6 Questions with Alan Campbell

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

One, because my deadline is still a few months away. And if I need reminded of the insanity of the rest of the world in the meantime, I can always switch on the TV.

2. You’re not really going to end Book Three with “Everyone dies after 80,000 words” right? Seriously though, do you think that there might be a Third Book syndrome that follows Second Book syndrome?

I don’t think my publishers would let me kill everyone off after 80,000 words. I haven’t heard of Third Book Syndrome, so… fingers crossed.

3. According to your bio, it says that you left game design to pursue a career in writing and photography. You’re a published writer now, so what happened to photography?

I still sell pictures to magazines and newspapers through a stock library, but I don’t concentrate on it full time now.

4. Do you think that SFF writers might be more political in general? Or are they just more vocal than other (fiction) writers about it?

SFF has a long tradition of exploring dystopian political structures, such as in George Orwell’s “1984″, Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” or Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451″. This type of fiction can act as a powerful metaphor for current events, or even as a warning. SFF is a perfectly-shaped hole for that particular peg. But are SFF writers in general any more political or vocal about politics than other writers? Certainly not, when compared to journalists. We’re more political than romantic fiction writers, I suppose. But that’s probably because Romance, as a genre, doesn’t really lend itself to hard political analysis (and nor should it).

5. Iron Angel and Penny Devil. Would you say that the differing titles for the US and UK markets refer to different facets of the book? If yes, how so?

The title “Penny Devil” has now been dropped. We all thought it would be a bit daft to have two different titles for the same book. It confused me, and I wrote the book. The titles refer to two different characters. “Iron Angel” will also refer to something subtle and clever, just as soon as I figure out what it is.

6. Having picked up the violin at a rather, umh, late age, how’s it coming along?

Late age? What do you mean late age?

Well, it’s coming along like a sick cat in surgery. It’s a very sick cat, and I don’t rate its odds too highly.

Alan Campbell’s current release is Iron Angel, coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Talking about Iron Angel, I’m giving away a copy. But just so you know, it’ll probably take awhile to get to you, since I can’t afford to ship it any faster. Just comment, and mention why you want it, and you’re in the draw!

6 Questions with Stacia Kane

Stacia is the first person I’ve interviewed who’s living somewhere that doesn’t require a plane trip for me to visit. That probably deserves a prize of some sort.

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Hmm. I’d say about a seven? I’m not quite homicidal yet, or plotting elaborate drugs-in-the-water-supply schemes, so yes, seven or so.

As to why…it could be the isolation of living in a rural community where your every move is viewed with suspicion. Or it could be my parents are to blame, or that I spend most of my time planning how much creepiness and gore I can insert into the lives of people I made up. Or it could be the gremlins who visit me at night. Yes, it’s probably those damn gremlins.

2. How do you think life on the right side of the pond affects the stories you tell?

You mean the right side as in the right hand, or the right side as in the correct side?  How does it affect the stories I tell. I think my work is a lot darker now. I’ve always had leanings towards the dark/violent/spooky, but now I don’t think I could write something cheerful if you paid me. Isolation has always been something of a theme for me as well but it’s really moved front-and-center now. Sorry, I really don’t have a funny answer for this one—the truth is, it’s very lonely here and I feel very out of place, and I think that’s really affected what I do.

It’s always been difficult for me to write people who have, say, close and loving family relationships and huge groups of friends, but I find I’m getting to a point where my characters have no friends and no one. (Although for the record I am very happily married, with two adorable daughters, and my best friend in America and I talk every week, and she is the greatest friend in the world. She’s Charlotte from Sex and the City—you know, the one who always makes occasions special and is thoughtful and caring and sweet and all that? Only Cori is also bitchy sometimes which makes her perfect.)

3. Chocolate cake is the food of gods. How can you not like it, and even worse, how can you subject your loved ones to your dislike of it? Though, I suppose your sadism is a good sign, for goodness only knows what you do to your characters.

Okay, now you’re not being fair.  I love chocolate, I do. And if chocolate cake tasted like chocolate, I would like it. But to me chocolate cake just tastes…brown. There’s no real chocolate flavor. It’s not like I don’t let them have cake at all!

And over here, because the cakes you buy in stores are so awful (really, the “party cakes” they sell for kids’ parties are like cardboard with that horrible plasticy roll-out frosting) I bake cakes from scratch for the girls’ birthdays and stuff and make the frosting myself too. I bake peanut butter cakes (which are delicious, and the recipe is on my overflow blog.) I bake sponge cakes with Nutella and fresh whipped cream, and Devil’s Food cakes with raspberries and raspberry syrup and fudge frosting and whipped cream, and all sort of things. Just not plain chocolate cake.
But hey, if you have a chocolate cake that really tastes like chocolate, bring it on!

4. One of your newest releases is a book you co-wrote with Anna J. Evans, who is also your critique partner. Were you critique partners before you started writing together, and if so, has it changed the way you look at her work?

We were critique partners first, for about a year, year and a half? We found each other through the Passionate Ink forums (Passionate Ink is the online erotic romance RWA chapter) and just really clicked right away. So after a year or so of critting and chatting, we thought it would be fun to write something together. EC was still accepting submissions for their Torrid Tarot line, so we came up with a plot and got started! That book, As the Lady Wishes, took us about three weeks start to finish—we got really competitive with the word count, lol. “If she did 3k, I bet I can do at least 3500!” And so on. Since we live in different time zones, too, we were able to trade off once a day. A book gets written fast if you’re adding 6-8k words per day! It was a blast, and we definitely wanted to do it again, so we did Demon’s Triad. We really want to work together again, too, but both of us are so busy these days that we don’t know when we’ll get the chance. We have some ideas, though…

It hasn’t really changed the way I look at her work, no. I loved her work the very first time I read it several years ago, and I still do. There is nothing in the world like having a really good critique partner, someone who gets you and your voice and knows what you’re trying to do. Really, it’s worth hunting around until you find that person. I trust Anna implicitly—if she says something doesn’t work, chances are it doesn’t work.

5. You are part of the League of Reluctant Adults? Why are you reluctant to be an adult?

Well, really, aside from being able to legally drink, who wants to be an adult? It’s all the responsibility and less of the fun. I hate getting older. Yes, it beats the alternative but frankly I’m pissed about that too. Whose stupid idea was death?

6. Thus far, all your books are paranormal/fantasy etc. Do you think you’ll be writing a book with an ‘ordinary’ setting any time soon?

No, I don’t think so. Every time I try, the supernatural stuff sneaks back in. I’m not really a fan of reality, so it’s just not fun for me to write books that take place there. I did write a historical romance, a medieval called Black Dragon which was just released by Cerridwen Press, and I may do another historical without the paranormal elements, but as far as writing straight contemporaries I’d be a flop. The present as it is just doesn’t excite me, I’m afraid.

Stacia Kane’s Personal Demons releases this month. Black Dragon was published under the December Quinn pseudonym.

6 Questions with Mark Henry

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I’m easily down to a 7, since book 2 is off to the editor. Normally, I’d be freaking out but my betas and my agent assure me the book is as fun and funny as the first one. Otherwise, I’d be running up and down the street screaming like an idiot, in between bouts of hitting the refresh key on my email program. Has he read it yet? Has he? Has he?

Just asking.

2. There are quite a few female writers who write in male first person POV, but rather fewer males who write in first person female points of view, I think. Any thoughts on the matter?

I get this question a lot and I’m not certain I have a good answer. It’s probably related to my work as a psychotherapist. The majority of my clients were women and after twelve years and countless hours of reading body language, facial expression and speech patterns, it just became second nature, I guess.

3. In contrast to the Amanda Feral series, which is written in first person, your other work-in-progress has a male protagonist and is in multiple third points of view. A hard switch, or was that just the way it had to be?

This is another tough one to answer without giving away a major plot point. I should probably start by letting your readers know that The Dark Rites of Joe Barkley is another urban fantasy series , this one about an impotent incubus, his missing other half and an Australian hooker with a limp. Suffice it to say, the demon protagonist in Joe Barkley is of two minds, so it had to be third. I just couldn’t figure out a way to to consolidate the two in a first person format. I tried. It didn’t work and I’m not going to say it’s been an easy switch, either. I’m much more comfortable in first person. It’s like acting. Particularly in Happy Hour where the format is a fictional memoir.

4. Both of us live in places where it (supposedly) rains all the time. Any tips and tricks to cope with the weather? And how do zombies deal?

