Arming the Zodiac with Addison Fox!

interview with Suz

Bandits, Bandit Buddies and all our readers, y'all are in for a treat. Today you will get a look at a brand-spanking-new paranormal series and the author, who is not only a dear friend of mine, but a very creative writer! Welcome, Addison Fox. Pull up a lounge chair and we'll have the cabana boys bring some wine.

Suz: Congratulations on your first book, WARRIOR ASCENDED, hitting the bookstore shelves! We love a call story at the Bandit Lair, so please tell us how this first sale happened?

Addison: I love telling this story - thank you for letting me share it!!!

The call came on November 20, 2008. I was at work and I got an email from my agent, asking, "Are you going to be around tonight?" NAL had the overall series proposal and a proposal on the first book. I'd already made one round of revisions on the proposal and they'd agreed to look at it again and now we were just waiting to hear.

I immediately called my sister (hey - if my productivity was shot for the day, hers could be, too!) and we spent quite a bit of time on the phone and in email trying to figure out the outcome. Fortunately it didn't take all day and my agent called me around 2 to let me know NAL wanted to buy it. I had to slip out of a meeting to take the call and hide behind a wall of cubicles. So here I am, trying to take notes and not scream and jump up and down.

I then started calling and emailing everyone I knew!

Suz: I love the premise for the Sons Of The Zodiac series. Can you fill our readers in on it and how you came up with the idea?

Addison: I wish I could explain the moment of connection, but I was sitting there on the couch watching TV, not even thinking about plotting and this idea of the zodiac and warriors popped into my head.

Truly - it was this rare, "gift moment" that I have no idea where it came from. That said, never one to look a "gift moment" in the mouth - I immediately jumped online and started googling the zodiac. I quickly found the connection between modern-day Western astrology and Greek mythology and I was off to the races.

What's been the most fun part of the series is the richness available from a world-building perspective. The zodiac is unique and balanced so there are a multitude of traits to pull on from a character perspective. And then the Greek mythology component adds this really neat layer of world building that's incredibly fun to draw from.

Suz: These guys are all alpha males to the nth degree, just my favorite kind. Brody is the Leo Warrior. With 13 warriors to write about what made you decide to start with him?


Addison: Brody was the other gift in the series. He was the image in my mind as I put the zodiac/warrior connection together. Although he isn't a shape shifter, the idea of the Lion was immediately sexy and appealing and brings to mind a very powerful, very alpha male.

Suz: Your heroine, Ava Harrison, starts out as a shy work-oriented woman, trying to hide any femininity behind drab clothes. How does she first meet Brody? And how does she react to his invasion of her life?

Addison: Ava's got a lot of baggage. Her father - a world famous archaeologist who discovered the famed Summoning Stones of Egypt - was murdered in front of her when she was young. The murder was always believed random, but it shook the very foundation of her life.

She had a dream to follow in his footsteps, but from a more academic perspective as her fear of leaving the safe world she's built around her has always kept her from field work. So instead, she's put her love of archaeology into a career as a curator at the American Museum of Natural History.

Brody is an overwhelming force in her life, but one she's deeply attracted to. He also arrives at an incredibly important moment - she's bringing her father's work to a major exhibit at the museum. Although Brody's presence in the museum is explained under the guise of museum security, she senses immediately he's more than he seems.

His presence also coincides with something else. Ava's never told anyone, but she has horrible visions when she gets anywhere near the Stones. Although she's suspicious of Brody's sudden arrival, she quickly realizes she needs an ally as the power of the stones - and the visions they cause only her - grows stronger.

Suz: Can you explain what the summoning stones are?

Addison: The Summoning Stones are a very powerful piece of magic from the reign of Thutmose the III in ancient Egypt. Five, equally shaped stones, about the size of a woman's hand, that were placed in museums around the world after their discovery. Ava's exhibit is the first time they will be all brought back together.

Each stone possesses a different quality - life, death, love, sexuality, infinity. When put together, they have the power to grant the one who can harness them - a "Chosen One" in every age - power over everything.

While I don't want to give anything away, betcha can't guess who is the "Chosen One" of this age?.

Suz: What's next for the Sons Of The Zodiac?

Addison: Ooooh - my Scorpio's up next - Kane Montague. I love all my warriors, but Kane's got a special place in my heart. When we meet him in WARRIOR ASCENDED, he's just been duped (in a very sexy way) by a secret agent, going by the name of Ilsa.

WARRIOR AVENGED begins six months later, when Kane finally runs down the sexy operative he's not been able to get out of his head. Of course, both of them have some fairly large secrets and it's going to take a whole lot of together time to make them realize they work far better together than alone.

Suz: Ooooooooo Scropio...uh, just happens to be my favorite birth sign!! And Kane is yummo, ladies!! I love your heroes and love the feature interview you do with Brody on your website at http://www.addisonfox.com/index.php/leo/
*whispering to the Bandits and friends...I'm waiting to see what she posts about Kane*

Addison: So I've got a question for everyone. I absolutely love reading about astrology and I'm a total horoscope junkie. Do you all believe the stars influence our personalities or that there are traits that we hold that come from the sign we're born under?

Suz: Addison is giving away a signed copy of WARRIOR ASCENDED to one lucky commenter.


P.S. And as always, if you click on the book, you can go to Amazon.com to order your own copy. And don't forget, clicking on the Bandit books will do the same...and check out Bandit websites and my online story blog by clicking our pics!