Author Spotlight: An Interview with S. E. Smith

23 October of 2015 by Jean

Author Bio:

S. E. Smith is a New York Times, USA TODAY, International & Award Winning Bestselling author who has always been a romantic and a dreamer. A prolific writer, she spends her days and weekends writing and her nights dreaming up new stories. She enjoys camping and traveling.

My interview with Susan~

Jean:

OMG! My nose is running from all my freaking tears. Damn woman that is one awesome book.

Susan:

Thank you! I love the story (and yes, I was crying as I was writing in some parts and laughing during others)

I hope the movie company that asked for the script of it feels the same way when they read it (in the condensed version). I know I was crying at parts when I was writing the script as well so I know the emotion was still captured. I’m hoping the ending gave you that feel good feeling. I planned on it being a single book, but it will be a trilogy. I have to know what happens to Brian, Makayla and Tyrell now.

Jean:  

Wow, they’re going to do a movie? That is so totally awesome.

Susan:

I’m not sure. I submitted a pitch to a movie company. They sent a request for a script. That is amazing in itself!

Jean:

It really is. I’m so excited for you. I hope they pick it up. The story has so many awesome messages for kids… and adults too.

Of course I’m also already thinking of all the possibilities having read your little spiel at the end about the Capture of the Defiance.

Susan:

Think International action, adventure, and a growing romance, but there is a lot going on in it.  The hardest thing for an adult to do is let their child/grandchild spread their wings. For kids, it is knowing that ultimately, they really are in charge of what they want in life. They can make the choice, sometimes it isn’t the easiest one either.

Jean:

I swear it’s like you read my bio on the new website with that. Action, adventure, and romance… with a quest and you are definitely talking my language. Growing up on Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, and all those old adventure movies really set the pace for me.  I still look for all of those elements in the books I chose to read.

Susan:

I have them in all mine, whether they are adult, young adult, or even my children’s book.  I love stories like that and they mirror life.

Jean:

And as much as you don’t want them walking the same rough path you did, the reality is that the school of hard knocks is often the best for a lesson truly learned.

Susan:

I agree. It is the journey and people that we meet along the way that makes us who we are. I liked that both Makayla and Tyrell had misconceptions of each other; she a pampered, spoiled princess; him a gamer/partier. It is learning that not everything/everyone are who they appear on the outside that makes a difference. It is who we are on the inside.

Jean:

You’ve written a children’s book?

Susan:

The Troll King. It is a delightful story about the adventures of Julianna. She goes to Wildland where she discovers that not all things that look bad – are.

Jean:

I’ll have to look it up. I do reviews with my granddaughters. They are 10 and 7. We did several over the summer together.

Susan:

This is a good 8-10 year old story. Action, adventure, and fantasy.

Jean:

Those are the ones I tend to pick for kids. They get way too many books that don’t always appeal to them thrown at them in school. I want to keep their love of the written word going, not stifle it like forced reading materials can often do.  As much as I have always loved stories, both reading and telling them, it’s hard to believe that their was a time when I absolutely hated reading and it was because of book reports and preselected reading materials. It wasn’t until a teacher said read whatever you want… just read that I started reading again.

Susan:

I write stories I enjoy whether as a child, a teen, or an adult. All of mine have the action/adventure in them. Most have a lesson of some type simply because it is who the characters are, not because I intend them to have one. In Julianna’s case, she discovers that the Troll King is not really a bad person as everyone believes because he is a Troll. He is lonely and just wants a friend. There is a really cool twist at the end.

Jean:

Are you planning to write more children’s books?

Susan:

Yes, I have a 7 book series I’m working on. Milo and the Wizard’s Ink is the first book in the series.  I’ve always had the stories in my head. I would write and rewrite them, but never thought anyone else would like them. I’m not limited to one genre or age level. My love for stories crosses all genres (including horror; Dean Koontz). For that reason, I let the stories come. I am writing another YA for Wattpad called Dust and I just finished a fairy tale story for a blog (turned out to be 14K long).

Jean:

So, if Voyage of the Defiance is made into a movie who do you see playing Makayla, Tyrell, and Brian?

Susan:

Makayla: Odeya Rush
Brian:  Ryan Guzman
Tyrell: Shameik Moore

Jean:

You have two more books planned in the Breaking Free series.  Can you tell us a bit about the focus of each?

Susan:

The next two books will continue following Makayla, Brian, and Tyrell’s lives as they branch out. In Capture of the Defiance, Makayla is in college and during a break plans to meet up with her Grandfather, Henry. She discovers Henry has disappeared. She reaches out for help. This will be an action/adventure/suspense/thriller that crosses several countries.  Freedom of the Defiance (tentative name) follows several years after that when the trio comes together for one finally journey that will change all of them.

Jean:

You write for all audiences with your children’s, YA and adult romance books.  Which do you find the most difficult to write and do you like writing one over the other?

Susan:

I actually really love writing all three. Each time I start a story, it is like I am living it with the characters. In my children’s book, The Troll King, I became the little girl who found herself in a magical kingdom due to a crystal left to her by her grandmother. I also have a seven book series that I know is going to explode off the pages. It is a dynamite story with a lot of action/adventure/suspense/humor mixed with fantasy. My Young Adult books continue my fascination on several different levels. I have Voyage of the Defiance which kept begging to be told for the past five years. I finally had to just say ‘I’m writing it.’ I’m also writing another Young Adult book called Dust which I’m releasing a chapter at a time on Wattpad. My adult books continue to draw me as I write about life. I laugh, I cry, I get angry, and yes, my characters have hot, steamy relationships, because they love each other and that is part of life. I write about the relationships the characters have with each other. I also write about ordinary people who are faced with extraordinary circumstances that they must overcome. It is about working together to make the right decision, even if it isn’t always the easiest. As you can tell, I’m pretty passionate about all of them.

Jean:

Most of your book series have a common theme running through them… the extraordinary… as in magic, the paranormal or aliens.  Is there a reason you gravitate to telling these stories, whether for children or adults?

Susan:

I believe in magic, whether it is just in the goodness of an act of kindness or the beauty of nature around us. There is a spirit held within our universe that continues to amaze me, just look up at the stars on a clear night or watch the beauty of a storm as it moves across the ocean. For me, all of that is magic and I like to incorporate that in my stories. There is a child captured inside all of us, as well. If you remember the first time you went camping, to the circus or fair, or a dozen other things it helps to understand why I love to tell stories that include those wonderful, and sometimes scary, experiences.

Jean:

I first began reading your books with the Dragon Lords of Valdier series.  You have a new book in the series coming out soon.  When can we expect to see Jaguin’s Love?

Susan:

I actually had a battle going on between two of my characters, Saber from The Alliance series and Jaguin from the Dragon Lords. They both kind-of won. It may take a touch longer, but I am writing both books at the same time. In case you are wondering, no, this is not the first time I have done that. I’m forever writing multiple stories at one time. Each is very individualized and easy to keep separate in my mind. I’ve learned to not argue with the characters. It does me absolutely no good. Jaguin’s Love is expected out the middle of December while you can look for Saber sooner.

Jean:

I was going through our chat history and realized we talked about an excerpt for Jaguin’s Love.  Do you by chance have anything available?

Susan:

I have the synopsis for Jaguin and Saber which I’ve included.

Challenging Saber: The Alliance Book 4

Sometimes it takes losing the one thing closest to a warrior’s heart to wake the beast that lives inside him…

Saber, a wounded Trivator, believes he is no longer a fit warrior, much less strong enough to claim a mate. Scarred, he does everything in his power to push away the delicate human female he has fallen in love with. He knows that she deserves a warrior who can protect her, not one that will need her constant help.

Taylor Sampson may be human, but that doesn’t make her weak. She and her two older sisters survived living on Earth for four years after their world went crazy. She is all grown up now and has her eye on the one stubborn Trivator that captured her heart seven years before.

Taylor has one last requirement in order to complete her schooling. Once she finishes, she plans to show Saber that he is the man she wants, but when the planet she is on erupts into a civil war, she is trapped behind enemy lines. When Saber discovers that Taylor has been left behind, the warrior inside him refuses to think of her as collateral damage in a savage battle for power.

Journey to a lawless, alien world and discover what happens when the beast awakens inside a damaged Trivator warrior when the woman he loves is threatened.

Jaguin’s Love: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 8

Jaguin is one of the finest trackers on Valdier. To date, there is only one thing he has never been successful at finding – his true mate. That failure is eating away at him and his dragon. Even his symbiot is feeling the drain as the centuries crawl by with no end to the emptiness gnawing away at them. Hope flares with the discovery of a species that is compatible with their own. The Lords of Valdier have found their true mates on a distant planet, bringing hope to the warriors of Valdier where females are few and true mates almost non-existent.

Jaguin is rewarded for his help in tracking one of the Lord’s stubborn females with the promise of a chance to find his own true mate on the planet called Earth. His search appears fruitless until the last mission before they are to leave.

Sara Wilson is a botanist working with the Columbiana University. Her love of plants and their potential for medicinal uses consume her life. She feels confident she is on the verge of a breakthrough when she is kidnapped by a cartel boss with only one thing on his mind – to extract revenge. A revenge that not only comes close to taking her life, but will change it forever.

After a fruitless search for his mate, Jaguin’s accepts one last assignment to guard Lord Creon’s mate, Carmen, during a mission to seek justice against the man who brutally murder her husband back on Earth. Instead, he finds his true mate in the man’s cruel clutches, barely clinging to life. His only thought is to spirit her away where he and his symbiot can heal her and his dragon can claim her.

The scars left during her captivity run deep inside Sara as she struggles to come to terms with her new life. She is no longer on Earth but the fear and terror still haunt her. She needs time to discover who she is again and whether this is a life she can accept.

Can Jaguin’s love heal the scars on the inside or will his true mate believe she has traded one monster for another?