(Continued from Part 1)

How long how you been a writer?

I’ve been writing since I was in third grade. I’ve been seriously pursuing publication off and on for years (I took time out to have and partially-raise three babies, get an advanced college degree, and work in a few sales and management jobs—but I happily gave up the corporate world a few years ago to pursue my own business, and, now, writing full-time).

Is being a writer something you've always wanted to do?

Yes, yes, and yes. It’s a dream come true to have four Gardella books under contract (two released in 2007 and two in 2008) and to be writing full-time. I pinch myself and give thanks every single day, because I know from experience how hard it is and how rarely it happens.

What was it like, seeing your work in print for the first time?

I haven’t actually seen it yet, at the time of this interview. I can’t wait, though!

(UPDATE: Click here for pictures of Colleen fondling her new books! Heh heh Heh)

What is a typical day as an author like?

I wish I could say! One thing that I need to get a better handle on as a full-time writer is a regular schedule!

I do tend to be more creative in the afternoon, believe it or not, than the morning, so I usually blog, do email, and maybe some research or a yoga class in the morning. Then I go to or eat lunch, often thinking about what I’ll be working on later, sometimes reading for pleasure to give myself a break…and then I spend the afternoon writing until the kids get home from school, take a quick break, then back to writing until about 6 or so.

Often, I’ll eat dinner or go to an evening meeting (I have lots of them) and then get back on the computer later for an hour or so.

What authors inspire you?

Every single author who writes the best book they can; Nora Roberts to name an obvious one. Her work ethic, her great stories and characters—I really do love her books. I’m a big JD Robb fan in particular!

What characteristics would you say make up the best hero?

Despite whether he wanted to, expected it, or imagined it—ultimately, he’s got to love the heroine more than he’d ever thought it possible to love anyone.

What characteristics would you say make up the best heroine?

She cannot be whiny, bitchy, or too stupid to live. I hate that in a heroine.

Who's your number one fictional hero?

Wow. That’s a tough one. I absolutely love Roarke, from the JD Robb books, and also Ian diVipont from Roberta Gellis’s Roselynde Chronicles (Alinor is his book). I love John Smythe from Elizabeth Peters’ Vicky Bliss books—he’s so smart and rude and unheroically heroic.

I also think Aragorn is a fabulous hero, and not just because Viggo was so hot as him in the LOTR movies, but because of his character and how he put his own desires aside to take on the duty that was required of him. And I love Indiana Jones for his bravery, his fear of snakes, and his sense of humor.

Who's your number one fictional heroine?

I really couldn’t name just one...except, well...Victoria Gardella Grantworth is quite a favorite of mine.

What books would you say are your favorites?

I love Robb’s In Death series, I love the Vicky Bliss books, I love Jane Austen’s work and Mark Twain’s, and Ayn Rand’s...I love The Count of Monte Cristo and The Awakening and pretty much everything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Liz Carlyle...I could go on and on.

Any advice you'd like to give to aspiring writers?

Write the book.

Finish it.

Submit it and immediately start writing another one.

And keep going until you sell or give up. That’s it. That’s the secret handshake.

Finally, who did you want Buffy to be with? Angel or Spike? *g*

Heh heh heh. Are you trying to get me to give away something? (Dance Chica: *innocent look* Would I do that? :-P)

Well, even though I’ve used the tag line “Buffy meets Jane Austen,” my series really isn’t a Buffy fanfic (except for the female vampire slayer part), I think I’m safe in answering:

I would love Spike for me, because I think he’s sexy and dry and arrogant and, even though he’s blonde, he’s the one that makes me all hot and bothered. He’s a great character, more well-rounded and multi-faceted than Angel, (at least as he was on Buffy), with a better sense of humor and wit, which I do prize in a man.

For Buffy herself...well, it would have to be Angel. He’s her first real love, she’s his, and they really do belong together. It’s simple.

And besides, that would leave Spike for me. See how neat and tidy that is?

Thanks for being such a great sport. You're now free to go. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Thank you so much for giving me this chance to talk about my books and my series! If you have the chance to read it, I hope you enjoy it!

