An award-winning web designer and certified SEO specialist, Calinda B has worked in the Internet industry as a web page designer/developer since the early 1990's. She has also taught web site design and computer graphics at community colleges in Northern California. In addition to writing, Calinda B creates fine art and music, and enjoys scuba diving, kayaking, and bike riding. Calinda B makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with the love of her life and her two cats. She is currently working on the fourth book in The Wicked Series, tentatively entitled A Wicked Ending, or the third book in The Beckoning Series or maybe those are done and she's working on.... She loves to write and does it daily.
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Is Marissa Engles crazy? Or is she a paranormal Light Rebel who can shape form from the electricity buzzing through her veins. Her aunt and sister think “Crazy.” The locked mental facility they’ve put her in thinks “Delusional.”
She’s so drugged up, she can’t tell if they’re right. Only her new pal, Rafe Caldwell, another mental patient “inmate”, thinks she is what she says she is. And he intends to find out more – lots more.
The only problem is her missing soul bound lover, Daniel Navid, who commands the darkest of the dark. But as they say, if the cat’s away…
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
It’s the second in a series so that was a given. I wanted to explore a suggestion a friend keeps making - “your characters need therapy, C.!” So it starts with Marissa in a mental hospital.
I also had just finished The Beckoning of Beautiful Things and had a bad breakup with a friend at his sudden, completely unexpected request. It broke my heart. It made me question everything - how could he do this? We were such good friends! I was completely bereft and broken for a while. I was angry. I wanted revenge. The broken things in my life beckoned me to take another stab at healing. I channeled my hurt and anger into the book, making my character grow stronger and more secure inside.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
It usually takes me 3 - 4 months to write a book.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
Oh, man - I love to craft worlds and characters. I love to put them in wild circumstances and danger even, and help them find resolution. I love to learn from my writing. I’ve learned crazy wild things about humpback whales and even got a humpback whale named after me (seriously - it’s in some whale naming records somewhere) through the writing of Wicked Whispering. I’ve learned really cool facts about falconry and birds of prey in Beckoning. I’ve grown and changed in amazing ways through the act of writing. It’s probably cheaper than therapy (laughs). Or is it? I spend a fair bit on advertising (grins).
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Probably not being able to do it more. I still keep a good paying day job. I want to reduce the time I put into the day job and put more time into the writing and be well paid. Marketing can be a creative challenge at times, too. I have an awesome street team right now that helps me market. They’re an amazing group of women.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
Interesting question! Could I be me famous to see what it’s like? Other than that, Brad Pitt came to mind. Wait - then I’d have to be married to Angelina Jolie. Never mind. How about Meryl Streep? She’s cool, she’s hip, she’s classy, she’s got mad crazy creativity, elegance, respect and manages to age really, really well.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
Thank goodness I can answer this question without shame! Our housecleaner came in and cleaned out the ‘fridge a week ago. Now I think the oldest thing in there is a container of sliced olives. I have no idea how old it is. I only know that I will not touch them or use them in any way. They should be pitched and probably will be the next time I see them (sadly, two days after writing this, they’re still there).
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Lots more books! I am working on a standalone called Headspace. It’s about a woman - Vienna Katrina Pearson - who can sense the fantasies of men, manifest them, and make them think they are having actual sex with her in her virtual world, which she calls Headspace. It’s set in the future in Seattle. She has lots of virtual sex with willing partners in her Headspace, none of whom will ever know who she is. In the real world there’s a slight twist - she’s never been able to orgasm. She’s got a great friend named Jonas who wants to leave his girlfriend to be with her and give her the orgasm - or lots of them. It feels a little risky to be writing about a touchy subject like being non-orgasmic but I’m exploring it in what I hope is a safe and compassionate way. I recently read a fact that “About 75 percent of all women never reach orgasm from intercourse alone -- that is without the extra help of sex toys, hands or tongue. And 10 to 15 percent never climax under any circumstances.” It’s an interesting topic to explore via fantasy fiction.
I’ve also got several chapters into A Wicked Ending, the 4th in the Wicked Series, as well as musing on the 3rd in the Beckoning series - the Beckoning of Badass Things. I can tell you Marissa’s going to kick some serious booty in book III. Look out!
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Q) How long did it take you to write?
It usually takes me 3 - 4 months to write a book.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
Oh, man - I love to craft worlds and characters. I love to put them in wild circumstances and danger even, and help them find resolution. I love to learn from my writing. I’ve learned crazy wild things about humpback whales and even got a humpback whale named after me (seriously - it’s in some whale naming records somewhere) through the writing of Wicked Whispering. I’ve learned really cool facts about falconry and birds of prey in Beckoning. I’ve grown and changed in amazing ways through the act of writing. It’s probably cheaper than therapy (laughs). Or is it? I spend a fair bit on advertising (grins).
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Probably not being able to do it more. I still keep a good paying day job. I want to reduce the time I put into the day job and put more time into the writing and be well paid. Marketing can be a creative challenge at times, too. I have an awesome street team right now that helps me market. They’re an amazing group of women.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
Interesting question! Could I be me famous to see what it’s like? Other than that, Brad Pitt came to mind. Wait - then I’d have to be married to Angelina Jolie. Never mind. How about Meryl Streep? She’s cool, she’s hip, she’s classy, she’s got mad crazy creativity, elegance, respect and manages to age really, really well.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
Thank goodness I can answer this question without shame! Our housecleaner came in and cleaned out the ‘fridge a week ago. Now I think the oldest thing in there is a container of sliced olives. I have no idea how old it is. I only know that I will not touch them or use them in any way. They should be pitched and probably will be the next time I see them (sadly, two days after writing this, they’re still there).
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Lots more books! I am working on a standalone called Headspace. It’s about a woman - Vienna Katrina Pearson - who can sense the fantasies of men, manifest them, and make them think they are having actual sex with her in her virtual world, which she calls Headspace. It’s set in the future in Seattle. She has lots of virtual sex with willing partners in her Headspace, none of whom will ever know who she is. In the real world there’s a slight twist - she’s never been able to orgasm. She’s got a great friend named Jonas who wants to leave his girlfriend to be with her and give her the orgasm - or lots of them. It feels a little risky to be writing about a touchy subject like being non-orgasmic but I’m exploring it in what I hope is a safe and compassionate way. I recently read a fact that “About 75 percent of all women never reach orgasm from intercourse alone -- that is without the extra help of sex toys, hands or tongue. And 10 to 15 percent never climax under any circumstances.” It’s an interesting topic to explore via fantasy fiction.
I’ve also got several chapters into A Wicked Ending, the 4th in the Wicked Series, as well as musing on the 3rd in the Beckoning series - the Beckoning of Badass Things. I can tell you Marissa’s going to kick some serious booty in book III. Look out!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
