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Is Lilith Saintcrow her real name?  Yes it really is.  Lilith Saintcrow is not a nom de plume!  I'd imagine she gets asked that question a lot as it is the first item to be answered on her website FAQs.

Lilith was born in New Mexico and, according to her website, '...bounced around the world as an Air Force brat, and fell in love with writing when she was ten years old. After taking second place in a fiction-writing contest sealed her addiction to the written word, it's often supposed that she has ink instead of blood filling her veins. A previously published author, she has written a paranormal romance, Dark Watcher. She lives in Vancouver, WA with her husband, two small children and a houseful of cats and assorted other strays.'

If you're a fan of urban fantasy and/or paranormal romance and haven't yet read her books then read on!  You're in for a treat whichever series you decide to read - Jill Kismet, Dante Valentine, Watcher or Society.

1. Why writing?

I don't think I had any choice. I've been writing ever since second grade. It's just how I process things, how the world works for me. Not writing is not an option, I just go on from there.

2. Why romance writing in particular?

My romances tend to be about redemption, with a heavy dose of horror and the paranormal. I'm not sure why I write it, unless it's that the romance genre is one I'm familiar with and have read a lot of, so I ended up being comfortable inside the genre's restrictions and conventions.

3. Do you prefer a ‘happy ever after’ ending or a ‘happy for now’ ending?

Neither. I prefer the right ending. Sometimes it's happy, always it's hopeful, but it's never HEA for the sake of HEA.

4. Do you think a happy ending should be compulsory?

Absolutely not.

5. Why?  Why not?

Because life does not have a compulsory happy ending. The job of art is to tell the truth. If that truth is a happy ending, fine. If it's not, it is the artist's responsibility not to look away or punk out. I don't believe unhappy endings should be compulsory either. I believe very strongly it is about the right ending.

6. Do you get recognized while out and about in public?

Oh, heavens, no. I hope I never do.

7. How often do you get fan mail?

I get several emails a day, mostly because my online presence is very accessible. Sometimes it's fan mail, sometimes it's hate mail. It's always interesting in my inbox.

8. Do people send you manuscripts and ask you to read them or pass them on to your publisher?

Not if they read my contact guidelines or my FAQ. If they do, I'm sorry, but I have to delete them. My schedule doesn't permit that kind of time sink. Plus, that's really rude for people to do—to presume that I exist just to help them get into publishing. It presupposes I have no life, that I don't need time and energy to fulfill my own contractual obligations. It's very disrespectful.

9. Roughly how many do you get a year?  What do you do with them?

See above.

10. What other genres do you read?

I read everything. Nonfiction, fiction, it doesn't matter. I try to visit each part of my local bookstore/library on every visit, or at least every other visit. Something just has to sound interesting before I open it and give it a shot. I think being an omnivorous reader really is part of being a writer, in my opinion. It's a necessary prerequisite.

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