The Rest Falls Away will be available January 2007. For more information about Colleen or her books, check out her website or her blog, For All the World to See.

Tell us a bit about your new vampire series and what readers can expect from it.

My new series, The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, is different from other popular vampire books hitting the bookshelves today. First of all, it’s historical. The first three books are set in 19th century London and Rome.

Secondly, the series is meant to be a true series rather than a set of interconnected books--and by this I mean that the readers will follow the same main character, Victoria Gardella Grantworth, through a story line and character arc over five planned books.

And thirdly, in my books, the vampires are the bad guys. *g*

With such a large quantity of paranormal fiction on the market today, why vampires? What was it about vampires that appealed to you enough to write about them?

I actually didn’t set out to write a vampire book. I don’t like vampires! They’re creepy and demonic and they suck your blood!

But I did get hooked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, thanks to my friend Brian. And my favorite fairy tale was Cinderella—I love the Disney movie, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, and was actually in the R&H show when I was in high school. I was going through a phase of listening to the soundtrack and watching the movies (I have two daughters…need I say more?) In fact, I’d even started to write my own Cinderella story set in Regency England a few years before…

And then I started thinking about what Buffy’s predecessors would have been like—and what if Cinderella had had to carry a stake? And poof! there was my story idea. And it just blossomed from there into something so much more.

Did you read a lot of vampire fiction before beginning your series? If not, have you read any since?

With very few exceptions, I don’t read vampire books, and hadn’t read any before I started my series. I’ve never read Anne Rice or Laurell K Hamilton or MaryJanice Davidson or Katie MacAlister.

I read JR Ward only after I’d written both The Rest Falls Away and Rises the Night, once I was sure I had my own mythology down-pat. I’ve recently read the first Sookie Stackhouse book as well. And there are others I will be reading, but before I wrote my books, I wasn’t really a vampire book lover.

As a vampire fan, I can vouch for the fact that the vampire genre in general has a lot of stereotypes and clichés. Was this something you kept in mind as you were creating your series? Did you try to steer clear of popular vampire clichés? Can readers expect any new spins or deviations from the usual vampire mythos?

I actually stuck with the basic tenets of the common conception of vampirism: they can’t go out in the daylight, they die from a stake to the heart, they don’t like garlic or holy water or holy accoutrements, they can’t enter a home uninvited etc., purposely~ because the focus is on the vampire hunters, not as much the vampires and how they interact. I wanted people to be comfortable with the common conception of vampires for this reason.

And, honestly, I don’t think of the books so much as vampire books—they’re more of a female superhero kind of book. It’s a female superhero in Regency England, and she happens to hunt vampires. This is the kind of book I—a non-vampire reader—would have picked up to read, and so would my mom and many of my friends who aren’t vampire book readers.

However, the mythology and vampire hierarchy in my series is unique (although I found out after the fact that the movie Dracula 2000 has a similar mythology), and my vampire slayer premise is very different from the Buffy and Van Helsing ones. I think that’s one of the most unique twists in my series—the background and premise of the Venators, the vampire hunters.

What made you set your series in Regency England? Did you have to do a lot of research on the period?

Regency England is the most popular period for historical romance novels, and although The Rest Falls Away isn’t a typical romance (because it’s one book in a series about the same heroine and the men she interacts with), I figured as a new author trying to break into publication, it would make sense to keep the market in mind.

Plus, it fit in with the Cinderella aspect, and the whole having to sneak-out-of-balls-to-stake-a-vampire premise. While Buffy had a hard time managing her double lives, I wanted Victoria to have an even harder time—in an era where women couldn’t even speak to a man without being introduced, or couldn’t go anywhere without a chaperone, I wanted my heroine to have to deal with the issue of how she was going to get out of the house to hunt for vampires at night while maintaining a semblance of respectability.

It was the juxtaposition of those two worlds—a world where women were meant to wed, bed, and breed, and world where she’s stronger and more self-assured than most men—that intrigued me the most about writing this series.

