Blog Guest: Meet Angela Quarles
Happy New Year, everyone!
I’m delighted to welcome my first guest for the new year, fellow RWA-FF&P chapter-mate Angela Quarles. She’s here to tell us about her new release, Beer And Groping In Las Vegas and reveal some fun facts about herself.
Hi Angela! How long have you been writing? What genres do you write?
I’ve been mainly writing non-fiction for a long time, but started dabbling in fiction by way of Jane Austen fan fiction back in 2005 and 2006. But that was still just a lark, and I didn’t get serious about writing as a viable career option until 2008. I mainly write paranormal romance, specifically time travel, but also other types of romance where I can incorporate something a little out of the ordinary, whether it’s a wish-granting djinn, or steampunk, or meta fiction.
What’s on your bookshelf and/or in your To Be Read pile?
I’m first and foremost a reader, I think. I read every day, usually at lunch, and dinner, and when I go to bed. I’ve got a huge stack next to my bed. You’d definitely catch me reading a romance, but also in my TBR pile is Umberto Eco’s latest, as well as non-fiction (history!)
Do you have a favorite author?
Oh, I hate picking fave anything, as it’s hard to narrow down my top 5 to the #1. Jane Austen is of course, in my top 5. On the completely other end of the spectrum, Christopher Moore is another favorite author and inspired me to take up writing with humor. Others are Anne Rice, Frank Herbert, Umberto Eco, Christi Phillips and Kevin Hearne. In Romance, it’d be Loretta Chase, Julia Quinn, Amanda Quick, Courtney Milan, Katie MacAlister, and Tessa Dare.
What two authors would you love to chat with over a meal? Better yet, what two authors would you take on a writer’s retreat?
I like the retreat idea! I’d say Christopher Moore for the zany humor and Anne Rice for the rich worldbuilding and respect for history, but I’d also like to bring along Loretta Chase so I can nail the romance angle 🙂
If the Earth was about to be destroyed to make way for a Hyperspace Bypass (Hello, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and you have mere minutes to vacate, what book would you grab to take with you? In addition to your towel, of course. ?
Another hard one! Probably Persuasion by Jane Austen so I can discover new things in her prose (I always do on each reread) and reread and sigh over the “You pierce my soul” letter.
Favorite color: Green
Favorite TV show? Firefly!
Milk chocolate or Dark chocolate? Dark chocolate for sure!
Vampires or werewolves?
Hmmm, I really love Rice’s vampires, but I don’t read a lot of the current vampire/werewolf PNRs. Of those I’ve read, I think I’d have to go with werewolf (Hello!? Gail Carriger’s Lord Conall Maccon anyone?)
Sexy demons or sexy angels?
I’ve read some sexy half demon/half angel heroes and those have been fun. I might have to go with sexy angel if I couldn’t get a mix. Something about a smoldering hot angel that’s fighting his smexy side appeals to me.
Dragons or witches? Dragons
Tell us about your new release.
Sure thing! It’s BEER AND GROPING IN LAS VEGAS, an erotic geek romantic comedy with a touch of the paranormal by way of a wish-granting djinn. (Can I get one?) It’s a novelette, so if you’re looking for a quick but fun read, this might be just for you.
Here’s the blurb:
Can a djinn and a magic slot machine bring two geeks together?
Riley McGregor is a geek trapped in a Good Ole Boy body and as owner of a microbrewery, smart chicks never look at him twice.
Rejected by a geek who wanted to “trade up,” Mirjam Linna would rather immerse herself in work than be the girlfriend-of-the-moment. Stranded in a Vegas hotel, she makes a wish—a night of hot sex with the man of her dreams. It’s granted. She agrees to dinner, but afterward, she’ll say thanks, but no thanks, and see what’s on the SyFy channel. But when they meet, they’re surprised to find they had a shared connection in their past. Sparks fly as these two learn to be in the moment, be themselves and find love.
Fans of Star Trek, Star Wars, Monty Python, Firefly and Marvin the Martian will enjoy this romantic comedy.
More Beer and Groping
Amazon | B&N | ARe | trailer | goodreads | shelfari
Book Cover Design / Image Credit:
Cover artist, Dawné Dominique. Photo credit, Keyhole Photography. Used with permission of author.
Bio
Angela works at an independent bookstore and lives in an historic house in the beautiful and quirky town of Mobile, AL, with her two matched gray cats, Darcy and Bingley. When she’s not writing, she enjoys the usual stuff like gardening, reading, hanging out, eating, drinking, chasing squirrels out of the walls and creating the occasional knitted scarf. She’s had a varied career, including website programming and directing a small local history museum.
She’s an admitted geek and is proud to be among the few but mighty Browncoats who watched Firefly the first night it aired. She was introduced to the wonderful world of science fiction by her father, by way of watching reruns of the original Star Trek in her tweens and later giving her a copy of Walter M. Miller Jr’s A Canticle for Leibowitz as a teenager. She hasn’t looked back since.
She has a B.A. in Anthropology and International Studies with a minor in German from Emory University, and a Masters in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University. She was an exchange student to Finland in high school and studied abroad in Vienna one summer in college. She recently found representation with Maura Kye-Casella at Don Congdon, Assoc.
Celia Breslin
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