Interview with Susannah Sandlin Author of Illumination

Give a warm welcome to, author of  Illumination, fifth in the Penton Legacy releasing tomorrow, July 11th, 2017! Reserve your copy today!

Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, there’s fresh lemonade in the pitcher on the counter.  Choose a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Susannah and Illumination!

Susannah, who is your favorite character of all of the books you’ve written and why?

What a hard question! I’m having a mental battle between Mirren Kincaid from the Penton Legacy series (he’s the hero of book two, ABSOLUTION, but appears in all books in the series)—he’s a huge vampire who was a Scottish gallowglass mercenary in his human life in the early 17th century and likes to pretend he’s a huge badass, but he has a wicked sense of humor and a few secrets few people other than his heroine (and the readers) know. I love him for his complexity. His rival for my favorite is the undead French pirate Jean Lafitte, from my Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series (written as Suzanne Johnson). Lafitte was a real historical figure, of course, and was a pirate in New Orleans in the early 1800s. He was a larger-than-life character in reality (think sober Jack Sparrow, only way more deadly); in fiction, bringing him into modern-day New Orleans, he is SO much fun to write. And yeah, what’s not sexy about a dark-haired, blue-eyed French pirate?

Did you tell friends and family that you were writing a book? Or did it take a while to come out and tell friends and family you were a writer?

When I began writing my first novel, I didn’t tell many people—only a couple of close friends, because I wanted their input. I’d never written fiction before and was really having to feel my way through it. It wasn’t until I got an agent and she sold that book to a publisher (the first in the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series, written as Suzanne Johnson) that I started telling more people. Now, I’m on book number 20 or so, most under my Susannah Sandlin pen name, and I think it’s all just ho-hum for them. A new book is always exciting to me, though!

Why do you write what you write?  Ie. Contemporary, paranormal,  suspense, etc.

I write paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and romantic suspense—all of them are similar, with a lot of action and big emotional transformations for the characters (who might be human…or might not). I think I gravitate toward “high concept” stories with big emotional character arcs because I’m fascinated with human nature and how people who are forced to face their biggest fears respond to those challenges. I like to see what happens when people from different backgrounds and cultural mindsets are forced to rethink their belief systems and see them from someone else’s point of view. I think paranormal fantasy and romantic suspense both really play to those ideas. I like to see how people respond when their backs are to the wall and they can either give up, change, or fight. (Yes, I do torture my characters!)

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I enjoy doing mixed-media art. Give me some graphite, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, and gesso, and I can keep myself happy for hours. I work primarily in journals and have become addicted to all the wonderful online mixed-media classes out there! It’s a good thing I’m not that talented or I’d never stop painting long enough to write!

Illumination is the fifth book in Penton Legacy, tell is little about Nic and Illumination.

Nik wants to escape his family curse. Shay wants to change the world. Together, they are the only hope to save the vampires of Penton.
What’s the story about?
He came to Penton seeking peace. Nik Dimitrou joined the Army to escape his family legacy, only to have his psychic abilities exploited as a weapon. Now, as a civilian, he turns to the bottle to veil the images that haunt his mind whenever he touches anyone—except vampires. With them, he has finally found a home. But as Penton, Alabama, moves into open warfare with the Vampire Tribunal, Nik finds himself a linchpin in the deepening conflict, not to mention facing a transformation in his own body more frightening than anything he’s encountered before.
She wanted to change the world. Shay Underwood watched her Peace Corps parents move from one third world country to another—until both died following an outbreak of fever. Driven to her own career in tropical medicine, Shay works in New Orleans to cure the disease that killed her parents—until a careless weekend outing draws her into a world far more dangerous than the diseases she studies: a vampire society engaged in human trafficking and on the verge of all-out war.
Two cities, two strangers, one world. With Penton rebellion leader Aidan Murphy making risky choices and chief vampire lieutenant Mirren Kincaid forced to take a leadership role in Penton, it will fall to two outsiders, Nik and Shay, to find a way for the town—and themselves—to survive in this much-anticipated conclusion to the multiple award-winning Penton Legacy series.
                                                                   

 A peek between the pages of Illumination:

“Right then. We have an obscenely large vehicle on the other side of that brick wall,” Cage said. “Archer or Nik should be able to help you over. Once I’m sure you’re in the car and locked up tight, I’ll collect Robin and Glory from the cemetery entrance and we’ll all be on our way back to Penton.”

Shay bit her lip. She had absolutely no reason to go to Penton, wherever the hell it was. Her home and life and work were here in New Orleans. She knew she’d have to be careful, but now that the breeding house was broken up and Jonathan was dead, the vampires and their minions had no reason to come after her. Whatever feelings Shay had nursed for Nik Dimitrou in high school, they were long dead. Gorgeous only took a person so far. Besides, he was a vampire.

She’d wait until they got her out of this cemetery, though, to decline her visit to Vampire Central. Maybe the handsome cat boy would drop her off somewhere. But where? She had no money or identification with her. She didn’t even have the keys to her own apartment or lab.

Maybe a police station. They could come up with a plausible story for her disappearance. Maybe even name Simon as her kidnapper, and the warehouse location. Let the authorities make of it what they would.

Shay was distracted by the sight of Archer leaping to the top of the brick wall behind the Le Boeuf crypt, followed closely by Nik. Her old classmate might be injured and hungry, but that wall had given him no challenge. Shay wasn’t sure she could climb over it without a sturdy ladder on a good day. Today had not been a good day except that she hadn’t died.

Nik reached down and motioned to Shay. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Shay looked at the wall, at Nik, and back at the wall. “I don’t think you can lift me. You’re hurt.”

“Trust me.” Nik grinned, giving Shay a glimpse of an older, even more handsome version of the boy she’d known so many years ago. She’d thought she loved that boy; this man, though….was a vampire. Don’t forget that, idiot.

She nodded, dried her hands on her jeans as much as she could, and reached up toward Nik. He leaned over, wrapped strong fingers around both of her wrists, and lifted her to the top of the wall with what seemed like little effort, setting her down beside him.

“Swing your legs over, and I’ll lower you down the other side. Or I can leap down with you in my arms.” His grin widened, and her heart beat double-time when their gazes locked. Vampire. He’s a freaking vampire. He’s a freaking vampire involved in a war with other freaking vampires. You cannot trust him. Lust, yes. Trust, no.

“Whatever you do, would you please move your arses?” Cage stood beneath them. “I’m getting soaked and—”

A loud pop sounded from the Washington Avenue end of the cemetery, followed by a splintering noise and another pop pop. Shay had lived in New Orleans long enough to recognize the sound of gunfire.

You can find Illumination at:  Amazon    Goodreads  

 
About the Author:
Susannah Sandlin writes award-winning paranormal romance, including the popular Penton Legacy series for Montlake Romance, and romantic suspense and thrillers, including two series, The Collectors and Wilds of the Bayou, also for Montlake. Writing as Suzanne Johnson, she writes the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series for Tor Books. Suzanne grew up in Alabama halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’s birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of college football and fried gator on a stick. She currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where she is a full-time author who does copy editing on the side through Reedsy.com.
Web: www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com
Blog: www.suzannejohnsonauthor.com/blog
Twitter: @SusannahSandlin, @Suzanne_Johnson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSuzanneJohnson/

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It was wonderful having you with us today, Susannah!  Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Illumination.

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