Carla Luna

Time to seriously fangirl out!
Today’s guest on Interviews with Indies is author Carla Luna.

I picked up her first book because, well, archeology! And the writing was so smart and entertaining, and since I was ready to sit by the pool for the summer, I just went ahead and read all the books in her Romancing the Ruins series. Would I have rather been sitting on the beach in Greece or lounging in a shaded grove overlooking Pompeii while I read her books? OF COURSE! But at least Carla’s words were able to transport me there in spirit!

Carla Luna writes contemporary romance with a dollop of humor and a pinch of spice. A former archaeologist, she still dreams of traveling to far-off places and channels that wanderlust into the settings of her stories.

If you’re new to Interviews with Indies, I like to soothe my own curiosities and get the burning questions out of the way first.

NIcole: Coffee or tea?

Carla: Though I love tea (I grew up in British Columbia, Canada, where tea is a part of the culture), I’m a coffee addict. My favorite morning beverage is a mug of French Roast coffee with a splash of cream.

Greek gods or Roman gods?

Greek gods!! IMHO, they were first on the scene, and the Romans were just copying them. I could be biased because when I took Classics in university, we studied Ancient Greek culture first, so I’ve always preferred it.

Salty or sweet?

How about a mix of both? I love treats like kettle corn and chocolate peanut-butter pretzels, which combine delicious sweetness with a hint of salt.

The Pantheon or Parthenon? (I know this might be a loaded question.)

Definitely the Parthenon because it’s from Ancient Greece.

Sparkling water or still water?

Ice-cold still water. During the day, I carry a stainless-steel water bottle with me, and I’m always refilling it.

Okay now that the important stuff is out of the way, let’s really jump in. Carla, thank you so much for agreeing to be part of my Interviews with Indies, I am excited to (virtually) chat with you.

In reading about your career (and doing some light stalking) I read that when you first started writing you wrote fantasy. How did the transition to contemporary romance work? And do you still write / or have plans to write fantasy as well?

While I loved writing fantasy—especially the world-building—I couldn’t get my books down to a manageable length. My first fantasy novel, The Sultan’s Daughter (set in an alternative version of the Ottoman Empire) clocked in at a whopping 900 pages! Switching to contemporary romance wasn’t that hard because everything I wrote—fantasy, YA, sci-fi—had strong romantic elements. I’m not sure if I’d ever go back to writing fantasy, but I still enjoy reading it.

When I look at all your books and the different locations they take place, you definitely live up to the definition of the “Destination Romance” book writer! What is one of the favorite places you’ve ever visited? And where do you have a burning desire to go that you haven’t been yet?

Tough question! I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to a lot of incredible places. I’d say two of my favorites were Turkey and Italy, which I initially visited in the 1990s (back when I was still an archaeologist). I revisited both of them in 2022 and 2023 while doing research for my books and fell back in love with them. Both countries have delicious food (baklava! gelato! pasta!), wonderful archaeological sites, and loads of fascinating history. Istanbul and Rome are two of my favorite cities in the world. For places I haven’t been, I’d love to go to Morocco, and I’d also like to visit New Zealand and do a full “Lord of the Rings” tour.

Okay, let’s get to the archeology. You write about archeologists, and in this day and age, I feel that when people think about archeology the first thought is Indiana Jones. Then, if you add ‘romance’ to the archeology, we’re all looking to The Mummy movies. So I appreciated the ‘humanizing’ you did for the field in your writing. We forget about the mundane sometimes. What are some of the most important aspects you like to inform your readers about when it comes to modern day archeology work?

First of all, let it be noted that I love Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Mummy (the 1999 version with Brendan Fraser) because they’re so much fun. But when it comes to real archaeology, the important thing to remember is that it’s not about treasure-hunting. At least, not when it comes to academic archaeology. Instead, it’s about digging up the material remains of the past to understand how ancient civilizations lived—not just the upper classes (which history books tend to focus on), but the middle and lower classes as well. Archaeology also involves a lot of science, especially when it comes to analyzing lithics (stone tools), animal bones, plant remains, and human skeletons. Also, most archaeologists don’t spend all their time going on digs. In places like Pompeii, excavations happen year-round, but at most sites, the “dig season” takes place during the summer. During the rest of the year, professional archaeologists might teach classes at a university, or work at a museum, lab, or research center. In addition, analyzing artifacts takes a lot of time and effort. I remember hearing stories about professors who’d spend years going on digs, only to be faced with huge backlogs of artifacts that needed to be studied and catalogued!