Just go with it. I don’t even own an umbrella, though I do have a rubber slicker (does that sound dirty?). Zombies, on the other
hand–particularly skin-care obsessed sentient zombies–prefer huge golf umbrellas. Mortuary grade concealer streaks and is difficult to apply in the back of a cab.

5. Is it the rain that makes Seattle grow hot urban fantasy writers quickly?

Well, first, thank you. It’s rare for people to pick up on my “hotness”, particularly from such a distance. As for why Seattle is
such a hotbed of urban fantasy, I suppose it could be the rain. It keeps us all inside and reading. Writers are usually readers, so we have a disproportionate population up here. It’s also pretty dark most of the time and despite the travelogues, Seattle is not a particularly clean city. There’s a reason our primary contribution to music was called grunge. Throw all that into a blender with a handful of tech geeks found roaming outside the Microsoft headquarters and you’ve got yourself an area primed for this genre. Or at least that’s the conclusion I drew, just now. Ask tomorrow for a different answer.

6. Quite frankly, I typically avoid comedic books of every kind because most humor falls flat for me. Do you think comedy, as a genre, is especially subjective?

That scares me but…yeah, absolutely. Comedy is hugely subjective. I find John Waters to be absolutely hysterical, while a friend of mine just simply shakes his head. Doesn’t get it. Who’s right? Well, me, obviously. I’ve sat through movies where the theater erupted in laughter over some old comic standby, I thought was tired as hell, and I’m sitting there stone faced. In fact, any film ending in the word “movie” (Date Movie, Epic Movie) is likely to cause me to open a vein. Yet, I bet there were a ton of people that saw the trailer for Meet the Spartans and thought, that movie’s going to be fucking hilarious. I hope they enjoyed themselves, too. I doubt it, but I hope they did.

Mark Henry debuts with Happy Hour of the Damned, to be followed by Road Trip Of The Living Dead.

Want some Happy Hours (with a book)? Well Mark’s giving away a signed copy of Happy Hour of the Damned, so tell us where you’d have your perfect Happy Hour, and what you’d be drinking.

6 Questions with Ann Aguirre

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I’d have to say five. Why so low, you ask? Well, for one thing, I’m too freakin’ tired to be crazy at the moment. Going nuts takes energy — and I just got back from a family vacation. I’ve visited something like six airports in the last seven days, been scanned so often, it’s a wonder I’m not radioactive. And things are clicking along well. I finish up one project, either writing or edits, take a short break, and then move right along to the next thing. I’m terrible at planning, but this has worked out delightfully well without any conscious effort from me.

Plus, I have a great agent, and my editor is a joy to work with. I can also rest easy, knowing my publicist is shouldering part of the load. Those factors are all great for reducing stress. So far, I’ve turned in all my work at least a month before deadline, and sometimes as much as two. I don’t see any reason why this can’t continue. The pace is just about right for me, but then again, I’ve been accused of being inhumanly fast at what I do.

2. You have previously published one other book as Ann Aguirre, The Stone Maiden. I have read it, and it’s very different from what I expect of Grimspace. I mean, you defined an Ann Aguirre title as “darker themes, less explicit sex, and lots of ass-kicking action” on my blog. I’d say that TSM has darker themes, but not sure about the last. Care to share the story of your evolution to Grimspace?

I wrote STONE MAIDEN before I had clear ideas about how I wanted to brand myself. It’s sort of an interesting story (or maybe not).

Around 2002, I got serious about my writing, and I enrolled in the Online SFF Writing Workshop. As it happened, Del Rey partnered with them that year. I won the Editor’s Choice contest and wound up with a publishing contract with Del Rey Digital. That was my first experience writing on a deadline, and I am proud of STONE MAIDEN. It’s just not representative of my body of work because it pre-dates that post you reference.

Anyway, my editor loved me, and I expected a long and fruitful relationship. Then she left the company. Being orphaned is tough on an author, as others know. I found myself back at square one.

But I didn’t give up. I decided to give contemporary romance a try. I finished Guide in September of 2005. I once again began to query, but this time I was determined to find an agent. No more peddling my own stuff.

The search went slowly, and it nearly drove me mad, but in May ‘06, I signed with an agent, who felt I needed two separate brands, if I was going to write straight romance, and do cross-genre books as well. So I had two websites designed and tried to do my part to get ready for my big break. Well, I received some lovely rejections, including “send me your next book!” but they were rejections just the same. This wasn’t the one for NY.

I was very frustrated by this point. I can write, can’t I? I’m getting better every time. Why aren’t I selling?
Some of the joy went out of writing too. I started to feel like, “What’s the point? Nobody but me will ever read this.”
To counteract that feeling of futility, I went with it. I said to myself, “Okay, if nobody but me will ever read it, then I’ll write something for ME.” I sat down at the keyboard with an utterly blank mind, no plot, no idea, no characters, and just began to WRITE. It was…magical. I wrote and wrote and wrote.

The end result was GRIMSPACE, the book Ace bought. I had to switch agents to make that happen, but Laura Bradford is my lobster.* See, when I finished GRIMSPACE, I knew it was “the book” for me. I just had to find an agent who knew it too. That’s the moral of this story. Believe in yourself. Then find someone else who believes in you. And you can do this.

*Geeky Friends reference

3. And of course, there’s Annie Dean, your erotic romance pseudonym, and an Annie Dean title has “quirky romance and smoking hot sex.” Do you think your writing as Ann Aguirre and Annie Dean will diverge, or converge, as time goes on?

I did find that my latest (and possibly last for the foreseeable future) Annie Dean title has darker themes and less comedy than the other two, however. So you could call that convergence of a sort. MY VALENTINE is an erotic title, but it’s different in that it’s an interracial erotic paranormal / reincarnation story. And I think it’s pretty wonderful. My editor said it was so intense, passionate, and edged with Gothic overtones that she actually shivered a few times, reading it.

4. You’ve recently sold your first series that has Mexico, where you live now, as one of the settings. Do you think it helped with your research? It’s not so completely familiar because it’s not where you lived all your life, but at the same time, you’d probably know enough to get a start on the research, right?

It absolutely helped with my research. And the cool thing is, most of what I’ve included has a basis in fact. I can’t say more without revealing key plot points, but yeah, it made a big difference. It lends the book a certain verisimilitude, I think.

5. Living in Mexico, do you think it’s made it more important to have a publicist? Or do you think it would be the same even if you lived in the US?

It’s definitely important. But publicity and promotion is important to any author, regardless of locale. It’s not enough to write the books. We have to do our part so that readers actually hear about them, just not in an obnoxious or over-eager way. Nobody likes the tool who can’t hold a conversation about anything but her sale.*

*See this post for more information on the Diva

If I lived in the US, I could visit bookstores to do stock signings more readily. I’d have a hometown bookstore that would be tickled to host signings for me. Authors in the US have more recourse, I think. J.A. Konrath, for instance, often does road trips, but I don’t have that option. A trip to the States for me always involves an airport. So I need someone there to help generate excitement over my releases.

6. You don’t eat raw cookie dough any more. Why not? Raw cookie dough makes people happy, and therefore the world becomes a better place.

Heh, you’d be surprised how often I get asked about this. The answer is kind of gross, but hey, you did ask. I got food poisoning from some improperly cooked chicken. Once you’ve spent a night hurling up your guts and wishing for death, you get more careful about what you eat. Raw eggs can have the same effect, so I stopped eating anything that contains them, which includes cake batter and cookie dough. Never riding the salmonella express again.

Ann Aguirre’s current release is Grimspace, to be followed in September by Wanderlust.

She’s giving away a signed copy of Grimspace, and maybe other surprises! Comment, tell us what you think when you think “Grimspace,” and win!

6 Questions with Diana Pharaoh Francis

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Probably about an 8. A few weeks ago it would have been a 19. I just finished (sort of) revisions on the next book in the Crosspointe series, titled The Black Ship. They were really difficult to write and while I got the book to the point that it is overall exactly what I want it to be, the ending needs a little tweaking and so I keep thinking about how to make it work the way I want. Then too, I’m working on figuring out the characters (really getting into their heads) on The Turning Tide, the book I have due in June. I’ve made interview questions for each and am having them discuss their answers in their own voices. This is odd, because they are doing so in first person, but I will write the book in third person. I often don’t get a good handle on characters until after I’ve written about them awhile–about twenty or thirty thousand words, and so I thought I’d try this to see if I can get into their heads sooner.

