Interview and Giveaway with Terry Spear

Terry Spear Interview, Author of Dreaming of the Wolf

Please welcome Terry Spear, author of the Heart of the Wolf series.

          BL:      Will you tell us a little about yourself?

TS: I’m a creature of habit, aren’t we all? I LOVE chocolate. It’s terrible to get such a reputation, but at work (library), my co-workers know that if it’s not chocolate, I don’t eat it. It all started out when I was a baby.

My parents left me alone in the back seat of their car with a chocolate cake to celebrate their 2^nd anniversary. Number one, you do not leave a baby alone in the car. And number two, you do not leave a baby alone with a chocolate cake in the back seat of a car. I had chocolate in my ears, diaper, everywhere. And they couldn’t afford another cake.

I went on from that illustrious beginning to loving vampires after I saw a college play when I was a teen where Dracula was kissing the heroine so seductively and I wanted to be her. And I always loved ghost stories. But then the real world intruded and I had to get a degree and go to work, so after earning my MBA and retiring from the US Army Reserves, I went on to work on what I love best—writing stories. But I also make award-winning teddy bears that have been featured in magazines and found homes all over the world as far away as Australia, Russia, and France!

 \      BL:  What authors have influenced you the most?

TS: Children’s literature—princes rescuing the princesses, or some such romance stories for children. But also I loved Jack London’s White Fang and Call of the Wild. I read my first Norwegian tale also about a polar bear shifter, and loved myths and legends and folk tales from around the world.

3.      BL: What made you choose werewolves, and what are your favorite werewolf characteristics?

TS: I was writing vampires, but the market was so crowded, I decided to write about werewolves, another underdog in the paranormal world. They were much abused in literature as being ill-mannered, beastly, and not at all the loving, sexy, hot characters they truly are. So I wrote them based on real wolves, and that means they’re loyal, protective, family-oriented, and if they’re the good guys, really great guys!

4.      BL: Shifters are my favorite paranormal creature, what are your favorites and why?

TS:  I love both wolf shifters, when they’re wolves, not beastly monsters, and vampires. Both have bite, are hot, (well, in my world even my vampires are; not cold and dead), sexy, and they have a special place in my heart. Reference the underdog.

5.      BL: The heroine of Dreaming of the Wolf has a unique profession; please tell us something interesting you learned about bounty hunting.

TS: I was reading how oftentimes they like to use women bounty hunters to pick up women who have missed their court dates because of the sexual harassment issue. Also, that they really don’t have to have military or police type training to become a bounty hunter. One of the bounty hunters said that he mostly used logic, rather than force to get the perp to go with him.

6.     BL:  What is the most interesting thing you have learned, when doing research?

TS: My favorite real life wolf tale was about a true happily ever after story of love between wolves. A female wolf had a litter of pups she was caring for on her own. Her mate had been killed by hunters, and she was alone, no wolf pack. She would have lost her pups to predators, unable to protect and hunt for them at the same time. A wolf biologist discovered her, and took her into custody along with her pups.

In a compound in the wild, he took care of her, keeping human contact to a minimum until her pups could be old enough to leave the compound with her. But a tree fell during a storm, and crashed down on top of the fence allowing some of the more adventurous wolf pups to escape.

This was dangerous for them, but she never left the den, staying with the remaining pups, but a male wolf began to stay with her pups outside of the enclosure. The pups would return to their mother, then again leave the compound and be with the male. Then when they were old enough, the biologist freed the mother and her pups and the female took the male for her mate, who was already serving as papa for her pups. It truly was a happily ever after. Wolf style.

7.     BL:  Do you have a pet peeve about something in books?  My pet peeve is the TSTL (too stupid to live) heroine.

TS: OH YEAH. Me too!!! I was reading a YA where the girl is going into a cemetery during a terrible storm. No reason. She’s just going. And not only that but she’s telling herself how stupid this is. But she’s going to do it anyway. Right. TSTL heroine. The author kept killing off everyone that you grew to love, but the heroine. SHE had to live through all four books. LOL. Another pet peeve of mine is when an author names all her men women’s names and her women, men’s names. I have a hard enough time keeping names straight in a story! :)

8.     BL:  Will you tell us a little bit about the books, that you are currently working on?

TS: I finished writing the sequel to Heart of the Highland Wolf, this one Ian’s brother Duncan’s story, set in the Grand Cayman Islands (Title TBD). The clan’s still after their stolen money, but Duncan gets distracted when he runs into a female wolf on the island…and him a dark warrior, who NEVER gets distracted by anything!

I’ve also finished up the first book in the jaguar shifter series, which will be in stores next fall. Lots of new research had to be done, and now I’m working on two new wolf tales. The first is Tom’s story. Jake just got his in Dreaming of the Wolf, so Tom’s got to have his! He’s feeling rather glum that his two older brothers have mates and babies are on the way. He goes into the mountains to try and track down a wolf that’s hunting sheep, werewolf or wolf, they don’t know, and he ends up at the pack’s cabin in a blizzard, when an angel falls from the sky…kinda.

And I’m working on the second oldest Highland brother’s story, Cearnach’s in The Highland Wolf Wedding. Normally happy-go-lucky, he’s determined to go to a wedding for his former girlfriend who is marrying into an enemy’s clan, until an American wolf runs him off the road. And that’s when things go from bad to worse in a heartbeat.

And I’m working on the opening of the 2^nd jaguar story, Maya’s story, sister of the hero in the first story. So lots of good wolves and jaguars coming!

Thanks so much for taking the time to do an interview!

DREAMING OF THE WOLF by TERRY SPEAR—IN STORES DECEMBER 2011

A fierce hunter…

Alicia Greiston is a no-nonsense bounty hunter determined to bring a ring of mobsters to justice. Her dogged pursuit of the crime family has forced her to avoid relationships—any man would only become a target for retribution. Luckily, Jake Silver is more than a man, and his instincts are telling him to stop at nothing to protect her.

An animal passion…

However, the mob isn’t entirely human either, and soon Alicia must flee for her life. When Alicia and Jake’s passion begins to spill over into their dreams, Jake learns he will have to do more than defend her—he’ll have to show his mate the way of the wolf.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning author Terry Spear has written a dozen paranormal romance novels, with over 60,000 copies sold.  She received a Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year Award in 2008 for Heart of the Wolf.  A retired officer of the U. S. Army Reserves, Terry is a librarian by day.  She lives in Crawford, Texas. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com.

GIVEAWAY  (US AND CANADA ONLY)

Danielle from Sourcebooks has kindly offered two copies of DREAMING OF THE WOLF.  To enter simply leave a comment with a valid e-mail address.  Giveaway ends midnight January 10th.