Featured Interview With Zoe Delambre
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Texas, but have lived a lot of places and have been blessed to travel a lot. I guess I consider New York City my "most" home. Spending time there is always like a massive B-12 shot for me. But I spend the majority of my time on the Texas Gulf Coast these days. That's where my family has gravitated to. I still do frequent trips to NYC, and I try to spend at least several months of the year somewhere in Europe or the UK. I have always felt very at home in Europe.
I have a little black Pomeranian who travels with me a lot. Fortunately, she loves travelling as much as I do and she is a great traveller. I just wish they gave dogs frequent flier miles. In addition to my sweet little Pom, I have two adorable step-Great Danes who are goofy beyond belief. They are definitely not taking-on-a-plane material.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Pretty much from the time I could read them. I had my nose stuck in a book constantly as a kid. And I absolutely could not stop reading once I picked a book up. I spent a lot of nights under the covers with a flashlight as a child.
I began writing in elementary school, got serious about it about the age of 15 after reading short stories by Saki and James Joyce. But it wasn't until my mid-20s that I decided to write for others to read. That changed everything. I started off writing non-fiction for magazines. And then the characters and stories started bugging me every day while I was swimming laps, so I switched gears.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Oh my! I'm afraid NO one is going to relate to this…but I am going to be honest. I really do not have a "genre". Some people have tried to tell me that is the kiss of death for an author. But if I have to write in a box, I'm not interested in writing.
The writers who have most moved or excited me are totally ecletic: Plato, Luigi Pirandello, John Joyce, Alexandre Dumas Pere, T.R. Fehrenbach, Charles Berlitz, Arthur Conan Doyle, Janet Evanovich, Learned Hand, and John O'Donohue.
I know it's all over the map. But I honestly get excited just answering this question. I LOVE every one of these authors.
O'Donohue is a recent find. I'm in the process of devouring everything in print he wrote.
But if I had to declare one genre, mine heart is in the French Romantics. I just read and re-read them.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My most recent published book is HOT AGUA. It was intended as the first book in a series of four called The Salt Tales. I am nearly finished with second book in the series. I'm struggling a bit with the title of it right now.
The ongoing story in the Salt series is a love story that centers on the lives of four people who live on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border–between Texas and Mexico along the Rio Grande. Their lives and loves are drenched in the historical bonds and antipathies of the culture-clash. It's spicy and even scary in parts because people start trying to kill them. And because of the characters' lifestyle, they country-bounce and continent-hop a delightful amount between the gunfire. But at it's essence, it is a story of love and character. And trust.
The lead character is a woman. And you get inside her brain and her journey pretty deeply. Seeing the world from a woman's point of view but in a way that both women and men relate to and find interesting–that's my goal. I hope I never get pegged solely as a Women's Fiction or Chick Lit writer. I love those genres, but that's not where my stories fall.
One reviewer called my writing style "the unlikely marriage of Alexandre Dumas and Janet Evanovich." It cracked me up. Probably because in a quirky way it pretty much fits. And I take it as great compliment.
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