Author Interview - S. A. Crow

 

S. A. Crow is an LGBTQ+ author, writer coach, poet, and Indie author living in Arlington, TX with two odd dogs and a lovely partner. If she isn't writing, she's reading a good book. Age is just a level of experience, play to the end. The Fire Inside, Book 2 of The Fire Series is out now!

Genre: Romance, suspense

Q&A:

Q1: What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?

The Fire Inside is my latest book, and it’s the 2nd book in my Fire series. I couldn’t wait to tell Tony’s story and share his back story and the love of his life. It’s my first, second chance romance novel. A true crime inspired some of the suspense elements and I added a bit about that crime in the afterward on the novel.

Q2: When you’re writing an emotional or difficult scene, how do you set the mood?

I usually set the mood with atmospheric music and maybe read or watch something beforehand that will get me thinking about the difficult scene.

Q3: What authors, or books have influenced you?

Laurell K. Hamilton, Carian Cole, Anne McCaffrey, Leah Brooke, Charlaine Harris, Shayla Black, Bertrice Small

Q4: When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve been writing stories in my head and on paper since I was young. I started an internet magazine when I was in my early 20s. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I was going through a traumatic life transition, that I thought the story I was writing might be worth publishing.

Q5: What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?

Everyone has doubts that are normal, the ones who succeed push them away and keep working. Don’t let the doubts win.

Q6: What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

How many people it takes to make a book happen, that writing isn’t a lonely and isolating experience.

Q7: What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

I wasn’t a normal child. I was forced to be an adult way too early. I rarely talked to adults like a child. I would carry on full adult conversations with the adults around me and watching the realization dawn on them that they've been having a conversation with a young child was fascinating to me. It was then that I learned that the use of language changed how people perceived you.

Q8: What was the first book that made you cry?

I’ve cried over so many books, but I think the first I remember is Interview with the Vampire. I first read that book when I was seven and the death of a character struck me so hard.

Q9: What are you working on now?

I’m hosting an alpha read for my first urban fantasy mystery novel, I’ll be hosting a beta read for the 3rd book in the Fire series, I’m writing the 4th book this year and a stand-alone romance suspense novel this year. 

Q10: What are you currently reading?

I do a reading challenge every year on Goodreads. This year my challenge is to read 100 books in 2022. I know that I’ll be reading one classic, Animal Farm by George Orwell, this year.

To find out more about S. A. Crow check out the following social media links. Keep scrolling for an excerpt of The Fire Inside!

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The Fire Inside, Book 2 of The Fire Series

A change in the air pressure behind me catches my attention. In the mirror, Sebastian’s face peers at me over my right shoulder. I freeze, arrested by his terrifying grin. It reminds me of the clown from Stephen King’s movie. The warmth of his body oozes along my back, sending shudders down my spine. I gasp in shallow, rapid pants as my gaze locks with his. The coldest pair of cruel eyes I’ve ever seen.

I let out a cry as he clutches my neck. The phone falls from my grasp. The needle in his other hand rises above my head and dives down in an arch.

Why can’t I move? I need to move.

Get away. Pick up the phone. Hit him!

I stay still, and watch the needle pierce my skin.

The needle’s contents burn as they plunge into my body, shocking me as much as his presence did.

He continues to grin that same wicked smile, and chuckles as my muscles give way beneath me.

I can’t stand upright. I can’t run. My body won’t respond to my commands to move, to run for my life. Instead, I slide to the hardwood floor.

Oh, God!

I can’t scream. My body doesn’t acknowledge my orders. My vision dissolves into fuzzy, jittery images.

He rolls over a wheelchair and hoists me into it, tossing a blanket over my body. The afghan my grandmother made for me. It buries me, but even the affectionate memories it brings cannot thaw my worries. I’m chilled to my bones.

I never dreamed Sebastian would do this. Paralyzed and half-conscious, I realize I know nothing about him. I had seen only what he wished for me to know.

What’s going to happen to me now?

There’s no pleasantness this time between chilly air-conditioning and moist heat. The world inches by as I’m wheeled to a car I don’t recognize. At the front passenger door, Sebastian lifts me again and leaves me slouching in the car seat as he locks the door. The trunk opens a few moments later, and I hear him curse as he struggles with the wheelchair. Before I know it, the driver-side door opens. Time slips past me as I blink, and then rebound back to consciousness all at once.

He reaches over me and buckles my seat belt. The car turns over. I can’t feel the engine rev. He must have paralyzed my nerves along with my muscles. I see the scenery out the windshield shift and change from the parking lot to Henderson Street. We pull into a construction site and stop. He leaves the motor running, the air-conditioning continuing to cool the car.

He’s on the phone. Did I lose more time? He’s telling a guy named Mario to hurry and give him an address. He needs to get off the streets. Mario must have given him what he wants because Sebastian hangs up and chants it aloud so he’ll recall it:

“Twenty-seven hundred, northwest twenty-seventh Street, off of Azle Avenue. Twenty-seven hundred, northwest twenty-seventh Street, off of Azle Avenue. Twenty-seven hundred, northwest twenty-seventh Street, off of Azle Avenue. Twenty-seven hundred, northwest twenty-seventh Street...”

It becomes my mantra too until I fall into the black...

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