and sometimes arduous road, but it’s only made the journey deeper and more interesting, adding fuel and fire to the stories we can tell.

Nevi is a spirit artist and a shaman. She is a World Walker. Nevi also does all the covers for WSP's books. She is currently working on a post-apocalyptic pony novel of her own, a My Little Pony themed tarot deck and a spirit squirrel oracle deck.

Hermie has been studying tarot for 20 years and reading professionally for a small, private clientele for about 13 years. She is also a genius at making sweet treats – homemade candies, cookies, cupcakes. (All gluten free!) She does all the cooking for our little pirate crew (or we would all starve or poison ourselves lol) and loves her neurotic kitten.

What inspires us?

Our first love and inspiration is Japanese Anime & Manga! We discovered Yaoi and it was all over. We already had a love affair with slash fan fiction, so taking that to some anime based fics really developed our style into what it is today. A close second is music. We create playlists that are character, story-arc or novel specific and play them at top volume while we are driving, writing and sleeping! We do karaoke in our living room as a means to cleanse our story demons and open up to the next day's work (and because it's a blast to get together with our pirate crew and sing our hearts out!). But we also love TV, movies and books. You can see which albums, shows, series, etc. are our favorites by following our board on Pinterest.

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See our profile on GLBT BookShelf:

Monster (Monster #1)
by Dani R.R. Hermit & Nevi Star
Gay Contemporary Dark Erotic Paranormal Romance
Categories: Action/Adventure, Horror
Publisher: Wandering Stars Press
Release Date: January 23, 2013
Heat Level: Sizzling
Word Count: 290 pages

Blurb
It’s been years since Siris and Julian’s boy band broke up and they all went their separate ways. Now they’ve run in to each other in a little redneck bar in the middle of nowhere, coming face to face with the ghosts of their past and the feelings they never quite grew out of.

Siris is here handing out golden tickets to some new reality TV show for the network that owns his record label. Julian is here to meet up with yet another new partner. On the surface it seems like a coincidence… or is it?

Neither man is happy when they realize that The Parliament of Twilight, who once ruled their lives, means for Siris to be Julian’s new partner. Julian worries about what he could do to Siris. Siris just wants to go back to being a mega pop star and has no interest in being a monster hunter. Thrown together against their will (and better judgment) how will these former friends do on their first case?

Warning: This title is intended for readers over the age of 18 as it contains explicit sex scenes and/or situations (including BDSM/Light Bondage) and adult language, and may be considered offensive to some readers.

Read an Excerpt:
Siris felt dizzy as he was led, still blindfolded, down what felt like a long hall. He was on his knees and Skye hadn't taken his hands out of their bonds. With them tied behind his neck like this, Siris found he didn't have the best balance as he moved to follow Skye to wherever they were going. Thankfully, the bartender was taking it slow, not seeming to be in a hurry.

His knees were no longer on rough carpet. Siris thought they had come into some kind of kitchen. A few hesitant steps in and he heard more than felt the crinkle of plastic sheeting under his knees. Siris stopped, a sudden wave of fear washing over him. He had seen this movie. A part of him was certain this was the killing room floor. His body would be taken apart and thrown into the sewers to be eaten by giant rats and no one would ever know what happened. He whim:pered, refusing to move any farther.

Skye pulled his hair firmly. When all that got was another little whimper, he yanked hard. The pull threw Siris off balance and sent him sprawling across the plastic. Siris hit the floor hard with his face. He slid a little across the slick plastic, ending up in a very awkward position. He wasn't able to move himself easily and there was certainly no getting away.

“Please don't kill me,” he said as loudly as he dared. He thought he tasted blood in his mouth. He licked his lips and felt where he had split the bottom one.

“I don't want to kill you,” Skye assured him, moving around the room, rummaging in drawers and cabinets. “You have something I want.”

Amazon Buy Links: Paperback \ Kindle

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