INTERVIEW

Sid Love: Welcome to The Blog of Sid Love Anna! It is exciting to have you here with us today. To tell the readers about today’s event, Anna Martin is stopping by to promo her newest book “Jurassic Heart” and I am going to engage her in some interesting Q&A. So, how does it feel to be here, Anna?

Anna Martin: I’m excited! If anyone has seen me talking about ‘Jurassic’ on social media they’ll already know I’m quite enthusiastic about it…

Sid Love: The title – “Jurassic Heart” – itself is enough to pique any reader’s interest. Why don’t you tell us a bit about this book?

Anna Martin: Well, I sort of came up with it as a working title and had a good old giggle to myself at the time, not thinking for a minute that Dreamspinner would actually let me use it. Then they did, and people seem to like it, so I’m happy I kept it! My idea was to write a book about dinosaurs because I’m a total dinosaur geek and have been since I was a kid. Nick – the main character of the story – was easy to come up with… he’s a dinosaur geek too, so I could channel a lot of my own inner geekiness through him. To balance out my very scientific, left brain guy I wanted a very earthy, romantic right brain guy, which is where Hunter came in. From there, I got to mix the elements of a paleontological dig with the mystery element and a love/hate relationship, and there you go!

Sid Love: That’s brilliant. Paleontology is an interesting branch of science, though very complicated in its own nature. The information you provide through this book relating to it is remarkable, which makes me ask my next question- Have you studied in this field personally and if not, how did you do your research to get your facts straight?

Anna Martin: Oh, I’m laughing! No. I haven’t studied anything scientific since I was sixteen, when double science was the only GCSE where I got a lower grade than predicted. There are a few paleontology blogs that I follow anyway, because you get all the good news from them months before it gets published in the academic journals or in the newspapers. I read a lot of books, went to the library, emailed some real life paleontologists and asked them how it all works. Read a lot more. I am very aware that there are parts of the book which are not accurate, and if a real paleontologist read it they would be able to point out the errors. But I hope that I managed to put enough information across to be interesting, without diverting from the course of the story. That was my aim.

Sid Love: It is impressive and as far as I know, you have succeeded to achieve what you aimed for. Paleontology is filled with marvelous discoveries, that’s for sure. But was there anything about this field that you came across during your study that you didn’t like much?

Anna Martin: That I didn’t like? Hmm… all the stuff that contradicted what I wanted to do and forced me to re-write parts of the book because they were inaccurate and/or impossible! A lot of that I tried to turn to my advantage, such as the issue I had with Deinonychus – they’ve been found all over America, but never as far north as Canada, more specifically Alberta where the book is set. So it would be unprecedented for someone to find a raptor there. I really, really wanted it to be a raptor find, rather than another type of dinosaur, so I just sort of built that into the story.

Sid Love: How does Hunter come into the picture?

Anna Martin: I always had a good feel for Hunter. It took me a while to unravel him – he’s a bit of a complex character – but I always knew he came from a First Nations/French background and that he had brothers, and that his passion for conservation was something he discovered almost as he grew up. He plays an important role in the story – first as the antagonist, then the romantic interest, then as the person who Nick comes to rely on. Nick is the sort of character who needed someone equally as strong as he is to bash heads against, and Hunter is as passionate about his work as Nick is about paleontology, so they were a good match for each other.

Sid Love: In “Jurassic”, we see a lot of change happening over the course in Hunter’s personality. As you said, he is an antagonist at first, then turns to be a love interest. Was that a choice you made to portray him like that?

Anna Martin: I think it’s important to realize that we look at Hunter through Nick’s eyes. Nick is the narrator of the story, and not necessarily a reliable one. At first, as far as Nick is concerned Hunter is this bastard who is trying to get his dig shut down. Then there’s this sort of simmering tension between them which is sexually charged on both sides, but neither man wants to admit to it. Nick doesn’t admit a lot of stuff to himself, so you sort of have to interpret him! I think all of those parts of Hunter exist at the same time, it’s just that Nick is discovering them one at a time through the course of the story rather than all at once. So he sort of changes for the reader as Nick allows himself to see Hunter as more than just this mustache-twirling, one-dimensional villain.