As for research, yes, I did do a lot of research...part of which included reading books written and set during that time period (a great excuse for rereading Jane Austen!). However, due to the many Regency-era novels already on the market, and having read them, I did have a good starting point.

Part 2

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Anne Bishop is a fantasy author most known for her award-winning Black Jewels trilogy. Most recently she has released Sebastian, the first in the Ephemera Duology with the final book, Belladonna, scheduled for release March 2007.

1) First, I must ask: what inspired the people and the world of the Blood? In particular, what inspired you to reverse the gender roles? I thought that was quite an interesting concept to explore.

World-building begins with a lot of “What if…?” questions. With the Blood, some of the questions were: What if a culture was shaped by the imagery of the dark side of fantasy and folklore? What kind of morals and code of honor would they have? What if the alpha males, with all their sensuality and power, were the gender that served rather than ruled? How would sex be used in that kind of society? Some “What if…?” questions were discarded because they didn’t fit the whole world as it was coming together. Other things became a cornerstone of the Blood’s attitude about their world and each other.

2) One of my favorite characters in the trilogy was Daemon Sadi (the Sadist"). He was just an amazing character; very complex and so tortured yet still seeking redemption and love. To me, Daemon was an ultimate as far as alpha heroes go. What inspired the character of "the Sadist"?

Sometimes characters come to a writer as a gift. Daemon Sadi was one such
character.

3) One major problem with alpha heroes in fiction is that some heroes tend to cross the line from being an alpha into simply being obnoxious. I didn't get this feeling from your male characters (Lucivar, Daemon, Saetan, etc) who I saw as alpha heroes. Was this conscious on your part? When you shaped your heroes, was this something you kept in mind and tried to avoid doing? Or did you simply let the characters take shape on their own?

Alpha heroes are more interesting when they’re not perfect. These three especially have a lot of baggage--mistakes in their pasts, regrets, errors in judgment. I don’t feel like I shaped them so much as I revealed who they are. And I’m still uncovering layers of who they are and what they are--and have been--to each other.

4) Why do you think alpha heroes are so appealing to readers?

They’re so snarly. *g* They are strong, intelligent men who don't quite fit in their society. They are the Warriors who are tempered (not tamed) by finding partners they can truly love. And there is something very fun in watching strength stumble over love.

5) Why do you think romance in a fantasy setting is so appealing to readers?

The lure of the romance genre is that the stories are about people, about relationships, about the fun and frustration of finding common ground with a gender that doesn’t quite think the way you do. (And that’s true no matter which side of the gender line you stand on.) The lure of the fantasy genre is that it is Otherworldly. Magic is literal, animals can talk, dreams can become reality. It is our place of wonder. Being able to blend the best elements of both genres intrigues me both as a writer and a reader.

6) I really loved how the women of your world were strong characters while at the same time, they avoided the common pitfalls that these types of characters often fall into--such as being overly aggressive to the point of stupidity. Your women were intelligent and had strengths that matched the men. Their strengths may not have been exactly the same as the men, but were just as strong in their own way. Was this conscious on your part? Did you set out to write women who would break the bounds that are often placed upon them in fiction?

I never set out to do anything except write stories about characters who interest me. For me, character development is a lot more intuitive than conscious.

7) Your worlds take on such amazing depth and history. Do you use actual mythology as an inspiration and/or basis for your own worlds? Do you do a lot of research on myths and legends before you began writing?

There is bound to be echoes of myths and legends in what I do because I’ve read those kinds of stories. But I don’t do much research at the time when I begin a story because I don’t want to be chained by facts at the point of development. So I bring together lots of snippets of remembered information and bits of imagery and sounds, and then I weave them into something new that fits into the world I’m creating.

8) Your characters, in the Black Jewels trilogy, really came alive for me, whether they felt anger, humor, happiness, etc. Many writers say it's their characters who appear to them; who speak to them and tell them their stories. Would you say this is true for you?

Definitely. My job is to record the characters’ stories as they are revealed to
me.

9) In Sebastian--the first in your Ephemera Duology--your main character is an incubus. What made you explore these creatures of myth?

