From the Archives: Bloody Bellinis, Moody Alpacas, and an Interview with ELIZABETH HUNTER!

Shéa and Amy are on vacation, so we're bringing back one of our earliest (not redited at all) episodes. 

Please make yourself a bloody bellini, settle back, and enjoy this interview with Elizabeth Hunter!

You can find Elizabeth Hunter (and buy her books direct) at elizabethhunter.com, follow her on Instagram (@elizabethhunterwrites), and join her Facebook Group "Hunters Haven" https://www.facebook.com/groups/ElizabethHunterFans/.

For complete show notes and recipe, visit us at: https://www.cliffhangersandcocktails.com/post/from-the-archives-bloody-bellinis-moody-alpacas-and-an-interview-with-elizabeth-hunter

Watch us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@cliffhangersandcocktails

Visit our sponsor, the Paranormal Women's Fiction Bookclub, for a free monthly book at https://pwfbookclub.com/.

Follow the pod on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cliffhangersandcocktails/, 

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Don't forget to like, rate, review, subscribe, and share!

Thanks - the Caftan Coven

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and happy summer. This is Editor Amy. Jaya and I are on vacation and won't be releasing new author interview episodes in July and August. Instead, I dug into the Wayback Machine and will be sharing some of the first episodes we did. I haven't done anything to the original episodes other than add our intro and outro music as well as our branded transition images, so you'll get to enjoy the early graphics, sounds, and editing. I'm gonna be real with you right now, I didn't watch the whole thing before putting this back out into the world because even updating the beginning and end made me cringe a little bit. I mean, seriously, what was up with that camera angle, Amy? All that being said, there is nothing that can detract from the fun we had with this guest. Please enjoy episode two of Cliffhangers and Cuptail.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Welcome to the Cliffhangers and Cocktails Podcast with USA Today best-selling authors Amy Sissel and Shayla Platt. Brought to you by the Captain Coven, where we talk books, drinkings, and general shenanigans.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Today we're gonna talk about Elizabeth Hunter's latest novel, Blood Mosaic, and we'll actually be talking about that with Elizabeth Hunter later on in this episode. And we'll be mixing up our signature cocktail of the episode, The Bloody Bellini, checking out our Oracle deck and giving you some witchy tips.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah. So um first, we always like to start our podcast with an affirmation that you can just kind of take into your day with you. So I found this great affirmation. I really love it because um my word of the year, as we talked about on the last podcast, is thrive. So I found this affirmation. I give myself permission not just to survive, but to thrive. I love that. I love that so much. Well, I think sometimes you spend too much time focusing on just getting through the day rather than really doing it well and really enjoying the journey. So that's my whole shtick this year.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

And I think it's great. And I think that sometimes getting through the day is thriving. Um everybody's like, oh, I give 110% to whatever.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

I am so against that. Um, because you you can't always give 100%, and that's a stupid thing to strive for. Sorry, inspirational, motivational poster. But um, like it's it's important to pick what you want to thrive at. And what I I have a problem that I like to call valedictorian syndrome, where I want to be the valedictorian of everything. And I think it's so important to choose where you want to thrive.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

That it's okay, like just kind of to neglect the um the back garden over here that grows the beets, and like focus your attention on the thriving of the pretty herbs.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

So you probably uh know now that I really hate beets.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I gather that. I was like, well, beets are delicious, Tia.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Beets taste like dirt, and that is a hill I will die on. A beet hill. A beet hill.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

I had a beet martini once.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Ew.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Um, I said that mostly to see what your face would do. Um if you guys are listening and not watching this on YouTube and you want to know what Chea actually thinks of the idea of a beet martini, you can head over to YouTube and check this out because that was not a face of happiness. I didn't like it, to be clear. It was it was thick. Like I think if it had just been like beet juice, it would have been good because I love beets. I love the flavor of beets. Um, I like the earthiness of it. I'm gonna have to go see what magical power there is in my beets. But um, charade beets. Ew. Oh yeah, it just doesn't belong.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

It doesn't belong in a drink.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I'm playing a thick martini.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

I'm playing here with a view, just FYI, because I'm trying to decide if the speaker view or the the gallery view is better. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

I think the speaker view is not the way we want to go.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Okay, let's do the gallery view so we can just everybody can see both of us.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Did you I mean, I don't know how many times you watched our last podcast.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Uh once briefly.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Okay, because I watched it about 15 times as I was editing, and I found the speaker view to be difficult to follow because sometimes it wouldn't switch right away.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

That's what I'm noticing, is it it it what it wasn't switching, and I realized that after the last time, and I realized it just now it wasn't switching back and forth. Um, so maybe we just do the gallery view.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I'll be do we need to start over, or do you think we're good just I I would rather not start over. I would rather not start over.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Either they can find out what we talk about behind the scenes, or we can just cut that out. I'm gonna cut it out. I think, yeah, I think it's fine just for now and just going forward, we'll do the gallery view because I don't really want to reverge over that either. I think it's fine. It's fine, whatever. Okay. Okay, so now uh we did the affirmation. We talked about okay, so now we're gonna talk about beats. We talked about beats. So speaking of beats, this has nothing to do with beats. That's great. Segway. I know, right? I come up with the best, I do all the best segues. Um material folks. I'm available for parties and bat mitzvahs. Boom, boom. Um, yeah, so today, uh, cool stones.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Are you wearing any cool stones today? Oh my god, I would love to tell you about all the cool stones that I'm wearing today, except that you are wearing it. I'm not filming at home, which is why every the angles are all a little bit weird. And I know the sound was weird in our last episode, and my sound probably isn't any better today. Um, because I'm filming in this big empty hotel room. Um, and so one of the things that is at home on my dresser is my jewelry pouch that had all of my rings that I wear every time I leave the house. The rings I wear every time I leave the house, all of my necklaces, the lapis crystal stuff that I had. And I had um garnet as well. And garnet is like a garnet is kind of always a great stone to wear. And I'm gonna have to find something so I can always have garnet on. Um, so all I can tell you is that I had some cool stuff. It's at home. Well, I do have only thing I'm wearing is my necklace that I know.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

It's a little necklace. I don't know if anybody can kind of see that with the oh that's beautiful. But this stone here, I believe this one up here is a garnet, a raw garnet. Um I'm not sure, but I because I can't remember, but I think that was just like a a oh maybe a rose quartz or something. But this one here is um a fuchsite. Ooh. Fuchsite is um it's kind of a green stone, but it's found with like this um type of redstone called a ruby, but it's not a ruby as in a ruby ruby. It's a different kind of ruby. I don't understand. It's like, you know, sciencey stuff. They're like, it's a ruby, but it's not the ruby. I'm like, so uh basically I I really love the thing because Fuchsite is about like it's this a stone that sparks joy. And it's a stone that's about bringing you closer with people that you love. So I kind of liked that. I thought that was a great stone. Plus, it's really, really pretty because it's got this sort of ruby red and sort of green. I don't know if I didn't get that. Um, so there's a jeweler uh in Seaside called Molly Morgan Jewelry. And um they ship anywhere. Right now they're um they have an Etsy store. Right now it's temporarily closed because they're shifting owners, but the new owner has been working at Molly Morgan for a long time and is really excited to continue. So I'm really excited because um I get a lot of my jewelry from them. So uh it's very reasonably priced, and they have just lots of gorgeous stones and it's all like silver jewelry.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

