Book Tour Guest, Author Inge-Lise Goss

Bio

Inge-Lise Goss was born in Denmark, raised in Utah and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah. She is a Certified Public Accountant and worked in that field for over twenty years. She now lives in the foothills of Red Rock Canyon with her husband and their dog, Bran, where she spends most of her time in her den writing stories dictated by her muse. When she’s not pounding away on the keyboard she can be found reading, rowing, or trying to perfect her golf game.

Author Intervew

1.      Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

Dreams. They were so vivid and kept swirling around in my head when I was awake. Then I started getting this nagging feeling I should put them on paper. Initially the task seemed to daunting so I tried to wipe the whole idea out of my mind. But instead, the same story invaded my dreams over and over again. I felt my subconscious was forcing me to try my hand at writing. That’s when I knew I had to give it a shot. I was surprised how easy the words flowed and became convinced a muse was guiding my fingers over the keyboard.

2.      Can you share a little of your current work with us?

I recently finished edits on The Cost of Crude: A novel, a mystery/thriller. It’ll be released later this year by Silver Tongue Press. Gwynn Reznick is thrown into a world of corruption after her best friend and co-worker dies in a car crash that turns out to be a planned murder. Determined to find the perpetrator, she works undercover with a private investigation team, led by Ruben Dordi, to acquire evidence. As they delve deeper into the crime, they find a trail of victims among Wilton Oil and Gas Company employees linked to a conspiracy that threatens a catastrophic pipeline disaster.

Right now, I’m working on Tegen Justice, a sequel to The Tegen Cave. It will have another crime family in it as Sara Jones uses her tegen abilities to try to damage the drug trafficking business. She’ll encounter unexpected obstacles along the way and come face-to-face with a tegen enforcer, a guy no one wants to come knocking on their door. And, of course, there will be spiders!

3.      Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Time management—balancing between family, writing, and social media I find to be a difficult and constant challenge.

4.      Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

I have many favorite authors. My dark fantasy/horror favorite is Anne Rice. She has a great imagination and knows how to bring that to life in her characters and rich prose. Reading her Mayfair witches chronicles, made quite of few of us in a little literary club want to become witches.

5.      Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?

No, quite the opposite. Since my launch party and book tour were online, I had to travel with my computer so I could bring them with me. Those events were only a click away. Other methods I’m using to promote my novel are also online, making my computer a constant traveling companion.

6.      Who designed the covers?

The cover art was done by Pit Vixen Designs.

7.      What was the hardest part of writing your book?

I loved every minute of writing it. The adventure was great! I never knew what was going to happen next until it flowed on the page. But at the same time, it completely consumed me. My hardest task was putting it aside so I could get back to other parts of my life. No one wants a spouse, mother, or friend who won’t budge from their computer. 

8.      Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

In doing preliminary research for my novel, I learned some fascinating facts about various spider families’ predator abilities. Ordgarius magnificus, the magnificent spider, sets silk traps with a pheromone that mimics a moth’s. Believing a female moth is close by, male moths are lured to the trap. The spider subdues the pursuer, and the moth becomes a nutritious meal. Ant spiders of the Zodarlidae family imitate ants by using their front legs to mimic antennae. A trusting ant is soon devoured. Female flower crab spiders, Misumena vatia, can blend with flowers by changing their colors from white to yellow. They spread their sticky web and wait patiently for pollinators. The Hobo spider, Tegenaria agrestis, is one of a small number of spider species whose bites are painful and medically significant. The venom is so strong it sometimes causes necrosis, the death of cells and tissues around the injected area of the body.  They are known to be aggressive and vary significantly in appearance. The name Tegen was derived from this binomial name, Tegenaria agrestis. The spiders in The Tegen Cave are mutant Hobo spiders.

