Author Spotlight: Siobhan Muir

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.

Today: Siobhan Muir lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband, two daughters, a kitten who thinks he’s a dog, a cat who’s not impressed with him, and the dog who just wants to go for a walk. In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens and to the bottom of Meteor Crater. Siobhan writes kick-ass adventure with hot sex for men and women to enjoy. She believes in happily ever after, redemption, and communication, all of which you will find in her paranormal romance and dauntless romance stories.

Find them all here: https://siobhanmuir.com
Website: https://siobhanmuir.com
Blog: https://siobhanmuir.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Official.Siobhan.Muir
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/siobhanmuir.bsky.social
Edenbooks: https://edenbooks.com/author/siobhan-muir-romance/
MeWe: https://mewe.com/siobhanmuir.94/posts
Newsletter: https://siobhanmuir.com/newsletter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siobhan_muir/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5760938.Siobhan_Muir
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/siobhan-muir
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@siobhanmuir4793
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Siobhan-Muir/e/B007CRB2F6/
Ko-Fi.com: https://ko-fi.com/K3K7CBUM
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SiobhanMuir
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/siobhanmuirromance

Thanks so much, Siobhan, for joining me!

J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing style/genre?

Siobhan Muir: Kick-ass adventure with hot sex for men and women to enjoy.

JSC: What do you do when you get writer’s block?

SM: I don’t really get writer’s block because I’m usually writing about 4 books at once. If I get stuck on one manuscript, I switch and work on another one while the first one percolates in the back of my mind.

JSC: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

SM: No, I don’t read them. I like my husband read them and tell me about the good ones. But here’s the thing about reviews: They’re one person’s opinion and they aren’t the expert on my books. I am, and I like how my books turn out. Besides, the reviews aren’t really for me. I can’t please everyone so I write the best book I can for me. If others like it – cool beans. If they don’t – meh, I didn’t write it for them anyway. But here’s the thing with reading reviews: if you’re going to believe the bad ones, go back and read the 5 star reviews. Might as well believe those, too.

JSC: How long on average does it take you to write a book?

SM: Since I write about 4 books at once, it’s hard to tell. But if I only worked on one, average is about 4 months for a full-length novel. Novellas are more like a month. I don’t write short stories – the shortest tale I ever wrote (that was worth reading) is 12K words.

JSC: How long have you been writing?

SM: I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old, but I only got published for the first time in 2012. The stories wouldn’t leave me alone, even when I was a kid, so I used to tell myself bedtime stories (after my parents read to me and wished me goodnight). Then I started writing them down.

JSC: What’s your writer cave like? Photos?

SM: It looks like a jumble of sparkly rocks, brightly colored art, toys, and candles, but it’s actually really organized for me and I know where everything is. (picture attached)

JSC: How did you choose the topic for In Plain Sight?

SM: I was part of a multi-author project called Summit Springs Sapphic Romance and it had to be contemporary, all human. I asked if I could write a romantic suspense and the organizers said sure. I’d already written one, and in this second story, I wanted to give the sheriff from the first story her own HEA. What was tricky was I had a heroine who was on the run, had changed her name and appearance to survive, but was married in her previous life. The questions I had to answer was how important is someone’s past with respect to the present? It was a challenge because the Sheriff always looks into someone’s background to find out who they are, but the heroine was escaping abuse so her current identity didn’t exist before. It was a fun story.

JSC: What secondary character would you like to explore more? Tell me about them.

SM: Emily Lewiston, the owner of Caffeine Ivy’s Coffee Shop, and a woman with abuse in her past. I’d love to find out about her backstory and how she can find her HEA in the future.

JSC: What other artistic pursuits (it any) do you indulge in apart from writing?

SM: I bake gluten-free goodies, which you can find on YouTube (https://youtube.com/ @siobhanmuir4793), I cross-stitch (because stabbing something a million times calms me down), and I knit things to give away.

JSC: Star Trek or Star Wars? Why?

SM: I’m equal on both, and you can find out how through the discussion Merida has with Tam in Broken Chains. 😀

JSC: What are you working on now, and what’s coming out next? Tell us about it!