So I love silver.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Well, um, we'll probably drop that link then into the show notes. Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Thank you, Molly Morgan. And they did not pay me to say that. I've just been buying from them for a long time, and they always write me a nice little note whenever I buy things again for put, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

If you however, if you want to pay us in rocks, yeah. We like shiny.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

We like shiny rocks, so we're happy to take shiny rocks. We're like magpies or ravens. Give us shiny rocks.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Definitely a raven here. Um, so that's awesome. I wanna, I don't, I don't write segues as well as Shaya does. So I'm just gonna do a hard turn into today's cocktail. Um, we are talking, like I said, with Elizabeth Hunter later today about her book Blood Mosaic. And I know the drink that she has is a black Manhattan, and it sounds so cool, but you guys, I hate Manhattan. Like you would not believe how much I hate a Manhattan. But I wanted to go with the whole But I really don't like them.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

There's something in them that I don't like and I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

I wanted to go like though with that theme, because it's a vampire book, and Elizabeth Hunter writes a lot of vampire books. Yes. And um, and she also does a lot of paranormal women's fiction. Yes, um, and she's got I think nine, three different nine books across three different series of paranormal women's fiction. But like her big her big main series, I think, is this world, the elemental mysteries world. And she's got a number of series within that. So this is the first book in a new series, and it's about vampires. So I present to you my bloody bellini. And Shay's bloody bellini. My bloody bellini. They're slightly different. Mine is gin and um cherry liqueur with maraschino cherries syrup, um, and um sparkling wine. And I know Shay's is a little bit different. What did you have?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Well, last night I was experimenting. So I did um sparkling wine, raspberry liqueur, and then the cherry um syrup, and I tried that just that way, and then I put the gin in it, and I like I didn't love it because I think um it just didn't quite go together. So today I made it with sparkling wine, cherry syrup, and blackberry juice. And that's good.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Oh, I'm so excited that you're using blackberries because that's gonna come up later. Woohoo! Later, good job. I'm also psychic. No, not really, but um, so yeah. So um, so I just this is a really easy drink to make. I um didn't bring again, I am on location or just away from home. Um, and so like I traveled with a coupe glass and some liquor in my purse, which is so cool.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

But I had to pour it into something cool.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Anyway, I just mixed the gin and the cherry syrup in a tall glass with ice straight into my coupe glass and topped with the bubbles. There are boozy maraschino cherries in here. You can't see them because they suck to the bottom. Um, but cherries are supposed to attract love. And it's just a very and I'm just kind of hoping that doesn't happen to me, not trying to attract anything while I'm on vacation here. Unless it's like maybe a like a murder of crows. I would love to be loved by a murder of crows. Same. Um anyway, yeah. So the gin though, like gin is such a cool liquor. And um gin, which uh was called Jennifer, and now Jennifer and gin are different, similar but different liquors, but it it all comes stumps from like the juniper berry, which has been using medicine forever basically. Um it's got a lot of medicinal properties. Um it was used to treat kidney disease because it's a diuretic. Um and that's been going on since the Middle Ages. Um, in ancient Egypt, they used it for stuff that nobody's quite sure of, I think. And then during the Black Death, doctors would burn juniper um in the houses where the sick were because the um, and then they'd stuff it into their masks.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

This is a plague mask. I'm sure that really helped it. I'm sure juniper was very effective against the bubonic plague.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Well, I think like the plague masks were actually really useful because it helped with social distancing. Sure. Um, and and then not being able to smell the I mean that right there is probably the most useful. They did believe that the scent of it, um, they believed at that point that some people believe at that point that airborne scents were causing the plague or like exacerbating it somehow. So that masking that with perfume would be a preventative.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Um, and it's interesting. Um, I and I got a lot of this information from a couple different websites, and I'll drop the links to those in the show notes so that I can properly credit where I'm getting this info. Um, but the juniper bush has also been used in art to represent chastity, which may like counteract the cherries here. Uh I mean, yeah. I'm hoping. But like gin as a whole, like for for like spell work and magical powers has been used as a cleanser, like a spiritual cleanser and protection. And um, I think that's really that's a really interesting and it makes me feel good about gin. Yes, I love gin.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

That's generally how I use it in spell work is for protection and cleansing.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

That's how I use it for everyday use. I just cleanse. It's like, you know, when people talk about doing those juice cleanses or whatever, which are generally dumb with the clean.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

You're like, I have my juice cleanse. Here's my bottle of gin.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Like our liver detox things naturally, but I've decided that I'm gonna do a gin cleanse.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

I'm not sure that's a thing, but you do you, boo.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

No, no, no, I'm sure it's a thing. I'm sure it's a thing. All right, anyway, I'm gonna drink my drink here.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Okay, drink your drink. Um, I I really like this because it's like simple to make and you can kind of you can kind of mix it up to your taste and your intention, like you know, what what you want to your intention to be. Because like when I did it with the raspberries, raspberries are also for love, excuse me, and fertility. Now, not just fertility like making babies, because I'm kind of like not interested in that. Um, but fertility is the biggest announcement. We're not going there. Um, but fertility can also be fertility in like say your career or fertility in your um like you know, some kind of endeavor that you're doing, um, you know, uh whether it's art or, you know, some kind of project you're doing. So it's not just the fertility of family, it's also general fertility. So that's why I tried raspberry last night. Um and I think raspberry would be good with the right um liqueur, but I think mine's a little too cheap. I tried a new brand that I haven't tried before, and it was, I'm like, yeah, I don't think I'm gonna buy this one again.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

I think we have some raspberry gin. Oh, we drank it once. We drank it once. Um we made French 75s with raspberry gin. We did, yeah, yeah. That was really good. That was good. That was very good. You're welcome to Amy and Shea's cocktail memory lane. Um so you also mentioned though that blackberries are part of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Yeah, I decided to try it with blackberry juice. I don't know, it just kind of spoke to me. And so this morning I have blackberry juice in there.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Well, it's funny that that spoke to you so much. Um, because this episode, this is my segue, um, is coming out right before involving. And uh so I wanted to talk a little bit about that. And um, one of the fruits most associated with involve is is blackberries. And so when I was looking up recipes and like food that's associated with this holiday, because it is very much, we're still like doing our winter feasting kind of situation.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Um, so it's a lot of comfort foods, but a lot of the drinks and desserts and salads have blackberries in them just because they're so tough and they're good. Like it's hard to get out of blackberry season. I mean, they're tasty, and they're so tasty, and like they're not associated with the season as much as like like cherries are spring fruit, right? Like or summer fruit.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

