Author Interview with Dani Worth

Hi Dani! Thank you so much for joining us at My Secret Romance Book Reviews. I was fortunate enough to win your books in a contest! I’m so excited I did as I found a new series and a new author to follow! I think this series is awesome!

For our readers who are not familiar with you, can you tell us little bit about you?

Dani Worth is the pen name I use to publish erotic romances. It’s actually part of my middle name and part of my husbands. I started writing erotic romances for fun because I read a lot of them. I find myself returning to those more for rereads—especially if the author gives me a really good angsty and powerful love story along with the eroticism. I was already submitting urban fantasy, paranormal romance and YA under my own name, Rinda Elliott, so when I told my agent about a couple of erotic novellas I wrote for me, she wanted to see them. She loved them, so Dani was born. I keep the names separate so readers know to pick up a Dani book if they want an erotic story. Other than writing, I’m a voracious reader, a wife, a mother and my other hobby is making wine.

Today we’re talking about the Kithran Regenesis Series. Can you give our readers a brief introduction into the series?

Bk #1 is Kithra, which features Lux, Kol and Egan.

Bk #2 is Replicant, which features Jarana, Erik and Maska.

Bk #3 is Catalyst, which features Vala, Bastian and Jacks.

I’m a big fan of space opera books and shows and wanted to create my own worlds to explore the genre. Kithra wasn’t originally going to be a ménage romance, but Egan walked into a scene and I was hooked. I had already written a ménage called After the Crux, so I wasn’t sure I was going to stick with it in Kithra. I didn’t want to be pegged as a ménage only writer, but I honestly like the theme. It’s such a fun challenge to write three into a love story. Plus, it’s impossible to say no to Egan. Once I came to understand the Gwinarians, I decided to make all the books in the series ménage. If I ever tweet about having a rough day, one of my readers tells me it’s time for an Egan cuddle. Love that!

How did the idea for Kithra and all the tragedy that follows on this planet come about?

I knew I wanted to write about a spaceship captain who loved to fly being stuck on a dead planet. I actually hadn’t planned to write further in this world, but I got curious myself. Why did the planet explode? How many Gwinarians were off planet and what would it be like to bring them home for a rebuild? I’ve always been drawn to stories of survival, where people work together to rebuild a society. Plus, the Gwinarians deserved more stories. They have such a lovely way of life.

I love the Gwinarian philosophy on love and relationships. I think it’s a unique way of looking at things. And being another species makes it a little easier buy into as a reader. What made you decide to make Gwinarians like this?

I wish our world were more like this. The Gwinarians don’t put love into boxes. As long as everyone is a consenting adult, all love relationships are fully accepted and encouraged. It’s wonderful to write in a world where a man can kiss either of his partners in public and not receive any grief over it.   

Now in Replicant we have a bit of gender bending going on. That was absolutely wild! I loved it! It really shows you can’t help who you fall in love with! How hard was it for you to keep that one straight in your head as you were writing it?

It actually wasn’t hard at all, but that’s because I didn’t focus this story on the Replicant. It was Jarana’s story foremost because she’s the one who had to deal with the absolute heartbreak of returning to her home planet after everyone she loved had died. I do kind of wish I’d drawn out more of the conflict of falling in love with a woman only to learn she’s a man, but that story came to me hard and fast. Out of all the books I’ve written, this is actually one of my favorites. I wrote on anything I could get my hands on. My family had a car show trip planned and I carried around a notebook and scribbled in it every single time we stopped. I scribbled while walking…ran into stuff. I had just sold Kithra and realized I loved the Kithran world and wanted to keep writing in it. I actually want to explore more of the relationship between these three characters from Replicant, so it’s possible there will be more about them. I’m actually working on a free short story about them now. (I share free short stories from the Kithran and the Crux worlds in a newsletter. So far, there have been two stories. The second, Mutiny, features Kol, Lux and Egan from Kithra! I fell in

love with Kol and Egan all over again in that story.) But I’m completely in love with the idea of loving a person for who they are. I’ve always enjoyed the “gay for you” theme because it’s a wonderful concept—falling for a person and realizing you’re attracted to everything that makes up that person. There’s also the mystery and wonder of new discovery. That can be pretty hot!

In Catalyst we find out things aren’t as originally thought in the first two. I loved that twist to the story. Are we going to find out more about that in a later story? I’m really hoping this is NOT the last of that series!

Oh, this isn’t the last of the series. I have two more stories planned in this world. Origin is book four and it features the space pirates who had a small, secondary role in Catalyst. It’s also about Siri, a Gwinarian who was kidnapped off planet as a child. These characters will discover more of the overall thread which is the discovery of what happened to Kithra. It’s a longer book like Catalyst. The fifth book is called Redemption. I don’t want to give this one away, but it is the final planned in the overall arc and will be a real challenge. I’m looking forward to writing this one! I may write more books in the Kithran world though. I get requests for more books about Replicant aliens and I do love the Gwinarians.  

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is the HARDEST question. Right now, it’s Anders—because I’m writing him and enjoying the challenge. He’s one of the space pirates in Origin. Poor man is really, really trying to make up for being bad. I’m also pretty attached to Jarana. She can be such a bitch, but inside she’s all gooey. I also love Egan, Maska… you know, I love all my characters. <G>

What do you want people to come away with when they read your books?

Smiles would be the best thing. I love hearing from readers who actually reread my books because I know what it’s like to have books I go back to for enjoyment. I did hear from a reader who never thought she could enjoy a book with three people, but she likes these. If I wanted to go deeper, I’d say that I’d love for someone to come away with a changed mind when it comes to same sex relationships. I really do want to live in a world where that isn’t an issue. Finding true love is hard and nobody should be vilified for finding it in someone of their own gender.

