Into the Mystic, Volume Three is a short story anthology featuring nine paranormal short stories that center on a lesbian/bisexual romance. I’m super excited about it, since I feel there is a lack of LGBT fantasy romance especially ones that focus on the ladies. Since I know a few of these authors, they let me interview them!
M. Hollis
The Hunt – A first bite is never easy for a teenage vampire.
M. Hollis could never decide what to do with her life. From the time she was a child, she has changed her ideas for a career hundred of times. After writing in hidden notebooks during classes and daydreaming during every spare moment of her day, she decided to fully dedicate herself to her stories. When she isn’t scrolling through her social media accounts or reading lots of femslash fanfiction, you’ll find her crying about female characters and baking cookies.
Favorite Authors:
- GL Tomas
- Siera Maley
- Brigitte Bautista
- Tess Sharpe
- Shira Glassman
Ziggy Schultz closes the mausoleum gate as soon as L.J. passes through. Which is good because L.J. immediately tries to escape.
L.J.: There’s a vampire out here! Let me out!
The vampire draws nearer licking bubble-gum pink lips, then lifts a tray of oatmeal raisin cookies.
M. Hollis: Cookie?
L.J.: Um… obviously. Yeah.
The inside of the mausoleum is in fact a very pretty kitchen. Lots of bright colors and a sign over the table that says “forever thirsty” and has a suspiciously red margarita.
M: So happy you could join me in my happy home. When I heard Ninestar Press was looking for F/F paranormal stories and I decided to write something for them. Vampire stories always fascinated me for some reason.
M. Hollis giggles and flashes her pearly fangs. L.J. eats the cookies.
M.: So it was easy to come up with The Hunt. I wanted to write a story that isn’t dark or creepy for once but more about vampire families and how vampires do the transition from newborns to fully formed vampires. That’s how I came up with the first bite being kind of a ritual for some vampires (not all of them feel the itch to bite humans though).
L.J.: Cool take on vampires. Life cycle. These cookies are amazeballs! So you’re main character is a teenage vampire?
M: “teenage” vampire. She was changed a few days before she turned 19. You can see her on my pinterest. She was scared and alone at the time and she found a family with Carla and Mona (who she calls Mom and Mommy). Carla is a writer who specializes in writing books that tell vampires where the safe and dangerous places are to live and visit while her wife Mona is a translator and they kinda work together sometimes. In this world, vampires have secured themselves into a new dimension where they have their neighborhoods and houses in a safe place, but they come out sometimes for food, pleasure or work.
L.J.: Nice. So you’ve got two F/F couples?
M: Representation is so important. I started reading F/F romance when I was looking for more diverse stories years ago and the more I read the more I figured my sexuality out and my love for other women. So now I like to dedicate myself to reading and writing F/F as much as I can.
L.J.: That’s beautiful. Nearly as beautiful as these cookies… so…what challememes…
L.J. swallows the cookie.
L.J.: What challenges did you face in writing fantasy/romance?
M.: World-building l is always the hardest part for me. I like to write more about the characters themselves than little details so I tend to forget things that other people care about. I guess is something I slowly work with and my beta readers are always helping me out to become a better author. For romance, the challenge is to find a way to tell a love story that will make everyone happy, which is completely impossible. Every person likes different things and you end up making some people happy and some people disappointed. With time, you learn that you can just write a story and see what happens when it reaches other hands.
L.J. suddenly feeling very sleepy, yawns.
L.J.: Yeah, can’t please… everybody all the… Did I ask about your advice to newbies, yet?
M.: Nope. Here, have a seat in this convenient and not at all suspiciously wheeled arm chair. You look exhausted.
L.J.: Well, you know, between the ghosts and demons and werewolves and… oh more cookies. It’s been a weird couple of days. So advice for…
M.: Make friends in the publishing world! Especially, other authors. I don’t know if I could still be here if it wasn’t the many other wonderful authors who encourage me and are always helping me with my stories. And I love helping them back. Working in publishing is hard…
M. Hollis plumps the pillow on the chair.
M.: If you don’t have a good support system, you’ll end up too exhausted to keep going.
L.J. snores as M. Hollis wheels her away…
Find more M. Hollis on her:
Graceful Indecency 