Ally Blue is the author of the „Paranormal Investigations“-series which has been published in Germany by Cursed Side. She also writes several other novels and series which still have to be found by a German publisher and translated. (Photo: Copyright Brent Brown, July 1st 2012)
Thank you for taking the time for this interview.
Thank you for having me! I’m happy to be here! 😀
You started out as a writer of fan fiction. Which characters did you love the most so that they made you start with the writing?
Ha, well, don’t hate me, but I actually wrote RPS (Real Person Slash). Band slash. The guys intrigued me, and the relationships between them intrigued me. I’ve always had a fascination with people in general, and of course when someone creates music that hits me in a very personal place it takes that fascination to a whole new level. Thus all the „what if…“ stories. LOL.
On your website you have a big collection of free stories. How did you find the time to write them all?
They were written over the course of many years. Some were published early in my career in free online magazines. Others were written for the group blog I’m part of, Fiction With Friction:
http://www.fictionwithfriction.com/
We have occasional holiday „theme weeks“ where we’ll all write short stories having to do with that holiday — 4th of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, Father’s Day; sometimes just summer, or Spring Break, or other things like that. I always enjoy those 🙂 Anyway, I’ve taken all those theme stories and all my old published short stories and put them up for free on my website. There are also a couple of old stories that were never published — probably for good reason! — and a couple of re-worked fanfics.
Your series „Bay City Paranormal Investigations“ has been published in Germany. How did you feel when you heard about that?
I was super excited! This was the first translation of any of my books into another language, and I was positively giddy when I heard about it. I’m hoping that will one day become an excuse for a trip to Germany. I’ve never been, and I’ve always wanted to visit. I’d dearly love to see Berlin, and I’d also like to see as many castles as humanly possible. 😀
Did you see the covers for the German edition? Did you like them?
Yes to both! The German covers are fantastic, I love them! Sam and Bo are both gorgeous, and the look and feel of the covers captured the vibe of the stories perfectly.
How did you come up with the topic of paranormal investigators in the first place?
The TV show Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi Channel was the inspiration. (well, it’s the „SyFy“ Channel now. Blargh. So stupid.) I’ve always liked their scientific, skeptical approach to their cases. I thought something like that would make a great basis for a paranormal story. At the same time, I had a very dark story languishing on my hard drive — the original version of Oleander House, in which everyone except Sam and Bo died and the two of them ended up trapped in the house by Sam’s uncontrolled psychic power. Yeah, happy, right? LOL. My editor at Samhain Publishing, Sasha, gave me the idea of keeping everyone except one character alive and turning the one book into a series. So she gets credit for BCPI being a series worth reading instead of one extremely dark horror novel. 🙂
Which character is your favorite of the series? If you could, what would you ask him/her?
My favorite character out of all the series and series-related books is definitely Bo’s oldest son, Adrian, who gets his own story in Love, Like Ghosts. He’s a lot like me in a lot of ways. 🙂 If I could ask him anything, I’d probably ask what it’s like to grow up in a family of paranormal investigators. I think that would be pretty cool!
You wrote some series and several stand-alones. Which type do you prefer?
Both are fun in their own ways. All things considered, though, I think I like series work best. I love getting deep into a particular world and telling those stories.
How do you write the sex scenes? Do you prefer a certain mood with specific music or do they just come naturally to you?
Oh man, they don’t come naturally, I’d say. LOL. It’s difficult because I have to pay close attention to those pesky pronouns repetitive wording. That’s always harder (ha, I said „harder“!) in a sex scene because there are only so many ways to say certain things, and as an author I want to do my best to avoid being too wordy and too flowery. I think that’s especially important in a sex scene. There’s nothing worse, in my opinion, than purple language during a scene that’s supposed to be sensual and sexy.
That said, I do in fact usually write to music. I have different mixes I play, depending on my mood of the moment. They probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone but me, LOL.
What is in store for your fans?
I have a few things coming out in the next few months. As far as I’m aware, it’s all English language, though, so it would be for anyone who reads English. The Mountain is a contemporary romance coming from MLR Press, scheduled for release Aug. 24th. My futuristic novel Convergence, book three in the Mother Earth series from Samhain, releases in print in November. And for anyone who’s read Love, Like Ghosts (book 7 in the BCPI series), Greg and Adrian from that book are getting their own series. It’s called Mojo Mysteries, and book one, Demon Dog, is scheduled for release in December.
If I’m not mistaken, books two through five of the Bay City Paranormal Investigations series are also being released in German, from the same publisher. Book two is out now. 🙂
In other news, I’m attending GayRomLit in Albuquerque, New Mexico in October. If anyone’s planning to cross the Atlantic for that, come say „hi“ I’d love to meet you!
What genre would you like to try some time?
Horror. Definitely. I cut my teeth on horror and sci-fi growing up. Horror has always been my favorite genre to read, and I’d love to try my hand at writing it. I’m working on a sci-fi romance series right now, so that’s a lot of fun 😀
What books are you reading in your spare time? Do you have any recommendations?
Ha, it seems like forever since I’ve had time to read for fun. I loved Suzanne Brockmann’s When Tony Met Adam and also her earlier novel Infamous. I loved Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series up through book 9, Obsidian Butterfly, then she lost me. Those first books, though? They kicked serious butt. I loved Anita, in all her grumpy, cynical, paranoid, contradictory, bad-guy-ass-kicking glory. I still have a soft spot for Anita, even though I’ve mostly lost interest in the series.
One of my favorite novels ever, by anyone, is Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon. It’s wonderful — part horror, part adventure, part murder mystery, part magical childhood memoir. I’ve never read anything quite like it. As far as horror, the top of the line for me is still Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. Those stories aren’t just scary and often disturbing, they are absolutely unique.
If you want to read some great classic sci-fi, try Dune by Frank Herbert, The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov, or one of my favorites, Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. For a wonderful sci-fi short story that’s not as well known as it really ought to be, try Desertion by Clifford D. Simak. Why yes, I am fond of classic sci-fi, why do you ask? LOL.
Thank you very much!
My pleasure. 😀