Do you have a favorite historical time period and if you could, what would be the coolest thing you could find on a dig from that era? (Or maybe you have?)

The late Bronze Age (1500 – 1200 BC) is a favorite of mine because so much was going on in the Mediterranean world. Cultures like the Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Trojans, and Babylonians were all interacting and influencing each other. This time period is also when the Trojan War supposedly took place. While I don’t want to give away any spoilers for Troy Story, I would have loved to join their Troy dig and be there when they discovered the “all-important artifact” (if you want to know what they find, you’ll have to read the book!). I also would have loved the chance to dig in Egypt, but alas, all I’ve done is visit the country.

I feel like this is one of the questions you get all the time. But still…what is the coolest thing you found on a dig?

A lot of the time, the crews I worked with just found loads of broken pottery! But when I was working on the ruins of a Roman villa in Cyprus—The House of Orpheus—we uncovered two skeletons (a man and a woman) that we believed had been killed when the villa collapsed in an earthquake. Since we hadn’t expected to find anything like this, it was an incredible experience (and formed the basis for two chapters in Field Rules). Because Cyprus has such a dry climate, remnants of the man’s leather sandals were perfectly preserved; we also found a pair of golden earrings that the woman would have been wearing.

I know you visited Pompeii in order to research your book Tour Wars. (You can read about Carla’s trip here.) What was the most surprising bit of information or fact you found out about Pompeii? (Or things for that matter?)

Like everyone who visits Pompeii, I was curious about the lupanar (the ancient brothel), with its racy paintings and naughty graffiti. But I was shocked at how small the individual cubicles were. Plus the beds were made of stone and looked very uncomfortable. Fun fact about my Pompeii trip—when I went, a lot of the best artifacts weren’t on display, and I found out they’d been loaned to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, for their Pompeii exhibit. This made me laugh because Chicago is less than two hours from my hometown! So, once I got back home to Wisconsin, I went to Chicago to see the exhibit, which was amazing.

Do you have a scene that you just loved writing? What did you love about it?

I loved writing the scenes between TJ and Emilia in Tour Wars. Before this, I’d never written a rivals-to-lovers romance, and I had so much fun with it! I had a blast writing all their banter, especially because it was so academic in nature (and it even carries over to the bedroom!).

If you could have dinner with one character from any book, who would it be and where would you like to have dinner?

I’d love to have dinner with Dusty Danforth, the heroine of Troy Story, preferably at her parents’ posh apartment in Cairo. Because she grew up going on her parents’ digs in Egypt, I’ll bet she’d have some amazing stories to tell. Plus, she seems she’d be a great drinking companion for a night on the town. (Fun fact about Dusty—I was inspired to create her character after seeing The Mummy movies and thinking, “what would it be like to grow up as the child of a famous Egyptologist?”)

What are you currently working on?

While I’m still leaning into my “Destination Romance” brand, I’ve decided to take a break from the world of archaeology. At the moment, I’ve just started writing the first book in a romantic comedy series that will take place at a boutique hotel in Victoria, British Columbia (located on the west coast of Canada), called the Duchess. I picked Victoria for the hotel’s location because I grew up there and also because it’s a very popular tourist destination. All the stories in the series will feature staff members from the hotel, along with guests, rival hoteliers, and so on. Right now, I’m planning on a December release for the first book—a fake-dating, holiday romance with some spicy “Santa” scenes!

Once again, a HUGE thank you to Carla Luna!

Find Carla’s books here:

https://www.carlalunabooks.com/

Find Carla here:

Website: https://www.carlalunabooks.com/

Fb: https://www.facebook.com/CarlaLunaAuthor

Insta https://www.instagram.com/carlalunacullen/

https://twitter.com/casacullen