with Gracie C. McKeever
|
 |
Gracie C. McKeever
A native New
Yorker, Gracie C. McKeever has authored several novels and
novellas, among them the Siren Top Sellers, Terms of
Surrender, Manifest Destiny, Between
Darkness and Daylight and Guardian Seductress (www.sirenpublishing.com).
She has been writing since the ripe old age of seven when
two younger brothers were among her earliest, captive
audience for various short story readings and
performances. It wasn’t until 2001, however, when Gracie
caught the erotica bug that produced an instant affinity
for the genre and spawned her first erotic romance,
Beneath the Surface, published in 2006 by Siren
Publishing, Inc. Visit Gracie at
www.graciecmckeever.com
Read An Excerpt of Beneath
The Surface:
Click Here
Watch A Video on the Matchmaker Series:
Click Here
Author's Official Website:
http://www.graciecmckeever.com
Author's Page on Siren Publishing:
www.sirenpublishing.com/graciecmckeever
Author's Myspace Page: http://www.myspace.com/graciecmckeever
Order Your Copy Today:
Click Here |
 |
Urban Reviews: Tell us
about Beneath The Surface.
Gracie C. McKeever:
Beneath the
Surface is the first book in my The Matchmaker series.
It is an erotic romance in the typical boy-meets-girl vein
except for the elevated sensuality level and some paranormal
twists and modern-day, controversial hot-button issues like
suicide and same-sex relationships added for spice and
realism. EJ and Tabitha (the hero and heroine) each come to
the story with emotional baggage, EJ’s being his inherited
psychic abilities and the loss of a past lover by her own
hand. Tabitha has a bipolar, chemically-dependent mother and
a father who left her to the foster system when she was
eight, so she’s dealing with some abandonment issues of her
own. Both find something in one another that the other
needs, but coming to terms with their own internal conflicts
and past relationships makes things difficult. But for EJ’s
persistence and the guiding hand of his matchmaking, psychic
older sister, EJ and Tabitha would never work.
Urban Reviews: What
inspired you to create this story?
Gracie C. McKeever:
I initially went into Beneath the
Surface just knowing I wanted to write an erotic romance
and that I would have to take the heat level up in the plot
several notches from the previous, “traditional” romances I
had written. However, I did not want to sacrifice story and
character for sex so I focused on making the characters as
multi-dimensional and universal as possible. I explored the
family dynamic of the two leads to round them out and make
them larger than life. The paranormal elements (specifically
telepathy and clairvoyance) are things that have always
fascinated me and topics I’ve always enjoyed reading and
writing about. Next to my own personal themes of healing and
redemption and how family relationships and human flaws
affect a couple’s decision-making processes, I also wanted
to explore the personal toll a psychic gift such as EJ’s has
on its recipient, viewed as a curse or “flaw” rather than an
asset or blessing.
Urban Reviews: Can
you give us a sneak peak at your next novel?
Gracie C. McKeever:
Actually I have several novels
currently out with Siren Publishing—single titles and
series—two of which are part of The Matchmaker series. Those
titles are Terms of Surrender: The Matchmaker 2 and
Manifest Destiny: The Matchmaker 3. These are the
stories of EJ’s brother and one of his sisters and how each
is matched up by their big sister Angela. Upcoming in 2008
is the fourth story in the series, Emilia’s Emancipation,
a novella that explores the dynamics of an older
woman/younger man relationship. Emilia, the heroine in the
book also has a tweener son who is coming into his psychic
abilities just as she is rediscovering her sexuality and
female appeal with Ramón, the younger man in the story who
is a part-time instructor at his mother’s dance studio and a
middle school English teacher. Currently I’m working on the
fifth story, Taming Donna, my first ménage a trois
story, so I’m pretty excited about that. Also on the horizon
for 2008 is Sentinel’s Hunger, a Sisters of Emsharra
novella that will be appearing in Rapture 1 anthology from
Rapture Publishing.
Urban Reviews: How
did you start your literary career?
Gracie C. McKeever:
I’ve always written from as far back
as I can remember, but didn’t start writing seriously and
with an eye toward publication until around 1994. In 1996 I
had a breakthrough, securing an acceptance and sale for my
short story Forgiven which was consequently published
in a genre magazine out of Colorado. I followed this up with
a several other sales in the short story, article and poetry
markets and contest wins and honorary mentions before I sold
my first full-length book New Life Incognita (a
paranormal romance involving reincarnation and New Age,
wiccan elements in an urban setting) to an e-book publisher
in 1998. The rest, as they say, is history.
Urban Reviews: You
write across many genres. Do you have a favorite genre you
like to write in?
Gracie C. McKeever:
I’ve dabbled in horror and mainstream,
but by and large my favorite genre is romance and erotic
romance and almost all of their sub-genres—paranormal,
suspense, urban fantasy and same sex romances just to name a
few.
Urban Reviews: Did
you choose your genre or did your genre choose you?
Gracie C. McKeever:
Actually, it was a little of both. I
write romance because I’ve always enjoyed reading stories
with a happily ever after. I inject paranormal elements
because I’ve always enjoyed books and TV shows with a
supernatural twist and/or elements just off the beaten path.
It was a natural progression from reading and watching these
types of stories to wanting to write them.
Urban Reviews: What
is the biggest lesson that you've learned about the literary
industry?
Gracie C. McKeever:
Patience is a virtue. Persistence pays
off, but you can never rest on your laurels and must always
be out there promoting your work and networking to succeed.
Always be willing to learn. Wow, I guess those are more than
one lesson, huh? ~grin~
Urban Reviews: Name
one thing that the world does not know about Gracie C.
McKeever-the person?
Gracie C. McKeever:
Gracie C. McKeever is painfully shy.
|
Read our review of Beneath The Surface in the
AA Fiction section.
|