Who is your favorite author? Why?

Oh man, this is another hard question. In urban fantasy, I like Patricia Briggs. She’s created worlds that pull me in and make me want to stay. I love her main character, Mercy. In erotic romances, I’m really enjoying the Cut and Run series. I’m a little in awe of Abigail Roux’s ability to make a reader care so much about the two main characters and how she keeps things fresh. I reread those books. A lot.

What book are you currently reading? 

Because I just came off a tough round of edits and I’m diving into a rough draft that’s due soon, I’ve been rereading for comfort. This weekend, it was Armed and Dangerous by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban.

What book is your “go to book”? You know, the one you can read anytime, however many times.

I actually have quite a few of these, but lately it’s been the Cut and Run books. I’m starting to sound like a cheerleader for Abigail Roux. <g>

Where can readers find you? 

Everywhere! LOL, I need to streamline my websites.

As Dani Worth

http://daniworth.wordpress.com

https://twitter.com/DaniWorthWrites

http://www.facebook.com/dani.worth.7

As Rinda Elliott (My first urban fantasy is debuting March 26^th at Samhain!)

http://relliott4.wordpress.com

https://twitter.com/RindaElliott

http://www.deadlinedames.com

Lightening Round

Vanilla or chocolate ice cream?  Rocky Road is chocolate, right?

Beer or wine? Wine

Early bird or night owl? Night Owl

Dog person or cat person? Cat person

Chick Flick or Action Movie? Mix the two up! Give me kick-ass chicks!

Ereader or paper books? My ereader is my precious.

Thank you so much for joining us! Is there anything else you want to leave us with?

A big thank you to readers who have enjoyed my Kithran Regenesis books! I love writing these books and hope to continue them.

Review: Kithran Regenesis Series by Dani Worth

Kithra is a bittersweet story about three people trying to find their way in a world that has been destroyed.

Lux and Kol have worked together on the same ship for years. Lux is the captain and Kol is her second in command. Because Lux refuses to sleep with anyone of a lesser rank, Kol has kept his desire for her banked. Now that he’s been promoted, all bets are off.

Kol and Lux are reassigned to get the mines up and running on Kithra. Kithra was destroyed years ago in an explosion and has been uninhabited for years. They’re to pick up a Gwinarian and take him with them to Kithra. Kol gets the shock of his life when he finds out it’s Egan, after all Egan is dead, right?

As the three of them spend time on Kithra, they grow to forgive each other, desire each other and finally love each other.

There many things I loved about this book. The biggest thing I loved was the Gwinarnian philosophy on love. You love you love and it doesn’t matter what gender they are or how many there are. They have no hang-ups when it comes to loving relationships.

The sci-fi world Dani created was phenomenal. It was fun to imagine this world she’s created. It’s a beautiful world but not without it’s dangers. Kol, Lux and Egan dealt with all of those dangers as they made the Kithra colony ready for more people.

I was a bit disappointed with a couple of things in this book. First, while the sex was hot, I wanted to read more about the interactions between Kol and Egan. There was some interaction between them, but I wanted more! I was also looking forward to getting more information about Egan and why he kept the fact he was alive secret from Kol. I never did get an answer to that and I’m dying to know the answer.

Dani has a novella that continues the story of Lux, Kol and Egan in Mutiny. Maybe I’ll get some of my wishes in that one!

OMG! I'm LOVING this series! Dani Worth is a new author to me and this series is wonderful! While it's not a terribly long book, it's packed with emotion and a little bit of angst and lots of hot sex!

Janara is a tracker hunting down a replicant who escaped from prison. She tracks him back to her home planet Kithra. Kithra was destroyed years ago in an explosion and she lost her entire family. When finds the replicant and forces her/him to change to his normal form, we find out she is a he and he's in a relationship with hot Erik. Erik is stunned!

But the twists don't stop there. We don't find out all the nitty gritty details until the end. Will Janara return the replicant to prison? Will she fall in love with him? Will she fall in love with Erik? Will she stay on Kithra?

I loved this story. It's so full of twists and turns and made me cry! I felt so bad for all of them. They're all in an awful situation and trying to make the best of it.

Dani Worth did an amazing job of packing so much emotion into this story and making me feel for all of them. It's amazing!

This is the third installment (and hopefully NOT the last) of the Kithran Regenesis Series. Each one of these book has gotten better and better, so I can only imagine how good the 4th one will be. I think part of the reason they keep getting better is the central theme running through them. There's a mystery that needs to be solved, why did the planet Kithra blow up? Why were there some awful gasses released into the air?

As each story is told, we get another piece of the puzzle. In this installment we get closer than we've been before. I'm so curious as to what really happened.

Each story introduces to some new people. But even when we meet new people, central to the underlying story in all the books, we still get to see what happens with those we've met before. I have such a vested interest in this series and the characters involved that I can't wait to get to the next story and see how they've grown, changed.

One of the things I REALLY like about this series is the Gwinarians. They're a race of people, very similar to humans. They believe you love who you love. Families with this race of people can be M/F, M/M, F/F, MMF, MFF or any combination you can think of. They can even have more than three people. It's all accepted in their culture. There's none of the prejudice or judging.

In this story we meet Vala, Jacks, and Bastien. Vala and Bastien are Gwinarian and Jacks is human. They're thrown together on a remote planet and they fall for each other. But will they survive the truth about Kithra when they find it? Will they survive the truth about each of their pasts? Or will it all destroy them.

Dani Worth has done an amazing job of painting strange and exotic worlds with exotic races of people. All of them are beautiful in their own way. They each also have their own bad elements that have to be dealt with. It's an amazing world to be part of.

Dani Worth has also written several vignettes that you can bet by visiting her at http://daniworth.wordpress.com/. Stop by and get the vignettes!

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