Author Interview with Susan Shay

Friday, April 18, 2009


I am so THRILLED to have one of my oldest writing buddies join us today at PFSW. I met Susan Shay in the Fall of 2005 before I wrote my first word. I've had the privilege of watching her career grow from her first book to now.

Help me welcome Susan to our little home on the internet.

Susan - sit and get comfortable. (*hands her the complementary pink fuzzy slippers*). Tell us all about your new book...

Thanks for letting me wear the pink, fuzzy slippers today. I always enjoy your blogs!

I'm so excited! Today is the release of my second book, BLIND SIGHT! I can hardly keep from stopping strangers just to tell them about it.

Cassie Reynolds is channeling the dreams of a serial killer. But without the resources to stop him—if she's able to discover who he is—how can she succeed? Only cynical Keegan Flynn, who believes in nothing and no one, has the tools needed to complete her gift. Will Cassie be able to make Keegan believe in time, or will Christmas this year be murder?

In BLIND SIGHT a touch psychic and a man who doesn't believe in anything fall in love.

One of the first things I do when I start a manuscript is to "discover" the characters. Cassie Reynolds and Keegan Flynn are the outcome of a conversation I had one day with an old friend. It's when I realized how very different we are.

I'm terribly empathetic. I can put myself in almost anyone's shoes. My friend can only see things one way—hers. I can't talk her over to my side. I can't make her see reason. She always knows what's right...She is.

From my sympathetic soul, Cassie was born. If she touches a man, she not only feels what he feels, she lives it with him. Before the book begins she touched a postman who kidnapped a child and is keeping her in his basement. Cassie saw what he'd done, then kept him in the store so she could alert the police.

Keegan, on the other hand, has a hard heart. His parents belonged to a cult with a false leader he calls Boz. His first big break in a newspaper was when he visited his parents' cult. The leader walked on water and turned water to wine, amazing his followers and taking their money.

Keegan was able to prove the man was a fake, wrote about it for his newspaper, where it hit the AP. Rather than appreciate their son, his parents disowned him for it. After that, he knew he'd never again believe in anything except his sister.

Here's where Keegan learns about Cassie.

It was all Keegan could do to keep from swearing. Cassie claimed to be psychic? And worse, Miriam believed it? What sort of game was this woman playing? “So Cassie told you she was psychic?”

“She’s lived here in the apartment on the top floor for a couple of years, Keegan. She’s my friend and trusts me to keep her secret.”

“Cassie’s the newest princess in the tower?” Unable to stifle a bark of laughter, he snorted loudly. “God, Miriam, you’re such an easy mark. Hey, if we ask really nice and cross her palm with gold, maybe the all-knowing, all-seeing Miss Cassie will read our futures, too.”

Making shushing sounds like a leaky gas pipe, Miriam fluttered her hands at him. “Don’t say that, Keegan. If she heard you, it would hurt her feelings.”

“Aw, hell, Sis. If she’s psychic, she can probably pick up what I’m saying even in the tower.” Hoping to make his point, he fixed his gaze on her and raised his brows. “Let’s try to see this clearly. As a psychic, able to hear every voice speaking at this moment, how would she know which one was mine? And if, like most telepaths, she can also hear thoughts, and everyone in the entire world is not only talking but also thinking at the same time, doesn’t she get confused?”

With a stern look, Miriam folded her arms and leaned back in the chair. “I didn’t say she was a telepath. And besides, it doesn’t work like that. At least, for Cassie it doesn’t. For her, it’s usually touching something or someone that tells her. It’s called psyc-psychometry, I think. She really doesn’t like to talk about it much.”

“Right,” he scoffed. “She doesn’t like to talk about it. So why was the story in the paper?”

Her frown deepened. “The story came from the police, not Cassie. And if you read it again, you’ll see her name’s not mentioned anywhere. She wouldn’t do that.”

All he could do was to lay it on the line for her. With any luck, she’d come to her senses.

“Listen to me, Miriam. She’s following the usual pattern—it’s how these people work. They come on as if they’re your friends to get you on their side. They fill you full of bull, and because you like them so much, you believe anything they tell you. So when it’s time for them to start spreading their crap around town, they don’t even have to fight their own battles. They have you to do it for them.”

Keegan decides to debunk her, and so he has to spend time with her to learn all he can.

“Oh, I can find my way around her. In my hands, this baby will be very happy.” Gingerly caressing the leather-covered steering wheel, he glanced at Cassie in the semi-darkness to see her mouth drop open.

While he hadn’t intended to give the words a sexy spin, seeing her face after she took the phrase the wrong way—eyes at halfmast, cheeks pinking, and her glistening bottom lip caught between her teeth—made him wish he could do it again.

“That’s right. You owned a Volkswagen in college, didn’t you?” Her voice rasped slightly as she buckled her seatbelt, then leaned away from him to angle her back against the door. In a play of shadow and light, the simple red dress she wore made her body look perfect, touchable, kissable.

When she finally turned her head to look at him, the heat in her gaze stole the air from his lungs. Without breath, he COULDN’T speak or think, so he nodded. It didn’t matter what she’d asked. Whatever it was, he’d do it. Or find it. Or climb it. Or build it.

For the woman gazing at him with eyes that could heat his very marrow, he’d do anything at all. Even take on a monster, if need be.

Later Cassie touches a cup in the library coffee shop and "lives" the memory of a murder. She soon learns he's not just a murderer, he's a serial killer, and she can't stop him alone. She needs Keegan to help her, but he doesn't believe in what she is.

Will she convince him in time to stop the murderer or will Christmas this year be murder?

Thanks for letting me stop by!

I'm giving away a copy of BLIND SIGHT. Just comment to get your name in the drawing!

Thanks Susan! Blind Sight is from Wild Rose Publishing. It sounds wonderful.

This interview is also posted at Cynderella's Castle. Comment there for two chances at this wonderful book.

Until Next Time!

Cyndi