Sid Love: Fair enough. But if this story was written from Hunter’s POV, how would he see our beloved, geeky Nick through his eyes?

Anna Martin: Oh Sid. I really hate you right now. Writing that would be so much fun!! Had we but world enough, and time… To Hunter, Nick is an irritation. He’s stubborn and annoying and willfully doing damage that he can’t undo. That’s what really sticks for Hunter – that Nick knows exactly what’s being sacrificed in the name of discovery and he does it anyway. As far as attraction goes, Hunter is attracted to what Nick doesn’t recognize in himself. He’s actually a very good looking guy, despite all of his misgivings about himself and his body. I think Hunter likes the challenge, too – Nick isn’t ever going to be an easy person to be with, they’re always going to argue, but that spark of passion they both have will make for some awesome make-up sex!

Sid Love: Hate me all you want, but you have gotta admit – just summarising Hunter’s views on Nick was fun, wasn’t it? 😉

Anna Martin: Um, yes, a little bit. 😉

Analyzing all this so long after I wrote it is weird for me. I very much subscribe to the ‘Death of the Author’ theory – I like letting my books speak for themselves, so I don’t often delve back in after they’ve been released. It’s very interesting though… hindsight is definitely allowing me to see it all much better than I could when I was writing it!

Sid Love: There’s another interesting character in this book named Boner (THAT is a funny name) and readers are seemingly enjoying him. Tell us a bit about him – from Hunter’s POV … haha!

Anna Martin: Haha! Oh, Boner. Everyone loves Boner. I thought it would be funny to call a guy who digs up dinosaur bones Boner. After a while you start to just accept that that’s his name, though… it’s weird.

To Hunter (you really are cruel, Sid) he’s sort of a threat. Nick and Boner have been friends for a long time, friends-with-benefits for a while too. And EVERYONE knows it. I really didn’t want it to be a Hunter-Nick-Boner love triangle, because that’s not what the story is about, but Hunter is jealous of this history that Nick and Boner have. Boner is that friend that we all have – the one who thinks tequila is an excellent idea after everyone has been drinking beer all night, who wants to know all the sordid details of your sex life, who doesn’t abide by any social niceties and somehow manages to be the nicest person you know. I think I’m a bit in love with him.

Sid Love: Who is in love with him? You or Hunter? Because if it is Hunter, Nick would so not be happy.

Anna Martin: I’m in love with him! Hopelessly!

Sid Love: Ha, great! So let’s move on. How well do you think audience is accepting this book?

Anna Martin: Ya know, I try not to get too hung up on reviews. You will always get people who love it and people who hate it, that’s just the nature of the game. That being said, I’m always interested in constructive criticism – I was actually nudged into writing a book like this from a review I had for ‘Cricket’ where the reviewer said not enough happened (that was sort of the point, but not to get into that now…) So this is a book where a LOT happens. I’d like to think that people like the dinosaur aspect, that they love the secondary characters and they think the romance is hot. If that’s what readers come away with then I’ve done what I set out to do. J

Sid Love: You started writing in M/M genre in 2011 with your first book “Another Way”. How has your journey been from there to “Jurassic”?

Anna Martin: Wow. When you put it like that…! I’ve achieved a lot so far. I never thought this would be a career for me. I want to be a writer, that’s my goal in life, so every time another book comes out it sort of marks time passing, another step towards achieving that goal. It’s funny, I want to be able to do two things – one is have a recognizable voice, so when someone reads something of mine it’s obviously an Anna Martin book. The second is to keep surprising people. I don’t want to re-cover old ground, so even with a series like Another Way, I want there to be twists and turns and things people haven’t seen before. Slightly contradictory, I know!

Sid Love: That was going to be my new area to cover anyway, but since you brought it up, I’d say you have already started on the right path. I mean, when I see the works from Anna Martin, I see variety in each one of them. There’s always a uniqueness in your books that has stood out and caught readers’ attention in an instant.