9.      Do you have advice for other writers?

Follow your dream! Never give up. Don’t get hung up if you get a rejection letter or a bad review. Remember, it’s only one person’s opinion. There are a lot of ups and downs as a writer, but you can overcome the downs, and then you can savor the ups. Write and read a lot so you can constantly improve your craft.

10.  Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thank you for all the encouragement, wonderful notes and comments, and most important, thank you for reading my novel!

11.  What were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?

I started by having people read it. They gave me some suggestions to improve the novel, and I incorporated most of them. Then I had it professionally edited before I made any submissions. Researching agents who handled dark fantasy and putting together my first query letter took me as long as writing the novel. I emailed a dozen letters to various agents, got nowhere. Then I moved onto publishers and, shortly thereafter, I signed a contract with Silver Tongue Press, and they brought my book to life. 

Book

Blurb

After running from her boyfriend’s powerful organized crime family, Sara Jones starts a new life in a new town. But when people around her start dying from poisonous spider bites after she receives a mysterious package with a spider concealed inside, she fears the family has found her. Life takes an even more bizarre turn when she seems to be not only immune to the spider venom, but also surrounded by a sinister group of people using spiders to incapacitate their prey. Even her new boyfriend starts acting suspiciously. Just who can she trust?

Then to make matters worse Sara’s twenty-fifth birthday approaches, and her dark heritage begins to emerge. She is forced to make a life-or-death decision. And somehow, she must find a way to deal with the crime family.

THE TEGEN CAVE

PROLOGUE

As they drove away from town, Candice placed her hand on his thigh and gently squeezed. He turned, his dark blue eyes glowing, and gave her a coy smile. She sensed something was wrong from his distant behavior at the restaurant. She peered out the side window as the city lights vanished behind them and thought, Does he know about me?

Towering pine trees and leafy maples lined the road. Thick clouds snuffed out the moonlight. “The hotel was only a couple of blocks away,” she said.

“I want to take you some place special.”

She leaned closer and caressed his muscular arm. “Your room was pretty special last night.”

“This place you’ll never forget.”

Candice could no longer spot any house lights through the dense foliage. She felt a ping of uneasiness since she had only known her date for less than two days. Wanting to make her weapon easily accessible, she snatched her purse from the floor and lowered it onto her lap. “How far away is this place?”

“Right up here.” The blue-eyed man steered the car onto a dirt lane almost hidden by the overgrown scrubs and spreading trees. The corner of a stone house appeared, only lit by a sliver of the moon between the passing clouds.

“Whose house?” Candice asked. Then she blinked as the harsh glare from headlights approaching behind struck the side mirror. “I thought we were going to be alone?”

“Maybe the driver’s lost. Let me check.” He stepped onto the ground.

Candice turned, looked through the back window, and watched a man climb out of the vehicle as her date walked toward it.

The clanging sound of metal being hit echoed through the car. Candice swung her head around and saw a guy tapping on the car’s hood, flanked by two other men. Her eyes darted between them looking for weapons. None were visible. Wondering what was going on, she stuck her hand into her bag, searched for her pistol, and smiled when she felt the cold steel.

Her car door flew open and she gazed up at her date. “You a cop?”

“Far from it.” He leaned down and slid his hand behind her neck.

Something sharp scraped into her flesh. “Ow!” she yelled, tugging on his arm. “What have you got?” He flipped his hand over, revealing his palm. She stared at his fingers, trying to grasp what she was seeing as perspiration drizzled down her face. “What the..?”

“Crimes have consequences.”

“Who … what are you?” She attempted to raise her gun, but didn’t have the strength to free it from the bottom of her purse.

He dropped a spider on her chest just above her low-cut sweater. She opened her mouth to scream. No sound escaped. “She’s ready,” he said to the other men.

They lifted her limp body and headed toward the back of the house. Passing the stone structure, her date envisioned the pretty brunette he spotted in the hotel lobby and thought, She’ll be the next one I bring here.

Places to buy

Amazon US

Publisher 

Silver Tongue Press