The Dark Fae – Interview with Terry Spear

Welcome Terry Spear, award-winning author of urban fantasy and medieval historical romantic suspense.  Today we will be talking about the gorgeous cover of her book, THE DARK FAE.  Terry has graciously provided us with a book description and an excerpt as well.

First of all, who did your cover?

The picture was already available at several photo sites and was perfect for the story–the model appeared very fae-like, dark, mysterious, a fantasy, and eye-catching, with a young adult look.

If you did it yourself, where did you obtain your image?

Bigstock, though many other sites had it as I’ve looked for new covers for the fae series.

How did you go about creating your cover?

I used both Photo Shop and Gimp 2 to resize and add the title and author name. Otherwise, the picture was perfect just as it was for the cover. Sometimes I have to do a lot of work to make the cover mine. But with this one, it was just what I wanted.

What mood were you trying to convey?

Fantasy, teen, mysterious, a bit devilish, an old world feel to it.

How did you come up with the title of the book?

I had written the story years ago, and I just felt that the fae, as meddling as they were with the human kind, suited the term Dark Fae. Several other kinds of fae exist, but the first story focuses on The Dark Fae. They are the hunters also known as the lion fae and the fae of the kingdom of the Denkar.

Do you feel the elements successfully convey what you were trying to achieve?

Yes, the book continues to be a best seller at Amazon and outsells all my other titles at B&N for my self-published works, which propelled me to write a whole series, the fourth of which, The Ancient Fae, just came out. I’ve got a cover for a new book, The Dragon Fae, that my daughter helped me to select, and she’s perfect. For each, I try to have an old world feel, a sole female, a teen-look that is unique somehow. With The Winged Fae, it’s a little different, more of a contemporary look, the cover actually driving the story. The impish fae is drawing graffiti on a wall in South Padre Island, using an ancient fae language. I just loved her surprised look at being caught, and had fun incorporating the winged fae into the series. In The Dragon Fae, my daughter mentioned that dragons are hoarders, and she’s looking into an old time treasure box, but she has more of a contemporary look like The Winged Fae. But it captures the urban fantasy feel with the old world and new mixed. And again, the fae-like appearance of the girl is perfect.

A cover definitely has to catch a potential reader’s eye first. I work in a library and handle hundreds of books a day. But when I see a particularly interesting cover, it has to be really special in some way for it to catch my eye since I work with them every day, forty hours a week. Color, subject, title, all combined in some magical way can definitely make me take a longer look. I’ll read the blurb and then if the cover and the blurb have piqued my interest, it goes home with me. If I love the author’s work, I buy it as a keeper!

Anything else you’d like to say about your cover? Covers are like the subject line in an email to an editor or agent, or a headline in a news story. They can capture the reader’s attention, imagination, the first initial hook in reeling the reader in.

Now, tell us about the book itself.

Alicia has planned a vacation at South Padre Island with her girlfriend Cassie in forever. But just as they’re enjoying a day on the beach, here comes a dark fae to spoil their holiday, except only she can see what he truly is. Alicia has no idea how upside down her world can turn with a chance meeting with one of the dark fae from the royal house of the Denkar. Alicia’s always known she’s different–that she can recognize the mischievous fae when they show up to “play” with the humans. Only now she’s faced with one highly annoyed dark fae and she’s certain he knows the truth about her. She can see him, which means her life is forfeit. Add to that, his sister arrives, who wants to play, too. And their mother, the queen of the Denkar, will want Alicia’s head, once she learns what Alicia can do. And all because Alicia was attempting to rescue her friend, Cassie, on their beach excursion at South Padre Island, from the wicked fae. Now, Alicia has really gone and done it–and she’s thinking she should have let the fae have his fun. Her friend’s broken heart would be a lot easier to deal with, than Alicia losing her life. But it is too late for regrets. As soon as she threw the soda at the dark fae’s chest, she had declared war on the fae. And he is happy to take up the challenge.

Excerpt:

CHAPTER 1

Alicia hadn’t left her girlfriend sunbathing on the South Padre Island beach for more than a few minutes when another hot guy approached Cassie—only this one worried her.

He had dark fae written all over him. Well, maybe not written all over him, but the medallion he wore clued her in immediately.

After grabbing the ice-cold sodas from the snack stand, Alicia trudged back through the mounds of hot sand at record speed, trying not to spill their drinks on the white sugar beach. Cassie still lay on her back on her playful seal beach towel next to Alicia’s colorful golden dragon.

Already five guys had hit on Cassie.

What was it with her and guys? It was if Cassie wore a neon sign that stated in bold, colorful, flashing letters, “Come play with me.”

Was it the way she smiled in such a heartwarming fashion? Not to mention the fit of her hot pink bikini on that silky tanned body of hers. Or the way her dark brown curls whipped around her bare shoulders by the Gulf breeze and her equally dark brown eyes smiled at the guys.

Alicia glanced down at the oversized tie-dyed shirt that covered her pale body. Her shimmering blue bikini and curves could catch the guys’ eyes, too, except if she exposed her skin for a few minutes in the sun’s hot rays, she’d be redder than her mother’s roses. Best to hide the bikini rather than ruin her summer vacation with a roasting hot sunburn.

When Alicia grew closer to their claimed speck of sandy territory, the dark-haired guy drew her attention again. He, of course, had eyes only for Cassie.

This one was different from the other guys though.

This one exuded danger and at once Alicia’s internal alarm bells sounded. He was built rock solid, though he appeared to be around seventeen or so like she and Cassie. But the medallion lying flat against his naked chest, the gold disk catching the sun’s rays…the symbol of the royal house of Denkar of fae kind—forced a chill down her spine, despite the sun beating on her bare arms.

His dark hair and eyes and dangerous smile signified he was of the dark fae, the hunter class, the ones who caused more mischief among the human mortals than any other.

Only this time, he’d targeted the wrong human.

Bio:

Award-winning author of urban fantasy and medieval historical romantic suspense, HEART OF THE WOLF named in Publishers Weekly’s BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR, NOR Reader Choice for BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE.

Terry Spear also writes true stories for adult and young adult audiences. She’s a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and has an MBA from Monmouth University and a Bachelor’s in Business and Distinguished Military Graduate of West Texas A & M. She also creates award-winning teddy bears, Wilde & Woolly Bears, to include personalized bears designed to commemorate authors’ books. When she’s not writing or making bears, she’s teaching online writing courses.