SM: As I mentioned, I tend to work on more than one MS at a time. So I have two y’all should be interested in coming soon.

The first is The Bread Winner, a MM retired military/cowboy romantic suspense. It takes place in a little town of Nectar Falls, Montana, and it’s a Second Chance at First Love between a medically retired Navy SEAL and his best buddy who happens to be an owner/baker at the Hummingbird Bakery. It is a spinoff military romantic suspense series to the Bad Boys of Beta Squad series.

The second is Under the Brightmare Moons, a FF science fiction romance that takes place on a different planet because of dimensional doors. The first FMC is meant to be the Keeper of the Key for this world, and she has eleven other sisters who are Keepers for eleven other worlds. They were once the 12 Dancing Princesses who betrayed the Dryads and were turned into lamps – now they must find their places and their loves. The first sister got her HEA in In Death’s Shadow, in the Rifts series.

And now for Siobhan’s book: In Plain Sight:

Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.

Triss Singleton came to Summit Springs to find a safe place to raise her baby. No one believed her claims about her abusive ex-husband, so she saved herself by taking on a new identity. She just wants to start over and is leery of any cops, current and former… until she meets Briona Maverick, Summit Springs’ sheriff, jumpstarting her bisexual heart.

After her missing girlfriend turns up dead, Briona is shattered. She’s certain she’s done with love and relationships, but the mysterious Triss Singleton makes her want to try again. Triss is more guarded than Fort Knox and avoids talking about her past, but something simmering under those well-fortified defenses makes Briona cautiously hope Triss is the kind of woman she’s been searching for her whole life. Plus, baby on the way. Bonus!

But trouble arrives when Triss’s ex shows up in Summit Springs, and Briona faces a dilemma. She’s sworn to uphold her oath to protect abused women like Triss, but she’s an officer of the law, which often fails those women. Briona wants the happily-ever-after, but the sheriff must uphold justice. The wrong decision could cost her everything.

Publisher | Amazon | Eden Books | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Universal Buy Link

Excerpt

“Hi, you must be Beatrice Singleton, right?”

Triss nodded. “Yes, but I go by Triss.”

The woman stepped back and inclined her head. “Triss. Okay. I’m glad you made it before the storm got really bad. I was worried when I didn’t hear anything. I’m Emily Lewiston. Come on upstairs and I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”

Triss hurried inside and up the wooden stairs that creaked in a different tone with each step.

Good unintentional warning system.

Or maybe it had been left to creak intentionally. She certainly appreciated it. The stairs opened up to a wider hallway, allowing her to breathe a little easier. Walls painted with a warm rose color surrounded three doors. Two opened to the left and one to the right. Each door had an elegantly painted number on it, none of which were in sequence.

“This is you.” Emily led her to the second door on the left with the number 4673 painted in white on a brick red door. She unlocked the door and pushed it inwards then stood back.

Triss stepped into the well-lit apartment and immediately felt calm and cozy. The décor was rustic southwest with Native American prints on the chair and loveseat upholstery and Georgia O’Keefe prints on the walls. The floors were wood, but neutral-toned rugs sat beneath the coffee table and the little dining table in the breakfast nook beside the kitchenette. A bathroom separated the little living space from the bedroom, which was big enough to hold a bed and a tiny writing desk and matching chair made of dark wood.

“Wow, this place is nice.” Triss set her bag down on the bed with a duvet with a geometric pattern in earthtones. “Thank you for letting me rent it.”

Emily smiled warmly and nodded. She flipped her sandy-blonde ponytail over her shoulder and held out a set of keys.

“The key with the oxblood red cover is the one to door 4673 and the one with the pink cover is the one to the outside door in the alley. The plain key locks the garage door where you parked your car.” Emily nodded toward the hallway. “I live right across the hall in 7378, if you need anything. Do you have a cellphone?” Her brown eyes sharpened.

Triss shook her head. “No. I had to leave it, and I didn’t want to get a random phone that he could track.”

Emily nodded. “That’s fine. We’ll get you a new phone when the weather clears, that you can pay month to month with cash.”

“Okay.” Triss looked back through the door to the hallway. “What’s with the numbers on the door? Seems weird for apartments to have such large numbers.”

