Tigris: Who was your hardest character to write in the Federation Series? Why?
Lauren: Andrei was difficult for me because he doesn’t say much. My characters tend to be wordy so I had to really be aware of what he was doing versus what he was saying. Right now though, overall, it’s Hannah (you meet her at the very end of Mesmerized and Captivated is all about her). She’s endured a lot, a lot most people wouldn’t have survived with their sanity intact.
Again with her it’s about being very hyper aware of how broken and jagged she is and how her thought and speech patterns are really part of her character as a whole.
Tigris: Which one of your male characters (from any series) would you hook up with one of your single friends?
Lauren: Brody Brown seems to be a popular choice J. He’s a good man. Strong. Handsome and smart. He loves his family, has his own business and he’s hot.
Tigris: What do we have to look forward to in upcoming Series? Phantom Corps? Brown Siblings? Cascadia Wolves?
Lauren: CAPTIVATED is out May 2012 and is the next and final book in the Phantom Corps series. It features Vincenz, Hannah and Julian. But that doesn’t mean I won’t return to the Federation Chronicles – it’s a big world and I have so many options.
NEVER ENOUGH is the last in the Brown Siblings series and it’s out this September! This one features Adrian Brown and Gillian Forrester – who surprises Adrian with the revelation that he’s got a 13 year old son he never met. We will meet Gillian’s friends, who will be the start of a new contemporary romance series I’ll be writing for Berkley Heat, starting with TART in fall of 2012. For the most part, Cascadia Wolves is done. All the Warden siblings are mated. There are some other characters with National in Boston that are part of the de La Vega series (Dave and Akio specifically) who I’d love to do stories for! Next up is Gibson de La Vega (working on the proposal for that one now)
I’ve got a brand new paranormal romance series for Berkley Sensation – Bound By Magick – starting in November of this year. The first book is HEART OF DARKNESS and it’s set in the world of Clan witches – powerful organizations set up to protect and govern those witches in their territories. My first heroine, Meriel Owen, is next in line to run the Clan when her mother steps down. She meets a rule breaking outclan witch who’s been stealing from them – Dominic Bright. Sparks fly!
Tigris: Will Ellis get a book of his own?
Lauren: I’ll be giving him a stronger storyline in CAPTIVATED, but I’d love to give him his very own HEA.
Tigris: Favorite Scary Movie? Romance? Action/Suspense
Lauren: Alien. Probably either Naked in Death or Welcome to Temptation. Not big on action books, but I am a HUGE fan of Richard K. Morgan’s cyber noir and William Gibson’s cyberpunk books.
Tigris: What would you consider the perfect writing environment?
Lauren: One I’m actually ALONE in. When the kids are gone and the house is quiet, when I choose my music and no one calls or comes to the door. Tigris: Pet Peeves?
Lauren: They are legion. Author Spam is a big one - I don’t like authors who sign me up for their newsletters just because they sent me an email a year ago. Or any other sort of promotional mailing. If you mail me something I didn’t ask for in order to sell it to me, that’s spam. Don’t do it. People who give their own books 5 star reviews.
People who clip their nails in public. Email forwards with stories anyone in their right mind could have checked at snopes to be sure wasn’t false. School newsletters with repeated grammatical errors in them. Parents who drive like jackwagons in the parking lot of the school. Hotels that charge 13 bucks a day for wi fi - yes I’m looking at you Westin Bonaventure.
Tigris: What do you prefer E-Book or Print?
Lauren: I’m a writer, I want my books to be available in many formats that accommodate many people’s reading styles. I like all formats that enable people to do so. As a reader I love both. I’ve got a Nook I use all the time and I also have shelves heaving with paper books.
Tigris: First story you wrote, what was the name of the title? What was it about? Did you sell it?
Lauren: Triad was the first book I wrote. It was a ménage witch/vampire book set in New Orleans. And yes, I did sell it J
Tigris: Star Wars or Star Trek
Lauren: Both for different reasons
Tigris: Spartacus or Braveheart
Lauren: Love Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kubrick – Spartacus was an awesome movie. Braveheart is one I used to enjoy until we got to know more about Mel Gibson. Now, I don’t watch it.
Tigris: Favorite Author?
Lauren: Too many to name. I admire Frank Herbert’s worldbuilding. I am in awe of William Gibson’s way of saying a universe worth in two sentences. He never wastes a single word. He’s a genius. Love Nora Roberts’ ability to write characters. She’s brilliant at it. Margaret Atwood always makes me think, no matter what genre or what book. Jennifer Crusie has an amazing sense of humor.
Tigris: How are your characters born?
