Friday, March 4, 2011

Interview & giveaway with Anna Campbell


Hi Anna, can you give us a little run down on what your books are about?

Hi Jo-Anne! Thanks for having me as your guest today. I have to laugh. What are my books about? How long have you got? Just something general – all my books are set in the 1820s in England or Scotland. They’re intense, dramatic Regency historicals. I tend to gravitate toward gutsy women and tortured heroes and the books are pretty sexy and emotionally complex. I’d say most of my stories are various takes on Beauty and the Beast – CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, UNTOUCHED, TEMPT THE DEVIL, CAPTIVE OF SIN and MY RECKLESS SURRENDER. My sixth book, MIDNIGHT’S WILD PASSION, comes out in May. It’s my first Cinderella story! They’re all stand-alone stories although there’s a very loose linking between CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, TEMPT THE DEVIL and MY RECKLESS SURRENDER.

You can read about the books on my website: http://annacampbell.info/books.html


Why did you choose to write historical romance?

I’ve always been in love with the drama and romance of the past. I love to be swept away into that larger-than-life world that a great historical romance offers. And hey, they wear great clothes!

If you ever have have more than one idea floating around in your head, how do you decide which idea is going to be an actual story?

Great question! Actually I tend to have one idea that will obsess me to the exclusion of all else. I’ll get the germ of a story and let it sit in the back of my brain (usually while I’m working on the current story). It’s strangely magnetic – all these elements coalesce around it while it’s stewing in the back there. Hmm, this is turning into quite a stew of mixed metaphors. Then once I’ve finished the current story, I’ve got the bones of the new one ready for a beginning.

Which out of your books do you feel was the hardest to write?

Actually I can tell you the easiest book to write – MIDNIGHT’S WILD PASSION seemed to come from somewhere else so that I felt I was just taking dictation for a lot of the story. That’s never happened to me before. The other books have all been really hard slog.

Do you ever think about actors when writing your characters?

I often start with a real-life model for my characters but as I write the story, the characters become individuals and the original model becomes less important. Some examples of jumping off points for characters include Daniel Day-Lewis (especially in his Last of the Mohican gear!) for CLAIMING THE COURTESAN and Bryan Ferry in the 80s for the Earl of Erith in TEMPT THE DEVIL. My heroine in MY RECKLESS SURRENDER was definitely an Ingrid Bergman type. In the story I’m currently writing, the heroine Sidonie is in the young Sophia Loren mold (lucky girl!).

Do you have to do much research for your books? If so, what is the most interesting or unusual thing you have discovered.

After writing six books set in the 1820s, I’ve got a fairly good general knowledge of the period. Often a book will cover an area where I have to delve more deeply into some particular aspect. With CAPTIVE OF SIN, my hero Gideon Trevithick works for the East India Company before he comes home to England. I had to read up a lot on Indian history to make sure I had him right although like most research, very little of it actually ends up in the story. I think the writer needs to know, though! Unusual and interesting stuff turns up all the time but something a bit uncanny happened when I was researching my first book, CLAIMING THE COURTESAN. After I’d written the first draft, I was reading a book called COURTESANS by Katie Hickman. It detailed the lives of a number of famous courtesans in the 18th and 19th centuries and one of the women, Elizabeth Armistead, was the mirror image of my Verity, even to the point of a love match marriage with her protector, a powerful man from an aristocratic family.

Are you working on any new ideas at the moment?

I’m in the middle of a gothic take on Beauty and the Beast. It’s great that it’s such a rich source of themes!

Would you consider writing another genre? If, which would it be and why?

Actually I ADORE writing historicals. I’d love to write them forever!

What do you think it is that we find so appealing about the tortured hero?

Oh, what an interesting question. I think it’s something to do with gold purified through fire. You know, he emerges at the end of the story a better, wiser and stronger person than he is at the start because he’s suffered trials and tribulations and he’s come out the other side having proven his character. I also think readers are automatically onside with a tortured hero. We all like to see someone win through against trouble.

I had never read a historical/regency romance until about a year ago when my Aunt told me about her favourite authors Rosemary Rodgers and Kathleen Woodiwiss. Do you have a favourite romance author?

Jo-Anne, you’ve got so many wonderful books ahead of you! Picking one favourite would be impossible. Try Liz Carlyle or Loretta Chase or Laura Kinsale or Madeline Hunter or Christine Wells. A couple of favourite books from last year are Emily May’s THE UNMASKING OF A LADY and Miranda Neville’s THE DANGEROUS VISCOUNT.

Do you get many requests from friends/fans for their own brooding, tortured hero? Because, you know, I'd like one......

