Q&A with Consuelo
Roland, author of Lady Limbo
(Thanks to the Extraordinaires and book friends
for the random questions).
TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF YOU’VE
NEVER TOLD ANYONE:
I once kissed a total stranger on an empty
night train making its way out of Frankfurt. He asked me to go to Paris with
him for the weekend and I refused. I’ve always
wondered what would have happened if I’d said yes.
WHO'S ON THE COVER AND WHY IS SHE IN SUCH
TROUBLE?
The perfect life… Or a beautiful lie? Forced
to hunt down Lady Limbo, the ghost of a youthful love affair that ended in
betrayal, Paola Dante risks everything and learns to trust no one in a race to find
her missing husband. Lady Limbo leads her into dark territory she never knew
existed, where she must question all she knows. What if the great love of your
life committed the perfect crime?
GIVE US THE 140-CHARACTER STORY PITCH:
Here today, gone tomorrow. Paola Dante’s
husband has disappeared. All she has is the Limbo files. 7 women 7 files. Which one is Lady Limbo?
YOUR CHARACTER, PAOLA DANTE, HAS TO COVER
SEVERAL DIFFERENT ANGLES; FROM CAREER WOMAN TO COOL SEDUCTRESS TO RELUCTANT
CHILD PROTECTOR. YOU’RE ITALIAN AND YOU’VE WORKED IN THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BUSINESS. IS SHE MODELED ON YOURSELF?
Not at all. Paola knows how to stay one
step ahead in the combat zone of corporate meetings; she treats bullying shark tactics
with the disdain they deserve. On a personal level she is sassy, witty and smart – this frightening mix of self-control and
social maturity is totally unlike me. But
of course there’s a very human side to her. Sometimes it makes sense to work
with background knowledge you already have. I could just let her develop
organically without too much over-thought.
IT’S AN UNUSUAL PREMISE FOR A PLOT; AN ORGANISATION
THAT HIRES MEN OUT FOR COPULATION? DOES SUCH AN ORGANISATION EXIST? WHO IS YOUR
SOURCE?
My source
is a ground hostess who told my mother a very sexy naughty story one long night
at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Her name is forever lost in the
torrential downpour of that stormy night. Real Man International (aka RMI) is an
invented name, but the organisation exists; it’s details reside in a ground
hostess’s little black book. It was fun to turn things around and evoke a world
where men are paid ridiculous stud fees
to be at the beck and call of wilful women who can afford to be extravagant. Occasionally
a perfectly ordinary independently-minded woman – such as a ground hostess – will use their services.
ISN’T THE WHOLE IDEA OF A VIRGIN AUCTION ON
THE INTERNET A BIT IMPROBABLE? IT’S A COMPELLING AND ORIGINAL STORY IDEA BUT DO
SUCH THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE?
A good thriller chills our blood, readying
us for a mesmerising journey through the glowing portals of hell. Lady Limbo transports
us into a parallel reality where humanity’s worst instincts are at play. The
“dark web” (an invisible black hole of untraceable activity) is estimated to be
an incredible 15 times larger than the web we know, with more than 900 billion
pages. It is a world where the illegal is openly available, providing a hidden
shop window for criminal gangs and sexual predators. On the dark web innocence
is traded like any other commodity.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT LADY LIMBO?
I love that it’s a thoroughly twenty-first
century story full of enigmatic twists and turns. Just when you think the story
is going one way then it suddenly gets even more interesting and ups the ante. The
shocks and surprises keep on coming at the character like she’s in a shooting
arcade, dodging a hidden shooter in a world of seduction and darkness. Paola
has to think on her feet all the time, or the truth will find her before she
finds the truth.
Author photo by Bernadine
Jones
We will be giving away prizes at the Killer Thriller Book Launch--separate from my own March Giveaway, so you'll have lots of chances to win some great goodies!