And then I have these other ideas pronking me on the shoulder saying, “ahem, write us. Write us NOOOOOOOW!). So I’m a little schizophrenic.

2. What happened to all the animals in the Path books?

They lived happily ever after. No, seriously. The ahalaad-kaaslane animals remain attached to their partners and there will be more partnered in the future. While the goddess cannot be very present any more in her own land because her presence suppresses magic and therefore causes problems, she watches from afar and still creates the ahalaad-kaaslane animals to pair with the humans.

3. Both the Path and Crosspointe books will be trilogies. What do you like about the structure of trilogies?

Actually, the Crosspointe books aren’t a trilogy. I’m hoping more for a series (depending on whether my publisher likes them enough to buy more). Each story is complete in itself and will focus on different characters. The first book is about Lucy and Marten, the second about Thorn and Plusby, the third about Shaye, Ryland and Fairlie. I’d like to write a story about Keros and about Sarah also *(who appeared in The Cipher) and have planned for it. What connects the stories is the growing trouble in the culture and the way that it will explode and then change the world. I picture it sort of like those big-cast disaster movies where you follow different characters who are experiencing different parts of the disaster in different ways and in different places, until they eventually converge as things settle out.

I really prefer writing the series to the trilogy, if only because I like that I have the time to develop the Crosspointe world on a larger canvas and with more perspectives. Trilogies I like because they allow me to really develop the characters and the world over more than one book, and so there’s a greater sense of depth to the story, to the characters and to the world. But in the series, each book is more complete at the end, which is a bit more satisfying.

4. I could never see myself going to school for a degree in Creative Writing. But you have a BA/MA in it. Why did you do it?

I started out my BA in Agriculture Science Marketing and Management (I grew up on a cattle ranch and thought that would be a good fit. It wasn’t). I liked English. And in college, I actually started to write stories and loved it. I had told stories before that, but only in my head. So I just decided to follow my heart.

I went to get my MA in creative writing because I wanted the chance to hone my skills more than I had. It was an excellent experience overall (with some potholes of the snooty ‘you write (add derogatory adjective) fantasy?’ sort. I remember in one workshop where a fellow student asked why I had to have all the strange names. And I pointed out that there were plenty of strange names littering traditional literature. Hamlet, Bihaj Mudge, Uriah Heep, and so on. Once I pointed that out, he shut up.

I did my PhD in literature because I wanted to explore literature more, but I didn’t want to go further in creative writing. At that point, i just wanted to write without the structure and requirements of classes. I wanted to see what I could do on my own.

5. Did you ever figure out how to pop an eyeball without breaking it?

I have a friend, who we all call Fighter Guy in my online writers support group (you’ll see him in the acknowledgements of my books), who gives advice on many things regarding fighting (he used to be a professional jouster). And he happened to know about eyeball popping. He knew about the itching, the blood and what it looked like (since he’d experienced it). He just told me about unhinging a jaw and how easy it is. Look for that to show up in a book someday. He has saved the logic of my fighting and other elements on more than one occasion.

6. Since you are my first guest of the year, you get the New Year’s Day resolutions question. Have any? Don’t bother? What are they if you do?

I think my resolution is to be disciplined and organized so I don’t feel so insane. To do the sensible thing about exercise and diet so I don’t feel insane. (Are you sensing a theme here?). I want to work on some new projects also, and that requires discipline and organization to keep different story threads straight in my head. I may start with cleaning my house . . . erm, maybe with my office actually . . . . I have to keep a regular schedule. I’m on sabbatical from my job for a few months and want to take the best possible advantage of it.

Happy New Year!

Diana Pharaoh Francis (descendent of the Pharaohs?) blogs at Mad Libs. Her next release is The Black Ship (November ‘08), the second book in the Crosspointe series.

And a contest! Diana sent me an ARC of The Cipher, which I reviewed here. One lucky person who comments will get the ARC (I’ll throw in slowboat international shipping), and I will get a new copy to keep at home in Singapore. So comment away!

6 Questions with Deborah Grabien

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

At the moment? I’d have to give it a solid eight, not all of which has to do with writing. There are money issues keeping me up at night, plus I’m deeply involved in local rock and roll (Bay Area), especially in helping with the organization and ramp-up for San Francisco’s free concert in Golden Gate Park on 2 September. It’s the fortieth anniversary of the Summer of Love, and the show is going to be a monster. I’m dealing with the political end. My to-do list for the day includes nagging the mayor of San Francisco and my congressional representative, who also happens to be the Speaker of the House, about whether or not they’re appearing. Going to be a long day.

More insanity, on the writing front: I’m working on a YA novel (for 15 and up, I’d say), called Dark in the Park, narrated by a feral cat. Sixteen thousand words in at the moment; I’m trying to finish that one by the end of September. Plus, I’ve been doing a series of Mystery panels for the Santa Clara Library System with other authors, and the final one is this week. I’ve got a two-hour radio appearance this coming Saturday.

And that doesn’t touch the fact that I’ve got two novels coming out within a few weeks of each other in November and December, plus the anthology I’m in for Avalon.

Did I say eight? Make that a nine. A nice little rubber room somewhere, with a fruit basket and an espresso machine, and crayons to write with, sounds perfect…

2. After publishing a few books, you took a few years away from writing to learn how to cook. Did you write during that time, even just dabbling? Or was cooking too all-consuming?

Do you know, I don’t think I wrote a word of fiction during that ten years. I didn’t take the ten years off to perfect the cooking skills - I mean, yes, polishing the cookery was what I did, but it wasn’t why I walked away. I walked away because I really hated what publishing looked to be becoming: giant conglomerates who wanted product rather than books or authors, individual players who were more interested in seeing their name dropped casually in the New York Times, blah blah blah. Not what I signed on for. So I said, to hell with it, and turned my back.

But this is really more the answer to question six, so I’ll talk more about it there.

I think I didn’t write during that period because there were other things happening in my world. I wasn’t just cooking - I was ill for a chunk of it. I had stage one cervical cancer in 1997. I had throat surgery in 1999. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002.

I got into my forties and things just fell apart, physically. So that was part of what was happening - a lot of my emotional energy went into staying alive.

3. You’ve been writing a whole lot in the past few years. You’re not afraid that you’re heading towards burn-out? Or do you merely consider it an exhilarating pace?

Oh, I doubt it’s burn-out; I don’t work that way, emotionally or creatively. And yes, the pace is exhilarating, but whether it keeps up is an open question. Only time will tell.

I’m a storyteller. It’s what I do. And a storyteller creates stories, whether by book or by song lyric or by simply drawing people around the campfire and saying “Once upon a time…” It’s as integral as breathing. I’ve never had writer’s block, probably for that very reason. There’s always a story, and the story wants out.

Plus, the stories I want to tell at fifty aren’t the ones I told at thirty. You hit midlife and suddenly there are doors with signs on them saying “Not an option anymore, move along.” But there are always other doors.

So as long as I’m alive and receptive to listening to myself, the stories will coalesce. At least, I hope so.

4. Music has been a big part of your life, and it plays a part in your next series, the Kinkaid Chronicles. Is it a part of your writing process as well?

Absolutely. That’s one of those things that’s changed over the years. Of the first four novels, three were written with absolute quiet - even a fly buzzing could send me into a snarling fit. When I wrote Plainsong, though, I was listening to Suzanne Vega’s “Solitude Standing” CD. That was my main listening for the six weeks that book took to write. It was an unbelievably tranquil experience.

When I started the Kinkaids, the need for music was obvious. My narrator, JP Kinkaid, is a rock star and a session guitarist who was a child prodigy. He also came out of a man I knew and loved thirty-five years ago, a world-class musician; part of writing the Kinkaids in the first place was to get him back by using his voice as I remembered it, and to see myself as I was then and as we both might have evolved, had things gone differently.

So this one came with the built-in soundtrack, because I had the music JP’s inspiration made, all those years ago. And now, no matter what I’m working on, I want music, all day and all of the night (two points to anyone who got the Kinks reference!). My iTunes gets a serious workout.

5. Last month marked the release of the final novel of your Haunted Ballad quintet, which is set in Britain as well as having mysteries that often center around British folklore and music. Did you have an interest in the music and the history before you started writing the series, or because you started writing the series?

