An Interview with S.M. Stelmack

The Reading Cafe is happy to welcome S.M. Stelmack, who are the writing team of Serge & Moira Stelmack.  They are here today to discuss two of their recent releases, as well as to tell us a little about themselves.

Let’s meet Serge & Moira.

 

Hi S.M.  Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions today. We are always looking forward to reading about the authors behind the book.

TRC: S.M. Stelmack is the husband/wife writing team of Serge & Moira Stelmack. Will you please tell us about yourselves?

Serge/Moira: We’re just your average couple with kids trying to make a living and doing the best we can. Serge is a partner at an engineering firm and Moira homeschools our two kids. We're both ambitious A type personalities, but we've also got very active imaginations which we express through our writing. Creating stories to share with others is something we love doing together, and it helps us escape all our self-inflicted stressors.

TRC: Have you always been interested in writing? How did you decide to become a writing team, and what are the challenges in writing a book together?

Serge/Moira: Serge was cutting his storytelling teeth by age ten, playing Dungeons & Dragons with his friends. He did that straight into his twenties, by which point he had become a master of creating stories on the fly. Moira took a more conventional route, getting an English degree, writing for magazines and newspapers and penning several unpublished novels too embarrassingly awful to even think about. She also joined her local chapter of Romance Writers of America which enormously improved her craft and understanding of the industry. We decided to write together more or less on a whim, and, like any great partnership, found we each had what the other needed. Serge is amazing at spinning a story but bolts when the couple are left alone in a hotel room. Moira doesn’t know how to get the characters into trouble, much less out of it, but loves to get down and dirty with their emotions and attractions, really bringing them to life. Mind, Serge is always up for providing the male perspective during the sex scenes.

TRC: Is there anything (in general) you find particularly challenging about writing & publishing a book?

Serge/Moira: Avoiding divorce court. Seriously though, we have a lot of heated discussions about how to make our books the best they can be. Since both of us are very driven it can sometimes be difficult to find a happy medium between our strong opinions.

TRC:  Fox Hunt is your first book in your The Femme Vendettas series. Can you tell how you came up with the idea of this series?  What is the premise of this series, and how many books are you planning?

Serge/Moira: Serge's childhood was full of unconventional people, many of which had an uneasy relationship with the police. Though he's kept to the straight and narrow himself, there's always been a fascination with outlaws and criminal subcultures, which really comes out in the stories. We wrote Fox Hunt while one was taking a sabbatical from work and the other was pregnant with our second child. (Guess who was doing which?) The writing was more halyconic than anything we’ve ever done before or since—the manuscript was finished on Friday, and the baby arrived Saturday morning.

The Femme Vendettas are an interconnected series of stories about men and women in the criminal underworld aiming to do the right thing despite their circumstances. We’re not out to glorify crime, but feel that the choices conscientious criminals make can be tough, and often far more complex than for us who reside within the walls of the law. We’ve no idea how many books there will be. If readers continue to enjoy them, we’ll keep writing ‘em. We’re currently working on the second book in the series, Gina Takes Bangkok. It features both the hitman and offbeat office manager from Fox Hunt, and that pattern of elevating minor characters in one book to main characters in the next is something we're planning on continuing.

TRC: Would you please give us a brief description of Fox Hunt?

Serge/Moira: Fox Hunt (The Femme Vendettas) is a 70,000-word high-octane read about an ex-cat burglar who accepts the help of a stuntman in order to find out why the Yakuza suddenly want her dead. That’s about as brief as we can make it.

Link to order Fox Hunt: Amazon

 

 

TRC: Undertow, which is your first book in The UnderCity Chronicles, was recently released in April. Can you please tell us the premise of this series, and how many books are you planning?

Serge/Moira: The UnderCity Chronicles delves into the legends of underground sub-cultures that thrive beneath several famous cities—New York, London, Moscow, Paris and Berlin. We're planning five books in this series, one for each of the cities just mentioned, and there will be some overlap with the stories and characters of our other series.

TRC: Would you please give us a brief description of Undertow?

Serge/Moira: Undertow (The UnderCity Chronicles) is an 80,000-word rescue mission into the New York underground, led by an anthropologist and his high school crush whose niece is held captive by the sub-human creatures that dwell there.

Links to order Undertow: Amazon

 

TRC: On your website, we see you have two more books coming this year, and already have one planned for 2014.  Can you please tell us about these books, and what else you are working on?

Serge/Moira: As we mentioned, we’re currently pounding out the next in the Femme Vendetta series, Gina Takes Bangkok. It’s due for release early September and we’ll be back here for a guest post about it on September 23^rd! Learning about Thai culture is fascinating and explains so much about Gina’s spontaneity. Next up will be Midnight Everlasting, the second in the UnderCity Chronicles, set in London. Rats and romance. Nice ring, eh? The third one is Entrapped, the first in a series about people who have been subjected to bizarre and unethical experiments by the shadowy Hallorvorden Society.

TRC: What is your writing process, especially since you are a team?  Do you like to write at specific times, in a special place, etc?

Serge/Moira: Between jobs and family and the continual hiccups that both provide, we write when we can. Right now, I (Moira) am doing this interview while Serge is at the office writing a scene before his work day starts. Come his lunch break he'll email me his work, and over the phone I’ll read aloud what he’s written. We’ll discuss it and carry on from there. In the final editing stages, after it comes back from our editor, it’s grueling because both of us are perfectionists, and every word looms large at that point.

TRC: You write in the Romance Suspense/Thriller genre. Is there any other genre you are interested in writing?

Serge/Moira: Moira is also working independently on an historical romance set in Russia. It features a female assassin, and the Tsarist officer charged with uncovering the conspiracy she's involved in.

TRC: What are your favorite things you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Serge/Moira: Hmmm…not sure if your site allows adult content, so we better not answer this one.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Serge/Moira: Thanks for the inviting us to The Reading Café!

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: Instant Noodles. (Serge) Anything she hasn't had to cook herself. (Moira)

Favorite Dessert: Sprinkle Donuts. (Serge) Stewed rhubarb. (Moira)

Favorite Novel: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (Serge) Nope, uh-uh, not picking favorites. (Moira)

Favorite Movie: Lair of the White Worm. (both) It’s sooooo bad, it’s hilarious.

Favorite Literary Character (Male or Female) Not your own: Winston Smith from Nineteen Eighty-Four. Nope, uh-uh, not picking favorites. (Moira)

Milk or Dark Chocolate: Milk for both. It goes so well with so many other good things!

Thank you Serge & Moira for answering our questions. The Reading Café wishes you the best of luck with Fox Hunt & Undertow.

S.M. Stelmack has graciously offered one lucky member of The Reading Cafe an e-copy of both of their recent releases, Fox Hunt and Undertow.    Because this is Kindle only, the winner must have a Kindle reader or use the Kindle app.BONUS story. Dear Delta Letters (Delta Fox from FOX HUNT) a bonus story to be added to giveaway..

1.  You must be a member at The Reading Cafe. If you are not a member, please register using the Log-In at the top of the page, or by using one of our social log-ins.

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3.  Giveaway open to US & Canada Only

4.  Contests runs from June 28 to July 1, 2013