“Not when you know how I think.” Emily smirked, her eyes crinkling at the corners and pulling the skin taut against the scar that became visible along the left side of her face, from temple to jaw. “Each one is a four-digit code. Your door spells HOPE. Mine spells REST.”

“And the last door, 5337?”

“It’s a large storeroom, and spells KEEP. It was another way to keep people from knowing which were the apartments.” Emily rubbed the scar. “You go ahead and get settled. I stocked the cupboards with a few items like saltines, peanut butter, jam, bread, cheese, cream, small quart of milk and turkey cold cuts to get you through until you can get out to buy some real groceries. When you’re out, set up a PO box at the post office. You can actually get a street address for the box to accept packages and throw off anyone looking, including the cops. The postmaster here, Evangeline Brewster, knows all about making the cops and the Feds work for their information.”

Triss raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Oh yeah. She’s a real stickler for search warrants, and even when they have one, she’ll drag her feet and take her time to find what they’re looking for.” Emily smirked. “She looks like a white-haired hippy grandmother with cheater glasses on an actual beaded chain. No one who doesn’t know her questions her when it takes her a while to find what they’re looking for. But the woman doesn’t miss a thing. It gives her time to get a message out to the box owner to make themselves scarce.”

Emily looked Triss straight in the eyes. “She’s saved me a time or two when my past came looking for me.”

Tisane had said Emily knew exactly what Triss was going through, and Triss didn’t doubt it now.

“So, I’ll leave you to it. Do you need any toiletries to get you through?”

“Oh.” Heat filled Triss’s cheeks. “Yes, actually. I didn’t stop long enough to get any and then the weather closed in so I had to keep going.”

“I totally understand. Let me run to 5337 and grab a few things. Be right back.”

Emily disappeared out to the hallway, and Triss took a moment to catch her breath. She was safe. She had a place to sleep, a little money in the bank that he couldn’t touch, and someone who understood what she was facing. True, she didn’t really know Emily Lewiston or her past, but Triss recognized a sister survivor.

Today is the first day of your new life.

It didn’t feel real. No more real than it had when she was shackled to a man who turned out to be a monster. A monster with friends in places of authority. Her family hadn’t believed her or cared. All they cared about was the fetus growing in her belly and their relief that she was in a relationship with man so they didn’t have to acknowledge her bisexuality.

She took a deep breath and let all the anger and resentment go. It wouldn’t help her, and they’d never change. That was why she’d cut them out of her life when she fled California.

It’s a new start, and I’m gonna be fine.

Emily returned a few moments later with her hands full of full-sized shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash, a puff, toothpaste, toothbrush, and body cream. She set them all on the counter of the kitchenette and shot Triss a smile.

“I hope these will be okay. They should get you through the storm and the downtime between what you have now and your first paycheck. Payroll goes through to your account on Tuesdays.” Emily tilted her head. “Can you start tomorrow morning? I know it’s soon, but I’d like to get you up to speed pretty quickly so you can start filling your bank account for anything you need.”

Triss raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure? I mean, I can do it, but it seems sudden.”

Emily nodded. “One thing I’ve learned about these sorts of situations. You probably want something to distract you from the fear hounding you, and you’ll have less fear if you feel financially secure on your own. It’s my goal to support both independence and peace of mind. Been there, done that myself.”

“Oh. Okay.” Triss wasn’t sure if the polite thing to do was to ask about the past or to let the comment go, but she was too emotionally worn out to do more than nod. “Thank you. I’ll be there tomorrow. What time do you want me to come in?”

Emily glanced over at the clock on the stove. “It’s pretty late, so why not come in around nine tomorrow morning? That way you can get some rest, take a shower, and don your armor to face the public.”

Damn, Emily does know what she’s talking about.

“Okay. Thank you for all this. I truly appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

Emily gave her a warm smile. “You’re welcome. I’m gonna go lock up, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” She waved as she left the apartment.

Triss could hear her footsteps travel the length of the hallway and descend the stairs before the sound of the locks clicking settled some of her nerves. She closed her own door—4673, HOPE—and locked it before heading for the bathroom with the new toiletries.

Welcome to the rest of your life. You got this.

She certainly hoped so.