FAR would like to welcome author Anya Bast. Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions.

Can you tell us a little bit about growing up in Minnesota?

It was cold. There were lots of snowdrifts in the wintertime. :)

In fact, when I was a kid, there used to be so much snow that there would mountains of it in the middle cul-de-sacs and you could barely see past the mounds on the street corners when you were turning out into the road.

As a child, I would make elaborate snow forts and snow caves. I'd sled anywhere and everywhere I could. I loved ice skating. I once tried to open the screen door in the dead of winter with my mouth (hands were full of toys). My recommendation? Don't do that. I think I lost half my tongue.

As a teenager I figure skated on my high school's team and participated on the precision line (kind of a dance line on ice that performed during HS hockey games). I can still smell the ice arena at 5am when we'd go into practice.

All in all, growing up in Minnesota was great. I still love snow and prefer winter to summer.

Of all things you have accomplished, is there one accomplishment you are most proud of?

Persistence. You need to have so much perseverance to be a writer. This is a very difficult business in many ways. I guess I'm most proud that I stuck with it, despite the obstacles, and that I'm pursuing my dreams.

To any aspiring authors out there, never give up. Never surrender. :) If you work hard enough and long enough, you'll achieve your goals.

Since everybody needs a break, even when doing something they love, how do you like to spend your time away from writing?

Time away from writing? What's that? ;)

When I do take breaks, you can usually find me curled up on the couch near my husband watching movies. I like to play with my dog outside. Unsurprisingly, I love to read.

How did you meet your husband?

He came to the U.S. from Belgium to improve his skills with English. Speaking English well would increase his value in the very tight Belgian labor market. I was a French major in college then, so we made a deal. He'd help me improve in French and I'd help him in English.

After six months we were romantically involved, so he decided to stay six more months. After those six months had passed and we faced the termination of his visa, we had some hard decisions to make. He decided to leave Belgium and come here to live.

We just celebrated our ten-year anniversary in August. :)

You mention your furchildren, how many and what species?

Are you ready? Here goes... we have eight cats (all rescues), two rabbits (one is a rescue, the other a companion for the first), and one very confused dog.

Good thing we live in the country!

What is the biggest misconception about being an author?

That somehow the words just fall out of us onto the page. Writing is always work. If the words are falling right onto the page, then something's wrong. :) It takes time and energy to plot a book and get the characterization just so. It takes effort to ensure there is adequate character development, emotion and a plot that holds a reader's attention.

The biggest misconception about an erotic romance author is that they only write sex. Not so!!! It IS possible to have all the elements of a good mainstream romance, yet also have burn-up-the-sheets sex scenes.

You have three series out now, can you tell us a little about each one?

Seasons of Pleasure is historical fantasy romantica. It chronicles the struggles of two very different countries by following characters that live there. In Nordan the people worship a goddess and believe that sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of. In Sudhra, the opposite is true. They go to war over their differences in ideology.

The Embraced series is about a race of vampires who are sworn protect humankind from a type of alien psychic vampire. The series follows the lives (and loves) of a few specific Embraced -- Aiden, Gabriel, Charlie, Niccolo and Adam.

The OtherKin series only has one official book right now, Ordinary Charm. I plan to start a sequel to Ordinary Charm soon. The OtherKin are comprised of faeries, witches, shape shifters, and all manner of otherworldly creatures. There are OtherKin who show up in the Embraced series as well, so the series actually overlap. Vampires are a type of OtherKin, also.

A Change of Season recently came out and I noticed that you call it the last in the series. What finishes a series?

With A Change of Season I tried to show the world several hundred years into the future after the end of the previous book, Autumn Pleasures, The Union.

The first four books in the series detail the war between Nordan and Sudhra (as experienced by the main characters). In the last book of the series, I wanted to show how the world had changed because of the actions of the previous characters.

In that series I don't feel there's anywhere left to go. I've explored the world pretty thoroughly. I just know I'm done.

Can you tell us a little about your book in progress, Blood of the Damned?

Blood of the Damned is finished and is in the editing process. I hope to have a release date for it soon.

This is the fourth novel in the Embraced series and is Niccolo's story, the character I know many readers have been waiting for.

Niccolo is one of the oldest Embraced. He has spent his life as an Executioner, (a kind of vampiric policeman), for the Council of the Embraced, and he has not been unaffected by all the years spent in violence. In Blood of the Damned he must allow himself to be used as a weapon one last time, mostly for the love of a OtherKin Sidhe, a beautiful woman named Jade.

Do you have anything else in the works right now?

Right now I'm working on a short series (two books). They are both ménage a trois stories and feature OtherKin characters. The one I'm almost finished with is titled, Seduced in Twilight. The next book will be Tempted by Moonlight.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

If you aren't already a member of my newsletter, now would be a good time to join. I'm getting ready to start an original free serial for my subscribers.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Sultry_Pen/

If you'd like to learn more about Ms Bast, take a look at her website: http://www.anyabast.com/index.html. I had a lot of fun looking at her previous interviews *wink*

Interviewed by: Serena