The author of Egyptian historicals for Dorchester, and paranormals for Silhouette's Nocturne line, Bonnie Vanak has been writing since childhood, when she penned adventure stories and poems.
After receiving a journalism degree from the University of Florida, she worked for several years as a journalist. She left newspaper reporting behind when she took a job writing for a large international charity.Ms. Vanak lives in sunny Florida.
The Midnight Moon Café is proud to welcome bestselling paranormal and historical author Bonnie Vanak!
MMC: Welcome to the Midnight Moon Café, Bonnie. When did you first become interested in writing paranormal romances?
Bonnie: Thanks for the welcome! It’s great to be here. Actually, my first book, The Falcon & the Dove, is an historical paranormal about a hero and heroine who are reincarnated lovers. The original manuscript had much more of the reincarnation theme, but my editor asked me to tone it down. So it’s always been there, a shadow in the background. Some of my Egyptian-set historicals have more of a paranormal element than others, such as The Sword & the Sheath where Fatima, the heroine, is psychic. She uses this ability to save the hero, and becomes his bodyguard because of it.
MMC: As a bestselling author of sweeping, lush historicals, did you find it difficult trying to write outside your usual sub-genre?
Bonnie: Thanks for the compliment! I’ve always enjoyed reading paranormals, so when I started writing them it was a natural shift. I like research so when I decided to create a race of werewolves who emigrated from ancient Ireland, I researched Gaelic words. The Draicon, my werewolves, came from the Irish word Draiocht, which means magic. The Draicon are ancient mages who split in half to lessen their powers and came to earth to learn of its ways, shapeshifting to wolves to live as one with nature. Draicara uses the Irish word cara, which means friend. A draicara is the male's missing soulmate who possesses half his magic. A draicaron is the female’s missing soulmate.
I read about wolves and built the world from there. For example, wolves achieve a copulatory tie when they mate. The male and female are locked together during sex so the male can impregnate the female.
I used this to create the “mating lock,” a desired goal for Draicon. During the mating lock, destined mates become locked together sexually and they telepathically exchange thoughts, emotions and magick powers. In essence they are sharing their souls and become one.
However, to achieve this, the couple has to be on the same emotional level; they have to be truly in love with each other. That’s part of the journey. I liked the idea of destined mates, but wanted them to work for it and overcome the conflict that keeps them apart. It becomes key in Enemy Lover because since Damian is a purebred alpha, he can only reproduce with Jamie. His testosterone levels get way cranked up around her, and all he wants to do is mate, but as much sex as they have, they can’t get achieve a mating lock until they’re in love and on the same emotional level. And they have a lot of conflict to overcome to get to that point!
 I also had fun creating the evil shapeshifting Morphs, creatures who originated from the Draicon race. The Morphs in the Old Language are called the Fedoighlas.
The word is a combination of the Irish words feoigh, which means decay, and olcas, which means evil. The Morphs are former Draicon who turned evil by killing a relative to gain power. They shapeshift into bears, ants, alligators, wolves, and in Enemy Lover, they shift into a swarm of hornets to attack Damian and Jamie. Morphs need energy from their dying victims, feeding off their terror to gain power. They can also clone themselves into an animal or insect army.
MMC: Your first story for Nocturne was The Empath. Can you tell our readers a little about that book?
Bonnie: The Empath features Maggie, a veterinarian who's unaware that she's a werewolf, and the pack's long-lost empath who can heal injury and disease. Nicolas, the hero, has to convince her of her true origins and teach her to accept her destiny as a werewolf and the pack's empath. As they race to cure the pack's leader of the disease that is slowly killing him, they're constantly attacked by the Morphs. The Morphs shift into various animal and insect forms to strike at them.
I actually started writing The Empath when my dog, Tia, was diagnosed with liver cancer. I was heartbroken. She was a friend. I’ve lost my mom, and others in my life, to cancer and I was crushed to realize I was losing my dog as well. I knew there was nothing we could do but make Tia more comfortable, so as a solace, I started writing a story about a woman who tries to find a cure for her dying dog. The woman became Maggie, a veterinarian who doesn’t realize she’s a Draicon werewolf, and the story became The Empath. Tia died shortly after the book was contracted. I dedicated it to her. I’ll never forget the love and loyalty she gave to us.