And strawberries are like late spring, early summer fruit. Like a lot of these berries, you just like you see strawberries and you're not like, oh yeah, that sounds like something you'd have in January. But um, but I think that for blackberries and any of the dark, dark fruits, they just are, I don't know, it's they're cozier. And I should have, I wasn't having blackberries, so I didn't do as much research as I could have on that aspect of it. And I I should have, I should have known that you were gonna I was gonna throw a monkey wrench and think and do my own thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Not a monkey wrench.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

What's a good wrench?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Um like a I don't know, a chocolate wrench. Oh, you don't really like chocolate that much.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

I would have a chocolate wrench though with blackberry or cherry.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Chocolate does go very well with blackberry, but yeah, blackberry is all about balance and self-love. So it's very cozy, comforting, and it brings in that self-care vibe. And so it's actually really quite perfect for this time of year.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

That really, that really is. And like imbalic is you know, we're at the halfway point between Yule and Ostara, between the solstice and the equinox. And it's really when things start waking up. And umbilic comes from the Gaelic word omelk. Sorry, everybody. And like try, it's oimelk. I don't speak Gaelic, I know nothing about Gaelic, I know how it's spelled. Um, and then we're just gonna skip past. I am planning on terribly mispronouncing something once every episode. Um so that means in the belly. And it is from the it means it's associated with lactation of ewes, because this is about the time when lambing season starts. Yeah. So um it's also so one of the big food associations is uh dairy food because it's that whole lactation thing. So sheep's milk, sheep cheese is probably a good thing that I should be eating immediately.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Absolutely, sheep cheese and blackberries would go. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Okay, listen, we have to stop this podcast, and I have to go get some blackberries and sheep cheese immediately. Immediately. Um, no, no, I'll get those later, it'll be fine. And and it's also candleness is what it's um also known as, and that's more like as we move away from some of the more pagan traditions into when Christianity started merging with that. And so it's the celebration of Rhe or Saint, depending on where you're going with this. Um, and so it is a festival of fertility because the earth is waking up and magic and poetry and fire.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Oh, I'm gonna bust out my poetry right away.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

No, I'm gonna have a poem for us.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

No, I'm a terrible poet. Like, even though I literally had a poem one time in like a publication, I did, but it was really bad. It was very effectively very bad.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

I need to know more about where to find this.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

You know, honestly, I don't it's been so long, I don't remember. It's one of these publications where they just kind of like gather a bunch of random things and then they try to get like they publish it and then they try to, oh hey, we'll send you a copy if you pay us an obscene amount of money. And one of those. So it's not nearly as impressive as it sounds, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

But it did actually like get published in a thing. I don't know, it's probably out there somewhere. I mean, this was like 30 years ago, probably 25, 25 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

How about if we do a haiku? She is a poet. Why won't she tell us more, please? I am very sad. There we go. There's your haiku. That is the best haiku ever.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

It really is.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

All right, so just a little bit more about Imbal now that we've gotten the poetry part about over. Um so lighting candles is a really big thing about it. Uh bonfires if you've got the space, outside space, don't don't do it inside. Light a fire in your fireplace. If you have one, make sure that you are very careful with fire because um we don't want any of that to get out of control. Um but other things about involved is it's time to clean and purify your home, maybe drink some gin, um plant the seeds of your goals and intentions for the year. And if you're a gardener, it's time to start thinking about what you're going to plant. Um, a lot of us are still in places where it's too cold to plant outside, but it's a good time to start germinating some seeds that you might want to transfer outside. Um, I am going to repot all of my plants next week. They all need a new little bit of love, and that's gonna be part of my spring cleaning process.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Well, as you know, we've talked about I basically have like I don't have you know how some people are born with a green thumb. I'm born with like the opposite. Um I have literally murdered cactuses, so um, I won't be planting anything because I will probably murder it. Um but I did uh do a vision board. So I think it's like really a really cool time to do sit down and do a vision board or you know, write up uh write up things that you want to happen, like maybe a list of things that you want to happen this year, or you want to bring into your life this year. So it's a really good time for that.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

It is, and I was I also did a vision board and I'm not quite done with it yet. I'm still still fiddling with it. As Shaya sent me hers and I was all jealous because hers was prettier than mine. So then I have to work on it to make mine prettier. But the other thing that Shaya did that I think is really great was that um hers is specific. Like mine was like, oh, I want these things, like this general amorphous thing to happen. And I don't think that's specific enough. Like, I don't think that we need to be so specific that we're like on the 13th of February 2025, precisely $13.36 deposited into my account by the universe. Yes, and every minute thereafter. Um, like, but there needs to be more specificity than I would like to be successful as an author this year. Because that's what does that mean? Yeah, like success to me in 2025 means more than it means a different thing than it did in 2017.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

And success to me is gonna mean a totally different thing than success to you. So I think like you need to kind of be a little bit more specific with the universe as to uh what success looks like to you. And so have a think about what what success would mean to you um this year and in the future. Like what does that look like? What would make you feel like you've reached that success? Um and of course, like uh like you said, as years pass, you know, and you like uh being successful as an author looks very different to me than it did when I first started in 2011. And 2011 success was when the first eight people bought my book, and I was like, oh my goodness, you know, this looks it looks very different now.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

So yes, I would like to sell more than eight books this year. Right, yes. Although I'm fairly certain, I'm fairly certain without looking that that's happened.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah, I can yeah, I don't need to look to say that's happened, but yeah, I kind of like need to keep the lights on and things like that. So yeah, I need to sell more than eight books, but it was super exciting in 2001.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

No, for sure. I remember like I published, it's been almost exactly um eight years since I published my first book, and uh it came out the 27th, I think, of February in 2017. It was right after I turned 40, and this so it was a big deal because I'd wanted to be published by the time I was 40, and I almost made it, but it was like three days late. Whatever. Whatever I hit publish before it came out, it's fine, and um I've never like that was the biggest level of enthusiasm I've ever had on a release day um because everybody I'd ever met, I just made them buy my book. It's the only time I've been like super like do it by because now I meet people sometimes, and I'm like, oh you don't have to. I'm like, if you do, go buy it, go buy it.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Go buy it. We write awesome books, you must buy it.

unknown 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Um that was the best release day I had for a while. Um, because then I never told people to buy my book ever again. Ever, ever. Buy my books, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

You, yeah, you buy my books and your books. Buy our books. At some point, we should probably talk about our books a little bit more in depth, but we're not gonna do that today.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Today has been all about Elizabeth Hunter. So I'm really excited to welcome Elizabeth Hunter to our show. Um, Elizabeth is an 11-time USA Today best-selling author of fantasy and romance. She's based in California and out of Bababa. She's published over 50 works and sold over two million books worldwide. She's the author of The Elemental Mysteries, the Erin Chronicles. Some things, you know, you don't ever say them out loud and you only read them in your head. Um, and then you work. She said it right, Erin. Okay, great. Thank you. The Shadowlands series and many other works of fiction. And um, not only is Elizabeth an amazing author, and I full disclaimer, I do edit for her. So I get to see all the books like ahead of time. Um, she's also just a really wonderful person, and I'm really excited to have her here today to talk about her newest book, Blood Mosaic.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Welcome, welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I feel like I'm just having drinks with friends, so this is the best kind of interview. I mean, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

