Interview with Delta James, Author of Uncorked: Tangled Vines

What can you tell us about your new release, Uncorked: Tangled Vines?

Uncorked and the Tangled Vines series was written in response to readers who wanted to see more of the Wayward Mates world. While the storyline in that series had come to an end, I thought it might be interesting to revisit that world and create a new set of alphas and their mates. The series set in the vineyards that run all up and down the Pacific Coast and a threat from a group of humans known as Hunters.  Uncorked introduces readers to Damian Steele, the brooding Alpha of Sonoma and the Luna de Lobo Vineyard. Faced with an unprovoked attack on two of his people on foreign soil, Damian comes face-to-face with his fated mate, a woman he had never considered.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

I suppose in a way my dad. It wasn’t so much that he urged me to become an author, but more than he encouraged me to follow my dreams… and not just follow them, but to work towards making them a reality. I like to think that if he were still alive, he’d be enjoying the hell out of my success.

What’s on your top 5 list for the best books you’ve ever read?

First/Top—Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. It was the book my mother used to teach me to read. It instilled in me a deep love of reading, horses and wild things.

Airs Above the Ground – by Mary Stewart. When my friends were reading Nancy Drew and Donna Parker, I was reading Mary Stewart and figuring out how much I loved who done its

The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum, which opened up the world of spy novels and strong male AND female characters

The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss—my first bodice ripper… read while I hid it from my mother when I was in middle school

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown a great primer on how to take your reader on a grand adventure set in the real world that people can see and touch. Even though I write mostly paranormal, I try to ground my world in reality, often using real places people can visit if they so choose.

Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

Probably Dan Brown. I’d love to know where he gets his ideas, how he researches all he does and how he goes about crafting his novels. While I love the Robert Langdon books, I am just as fond of his others

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

Sharing my characters and worlds with my readers and getting to take them on an adventure. But my favorite aspect is probably getting to talk and interact with my readers, answering questions, hearing what they think

What is a typical day like for you?

I don’t set my alarm mostly because I never know when I’m going to go to sleep. If I’m writing and it’s going well, I keep writing until I get to a natural stopping place… sometimes writing more than twenty-four hours without stop

What scene from Uncorked: Tangled Vines was your favorite to write?

The sex scenes are always fun to write and also the hardest – trying to come up with new things and new ways to describe them is fun and stressful. The hardest was, without giving spoilers, was the car accident. The one that made me smile because it came so easily was the opening scene in the book as Damian is running along the beach and realizing he has a fated mate out there and that he just needs to find her

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

That’s the easiest question of the lot “Fortune Favors the Bold” – it was the one I lost somewhere along the way and the one I decided I wanted to adopt again, which led me to writing my first novel. The other is: The Devil whispered in my ear “you’re not strong enough to withstand the storm” Today, I whispered in the Devil’s ear, “I AM the storm”

Delta James is the author of the new book Uncorked: Tangled Vines

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