MMC: What made you decide to write about werewolves instead of, say vampires or another type of shapeshifter?
Bonnie: Just like vampires, werewolves are sexy, dangerous and powerful, but there’s also the pack aspect, which intrigued me. If you’ve ever watched wolves bring down prey on a nature show, you can see how they work as a team. This aspect of a wolf’s nature makes for fascinating characters, especially if you yank them out of their element.
I explored the bonds of pack loyalty and how it affects the characters in each book. Nicolas is banished from the pack in The Empath. In Broken Souls, my November Nocturne Bite, Katia knows she must leave the pack if she finds her father and leave Baylor, the Draicon she loves. In Enemy Lover, Damian has to convince Jamie to mate with him and join his pack, which is very challenging because she’s a loner.
I like making my werewolf heroes have vulnerability as well, which makes for good inner conflict. They’re big, bad and dangerous and yet on the inside, they’ve got a secret that makes them susceptible to the heroine.
MMC: You have two more Nocturne books coming out in November. Can you tell our readers a little about those books?
Bonnie: Broken Souls is a Nocturne Bite, a short story released in e-book format only. I wanted to write a story about a couple who aren’t destined mates. In Broken Souls, a Draicon becomes caught between the battle of good and evil when she must choose between her father, an evil being, and the werewolf trying to kill him. Katia and Baylor both lost their destined mates when they were killed in Morph attacks. Katia was adopted by Baylor’s pack and refuses to commit to Baylor until she finds her father. She’s a Taneam, a Draicon enchantress who performs candle spells and can find a spark of goodness hiding inside a Morph. Katia wants to use this magick to coax the goodness out of her father. Baylor, loyal in his protection of the pack, is ready to eliminate him to keep the pack and Katia safe.
Enemy Lover is a mass market paperback Nocturne. Damian Marcel will claim Jamie Walsh as his mate no matter who vies against them. For she is the only woman who can sate this powerful were's untamed hunger. But Jamie believes Damian is the Draicon werewolf who murdered her brother. She fights the dominating male at every step - only to succeed in binding herself to him. Now the same magick that links them together is slowly killing Jamie, for she is infected with a spell that's turning her to stone. As they race against time to find a cure and to ward off attacks from the evil Morphs, dare Damian hope that his draicara will finally accept him as her lover - forever?
For Enemy Lover, I conjured up the stone spell, which turns Jamie’s hair and nails gray and makes her internal organs slowly solidify. They hunt through the French Quarter in New Orleans for the ancient book of magick that contains a cure. Jamie and Damian were interesting to play off each other because she’s a geek, independent and into gaming and cosplay, and he’s possessive, pack and his last computer was a Commodore!
MMC: What challenges have you faced in writing both paranormal and historical romances? Have you thought of combining the two?
Bonnie: The biggest challenge is switching back and forth on tight deadlines. While writing The Lady & the Libertine, the May 2009 historical, I got copy edits for Enemy Lover. I had to go from writing about a thieving earl in 1908 Egypt to an alpha werewolf leader in contemporary New Orleans. It does get a little jarring, but I get used to it.
MMC: Now to the fun questions. What's something that your readers may not know about you?
Bonnie: Ok, since it’s nearly Halloween and it was years ago, I can confess. When I was much, much younger, I almost got arrested. Where I grew up, October 30 in New Jersey was Mischief Night. I was out with my friend and her brother, soaping windows, egging houses, toilet-papering trees, the usual nonsense, only we were dumb enough to get caught by a passing patrol car. The cop gets out, shines his flashlight on our faces and demands to know what we were doing. We said, “Oh, nothing.” And then the cop asks my friend’s brother, “Then why do you have a bar of soap in your hand?” LOL!
MMC: Do you have a favorite food/beverage/music you always have on hand while you're writing?
Bonnie: Not usually, because my writing schedule is usually too erratic. I write in the car on the Alpha Smart (not while driving, I let DH do that!) or in the hotel if I’m traveling for the day job. I do find that it helps listening to music when I have large chunks of time to write. It helps set the mood as well. For Enemy Lover, since it’s set in New Orleans and Damian grew up in a Cajun pack, I listened to Cajun music.