So tell us a little bit about that cocktail.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Um, so this is a black Manhattan. Um, I was released very properly. Uh, so you drink whiskey cocktails in the winter, gin cocktails in the summer, you know, as you should. Uh so a black Manhattan is uh really just like your classic Manhattan, uh, but instead of using vermouth, you use uh an Amaro, which is an Italian liquor, and a little bit of bitters, and it has a lovely, lovely, delicious cherry garnish, and uh it's delightful. I I enjoy it. Um you have to like whiskey though, just oh I like I like a whiskey.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

I mean I'm breaking some rules.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

But everybody does, and that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

I'm very specific with my whiskey. I don't like rye. I don't like bourbon. Um but so I am breaking some rules here and I'm drinking.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Probably you should use a rye whiskey. This one you should probably use a rye whiskey. But um, I didn't have I'm out of rye, so I just used uh Jameson's.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

So oh well I could have done that. Love Jameson's.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Yeah, Jameson's. Now I'm bummer. I'm both.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

I looked up the recipe.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

I think the reason I don't like Manhattan's is like, don't they usually use um they don't use sweet vermouth, they use the other, the dry vermouth. Use a dry vermouth. And I don't like dry vermouth. So I can do what I want. Like you can use a sweet vermouth if you want. I'll have to do it. This has the Amaro has a little bit, it has some sweetness. It has, and I think that's why you add a little bit of bitters just to counter that. Um, so it's a bittersweet cocktail, and it um it has some kind of caramelly flavors as well, which which makes it a just a very it's a nice sipping cocktail, it really is. I I enjoy it. Maybe that's my problem. I tend to guzzle my cocktails, so that might be a problem.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

I'm drinking gin because I don't know what season it is, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

And I'm drinking sparkling wine because I do what I want. Yeah, you do what you want, do what I want.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

And I'm drinking my bloody bellini. I'm very vampiric over here, the one with the theme. I love it. I love it. Um, so let's talk a little bit about your author journey. Like, when did you begin writing?

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I am an old lady indie publisher at this point because um I published my first book in 2011. Same. It was so long ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You and you and I have very, I think, very similar kind of writing timelines. I I feel like we both were in that first kind of wave, not the very first. No, like a little after. Kind of the early adopters, yeah. Yeah, early adopters, not pioneers, but early adopt adopters. Um, but before that, I was a business writer, so I did very exciting things like employee manuals, sales to labels. My safety program was groundbreaking. Yeah. Uh yeah, the but you know, I tell people all the time that's it's actually business writing is not a bad background to have because it teaches you a lot about just mechanics. Um, and you're writing for a reluctant audience. So getting, you know, grabbing attention, making because it's still a story, isn't it? Like it's still in in in any kind of writing is a story, you're you're guiding your audience through a journey, whether that journey is through a cool vampire fantasy or uh the how to report human uh human resources violations, you know, whatever it might be, like you're still, you know. So even business writing, I feel like like no, no writing experiences wasted. But I started writing. Um, so I was I was writing, I was doing business writing. I had never people are always like, oh, were you one of those kids that like were always writing stories? And it's like, no, I really wasn't. I didn't start writing creatively until my 30s. And then it was like I started writing fan fiction, uh, which was super fun. I wrote in the Southern Vampire Mysteries fandom. Um love that whole community, not true blood. Okay, there's a difference. There's a difference between SVM people and the true blood people. It was like, it was there was kind of like a little tension there. Um, so I wrote SVM fan fiction, loved it. And then I was like, I feel like like I could like write my own stories, and so it just kind of grew from there. And and I I never even thought about going traditional. I knew nothing. I knew nothing about like because I think because I had never wanted to be a writer, yeah, you know, that was never like I had no idea. I had no idea that like you were supposed to, you know, submit to agents and then do it. I had no idea about any of that stuff. And then, but I was just out to lunch with a friend of mine who was also in the fan fiction community, and she's like, Have you heard about indie publishing? Have you heard about like you you can just put your books on on Kindle Unlimited? Like you're like, tell me more because you're finally in Lydia for like one of the few people that I've ever named a character after um in my books. Her name is is Lydia, and and she was saying, like, I enjoy your fanfic updates as much as I'm looking forward to like my next library book.

unknown 34:17

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Like, I really think you could write amazing. I I you know, I really think there's like a market for your fiction, like you're a really good writer, and I was like, wow, and so I I genuinely like I put a hidden fire, which is my first book. I put a hidden fire up on K Kindle. This was before KU. KU didn't even exist then. Um I put it up on Kindle, and I thought, if I make anything cool, that was my same thing. It was like, if I sell like a couple copies, it's gonna be so awesome. I mean, like somebody is actually like I'm already posting this stuff on my blog for free. Like, if somebody is gonna pay me for it, that's amazing. Um, and then but then within six months, I had published three books and I was making uh as much as I had been when I was a teacher, when I was a middle school teacher, which is what I had done before business writing and and uh I had an interesting employment journey. Um, but which is good for writers, actually. That's actually really good.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

If you can't settle in a job, you that might mean you need to be a writer. That's my life. Um but like I've got I got so lucky, you guys. I I feel like and and I think anyone who doesn't acknowledge that luck plays a part in all of this is is full of it because there's just an element of luck involved. Yes, you can plan unless yes, you should have a business plan and and be a professional and and work hard and and work on your craft and all of those things, but I know amazing writers who don't sell as well as I do. Yeah. That that are as good a storytellers or better. Yeah. And so so to not acknowledge that like part of this is just luck is is nonsense. You have to. Definitely. There is for sure like a certain amount of oh yeah, yeah, that yeah, there's yeah, you can't you can't ever say that. I think that, oh, if you do this thing, this thing, and this thing, you will be successful. I mean, because the luck always comes comes into it too, which for me is you know, manifestation universe stuff. But so tell us a little bit more about your book, this book that we're talking about today, Blood Mosaic, like you know, um like you know, tell us kind of about the setting and the characters and kind of how you came up with it. Um so this is um a vampire fantasy novel, contemporary fantasy. Um, if it was 10 years ago, we might call it an urban fantasy. Even though it's not entirely in an urban setting. Um, but it is about uh it is a first in series, but it is in a larger L um elemental vampire world. So that the book I mentioned, A Hidden Fire, was the first one in that universe. Okay, but I structured the series so that like there's different entry points. So there's like series within the universe. Right. So this is a first in series. If you've never read any of my books, you can totally pick this up, read it. You're not gonna get lost or anything. Um, but it is about two characters. The um female main character is a human bookkeeper who is, I think, very relatable. She is dealing with employment fraud, you guys. That's you know, isn't that the promise of any amazing urban fantasy dealing with employment fraud? Employment fraud. It's a compelling, it's a compelling. It's a book. That's that's what I hear all the time. Like, oh my god, make that I've got embezzlement in at least one book, so I'm there.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