Anna Martin: That’s really sweet of you to say! Thank you! I mean, I don’t want to just write romance stories. I want to give them a twist or an edge somehow. That’s what I’m aiming for.

Sid Love: So, we know you could write about anything under the sun and mold into an interesting tale. But is there any specific topic that you would refuse to include in your stories? Or any specific genre you’d prefer not to write in?

Anna Martin: I don’t really write sci-fi or historical. Or shifters. I did do a Steampunk novella, which was fun, but mostly it was incredibly kinky so that sort of took over the other elements of the story! I like this world, the one we live in now, so exploring outside of that doesn’t really interest me. I will occasionally read other sub-genres, but I can’t imagine myself writing in them.

Sid Love: As a reader, what element in a book leads you to pick it up for reading?

Anna Martin: Something that makes me go “ooh, I haven’t seen that before”. Or if it’s written by John Green, Nora Roberts or Margaret Atwood I’ll read it whatever it is (I have a somewhat broad taste in literature).

Sid Love: I can imagine that. One who re-reads HP books on a regular basis must truly respect creativity aspects in a book.

Anna Martin: Haha! Yes. I was only thinking the other day it’s time to sit down and read all seven back-to-back again…

Sid Love: What serves as an inspiration to your writing?

Anna Martin: Right now, I’m working my way through all the things I love most in the world: Edinburgh (‘Tattoos & Teacups’), summer, cricket, Somerset, old houses and proper countryside pubs (‘Cricket’), dinosaurs (‘Jurassic Heart’)… later in the summer I’ve got a story coming out about a young dad which is very much inspired by my best friend and his relationship with his son (‘Summer Son’); I want to do something set in Egypt, because that was another one of my obsessions when I was younger… and I’m writing something set in Camden in north London because I love it there. My sister inspires me a lot, actually – she’s very witty, very funny, she says stuff all the time and I write it down and use it in my books. She’s just moved to London this weekend with her job so I’m going to miss her a lot!

Sid Love: Oh that! We would beg your sister to never leave your side then. lol It seems you are very close to your family, especially your sister. So, tell us about the family values you grew up on.

Anna Martin: I’m very close with my sister. I think that’s the one thing my parents always pushed on us both, because neither my mum or dad is close to their siblings. So they definitely encouraged us to be friends. As for the rest of my family, well, they’re fucking crazy, really. That’s probably not surprising!

Sid Love: Not at all surprising, since we have met you. Lol

Anna Martin: Indeed! 😀

Sid Love:  I came across a post the other day on a certain person’s wall. This is how it went – “I want to watch Queer as Folk again. All of it. Right now.” Addicted much? LOL

Anna Martin: I used to be! I haven’t watched it in ages, but a picture of Brian and Justin popped up from somewhere and now I’m yearning for them. I loved that series.

Sid Love: Yea, I know.. I am cruel 😛

Anna Martin: Haha!

Sid Love: So obviously you must love Gale Harold and Randy Harrison. If you were to cast these two into a movie made out of one of your books, which book would it be?

Anna Martin: Tattoos & Teacups. Definitely. Randy would need some fake (or real, I don’t mind) tattoos, and Gale would need to practice his Scottish accent, but both of them would do nicely with those characters!

Sid Love: That would be amazing! People have loved that book for sure and seeing it become a movie with two of the iconic actors playing in the lead… well, the crowd is already squealing!

Anna Martin: I would like to write the screenplay of that story. I’ve never done it before, so it would be interesting to see if the story would translate from novel form to screenplay form. We’ll see. It’s a project for another time. 🙂

Sid Love: Something to look forward to 😉 So, “Summer Son” is that the next story you are working on? Or is there a book we can expect before that?

