Welcome Ericka Scott! We are so pleased that you could join us and tell us more about Mojave Moon. I must say, I love time travel stories and your book did not disappoint in the least.  Could you tell us how the story came about?

Back in 1994, I had the opportunity working as a contractor to document some archaeological findings at a local Air Force Base. It was amazing to see the history of the area through artifacts and oral histories. In my trusty story idea notebook, I’d written, write WWII time travel. Then, just recently, I saw a couple of interesting documentaries, one about the Philadelphia Experiment, and another one on the Unified String Theory…and the story was born.

You keep the reader hooked with all the twists and turns, I never knew what the next page would bring. Was it tough keeping track of all the suspense elements?

Yes and no…I’m a plotter, so I had all of the main points notated in my outline. However, as I wrote, the story changed, even the villain changed! In a way that was fun, as I realized I’d already laid in all the “red herrings” that led to the wrong culprit. The second draft of this novella involved lots of sticky notes to myself to check facts, time lines, and clues.

Would you like to tell us a little something about the main characters, Jake and Mia?

As I mentioned, I worked on an Air Force Base as a contractor for over ten years. Jake embodies the best and brightest of all the pilots I worked with. Mia isn’t the perfect Army wife everyone pictures from the forties. She has a troubled past which gives her fortitude and flexibility, characteristics that were very important for a modern woman trying to fit into the past.

This is an amazing read and we would love if you could tell us a little about the story itself, the time, the place, without giving away too much of the book.

The premise of Mojave Moon has been with me for a long time. It has all the elements of a story that I love to read, a mysterious past, a box of clues, a spunky heroine, and a sexy hero.

Mia has a mysterious past. Her grandmother was arrested as a Nazi spy during World War II. while working at an infamous “ranch” (rumored to be a brothel) owned by a famous aviatrix, Blythe Skye, and located near a local Air Force Base. Although she didn’t begin researching her family to clear her grandmother’s name, she simply wanted to know more about the circumstances. By chance, Mia has the opportunity to work at Blythe’s 100th birthday party. A plane flies overhead, breaking the sound barrier and in that moment, Mia touches her grandmother’s locket and falls through time, finding herself 65 years earlier at the Blythe Skies Ranch. Unfortunately, her arrival in the past changed history. Instead of being arrested, Mia’s grandmother was murdered — and Mia sets out to find out the answers.

Jake Sands is an Air Force Captain involved in a top-secret research project. He and a fellow pilot have been testing Nikola Tesla’s Unified String Theory using a mysterious black box, the one used in the infamous Philadelphia Experiment to make a large ship disappear, with mixed results. Jake was also the prime suspect in Mia’s grandmother’s murder, until he was cleared by the statement of one of the women who worked at the ranch as well as a beer bottle full of arsenic. Jake survived but is now determined to find out who targeted him for death, and why? And his main suspect is Mia!
Set against the backdrop of secret missions, mistaken identities, Nazi spies, and larger than life characters, Mia and Jake discover that the past isn’t always what it seems…

Are you working on any other time travel stories at the moment?

No, but that could change. I’d really like to bring someone from the past forward, in fact, I’d originally plotted to bring Jake into the future. But as I started writing, I realized Mia’s story was much stronger, and the story worked better taking her into the past.

What do you have planned, writing wise, for the rest of 2008?

Good question! My initial goal for 2008 was to write a novella a month. I’m on track with that. I also have three werewolf novellas I’d like to finish as companions to The Werewolf Whisperer, being reissued by Phaze in August ’08. And I’ve plotted out a sequel to Postcards from the Dead, published by Cobblestone Press, October ’07 that I’m hoping to submit to Cobblestone for a Christmas release.

Do you plan on attending any conferences or book signings? If so, when and where?

I will be at RWA Nationals in San Francisco this year. It will be my very first convention and I’m really excited to be attending.

If you were given the choice, would you prefer to go back in time, if so what time period, or go forward into the future?

I would definitely want to see the future — besides I really like my modern conveniences too much to give them up!

What is the driving force that motivates you to continue writing?

I’ve wanted to “be” a writer for as long as I can remember. As early as grade school, I had notebooks filled with little short stories. I think I’ll continue to write until the ‘well of stories’ in my imagination runs dry.

I’d like to thank you for spending this time with us and for telling us about your wonderful book, Mojave Moon. Many wishes for your future success and congratulations on becoming a Dark Tarot author. I will be anxiously waiting for your story from Tease. Thank you once again for joining us today.