Please welcome Lex Chase to Interview Roulette, in which your favorite authors answer randomly chosen questions!
- Describe a traumatic weather-related experience you’ve had. If you’ve never had any, make one up. I live in Florida, hence, hurricanes. By far the most traumatic was Hurricane Ivan. In case you haven’t heard of this monstrosity here’s a link. I was in college at the time and my family was very fortunate and only lost a single shingle on our roof. However, others not so much. A friend of mine lost her house. Like, her house no longer existed. The storm surge swept in and sucked her house out to sea and all that remained was the foundation. A professor lived in a wooded area, and was trapped on his property. For two weeks, he had to use a chainsaw to cut his way through the fallen trees to be able to leave for food, or even get to clean water. College was out session for over a month, and countless students were forced to withdraw because they lost everything. Ballfields were converted into debris collection fields. Piles of them, at least 70 or 80 feet high, were dunes of trash, branches, tangled wreckage of cars, scraps of businesses, and remains of homes. There was gas rationing, curfews, rumors of martial law. There was also information on where to get much needed medications and water distribution. Parking lots became pop-up FEMA trailer villages where people lived for over a year. We had Project: Blue Roof, where people covered damaged roofs with blue tarps. Those tarps remained on many for years who couldn’t afford to fix their roofs, let alone move. But a lot of good came from it. My family was one of the 1% of Pensacola who got their power back in two days. We cooked everything that hadn’t turned yet in our fridge, and got creative. We created our beloved dish “Hurricane Spaghetti” that involved every meat product in the fridge from leftover pot roast, to steak, to chicken, to pork chops, to even lunch meat. Chopped up, and stewed in pasta sauce, then served over noodles. With a side of French fries. Because they had thawed. We would arm ourselves with a car full of coolers and drive two hours to get eggs, dairy, meat, and even ice cream as a treat if we could swing it. It was the closest thing to living in a warzone that I ever experienced. But I also learned people can be pretty awesome. And then came Katrina…
- What was your favorite school subject? Least favorite? In elementary school, my favorite was Art! Of course, it was. I was one of those kids who always had to be the best. (Read: The quirkiest.) In third grade, our assignment was to make our own version of the Mona Lisa. Mine was a bleach blonde leader of a biker gang. I hated Language (which is what they called English in elementary school) It was sooooo boooorrring. But I was good at it, and I ended up a storyteller…soooo…. My least favorite was Math. I struggled with it my entire life. I would even cry during timed tests because I could never finish in time. Come to find out as an adult, I have a learning disability in math. I’m only able to manage a below average third grade level.
- Describe the perfect pair of socks. Super soft and fuzzy. They need to be thick and squishy to keep your feet warm and dry. Colors do not matter. But soft socks are the best!
- Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever written? My shower. While taking a shower. I have a pad of Aquanotes and they’re water resistant paper. I’ve managed to make notes and get short bits of dialogue before the water goes cold.
- What is the oddest thing on your music playlist? Can’t decide. Because it’s my normal. It’s a tossup between a children’s lullaby version of “Sail” by AWOLNation or an orchestral version of the Nyan Cat song. It’s a lovely National Anthem of the Internet.
- You can eat only one ice cream flavor for the rest of your life. Which is it? Baskin-Robbins Peanut Butter and Chocolate! With those ribbons of semi-hardened peanut butter? It’s amazing.
- You have just been crowned leader of a small island nation. What’s your first official act? Declare kittens are sacred creatures and must be treated with care. Set up massive shrines to the precious mews. And to adopt sweet fuzzy baby is to be blessed by the gods. All IKEAs henceforth will be populated by free roaming kittens.
- Paper or plastic? That’s like choosing between the Bush Twins!
Book blurb:
In Prospect Harbor, Maine, lobsterman Harper Cook has always loved the sea. He and his two brothers work the harbor waters, in a fishing village of one thousand where everybody knows everybody else’s business and nobody wants to be different.
When it’s time for the annual Men of Maine pinup calendar, Harper’s brothers eagerly volunteer him. Harper isn’t thrilled to bare it all to raise money for an elementary school playground—until he meets out-and-proud Los Angeles out-a-statah Sean Blackburn: the highly available first-grade teacher with Hollywood heartthrob looks.
Harper has no desire to ever stand out from the crowd, but Sean persists and earns Harper’s friendship. Through Sean, Harper opens up to new possibilities. Things get steamy, but Harper still protects his heart. Though the right pressure in the right place might crack even a loner lobsterman out of his shell.
States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.
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Author bio:
Lex Chase once heard Stephen King say in a commercial, “We’re all going to die, I’m just trying to make it a little more interesting.” Now she’s on a mission to make the world a hell of a lot more interesting. Weaving tales of sweeping cinematic adventure—depending on how she feels that day—Lex sprinkles in high-speed chases, shower scenes, and more explosions than a Hollywood blockbuster.
Her pride is in telling stories of men who kiss as much as they kick ass. If you’re going to march into the depths of hell, it better be beside the one you love. Lex is a pop culture diva, her DVR is constantly backlogged, she has intense emotions about Hannibal’s Hannigram, and she unapologetically loved the ending of Lost. She wouldn’t last five minutes without technology in the event of the apocalypse and has nightmares about refusing to leave her cats behind.
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Who says Friday the 13th is unlucky? In case you’ve missed the ten zillion times I’ve mentioned it already, today is release day for Love Is Heartless. This is the second book in the Love Can’t series but can easily be read as a standalone. The events take place more or less at the same time as those in Love Can’t Conquer, and this second book focuses on prickly cop Nevin Ng and starry-eyed Colin Westwood. The two of them together were enormously fun to write, so I hope you enjoy reading about them. (If you’ve read the first book, this one has less angst and a lot more swearing.)