Thank you Devyn for your time and welcome to Love Romances and More. 

First of all, please tell us a little about yourself. 

Thank you for inviting me to Love Romances! Appreciate being asked. J A little about me? Hmm. Not much to tell. I live and work in rural farming country, which means somewhere to go and something do is few and far in between. When you live in the mecca of nowhere you have to make your own fun. In between work and family commitments, I try to do a little writing to entertain myself.   

How did your writing career start? 

I’d always wanted to be a writer. Knew as young as age seven that I had to write books! I was writing my first fantasy when I was a teenager, maybe 13 or 14. That got put aside and  went nowhere. However, the story always lingered in the back of my mind. I always knew it could be something if I could figure out how to develop it right. When I was in my 20’s, I went back to writing during my first marriage. The marriage crashed, but I kept developing the series I had in mind until I finally found a publisher to take it.  

What led you to write the darker kind of paranormal story? 

I have a naturally dark and wicked mind. I’ve always been fascinated by things in the shadows and lurking in the night. I grew up devouring books on witchcraft, demonology, Dracula mythology, and reading a ton of gothics. Naturally I wanted to write in the genre I love so much! 

Have you always written in this genre?  If not, which other genres do you write? 

Though I sometimes dabble in contemporary erotica, my main body of work is in the paranormal genre. Lately I’ve published nothing but paranormals, but I hope to get back to some lighter contemporaries soon! 

Let’s talk first about KEEPER OF ETERNITY and PRICE OF ETERNITY.  I was very intrigued with Morgan, the protagonist.  How did you conjure up such a multi-faceted character? 

Morgan Saint-Evanston is a force unto himself, with his own definite personality and way of doing things <G> How he came to be is a pretty simple story! When I was about 13, the writers of my favourite soap opera (As The World Turns) killed off my favourite male character! Eek! My little heart was crushed that my hero had to die. So, I decided to resurrect him by writing my own storylines for him through fan-fiction. Somehow this perfectly innocent soap opera character evolved into the wicked bi-polar alcoholic assassin with a taste for cutting and carnal sex. Part of that can be attributed to the turmoil within my parent’s marriage—they hated each other by time the end came around and threats of death and destruction were pretty common around our house. I suppose every kid has ways of dealing with a parent’s angst-ridden divorce. The creation and gestation of Morgan was my way of getting through the tough times.  

And Julienne, was she inspired by anyone in particular or did you create her from your imagination? 

Julienne also goes back to my teenage years, when I battled anorexia. Again, my parents were going through a very turbulent divorce and the hate permeating people’s lives was destructive for everyone involved. A lot of my (self-imposed) therapy involved writing, and I shaped both Julienne and Morgan through those times when it seemed the only light at the end of the tunnel was the oncoming train.  

Morgan is quite the mixture of a hero who borders on the bad side.  Do you feel these kinds of heroes more of a challenge to write? 

Not at all. In my opinion, the hero and villain can sometimes be interchangeable—depending on their motivations and desires. Sometimes the desire to do good and help is often more destructive than the desire to rob, rape and pillage (so to speak). I prefer to write conflicted characters simply because that is what people are in real life.    

Will this story be finished any time soon?  I am really looking forward to see how it ends. 

At this time the Keepers of Eternity series is on indefinite hold. If and when it will return, I don’t know.

Now, with Kensington you have FLESH AND THE DEVIL and SINS OF THE FLESH coming out this year.  I was excited and pleased to have been able to review these two stunning books.  They were not only exciting, but very hot.  Do you find it easy to write sex scenes? 

I can actually write angst better than I can sex. It’s hard for me to figure out how to write about inserting tab A into slot B and make it interesting time and time again, and do it in a way that adds to the story rather than detracts from it.  

Again, these are dark stories, is this the kind of story we will now be seeing more of from the pen of Devyn Quinn? 

Oh, definitely. I plan to be on the dark side for a very long time, LOL 

Do you need to plot out each story or do you just go with the flow? 

This may sound irresponsible of me, but I make it up as I go along. <G> I have tried diagramming and plotting down to the 9^th degree, and when I do I end up with a nice fat case of writer’s block. I don’t write these stories. The characters simply borrow my fingers to tell their tales.  

In your Kensington books you give your readers some very luscious vampires.  Have you always been a vampire fan? 

Oh, heck yes! From the time I discovered Dracula, I was firmly entrenched in the world of the vampire. I am one thousand percent Goth and love the lifestyle and the attitude! 

SINS OF THE FLESH is book one in the Kith and Kynn series, how many do you have planned?  When is the next one coming out? 

SINS OF THE FLESH is the former BEFORE NIGHT FALLS. My editor didn’t think that title suited the Aphrodisia line, and so she snagged SINS OF THE FLESH(the second Kynn book) and made the books SINS OF THE FLESH (book 1) and SINS OF THE NIGHT (book 2). I just learned today that SINS OF THE NIGHT will be out in April 2008.

What inspired you to write this series? 

The idea of the succubus and incubus as a different kind of vampire. The Kynn do take blood from their victims, but only a taste, to align themselves with the physical sexual energies of the body—the true source from which they draw their power. For erotica, the succubus and incubus are naturals for fiction and I wanted to try my hand at creating a new legend for them.   

On your website, there is quite an impressive list of ‘works in progress’.  Are any of these ready to be published? 

Nope. They are simply ideas I’m toying with for future books. I’m the kind who lets an idea simmer until it’s ready to be written. No story gets written until it is ready. Some won’t be ready for years yet. Some never.  

What are you working on now?  Any teasers? 

I’m expanding SINS OF THE NIGHT from a short novel into a longer novel for Kensington. Need to add in some more scenes and fill in some thin spots. Bonus for Morgan fans is that the infamous assassin gets to show and meddle with Devon Carnavorn’s plans to prevent Adrien Roth from following his sworn path of revenge (against Devon). When I needed an assassin, it seemed natural to let Morgan handle this one <G>   

Which authors do you enjoy reading yourself?  Which ones have inspired your writing? 

Oh, Stephen King (definitely). Who doesn’t name this man when they mention dark and terrifying inspiration? Although I gave up on King’s book when he spun off into his women in jeopardy and revenge phase (Gerald’s Game, Rose Madder, et al) I still admire the man immensely and just wish I had as much talen in my body as he has in his pinky finger. Another favourite is John Grisham—precisely because he is totally opposite of everything dark and paranormal, LOL. Kate Douglas is another favourite. I so admire her talent and style. Again, she has more talent in her pinky than I do in my head, LOL. Wonderful writers all!  

What advice would you give to an aspiring writer? 

It took me eighteen years to get a foot in the NY door. If you have that dream, all I can say is this: hone your craft, study the craft, revise your work and listen to your critters! Keep plugging and you will probably make it. Heck, I did! LOL  

Lastly, for fun, what’s your star sign? 

Pisces.  

Wishing you every success with your writing career! 

Thanks!