I'm there.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Yeah, yeah. So she's a she's a bookkeeper and she has been unknowingly working for a vampire and embezzling money, and she didn't realize what she was getting into, and then she and then stupidly her old boss doesn't pay her. Well, see, now that's just if you're gonna make somebody do bad things, exactly. That is the the first rule of organized crime. Always pay your bookkeeper. So she cracks down um kind of the the big boss who is the main male main character, and um that is Oleg, and he is a fire vampire, and he's the vampire lord of uh the Kievan Roost. So this is all in Eastern Europe, uh, the Black Sea region, primarily, uh, Ukraine, southern Russia, um, Romania, that whole area. And he kind of rules, and he's very old, he's over a thousand years old, and he rules kind of this entire area. So there's a little bit of organized crime vibes going on, but he's mostly legitimate. And she tracks him down and basically says, like, I didn't get paid. I want you to pay me. And and basically like calls him out and says, like, listen, I want my wages, and and she realizes and he realizes that oh, she does, she knows about the embezzlement because his daughter, his vampire daughter was the one she had been working for, and she had been stealing money from him. And so Tatiana, our main, our female man character, she knows where the money is, and so they strike a deal. She still has no idea that she's striking a deal with a vampire. She strikes a deal and she immediately knows, like, oh, this was probably a very bad idea. But like, you gotta pay the rent, right? And so she gets drawn into this very complicated world, borderline criminal, and she's just like, I'm just trying to do my job and get out of here. And then, of course, everything kind of goes to shit. And of course, there is this amazing sexual chemistry between the two of them. This is a a much hotter book than I usually write because they do just have a very intense uh physical connection. The chemistry is all over the place with these guys, and and uh I don't want to tell you too much, but it it definitely it ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. Uh, there's three books planned. Um it's it's a complicated, messy, delicious relationship. And I think I think readers like it's one of those things where there's no good guy, there's no bad guy. You love both of these characters equally, and they're both super messed up. And so I love I love writing complicated, messy people. Yeah, well, aren't we?

SPEAKER_02 41:16

I was talking about messy. I was telling Shay a little bit about um, because obviously I've read it, um, and I own it, and I've read it again because I only just started reading it, like just started reading it. So I'm like just into it. Yeah, did describe Zara that as cuckoo, no banana cuckoo banana crackers.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Cuckoo banana crackers, yep. Yeah, banana crackers. Uh Oleg's vampire daughter, who who Tatiana was working for, yeah. So she's the antagonist um in this book, and yeah, she is. She's cuckoo banana pants, but also like in some in some ways kind of sympathetic.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

Like oh yeah, I feel bad for her, but she is cuckoo.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Yeah. I was talking with Amy and I was talking with another um, another uh like beta reader. I have a a continuo continuity reader for this series because it is like it's such a huge sprawling universe at this point. And I have not read my books nearly as much as my continuity reader has read them. Like, she is an expert. Like, if I have a question, I can go and ask her because she will know. Um so I was talking with her about it, and she's like, you do realize like you write a lot of women villains, and and I'm like, okay, yes, but I think part of it is I really just enjoy writing women baddies because I think the motivations can be so complicated. I love writing women, I love writing men too, but I love writing women, and I am a woman, and so I feel like I can get into the head of a baddie if she's female so much better. Well, yeah. I love women. That's why I make you all bad guys. No, no, they're not all bad guys, but there are a lot. I do have a lot of uh of female baddies. It's it's fun, it's fun like the that hat the hashtag Morale Gray Men. I'm like, no, give me Morale Gray women for them all. For sure. I think they're just much more complicated, complex, and interesting, specific put most specifically in fiction, although in real life sometimes as well. Uh but yeah, I want to go with a woman billing in real life. Yeah, I don't want to dismiss males emotion, you know, male characters' emotional journeys because I do feel like particularly in fantasy, sometimes we do tend to to write guys a little one note. And I it's like like the the the trend. Of like the the the alpha hero, you know, baddie. And I was just like, that's kind of like it's just kind of boring, right? Like, I don't know them. Like, I have amazing men in my life. I'm married to an amazing man. I'm raised another one. And like they're complicated too. Like, there are a lot of different shades. I think just because I am a woman, like for me, it's easier to connect with the feminine layers and masculinity is is kind of it's it's harder for me to penetrate on an emotional level, if that makes sense. Yeah, um, but but yeah, like I I remember when my first book came out, when a hidden fire came out, and Giovanni is uh also a fire vampire. I mean, for those who aren't watching this on YouTube, Amy's fanning herself. Oleg is also a fire vampire. So there, these guys are like two, but very like in a lot of ways, very opposite because Oleg is much more, much more emotionally available, I want to say, which is not to say all good emotions, but Giovanni was very much like very, very close, very close. And and I remember so many people, like so many readers, like in reviews, like such an alpha male character, and like okay, yes, but I I mean alpha in a dominance, very strong way, yes. Alpha in I'm going to assert my dominance over other people constantly not an alpha hole, yeah. I think he's very quiet, that's the thing. Like, and and I think honestly, most and this is probably a reflection of my own experience, but the strongest men that I've ever known in my life are usually pretty quiet. Oh, yeah, they don't shout, they don't need to. And I would say that's something that Oleg and Giovanni definitely have in common. Like, Oleg isn't gonna shout because he's just going to get in there and do what he wants to do. Um, whether Tatiana likes it or not, which is like that's an issue, right? Right. Uh that's something that's definitely getting a correlation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

I don't want to I don't want to be providers out there, but that's something that will come up. What's the most interesting or unusual research that you've ever done for a book? I mean, anything we all do can have like people are watching our searches because we're authors and we search for weird I'm on a watch list somewhere, I'm sure, of it.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

Like generally speaking, a general uh a very common search that I do just for my own personals for my book series would be like how to sneak into various countries without being without being allowed in, which I'm sure has put me on several watch lists. But you know, if you're talking about vampires who don't necessarily have like modern identities or they just don't want to, this one was very difficult because when I this is set in a region that is currently at war, like actively at war in Ukraine and in southern Russia. And when I but it had to be set there because when I started setting up this series, it was 2013 and there wasn't a war going on, and so and yet negotiating now. This book does kind of go in the past, so this is set not in the present day, but about yeah, about in 2013. And so it was going back and researching, okay, what could you could you fly a private plane into Russia from Ukraine at that time? I decided that yes, you probably could if you paid off the military. So you know yeah, sure. Bribery. Which of your oh leg, you're absolutely gonna do. Like you just bribery always works. Bribery always works. Bribery works very well for vampires, put it that way, not for human beings, but in fantasy, in urban fantasy, we're gonna say bribery works very well for vampires. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

I'm gonna say that if you have enough money as a human being, it's still gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

And if you have more money because you've been alive for a thousand years and you're good at saving, you know. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

