Under His Skin by Sidney Bristol – Author Interview and Giveaway

It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life.  She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing. 

Website: http://sidneybristol.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sidney_bristol

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Sidney.Bristol.Romance.Author

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5350370.Sidney_Bristol

A woman who doesn’t believe she deserves love… 

Toe-curling kisses and enough sex to fill a weekend were all Pandora wanted from a fling with her teenage crush. She’s never forgotten how he played the knight in shining armor to her damsel in distress. She’s ready to say thank you in several naughty ways, so long as she can walk away when it’s over with her heart intact.

A man moving on from tragedy…

Brian has no intention of allowing the feisty tattoo artist to leave after one taste. He hasn’t had enough of her inked curves. The packaging might have changed, but Pandy is the woman he hasn’t been able to excise from his memory. He’s ready to put together a new life, one that includes her.

But Brian isn’t the only one vying for Pandora’s attention. Someone else wants her, dead or alive.

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Meet Sidney Bristol

Vivi: What inspires you to write?

Sidney: Everything and everyone, which is a pretty generic answer, I know. Specifically I’m inspired by anomalies in everyday life. After the Olympics they were doing a spotlight on several Para-Athletes who would be competing in the following Paralympics. They were interviewing a man who’d had several limbs removed due to an IED that ended his military career. After I stopped sobbing, because I might not cry a lot but these stories really get me, I was totally enthralled with his story. Despite missing several limbs, he’d turned himself into a swimming machine.

Vivi: Who is your favorite author?

Sidney: Cynthia Eden. Love everything she’s written, and she’s about the sweetest person I’ve met, who just happens to have a thing for serial killers and psychopaths.

Vivi: Are there any underlying themes or messages in your book?

Sidney: There are a lot of those in my books. I like to talk about issues or stuff along with my characters because I feel like it gives me depth. The one theme I hope sticks out is that human beings are amazing and can overcome odds so great it seems impossible. Be that hopeless medical situations, abusive circumstances, great tragedy.

Vivi: Who was your favorite and least favorite character to write?

Sidney: My least favorite to write was the antagonist. He has a history of being emotionally and physically abusive, and to get into that headspace was difficult. I had to write dialogue I would never dream of uttering, but that was what he would have said or done.

My favorite to write was the dog. Is that weird? The hero has a corgi that used to belong to his best friend before his death. The dog loves the hero, but his true master is now gone. There’s a whole bonding between the dog and the heroine, and in a way she helps heal the dog of canine depression and in turn he steals everyone’s heart.

Vivi: What touched you the most about this book?

Sidney: There’s a sub-character named Carly I wrote in because I needed certain things to happen. In edits I realized she was pretty much boring as hell, so I gave her this whole backstory, I tweaked her and suddenly there was all this stuff there. Originally she died in the first version, but I couldn’t let her die. Granted, some people might argue with me and say that her death might have been kinder, but hang with me. Carly’s story might be the hardest to write, but I’m hoping it will be a story readers like.

Vivi: What advice would you give to new writers starting out?

Sidney: Write something you love, something you’re passionate about. It helps when someone doesn’t love your book, because you do.

Vivi: How many queries did you send out before you got a ‘yes’?

Sidney: For this book, one, and it’s the only one that mattered.

Sidney’s Fun Fav’s

Favorite Color: Blue!

Weirdest place you’ve ever been: This is a hard one. I’ve been to some weird places like a cricket farm in Thailand, the catacombs of Paris and a thousand different sketchy rodeo grounds.

It’s a zombie apocalypse. What 3 things do you take with you to survive?:

1)     Water, it’s not talked about a lot, but when the zombies hit, do you really think people are going to be working at the water company?

2)     A blunt object, machete, baseball bat, something that doesn’t require reloading to brain something.

3)     A horse. Gas stations are going to dry up, streets will clog, a horse or a bicycle would be an alternative. A horse, in a gruesome pinch, would also serve as a distraction while you got away.

WOW! Now that’s a lady who knows her zombie emergency procedures. Thank you so much for stopping by and hanging with us today.

Sidney is giving away a choice of print  or digital copy of Under His Skin to one luck commenter. (US Residents only) Please leave your email addy for us to contact you.