Author E.R. Phoenix from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, used to be a science teacher for eleven years and a fitness instructor for ten before she became a full-time writer in 2023. She began writing when she was eleven; her first book was this year in April. She is a member of a local Indie Authors group named Festival de Libros 100×35 P.R. and can be reached via http://www.facebook.com/erphoenixauthor and http://www.instagram.com/e.r.phoenix/. When E.R. isn’t writing, she loves dancing, hiking, watching anime, going to the beach, reading, and playing videogames.
Which genres do you cover?
E.R. Phoenix: Dystopian fiction is my favored writing genre. I combine it with romance, particularly when love appears suddenly in a dangerous setting and is impossible to resist. My books are filled with action, danger, suspense, steamy romance, and individuals who would stop at nothing to defend their cause.
Which is the latest book you had published, and what is about?
E.R. Phoenix: My debut novel, Rebel Unbound, is an adult dystopian romance set 200 years in the future. It’s the first book of the Promissa Trilogy. After decades of war, the city of Promissa is under the rule of the New World Government, which controls every aspect of the citizens’ lives by restricting procreation rights and resource distribution. Abigail is hurled into this world of brutality and despair and loses hope as loneliness and misery swallow her whole. Davon lives to make up for the sins of others. His sense of justice brought him into the People’s Revolutionary Front, a group of insurgents who resist the system and live off the grid with only one purpose in mind: to take back their city. When Davon locates Abigail deep within the wasteland, they travel to the rebel base and develop a bond far deeper than either of them could have imagined. But as their pasts and worlds collide, an unavoidable threat seeks to destroy everything they have come to cherish.
At which book events can readers find you?
E.R. Phoenix: At all the events of the Festival de Libros 100×35 P.R. We still don’t have a concrete date on the next event, but it will be in my hometown Vega Baja, P.R. before the year ends. Also, I have an event from December 6-8. It is the Festival del Libro Entre Páginas in Barranquitas P.R. It’s the biggest Book Fair of the island.
Which book event connecting you with readers is your favorite and why?
I enjoy events at local bookstores because they allow me to communicate more directly to my audience, and it feels great to be able to connect in a more personal way. I especially enjoy the Festival de Libros 100×35 events because I get to speak with them one-on-one and share my book.
Do(es) your book(s) have any specific messages to your readers and, if so, which are they?
E.R. Phoenix: The most important message that my books have is to fight for our rights and liberties as human beings. When the world turns dark and there’s injustice, people have the ability and resilience to surpass any obstacle. Another message is that we need to have empathy and be able to rely on one another to be able to keep fighting no matter how many times we fall.
Which writer(s) keep(s) inspiring you and why?
E.R. Phoenix: I think all writers inspire me in some way. The author community has been very welcoming, and there are so many awesome writers out there, that I can’t choose. I do have writers that have inspired me. My favorite dystopia writers are Suzanne Collins, Caragh M. O’Brien, and Gemma Malley. Their stories woke something inside of me, and because of them, I love to write dystopia. I do love fantasy, and Michael Manning and Karen Miller have inspired me a lot. I love their storytelling and their characters, especially the interpersonal relationships in the Mageborn Series by Manning. Stephanie Hudson inspired me to start writing as an indie author, and she’s very down to earth as well as her paranormal romance stories. She also inspired me to not be afraid of writing steamy scenes.
Do you have any specific writing habits?
E.R. Phoenix: I do need my coffee, and I work better in the mornings with natural light. If there’s music in a scene, I put some on, but otherwise, I prefer to work in silence. I’m somewhere between a plotter and a pantser, so I have an idea of how I want the plot to go, but I let my characters make their own decisions and let the story unfold through them.
What are you currently working on?
E.R. Phoenix: I’m proofreading the second book of the Promissa Trilogy, Rule of the Elite, which is about to come out. I already began writing the third book of the trilogy, Breaking the Regime.
Which book are you currently reading simply for entertainment?
E.R. Phoenix: I’m reading The Hostess Secret by G. G. Pizarro and the second book of Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.
What advice would you give any aspiring author?
E.R. Phoenix: To write what you feel and make it as real as can be. Include daily life activities and interpersonal relationships so that the reader connects more with your writing. Let the story flow in a way that the reader feels they are part of the story. Don’t focus on perfection, but on telling your story. Don’t give up, and never let your inside thoughts tell you you’re not good enough.
You can find E.R. Phoenix’s book at two local bookstores, Casa Norberto and Apostrophee, and on Amazon.