Interest first, books second. I’ve always loved rock and roll and I’ve always adored traditional music as well (I have jazz days, but not as frequently as I used to, alas). When the trad bands in the UK went electric, I did the serious dance of joy. Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span - loved them all (still do).

So I’ve been listening to that music, and getting into the bardic tradition it represents, for over forty years now. And the history? Hell, that’s one of my majors. I was a Plantagenet specialist, which made the second Haunted Ballad, The Famous Flower of Serving Men, the easiest one to write, in terms of the historical aspect. That was Wat Tyler, John of Gaunt and the Peasants Rebellion. Right there in my wheelhouse.

6. Still Life With Devils is Drollerie Press’s first print release. Can you share how it came to be published with a small press?

Well, I had Still Life With Devils written; like the first Haunted Ballad, I’d begun it in 1993 or thereabouts, and then I put both books in a drawer and walked away from writing and publishing. My agent then didn’t seem to have any enthusiasm for anything that wasn’t a series book, something she could sell without some hard work involved. In those days, I had no interest in writing a series.

Plus, the surge of “cult of personality” attitude in publishing - it’s worse today than it ever was, in fact - was enough to make me unwilling to deal with it. We’re seeing it in mainstream publishing more and more: “Superagent wining and dining publishers in NYC with Big New Client!” The big new client is some politician’s kid. Said superagent gets the kid a half-million dollar deal on the strength of Cult of Personality, the publisher takes that allotment of their resources away from publishing ten other authors and flings it into shining shite, basically, and the books sells maybe five thousand out of a fifty thousand print run. And everyone loses except the politician’s kid and the agent.

I got bored with it back then, and I’m bored with it now. I love my editor at SMP - she’s a legend for a reason. But the industry as a whole is, I think, in a deep dark hole, and they’re trying to dig their way out of. And of course, all it leaves them is deeper down.

I liked the small press option, because I think they may be the saving of publishing. And I knew both Deena and Amy, and trust them both implicitly, both creatively and as businesswomen.

So when Deena contacted me and asked if I would consider giving them Still Life With Devils, I said yes. It was really a no-brainer: the book wasn’t one I’d have given Saint Martins Press (and they’re already have two of my series in any case), it fit Drollerie’s guidelines to a tee (magical realism thriller), and with any luck, the fact that I already had nine other novels out and a reasonable reputation as a literary writer would get Drollerie’s stable of first-time writers get a foot in the door for things like Publishers Weekly or Kirkus reviews.

Deborah Grabien’s current releases are Still Life With Devils and New Slain Knight. She also has an essay in the collection For Keeps.

6 Questions with Jenna Black

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I’d say about five. I’m not on any deadlines right now, but I am waiting to hear what my publishers think of my next proposals. I’m not very good at waiting–which for a writer is not a good thing, as we spend most of our time waiting for one thing or another.

2. How many points do you think does your decision to come back to my blog again add to your insanity quotient?

Not a one! You ask a pleasantly manageable number of questions, which avoids triggering the panic response that some interviews give me. I was recently asked to do fifteen interview questions with two days’ notice–now that added major points to my insanity level! (I ended up not doing it–it was just too much work for two days’ notice.)

3. You’re planning to become a full-time writer in 2008. We’ve all heard the usual tips, such as quit while you’re under contract or have this much in your bank account. What have you done in preparation for the change?

Well, some of this decision was made for me, as there have been major changes at my day job. I could have worked something out with them if I’d be willing to a) move to Omaha (yeah, right!) or b) take a different position within the company, which I didn’t want to do. I figured the universe was trying to give me a hint.

As sad as this reality is, part of what makes me able to make this leap is that I lost both my parents three years ago, and I inherited their nest eggs. That gives me a safety net. If it hadn’t been for that, I think I probably would have wanted to hold onto the day job for another year or two, just to be safe. (Although if I continued to write for two publishers and do a full-time day job, the workload probably would have put my insanity level at a permanent ten!)

4. A number of well-known romance novelists have also sold urban fantasy novels recently, but they will be published under pseudonyms. You’re not one of them. Thoughts? And did you think about using one for the Morgan Kingsley books?

My gut feeling when I wrote The Devil Inside was that it would appeal to the fans of my paranormal romances. Both my agent and my editor agreed, so we decided there was no need for me to use a pseudonym. I’m very happy with that decision, because if I’d had another name, I’d have had to do a second website, add yet another email address, do another newsletter, etc.–all the promotional activities that are associated with this crazy business. I spend enough time on promo with just one pen name!

If I’d been writing romantic comedies or historical romance–something with a very different audience from urban fantasy–then I probably would have been forced to use a different pen name. I’m very thankful I was writing paranormal romances!

5. The move from paranormal romance to urban fantasy: natural progression?

Absolutely! (Though I haven’t actually moved, so much as added. Assuming I can work out a new deal with Tor, the publisher of my paranormal romances, I plan on writing both.) My paranormal romances have a hint of an urban fantasy voice to them anyway. I seem not to be able to write without some amount of acerbic wit, which is one of the hallmarks of urban fantasy–I think I’d be in real trouble if I had to write “sweet” romance. My urban fantasies definitely have a strong romantic element in them, although Morgan’s life is such a mess, it would take some pretty fancy footwork to fix her relationships.

6. You call your blog “Jenna Black’s Blog Experiment.” How’s the experiment going?

To be honest with you, not all that well. I don’t blog frequently enough to build up the kind of traffic I would need to feel like the experiment was working perfectly. Sometimes, I can’t think of anything to blog about, and sometimes I just plain don’t feel like it. (I must admit, I greatly prefer writing fiction!!) However, I have just enough readers to keep me motivated to write the occasional post and try to keep the blog alive. I’m also posting identical blog entries on MySpace ( www.MySpace.com/JennaBlackBooks ) and have signed up for Amazon Connect so that my blog can be seen on my book detail pages on Amazon.com. I’m hoping that will increase my readership without adding too much to my work load. I’m a very stubborn person, and I don’t give up easily. (So stubborn I worked toward publication for 16 years, writing a total of 18 novels before I finally sold one.) I’m going to keep trying!

Thanks for inviting me to join the insanity once again! It’s been fun!

Jenna Black blogs, and her current release, The Devil Inside, is the first book of the Morgan Kingsley series.

6 Questions with Jeaniene Frost

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

First you must promise this information will never be held against me in a competency hearing ;)  Okay, how insane am I? I’d rank myself a six. My husband might say a seven, but six sounds better. Why am I insane? Well, I let pretend people in my head order me around (”You don’t need to sleep, you need to write this scene!”) Half the time, writing is like taking their dictation. So I guess that’s not very sane.

2. Is Frost just a pseudonym thing? Or is it your real name? If it’s the latter, and you married your way to it, tell me, is worth marrying your way into the Right Author Name? *ggg*

Frost is my real last name. Yes, I married into it when I was nineteen. Always plan ahead *grin*  The funny thing is, my maiden last name was Holly. We joke in my family that going from Holly to Frost kept a very winterish theme.

3. Is Halfway To The Grave better described as (sub)urban fantasy?

Probably. My heroine is from a very small town. She does go to several big cities in the novel, but a big city isn’t where she lives.

4. The lines between genres blur and change constantly. What do you think separates paranormal romance from urban fantasy at the moment?

I’m a new author, so I feel very unqualified to discuss genre boundaries. But you asked, so here’s my newbie, unqualified two cents: If a novel has less than 50% of the story containing the romance plot, and the novel doesn’t end with the hero/heroine together in some form of happy, then it’s an urban fantasy, not a paranormal romance. Most romance readers want to see their hero/heroine together happily at the end. Most UF readers want to see the Big Bad Evil defeated at the end, and whoever’s left standing doesn’t necessarily have to be in love. Now, I do have an exception to this generalization, in my obviously-biased opinion: If a novel is part of a series, and the series as a whole has at least 50% romance plot with the hero/heroine ending up together and happy at the series’ conclusion, then I’ll say it’s a paranormal romance series versus an urban fantasy series.

5. Vamps are hot or Vamps are not?

As a reader/writer, I love vampires. I love them whether they’re smokin’ hot and sexy (think author JR Ward) or whether they’re evil, mindless puppets (think author Ilona Andrews). Vamps have been a favorite creature of mine since I was a child. They were the clear choice for me when writing. One of the first rules of writing when you start out is ‘write what you love’, because then no matter what happen career-wise, you’re at least guaranteed to please one person So I wrote vamps, because they’re my creature version of chocolate.

