Singapore Fling Book Blog Tour and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit

INTERVIEW WITH MAIDA MALBY

Why did you choose to write romance?

I write romance because it’s what I read most. It’s what I’ve been reading since I was six when I had a comic-exchange business in my parents’ sari-sari (convenience) store in the Philippines.

I write multicultural/interracial romance because that’s my story and the story of many of my friends here in the US and all over the world.

Where did your literary love come from?

I come from a literary family. My mom was a short story writer. Her stories were published in Liwayway, a Tagalog weekly magazine in the Philippines. Her father was a poet whose work was also published by the same magazine. My dad was a voracious reader. He’d owned a first-edition copy of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind and had allowed me to read his Sidney Sheldon books at an earlier age than was (probably) appropriate.

How long have you been writing?

Technically, I’ve only been writing for three years. I wrote my first book Boracay Vows during the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) of November in 2016. I say technically because the idea for the book came from one of three stories I started to write in early 2000s. Most of what I wrote in a story I initially called Turning Thirty became the first chapter of Boracay Vows.

Are there under-represented groups or ideas featured if your book? 

One of my main characters, usually the female, always has to have Filipino heritage. That’s who I am and who I want to see more of as leads in books, not just as a supporting character.

Who are some of the authors you feel were influential in your work? 

Nora Roberts and Bella Andre. Nora for the female friendship and the hero with an Irish background. Both Nora and Bella for family series. Bella for light conflicts and steamy sexytimes. 

What are some day jobs that you have held?  Have any of them impacted your writing?

I’ve been a financial planner and a public affairs specialist in the past. I gave the financial background to Krista (Boracay Vows) and the public relations one to Maddie (Singapore Fling).

What projects are you working on at the present?

I’m currently writing Book 3 of the Carpe Diem Chronicles series entitled Samui Heat. It features the third Ryan brother Craig and the third single member of M’amie Angela Lim. I plan to release it in the spring of 2020.

What do your plans for future projects include?

I’ll finish this series in fall of 2020 with the Christmas wedding/reunion novella Palawan Promises, and then I will either start the spin-off series featuring Krista’s Filipino-American half-brothers Patrick and Ronan O’Connor and the sole Ryan girl Darcy, or I will start on a seasoned romance series with a divorcée, a widow, and a spinster. 

Who would you cast to play your characters in a movie version of your book?

Based on looks alone, I’ll cast British actor Henry Cavill as Blake Ryan and British-Filipina actress Bea Alonzo as Krista Lopez for Boracay Vows. Maddie will be Solenn Heussaf and Angela will be Kim Chiu for Singapore Fling.

Where is one place you want to visit that you haven’t been before?

Greece. I adored my mythology class in high school and to this day, I love reading about gods and goddesses. I’m toying with the idea of doing a mythology-adaptation anthology for Halloween 2020.

If you could speak with any accent from anywhere in the world, what would you choose and why?

French. I studied it when I was living in Singapore. It sounds really sexy to me.

What is your favorite quote?

Carpe diem. Seize the day. What else?

 

Ms. Malby is having a book sale through 11/30! Check out these great deals!