Five Minutes With… Yelena Casale

Hi folks,

Well … I have such a treat for you in today’s instalment of Five Minutes With… Today we have Yelena Casale, author extraordinaire and one half of the dynamic duo of Tina Moss & Yelena Casale, who are not only the co-authors of the fabulous novel A Touch Of Darkness, but… and get this… this enterprising duo have started their own publishing house – called City Owl Press – http://www.cityowlpress.com/

Now, we’ll talk more about City Owl Press in early 2015 – they are not open for submissions yet but like them on facebook and follow them on Twitter so you don’t miss out on updates. And of course I’ll be keeping you posted too 🙂

Today we are going to talk to Yelena about her brilliant short story – Amarok’s Bite 

Let’s start with a little teaser for Amarok’s Bite:

Lilly and her sexy beast of a werewolf partner Shayne make a great team working for the Peace Control Department. But when she tries to take on a rogue amarok on her own, things go terribly wrong, and she is left with an agonizing choice between dying and becoming a despised amarok herself. When Shayne makes the choice for her, she has to come to terms with what she is, and her feelings for Shayne, before facing off against the creature that changed her life forever.

Sounds cool doesn’t it!

For those who don’t know Yelena (which can’t be many of you) here’s a little on her: 

Yelena Casale is an award-winning author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and co-founder of City Owl Press.
Yelena was born in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to New York at 13. Being very curious and inquisitive, she has been a devoted reader and writer since childhood. As a 2nd degree black belt and instructor in Shotokan karate, an avid *traveler and history and art enthusiast, she weaves universal themes with martial arts philosophies into her stories. She lives with her amazing, super supportive husband and the best Siamese cat. In her spare time, she reads, paints, watches cool shows on TV and tries to get more sleep.
Like the samurai of the old, as well as the ultimate Renaissance man and Yelena’s favorite historical figure, Leonardo da Vinci, she believes that nothing is greater than mastery of oneself.

(NOTICE I DIDN’T CHANGE TRAVELER TO DOUBLE “LL”

– DAMN IT WAS TEMPTING … BUT I DIGRESS!) 

I’m a HUGE fan of short stories.  I think they fill the void of wanting something to read while, say, waiting for an appointment or train- travelling (yep double LL). I also think they are a wonderful opportunity for busy people to indulge in a bit of fiction without having to commit to a 100,000 word novel. But they are more than that. For the author too they are a great opportunity to complete something in a reasonable timeframe (personally very rewarding) and also offer potential readers a taste of their writing style. With that in mind, I asked Yelena how the short story came about & here is what Yelena said:

This short story was initially written for, and included in, a charity anthology of short stories called Winter Wonders. 

Interested in knowing more, here are some additional links – (& don’t forget to keep an eye-out for a interview with Yelena & Tina in the new year – they’ll be wearing their publishers caps!)

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Amaroks-Bite-Yelena-Casale-ebook/dp/B00QDZVTI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417911819&sr=8-1&keywords=Amarok%27s+bite

B&N Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amaroks-bite-yelena-casale/1120846567?ean=2940046253573

Goodreds: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23597432-amarok-s-bite—urban-fantasy-short-story

CityOwl purchase page: https://gumroad.com/l/Amarok

Yelena’s personal blog/website: www.yelenacasale.com

Yelena on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yelena_Casale

FB author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yelena-Casale/253292294718229?ref=hl

So there you have it folks. Yelena is a bona fide modern-day butt-kicking-ninja-warrior who also happens to be an extremely talented author and a lovely person, always generous with her time – what’s not to love!