Industry-wise? There’s some fatigue with vampires. I’ve heard the rumbles from both readers and agents/editors. Editors are getting choosier about the vampire novels they acquire, because there’s a plethora of fangs already in the fiction section. But fellow vamp lovers shouldn’t despair. A well-written, exciting book will still get snatched up. I just wouldn’t encourage people to write vampires if they think it’s a hot trend they’re going to catch, because that no longer seems to be the case.

6. Is there really a group of five cemeteries that forms a pentagram on a map somewhere? Or did you make the whole thing up? 

There really are five cemeteries forming a pentagram in Ohio. Simms cemetery, where my heroine has her encounter with a ghost, is one of those cemeteries. Simms cemetery is reportedly haunted, too, though it’s closed to the public. And the former lawman/hangman referenced, John Simms, was an actual person. The cemetery was named after him, and he kept it well-stocked, since he wasn’t known for leniency. According to records, the tree Simms used to hang people on still stands in the cemetery. John Simms left Ohio in the eighteen hundreds under mysterious circumstances. Some records claim he died, some showed he moved out west. I thought the whole history surrounding the cemetery and who it was named for was fascinating.

Jeaniene Frost has a LiveJournal. Her debut release is Halfway To The Grave, to be followed by One Foot In The Grave (April ‘08).

Update: Halfway To The Grave is a NYT Bestseller! Congrats, Jeaniene!

6 Questions with Melissa de la Cruz

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

10! “Insane” is how I always describe my life. LOL. Also, overwhelming and crazed. When I signed up to write five books a year I had NO IDEA (or I was in denial) that it meant actually WRITING five books a year. So basically once one book is done, I have a week off and then I have to dive face-first into the next one. It’s getting better though. I like to change it up a bit, have a break between my more “mystery” books and my fun, fast “chicklit-y” ones.

2. Have you always written as fast as you do now, or is it necessity?

I’ve always been a fast writer. Writing comes easily to me, and I was
the kid who wrote my term papers after midnight the night before they were due, and still got As. Or sometimes I would write them an HOUR before it was due, on a typewriter, even! (No computers back then-I’m dating myself!) I got slapped on the head though, when I went to college, my Logic & Rhetoric teacher told me “You’re a good writer, but you don’t put enough effort into it.” He could see I was okay with coasting along. Now I really plug. But with my deadlines, I don’t even really have a choice. I have to do it fast or the books won’t get published on time. And I’ve already missed several deadlines! Believe me, it’s not a fun thing.

3. There have been discussions about how some young adult fiction is not ‘wholesome’ enough. Things like sexual content, drug use etc. Has it made you rethink some of the things you write or were writing at the time?

Nah! Wholesome schmolesome. LOL. I like naughty, naughty books and I think all this hue and cry over the sexy nature of some YA books is just at lot of useless hand-wringing. Also a lot of “blame the
content” kind of thinking which is similar to the “Judas Priest made
my kid kill himself” sort of thing. Also, kids are INTERESTED in sex
and drugs and alcohol–that’s the reality of it. If your books reflect
some kind of Disney-sanitized version of teenhood, I doubt anyone will want to read it. Also, I was brought up by people who believed in
PARENTING. My parents believed that THEY taught their kids values, not the movies, not tv, not books. I read lots of racy books in my youth–books my parents probably wouldn’t be too thrilled to know I read, like their Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins novels! LOL! They always encouraged reading (both are avid readers of popular fiction still), and once you hook a reader, you’ve got them for life. I might have started out loving trashy books like VC Andrews’s Flowers in the Attic series, but I also ended up loving books like Tolstoy’s War and Peace and James Joyce’s A Portrait of the The Artist as A Young Man. I write for myself–my editors at the ones who reign me in, and I grudgingly relent. I think if you start out policing your writing, you’ll never write anything. Much more fun to go for it and then scale back later.

4. As a follow-on to that question, how old will your cute little girl
be when you finally allow her to read your books?

Um, twenty-five? She’ll be allowed to read them when she’s interested in them…probably ten or eleven? Nine if she’s an early reader? I kind of doubt she’ll be too interested in them. Somehow you want Mom to just be Mom. You don’t really want to know about Mom’s other life outside the family, do you? It will be interesting to see. I kind of do hope she becomes interested in the Blue Bloods books because if I’m still writing them when she’s old enough, she will be able to participate in plot discussions. Sometimes that’s all my husband and I talk about over dinner! It will be cool if she can participate in the family business.

5. Fresh Off The Boat borrows more from your life than your other books. Did it make writing it easier or more difficult?

Easier, I think. I had all this material stewing in me for so long,
and it was a relief to finally get it out on paper, worked out in
chapters. It was very cathartic to write that book.

6. What do you miss most about not living in the Phillipines any more? The food?

Definitely the food!!! And my friends and family who still live there.
And being somewhere and not being hyphenated, you know? Also, being somewhere where everyone knows who you are because of who your parents are and who your grandparents were…in a way, it’s good to be in America and not have that burden–you can reinvent yourself. But it is also nice to come home “where everyone knows your name” so to speak.

Melissa de la Cruz has her very own shopping diary. Her next release is the first book in her new series, The Ashleys!

And because Melissa’s the absolute coolness, she’s offering a galley copy to be given away! Read the blurb, and then come back to share why you think Ashley is/was such a popular name.

6 Questions with Jezebel

Jezebel, the star of the Hell on Earth series, is here, to give us some tips on being…Wicked!

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity-where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane-and tell us why.

Me? I’m perfectly sane. Except for when I think I might be going crazy. Being a former demon can be tough on the “This Is Normal For Mortals” radar. I mean, most humans don’t see auras, right? Or converse with demons regularly? Or get accosted by angels in the bathroom? Or really mean it when they tell someone to “Go to Hell,” right? Um. So I guess I’m either a 1 or a 10, depending on whom you ask.

2. You managed to resist Daunuan’s attentions. Think there are any lessons there us girls can learn in order to apply to that box of chocolate?

Yeah: Don’t ever fuck an incubus, unless you want to die a nasty, icky, painful death. Sure, getting there is a lot of fun - bless me, a LOT of fun - but the little death of an orgasm pales before the big death of…well, death. Don’t do it. Even if you really, really, really want to. Something else: demons don’t love. They can’t. They’re not wired that way. Only humans can. And sex without love is…well, a lot of fun, granted, but it’s also fleeting. True love is the real thing. And that makes the sex go from “spectacular” to “earth moving.” Hold out for true love. Trust me, it’s worth it.

3. Wicked Succubus versus Nice Succubus. Who’s going to win that girlfight?

If it’s a girlfight, the Nice Succubus. If it’s a demonfight, the Wicked Succubus.

4. What’s the one ‘human thing’ that you hate so much, you’d almost give up your soul for?

Periods. Man, those suck. The blood is cool-and seeping from a very awesome place, might I add-but the cramps and the bloating? Ugh. And no sex for five or so days? Ugh!

5. It’s a man’s world out there. From your point of view as a new…umh, newly-turned human, is that true or false?

That is so precious. I’ve heard that before. And it gets funnier every time I hear it. It’s the human world. (Which, by the way, looks more and more like Hell with every passing day. No, that’s not a compliment.)

6. Your Creator has turned her attention to Daunuan. Are you jealous, or are you cheering her on because you want to see Daun get his come-uppance?

About fucking time she got her focus off of me. Do you know what she just did to me? Sure, she tells me it’s just going to be a road trip for me and Paul, a nice little romantic weekend getaway for us, with absolutely nothing bad or Hellish about it. Yeah, right. She wrote it up in a novella called A HELL OF A TIME, and that’s coming out in April 2008 as part of Kensington’s ETERNAL LOVER anthology. Thank Gehenna that Daun has to deal with her for a whole book. That’s HOTTER THAN HELL, which comes out in August 2008. Wow, I thought Jackie hated me-my Dear Creator must despise Daun, based on what she puts him through. He’s just a dumb demon, but you have to feel sorry for him. Sort of. Well…okay, not at all. He deserves everything that she does to him. Everything. Stick your horn in that, incubus! Hah!

Jezebel can be found blogging at the Magical Minxes. To find the excerpts of her books, including the newly released The Road To Hell, please click here.

Her Creator, Jackie Kessler, blogs on her website.