MMC: When not writing, how do you relax?
Bonnie: My husband and I enjoy walks on the beach, running the trains (we have a garden railroad layout), bike riding and exploring the Everglades. We’re also big fans of Ghost Hunters on Sci-Fi, and sometimes visit the public places they investigate, like the St. Augustine lighthouse in Florida. Now that they’ve investigated the Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana, we’ll put that on our list if we take another trip to New Orleans.
MMC: Who is your favorite hero from all your books?
Bonnie: Wow, that’s tough! For the Egyptian historicals, it’s now the hero of my upcoming historical, The Lady and the Libertine. He’s in desperate need of reforming and love. I had fun tormenting him. He’s also the first hero I’ve ever written in a love scene with two women, neither of whom are the heroine. I did this to demonstrate how obsessed he is about Karida, the heroine, (he can’t remember the names of the women he’s with, but calls out Karida’s name at his “critical” moment), his bad boy side and his inner angst, because the sex leaves him feeling empty afterward.
For the Nocturnes, I loved writing Damian from Enemy Lover, he’s such a dominating, yet vulnerable alpha male with a dark secret. Damian is extremely protective, very possessive and domineering. Jamie calls him an “uber alpha,” and he has NO idea what “uber Alpha” means. He has a gentle side to him, and it surfaces a lot when it comes to Jamie. In one scene right after he’s disciplined the werewolves who failed to protect her, he’s so caring and gentle with her. It’s a total contrast to what he did with the guys. I also adored Raphael, whom you’ll meet in Enemy Lover, the immortal, Harley-riding werewolf. I guess I’m just a woman who has a hard time making up her mind about her men, lol!
MMC: Do you have any obsessions? Collections?
Bonnie: Books, books and more books, all the books I never have time to read, but can’t resist buying. I also have a collection of Coca-Cola cans from all the countries I’ve visited.
MMC: What is the farthest distance you’ve traveled on a train?
Bonnie: One of the greatest vacations I’ve ever taken involved a train. My mom and I went to Alaska several years ago and took a tour that included a train ride up to Denali Park. I love Alaska, and I’m so glad we went, as a year later my mom died. I have lovely memories of that trip with her. Now my husband and I enjoy taking vacations and riding steam engine trains. We’ve been out to Colorado and ridden the Durango-Silverton route, which is part of the original Denver-Rio Grande route from the 1800’s.
MMC: What is the number one thing you’ve learned from all your travels?
Bonnie: Most what I’ve learned has been from my trips, nearly 15 years of them, to developing countries for the day job. I’d have to say the most important thing is that every human being deserves the dignity and security of having food on the table, a decent house in which to raise a family, a job and hope for the future. I’ve met desperate mothers who just want their children to have a better life and they’d work their fingers to the bone if they had the opportunity to do so.
MMC: Is there any advice you’d give an aspiring author?
Bonnie: The best advice I can give that they may not have heard before is learn to revise. It can really increase your chances of publication and getting more contracts. I do a workshop on this called The Three R’s of publication; Rejection, Revision and Rejoicing, which I’ll present it at the April meeting of Florida Romance Writers. Revising is tough. When you get a revision letter it can erode your self-confidence, but don’t let it! Revising can make you bang your head against the wall. But if you learn to do it, and do it well, you’ll not only increase your chances of publication, but learn and grow as a writer.
One of the few things we can control as writers is our ability to perfect our craft. My goal is always to try to be a better writer with each successive work.
Every editor you work with will have different expectations and a different work style. I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunities I’ve been given.
MMC: Do you have a newsletter, blog, or website where fans can read about you and your books?
Bonnie: I have a website; www.bonnievanak.com and a blog, www.bonnievanak.blogspot.com. You can read an excerpt of Enemy Lover and my other books on the website. Most of my news gets updated on the blog fairly quickly.
Thanks so much, this was fun!
MMC: Thank you for being our guest on the Midnight Brew!
Contest Time!
Want to get your hands on an autographed copy of Ms. Vanak's first book in the series? Leave a comment here and we'll draw one lucky winner at random.
Contest ends Friday, October 31 at midnight. Winner will be announced Saturday, November 1.
Good Luck!Labels: Bonnie Vanak, guest author, interviews, midnight brew |
