Fallen Angel Reviews is pleased to welcome Crystal B. Bright this afternoon for an in depth look at an author who also has an alter ego commonly known as Bridget Midway. Crystal, welcome and let me give you a huge cyber hug!!! I’m so on cloud nine that I was given the chance to interview an author whose work I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh wow! Thank you so much, Rachelle! It’s great to be able to entertain so many readers with my writing. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my Bridget Midway books, and I’m hoping to get that same response for my Crystal B. Bright books. Thank you so much for interviewing me for Fallen Angel Reviews.

To date you’ve published Kissing Casanova but I checked your website and see you have an upcoming release called Gray’s Anatomy. Can you tell our readers a little bit about this newest title on your author bookshelf? Also is there a tentative release date?

Much like Kissing Casanova, Gray’s Anatomy is also set in the tumultuous if not steamy world of professional wrestling. I hadn’t intended on writing a second book with a pro-wrestling theme. However, as I was researching about professional wrestling for the first book, Kissing Casanova, I was watching a documentary called “Beyond the Mat”. There was an aging wrestler who was being worked on by the company doctor, who just so happened to be his son-in-law. I liked that idea, however I wanted to amp up the conflict for the heroine. I didn’t want it to be simply that she was his daughter hanging around him while her father wrestled. So I not only had her own the company, but she also has her father as the headlining performer. Dr. Gray Kennebeck is the newest company doctor she hires. Gray has some secrets in his past for needing this job. So they both have to keep this company going for personal reasons. But that pesky, little attraction betwe! en the two of them keeps rearing its head.

If this sounds familiar to some of you, it’s because Gray’s Anatomy was in the Romantic Times very first “American Title” contest. This was the story that started off with the line, “Okay, take off your pants.” It only made it up to the third round but it was a hoot and a half to be a part of the contest.

Right now the tentative release date for Gray’s Anatomy is July 7th. It will be sold as an e-book. Kissing Casanova will be available in print version also in July. So I’m very excited about that as well.

Crystal, as busy as your alter ego is, it seems that this personality is following suit. Your works in progress are enormous. Care to share with us a couple of the books you’re most excited about?

I’m excited about all of my books, Rachelle. As long as the ideas keep coming, I’m happy. Once Gray’s Anatomy is published, my next book through New Concepts Publishing will be Revamped. That’s the story about a vampire with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Just think of the character from the hit TV show “Monk” mixed with a little “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. In that book, my vampire has stopped feeding for fear of germs. But since he’s the Prince of Death, when he doesn’t feed the dead start roaming the earth. The one person that can help him is a podiatrist who doesn’t believe in any of this. This book is slated to be released in October 2006 in both ebook and in print, and moreover, it’ll be a part of New Concepts Publishing’s new Harmony line.

I have another book called Crazy In Love that I’m shopping around to different publishers right now. That story is about an R&B singer who is fresh from a year-long stay in a mental facility after an on-air breakdown and a struggling country singer. Although they fight it, the duo is destined to make beautiful music together. From the excerpt on my website alone, I’ve gotten some wonderful responses. I hope to have this accepted for publication. One publisher has asked to read the full manuscript so you never know.

I’m also working on another novel called Naturally Nate. This story is set in a nudist resort. It’s about a man who owns a nudist resort. A city councilman, determined to make a name for himself by going after the resort owner, is bound and determined to shut down plans to have a hotel built on the property. He has a young woman who works with him who is trying hard to get his attention. She goes after Nate but soon finds that there’s more beneath Nate’s surface than just being a nudist. This one has been fun to write. I’m hoping to get a nibble on this book too. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

You have some of the most fascinating and quirky dialogues I’ve been able to read in the world of publishing. Tell me is this just an extension of your personal self? How are you able to come up with books that are sexy and hilarious at the same time? I say books because the excerpts of, Gray’s Anatomy & Naturally Nate are just what I’ve come to expect from your heroes and heroines.

