Valentine's Day with Victoria Foyt - Interview and GIVEAWAY!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my lovely readers!!

Today I am pleased to feature my very first ever author interview with the very talented Victoria Foyt, author of the awesome Revealing Eden: Save the Pearls (click here for my review). I really appreciate the time she took out of her busy schedule for me! She has also agreed to give one lucky reader a print copy of Revealing Eden! More about that after the interview!

So, first let’s get those typical questions out of the way…I’m sure you’ve been asked a million times, but, hey, inquiring minds want to know!

Tell us a little about your personal life? Married? Children? Furry Children? Hobbies?

My children are no longer furry, alas. My daughter is a sophomore at NYU film school, my son a budding thespian in high school. I feel so grateful to be their mom; it’s an extraordinary journey. I live with another artist, a very talented sculptor, who understands why I disappear into my studio for long hours and my passion for writing. Like the romantic hero of Revealing Eden, he’s beastly, in a good way. In fact, I dedicated the book to him!

Hobbies—who has time? Reading is my favorite pastime, at least two books a month. And after sitting at my computer for long stretches, I like to exercise, mainly walking along the seaside bluffs or playing tennis. I’m hoping to learn to sail as soon as I finish the third book in the Save The Pearls series.  

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer, and what was the first thing you remember writing?

I always wanted to be a writer; I couldn’t not write. I wrote a lot of poetry in high school, a practice I returned to whenever my heart was broken.  One in particular, a sonnet, was my favorite, and I’ve included it in a novel that I’ve been working on for a while. Later, I wrote screenplays, which were turned into indie movies: Déjà Vu, Last Summer in The Hamptons, Babyfever, Going Shopping, Festival In Cannes. Of all the forms of writing, novels satisfy me the most.

Who were your favorite authors growing up, and who are your favorite authors now?

As a youngster, I tended to read the classics, perhaps because that’s what I found on my parents’ bookshelves: Margaret Mitchell, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dickens, Dumas, Nabokov, Dostoyevsky. Heady, great stuff! In college, as a foreign language major, I fell in love with Cervantes, Lorca, Camus. Now, my favorite authors include Jane Austen, or course, and Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jeffrey Eugenides, and the languorous Haruki Murakami. To me, each great book is like a small, exciting master class in writing.

In Revealing Eden, people are given “mate rates” – the darker their skin color, along with wealth and social status, the higher the mate rate. Tell us what celebrity (real or fictional) would get the highest mate rate from you and why.

What a great question! Actually, I modeled Ronson Bramford on Sir Richard Branson, the head of Virgin, who funds visionary research in air and space exploration. I figured that if he were faced with a similar situation on Earth that caused people to die from the extreme solar radiation, he might develop a technology to save the world. Of course, like Eden, Branson’s white skin would brand him a Pearl with a low mate-rate. The highest rating might go to someone like Jay-Z, who is young, rich and dark.

Eden’s father combines the DNA of 3 animals to alter Bramford’s DNA in an experiment to make him a more “superior” species. If you could do this to yourself, which animals would you choose and why?

Perhaps, like Eden’s father, I would take something from the same three great predators—the jaguar, harpy eagle, and anaconda—which would give me an edge on land, water and air.  In Bramford’s case, the primary donor is the black jaguar, and I would choose the same. However, I would go for the more familiar russet-coloring. Love that print!

Can you tell us anything about the next book?

Gladly. In Adapting Eden (Save The Pearls Part Two), the past comes back to haunt Eden Newman. If she thought life and love challenged her in Revealing Eden, the stakes ratchet even higher in the next book. She must fight to save those she loves against impossible odds, testing herself beyond her limits—in love and physical strength—while the countdown to humanity’s extinction continues. I’ll tell you, being in her head is a wild, exciting ride! Overall, her journey takes her from oppressed, fearful girl to an alpha babe, or Jaguar Babe.

And now for some random questions:

It is Valentine’s Day – do you have any special plans?

My boyfriend and I are going out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant I love. That sounds so prosaic, but now that I have love in my life I really enjoy all those silly rituals I once disdained. I’m sure we’ll find something inventive to do afterwards!

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Despite my intense love affair with chocolate, I prefer coffee flavored ice cream. Although in Italy, I had a pistachio gelato that was out of this world.

Any weird obsessions or quirks?

Tons, but I wouldn’t reveal most. I can tell you I would make a lousy vampire. I love to rise at the crack of dawn. Everything about the morning delights me: the quiet freshness, a feeling of renewal, and the first slant of daylight give me a powerful feeling. Also, because of my acute memory, I get bored watching the same movie twice so immortality would be a drag.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

I’ve given up my guilt over my love for dark chocolate. I don’t care whether or not it’s good for me, or fattening, or whatever. It gets me through the day.

Thanks for your interest. By the way, I love to hear from readers. Please visit me at VictoriaFoyt.com or at Facebook.com/VictoriaFoyt and check out the awesome, dynamic interactive site SavethePearls.com or on Facebook.com/SaveThePearls. You make it all worthwhile.

And seriously, guys, Revealing Eden:Save the Pearls was an awesome book! Go check it out! Click the cover below to look at it on amazon!

And now for the giveaway...Contest is international, and one winner will receive one hardback copy of Revealing Eden: Save the Pearls. Contest will run for 2 weeks and winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway