Interview with Keira Ramsey

I have the wonderful pleasure of interviewing the author Keira Ramsey also known as Terri Schaefer. She writes hot steamy stories under the pen name of Keira Ramsay.  So tell us a little bit about Terran Realm:Redemption?  

Redemption is the story of Brenna Kennedy and Donovan Callahan…she’s a librarian in Boston, and the Warden of the ancient Book of the Sorhineth.  Donovan is a Terran Protector…Terrans are a wicked-old preternatural race charged with taking care of the Earth, and by extension, the humans.  But the Terrans have become complacent, reveling in the easy money and high times of 1980s San Francisco.  When the Loma Prieta earthquake strikes San Francisco (where the Terrans are headquartered), Donovan knows he has to do something to put his people back on track, and finding the Book of the Sorhineth is the first step in that quest.   

Did you find it fun to write the first book in the series? 

It was a blast!  When Rae Morgan came up with the idea, and pitched it to Linda Eberharter, they brought me on board for the brainstorming session.  It took us a while to get the worldbuilding and general focus of where we wanted the series to go nailed down, but after that, it was all about the writing, and creating an alternate, urban fantasy world that folks would buy.  I think we’ve succeeded!

Did your readers accept your two pen names quickly or did it take some time? 

It took a bit at first, because my two writing styles are very different.  As TL my stuff is straight-up romance, be it romantic suspense or fantasy romance.  That’s a pretty big departure from erotic romance, at least when I started writing it.  Nowadays I’m finding that erotic romance is edging more and more toward erotica, so I have to wonder if my Keira books aren’t becoming more mainstream, especially as I read more and more NY pubbed books that are explicit in ways I’d never have dreamed of back in the day.

Was there any research involved in writing this book or were you able to just create the world with the other three authors? 

I did a ton of research on the eighties, just to make sure I got my facts and flavor right.  I mean, sure I’m a child of the eighties, and I grew up in Northern California, but I didn’t want my perceptions of today to color what it was like when I was a teen.  Between Linda, Rae and I, our brainstorming sessions set up the “rules” of the world pretty clearly, and then it was up to the authors to bring their own special flavor to each subsequent story.  For example, the next book in the series is by a new author to Liquid Silver, and all of her book takes place in Ireland.  How cool is that?

Do you find that it is easier to write hot or clean romances? 

A lot of it depends on my mood *g*.  Since my Keira stories are heavily plot and character based, with the explicit sensuality woven in, the writing itself is along the lines of my TL books.  The flavor, however is different.  As Keira, I love exploring paranormal fantasy, like my RuneQuest novellas, where as TL, I tend to be grittier and more contemporary.

Has anyone ever told you that you could not write or that you just couldn’t do it? If so, how did you handle that? 

Well, I’ve had serious nibbles from NY on the last two TL books I’ve written, but in the end, they weren’t “shelvable” because I cross genres.  That’s why I chose to go with Atlantic Bridge and Samhain for them.  I love the fact that Atlantic Bridge/Liquid Silver and Samhain let us authors just tell the story in the best way we can, rather than bending to market trends.  Because, to be honest, I see smaller publishing houses like LS and Samhain leading the way for trending…it’s a great place to try something out and see if it flies!

How do you get your ideas for your stories? 

From everywhere!  Just last week I was driving to work and came across this little creek where the mist was just hanging.  I promptly pulled over and wrote down a three sentence descriptor that I just know will find its way into a book soon.  I have tons of those little pieces of paper laying around or transcribed on the computer, just waiting!

What inspires you to write the stories you do? 

When I wrote my first book, it was just to see if I could do it.  I’d heard a news report about something similar on a drive back to California for a family reunion, and by the time we got there, the wheels were churning.  That was back in 1999, and I haven’t stopped since! 

Is there any sub-genre that you have not written yet that you would like to try? 

Definitely a sci-fi or post-apocalyptic story.  I’ve been noodling with one based on a pitch I gave in Dallas to Black Lace, but it’s not quite gelled in my head yet, so I’ll just keep pondering until it does!

I saw that you have a book coming soon under your name of Terri Schaefer, can you tell us about it? 

Actually, that one was released earlier this year by Samhain…it’s called the Saints of Midland and is a fantasy romance.  It’s about a witch and a ghostly deputy who are drawn into another plane of existence to fulfill an ages-old prophecy, and save both our world and the other (Midland) from an evil overlord.  I had a blast writing that one…it was my first first-person story.  The TL book I’m shopping around now is called View to a Kill and is about a crime scene reporter who sees another dimension that’s only muted when she looks through the viewfinder of her camera. 

Anything else you would like us to know about?  Just that I post all of my works in progress on my website in addition to running a monthly contest for my mailing list subscribers where you can win a $10 Amazon or Fictionwise gift certificate.

Thanks SO much for having me today…this was fun!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to share about your work and experiences. I really do appreciate it!