Anna Martin: No, the next book that I’ll have out is the third story in the Another Way series, called ‘To Say I Love You’, which should be out around May. Needless to say, I’m very, very excited about telling more of Will and Jesse’s story! Then in July you should hopefully have ‘Solitude’, which is a novel I’m co-writing with a very good friend and talented writer Tia Fielding. THEN you get ‘Summer Son’ 😉

… and hopefully a fourth book before the end of the year!

Sid Love: That’s a really good plan you have sketched out there. But seriously, do we have to wait till May to get an “Anna Martin” fix?

Anna Martin: Well, if you like short stories I’ve got a little thing in Dreamspinner’s ‘Dr Feelgood’ anthology which is out next month…? It’s called ‘Differential Diagnosis’ and it’s a cute actors-in-love story.

Sid Love: Now that’s what we all wanted to hear 😉

;)On a concluding note, why don’t we have Nick come forth and tell my readers why they’d want to read his story?

Anna Martin: Nick says: As a paleontologist, my favorite thing in the world is discovering new things, things that no one has ever seen before, being the first human to lay eyes on something which has been hidden for millions of years. ‘Jurassic Heart’ is something you probably haven’t seen before. That’s as good a reason as any to read it.

Sid Love: Okay I have to say it – I love you Nick!! **Did I say that out loud?!** Ha! It was a pleasure to have you with us, Anna. We got to see the crazy side of you and I have to say that is EPIC. Please don’t change, and keep writing these great books like you always do!

Do you have anything else to add or share with the readers and your fans?

Anna Martin: Bless you! Thank you so much for having me. This has been a lot of fun!

I LOVE YOU ALL! *throws confetti*

And, I’ll be at the UK Meet this year, which is in my hometown (Bristol, baby!) and GRL in Chicago so please come and chat, I adore meeting you all. And thank you for the support. You’re all beautiful.

JURASSIC HEART

BLURB: When paleontologist Nick Eisenberg learns that someone thinks they have found velociraptor bones in Alberta, his curiosity overrides his desire to stay in London. After all, he’s one of the world’s leading experts on prehistoric predators and has always wanted to look for the velociraptor’s North American cousins. There’s only one problem: eco-conservationist Hunter Joseph. While Nick supervises the dig, Hunter rallies support from the locals to oppose the way the team is destroying the landscape in their search for dinosaur bones.

Nick and Hunter just cannot get along. Hunter is self-righteous and pouty. Nick is narrow-minded and geeky. But they have to figure out how to work on the same site without killing each other, especially since someone else out there seems determined to cause Nick more problems than he could have ever imagined.

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Martin is from a picturesque seaside village in the south west of England. After spending most of her childhood making up stories, she studied English Literature at university before attempting to turn her hand as a professional writer.

Apart from being physically dependent on her laptop, she is enthusiastic about writing and producing local grassroots theatre (especially at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she can be found every summer), travelling, learning to play the ukulele, and Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.

Although her most recent work is in the LGBT Adult Fiction genre, in the past Anna has worked on a variety of different projects including short stories, drabbles, flash fiction, fan fiction, plays for both children and adults and poetry. She has written novels in the Teen or Young Adult genre, Romance and Fantasy novels.

Anna is, by her own admission, almost unhealthily obsessed with books. The library she has amassed is both large and diverse; “My favourite books,” she says, “are ‘The Moonstone’ by Wilkie Collins, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee and ‘Oryx and Crake’ by Margaret Atwood.” She also owns multiple copies of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park books and re-reads the Harry Potter novels with almost startling regularity.

Anna claims her entire career is due to the love, support, pre-reading and creative ass-kicking provided by her closest friend Jennifer. Jennifer refuses to accept any responsibility for anything Anna has written.

GIVEAWAY

All throughout January I’m hosting an EPIC GIVEAWAY for Jurassic Heart swag. It will contain a signed copy of Jurassic Heart, a copy of one of my favourite novels – Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, and several other bits of dinosaur related goodies. To enter, simply send me a message through my website HERE with your name and email address. Please be aware that this is a giveaway for real-life stuff, so if you win, you’ll need to share your address for me to post it to you!

– Anna Martin