I read somewhere that if you have if you're a 500-year-old vampire and you're broke, then you have just should walk into the sun because you have done something wrong with your life.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Clearly failed in some reason in some way.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

Yeah. Um, most interesting. I went to, I mean, I met my husband on a research trip, so that was very interesting. Yes. Um way to come home with a souvenir. Yes, yeah. Actually, it took it took some doing to actually bring him home. That that's a whole other story. Um, but I w had the opportunity, and I don't think you can, it's it's more difficult to go now, but um it was about 11 years ago I was able, I was traveling in China where my brother lives, and we were able to go to um Xinjiang, which is the Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far west of China, which I don't think is as easy to travel to now. I don't know that you're not allowed at all, but I know that you know, internal travel restrictions have gotten um more complicated. Uh, so I got to go to Kajgar, which is a very, very old city on the Silk Road. Uh, that was absolutely fascinating and one of my most favorite research trips. Uh, the cultural and the ethnic mix there is so cool and interesting. Um, so that was really fun. Um and then Ethiopia. I've obviously I've traveled very extensively in Ethiopia now, and it's one of those countries that I think no matter how many times you go, you're always going to discover something new. It's just you're talking about the cradle of humanity. The the age, you know, the age, the depth of culture, the language. Um, uh, it's just it's a fascinating place. I feel really fortunate to be able to live there part of the year. Super cool.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

Can't wait to come visit you there. Like at the top of my list. Coffee, food, traffic. Every time you go, see your post, there's no traffic at all.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

Oh, really? Traffic at all. Traffic paradise. So if this series, like if this book was like picked up for TV, who would play your main character? Like, who would play Oleg? I don't know because I am such a a doofus about like modern actors. I don't know any of like the hot young things anymore. I don't know a hot young thing. I mean it could be Kerry Grant. He's not a hot young thing. He's not a hot young thing. I I think um, I actually think like Vigo Mortensen, like 10, like in like Lord of the Rings era, Vigo Mortensen would be an amazing thing.

SPEAKER_03 52:04

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Sign me up, please. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think he's got that quiet intensity about him. Like again, like fame kind of very dominant, but very quiet, very subdued, but also like that man's gonna do what he wants. He is gonna blow some glut up or like chop some chop some chop some head heads, put yeah, you know, throw some people, throw fire at some people. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Yeah. I'm trying to think about who like I would pick to play tight yana, and I got nothing. Like, because again, I don't know the hot young things, other than us, yeah, and she gets quite young.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

She's um, I think 28. 26. I think she's 26, she's a little bit younger, but she's definitely an old soul. Um, you know, it's so funny because I like I think of 26 as being quite young for a heroine, and apparently, like a lot of the romantic fantasy stuff now, like all the main characters are 18 or 19. I'm like, what? Now I have a kid age. I can't that's nothing. That's nothing. You're a baby. I think back to when I was like 18 or 19, and I'm like, oh no, oh no, no. Yeah. Like on the one hand, I don't like I don't want to condescend to young people because I think young people are, I think my son's generation is so incredible. I think there's so many amazing, cool things happening with his generation.

SPEAKER_04 53:38

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 53:39

But just like on a life experience level, you know, she Tatiana is 26. She's been very much a caretaker to her mother and her entire family for, you know, basically her entire adult life, which is short, but feels long when you're a caretaker. Um and so she, I I definitely call her would call her an old soul. So, you know, you know what I just uh Elle Fanning, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 54:11

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

As an actress, yeah. I think she's she's young, she's blonde, she's blonde and blue-eyed, so that's Tatiana. Um, and also like I think she has that ability to be like she looks very kind of like bright and young and innocent, but she has that old hole in her eyes. She has that real depth. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I I I think she might be a a good that would be a good pick.

SPEAKER_02 54:43

I don't know why she just so badly.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

What? Like, I'm like, yes, I really want this. I want to watch this now. Who do we have to bribe? Uh I mean that would be that would be cool, but it's yeah, that's that's complicated. I you know, and I also I I just think like doing any kind of adaptation of fantasy is always so complicated and difficult because any fiction, right? The book is always better because we have it in our minds. And I think particularly in fantasy, it's so hard to nail it because um the special effects and the magic systems and all of this, you know, this like in particular, this world is an elemental. So, so in this fictional universe, which again is big, this is first in series, but it's a big fictional universe. So every vampire is connected to an element, and they have like this kind of hidden connection to earth or water or wind or or what have you. So there's not that this might be like easier to adapt than like the Erin Chronicles, which is my series that deals with like fallen angels and and and all of that, and they have like tattooed magic systems where like the tattoos glow, and so there's not as obvious a magic, but like it's still hard to do fireballs shooting from somebody's hand, sure, and make it look and make it look not cheesy, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:15

So I gotta say, like one of the things I love most about Elizabeth's writing is her world building is like the most incredible thing. Like she's got this massive world with all of these spin-offs. It started with a hidden fire and like all of the series that are related to that and that are interconnected. The world building is so amazing. And thank you. Like, I cannot, I cannot think of very many other authors that make this incredible world that that it's I don't even know if I have words as a writer. I don't know if I have words to speak about how good her world building is. Like it's such a major skill, and I it's incredible. So if you haven't read anything by Elizabeth Connor, like this, and you love good world building in fantasy, this is this is where to go. Like the first book that I picked up was the first book in the Aaron Chronicle Chronicles, and that's really good in that series of amazing everything. I've read every book, Elizabeth's right.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

Did you hate me? What? Did you hate me? The end of the scribe. Do I have this one? Well, this is an old, this is the old cover. This is probably the one you got.

SPEAKER_02 57:35

Yeah, that's the one I have.

SPEAKER_01 57:38

And yes, I hate you.

SPEAKER_02 57:43

Yes, it was it was hate at first read, but also. Did I heal you though? Did I heal you?

SPEAKER_01 57:50

Okay. You can hate me as long as I heal you.

SPEAKER_02 57:55

I have read everything you've written. There's a couple things that I do hate about you as an author, things that you've done. Things that you've done.

