Author Spotlight: Alayna Williams

Our guest today is Author Alayna Williams. She has an MA in sociology-criminology (research interests: fear of crime and victimology) and a BA in criminology. She has worked in and around criminal justice since 1997. Although she does read Tarot cards, she’s never used them in criminal profiling or to locate lost scientists. She recently took up astronomy, but for the most part her primary role in studying constellations and dark matter is to follow her amateur astronomer-husband around central Ohio toting the telescope tripod and various lenses. More info is at www.alaynawilliams.com.

“Alayna” is also known as Laura Bickle, the author of Embers from Pocket Juno.

Author Profile

Name: Alayna Williams

Porn Star Name:

Rusty Moore

Website Address: www.alaynawilliams.com

Writing Age:

My books are aimed toward the “appropriately mature” – there is smut! But my inner child is well and happy. I have an ass-kicking Wonder Woman action figure collection!

First Published Work:

EMBERS, under the name Laura Bickle, from Pocket-Juno (April, 2010). By day, Anya Kalinczyk is an arson investigator. By night, she pursues malicious spirits with an eccentric team of ghost hunters and her fire salamander familiar. Anya must stop an arsonist intent on summoning an ancient entity that will leave Detroit in cinders.

Current Release: DARK ORACLE, by Alayna Williams, from Pocket-Juno (June, 2010). Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling after narrowly escaping a serial killer. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she must help an intense federal agent find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy.

Inspiration & Muse

If you could live in any fictional universe/world what would it be?

I want to live in whatever fictional world that’s shown on the Learning Channel where home improvement projects go flawlessly and only last an hour.

If you could have lunch with any author dead or alive whom would it be and why?

Christopher Moore. I’ve heard him speak, and he’s hilarious!

If you were locked in a room for 48 hours and forced to watch one TV show the entire time, which television series would you choose?

Mmm. Probably the X-Files. Though, I could be persuaded to also do Fringe or Bones. Though I’ve been known to stare at the Discovery Channel with a glazed expression for several hours of Dirty Jobs or Mythbusters.

What is the most outrageous or bizarre thing you have done in the name of “research”?

Bellydancing, as research for a project that’s still sitting on a shelf! I have all the jingly hip scarves and have not managed to hurt or embarrass myself too badly doing it.

What is your latest release?

DARK ORACLE, by Alayna Williams, from Pocket-Juno (June, 2010). Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling after narrowly escaping a serial killer. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she must help an intense federal agent find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy.

What inspired you to write said story/book?

I collect Tarot cards. I’d been wanting to write a story about an investigator who used them for some time, and literally wrote the book with a deck of cards in hand.

Fab Five

• Coffee or Tea? Tea! Can’t bring myself to drink coffee.
• Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate. Nummy!
• Vampire or Werewolf? Vampire. Fewer fleas.
• Meatie or Veggie? Meatie.
• Salty or Sweet? Sweet.

Last but not Least Three words that describe you:

Reliable, creative, and animal-loving.

Contest: Alayna’s Prizes and Freebies!

Click here to read a free excerpt of Dark Oracle.

Something shifted inside the bag. Frowning, Tara turned it back up, tore it open to look inside. A piece of clear plastic poked into view like a prize in a Cracker Jack box. She reached in after it, fished out a small laptop computer covered in a plastic zipper bag. Jackpot.

She took it back to Magnusson’s office, placed it on the desk before Harry.

“Where did you find that?” Harry’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead, and he grinned.

“In the dog food. Magnusson evidently wanted whoever would feed the dog to find it.”

“And no one doing a cursory search would have seen it.” Li opened the greasy zipper bag to retrieve the computer. He punched the power button, drummed his fingers as it booted up. The screen blinked on, demanding a password.

Read More Here

Win a signed copy of Dark Oracle

Once again, a big thanks to Alayna for joining us today on Wicked Jungle. We want to keep the conversation going so this contest is going to be all about comments!  To enter, post a comment below about Alayna post or her excerpt. Can you relate to any of the things she mentioned? What are you looking forward to the most about the new book?

Each person who posts a comment will get one entry in the contest.

You can get an additional entries by doing the following (note these are in addition to posting a comment. You must comment first to be qualified).

• Option A: Tweet about the contest on Twitter (you must include @wickedjungle for your tweet to qualify each tweet will get you an additional entry).
• Option B: Become a follower of our blog (only new followers joining between the time of the contest will be counted).
• Option C: Promote the contest on your blog (you must include a link below to your blog post to be counted as an official entry).

Contest Ends Wednesday June 23rd, 2010 at  Midnight (Eastern) !!!