Interview with Eilis Flynn

Happy New Year! To start off a fantastic 2008, I’d like to welcome our guest today, Eilis Flynn. It’s a pleasure having you come visit us at Much Cheaper Than Therapy, where chocolate is plentiful and advice is free. So grab some chocolate and a lounge chair. Your therapy session has begun.

I understand you have a new release out called INTRODUCING SONIKA. Can you tell us a little bit about your fabulous new book?

Sure! A daughter of super-heroes who turned away from her birthright when her parents were killed finds herself facing her destiny when that past comes back to haunt her in the form of a man who seeks revenge against the son of her parents’ greatest enemy.

INTRODUCING SONIKA is a very interesting title. How did you arrive at that name?

Really? You think it’s interesting? It’s a cliché, but it was too appropriate not to use it. It’s a tip of the hat to the titles of comic book stories. Almost invariably, "Introducing" somebody is how a new character comes into the ongoing story. Duh, right? Nothing else really worked as a title, and since my editor didn’t object, I figured it was fate.

Did you have to do a lot of research for the book?

Actually, I did, but not for the comics part. I worked for DC Comics when I was younger; I wrote a few stories for them, and when I was a teenager I was a comics geek, writing letters to the editor and critiquing the stories. That stuff came the easiest. No, I did research into the anti-gravity device that plays a part in the story.

What character did you like writing about the most, and why?

This was one of those books that I really enjoyed writing in the viewpoint of all the characters! The heroine, Sonika (or Sonya in her ordinary life), lived as quiet a life as possible, with all that power waiting underneath the surface; I loved that feeling, knowing that one day that was all going to change, burst into being what was always meant to be. And then there’s my hero John, who was crippled by a master criminal wannabe, with all this grief and rage rolled up into one, only to be startled by and attracted to this young woman who was a mystery to him – that was an amazing feeling too!

If your book was made into a movie, what actor would you like to fill your hero’s shoes?

My husband and I have spent a lot of time talking about this. John’s supposed to be pretty geeky, and he thought Patrick Dempsey was geeky enough. Yeah, someone who plays a character nicknamed "McDreamy" is not geeky. When Dempsey was a young actor, sure, but now? No, he’s aging well. There are a few actors who could do John. The next time you watch TV or watch a movie and there’s a thirtyish actor who slips on a pair of glasses … that could be John.

Do you have any authors that inspired you?

So many!

What do we have to look forward next?

Right now, I’m finishing up a romantic sci-fic that’s supposed to be part of a continuity series for Ellora’s Cave/Cerridwen Press. I’m one of the founding authors of this thing, so I feel a certain protectiveness about the Hunters for Hire series, and I really want to finish it. Other than that? I’ve got a loooong list of books I need to write, and at least one is a sequel to INTRODUCING SONIKA!

Thanks, Eilis!

Bio. Eilis Flynn is a longtime member of the Greater Seattle RWA, a veteran of the Wall Street wars, has been a professional journalist, was a scholar (for a very short while), and even wrote comic books. She lives in a quiet neighborhood with her all-suffering husband and cranky cats.

Check out the author’s website at http://www.eilisflynn.com/.

Buy INTRODUCING SONIKA at http://www.cerridwenpress.com/.