It wasn’t really exploring the incubus as it is known so much as taking the surface idea of a sex demon and asking what such a being would be like in a place like Ephemera--especially when that side of the character’s heritage would come into conflict with other aspects and desires of his personality.

10) Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I’ve been shaping stories for as long as I can remember--even before I began writing them down. So, yes, I guess I have always been a writer, and then later dreamed of being a published writer.

11) Can you ever see yourself writing a series in a genre beyond fantasy?

I don’t know. The genre offers so much scope for exploration, especially now that there are a lot of cross-genre stories being written.

12) Do you have any authors you would say inspire you?

Every story, song, and picture provides inspiration of one kind or another. I can’t single out any particular ones at this time.

Thank you! Belladonna, the final book in the Ephemera Duology, will be available March 2007. You can pre-order from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

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Patricia Briggs is a fantasy author known for such works as The Hob's Bargain, Dragon Bones and Raven's Shadow. Most recently she released Moon Called, the first in a paranormal series featuring Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson--an auto mechanic and coyote shifter.

1) I totally love the character, Mercy. She was a truly refreshing heroine. I loved that she was smart enough to recognize her limits; she didn't emasculate the people around her or throw herself needless into danger, but at the same time she was brave and looked after the people she cared about. What inspired the character of Mercy? Is she based on any real life person(s)?

Writing characters, for me, is a lot like acting. You ask yourself, "If I were this kind of person, in this kind of situation, who had grown up this way, what would I want? How would I act?"

When I began writing Moon Called, I knew I needed a strong female lead. The temptation, when writing fantasy, is to endow your character with "awesome cosmic powers" but powerful doesn't equal a strong character -- and it doesn't make for a good book. There was a poster called "Defiance" that was all over when I was a teen. It had a mouse flipping off an eagle -- that's what a strong character is (though, admittedly, not very smart). Someone can fix things with a wave of their hand, there is no suspense. So, I needed someone who had some nifty, interesting abilities so that she could blend into the supernatural world -- but someone who wasn't powerful (magically and physically speaking) so that she could be strong. I also like writing about heroes, people who risk everything to do what is right -- which is a trait most of my protagonists share. I don't like writing about people who do stupid things (too many Disney movies as a child, I suppose). It is perfectly possible to do everything right -- and still get caught up in messes.

2) What made you make her a mechanic?

I knew she had to have a job. Because I intend to have crimes (if not necessarily mysteries) in most of the books, police would have been the most obvious choice -- and I try never to take the obvious route. I needed something that I knew a little about -- and we've had VW's for a very long time. My husband, who can do anything, has done a lot of our mechanicking over the years. Until my son got old enough, I was the designated tool rustler. We also have had a terrific VW mechanic or three who have shared stories with us through the years -- and they just happen to work in a shop very like the one Mercy runs.

3) Do you have to do a lot of research on legends and mythology as background for your characters? After all, you have some pretty interesting paranormal characters (skinwalkers, vampires, gremlins, etc).

Since I was a child, I've always read fairy tales, mythological stories, and "true" ghost stories. I suppose it's one of the reasons I write fantasy rather than mystery or romance. My sister got a really fat fairy tale book from our aunt when we were little and she used to read me stories out of it every night before I learned to read. I still read a lot of paranormal stuff, though I have so much fun doing it I don't really think of it as "Research" which I think of as stodgy and dull. If I'm writing vampire stuff I have a tendency to read more vampire stories. Now that I'm working on the third book, which has more fae, I have my old copy of Katharine Brigg's (no relation) Encyclopedia of Faeries on my nightstand, but I don't sit down to "do research". However, if I decide to use a particular legend, then I often go back and do a little more in-depth looking, to make sure that I've got it right -- and that any changes I make are on purpose rather than out of ignorance. *grin*

4) I love the diversity in your series. You have Mercy who's half white, half Native American; you have another character that's half African, half Asian as well as gay characters, a British character, etc. I must say, diversity is something that is somewhat lacking in the paranormal market. Was it a conscious decision to include diverse characters in your world or did it simply happen that way?

