Danube Adele - Sci-Fi, Action and a lot of Romance

Posted on 15th of September, 2019 by Naomi Bolton

Danube Adele wrote her first romance at the age of seven when she penned the story of her dogs falling in love and having puppies. She’s been dreaming up romantic tales ever since. A lifetime resident of southern California, she spends time playing at the beach, camping in Joshua Tree National Park, and hiking Mammoth Mountain. Extensive travel and trying new things has kept the creative spark alive. Danube lives with her biggest fans, her loving husband, amazing and wonderful identical twin sons, and a teddy bear of a Rottweiler. As our Author of the Day, she tells us about her book, Quicksilver Dreams.

Please give us a short introduction to what Quicksilver Dreams is about.

One minute Taylor’s working two jobs to make ends meet, and the next, she finds out bad guys are trying to kill her. Why? She doesn’t know. Other than the fact that her sexy new neighbor keeps turning up in the nick of time to save her, Taylor Lane feels like an ordinary kind of girl, but she’s not. Turns out there’s a whole other planet out there where she has connections. And guess what? Her sexy new neighbor is a security agent who was sent from that other planet to spy on her! Get this…he can enter her dreams! Because of a naturally occurring mineral on Te`re, the Sunan can read minds and dreamwalk. That still doesn’t explain who’s out to get her, but there’s no way in hell Ryder’s going to ever let anything happen to her because she’s become a need he cannot do without.

What inspired you to write about someone who dreams about a guy - just to have him show up for real?

The idea for the story came to me in layers. The first scene that came to mind was the prologue, and while blushing profusely because I’d never written a love scene before, I submerged myself in the sensual feel of that vision. Then came that wonderful question that most all writers like to ask, and that is, “what if…” So, what if, after having this amazingly real, intimate dream, the guy you dreamed about showed up in your life? The rest of the story was built around that one scene. Why would he be in her life? What was his purpose? Now, four books later, I’m near the end of the series and excited for all of the characters to finally live in peace and happiness.

The book is written from first person perspective. Why did you take this approach?

I read a book by Gena Showalter several years ago called Playing with Fire, and it was wonderful. Quirky, fun, and exciting, it really drew me in, giving me a feeling of being a part of the plot. The reader experience was wonderful, creating a more intimate experience where you almost felt like you were in the story. It was written in the first person. At this time in my life, my wonderful identical twin boys were getting older and not needing me as much, so I had time to write again. It started as a scene, written in the first person. Before I knew it, I had a novel! It was the first full-length novel I’d ever written, and it sold to Carina Press.

Tell us more about Taylor. What makes her tick?

I love Taylor. She wants so much to be a badass, and she wears this shell of protection when facing the world at large, but it’s only to protect her gooey, warm center. Taking care of those who need help comes naturally to her. She is quirky, sometimes speaks without a filter, but is genuine and down to earth. One of her deepest desires is to find her mother, who she hasn’t seen since she was a young child, because she wants to understand why she was left abandoned. There’s always a part of her that’s vulnerable, wishing for that love she was denied for so long.

Why do you write paranormal romance? What drew you to the genre??

I love the freedom of imagining the impossible. Writing in general is a form of improvisation, meaning when you commit to an idea, you have to sell it. Hard. That goes double for paranormal. Within its improbability, it has to have structure and make sense. There has to be parameters or rules that govern what is being written so that readers can understand as well as predict this new world they’ve elected to join with you. There’ s some stress involved with creating a new world, but it’s also an exciting challenge. It invites the reader to hop the crazy train and get ready for a wild ride.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I’ve spent fifteen of my last twenty years working as a special education teacher. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to work closely with kids and their families, collaborating with them to design and implement the best educational plans that would help their kids not only learn, but start building their confidence. If there are secret skills I can claim, they would have to be deep, endless vats of patience that I have the ability to keep finding within myself, and the ability to break down a skill into its smaller components in order to help kids understand how it all fits together. I’ve been highly successful as a special education teacher, earning the title Teacher of the Year a few years back from one of my school sites. It has given me a deep sense of satisfaction, over the course of my adult life, to know that I’m making a difference in the world.

Readers say that you took basic paranormal concepts like telepathy and other worlds and told them in a fresh way. How did you pull this off?

Having some characters able to engage in telepathy while others can’t adds layers of complexity to the conflicts taking place. It’s an opportunity to include a few lighter moments, like when Taylor “hears” everyone’s thoughts, but it also allowed situations where she could learn valuable information. This has been a vital part of all the books in the series. Even more wonderful for me was the idea that couples enjoyed “opening their minds” to each other to create deeper bonds of intimacy when they’d finally managed to build trust.

What, would you say, makes Taylor and Ryder such a great match?

Taylor and Ryder complement each other. Taylor is the key to helping Ryder forgive himself the guilt he feels over his sisters death, and in return, he is loyal and has a core of integrity. She knows she can trust him, which is a big issue for her after her mother abandoned her at such a young age. Aside from that, they have the best chemistry, able to use telepathy to tease each other, build up the sexual tension until it explodes. That was a hot scene to write, let me tell you.

Quicksilver Dreams is the first book in your Dreamwalkers series. Can it be read as a standalone? How do the other books in the series tie in with this one?

The Dreamwalkers series is currently comprised of four books, and it will come to its conclusion at book five. Everything will get wrapped up, the mysteries will be solved, and all questions will be answered. Having said that, each book can be read as a standalone and has a different couple falling in love. There is an over arching plot line that ties all of the books together. On a different planet millions of light years away from Earth, two cultures have been warring over resources for generation. The Sunan and the Brausa have been bitter enemies, but recent events have brought together key players from both sides who want to see the violence at an end.

What are you working on right now?

Currently, I’m trying my hand at a contemporary novel titled One Breath to the Next. It’s about a girl who decides she’s going to live her life on her own terms, making her own decision, and she has decided that she wants Mason to be a friend with benefits. No commitment. No flowers or sweet words. No expectations of what she was supposed to do. Just sex. Except, to know Mason is to be addicted to him.