If you haven’t read Virginia Kantra’s Children of the Sea series, you’re missing out. We’re going to let you get to know the author herself and let her tell you what makes this series so great (Casee: in my always humble opinion) and why you should read it. If you decide it sounds like something that you might be interested in, you might be lucky enough to win a copy.

Q: What would you like us to know about your new release, Immortal Sea?

It’s part of the Children of the Sea but the story stands well alone, so it’s a good place to pick up the series.

Before starting med school, young Elizabeth Rodriguez took a “trip of a lifetime” to Europe and had a hot and wild one night stand in Copenhagen. She is unaware that her lover Morgan is one of the finfolk, the shape-shifting children of the sea. Many years later, Liz takes the job of island doctor on World’s End, Maine, hoping the community there will provide some needed stability for her son, troubled fifteen-year-old Zack.

She has no idea that reconnecting with Zack will also involve reencountering Morgan.

Morgan is too focused on the survival of the finfolk to waste time on romance or regrets. Sixteen years ago, human Liz was a momentary indulgence for the finfolk lord. But in the woman she’s become, he may finally have met his match.

Q: Describe the hero, Morgan, in one word.

Ruthless.

Q: Of the four books in The Children of the Sea series, which was your favorite to write?

I think this one, because the stakes are so high and so personal.

Q: Who is your favorite character of the series?

Liz Rodriguez in this book, because she’s totally human and yet more than a match for anything anybody throws at her.

Q: Instead of the typical “where did you come up with the idea”, can you tell us why you chose finfolk?

Both the selkie and the finfolk have their origins in Orkney legend, but the finfolk are darker and even less human, so all that wonderful tension between land and sea, human and merfolk, intensifies in this book.

I’ve always felt a real connection with the ocean, and recent events in the Gulf have certainly demonstrated we’re failing as stewards of the sea. So the idea of the children of the sea, elementals who take the protection of our oceans seriously, was very appealing to me.

Morgan is introduced as the finfolk lord in SEA LORD – Boromir to Conn’s Aragorn, basically, the warrior in the trenches, who questions Conn’s new tolerance for humankind.

Q: How many books will be in this series?

FORGOTTEN SEA, Iestyn’s story, is scheduled to come out next June. I don’t plan more than a book or two ahead, but I love this series, and hope to continue to revisit this world.

Q: What made you move from romantic suspense to paranormal?

At the same time I was writing my first two romantic suspense novels for Berkley, I also did a couple of novellas based on legends about the fair folk. I had what I thought was the idea for another contemporary romantic suspense: police chief on a remote island in Maine finds a naked woman who’s been attacked on the beach. And then I thought . . . What if she wasn’t human?

I was talking about the idea with my editor, figuring she’d say something like, “Are you out of your mind?” and instead she told me to run with it. So I did! That was SEA WITCH.

Q: Do you have plans to write more romantic suspense?

If the right idea came along, absolutely. There’s actually a strong suspense thread in most of the Children of the Sea books, because the books are very grounded in the real life of the islands in contemporary Maine. The real life threats and crimes have to have real life explanations and consequences. (Which is why Zack gets in such trouble in this book.)

Whichever I write, both the suspense and the paranormal elements are subordinate to the characters and their relationship. That doesn’t mean I don’t take my research and my world building seriously, it just means that the plot exists to challenge the characters and force them to grow. I’m really a romance writer.

Q: Who is your favorite author?

When you ask this, does everybody whine about having to pick just one? My auto buys are Peter S. Beagle, Suzanne Brockmann, Jenny Crusie, Lisa Gardner, Eloisa James, Robin McKinley, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Nora Roberts,.

Q: What is your favorite book to re-read?

I’m going to cheat and pick a series: The Chesapeake Bay books by Nora Roberts. I love the way she creates family.

Q: Can you tell us about your first sale?

Well, it’s release week, so I’m total blog slut. My First Sale article was up at Dear Author this past Monday.
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/09/06/my-first-sale-by-virginia-kantra/

Q: Last, but not least, can you tell our readers why they should read Immortal Sea?

IMMORTAL SEA is both a reunion romance and a coming of age story. It’s paranormal and should absolutely appeal to paranormal fans, especially ones who are maybe tired of vampires. But the heart of the story, the love and the worry, the ways we need each other and the ways we grow, is something we call can relate to.

How good does this series sound? Ask any questions you have for Virginia. She’ll be dropping in and out today.