I knew when my editor asked me to write an urban fantasy, that the setting would be very important. I thought about Portland, Spokane or Seattle, which I'm fairly familiar with -- but then it dawned on me that the Tri Cities (where I'd been living, off and on for about ten years) would be a marvelous place for werewolves and things that go bump in the night.

The Tri Cities have an enormous amount of ethnic diversity. The agricultural industry (apples, wine, beer and potatoes) brings in migrant workers from various ethnic backgrounds, though mostly Hispanic. The Hanford Nuclear Site and the Pacific Northwest Laboratory brings in scientists from all parts of the world. Walking in the Kennewick mall you might hear Russian, Laotian, Chinese and Hindi. In order to bring out the flavor of the Tri Cities, I had to bring in different ethnic groups -- and I had a great time with it. *grin*

5) Can you tell us some things we can expect from your upcoming book Blood Bound as well as from the series in general?

I have the first chapter of Blood Bound up on my website, which will give you a little taste of what the book will be about. As you can probably tell from the title, this book takes Mercy a little deeper into the realm of the vampire that she wants to go -- though I haven't neglected the werewolves either. The third book will play a bit more with the fae in general and Zee in particular. Beyond that, I really don't know. A series has to grow and change in order to continue and we (you and I both) will have to see what form that growth takes.

Thank you! Blood Bound, the sequel to Briggs's Moon Called, will be available February 2007. You can pre-order from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Rachel Caine is the fabulous author of the Weather Warden series--a thrilling fantasy series about a group of people (called "Wardens") who can control the weather. With the help of Dijnn (genies), Wardens secretly work to keep Mother Nature at bay.

In Ill Wind--the first in the Warden series--Caine introduces a a magical world filled with sacrifice, corruption, love and a feisty, shoe-loving herione named Joanne Baldwin.

In addition to her Weather Warden series, Caine has written for novels Bombshell as well as various novels under the the name Roxanne Longstreet Conrad.

What inspired the character of Joanne Baldwin?

Funny story ... the first book, ILL WIND, started life as a non-fantasy novel called LOOKING FOR LEWIS, which was really more about a woman trying to find her brother (Lewis) to get a bone marrow transplant -- she had cancer -- all the while running from hired killers and coping with bad weather.Um ... that book didn't sell. But I liked the characters, and I kept poking at it until the cancer became a demon mark, and the coping with bad weather became a job, and Lewis became her hot long-lost friend.And luckily, that book sold.

What made you chose the weather as the center focus of your series? Is meteorology a personal interest of yours?

I've been living in Tornado Alley most of my adult life, and I'm frankly fascinated by storms, lightning, wind, all that. I think the fact that the tornado that ripped through Fort Worth a few years ago only missed my house by half a mile might have had something to do with it, too. That was exciting.

In your books, you get pretty detailed about the various mechanics involved in creating different types of weather. How much research did you have to do on weather and how weather is created before you started this series?

I read a lot of nonfiction about weather, everything from disaster accounts like books about the Galveston Flood to "Weather for Dummies." There are a ton of good references. I don't really specifically research so much as read, stumble across something and think, wow, that's fascinating, and note it for use. For instance, although this isn't strictly speaking weather, the phenomenon of lake overturn in volcanic areas is going to find its way into the next book, I think.

One thing I really like about the Weather Warden series is the sexy djinn and the interdependent relationship they have with the Wardens. With vampires, shape shifters and other supernatural creatures in the forefront right now, you don't hear too much about djinn. What made you choose to include them in your series?

I wanted something different. I've written vampires extensively, and while I wanted something supernatural I didn't want anything with a lot of known baggage to deal with -- untangling preconceptions takes time. The Djinn just sort of fit right in, because they are (traditionally) very much like people, with the same sorts of flaws and strengths, only a lot more powerful and a lot more vulnerable. All of which appealed. If you haven't read it, by the way, I highly recommend Judith Tarr's "Hound and Falcon" trilogy, which also has Djinn, but in a period fantasy setting.

Thank you for the book recommendation! I'm always seeking new, interesting books and so I will definitely check it out.