6 Questions with Amy Garvey

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity-where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane-and tell us why.

Current level of insanity - definitely an 8. Why? Three kids, a temperamental dog, writing to do, editing to do, and a part-time job. My brain is pulled in seventeen different directions on a daily basis, and I’m lucky I can (usually) remember my own name. Tea helps. And way too many cigarettes.

2. From editor to author, and now you’re both. Why did you accept the position of Drollerie Press’s Editor-in-chief?

I accepted because I adore Deena and I think she’s brilliant. And because Drollerie is publishing the kinds of things I’d love to read, and be able work on. Plus, I miss editing. Working with an author from inception to finished project is really a gift, and Drollerie gives me the freedom to choose projects I really love without having to please an editorial board or worry about the bottom line. I’ve gotten so busy, though, with my own writing, that I’ve been stretched pretty thin and I really want the erotica line to grow, so Deena and I have decided that I would take over the erotica line, Penflourish, and step down as Editor-in-Chief. I’m really excited about this opportunity to basically create my own imprint.

3. Did/Does being an editor make you a better writer and/or vice versa?

I think they complement each other in really helpful ways. Editing definitely informs my writing, which I noticed after I’d been editing for a while, because suddenly I could “see” the places where I would suggest revisions if it had been a project submitted to me.

By the same token, I think being a writer helps me to understand what other writers are going for sometimes, and sharing a common language with them makes communicating changes a lot easier.

4. Isn’t what you edit rather different from what you write?

Yup. That’s part of the fun. After editing romances for so long, too, it got a little formulaic - I could see the big-picture structure of where a story was going really early, and that sucked some of the joy out of it. I like being surprised with the Drollerie projects, and the freedom our authors have to wander away from traiditional happy endings.

But what I’m editing isn’t very different than some of what I like to read, and what I’ve published so far isn’t indicative of everything I write, or want to write.

5. Tell us about some of the Drollerie releases (previous and upcoming) that you edited.

I don’t have space to list everyone, or at least not talk about them in depth, but I was very lucky to work with everyone I have so far. But I’ll give two examples.

Editing Deborah Grabien’s Still Life with Devils was an absolute joy; I’ve been a huge fan of her writing for a long time, and this novel was so gorgeously creepy and real, I couldn’t stop turning pages. Deb has the chops to sell almost anything, too-she makes you believe in the supernatural, makes you hear her characters speaking, see the settings.

I was also really lucky to work with Imogen Howson on Falling. It’s like she read my mind about the kind of submission I wanted. A fairy tale in a whole new setting, touching on the old themes and making them fresh and different, and written so smartly, so elegantly. A real pleasure.

6. What are you hoping to see when you next go through submissions?

I want to see some really good erotica. Not porn dressed up in Victoria’s Secret, either. Really lush, precise language, exploring sexuality in all its forms, and with all its ramifications, not just for the “wow, hot!” factor. And erotica in all kinds - historical, contemporary, even fantasy.

I want to see some new takes on fairy tales. Either retellings that bring a new perspective (Sleeping Beauty from the prince’s point of view, for instance, or the wicked fairy’s), or new twists on the old tales in new settings. A note: erotica is a perfect way to explore fairy tales. (Hint, hint.)

I also want some really innovative horror or paranormal stories. Ghost stories, vampires, whatever, but something *new*, something that takes me someplace I’ve never been. My only caveat there is that I want stories with worlds, and rules, firmly in place. Rules that make sense, too, insofar as that’s possible with something like vampires. Sell me on why your werewolf breed is real, for instance. And don’t hold back on the rough, the raw, the painful. Again, not everything has to have a happy ending.

Most of all, I want good stories told well. I want a strong, confident voice, a firm grasp of conflict and motivation, and the patience to weave the language into something gorgeous and still accessible.

Amy Garvey is the Editor of Drollerie Press’s Penflourish line, as well as a published author in her own right.

Drollerie Press accepts erotica with a mythic theme in any genre, setting or style. It can be based on any of the legends, myths, or fairytales, or be original but mythic in tone, just as we accept for any other genre. It does not require a HEA, only explicit sexual content that is integral to the plot. To submit a story for publication under the Penflourish imprint, e-mail your submission to amy@drolleriepress.com.

I’ll post the list of upcoming Drollerie Press releases later today.

6 Questions with Eve Kenin aka Eve Silver

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

Hmm…maybe an eleven, LOL! Right now I’m writing for three publishers under two different names, and I still teach human anatomy part-time. Talk about a juggling act.

As Eve Kenin I write for Dorchester’s new SHOMI line. My first book for them, DRIVEN, was a September 2007 release, with the second book, HIDDEN, slotted for July 2008.

I write historical gothics for Kensington as Eve Silver. My third gothic, DARK PRINCE, hit shelves in August 2007, and the fourth one, HIS WICKED SINS, will be out in August 2008. Add to the mix a gothic novella due for release in September 2008, and I’m definitely nose-to-the-grindstone right now.

And I’m very excited about my first dark, sexy contemporary paranormal written as Eve Silver, DEMON’S KISS (Grand Central Publishing). It’s out this month, and I’ve completed the second book in the series, DEMON’S HUNGER, but don’t have a confirmed release date yet.

So things are a little hectic, but I’m just hanging on to my keyboard and loving this crazy ride!

2. Did you start writing as an escape from gory human innards? *g*

I love teaching human anatomy. And I love writing. The trick is finding a balance. I don’t see human innards as gory; I see them as a fascinating construct, an assemblage of great brilliance and beauty. I love knowing the names of the bones, each bump and groove on each bone, each muscle and artery and nerve. And for those who have read my debut books, DARK DESIRES and HIS DARK KISS, my love of the science of anatomy and the history of medicine is apparent. *wink*

Actually, I started writing when I was nine; I wrote a story of an unwanted teddy bear that found a new and loving home. I started writing romance because I had always loved to read romance, and a set of events combined to create opportunity. My husband (who always thought I should write) found a small ad in our local paper for a writing workshop and he encouraged me to go. My sister-in-law talked me into buying a second-hand laptop. The workshop leader clued me in to the existence of RWA. At my local chapter I met the two women who would become my critique partners. And at that point, the secret yearning to write that had always burned in my heart became so strong that I couldn’t ignore it any more.

3. Why did you choose Eve Kenin to be the name for your Shomi title, Driven?

I knew I definitely wanted to stick with my first name, Eve. I was worried that if I chose something else, I would be at a conference or a booksigning some day, and people would be addressing me by a name not my own and I’d stare at them blankly. Not a good thing.

With the first name decided, I looked at surnames. I wanted something short, something punchy, something that sounded action-adventurish. I thought about using my husband’s name (Henning), but it was too long, so I shortened it and gave it a harder sound with the “k” and decided to run with it. Ta-da! The birth of “Kenin”.

4. Is the demarcation line between your Eve Silver books and Driven merely defined in terms of genre? Or is it themes and voice as well?

My SHOMI editor actually once commented that if she didn’t know for certain that I had written all those books, she wouldn’t have thought they were by the same author. They are all very different reads.

The voice and themes for my historical gothics (DARK PRINCE, HIS DARK KISS, DARK DESIRES) are spooky, eerie, suspenseful, a little melodramatic and overwrought. They have to be. That’s what gothics are all about.

For my contemporary paranormals (DEMON’S KISS) the writing leans to dark and very sexy with a hint of mystery and suspense.

In contrast, DRIVEN is edgy, kick-butt, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, action-adventure with a dash of quirky humor.

Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find the common thread. Each book I write is, at its heart, a romance.

5. Did you have any specific inspiration for Driven?

DRIVEN bears absolutely no resemblance to this series, but Joss Whedon’s amazing FIREFLY was a huge inspiration. Something about his fascinating space-cowboy creation triggered thoughts of DRIVEN’s frozen wasteland. Also, as I was writing DRIVEN, I was getting into Anime and Manga (HELLSING, TRIGUN, FULL METAL PANIC), and I was seeing the value of a little shot of humor in even the darkest story. These elements combined to inspire parts of DRIVEN.

6. Do you think that lines like Shomi will attract newer, younger readers to romance?

I started reading romance when I was in my teens, and over the years, romance novels have offered me comfort when I’ve hit some rocky patches. I love the idea of a younger reader discovering these books and falling into a new and fascinating world. But I think the SHOMI books cross age and gender boundaries. I hope the line, and my books, attract new readers. Younger. Older. Those who have never tried romance but now might be willing to give it a try. I think the Manga-style covers of the SHOMI books might draw the eyes of the younger reader who is familiar with Anime and Manga. Perhaps a reader who likes comic books or graphic novels, and wonders what the SHOMI covers are all about.