Haha! Yeah, lots of people seem to want to take the heroes home. They all have their particular fans but I'd say the two who particularly hit the spot with readers were Gideon from CAPTIVE OF SIN and Matthew from UNTOUCHED.  


Always a voracious reader, ANNA CAMPBELL decided when she was a child that she wanted to be a writer. Once she discovered the wonderful world of romance novels, she knew exactly what she wanted to write. Anna has won numerous awards for her Avon historical romances includingRomantic Times Reviewers Choice, the Booksellers Best, the Golden Quill, the Heart of Excellence, the Aspen Gold and the Australian Romance Readers Association's most popular historical romance (twice). Her books have twice been nominated for Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award and twice for Australia's Romantic Book of the Year.

When she's not writing passionate, intense stories featuring gorgeous Regency heroes and the women who are their destiny, Anna loves to travel, especially in the United Kingdom, and listen to all kinds of music. She lives near the sea on the east coast of Australia, where she's losing her battle with an overgrown subtropical garden.




To win a signed copy of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, just answer this question from Anna:
What is your favorite Regency historical?
Don't forget to leave you email. Giveaway is international & ends 11th March.

41 comments:

  1. It would have to be Claiming The Courtesan.
    Scotland525@yahoo.com

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  2. Wow, Debra, you know the way to an author's heart! LOL! Thank you! I'm so glad you loved Verity and Kylemore's story!

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  3. Besides yours... :)

    This is very difficult for me as I love many different authors and books. But I will go with Karen Ranney's "An Unlikely Governess".

    Congrats on the new release.

    Email is janets@satx(dot)rr(dot)com

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  4. Too many to list... Anything by Julia Quinn or Anna Campbell or Julie Anne Long?

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  5. Janet, love the 'besides yours' bit! Thank you! I love Karen's books - there's a couple of particular favourites, AFTER THE KISS and MY TRUE LOVE which is set in the English Civil War and is an amazing story.

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  6. Maybe, that's a wonderful double you've included me with. Absolutely classic writers. Good choices!

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  7. It's really tough to pick since I just chew through all of the Regency historicals. I'll have to list three of my fave authors - Anna Campbell (of course!), Mary Jo Putney, and of course the author whose books I cut my teeth on - Barbara Cartland.

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  8. Lulu, I cut my Regency teeth on BC and Georgette Heyer! I learnt a lot of history from BC for which I'll always be grateful. Hey, thanks for mentioning me and MJP writes classic romance, doesn't she? I chew through Regencies too!

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  9. I'd have to say I can't pick just one, I guess it would have to be one of Julia Quinn's BRIDGERTON series, cause they make me laugh.

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  10. Marie, the Bridgerton books are classics, aren't they? What I love about them is while they make me laugh, they also pack a big emotional punch too. Great choice.

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  11. I reaaly enjoy reading Madeline Hunter's rarest bloom series and I'm waiting for the last series

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  12. Julian, I LOVE those books. Some of my best reads from last year. I'm desperately waiting for Diamonds too - I think it's going to be a doozy.

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  13. That is a hard question. I have read so many good Regencies.
    I am just now discovering yours. I am excited that you use a variation of the Beauty and the Beast in many of your stories. It is my favorite story line. I have heard that UNTOUCHED was your best book and I got it tonight. Can't wait to read it.
    Stephanie Laurens, Eloisa James, Kat Martin come to mind, but I know I have read and enjoyed many others. More good authors are showing up all the time. Makes it so hard to keep up with everything I want to read.

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  14. Hey, Pat, aren't you a honey? A lot of readers LOVED Untouched which made me very happy. Another book that really struck a chord with readers was Captive of Sin. It's hard to pick a favorite Regency, isn't it? I'm making people work for their giveaway. Bwahahahahaha! And you're so right about Beauty and the Beast - I'm writing another version of it right now. Amazing how rich the themes in that story are. This one is very gothic and hopefully will be out next year.

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  15. My favorite regency has to be The Duke by Gaelen Foley. It was the very first historical romance I ever read and I completely fell in love with both the book and the genre. I hate to think what might have happened if I'd read another regency and not liked it. I probably wouldn't have read any more historical romances and would have missed out on so many wonderful reads. Historical fiction really isn't my thing so I was very hesitant to journey into historical romance.

    bittenbooks at gmail dot com

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  16. Kaity, isn't it wonderful when one great book is your gateway to a whole life of reading joy. Fantastic choice! Glad you ventured further into the genre!

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  17. There are so many wonderful recency books to choose from. I love series and Sabrina Jeffries has written alot that ties into each other. The Brotherhood trilogy led to the Heiresses, and they have led to the Hellions. This is my favorite time frame for books, probably because so many wonderful books were set during it.

    manning_j2004 [at] yahoo [dot] com

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  18. My fave regency historical would have to be Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James

    claroxide@yahoo.co.in

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  19. June, you're spoilt for choice with a Regency, aren't you? I agree with you about Sabrina's books - she's great. Great choice!