Before you started writing, did you already have an image in your mind of how you wanted them to be? i.e. their powers, their rules, their world, etc. After all, they're not your traditional djinn or at least not how mainstream thinks of them.

I had a framework set up for them, but they definitely did continue to grow as I worked with them. And of course, I started out with David and who he was, and then extrapolated from there.

I've noticed that the short story you submitted for the MY BIG FAT SUPERNATURL WEDDING anthology will be a pirate story. What made you choose to write a pirate story? Are you a pirate lover?

Arrrrrrrr. From WAYYYYY back. I'm a high-seas-storyteller fan, and love the Horatio Hornblower books, the Master & Commander series, and if a book has pirates in it, well, I'm there. Of course, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN just reignited my smoldering Pirate Love into a bonfire.Oh, also, PETER PAN. Jason Isaacs. Whoa.And again ... arrrrrrrr.

Fellow pirate lover right here!

Have you seen Pirates of the Caribbean 2 yet? What'd you think of it? Are you a Johnny Depp fan? *g*

Johnny owns my soul. But then, he has for years, so that's not anything new. But yes, I have seen it, and were it not for three book deadlines looming in a row in three months, I would have seen it many more times. But it will be joining the well-used DVD of the first movie in my video collection as soon as it's available.And I'm totally dressing up in my pirate lass gear for the third movie. Because I am 12.

Oooh I love Johnny! Totally with you there.

Do you have any authors that you'd say inspire you?

Many. Too many to name, probably, but I'll give it a cross-genre shot: Joe Lansdale, Charlaine Harris, Judith Tarr, Guy Gavriel Kay, George R.R. Martin, Jim Butcher, P.N. Elrod, Shirley Jackson, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Childs (together or separately), Janet Evanovich ... too many to name, like I said. I read all over the place. One of my favorite genres is historical mysteries, where I love books by Lindsay Davis and Lynda Robinson, as well as Victorian-era stuff by Anne Perry.

You work full-time in addition to maintaining to a full-time writing schedule. I must know: how do you do it? How do you find the time to juggle both careers without going completely crazy?

I don't. Not without going completely crazy, anyway ... but I'll tell you that it's all about discipline, and commitment. Everybody's got the same number of hours in the day, and it's just the choices we make on how we use those hours. My choice is to get up very early (pre-dawn, around 5 or 5:30) to write before I go off to work, and to sacrifice about 8 to 12 hours per day on the weekends on the altar of writing. It's the only way I can get my books done.However, that means I have to make choices. I don't see my friends as much as I'd like; I don't spend time around my house with my husband. I hire people to do things for me to free up time, like lawn services and housekeepers. And if I had kids, I'd be a terrible mother. Which is why I don't have kids. Stephen King wrote a line in NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES ("Umney's Last Case") that was to the effect that writers are horrible, selfish people, and he's absolutely right. We really have to be, on some level, to hold on to that time we need for our creativity.So that's how I do it.Also: I drink a lot of cafe mocha. And I've taught myself to enter a kind of meditative state quickly when I write ... I just drop in and out pretty much at will, which allows me to write very quickly. (Rewriting is still mandatory, however, and my prose is far from deathless.)I hope that makes some kind of sense! But then again ... completely crazy. Everyone agrees.

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU! And oh, yeah, obligatory sales announcements: FIRESTORM is out in September, and MY BIG FAT SUPERNATURAL WEDDING and GLASS HOUSES (the new YA vampire series) are out in October. And then I have a new Silhouette Bombshell book, TRUST, out in (I think) November.Now, I must ... have ... mocha .......

***

Wow, isn't she fab?

Ms. Caine has graciously agreed to drop by the blog today to answer any lingering questions so please do say hello and feel free to post any questions you may have.

You can visit her website at: http://www.rachelcaine.com/

And because I'm feeling gracious myself *wink wink* I will give away one free--brand new--copy of Ill Wind to anyone who wants it. All you have to do is comment by Friday, August 19th 11:59 p.m. EST. I'll do a random drawing for the winner or better yet, I'll let my little brother pull a name. *g* So if you want a free copy of Ill Wind, just leave a comment!

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