Eve Silver’s current release is Demon’s Kiss, to be followed by His Wicked Sins (August ‘0 and Demon’s Hunger (TBA).

Writing as Eve Kenin, her current release is Driven, to be followed by Hidden (July ‘08).

Eve is giving a copy of Demon’s Kiss to a lucky winner. If you’ve read both Driven and a Silver title, do you think what Eve’s editor said is true? 

When Jaci interviews Cheyenne

Not only did Jaci dare to come back to my blog, she even brought a friend!

1. Favorite ice cream?

Cake batter flavor with fresh brownies at Cold Stone Creamery. Mmmmmm.

2. What’s your favorite meal to cook? And if you don’t cook, what’s your favorite take out food?

I so do not cook. If I do it’s spaghetti or something along the lines of pasta and also lots of Hamburger Helper. I do make a mean home made cheese sauce macaroni!

3. Movies or Music?

Both. I listen to soundtracks when I write, and occasionally watch movies when I actually relax!

4. Beach or mountains?

Mountains. Beach is nice, but I’m not a water or sun person. I love the forest and the mysteries there. You know, all the Fae and stuff. *g*

5. Coke, Pepsi, 7 up, Dr Pepper or other?

Diet Pepsi Lime!

6. Flying or Driving?

Neither. I’d have to say driving.

7. Do you and your honey have pet names for each other? And if so, care to share?

LOL. You wouldn’t believe that they were terms of endearment if I told you what they are. But when we were dating and first married, I don’t know how we started it, but it was “Bug.”

8. How long does it take you to write a book in your Magic series?

To write it before I send it to my editor, and not counting any revisions she might have me do—it takes me 6 to 8 weeks to write a book.

9. How do you come up with the names for your heroes and heroines? Do you do them yourself or do you get help?

Sometimes I just make things up. But most of the time I use name books or online name finders with meaning. I used mostly Celtic, Gaelic, and Irish names for the “Magic” book series.

10. Do you take vacations? If so, what’s your favorite vacation spot?

We like to go to resorts and hang out. The kids love to swim, etc.

11. Out of all your books, what’s your favorite cover so far?

WICKED MAGIC!

12. Tell us about Wicked Magic. When does it release, who are the main characters and what’s the story about?

It came out August 28!

Rhiannon Castle is a D’Anu witch whose Coven sisters know nothing of the Shadows that lurk within her. Rhiannon is afraid to reveal the truth to anyone. Keir’s Tuatha D’Danann brethren are the only real family he has ever known. He trusts no one—until he is sent to San Francisco and meets Rhiannon, the one woman with fire enough to tame him. They face a new threat that rises from the depths of Underworld. When a demon goddess unleashes her evil upon our world, Rhiannon’s secret could be the ultimate weapon in this epic battle—or forge a pathway to destruction for the only man she’s ever loved.

13. What’s the best way for readers to find you?

My website

MySpace

Email: chey (at) cheyennemccray (dot) com (substitutions where appropriate and no spaces)

Chey’s giving away a SIGNED copy of Forbidden Magic! Comment to win! Do you think Chey’s going to kill Jaci and hide her body for dragging her here? Does Jaci need a bodyguard? (I think we can get her to pay in ARCs *g*) 

When Cheyenne Interviews Jaci

If Muhammad will not go to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed. The Terrible Twosome of Jaci Burton and Cheyenne McCray have decided to release me from my misery at being unable to stalk them all over the internets, and have come to the blog instead.

1. Favorite ice cream?

Cookie Dough

2. What’s your favorite meal to cook? And if you don’t cook, what’s your favorite take out food?

I love making spaghetti, because I make home made sauce and I think it’s fantastic.

3. Movies or Music?

Movies. I love watching movies.

4. Beach or mountains?

Beach. It’s too cold at the mountains.

5. Coke, Pepsi, 7 up, Dr Pepper or other?

Diet Dr. Pepper.

6. Flying or Driving?

I used to love flying. Now I can’t stand it. Long lines and for some reason flying makes me queasy. Driving is just fine with me, even if it does take longer. At least you’re in charge of when you stop and what you can pack and when you can eat.

7. Do you and your honey have pet names for each other? And if so, care to share?

Yes we do, and no I’m not sharing. Heh.

8. How long does it take you to write a book in your Demon Hunter series?

Because the plot and subplot for these books are so complex, it takes anywhere from 4 to 6 months to write these books and really sift through them for continuity to make sure they shine before I turn them in.

9. How do you come up with the names for your heroes and heroines? Do you do them yourself or do you get help?

Sometimes the names just pop right into my head. Sometimes I have to go to my friends for help, or use one of those baby name generators. Affixing a name to a character isn’t really all that easy. It just has to ‘fit’ the character, ya know?

10. Do you take vacations? If so, what’s your favorite vacation spot?

I love vacations, and I don’t get to take all that many. My husband and I often travel only for business, either his or mine. But I love anywhere that has an ocean and a beach. *sigh*

11. Out of all your books, what’s your favorite cover so far?

I have to say Out of the Darkness, because my husband and I are on that cover (and he’d be mad at me if I said otherwise. )

12. Tell us about Hunting the Demon. When does it release, who are the main characters and what’s the story about?

It released August 28th! Hunting the Demon is the second book in my Demon Hunter series with Bantam Dell. This one is Shay and Nic’s story, and it’s set in Australia. Nic is Derek’s brother (Derek was the hero in the first book) and the demon hunters are out to grab Nic and determine whether the demon blood within him is going to make him side with the evil Sons of Darkness or whether they can convince him to join the Realm of Light and fight against the demons. Shay is one of the demon hunters with secrets of her own, and those secrets reveal much about Nic, but she hesitates telling anyone what she knows because it reveals a lot about who she is.

Lots of secrets in this book, and it was tons of fun to write!

13. What’s the best way for readers to find you?

My Website

My Blog

Email: jaci (at) jaciburton (dot) com (no spaces, and substitutions where appropriate)

Jaci’s giving away either a signed copy of Wild, Wicked and Wanton or Surviving Demon Island, winner’s choice! I think she’d know all about surviving, demons and all, because, you know, she’s survived moi.

6 Questions with Sydney Croft

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylums insane–and tell us why.

Steph: I think I’m at the point where the insanity is so bad it actually feels normal and calm. Oh look, men in white coats…

Larissa: I’m far, far beyond the men in white coats. I’m already making myself comfortable in the padded room.

2. Is it a plus, a minus or both that the two of you have very different methods of writing?

Steph: I really had fun bringing Larissa over to the dark side of non-plotting and writing out of order. And let’s not forget, she was the one who corrupted me…I wrote sweet stories before her. *glances at Larissa wonders if anyone’s going to buy that*

Larissa: No one is going to buy that. No one. If anything, SHE corrupted ME. Really, I think that our very different writing methods are a plus. Her non-plotting drove me batty at first, but once I started looking at it from a real-life standpoint, as in, when two strangers meet, they don’t plot out their lives…I realized that by playing a little more loosely with the plot, our characters were reacting like real people…mine had no idea what hers were going to do, and vice versa. It keeps a sense of excitement going for us when we write. Of course, I’m sure my seriously picky tendency to go over EVERYTHING with a fine-toothed comb a dozen times makes Steph insane. She humors me well, though.

Steph: I thoroughly appreciate her attention to detail. Really. And I thoroughly appreciate her not strangling me for not having that same attention to detail.

3. You were critique partners before you started writing together. I’m making the assumption that both of you had other critique partners when you started writing together, so why each other?

Larissa: She’s the only one that would put up with me. No doubt the opposite is also true…

Steph: No one else could put up with either of us. Trust me. But Larissa and I have the same…I don’t know what to call it – it’s not sense of humor, although we do share that. We’re opposite in a lot of our likes / dislikes in reading and TV…but somehow we like to write the same things together. It makes no sense, I know.

