Friday, December 30, 2011

Another View From Mary Nealy's Window - and a GIVE AWAY!!

I hope you are ready to finish exploring the Ten Plagues with Mary!! We're also going to talk about her jump to this new and exciting genre and what lies ahead for her suspense fiction!

Once again, I'd like for you to welcome Mary Nealy to my Window!!


What led you to switch genres so completely?

I wrote for ten years before I got my first book published and when I finally got my first contract I had twenty finished books on my computer. During those ten years I switched genres a LOT. I decided at some point that if no one was going to publish me, I’d just write to entertain myself. I sold a lot of those twenty books but I’ve got this wild variety of books--probably eight or nine still unsold.

Ten Plagues was one of them. I’d love to sell the rest too, but they’re kind of odd. I’ve probably got five or six more romantic suspense. Three that are sweet romances. One has a mountain woman who grows roses and creates beautiful candles…sniffle. I LOVE that story!

One of those sweet romances includes a stalker so should go to the suspense side? My beloved gothic. One’s a little sci/fi. All of them have at least a bit of comedy which isn’t real welcome in a lot of sweet or suspense novels. Ten Plagues is by far the darkest of them, although the gothic is spooky and takes place in a haunted house (except there are no such things as ghosts, right?) But still...

Where did you get the inspiration for Ten Plagues?

I was reading the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 and all of them are really familiar and I’ve heard people say they had all those other gifts, preaching, teaching, healing, speaking in tongues but I saw that one gift, discerning spirits, and I realized I’d never heard anyone say they had that gift and I wondered why. And what would it be like to walk up to someone and realize you were in the presence of a powerfully good spirit or a terribly evil one. Of course, being an author, I began to ask ‘what if’. And Ten Plagues book grew out of that.

Is it the beginning of a series?

I could totally see Paul and Keren as a detective team but so far no series.


When will you release more suspense fiction?

I don’t know how Ten Plagues sold yet. I’ll find that out in a couple of months. I’m hoping it did well enough for me to have a hope of more romantic suspense novels. We’ll see. Nothing planned so far.

How hard was it to switch genres?

I find it energizing to switch genres. I didn’t really do it for Ten Plagues, although I did a LOT of revisions on an already finished book. Like I said, it was done already. But I have switched genres. The cowboy romantic comedy, I’ve done contemporary sweet romances. I’ve done cozy mysteries. I love jumping around. I think I bring more creativity to the cowboy romances by stepping away from it and then coming back.

Which genre do you enjoy most?

Cowboys will always be my first love. I’ve done very well with romantic comedy with cowboys. But I would love a chance to change things up once in a while.


If you think you would enjoy a copy of this FANTASTIC book! Please leave a comment on this post to be entered for a FREE copy!!


Mary Nealy is the suspense genre pen name for bestselling and award-winning author Mary Connealy, who is best known for her humorous Old West romances. She makes her home with her husband on a ranch in Nebraska. She has four grown daughters.


Please visit her website today to learn more!!

16 comments:

Mocha with Linda said...

I haven't taken the plunge on this one, but I love her writing! Count me in!

jewels67 said...

I would love to read this book!! I seen it one other time as well...

mrslippo@hotmail.com


Julie

tonyaemt said...

I enjoy reading your books and can't wait for this one.

Ruth Logan Herne said...

What a great interview, gals. Being Christmas week, it's hard to get people to come by because they're all on the roads I think...

But let me just say that Mary Connealy and I MET over this book. I COST HER A CONTEST WIN... Almost. They dropped my score and she WON...

And then I had to explain myself. GULP. ;)

Being Mary she forgave me, befriended me, and lets me cling to her coat-tails henceforth. Either that or she knows I'll feed her on occasion and it's worth having me around for the food.

That's more likely.

Great job, ladies and I love, love, love Mary's contemporary suspense novels. I think they're equally as good as her western historical comedies...

But quite different!

Amy L said...

I have loved all the books in Mary's other genres and would love to try this one!

Melissa Jagears said...

I wish I had other genre's in my head just for playing purposes, but I don't. Sounds like it would be fun though.

Mary Connealy said...

Good morning. I love when people read my books and see things in them that I'm not all that sure I put in. I feel like that's God's hand on the work. Something I pray for a lot, to make my say words MORE than I'm capable of making them.

Lucy Thompson said...

Hi! I would LOVE to read 'Ten Plagues'. I'm from Australia, so am not sure if I'm within the boundaries of a give-away. :)

Great interview anyway!
Blessings,
Lucy

Pam said...

I love Mary's romantic comedy with cowboys books. I've also read some of her cozy mysteries (Nosy in Nebraska). I would enjoy winning a copy of "Ten Plagues" to read another of her genres. She's a talented writer so I think anything she writes is bound to be good.
Thanks for giving away a copy of her book.

pmk56[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

Jennifer said...

I love those crawling under the skin books. Colleen Coble wrote a book called,"Fire Dancer" that book delt with demons(the dark side). Very gripping, kept my attention for two days. Praying your book does great!!!
jennydtipton@gmail.com

Dawn Janis said...

I'd love to read this book! My email is dawn(dot)janis(at)gmail(dot)come

Mary Connealy said...

It is far easier to forgive Ruthy since I WON!!!!!!!!!

Yes, she did pan my book. She gave it such a low score that I got a discrepancy judge. Who gave it a 99 or so, out of a hundred, instead of Ruthy's what was it, Ruthy? A 65 maybe??????

Anyway, she was brave and honest and she wrote to me and told me why she done what she done and honestly, she had a pretty good point, especially back then. It wasn't a book that was going to be easy to find a publisher. But being the patient sort only one DECADE later, I finally got it published.

Mary Connealy said...

You're all so nice. Thank you. Good luck in the drawing.

Merry said...

Mary is so talented, I can't wait to read Ten Plagues. Add me please!
worthy2bpraised at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a great book. I love Christian Suspense.

Jill said...

This sounds like a great book. I love Christian Suspense.