Scientist and Indie Author Linda Andrews!

Linda Andrews lives with her husband and three children in Phoenix, Arizona. When she announced to her family that her paranormal romance was to be published, her sister pronounced: "What else would she write? She’s never been normal."

All kidding aside, writing has become a surprising passion. So just how did a scientist start to write paranormal romances? What other option is there when you’re married to romantic man and live in a haunted house?

What got you interested in writing? 

Reading got me interested in writing. Of course, I've always told stories, just ask my mother<G>. But one day, I challenged myself to actual put those stories onto paper. That was in 1997 and I know now that writing has become a bit of an addiction. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could stop.

Your author tagline is Real characters, skewed realities. Explain that a little.

One of the weirdest compliments I get is from people telling me that they know x character from my book. They explain how much alike they are and then ask how I know them. So obviously, I've tuned into some universal wavelength where I'm tapped into real people's subconscious and use them to tell my story. Although technically, I feel as if I'm just a conduit and must go where the characters take me.

As for the skewed realities bit, um, I've been told more than once I don't see things the way everyone else does. Some  folks have even offered to return me to the mothership! So the moral of that story is, things are not what they appear. Sometimes they are just 15 degrees from normal or they're like stepping through the looking glass. I also make connections and string them along in such a way as to get me funny looks. So it's your world, only different.
Your favorite author?

Arthur Conan Doyle. Although he's best know for his Sherlock Holmes stories (and I love mysteries), he also wrote fabulous Science Fiction stories including the Lost World. That's my favorite as it includes a bit of a romance.
Do you have any thoughts or advice on self-publishing? It's the Wild West out there!

Find a support group and other folks who have plowed that field before you. I'm always surprised at what I don't know, but I love to learn. Just one more spot of weirdness to add to my psyche;-). I plan on taking the plunge in September, so I'll have more to say once I've been there and done that. But the degree of control it will give me is quite seductive.

What's your next project?

Currently I'm working on destroying the world. Um, on the page of course. It deals with an Influenza outbreak, the rotting of society, then seq-ways into biological warfare. It is a very realistic portrayal that is currently given my critique partners nightmares. For it, I drew  upon my microbiological background and outbreaks in history. It is not a romance. Yet. There may be three or four books in the series and one of them will definitely have more of a romantic element. This is the first book I hope to self-publish in September, I have two short stories in the queue first to test the waters.

Thanks for having me, Bella.

Linda's latest release is Fiona. Searching for her missing aunt and uncle, self-reliant American heiress Fiona Grey needs the reclusive Marquess of Kingslea to introduce her to the upper echelon of London society. But Kingslea knows her type—rich, spoilt and on the prowl for a husband. Despite the lure of intrigue surrounding Fiona and her missing family members, he wants nothing to do with her…until a murderer begins to take interest.

Can he live with himself if he turns his back on Fiona because he’s afraid to risk his heart?

 Excerpt

London Docks, England
May 1892

    Someone was behind her. Awareness prickled the back of her neck. Fiona Grey peered through the darkness and the thick pea-soup fog, searching the alley for a place to hide.
    There. Perhaps the doorway…
    Before she could move, a hand covered her mouth. The unmistakable odor
of male assaulted her nose as a forearm pressed against her chest and another
hand closed around her upper arm. Fiona’s heart picked up tempo as the man’s
hard body pressed against the length of hers. She stiffened in his arms. In all
her twenty-one years, she’d never been treated this way.
    She twisted in his hold. How dare he!
    “Shh…” Ale-scented breath hissed past her ear seconds before his hold
tightened.
    A moment later, her boot heels bumped over the cobblestones. Merciful
heavens, where was he taking her?
Instead of anger and fear from his grip, a pleasant tingle raced through her.
    Most peculiar. Sure, she craved a bit of excitement, but she preferred to experience a kidnapping within the covers of a book, not in person.
    The restless spirit of her dead fiancé, Milton Davis, hovered near the center
of the alley. His opaque form appeared in shades of gray against the yellowish
fog and glow of gaslight.
    — I say, he’s being a bit rough, isn’t he?
    Rough? The stranger’s grasp exuded determination, not cruelty or punishment.
    Of course, given her wealth, he wouldn’t want harm to befall her and
risk his ransom. No, he presented only a minor annoyance. As for the other
presence in the alley…
    Fiona glared at her not-so-dearly departed fiancé. Did he truly think such
an observation would help her? Of course she didn’t precisely need his assistance.
    She had looked after herself for two years.
    Wiggling a bit in her captor’s hold, she brushed her weapons with her fingertips.
    The stranger held her only because she allowed it.
    Milton adjusted the cuffs of his gray burial suit.
    — Don’t look at me like I’m infested with beetles, Fi. I did not encourage this
midnight jaunt. I thought London to be a civilized place, not some godforsaken
den of iniquity.
    Fiona cast her gaze upwards. Milton hadn’t encouraged her escape from
the Revere, but he had urged her to walk slowly so she might see who followed
her. Had he known she would be grabbed? No, she refused to believe he would
endanger her life just to prove the dockyards were no place for a lady.
    She wiggled. And just what manner of man was this stranger? Granted,
this was her first kidnapping, but he seemed to be going about it in a rather
peculiar manner. Instead of carrying her off to a waiting carriage, he appeared
to be manhandling her into the very doorway she’d planned to hide in. She
inhaled sharply. The scents of sea and soap filled her lungs. Alarm rippled
through her—something did not ring true.
    “I mean you no harm, madam.” The man’s breath was hot against her ear
and tart with the smell of alcohol. “I must have your compliance and silence if
we are to escape the docks.”
    Compliance and silence. This man was no common sailor. Indeed, his
speech was refined, his vocabulary educated. A captain, then? Fiona struggled
to fit the facts to her conclusion. In her experience running her family’s shipping
company, captains swaggered not skulked, and few wished to escape their
beloved ships.

Purchase Fiona for Kindle, and for Nook. 

If you’ve enjoyed her stories or want to share your own paranormal experience feel free to visit her website or email the author at lindaandrewsATlindaandrews.net. She’d love to hear from you!