4. Do you think there’ll be readers who’ll be uncomfortable or even be put off by the m/m scene in Riding The Storm?

Larissa: Maybe, but why close the bedroom door on that scene when we leave it so wide open for the other scenes? There was never any question that Dev is a very sexual person, and he’s equal-opportunity when it comes to pleasure. And the ACRO world is full of extremes, but it’s also a place where the inhabitants are encouraged to be who they are and to be comfortable with what they are. Just for fun, I asked a conservative male friend of mine to read Riding The Storm, and I didn’t tell him about the one brief m/m scene. Later, he said that while he wasn’t thrilled to read it, he felt like he had to because the other sex scenes in the book contained valuable information and were important to the plot. So he “suffered through it.” And he’s still looking forward to the next book.

Steph: The thing about any of the sex scenes in Syd is that, even thought they’re plentiful, they aren’t gratuitous. When we were creating Dev, I just knew instinctively that he was in love with another man even though he is bisexual. It wasn’t a big deal – so I really hope that readers see the scene as Dev trying to deal with his feelings for Oz. What Larissa’s friend said about not being able to skip that scene, even though he wanted to, because of all the information he’d found in the sex scenes was the hugest compliment. And I think that love is love, and I can’t apologize for trying to show that.

5. Are collaborations the next hot thing? There’s Jennifer Crusie and her various collaborators, and I’ve been seeing a growing number of unpubbeds doing collaborations as well.

Steph: I honestly have no idea – I’m pretty much head in the sand with this stuff. Of course, I knew about Crusie/Mayer, but that’s about the extent of it.

Larissa: I’m with Steph—I have no idea. I hear so many people say they have tried and failed—and I’ve tried and failed with other people myself. I also hear people say that they could never do it because they can’t give up control. But the thing is, with the right partner, it isn’t about control. It’s about putting together the best book you can and using each of your individual strengths to enhance the collaboration.

6. What insanity drove both of you to conspire with Alison Kent, Jo Leigh and HelenKay Dimon to start 70 Days of Sweat? The same insanity that drove a pantzer and a plotter to write together? (No, Steph, I’ve not forgiven you for threatening to sign me up if I didn’t do it on my own)

Steph: I couldn’t help it, May – misery loves company and all. I was reminded of the SEAL motto: Don’t bother running, you’ll just die tired…well, insert write instead of die.

Larissa: Steph pretty much covered that one. Every once in a while she knows what she’s talking about…

Sydney Croft’s debut release, Riding The Storm, is just out, to be followed by Unleashing The Storm (March ‘08), Seduced By The Storm (August ‘0 and Shadow Play in the Hot Nights Dark Desires anthology (August ‘08).

Stephanie Tyler will have a Blaze, Beyond His Control, out in March ‘08, and a novella, Night Vision, in the Hot Nights Dark Desires anthology (August ‘08).

Larissa Ione releases Snowbound with Samhain Publishing later this month (September 25th) and the first book in her Demonica series, Pleasure Unbound, releases next year (July ‘08).

6 Questions with Heather Brewer

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

At this very moment, I’m idling at a nice, even five. I recently received some amazing praise from my editor on my revision of NINTH GRADE SLAYS (the second book in The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod), and that’s got me feeling blissfully relieved. However, as soon as copyedits come back, I’m sure I’ll top the scale—or maybe surpass it to a solid fifteen or so. But then, I stress out fairly easily.

2. Why do vampires suck?

Because they have to! *ba-dum-dum-CHING!* Honestly, how else do you expect them to get blood from their victim into their mouth? J No, really, only certain vampires suck. The rest, like Vlad (my protagonist), are pretty cool. I’ve always been interested in vampire lore. And the intriguing thing is that if you really look at all of their history throughout old legends and modern media, they’re probably the most misunderstood beings out there. So, really, it’s the Buffys of the world who suck…not the Spikes.

3. If you had a stake, what or who would you stake with that stake?

Probably the Slayer I acquired it from. I’m pretty protective of vampirekind. After all, vampires are people too…just the kind of people that suck the life out of other people. Like lawyers…and math teachers.

4. Vladimir Tod isn’t that much older than your son, Jacob. Is Vladimir Tod in any way influenced by who Jacob is?

Vladimir and Jacob are both thirteen…and both about to be in the eighth grade. Vlad is a hybrid of me as a teenager and Jacob. Many of the funnier lines spoken by Vlad are direct quotes from my son. And through Jacob, I’m reliving many of my own Junior High woes, so it keeps me in touch with that stressful time.

5. So, the series ends when you run out of grades for Vladimir to study?

There are five books planned for the series right now, yes. And each grade offers a set of unique challenges for Vlad to face, new problems, more enemies, further girl troubles. Readers will get to follow Vlad all the way through his senior year. (And things will get progressively worse for Vlad as time moves on)

6. Are you sure that there’s such a thing as a “optimistic, perky goth“?

Of course there is! I know, because I am one. Being Goth isn’t all about being mopey and depressed all the time—being Goth is having an affinity for the darker aspects of life, a love of the macabre (and of wearing velvet…or leather, depending on who you are). Perky Goths are Goths that have gotten so dark, so down, that they’ve punched through to the other side. It’s…being so evil that you can’t help but smile.

Heather Brewer blogs at Bleeding Ink. Her debut release is Eight Grade Bites, out now, to be followed by the sequel, Ninth Grade Slays.

Vladimir Tod, the star of her series, shares a blog with Lexie Livingstone and it can be found here.

Because Heather’s the coolness, she’s offering a signed copy of Eight Grade Bites to one lucky commenter. I’m not convinced about optimistic, perky goths, so vote! Tell us, do you believe in their existence? Is Heather making it up? Or is she just one of a kind? 

In other giveaway news, she’s giving away the hoodie Vlad wears on the cover  of Eighth Grade Bites on her website. 

6 Questions with Dionne Galace

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity-where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane-and tell us why.

Hmm… I’d say seven right now. My first published work, Skin to Skin is coming out in a few days (Aug 17) and I just found out that Liquid Silver Books is releasing Boundless (an anthology I share with Annie Dean and Bonnie Dee) on September 3rd. That’s two releases within two weeks from each other, so you’ll have to forgive me if I seem a little tense. I also just submitted something to Samhain and I’m waiting to hear from them… it’s a wonder I haven’t chewed up my fingers to nubs. Oh, and the WIP I’m working on right now is driving me nuts. So… um… I think I’m thisclose to stark-raving mad.

2. Were you a writer before you started your blog?

I’ve been writing since I was nine years old, no joke. It all started when I ran out of things to read around the house (my VC Andrews books, my comic books, my mom’s Sidney Sheldon books, my dad’s tech manuals) and began pestering my mother to take me to the library. She was washing the dishes at the time, so she turned to me and said, “Why don’t you write your own books?” And it was the craziest thing I had ever heard, but I was really excited about it. I started writing Babysitter’s Club fanfic and was hooked. In high school, I took all the creative classes I could, then went on to college and majored in Creative Writing. I love everything about writing.

To answer your question, yes, I was a writer before I started my blog. But I also love books (every spare cent I have, I would spend on books over food and anything else. I think that’s why I’m really poor) and I love talking about them with people who love them. I wanted to encourage a dialogue about them.

3. You’re known as a snarky, even occasionally a mean girl reviewer. Do you think you’re going to get what some would call your just deserts?

I realize that and I’m cool with it. Half the time, I don’t really expect anyone to like my work anyway, so hey, it’s a pleasant surprise when someone says something nice about it. Ha-ha. If there are authors out there who want to get their licks in (wink), go for it. I do hope folks will like it and not hate it out of spite.

4. There is a school of thought that says e-pub authors especially need to write fast, and publish a lot. What’s your take?

I’m gonna come at you all cliche here, but I prefer quality over quantity. I think people only do that “write fast and publish a lot” if they hope to make money from this gig. But I really, really can’t crank it out. I’m the type who agonizes over each sentence in my head until it reads wonderfully (to me, anyway). I’m not saying my stuff’s Great American Literature or anything, but there’s a glut of really, really bad fic out there and frankly, I don’t need to be polluting it with my barely literate swill.

5. This question has kept me up for many a night. Why do people call you Bam?

I was a very destructive kid. I was always breaking stuff and my grandmother said I reminded her of Bamm-Bamm from the Flinstones ’cause I was always hitting things with a stick. I grew up being called that and to this day, my family calls me “Bam”. Easier to spell and remember than Dionne, isn’t it?

6. Where is blogging on your list of favorite ways to procrastinate?

Let’s see… #1, I think. No, that’s not true. Mayb