If you love the idea of an Indiana Jones-like character caught up in the midst of an alien invasion, add The Gate to your TBR. I just finished it a few weeks ago, and I’m chomping at the bit for the next book in the series. This author would choose to join the Ghostbusters over the X-Files team, and I agree wholeheartedly with her logic. Welcome Staci Troilo (writing as D.L. Cross)!
Would you rather walk through a haunted graveyard at midnight or spend the night in a haunted, abandoned house?
I’d definitely prefer the graveyard. Go ahead and call me weird (it wouldn’t be the first time—or the last), but when I was a kid, I used to walk up to the cemetery and hang out there. The setting (surrounded by woods with lots of trees spaced throughout) was beautiful, and I found it peaceful. And I got to visit departed family members. (No, I don’t think that’s the only place to talk to the dead, but I do feel close to them when I’m at their gravesites.) Besides, it’s got to be easier to run from a ghost across open land than up rickety stairs in a dilapidated house, right? (And don’t get me started on how stupid people are to run UP steps when they’re being chased.)
Would you rather be a vampire or a werewolf?
As much as I love wolves, I’m going to have to go with vampire. They’re in control of when they turn, they have no health issues, and they never get old. (I feel every one of my years right now, and several more I haven’t earned yet!) I’m not even convinced daylight would be a problem, as there are stories where it’s not (Vampire Diaries rings, The Originals, the ridiculous sparkly vampires…).
Would you rather be part of the X-Files team or Ghostbusters?
I have to go with Ghostbusters on this one. As much as I love sci-fi and the X-Files, the Ghostbusters have more fun. (And if it’s the reboot—which I hated—I’d get to work with Chris Hemsworth, so… not really a question at that point, is it?)
If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in the same setting, where would you choose?
Absolutely Italy. There’s so much history there (which factors into many of my stories) and I’ve always wanted to go. The food, the culture, the scenery, extended family… what’s not to love? It wasn’t even a question I needed to ponder.
How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I’ve got several works in various stages. It’s kind of daunting. I never used to work on more than one project at a time. Now, I have several going at once. And I like it that way. It keeps me from getting bored.
Next year, under pen names, I have 13 works scheduled for publication. They’re currently under various stages of completion, from barely-a-concept all the way through formatted-and-ready-for-publication. I’m also doing (or at least trying) NaNo this year, and if all goes well, I’ll have at least one title to publish as Staci Troilo in 2020.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of the opposite sex?
Here’s an odd twist for you—I think writing men is easier than writing women. This is a time when Ivory Tower Princesses don’t need Knights in Shining Armor. Today’s heroine needs to don her own shield, wield her own weapon, and not only save herself, but save the man and everybody else. She’s a difficult character to write. Too soft, readers call her TDTL or a simpering b!#@%. Too hard, readers complain she’s cold and unrelatable. I think achieving the right balance in a female character is much more difficult than writing a well-developed male character.
He lost his job. Lost his girl. Now it’s all he can do not to lose his life.
Landon Thorne is a disgraced archaeologist, a laughing stock in his field because of his unconventional beliefs — he’s an ancient astronaut theorist. No one takes him seriously.
Until an alien armada targets Earth.
Now Landon’s in high demand — by the US government and someone far more sinister.
They race across two continents to the Gate of the Gods, the one place on Earth that might give humans an advantage over the aliens. But no one is prepared for what they’ll find.
And not everyone will make it out alive.
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Bio
Staci Troilo writes because she has hundreds of stories in her head. She publishes because people told her she should share them. She’s a multi-genre author whose love for writing is only surpassed by her love for family and friends, and that relationship-centric focus is featured in her work.
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