SPEAKER_01 58:03

I didn't like the shades she threw at caftans in the in the paranormal women's fiction series. What was it, Illyrio or something? Vista Deliria. Vista Delirio, that's it. Yes. And yeah, and then I love a caftan. Don't get me wrong. I I own many of them. I laughed so hard when I read her griping about the caftan and like the bed sheet. Like there is an element, okay. Uh to be fair, I wear caftans around my house. If I had to wear them out in public, and I have worn them out in public, but there's a certain amount of like free boobing, so to speak. Yeah. And I'm just like, I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that. Like, I like, I like a little more security when it comes to being out in public. So the Vista Delirio series, I have to say, like, that is just my love letter to Palm Springs and the weirdness that is Palm Springs. I loved that. Literally so good. My sister and I were working in the kitchen and it was cold. I live in an old house, and it's an old Spanish house, and so it stayed, it's very hard to heat this house. And it does. I live in Central California. I'm not in in the south in Southern California. Thank God right now. Uh, but I live in Central California, and so we're quite close to the mountain. So it does get very cold here sometimes. And um we were both like, and because I have an old house, I actually have a fireplace in my kitchen that is a wood-burning fireplace that we still use. Wow, it's the most effective thing for heating that part of the house. And so we were in there like huddling by the fire and working. Um, and and she looked at me, she's like, you know what would make all of this better if we were in Palm Springs? And I'm like, you're so right. It would be so much better. We're in Palm Springs. We love Palm Springs. Um, and but like Palm Springs is and but I will say one of the things I love most about Palm Springs is how weird it is. Um, so all of my if you like Cha, if you like Amy's stuff, like their paranormal women's fiction is so fun. And like writing older heroines is totally my jam. I love it, it's so funny and it's so relatable, and I love it. But like all of my paranoia, I have three different trilogies of paranormal women's fiction, and they all are in different parts of California that I love. So, like my first one was up in the mountains in the Sierras. My family has a cabin up there, so I've spent a lot of time up in the mountains. That's the Glimmer Lake series, and then the Central Coast. I've spent my I have family over there, and so we've spent a lot of time on the Central Coast. Um, and that's the Moonstone Cove series, and then Vista de Leo is named after this very kooky fictional neighborhood in in Palm Springs, um, where like there's random ghosts just like wandering around. Because of course there are because of course. I mean, we're going to spend eternity somewhere, wouldn't you like spend it in Palm Springs with crazy?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

Marilyn Monroe.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And and then also like, but also like purebred dogs and llamas, because of course, why not?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:34

Because why not? Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:37

So if you if you know me, you know I love dogs, and um, so the third book in that series, I feel like we made a big jump, but paranormal women's fiction is fun to talk about. So the third book in that series is a hundred percent my homage to uh Christopher Guest's amazing uh movie, Best in Show. Oh my god, that movie is what is more hilarious than a dog show? I it's so that was it was hilarious, and and like put a telepath in the middle of a dog show. I didn't make her animal psychic. In retrospect, I should have. Obviously, I should have made her an animal psychic. I would have been so setting up now. Um maybe I need to write another one. No, uh just to have an animal psychic.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:30

The thing the llama would say though, I don't think we need to know the inner thoughts of the llama.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

I think, you know, I think Paco the Llama, um, you're right. Maybe we don't need to know his internal monologue because honestly, it's not going to be flattering to any human around him. It will not be. He's very judgmental. He's a very judgmental llama.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

Actually, no, he's an alpaca. So he's a very, he's even more judged. He would be judging us for calling him a llama because.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:58

Oh, I'm so sorry. Alpaca, please.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

Yeah, Paco, Paco the Alpaca. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:04

Can't believe I got that wrong. I'm so embarrassed.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

I know. I'm I am yeah, I can't believe I let it slide. Like, especially considering my hair, which is very alpaca-ish.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:17

We could go on about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:18

So if you like curly bang, huh? You can't unsee it. Oh, yeah, well, yeah. Alpaca ness, yeah. So what is Sorry? Go ahead. No, please continue. Oh, I just said a friend of mine texted me a couple years ago and said, every teenage boy looks like an alpaca now, and I'm like, you're not wrong. Yeah, we're not wrong. Curls on the top of the head thing. Yeah, the curls on the top, which is like coming from a curly-haired family. Both of my brothers had curly hair in high school and they kept it so short because that was like that was the Abercrombie era, right? So straight hair was everything. The straight, floppy, you know, surfer hair, and they're like, we missed out. If they would have they would have been teenage gods had they had they been been teenagers during this era, or at least I'm sure they wanted to think that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:18

So what what are your plans for the rest of this for the rest of this year? This year is so new. What are your plans for 2025 in terms of writing?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

I actually do have a plan. Um, I actually can tell you what my plans are. Usually it's like, well, I'm gonna work on this thing and then that thing and then the other thing. Um, but I have two, I will grab the other one. I have two um first in series, right? I have two first in series. This is a portal fantasy, first light is a portal fantasy. It came out last uh last year, October. Um trilogy planned for this, and then Blood Mose came out in December. I usually don't release books that close together, but it just kind of happened that way. Um, so I am working on these two series. These are both first in series. So, like if you haven't read my books, you can pick up. If you're more of a fantasy and dragons and unicorns and fairy person, you can grab first light. Are there unicorns? There are unicorns and first light. Yeah, there's badass unicorns. I guess they're not a huge part, they're not a huge part, they're kind of background characters, but there are there are unicorns. Yeah, I don't know how you miss that. I edited all of Elizabeth's books. I'm glad you weren't my only editor for this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:40

Listen, I edit a lot of things, okay?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

Oversight. It's set in Scotland. There have to be unicorns. It's set in Scotland, like an alternate reality element. Yeah.

unknown 1:05:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:54

So this is so that's first light. So I'm more that's this, I'm working on the second book for that one right now, actually. And then I'm gonna work on the second book for this one, third book, third book. So I'm just this series, this year I'm focusing on these two series. So it's it's fun. Um it's fun to be writing something like a new fictional world. I finished my Cambia Springs world, which is my Shapeshifter world. So that kind of opened things up for me to work on something new, which so I'm just focusing on these two. So it's all about, you know, portal fantasy and vampires for the next year for me. So I'm excited about that. So where can people find out more about you and your books? Um I am on all the places. Um I Facebook, I have a wonderful Facebook group called uh Hunters Haven. So please check that out. Um, I am on Instagram. I'm gonna start. Um, I have been doing lives on Facebook, and then Facebook got absolutely terrible about letting people know when people were going live. So I think I'm gonna try and do Instagram. We'll see. Um, but elizabethhunter.com is a great place. I have a newsletter. I also have a wonderful direct shop. If you would prefer not to buy from big corporate baddies and buy direct from independent authors, you can do that if you go to elisabethhuntershop.com. Um, I have ebook bundles there that are actually a really good deal for like some of my older series, especially if you're interested in the elemental vampire world. Um the new series, so my all my backlist is wide and you can buy it direct from me. The new series are available in Kindle Unlimited, though. So these two guys are available in K KU, which if you want it like if if you're a new, if if I am a new to you author, like I totally get like borrow it KU. Like I totally get that. Um, I think KU is such a great discovery tool for readers. And then what I find is a lot of people who discover me there, like then they go and buy a lot of my my stuff in my direct store. So that's Elizabeth Hunter Shop. And then ElizabethHunter.com is my website. So you can be sure to know more about me there. We'll be sure to drop all those links in the show notes so people can find you nice and easy peasy. Very cool. And then both of these have this very cool, these are both special edition hardcovers. If you see this, has the mosaic. Oh, that's pretty. And then, like, it's even prettier when you open it. Oh, there's like little flames.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:27

Oh, oh my gosh. If you are listening and not watching on YouTube, you need to go check this out visually immediately.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:33

Yeah, it is really gorgeous with marbleized edges and like flames and like Oleg is um, in addition to being a badass vampire lord and a fire vampire, he's also a mosaic artist. So I had an artist, uh, my edge artist did a mosaic fire pattern on the side of the hardcover edition. Uh and it's really, really beautiful. And then um for first light, it has this beautiful leaf pattern on the edge. And then you open it, it is and I love these printed edges because it it sometimes, and don't get me wrong, like I love a sprayed edge, they're so pretty on the shelf, but then like often when you open them, like when you're actually reading, you can't really see the pattern very much. So I love these printed edges, like that they call them printed edges or forced edges. So, like when you're actually reading the book, you get the experience of of seeing the the prettiness. So that's and these are both available at elisabethhuntershop.com as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:36

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Elizabeth, for hanging out with us. Um this has been such a fun conversation. I really appreciate you taking time to talk to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:48

Thank you so much for having me. It's so fun to see you guys and talk with you. And uh cheers. Yes to books. Cheers to books!

