Featured Author:

Christine Murphy

1.  Please introduce yourself. Tell us a little about the person behind the pen.

Hi, I’m Christine Murphy, romance author by night and careerist in clinical laboratory by day.  I have long enjoyed delving into new worlds and characters through my imagination and have read hundreds of books through the years.  Having had quite the imagination since childhood, I decided to put all that creativity down on paper and share it with the world. I have lots of experience to pull from as I have traveled throughout the United States and locations throughout the world.  Looking out my back lanai, there is a small pond where the wild-life will gather and the flowers bloom in exotic pinks and purples.  This is my place of peace and freedom that I have searched for and where my husband and crazy African Gray Parrot, Raider, hang out with me.  It’s the place where my creativity runs wild as I spin tales of adventure and passion.  I have been writing in my head since I was a teenager and I finally realized I needed to capture these unique characters, civilizations, conflict, passion, and love in writing.  To capture the strong, spirited, and powerfully attracted characters and all of their adventures and share it with others who are searching for that very thing to make their lives more exciting.  If I accomplish nothing else in life, I hope to share the romantically magical worlds and the lovers that I see with all of the passionate readers out there.

I can be found at my website, http://christinemurphybooks.com/  and my Twitter or Facebook.  https://twitter.com/CLMurphyBooks, http://www.facebook.com/ChristineMurphyBooks  Check out my blog at http://christinemurphybooks.com/blog.

2.   What made you decide to write (the genre of your book), were there any influencing factors, or were any of the stories based on true events. 

I’ve been reading and writing in my head for years so after my husband had to go through chemotherapy for leukemia it taught me something.  Life is too short and if you really want to live fully do something you really love – don’t put it off.  I love to read romance and love to spin tales of romance in my head so why not write them down and share them with all of those who love to read romance.  The specific area of romance I enjoy is paranormal because I love heroes and heroines who may be vampire, or have special powers, or even be part demon. As long as there’s love and passion, I’m hooked even if I create it in my own mind.  I also like futuristic romance where a touch of science fiction may be sprinkled in.  All of my stories are fiction but I do pull from things I may have seen or done in my travels.  Some of my books have information on lab testing which is my day job where I may talk about DNA analysis or some other lab procedure.  I weave fact and fantasy together to set up quite the romantic story.

3.   How do you promote your book, and do you find that difficult or just par for the course.

I promote my books through my publisher, but a lot of it I do on my own and includes my website, my blog, my twitter, my facebook, and a whole bunch of other odds and ends.  I also go online and promote in groups or through different blog hops and eBook Fairs.  The biggest challenge is to find the time as I have a day job, take care of my husband and my African gray who is even calling to me now for attention, and let’s not forget the ever important writing, my first love.

4.   Do you remember your first review and how it made you feel?  (If it was a bad one, also tell about your good one too). 

I remember my first good review which was five stars and gave me so much excitement I wanted to sit down and write a whole other book then and there.  The person had enjoyed it to the point they had stayed up all night reading it and wanted to make sure I was going to write more.  They just knew the following books would be just as exciting to keep one up at night to finish them.  I’ve also had bad reviews with one star.  I kept thinking the person reviewing had started out as if they were enjoying the book actually sounding like they were praising the book in the first paragraph and as they went on by the end they were slamming the books.  I almost had the eerie feeling the person had gone from a good mood to a bad mood and thought maybe they had gotten in an argument with someone while writing my review it sounded so personal.  It was rather depressing but I just kept remembering an article that I had read not to let reviewers destroy the creative child within you so shook it off and just told myself there will always be those who love my books and always be those hate my books and there will be plenty in between.  The biggest thing was to enjoy what I was doing and no matter if no one read them or liked them, a piece of me would always be out there to share to the world through my creative eyes even after I am gone.

5.   Tell us about your book and if it’s a series and how the public is reacting to this book.

My first book is Sphinx Resurrected, the first book in The Sphinx Warriors Series.  In Sphinx Resurrected, Stormy is abducted and Transformed by the magnificent blue eyed Sphinx leader, Michael. Secretly he Joins with her to save her and must deal with the desire and needs which manifest. Michael and Stormy’s undeniable attraction to each other will make them powerful as they join as one force to battle the evil Wraith.  The next books in the Series will start being released in April 2014 and will be released one after another each month until all seven books are released including Sphinx United, Sphinx Transformed, Sphinx Imagined, Sphinx Awakened, Sphinx Tempted, and Sphinx Revealed.  Sphinx Resurrected is my first book and has had a mix of reviews.  It has been a positive learning experience and I have integrated the feedback into the next books in the Series to make them better, more action packed, more intriguing, and more passionate to capture readers imagination.

6.   Can you share any and all links that are important to you as a person and the book?  (You can relate more to a book if you know more about the author).

Here are my many links and they will only continue to grow as I keep reaching out through the electronic world to those avid readers and authors out there.

My Website:  http://christinemurphybooks.com/

My Blog:  http://christinemurphybooks.com/blog/

My Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ChristineMurphyBooks

My Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CLMurphyBooks

My Tumblr:  http://christinemurphybooks.tumblr.com/

My Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/cwmurphy2016/the-sphinx-warriors-series/

My GoodReads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6922300.Christine_Murphy

My Freado:  http://www.freado.com/users/34458/christine-murphy

My Authorgraph:  http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/CLMurphyBooks

My Red Sage Publishing Author Page:  http://eredsage.com/store/MURPHY_CHRISTINE.html

My Amazon Author Page:  http://amazon.com/author/christinemurphybooks

My TheRomanceReviews Author Page:  http://www.theromancereviews.com/cwmurphy2016

7.    I’ll wrap it up with this question since “7” is a lucky numberJ.   Can you share an excerpt from your book, and I’d like to thank you so much for taking time to share your book with me. Please share as much as you’d like.

Please enjoy an excerpt from Sphinx Resurrected

Michael was spell-bound watching her. At first, he thought perhaps she wanted to just have the feel of the fresh grass under her feet while searching out the Life Force. But to his surprise, she was quite the quick study. As soon as she had made contact with the bare earth and searched the Life Power out, it had been drawn to her like it had been waiting for her forever. It embraced her much like the way he wanted to. To surround her in his energy and enjoy every square inch of her while she responded to him in a way the pure rapture on her face indicated she was responding now. He watched and almost felt he was guilty of spying on something intimate. She was a natural, harnessing the Life Power and quickly her body showed it. Her skin was sparkling and glowing from head to toe and he could see where her eyelashes were brushing her cheeks there was a slight glow coming from her eyes. He realized he had to intervene or she would quickly absorb too much. Being her first experience, his little Power Keeper could quickly get into trouble with what to do with it and possibly injure herself or someone near her. Had he known her intentions, he would have cautioned her on how far to go with this first experience.

He stepped up as close as possible to her as he could. Reaching out, he moved to place his hands on specific spots used for contact during the Transference of Life Power. He had to place them correctly to make sure there was no back lash from the Life Power rampantly running through her. He grasped both of her arms with his hands positioned under her forearms and slid them as close as possible to her elbows. Luckily, with the movement, Stormy naturally grasped his forearms with her hands. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Stormy, I hate to interrupt your enjoyment, but this is the first time for you as a Power Keeper, and any more we will both be in trouble.” On so many levels – he groaned in his mind.

 ***Christine is an accomplished author and good friend/colleague of mine.  I strongly recommend her book.