Love Bytes welcomes to the blog our next featured author for our Saturday Special : Nell Iris

Nell answers some of our questions and brought a wonderful giveaway with her!

 

Tell us a bit about yourself, please

I’m a 48-year-old Swedish bisexual woman, who’s married to the love of her life, a mother and new grandmother. I lived in Malaysia from 2012 to 2019 and have only been back in Sweden now for little over a year. I miss the heat, our friends, and all the great food from Malaysia, but I love being closer to friends and family, even if this year hasn’t exactly been great for relationships. I’m a bookwormy music loving tea drinking Star Trek nerd, who loves poetry, red wine, and the planet Saturn. I suck at social media and prefer to write the old fashioned way: with pen and paper.

What got you into writing?

I’ve loved reading since I was very young: my mother had severe asthma, and to keep me entertained, she taught me to read. I remember the triumph I felt when I read my first book out loud to my mother instead of the other way around. Since that day, I’ve loved books and reading, and I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember.

What book(s) have you written?

I have written quite a few books, actually, but I’m not that well-known just yet. Check out this link for a complete list of my books: https://nelliris.wordpress.com/my-books/

What genre do you write in?

I write mostly M/M contemporary, with one or two foreays into fantasy and paranormal. I write sweet and emotional and short. Nothing beats a well-written short story.

What drew you to the that genre?

I’m twisting this question and switch “genre” to “short stories.” I remember the first short story that really blew my mind: Survivor Type by Stephen King (published in the 1985 collection Skeleton Crew). It’s a really short story, just a few thousand words, but it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I read it. I’m still amazed that so few words could freak me out that much. Writing short stories is an art; to include enough context for the story to make sense but still keep it short and to the point is not easy. I still need to work on honing my craft and I have a long way to go before I reach Stephen King’s level of mastery in the short story.

Do you have prefered tropes?

I LOVE hurt-comfort and age-gap.

What do you read for fun?

Fanfiction! Preferably Harry Potter (Harry + Snape) or Star Trek DS9 (Bashir and Garak).

What are your pet peeves (in books or otherwise)?

Nothing drives me as crazy as The Big Misunderstanding. It’s so overdone and I hate it with the strenght of a thousand suns. That and shower masturbation scenes 🙂

Do you have a secret (or not so secret) talent?

I’m a really fast reader. In 2014, I read 1100 books.

 

What is the first LGBTQIA+ book you read?

The first books with LGBTQIA+ content I read, was a MMF in the middle of a MF series. I don’t remember the name or the author, but I LOVED the guy-on-guy scenes, so I went on Goodreads to look for more, found Nowhere Ranch by Heidi Cullinan, and the rest is history.

What are your thoughts on audiobooks?

I’m not personally a fan of audiobooks. I’m a really fast reader and audiobooks are too slow for me, and I can’t keep my focus on the story and my thoughts start to wander. That being said, I think audiobooks are great. I have friends who haven’t read a single book since school, but now they’re listening to audio instead, which is freaking fantastic if you ask me!

Do you have a favorite place for reading?

I’ll read anywhere, but my favorite spot is on my couch, with the pillows from my bed, and a cup of tea.

This makes me smile

My eight-week-old grandbaby. My heart stops when she smiles.

 

 

Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies room), loves music (and singing along at the top of her voice but she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (Make it so). She loves words, bullet journals, poetry, wine, coffee-flavored kisses, and fika (a Swedish cultural thing involving coffee and pastry!)

Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.

Nell is a bisexual Swedish woman married to the love of her life, a proud mama of a grown daughter, and is approaching 50 faster than she’d like. She lives in the south of Sweden where she spends her days thinking up stories about people falling in love. After dreaming about being a writer for most of her life, she finally was in a place where she could pursue her dream and released her first book in 2017.

Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angsty, short over long, and quirky characters over alpha mates.

Social Media Links:

Webpage/blog: http://www.nelliris.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nellirisauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nell_iris/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nellirisauthor/
Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/nell.iris.12
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/nelliris
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nell-iris
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.se/nelliris/

 

1 winner will receive all 4 of my Christmas stories (Red Popcorn Strings and Gumball Rings, Unexpected Christmas, Under the Felt Mistletoe, and Four Christmases) in ebook format.

Leave a comment to participate!

Good Luck!