Man, will you do all of my interviews, Rachelle? Great question. And thank you for the compliment about my use of dialogue. I love listening to people and getting their nature cadences. So dialogue comes really natural to me. It’s getting in setting and sensory details that I struggle with so I’m trying to balance those aspects.

On your website you have a lot pictures of well known entertainers for how you see the characters in your books. Is this something you do to assist with the creative part of your writing?

Definitely! I’m very visual person so I like having my inspirations to sort of guide me. Except for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I have all of my female character inspirations up now because my male friends gave me such a hard time about all of my male eye candy. My next website update, I’ll include both my hero and heroine inspirations.

As I was reading your Bio I see you obtained a degree in creative writing. Is this something you feel has guided your artistic style? Would you recommend up and coming authors also take classes to assist then in creating better stories?

Honestly, I don’t know where I would be as a writer had I not gone to school and truly honed my craft. I learned so much, craft-wise, when I got my B.A. in Creative Writing from Old Dominion University. One of my professors had a book in Oprah’s Book Club if that tells you about the caliber of professors that taught me.

Then getting my M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University not only enhanced my craft even more, I also learned so much about the business side of writing. It truly tied everything together.

I would highly recommend to not-yet-published authors to continue to learn about their crafts. Attending classes is great because you get feedback from both your professors and your classmates. If you can’t do that, then joining a local writing group is also beneficial. I learn so much from the other members in my Chesapeake Romance Writers group.

All of your upcoming books are Interracials. Is this because of your own personal preferences for this type of storyline or did you notice an extreme demand for this theme?

Like the old writing adage goes, “Write what you know.” In my own personal life, my most significant romantic relationships were and are interracial. I definitely didn’t write them out of a growing trend. True story. I lost my one and only agent because she told me that a major publisher would not take a chance on an unknown author like myself (this was way before the Bridget Midway work) because the topic of interracial romances was still considered controversial for them. I was told this in the year 2005. So we parted ways and I have had more success writing interracial romances than I ever imagined.

When you sit back and evaluate your writing career where do you see yourself five years from now? Sky’s the limit so don’t hold back.

I see myself writing for larger publishing houses like Harlequin, Kensington and Avon eventually. I still have to work a day job, so my ultimate goal is to be able to support myself financially from my writing alone. I’m hoping everything I’ve done with my writing career so far will help open doors to those avenues. I won’t, however, turn my back on the e-publishing industry, the one industry that embraced my “controversial” stories and accepted me and my writing style.

I saw on your website you were scheduled to be at the RT convention in Florida. Was this your first convention and what were the top two highlights for you?

This was the second time I’ve been to the Romantic Times Convention. When I attended last year when it was held in St. Louis, Missouri, I got to be involved in my very first book signing event. My first work ever published, “Adam and E-V-E” through Phaze, was released the Monday of the week of the convention. And I signed CDs for it that Saturday. I had absolutely no time to promote the work so I was utterly thrilled and shocked when I sold out every CD my publisher brought for me.

Hmm, top two highlights for this year’s convention. One has to be all of the readers and fans I’ve chatted with that I got to finally meet face-to-face. When I met them, it was as though we had been friends for years. I even got to meet some reviewers and editors of my work there so that was wonderful.

The second highlight actually was to experience this convention with my man. I had warned him that a romance convention with a lot of women might be a bit much for him. I was surprised at how much fun he had. He’s even made plans for what we’ll do and wear if we go again next year.

Do you feel that attending conferences & conventions is important for authors wanting to expand their reader base and get their names out there to some of the larger mainstream publishers? I ask you because I saw on your latest memo you had a request from a literary agency. Congratulations!!

Thanks, Rachelle. I’m still waiting to hear back from Cheryl Ferguson with The Ferguson Literary Agency. I’ve met and talked to her at a couple of conferences so I’m excited to see what happens with my submission to her.

