Author Corner–Ella Medler

E: Welcome, Ella.  Glad you could stop by.  I just made a fresh batch of lemonade.  Care for some?

EM: Oh, I love home-made lemonade. Thank you. It’ll go perfectly with these fresh cream mini-cheesecakes, don’t you think?

Note to self: Invite her back.

E: You have several things out in the world right now, including a book that came out last month.  Before we talk about the new book, can you tell us about the first book in the series?

EM: You must be referring to the Eternal Series, co-written with Kristie Haigwood. The first in the series is Eternal Island. Eternal Island is a fictional place where vampires and witches live in perfect harmony, away from the perils of mingling with the humans. There is interaction between the two worlds, of course, but Eternal Island has the sort of community spirit many of us can only dream about and a no-nonsense attitude to people who only take and never give back. According to a crystal ball, Ariana, a human, and Abe, Eternal Island’s vampire king, are destined to be together. The powerful attraction they feel confirms this to be true, but others are determined to keep the two of them apart. With everything against them and their lives in danger, the soul mates have to find a way to be together. Their obstacles are not only physical; there is a lot of emotion to deal with, too, and a lot of knowing oneself. Both protagonists must make sacrifices in order to save the one who owns their heart.

E: What can we expect from this second book?

EM: Eternal Immortality is deeper, darker, and the stakes are much higher. Abe and Ariana face a huge challenge, and monsters the likes of which no one can imagine. There is love, too, as another couple must recognize and admit their feelings for each other, and the secret of the spirits in the cave finally comes out. It’s a good book. We’ve had wonderful sales and feedback since its release on May 10th.

E: Do you have a rough idea how many books will be in the series, or are you seeing where the characters take you?

EM: Kristie and I have so many ideas, so many places we want to take this story to! You realize the first two books barely covered two weeks in real time? It’s action all the way. You really need to be fit to keep up with it! At this precise moment in time we have enough material for six books, but I bet you we’ll end up writing more! Watch out for book 3, Eternal Inception, coming out early 2014.

E: You have a second series out, as well.  What can you tell us about it?

EM: The Hunter Series is an action thriller trilogy. Book one, Blood is Heavier, is available to download for free from Smashwords. It’s on Amazon, too, but they haven’t price-matched yet. It’s been free since its release day, to increase exposure and as a means for my fans to sample my writing without losing out in any way. As soon as the sequel, Blood is Power, comes out (end of this month), both books will be available at full price only. There will be one more book in the series, estimated release 2014, and a sister-novel describing the life of a secondary character – Tequila – which has been requested by the fans. I hope to get Tequila’s story, provisionally titled ‘Deal With It’, published later this year.

E: You’re from Cornwall.  Are you going to shank me for some scones?  I mean, Sakina was here last week and I swear she was sharpening the handle of Charlie’s toothbrush.  I’d rather we get it all out there.

EM: Ha ha ha. I’ve moved to Cornwall in 2003. To the locals, I am still an outsider. Don’t get me wrong, Cornish people are a friendly bunch, but they also know where to draw the line. I’ve lived and worked all over the world, so to me nowhere and everywhere is home. I live on Earth. That’s a good enough postal address for me.

E: You’re included in “First 5 Chapters.”  Can you tell us about it and how has that impacted your audience base?

EM: The First 5 Chapters is an anthology-type experiment intended to give the reader a good deal of insight into the works of six authors at a time. The authors are responsible for promoting the book in which they feature, and we also collectively help lift the book off the ground and get it published. I know there were some difficulties in finding the support needed to continue, though at the time it started there were at least nineteen volumes planned. Everyone’s individual projects took over, and there was little time left for the First 5 Chapters project. The first three volumes are out, but the others have cooled, for lack of author involvement, as far as I know. There’s a First 5 Chapters page on FB, where any developments are posted and authors willing to participate can join.

E: If you could pick one type of story and forbid anyone from writing that type for at least 5 years, what type of story would you choose and why?

EM: Oh, what a lovely thought! Erin, I could hug you right now! It would be contemporary fantasy. I could write in that genre forever and a day! Imagine not having competition! Wow! The possibilities are endless. The first book I’ve published is in that genre – Martin Little, Resurrected (the only one I have published traditionally) – and while its market niche is very narrow, its review rankings are the best.

From my point of view, writing a fantasy story is completely liberating. You can put as much drama in it as you wish, you can infuse it with romance or not, build up the pace, make it into a thriller – anything, really (mine is a satire poking fun at today’s society in Britain, including CCTV use, health and safety and the usual bureaucracy choking us all).

And the contemporary setting has two major advantages: the need for lengthy, in-depth research is low, and most readers will be able to understand and identify with the characters and situations, therefore eliminating the misinterpretation often associated with novels set in a different age, for example, when people’s behavior was influenced by factors no longer common.

Thanks to Ella for dropping by and for bringing those delicious cheesecakes.  They went smashingly with the lemonade.  If you’d like Ella to bring you mini cheesecakes, she won’t.  Because you’re not me.  But you can always ask her on her blog.