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  20. Clary, Potent Pleasures is great, isn't it? I've got Eloisa's new fairytale romances on the TBR pile - oh, man, I don't think I'm ever going to conquer that particular mountain!

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  21. OOOh that's a tough question. I've read so many great ones. Sabrina Jeffries has written several really great ones as have you. Tempt the Devil was one of my favorites.

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  22. Anna Campbell's, Lori Brighton's, Beverly Kendall's...my favorite authors :)

    uniquas at ymail dot com

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  23. Hey, thanks, Lisa! So glad you love TTD. Isn't it lovely to see Sabrina picked out as a favorite so often? I think her books are great.

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  24. Thanks, Mariska! That's some great company you've put me in there!

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  25. I just love historicals so I have many many favorites and find something special in most of them. I just finished How to Marry A Duke by Vicky Dreiling and have added it to my large list of likes.

    rjofus(at)gmail(dot)com

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  26. I've heard great things about Vicky's books. I love the way the titles are takes on classic movies! Thanks for swinging by, Chris.

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  27. When I was in high school reading regency novels from the library was what turned me on to romance novels. I believe they were Zebra, with a tuzzy muzzy stylized logo. What a fountain of regency love!
    Now that I am older I still love to tuck in to the old ones that I adored (and actually kept) but when I want something "meaty" I'll grab my Julia Quinns.

    morgan_baby@yahoo.com

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  28. Anna, A few weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to say this but now I can say your book - Tempt the Devil! (Thanks again). I literally wasn't able to put it down and it was an all night read. (It took that long because I kept going over my favorrte passages and scenes!)
    It's definately one book I want to re-read so no one in my family better even think about borrowing it.

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  29. Oh, Morgan, the wonderful old trads. A lot of mega star authors like Loretta Chase started out writing trads. And JQ is always good!

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  30. Wow, Jeanne, that's amazing praise! THANK YOU! I'm so glad you enjoyed Erith and Olivia's story so much - it was very close to my heart because they were older and had different issues from my younger characters. Laughing at you sheepdogging the family away from it! ;-)

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  31. Great questions and answers! Loved it!

    Favorite Regency historical? I'm speechless as there are just way too many to list. It is usually the book I am reading at the moment. I love the time period and imagining what it would be like to have lived back then.

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  32. Oh wow....that's a hard question! I was the one who, in her 20s would "borrow" my mother's books....secretly. She and a friend would buy books every week & trade them. I don't know which author I was ever really reading....I just knew that I fell in love with the historical settings....ME! I wasn't much into history...any history....these just made me love it. Now I love all kinds of books but I especially would love to give your books to my mom. You will be a new author to her. I've read several of your interviews but not one of your books yet.

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  33. Hey, Susie, thanks for saying you enjoyed the interview! It was a lot of fun to do. I know - it's impossible to pick just one RH, isn't it? That's why I asked you guys! LOL! I often imagine what it would be like to live back then (I get paid for it!) but I must say I'm always very glad as a woman that I live in a Western democracy in the 21st century!

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  34. Kimmie, the books are MUCH more interesting than the interviews, LOL! I hope you and your mum have a great time with them. Your post made me nostalgic - my late mother and I used to swap great books all the time. It was odd - we were quite different people but we tended to agree on what was a great romance novel. And yeah, I think the uni courses in history would be packed if only they taught the subject from historical romances!

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  35. I love historial romances. they are great. i makes you think of what it would be like in thosse times. my favorite would have to be claiming the courtesen.

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  36. christinebails@yahoo.com

    forgot to leave my email.

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  37. Hey, Chris, what FABULOUS taste you have! LOL! Thank you so much! Actually I was thinking about Courtesan when I was writing this latest one, thinking about how poor Verity didn't get to wear very many nice frocks!

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  38. I love historical romances. I just started reading the regencies so I don't have many to choose from. I did read How To Mary A Duke by Vicky Dreiling and I loved it! So, I guess it's my favorite so far. Anna, your books sound great! Can't wait to start reading them.

    Thank yu for the Giveaway!

    qladyhawke at gmail dot com

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  39. Hi Linda! Hey, I think you're going to be reading a book of mine because you won the prize on the Bandits invasion of Ashley March. Whoo-hooo! I've heard great stuff about Vicky's books. I'll have to add them to the TBR.

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  40. besides ur book temptthe devil hands down fav is hellion of hillstead hall book one in the hellion series


    mortalsinn@yahoo.com

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  41. Great interview! :)) Such a pretty cover...

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