I think it’s crucial as an author to get out and meet readers face-to-face. I think being in the epublishing industry, your work is readily accessible twenty-four hours a day and every day of the year. I think readers expect and would like for authors to be the same way. So I try to not only attend as many conferences and conventions as possible, I do author chats and interviews. As a reader myself, I most enjoy meeting authors and getting to know them as people. I still get giddy like a schoolgirl when I see an author like Sandra Kitt or L.A. Banks.

Ok now to the personal stuff! Who is Crystal Bright? Yes, we know you’re a well-educated woman with a gift of the written word but what else can you tell us about the woman behind the book covers?

You’re too flattering! You’re working wonders for my ego.

Crystal B. Bright (real name, by the way, not a pen name) is the biggest nerd you’ll ever meet. I come short of snorting when I laugh. I wish I could be as cool as my characters. A lot of me is infused in some of my characters. Some of the quirks with my vampire in Revamped are my own. I don’t utter phrases over and over again or tap my fingers, however I do have rituals for things. I’m a creature of habit.

Other than that, I have great friends, a supportive man and family and I enjoy writing. It truly is a passion. If I don’t write for a few days, I get cranky.

It’s summer, which means hot temperatures, tons of humidity and plenty of skin. What are some of your favorite things to do when the heat is rising?

Write! For me, there’s nothing better than sitting in a well-air conditioned house in complete silence and just writing. I can truly submerge myself into the world I’m creating. Other than that, I’ll be doing a bit of traveling this summer.

Here’s a bit of my OCD that I’ll share. When I go to places, I never unpack no matter how long I stay. I’m so paranoid that I’ll leave something behind, that I keep all of my clothes and grooming products in their same bags the entire time. Then when it is time to go, I still check every drawer as though I had somehow bumped my head and decided to unpack. I know. I’m a weirdo.

When the world of edits, creating, and marketing yourself become too hectic what do you do for relaxation?

Watch TV. I’ve become a reality TV junkie. Don’t let there be an “American’s Next Top Model” or “Project Runway” marathon on. I’ll never leave the couch. I’m also obsessed with “Law and Order: SVU” and “Law and Order: CI”. I just bought a house but I haven’t moved in yet. I’m painting it right now and putting down new carpet for when I’m ready to move there. Once I move in, I won’t have a TV. It cuts way into my writing time. I find I’m more prolific without it although I do get behind on some current events.

As we close out this interview I, and all of the FAR readers, would love to know whom you credit most with influencing your writing career?

As far as my desire to write, I credit my mother. I had no idea until I was in my twenties that she even wrote herself when she was my age. It may not be exactly hereditary but I’m looking at it as though it is.

My greatest writing influence has to be the author, Jackie Collins. I remember many days and nights devouring her books as a teenager. I think she truly spearheaded erotic romantic suspense way before publishers hopped on the bandwagon. She’s the author I would most love to meet in my lifetime.

For readers who would love to know more about you and your work do you have any upcoming chats or personal appearances scheduled? If so, please let our fans know when and where.

My local writing chapter, Chesapeake Romance Writers, is having a Reader Appreciation Day on Saturday, July 8th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. We’ll have readers, booksellers, librarians and local authors like myself, Felicia Mason, Judy McCoy and Alesia Holliday attending. The event will be at the Russell Memorial Library in Chesapeake, Virginia. For more information, check out CRW’s website

A few authors with New Concepts Publishing and I are trying to set up a book signing event somewhere on the east coast. We haven’t pinned down a date or venue yet so stay tuned.

Crystal I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to provide our readers a chance to get to know the woman behind the words. To ensure our readers won’t lose track of any updates, where can readers and fans find additional information about you?

Rachelle, it has been my pleasure to do this interview. You asked such great questions.

To find out more information on me, check out my website or read updates on my blog

Crystal it’s truly been a pleasure and I look forward to your upcoming release Gray’s Anatomy!

Interviewed by: Rachelle