Guest Author Interview: Tarrant Smith + Giveaway

Please welcome today's guest author Tarrant Smith!  Tarrant is the author of Enchanted Darkly.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?
 
Tarrant:   I’ve been writing since my awkward middle school years, but I never took my scribbling seriously until my freshman year in college. After handing in my first creative writing assignment for freshman English, my professor accused me of plagiarism in front of the entire class. You can only imagine the mix of embarrassment and outrage it caused a timid new student. According to her, my whimsical short story about a temperamental freshman dorm washing machine hoarding and eating various student clothing was simply too good for a rank freshman. This same professor, who I later came to adore, warned me in my senior year of the difficulties of becoming a published author. She painted such a dismal picture of the publishing industry as a whole that I refrained from submitting any of my work for the next twenty years. Can you say impressionable?

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Tarrant:  It’s a genre I love to read, especially works that have a romantic bent. Perhaps I am drawn to this genre because I’m pagan and the various shapeshifters, ghosts, fey, vamps, and witches stir my imagination while reaching back in time to the myths surrounding the ancient gods. What I truly enjoy, time and time again, is watching a talented author weave these supernatural events and characters through the lives of ordinary people.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Tarrant:   What I would not have is Enchanted Darkly’s heroine’s burden of being an empath. I would much prefer the ability to shift through time and space like the fey (fae). Imagine the freedom of moving not only through space in the blink of an eye, but also the ability to experience firsthand another period of time in human history.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Tarrant:  I have always been fascinated with Celtic myth and it shows in this series. Not only are the fey present, both seelie and unseelie, but much of the series’ story line is dictated by the whims of the ancient Celtic gods. Enchanted Darkly is a combination of good Southern style storytelling and paranormal romance. While Jennifer Mackell struggles with what to do about Mr. Right arriving decidedly late in her life, the reader also witnesses Jen’s slow slide into the politically treacherous world of the fey as she learns to control her long-ignored inherited "gift".

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Tarrant:   I may be showing my age, but Clive Owen would make a perfect Hueil. He has the presence necessary to make a believable unseelie immortal. I’d pick Ioan Gruffudd for the role of the sexy and recently divorced Steven Dunne, a blonde Katherine Heigl would be my choice for Jen because of her ability to convey vulnerability alongside strength, and the role of Steven’s ex-girlfriend and partner would be cast with a too-thin Demi Moore.

Enchanted Darkly (The Darkly Series, book 1) by Tarrant Smith

Jen Mackell knows the feel and texture of magick, but like her father and grandfather before her, she has suppressed her gifts in the pursuit of a normal life. But now at the age of twenty-seven, Jen finds herself leading a decidedly average existence filled with unending bills, a mentally-numbing job, and an uninspiring marriage.  After moving with her husband, Jim, to the picturesque town of Madison, Georgia, her world is turned upside down when she meets the darkly handsome Steven Dunne. Jen is drawn to him for reasons she doesn’t completely understand, and although she fights the attraction, the universe works against her and she finds herself working as a waitress in his café. If fate's untimely intervention into her life were not enough, Jen has also caught the eye of Hueil, a banished Unseelie fey warrior with secrets of his own, who is intent on bringing her back into his world of enchantments and danger.  Both will force her on a quest of self-discovery as she questions her values, her hidden nature, and which fairytales are real. While navigating this uncharted world, she will need to master a witch’s spellcraft and learn the rules for dealing with the dark fey in order to protect herself and the man she is truly destined to love. In the end, Jen will have to choose wisely, trusting her heart and repressed empathic ability to discern truth from fantasy if she is to attain the happy-ever-after she so desperately wants -- but to do that, she must risk losing it all.

Thank you Tarrant for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

If you would like to learn more about Tarrant Smith and her books, please visit her website.

Now for the giveaway!

** Enchanted Darkly International Giveaway! **

To enter, please leave a comment on this post with your email address so that we may contact you if you win.  You do not need to be a follower to enter (though I always appreciate a follow!).  This giveaway is international.  Giveaway ends Monday August 30th at midnight EST.