NEW
RELEASE
START
OF A NEW SERIES BY S L DANIELSON AND CHERYL HEADFORD
UPSTAGED
I – OPENING ACT
BOOK NAME Upstaged I
– Opening Act
AUTHORS S L
Danielson and Cheryl Headford
PUBISHED BY Extacy Press
WORD COUNT Aprox 75,000
NUMBER OF PAGES 246
GENRE New Adult.
Contemporary Romance.
HEAT RATING 3
Blurb
Wannabe singer and band
front man Erik Von Nordgren hates snarky brit Asher Berkley with a passion.
From the moment he turns up at practice with his twin sister Daisy, who is one
of the band the two have hated each other.
Through a series of 'tit for tat' incidents they annoy, frustrate and
exasperated each other. The die hard goth with purple eyes and the hard core
rocker with dreams of the big time have nothing in common and no need to cross
paths. Except to wind each other up.
Until the day that Erik throws Asher in the school pool, when everything begins
to change. Erik is so far in closet he's in Narnia and Asher has a dark past
and trust issues that stand in the way of any relationship, let alone one with
the brash American who hurts him every time they try to get together.
A relationship doomed from the start, or so you'd think.
Author Bios
S L Danielson
S. L. (Stephanie)
Danielson began writing at the tender age of five. She knew it was her calling
from the moment she put pen to paper. In her teens she began writing
alternative works and the genre stuck. She created ever more elaborate tales
and finally in her early 20’s years began to create works with her new love;
male/male romance. She has since written more than 30 works (both solo and
collaborations).
Stephanie is
classically trained in business, accounting, and HR/training, possessing both
an undergrad and graduate degree. She also owned and operated Romance First
Publishing where the ultimate goal was to help other unknown, as well as known
authors get their start in the publishing world.
Beyond writing, her
other hobbies include: painting, gaming, and spending time with her husband and
two cherished cats.
Cheryl Headford
Cheryl was born into a poor mining family in the South
Wales Valleys. Until she was 16, the toilet was at the bottom of the garden and
the bath hung on the wall. Her refrigerator was a stone slab in the pantry and
there was a black lead fireplace in the kitchen. They look lovely in a museum
but aren’t so much fun to clean.
Cheryl has always been a storyteller. As a child,
she’d make up stories for her nieces, nephews and cousin and they’d explore the
imaginary worlds she created, in play.
Later in life, Cheryl became the storyteller for a re
enactment group who travelled widely, giving a taste of life in the Iron Age.
As well as having an opportunity to run around hitting people with a sword, she
had an opportunity to tell stories of all kinds, sometimes of her own making,
to all kinds of people. The criticism was sometimes harsh, especially from the
children, but the reward enormous.
It was here she began to appreciate the power of
stories and the primal need to hear them. In ancient times, the wandering bard
was the only source of news, and the storyteller the heart of the village,
keeping the lore and the magic alive. Although much of the magic has been lost,
the stories still provide a link to the part of us that still wants to believe
that it’s still there, somewhere.
In present times, Cheryl lives in a terraced house in
the valleys with her son, dog, bearded dragon (called Smaug of course) and
three cats. Her daughter has deserted her for the big city, but they’re still
close. She’s never been happier since she was made redundant and is able to
devote herself entirely to her twin loves of writing and art
Author Links
S L Danielson
Twitter: @s_l_danielson
Cheryl Headford
Interview with the Authors
1.
Where'd the idea for Upstaged come from?
S
The idea, for me, came from a photo
sent to me from Mika. She said doesn't he deserve a story? That put the juices
of inspiration to work.
I'd always wanted to do one about a
band too, and love young adult, so why not?
C I can't really remember where the idea came from. It just
happened.
Didn't we start off talking about
the characters? You made up Erik and I made up Asher. Then we found the wonders
of One Note and brainstormed the sketch of the first book.
S Yeah, I think so; we named Erik and Asher right off...
C I think right at the beginning we were talking about the
rabid fan and the stalking thing
S Ha, yeah, which was a great thought; but not in practice. We
planned on Vince being the stalker; but as soon as I wrote him, he changed. He
didn't feel like that to me.
C It was after that 1st party scene, where he had dialogue.
Asher was feeling really down and he comforted him. I think it was when he and
Asher had that moment. That’s when we first started talking about him changing.
S Yes Then when he took Asher back to his place and he was so
sweet and shy. You said he was being so lovely, it'd be a shame to make him a
stalker - so we didn't.
2.
What was it like with one author in the US and one in the UK? Any continental
clashes?
C
There were a few idioms and local
saying that threw us sometimes.
S
Same here, some phrases I had to ask
what they meant and a lot of 'u' usage.
C
And 'z's I don't think we clashed at
all
S
No clashes It was just a matter of
clarification otherwise it went swimmingly Brilliant. I now understand UK
lingo.
C
And as we had one character who was
American and one British we could each use our own languages in the characters.
S
Exactly I never wrote for Asher or
Daisy; I couldn't do them justice.
C
The one I had the most problem with
was ‘book it’. I could never get to grips with that one.
Oh and carry out instead of takeaway
S
Connor was another matter
altogether, lol.
C
Haha Yeah he started as mine and
migrated.
S
I adopted him after book #2...so
you'll see that later on.
C
Yeah, Asher was a bit confused
sometimes by the lingo the culture and he hated Erik's Americanness
S
So was Erik, and Vince, and Billy. Erik
was very brash and harsh; not subtle at all. Hehe.
C
Well, neither was Asher really.
S
Not at all.
C
He was just non subtle in a different
way.
3.
So how did you two meet? What spawned working together?
S
I met Cheryl when she subbed to my
company, RFP.
C
You published my book.
S
We got on so famously, we decided to
make a go of it ourselves.
C
Maybe we could say we had to talk
over some issues and realised we had similar outlook and then gelled. Something
like that It came up in discussion that I'd never co written and we thought
we'd try it, see how it went
S
It was wildfire after that. I've
never written so fast. The ideas flowed out like a flood. It was crazy.
C
We'd finished the first book in what
three weeks. We had seven in five months.
S
It was wild. Our families were
tugging at us to slow down.
C
But we couldn't. We were compelled
to do it; it took over.
S
Oh yeah.
C
It was like an addiction but in a
very good way.
S
Lol...definitely.
C
But it was wonderful. And we're not
done yet.
S
Nope.
#4Where
do you see the collaboration going?
C
I have no idea. We were originally
looking at three, then we joked about it going to ten, then we reached and
passed that so… who knows?
S
Well, we have another Upstaged in
the works.
C
Plus another series we just started.
I persuaded you to dip your toe into fantasy.
S
Hehe, yes. Fantasty...the fae world.
That's totally new to me; still getting used to it.
C
But it's sexy as hell
S
I dunno what's after that one, but
I'm sure we'll think of something. Yes it is. I love Crow and Frank.
C
It has the potential for another
series.
C
Crow is the sweetest thing...
although he shocks the hell out of Frank sometimes.
S
That he does.
C
Frank seems so sweet and clueless.
S
Frank doesn't know what to think
sometimes.
C
But then doesn't turn a hair at the
thought of killing someone.
Well,
on that note, I think it might be time to say goodbye to these two crazy kids.
Until next time guys.
