Anniversary Shananigans: Author Visit & Giveaway: Anna Martin

The lovely Anna Martin is here today! She is giving away an ebook copy of her brand spanking new Les faits accomplis to one super lucky winner. I (Breann) just read it and it's all kinds of awesome.

BMBR: What are your favorite M/M themes? 
Anna: I am a contemporary romance girl through and through. It’s what I read and what I write (boring, I know!) I obviously dabble in BDSM, and I have plans to write a few more BDSM books when the Another Way series is finished.

People are absolutely going to laugh their heads off at this… but I recently discovered Amy Lane because she has some of her stories translated into audiobooks (which is my main “reading” medium these days – I listen while I’m at work!) I couldn’t tell you why I haven’t read any of her books before – it certainly wasn’t a conscious decision – but she’s really quite good, isn’t she?!

(This is so me, by the way… I am late to every party ever. A couple of weeks ago I decided that Ed Sheeran bloke is quite good too. It takes me forever to get on the bandwagon! In a way, it’s brilliant, because I’ve found this author who I love and her backlist is EPIC. I’ll be reading my way through everything she’s written for the next year or so! :D)

BMBR: What books do you consider Desert Island Keepers? 
Anna: The Return by Brad Boney – I think it should be considered a classic of the MM genre. I love the audiobook of Hot Head because it just goes on for days, doesn’t it?! And Charlie David’s voice is just dreamy. And, of course, you know I’m going to say the Jurassic Park books because I literally cannot live without those in my life. Reading Jurassic Park or The Lost World is like meditation to me.

BMBR: What's your go-to tasty beverage? 
Anna: I invented a cocktail called the Sailor’s Ruin. It’s one part Sailor Jerry’s rum, two parts apple juice, crushed ice, and a wedge of lime. It only works if you’re VERY generous with the rum. Come over to my place and I’ll make one for you!

BMBR: Do you have any secret talents? Inquiring minds want to know. 
Anna: Sort of? I have a bunch of skills relating to theatre work, because I did my post-graduate degree in Stage Management and Technical Theatre (it’s been VERY useful to my life, I’ll have you know. I now work in corporate pensions.) I am actually quite a good lighting designer, I can sew quite well and I can make costumes and props, I can read music even though the only musical instrument I can play to any degree of skill is the spoons. I’m also a qualified stage electrician and could probably, given infinite time and resource, do all the domestic wiring in your house.

And I have a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of both dinosaurs and the Harry Potter books.

Is that a random enough answer?!

BMBR: If you had to choose to be one magical beast, what would it be and why? (you don't have to say unicorn...but we won't say neigh either) 
Anna: I’m going to say a dragon, because dragon mythology came about when people in Ancient China found dinosaur bones and had to come up with explanations for them. And also because they breathe FIRE.

BMBR: Who's your favorite porn star? 
Anna: There’s two answers to this – the “DUH” answer, which is Colby Keller. Because DUH. Then there’s the “I’m emotionally invested in this one” answer, which is a lesser-known guy called Frankie V, who did a few scenes with CockyBoys. There’s a story attached here – I hope you’re sitting comfortably.

When I was writing Signs (coming soon from Dreamspinner Press) I found an image on tumblr of this guy who just struck me with how beautiful he was and how much he fit with that picture I had in my head of one of the characters, Luc. So I saved the picture in my Signs folder and looked at it fairly regularly, letting the picture influence my descriptions of Luc as I wrote. A few months later, after the book had been finished and contracted, I posted that picture on Facebook, and one of my friends popped up to say he was a CockyBoys model.

I’m hoping very much to secure that picture of him to use as the cover art for Signs – I’m currently talking to the CockyBoys team to see if we can make that happen.

So I’m very emotionally invested in Frankie V, because in my head, he’s Luc, and I love Luc very very much.

BMBR: Do you have author envy? Whose words do you read and think, "GAH, I wish I wrote that!"? 
Anna: Josephine Myles. We live fairly close to each other, and she injects so much local colour and humour into her books – I feel like I could be friends with her characters and that’s so awesome. Again, Brad Boney, I love his voice and I think he’s bringing something new to the genre, and I love that.

BMBR: Any new projects you're currently working on? 
Anna: I’m never working on anything less than two or three projects!

I’ve got the final Just Desserts book to write with MJ O’Shea – Macarons at Midnight came out last month and Soufflés at Sunrise is just around the corner, the last book is Devil’s Food at Dawn and we’re hopefully going to crack on with that soon.

The fourth book in the Another Way series will also hopefully be finished by the end of the year. It doesn’t have a release date yet, but I’m aiming for summer 2015. That’ll be the last book in the series from Jesse’s point-of-view and the last story chronologically; book 5 is a prequel and Will’s story. So you can guarantee I’ll be pretty emotional when book 4 is done and I have to say goodbye to Jesse!

And then there’s The Impossible Boy. I think I must have mentioned this book in at least a dozen interviews because I’ve been working on it for literally years. It’s a labour of love and I’m very invested in the both the story and the characters. It’s set in London and is about a gender non-conforming boy and his journey. I’m hoping to get that story out in 2015 too.

Plenty to keep me out of trouble!

Thanks so much for stopping by & the awesome interview, Anna!

About the Author:
Anna Martin is from a picturesque seaside village in the south west of England. After spending most of her childhood making up stories, she studied English Literature at university before attempting to turn her hand as a professional writer.

Apart from being physically dependent on her laptop, she is enthusiastic about writing and producing local grassroots theatre (especially at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she can be found every summer), travelling, learning to play the ukulele, and Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.

Although her most recent work is in the LGBT romance genre, in the past Anna has worked on a variety of different projects including short stories, drabbles, flash fiction, fan fiction, plays for both children and adults, and poetry. She has written novels in the Teen or Young Adult genre, Romance and Fantasy novels.

Anna is, by her own admission, almost unhealthily obsessed with books. The library she has amassed is both large and diverse; "My favourite books," she says, "are 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee and 'Oryx and Crake' by Margaret Atwood." She also owns multiple copies of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park books and re-reads the Harry Potter novels with almost startling regularity.

Anna claims her entire career is due to the love, support, pre-reading and creative ass-kicking provided by her closest friend Jennifer. Jennifer refuses to accept any responsibility for anything Anna has written.

Author Links: 
Website
Facebook
Twitter

 

To enter to win one ebook copy of Les faits accomplis please leave a comment on this blog post and let us know your name and a means of contacting you (e.g., email, Twitter handle, link to Goodreads account, etc.) 

The giveaway is open until 10:00PM (Pacific time) on 12/1/14. Shortly thereafter, we will contact a winner whom we will select using a highly scientific "names in a hat" method (or, you know, an internet randomizer). Please respond to the winning notification within 48 hours or we will choose another winner.

Thanks for celebrating with us & GOOD LUCK!