Angela Knight

Angela Knight
THE FOREVER KISS

Interviewed by: Lauretta Pierce
November 5, 2005

Q.    Who is Angela Knight?

A.   Damned if I know. No, seriously -- I live in South Carolina with my husband, who has been a cop for 17 years. Our son, Anthony, is 20. I've written 20 or so novels, novellas and short stories which have been published by Berkley, Red Sage, Ellora's Cave, Changeling Press, and Loose Id. Though I was first published in romance in 1996 in Secrets Volume 2, my first novel appeared in June, 2004. In September, 2004 I made the USA Today list with my second novel. In May, 2005, I hit the list again with MASTER OF THE MOON, the second of the Mageverse novels. (The Mageverse is a parallel universe where magic is a law of physics, and King Arthur and his knights are vampires.) I also won the Borders Group Award for Bestselling Anthology for HOT BLOODED, sharing the award with Christine Feehan, Maggie Shayne and Emma Holly.



Q.    How did you come about the idea to write THE FOREVER KISS?

A.    I'd written my first vampire novella for Secrets in 1996 -- BLOOD AND KISSES. TO my surprise, it was hugely popular. I love writing vampires anyway, so I wrote four more vamp novellas, all of which did very well. Finally I decided to try a novel. This was in 2000, and nobody was buying vamp novels then. But my fans liked them, so I decided to take a chance. It turned out to be a great move, because the book won the Critics Choice award from Romantic Times Bookclub for Best Erotic Romance.



Q.    How did you come about Valerie Chase and Cade McKinnon characters?

A.   I started thinking, "Okay, what is a version of vampires nobody has ever done?" Cowboys. So, I decided on a Texas Ranger who becomes a vamp. But this was a contemporary, so I gave him a heroine who was a reporter -- something I was familiar with, being a reporter myself at the time. To heighten the conflict, I decided that her parents had been the victims of a vampire attack when she was a child. Cade, whose master was the vamp who led the attack, saved Val and her baby sister. But she hates vampires, and she's not thrilled when Cade kidnaps her in an effort to save her from his master.



Q.    How did you come about Abigail’s character?

A.   Abigail was created in a later draft of the book. I needed a reason for Cade's staying with his monstrous sire all those years when he could have left. The ghostly little sister made a great hostage.



Q.    How did you come about Ridgemont character?

A.   I loved Ridgemont. He was based on a comic book villain I created years ago -- an immortal badass who is sexually menacing. He and Cade have a relationship which is almost sexual in its intensity.



Q.    How did you come about the title?

A.    All my Secrets vampire stuff has "Kiss" in the title -- BLOOD AND KISSES, KISSING THE HUNTER, Etc. So I knew I wanted to do another Kiss title. Forever Kiss seemed to suit it.



Q.    How long have you been writing?

A.    I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was nine years old.



Q.    How many books have you writing?

A.   Five novels and a bunch of novellas and short stories -- twenty in all.



Q.    Do you write in any other genre?

A.    Futuristic erotic romance. I'm thinking about doing some romantic suspense too.



Q.    What message would you like readers to receive from reading THE FOREVER KISS?

A.   I'm not all that much into messages. They take from it what they take from it. What I really want is for them to have a VERY good time.

By the way, the sequel to The Forever Kiss is coming out in December from Red Sage. It's called "SOUL KISSES", and you'll find it in Secrets Vol. 14. SOUL KISSES stars Val's little sister, Beth. She finds herself becoming reluctant partners with not one but TWO vampire heroes. I wanted to see if it would be possible to have a stable romantic ménage with two alpha males. I think I pulled it off!

For more information, stop by my website at www.angelasknights.com. You'll find my art and excerpts from my books. Check out my gallery, where you'll discover lots of desktop wallpaper.