Book
Name: Dissonance
Author
Name: Shira Anthony
Author
Bio: In
her last incarnation, Shira was a professional opera singer, performing roles
in such operas as “Tosca,” “i Pagliacci,” and “La Traviata,” among others.
She’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes
anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle.
Shira is married with two children and
two insane dogs, and when she’s not writing she is usually in a courtroom
trying to make the world safer for children. When she’s not working, she can be
found aboard a 36’ catamaran at the Carolina coast with her favorite sexy
captain at the wheel.
Author
Links:
Twitter: @WriterShira
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Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Blurb(s):
British lord Cameron Sherrington has hit
rock bottom. The love of his life, opera sensation Aiden Lind, is marrying
another man, and Cam knows it’s his own fault for pushing Aiden away. Then
someone tries to set him up and take away his family business. Facing arrest by
US authorities on charges of money laundering and with no money to return to
London, Cam decides to run. But with no money and no place to stay, it’s not
exactly the Hollywood thriller he’d imagined.
When Cam hears Galen Rusk play in a
lonely subway station, he’s intrigued. But his assumptions about Galen are all
wrong, and their unusual relationship isn’t exactly what Cam bargained for. Add
to that the nightmares that dog him nightly, and Cam’s world is shaken to its
core. Cam figures he had it coming to him, that it’s all penance due on a life
lived without honesty. He just never figured he might not be able to survive
it.
Note: Blue Notes Series novels are
standalone stories, and can be read in any order.
Excerpt:
Cam climbed the stairs of the Spring Street station. The wind had picked up, causing one of his curls to tumble onto his forehead. He sighed as he pushed the hair from his eyes and cursed his mother for her genes. They were too much alike, and not just in appearance. They were both wanderers. Always seeking excitement. Prone to infidelity. But whereas she seemed to revel in her freedom,
he’d always sought partners.
Not that he’d
had any success in keeping them.
He thought of the trumpet player in the subway station.
For a moment he’d felt something. He played well. Surprisingly well, really. Had it been more than that? Something beyond
the music?
Of course it was more than that. He was attractive. Cam laughed and shook his head to himself.
What did it matter?
There were plenty of men in New York,
and the last thing he needed was a downtrodden fuck.
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Sales
Links:
Paperback:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5292
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJ01G98/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00MJ01G98&linkCode=as2&tag=pridepromo-20
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dissonance-1591228-149.html?referrer=5314fed11fb4f
Now for the interview:
Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJ01G98/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00MJ01G98&linkCode=as2&tag=pridepromo-20
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dissonance-1591228-149.html?referrer=5314fed11fb4f
Now for the interview:
Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?
Many of you may know that I’m a former opera singer. So when
I was trying to decide on a pen name, I chose the name “Shira,” which means
“song” in Hebrew. It even sounds like that a bit (pronounced “Shee-rah”, with
the accent on the first syllable, not like the princess!). My given name begins
with an A, so I chose a last name that started with A, but that was a bit more
common than the first name.
What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of
good writing?
I think strong characters and clean writing are the two most
important elements of good writing. You can have an amazing plot, but if your
characters fall flat or your writing is plodding and overly dense, the plot
will just get lost. I want to read books that ring true and that I don’t have
to struggle to read. I want to read dialogue that sounds like real people
talking to each other, and I want to believe in the characters and know what
makes them tick.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
It depends on the book. In my Blue Notes Series, the story
develops out of the characters. I’ll have an idea about what makes a character
do what he does, and then I’ll think about how he might grow or change for the
better. Then I layer that over a romance plot, with the romance being the
driving force behind the need for the character to change. I’m a die-hard
romantic, and I love the idea of love changing a person and helping them become
stronger.
Do you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do
you ever consider straying outside your genre?
I wrote one het erotic romance, but once I found MM romance,
I never went back. I do write in various sub-genres within MM because it helps
keep my muse happy (and that keeps me happy!). My Blue Notes Series books are
contemporary romances. But I also write the Mermen of Ea Series, which is high
fantasy set in the age of sail and features—you guessed it—mermen. My next
release is the first in a series of vampire novels set in the present and in
France in the late 1800s. I find that mixing it up keeps all of my stories
fresh, and it keeps writing fun.
Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
A lot of people ask me if I do, and the answer usually
surprises them: I don’t! Really, it’s more that I can’t than anything else. Maybe it’s my musician brain, but I can’t
listen to music without hearing all the layers in it. I guess I spent too many
hours analyzing music at the conservatories I attended, but I hear harmonic
progressions, orchestration, rhythm, and everything else that goes into making
a piece of music, and all of that is very distracting when I’m trying to write.
Just because I don’t listen while I’m writing, though, doesn’t mean I don’t use
music to inspire my writing. Nearly every book I write has a musical theme to
it. Every Blue Notes Series book has a playlist, too.
What are your favorite TV shows?
I don’t watch much TV these days, since I’m usually writing
or editing in my “free” time (I write and work full-time). When I do, though, I
love to stream Japanese anime on my computer. I’m not much of an artist, but I
love the artwork, and I love the amazing stories and universes you can find in
anime. And yaoi (gay) anime? My favorite!
What group did you hang out with in high school?
Geeks, definitely. Music geeks. You know, the band and
orchestra kids who’d watch original Trek
in reruns and write angsty poetry in the library? Yep. That was me! There’s a
chapter at the beginning of Encore, another Blue Notes Series book, that takes
place in a high school band room in part. That was my childhood I used!
How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Dissonance is my
13th book, and I think it’s my 10th novel. It’s probably also my favorite,
because I fell in love with both of the MCs (I’m so fickle!!). Falling for Cameron
Sherrington wasn’t so easy, either, since he was a bit of an “arse” (as he
might say) in a previous series book.