Lauren: Characters are the heart of all my books. Each book and character comes to me differently. Some from a song lyric. Sometimes I see a snippet of a scene in my head. Or I have some goals and I think about who can make it happen. Most often I don’t know my characters that well until I’m at least three or four chapters in and then I have my epiphany moment when some integral piece of them locks into place.
Then I understand them as people (and go back to fix all the stuff I wrote when I didn’t know them as well) Sometimes it’s easy. Most of the time it’s some measure of difficult, LOL.
Tigris: Panster or Plotter?
Luaren: I started out pantsing. But once I got an agent and she began to pitch to NY, I had to write synopses and outlines (after doing fulls for the first sale). It became a habit and a useful one. Though I hate writing them, I find a basic outline really helpful. I rarely keep it word for word, and most of the time something big will change as I write, but it gives me a direction and keeps me from wandering around.
At this point it’s a little of both. The basic foundations of the story are the outline, but what goes on within that, who my characters are and what drives them, will change the story organically. Luckily I’ve not had a problem with any editors yet who had a problem with that.
Tigris: Which Cover did you like the most out of all of your books?
Lauren: Hard to say! I’ve had amazing fortune when it comes to covers with Samhain, Harlequin and Berkley. When I opened the JPG of LAID BARE I gasped and just stared for the longest time. I love the vibrant colors, the way it really captured Erin so well.
Goddess With A Blade, an upcoming UF from Carina has a gorgeous cover too. Perfect for my protagonist, otherworldly, love the colors of it. My first UF cover and a total home run.
Tigris: Andrei Solace vs. Chewbaca? Who would win? Why?
Lauren: Andrei knows how to be silent. He’s an assassin so he’d win by nature of what he does versus what Chewy does. HOWEVER – if it was hand to hand? I don’t know, Chewy is like 9 feet tall.
Mini Review: Mesmerized A phantom Corps Novel I loved this book for no other reason than Andrei… I know I adore him and when he was first introduced in Insatiable I wanted to see our boy here in action. Quiet, reserved, level headed. Never once in the previous book did you see him loose his cool, even when tragedy struck and took a very close friend of his. In Mesmerized we get to see a side of Andrei that is not only dark but delicious and seductive. The man is a walking talking seduction… And the woman he ends up with is his perfect match. Piper is a take charge, take no shit from anyone type of girl. I love how she took exactly everything Andrei had to offer and then some. The fact that he was there for her when they were younger was just a blossoming relationship that quickly turned into a powerful force. The Federation is heading into a war with Faradelle and the Imperialist who have the power to shut done portals that have the potential of destroying whole planets by cutting them off from trade. Piper is a mercenary by trade but gives it all up to enlist with the federation as Andrei’s back up. Andrei would prefer she not accompany him on his mission but when the two are together they got each other’s back and that made the story that much more powerful… Okay that was just a taste now for a sample:
Excerpt: “Piper…” The whispered sound of her name on his lips drove her mad with desire. To know she drove him to that sort of pleasure, that sort of desire and abandon, made her feel invincible. Beautiful and magical. Andrei made that happen, made her feel as if no other woman in all of creation was for him. But her. Only her and always her. To watch him better, she tipped her head back and looked up at him. Watching the way his eyes went hooded, the light in his eyes, the avarice in his gaze when he took her in, it swirled around her snaring her in the power of their chemistry. “Mmm, yes, look at me, Piper. Give your gaze to me. So fucking beautiful and all mine. Like a dream.” When he did that dirty talking muttered snarl thing he did, she’d let him do anything to her, she’d do anything for him. There was something so intimate about it. And to add the flattery at the end? A shiver went through her at that sort of power, at the power of what they were together. She licked down the shaft, dipping to lick over his balls as her fingertips played against the sensitive spot right behind.
Andrei Solace is Freakin Hot and there is nothing you can tell me that will change my mind!
Lauren has some great reads coming out this year so be sure to check them out! 
Goddess with a Blade June 6 - Never Enough- Sept 2011 Heart of Darkness Nov11 Be sure to check out these upcoming Reads by Lauren Dane also coming in August 30 2011 Once and Again! 
Grand Prize All 4 Books in the Federation Series Signed by the Author!
Prize Pack #1 (New Reader) First 2 Books in the Federation Series
Prize Pack #2 First Book in Chance Brothers
Prize Pack #3 First Book in Cascadia Wolves Series
Prize Pack #4 First Book in De La Vega Cats Series
Prize Pack #5 First Book in Brown Siblings Series
Prize Pack # 6 (2) your choice of Any Book from Lauren Dane
Total of 12 Books in this Awesome Give Away! To View Her Books Click Here:
Make Sure you are a Follower of the Blog and this is Open to U.S And Canada *Print Books* Ebooks/Kindle Open Internationally Contest will End May 31st Winner’s Picked June 3rd 
