Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.
Today: Sheryl R. Hayes (she/her) can be found untangling plot threads or the yarn her three cats have been playing with. She is equally likely to be shooing one of them off the keyboard as she is working on her novels and short stories. In addition to writing, she is a cosplayer focusing on knit and crochet costumes. You can find her online at http://www.sheyrlrhayes.com.
Chaos Wolf is on on sale
September 27th through October 4th.
Thanks so much, Sheryl, for joining me!
J. Scott Coatsworth: When did you know you wanted to write, and when did you discover that you were good at it?
Sheryl R. Hayes: I’ve always told myself stories.. I was writing fanfiction in the fifth grade without knowing exactly what fanfiction was. So when I discovered online fandom in my twenties, I found a place where I could write stories about characters that I loved from television. Not only that, but other people wanted to read them. I found myself creating original characters, and was told several times I should think about writing stories for publication.
I laughed it off, content with playing in the fanfiction universe I created with friends. Little did I know that I would be writing original fiction, only that would be about twenty years later.
JSC: Do you use a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, why not?
SRH: I’m open about the fact that Sheryl is a pseudonym. One of the reasons I use a pen name is even though my legal first name is five letters long, no one can pronounce it correctly, let alone remember how to spell it. So I picked a pen name that sounds like the most common mispronunciation of my legal name.
JSC: Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre? If you write more than one, how do you balance them?
SRH: I’ve always been an avid reader, going through stages of reading sci-fi, horror, and fantasy. I found an anthology featuring werewolves with stories ranging from humorous to horrifying, and was hooked. Later I found a similar anthology featuring vampires. Then someone pushed a Harry Dresden novel into my hands and discovered urban fantasy.
The one thing that really spurred me to write was that vampires and werewolves were always positioned as (im)mortal enemies, but never explained why. My first book, Chaos Wolf, was an attempt for me to give a reason why.
I’m currently dipping a toe into the paranormal romance genre. More on that below.
JSC: What were your goals and intentions in Chaos Wolf, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
SRH: The first two books in this series are focus more on the vampire lore I have created. I wanted to explore some of the werewolf lore, both of the Black Oak Pack and other werewolves out there. While vampires are still very much a part of this story, I had a chance to finally reveal some of the worldbuilding I had been working on for the werewolves. I think I accomplished it, but time and the readers will tell.
JSC: What secondary character would you like to explore more? Tell me about them.
SRH: I would love to dig into Angela Shane more. Originally she was supposed to be an antagonist for Jordan and nothing more, someone to figuratively and literally nip at her heels. But the more I’ve written her, the more I’ve found her evolving as a character. I had a loose idea of what her backstory was, but writing Chaos Kin revealed a layer to her personality that I hadn’t considered. She’s not quite Jordan’s friend at this point, but she’s not an enemy either. I’m not fully certain what she will end up being.
JSC: Were you a voracious reader as a child?
SRH: It was impossible to keep me in books as a child. I haunted the school library. I think I shocked my third grade teacher. The assignment was to read a book a week for the entire school year, or about 36 books. She didn’t believe it when I completed the assignment within the first half of the semester. Then there was the infamous time that I bought a book and was asking if we could buy the sequel eight hours after we purchased it.
JSC: What other artistic pursuits do you indulge in apart from writing?
SRH: I am famous in local convention circles for my yarn based costumes. I have created costumes based on Wonder Woman, Star Trek The Next Generation Klingons, Star Wars Jedi Twileks, Ewoks, The Mandalorian, Maleficient, and Cruella De Vil. Some have won awards at local conventions. You can see them on my website. https://www.sherylrhayes.com/costumes/
JSC: Star Trek or Star Wars? Why?
SRH: Why not both? Seriously, this question is one of my pet peeves.
The appeal of Star Trek for me is the longing for a bright future. Humanity has reached the stars, and taken a place at the galactic round table, but we have a lot of growing still to do. And we know it. We are striving to reach that utopia, and will not stop until we achieve it.
To me, Star Wars is more the story told around the campfire. It even starts out, “A long time ago…” It is a personal story about heroes and villains, but told in an epic scope around the galaxy. The stories themselves focus on individual growth, not the evolution of humanity as a whole.
Both satisfy a different narrative itch I want scratched.
JSC: What’s your drink of choice?
SRH: Virgin Rum and Coke.
I’m not a drinker. No judgement if you are. Alcohol and I just don’t get along. Mocktails are tricky because I do have a sensitivity to things high in citric acid. So oranges, lemons, and limes I have to side eye. I’ll stick with soda or plain water.
JSC: What are you working on now, and what’s coming out next? Tell us about it!
SRH: I have three things that I am working on in various stages.
First thing is the outline of the next Jordan Abbey book. In the broadest strokes, Jordan is settling into her new title and learns that claiming it may not have been the best choice.
The second is the second draft of a standalone urban fantasy tentatively titled Lucy Harker, Vampire Hunter. It’s a love letter to the novels Dracula by Bran Stoker, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, The Vampire by John Polidori, and Varney The Vampire by James Malcom Ryder and Thomas Preskett Prest. In other words, I’m shoving all the research I can’t use in the Jordan Abbey series into this book. And there may or may not be a werewolf focused sequel.