SPEAKER_03 1:10:00

Isn't she great, by the way?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:01

She is.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:02

She's so great. She is. I was really excited to talk to her.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:06

Um so moving on, segueing away from not really segueing away from MBL, but into our oracle card. So I brought um, I y'all are gonna get me hopefully not sick of this, but think of me saying this series, which you can't see. Hold it closer. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:25

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:27

Um, the seasons of the witch. Um Juliet Diaz's uh Seasons of the Witch, and this one is with Lorraine Anderson, illustrated by Tijana Lukovic. Tijana Lukovic. We'll go with that. Um, so it's the envelope deck, and I have all of the holiday decks now. I'm very excited about it. These are really beautiful. They have the full moon surrounded by candles on the back, and they've got the blue um foil edges. And so I'm just gonna draw us a card. This is really gonna be about how as we're turning, as we're turning the corner away from the dark and further into the light, we're getting closer to the equinox. This is kind of I feel like how what we're starting. This is what we're starting. This is the what we can do to grow into our grow our our nation. Um had words. I'm not a professional worder.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:32

Wait, you're not?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:34

Wait, oh I'm not a professional. Our nation plans, our nation intentions. Yes. This is where we're starting. This is the path that we're going towards. So that's what I want. So I shuffled, I cut, I turn. Forged in fire. Your strength was crafted through adversity and a mastery that only you can behold. And it's really beautiful. There is a woman kind of under the ground with long white hair. Um, she's got a crescent moon on her chest, and she's holding a ball of fire above her that's kind of breaking out of the ground, and it's heating a cauldron that has five swords in it. There's a moth flying over here, there's a full moon above it, there's candles all over. We talked about this thing candlemist. There's a lot of candle symbolism for embolic, and then the ground is just like alive and awake. There's insects and worms and everything. It's very fertile, fertile land.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:32

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

And there's oh lilies of the valley, which are one of my favorite flowers.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:39

Hold up the cards for the YouTubers. There we go. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:42

Well, also that's fantastic. This will be on our social media. Yes. Um, but I'm telling you what I saw, so let's see what Juliet wants, not wants us to think. That's this card is about mastery of skills, completion of tact. Um, so it guided you to look at the smaller details rather than focusing on the bigger picture. Um, so don't take shortcuts. It's better to like take the time to do something right than to try to get there faster. And I think that's like it's great for literal, like if you're hiking, don't take the shortcut. Because you're going to be a bear. There will be a bear. No, I was like, for the for the landscape, or ecologically speaking, if you're taking shortcuts and you're not staying on the trail, you're contributing to erosion and it makes things more dangerous. And also you're missing out maybe on some good news. Um, and so doing things right, uh maybe it takes longer, but it makes it better, it makes it stronger. Yeah, it helps with that mastery of skills and it makes you it makes you stronger. Um you don't want to miss out on something. You never know what you could miss out on if you're trying to shortcut through life.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:05

That's very true. Because usually when I'm not shortcutt through life, like literally speaking, um, I get often lost. And but that's when you find the most interesting things.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:22

True. My daughter and I have been talking a lot about about going on a road trip, and she opposed to it because she's no fun. And that doesn't matter. I might trick her into it. It's cool. I'm her mom. Um, but I want to go to South Dakota uh and road trip there. And I grew up in South Dakota, it's not and my next book series that I'm writing, it takes place in Western South Dakota. And so it's it's research and also going to see some friends and um taking her on this journey as we're getting ready to perhaps leave the country. And and one of the things that I remember, and she is not into this idea at all, but again, she doesn't have a driver's license, so we'll see what happens. Is my dad grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and we would get in his pickup and just drive. And we did this everywhere that we went, we call it taking the city route. Yeah. We'd see a road, and we're like, okay, like which way? And we'd take turns picking a direction, straight, right, left. And sometimes that ended poorly. Um one time we got to a road and it just ended. And we were already on the part of the road that was just grass with tire tracks. And so we had to reverse like for a mile and a half.

unknown 1:15:39

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:44

Yeah, yeah. I'm not telling Liana that story because no, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:48

At least not until she's trapped in the car with you on the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:52

And I'm like, where did this happen? I mean, I realize she's lived in Portland her whole life. Yeah. But like, I raised a girl who didn't doesn't know anything about growing up in the country. And I'm like, it is time for that to change. Let's have some learn experiences. And she's like, Oh no, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:09

My well, here's the funny thing is that even I mean, I was raised kind of between the two worlds of city and country, and my family is very into country. They love a country drive. We did this so often when I was a kid, so many drives. Sundays were often just random drive. Oh, let's just go. And it was that same thing, you know, you end up in the sticks with banjos playing. Um, but I I am a city girl like to the bone. Even though I know things like how to start a fire, you know, how to how to cook over a fire, you know, how to grow a garden, even though I kill everything. I know these things.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:50

But if there's an apocalypse, you want me on your side.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:55

Yeah, well, I will tell you, yeah, like I I I mean, like I can make soap, for instance. And yes, I do know how to make soap without, you know, the the fancy modern way, technically. But um but like why?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:12

Well, I can I can kill animals and make them edible. I yes very good at growing things in the ground.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:19

See, I will need you for the growing things in the ground. Absolutely. Because I'll make soap, you grow things in the ground.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:26

I'll be I'll be the hunter, hunter.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:28

Hunter.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:29

Hunter.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:30

Listen. I'm almost done with my cocktail. Oh, so I'm getting low tear too. So um that might mean it's time to wrap things up and think about it. Maybe it is. I think maybe it is because we're going way off topic here. Way off topic.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:45

Sorry, um, yay, inbook. Um, go be strong, start your journeys, do some cleansing, drink the gin, or whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:53

Check out Elizabeth uh Hunter's uh books. Um, we're gonna drop all the information, how to find her books in the uh show notes. We're gonna drop the recipe there. Uh we're gonna drop all the stuff, how to find us, how to find the Oracle decks, smash that like button.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:14

Please share, please share this with your friends and your families and I don't know, your work acquaintances, your mortal enemies, um subscribe. Um oh oh what did the what did the werewolf um youtuber say at the end of his um live stream? Liken, subscribe.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:47

Thanks for listening.