Darklight On...Shona Husk

Today's Darklight On... is with Shona Husk. Welcome, Shona!

How did you come to write speculative fiction? What attracted you to the genre?
I always read fantasy as a child, so it I think it found me. It wasn’t until I was an adult I discovered romance and I realised that saving the world could happen while falling in love. I love the world building. There is nothing more exciting than going somewhere amazing (even if it is fictitious), and I love creating new worlds for other people to enjoy.

Please tell us a little about your road to publication.
Like most authors I wrote lots, and tried out lots of things before selling. After writing a couple of novels I realised it was going to take me far too long to write one polish and sell it—assuming I could. So to fast track my craft I started writing novellas. I’d been reading a heap so I knew the publishers and I knew what they were looking for. By writing short I was able to play with different types of heroes, different heat levels and different genres (paranormal and fantasy romance). It paid off. During this time I was also working The Goblin King so when I started selling the novellas I was able to apply what I was learning to that manuscript and it sold.

Your next release is Dark Vow. Can you describe this book for us?
DARK VOW was fun to write. While I’d never written anything longer than a short story in first person before, that was the way this story came out and it flowed the whole way through. DARK VOW is a western fantasy romance, so there’s magic, guns, a revenge quest and a very reluctant hero who’s gradually turning to stone.

Jaines Cord plans to kill the man who murdered her husband, even though killing a Bounty Hunter is said to be impossible. One bullet took away her livelihood, her home and her love. One bullet made by her. Fired from the gun she completed for the Arcane Bounty Hunter.

Obsidian wears the scars of disobeying the powerful Arcane Union. He barely escaped with his life and now lives quietly, in a town the lawmen forgot. When Jaines arrives asking too many questions, he's faced with a decision. Help her or run…again. Obsidian knows that if he flees he'll always be looking over his shoulder. His name is one of the first on the Bounty Hunter's death list.

Yet when Obsidian is offered an opportunity to stop the stone taking over his body in exchange for retrieving the gun, he asks Jaines for her help. Now Jaines must choose: a dead man's vengeance or a living man's hope?

You’ve had some fantastic covers from all your publishers. Do have you any favourites?
I have had lots of great covers. They are all so different it’s hard to choose just one. I love the cover for DARK VOW, THE GOBLIN KING is pretty hot…but I think KISS OF THE GOBLIN PRINCE might just nudge him out. 

Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in-between?
Plotter. I need to get to know my characters before I dive in and I like to have a mud map of the big scenes. Lately I’ve been doing a very short scene by scene guide, so one paragraph per scene, as I can get the whole story down in two days then re-arrange bits and pick up any forgotten threads before I get too far in…of course sometimes as I’m actually writing it I change things around again but at least I know where I’m going.

Do have a favourite of your characters?
I do but I’m not telling as it would make the others jealous  J 

What are you currently working on?
I working on the last Lucinda’s Lover (a Vampire rock band) novella tentatively called Enchanting Absinthe. I’m also working on another story set in the same world as DARK VOW and a new paranormal romance trilogy.

What is your favourite part of the process of writing?
Meeting new heroes and the worlds they inhabit.

What can we expect from Shona Husk in the future?
Next year there are two more Shadowlands books, Kiss of the Goblin Prince and For the Love of a Goblin Warrior. I’ll also have a couple of novellas out, Brightwater Blood and Sharing Sirius (#3 Lucinda’s Lover).

Who are your favourite authors?
The short list or the long list?
Here’s a few: Katherine Kerr, Jim Butcher, Ellen Connor and Denise Rossetti.

What are you currently reading?
I’ve just finished Faerie Tale by Raymond E Feist, it’s actually a re-read but I’d read it as a teenager years ago and I wanted to see if it was still creepy as an adult (it was). My TBR shelf is a disaster zone as I’ve been on a reward buying binge, but haven’t had time to read. I’m tossing up between Sins of the Heart by Eve Silver and License to Ensorcell by Katherine Kerr next.

Do you have a favourite spec fiction movie or TV series?
Farscape! I loved that show and Battlestar Galactica. Also Supernatural (who doesn’t like Dean, Sam and Cas?). I’m also enjoying Terra Nova. For films I can’t go past X-Men, the Dark Crystal and Devil’s Advocate.

Do you have advice for emerging writers?
Read. Read widely. Lots of different authors, publishers and genres. Work out what you love, and why, then write it. Don’t be afraid to try something different and experiment after all no one has to see you’re first attempts. While craft books are great, to learn to write you have to write. And be persistent—that doesn’t mean try and sell the same manuscript for ten years, it means write, edit, submit and repeat.

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Thank you, Shona!

You can find Shona at her website and at the Musing by Wink blog.

Dark Vow will be released on 14th November by Carina Press.