The third, and the most likely to be the first to see the light of day is a paranormal romance series I am writing with my best friend, Truly Bellamy. We are in the process of writing the first book, which is currently without a title. Emma Correia was given possession of a Victorian house in her divorce. She didn’t know it came with a hibernating vampire. When Micah Talbot wakes up after oversleeping for fifty years, he discovers that he is now without a guide for this new world he’s found himself in. And his sire, the reason he went into hiding, is very much around. Can Emma help Micah find his footing while falling for each other?
And now for Sheryl’s book: Chaos Wolf:
Bitten by a werewolf. Taught by a vampire. At this rate, she’s going to start a war.
Literature major Jordan Abbey ordered a double mocha latte, but it wasn’t supposed to come with a side order bite by a love-sick werewolf. When a vampire comes to her rescue, gut instinct tells her he has questionable motives. But he’s the only one she can trust to help get in touch with her inner animal.
Within a week, her smart mouth lands her in trouble with the hostile alpha of the local pack and the stiff-necked vampire elder. She now has less than a moon cycle to master shape changing… or else. And the besotted werewolf who started this whole mess is stalking Jordan and killing her friends. He won’t take no for an answer.
In the Northern California town of Rancho Robles where the children of the Wolf and the Bat share an uneasy coexistence, one woman makes an epic mess of the status quo.
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Excerpt
Thorn snickered. “That went well.”
Montgomery blinked several times. The blackness in his eyes receded, leaving green irises in white sclera. He explored the bridge of his nose with a feather-light touch. “What the hell am I doing?” he grumbled as his fangs retracted. “Should have just handed her over to Shane and let him deal with her.”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Thorn chided. He stretched and walked out from behind the chair. “She found out the hard way that vampires are real. Panicking and injuring you while trying to escape is a perfectly reasonable reaction.” His grin widened. “Think how she’ll react when she finds out why she’s here.”
Montgomery grunted a noncommittal noise. He inhaled to make sure his septum was in its proper place. As he stepped into the hall, the sound of splintering wood cracked through the air.
“Great.” Montgomery threw both his hands in the air. “She’s armed herself.”
Thorn shrugged. “You didn’t expect her to blindly accept that you won’t harm her on your word alone, did you?”
Montgomery didn’t dignify that with an answer. Nor did he comment that he was asking himself the exact same thing. He stepped up to the guest bedroom door and squared his shoulders. “Jordan, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Like hell you aren’t!” she screeched. “I’ve got a stake and I’m not afraid to use it.”
He sighed as Thorn snickered again. He wasn’t sure which one exasperated him more, the panicked woman or the smug man. “If I wanted to hurt you, you would have woken up tied to the chair and not loose in the bed. I wouldn’t have allowed you to get dressed. And I wouldn’t have left you with access to things you could break into stakes. Please, Jordan,” his voice cracked. “I just want to talk. Promise.”
“Yeah, talk me into letting you suck my blood!”
Montgomery forced his words past his clenched jaw. “I would have done that while you were unconscious. Do you have a wound on your neck?”
“No,” her voice quavered.
“Then I haven’t bitten you. You saw my teeth. They don’t match the pattern on your shoulder,” he said before she brought up the bite. “Please, come out so we can talk. You can keep the stake if it makes you feel safer.”
He stepped back and counted to three. The door creaked open a crack, enough to see a brown eye full of distrust staring at him. “You’re a—”
“Pain in the ass?”
Montgomery glared, annoyed at the blue-haired vampire. “Not helping, Thorn.” He turned back to Jordan. There was no point in trying to sugarcoat it. “I’m what most people would refer to as a vampire, yes.”
He didn’t think it was possible for her eyes to grow any wider. Now he could see the whites of her eyes completely encircling her brown irises. “My shirt… my shoulder… the blood?”
“No, that wasn’t me. And it wasn’t Thorn, either.”
The crack widened, her gaze focusing on Thorn. “You’re like him?”
“Most certainly not.” Thorn sniffed. “For starters, I look much better in a kilt than Mac could ever hope to. He doesn’t have the legs for it.”
Montgomery sighed. “Yes, he’s a vampire, too.”
Jordan didn’t have much of a poker face. Her lips kept twisting as she looked over the two of them. Then she cracked the door wider, the splintered leg of a chair held in a white-knuckled grip. “What am I doing here?”
“You were attacked. I brought you here to keep you safe.”
“You keep saying that, but if you’d wanted to take me some- where safe, you should have taken me to the hospital instead of bringing me back to your lair for a late-night snack!”
Montgomery shook his head. “There is a very good reason I didn’t.”
“Like what?” She gripped the stake with both shaking hands. “You claim I was attacked, but you weren’t the ones who did it. I saw something big and furry.” She paused, mulling something over. “Dracula could turn into a wolf, right? Is that why I’m here? I’m one of the undead and you’re going to mentor me in the ways of the night?”
“Close, but no cigar,” Thorn chimed in.
Montgomery glared at Thorn. Thorn grinned back, and gestured for Montgomery to continue. He let out a long-suffering sigh and returned his focus to Jordan. “You’ve got the basic idea right, but the specifics are all wrong. You weren’t turned by a vampire. You were bitten by a werewolf.”