Where are the books?
Some of you are probably wondering if Secrets in the Shadows and Under the Moon’s Shadow have dropped off the face of the earth. If book four, Hidden in the Shadows, will ever see the light of day. Simply, ‘no’ and ‘yes’.
SITS and UTMS are going through some updating – and should be re-released by mid-January. HITS also should be ready in January, though it might be later than its compatriots – say around the 20th or so.
All the books will have new cover art, and I have to say, I think they’re gorgeous.
Thanks for your patience, and I promise, the books will be back soon.
A few words with author Melissa Miller
Melissa, thanks so much for taking the time to sit down and chat for a few minutes. Tell me about your book.
Irreparable Harm is my debut novel and the first book in a legal thriller series featuring Attorney Sasha McCandless. Here’s the blurb:
There’s a smartphone app that can crash a plane. And it’s for sale to the highest bidder…
Attorney Sasha McCandless is closing in on the prize after eight long years: she’s months away from being made partner at a prestigious law firm. All she has to do is keep her head down and her billable hours up. Then a plane operated by her client slams into the side of a mountain, killing everyone aboard. Sasha gears up to prepare a defense to the inevitable civil lawsuits.
She quickly realizes the crash was no accident: a developer has created an application that can control a commercial plane’s onboard computer from a smartphone. Sasha joins forces with a federal air marshal who’s investigating the crash. As they race to prevent another disaster, people close to the matter start to die. And she’s next on the list. Sasha will need to rely on her legal training and her Krav Maga training in equal measure to find and stop a madman before he strikes again.
The book sounds very interesting. But tell me a little about yourself – who is Melissa Miller?
Like Sasha, I’m a civil litigator. I’ve been an attorney for thirteen years and have practiced at major international law firms in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. I also served a one year clerkship with a federal district court judge. In 2009, my husband (also a lawyer with a similar background) and I left our law firms and moved with our two young sons (then three and one years old) to central Pennsylvania, where we opened Miller & Miller, our own two-person law firm. In 2010, our daughter was born.
I had been an English major in college and had worked as an editor at a nonfiction publishing house before I went to law school. I had always wanted to write a book, but I’d get started on a project and then life would get in the way. For some reason, not until I was a small business owner with two young children and a newborn, did I buckle down and, not only finish a draft, stick with it and polish it until it was something I wanted to share.
How did you go about researching for this book?
Lawyers (most of the ones I know, at least) love to do research, but I probably take it to another level! As much as I enjoy digging in and research a novel legal question, I am an inveterate researcher in my personal life, too. I research everything thoroughly: car seats for the kids; vacation spots; which food to feed our pets; seriously, it’s a bit of an addiction. It also makes me what my medical providers jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) call a Type A patient.
But, the point is, I love to research anything and everything. So, that part of the process was great fun. I knew a lot of the legal points already, but I did read some cases and a few law review articles to make sure my memory was correct. The Krav Maga moves were easy to research; although I don’t study the hand-to-hand combat system, I have a good friend who does, so I picked her brain and read several books about Krav Maga. I also watched a series of YouTube videos showing small women performing various maneuvers just before I wrote the scenes in which Sasha used her training.
The information about the black box and its role at a crash scene came from a journal article. I should mention here that when I worked in publishing, I started by editing technical, medical, and scientific research journals, before moving to the nonfiction publishing house. So, I’m not intimidated by reading an otherwise mind-numbing academic article. I also have a few friends who are commercial pilots and I confirmed basic information with them.
How hard was it to find information about the Air Marshals? How did you go about that?
I found a lot of great information about the U.S. Air Marshal Program online. I also read a series of articles on national security issues, but for the life of me I can’t remember which publication I read them in.
The one piece of research I didn’t do turned out to exist: I believed the plane-controlling app existed only in my imagination. After the first draft of the novel was finished, I randomly ran across this article on wired.com: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/air-marshals-secret-communication-weapon/.
As it turns out, Honeywell developed (but the Air Marshal Service did not purchase) “Federal Air Marshal Service Communication System (FAMSCOM), an application that runs on any off-the-shelf wireless PDA.” It would enable an air marshal to tap into a plane’s digital systems from anywhere on the plane. It just goes to show that the truth really is stranger than fiction!*
*And, once I read this, my geek researcher enthusiasm kicked in and I found this whitepaper written way back in 2003 about engineers who has developed a system that could allow a person to pilot a remote control plane using a PDA: http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/Linux-For-Devices-Articles/Linuxbased-onboard-gateway-server-remotely-pilots-model-airplane/.
Melissa, thanks so much for stopping by. I’ve enjoyed chatting with you, and hope my readers find your book as intriguing as I think it sounds. I can hardly wait to read it myself.
Melissa’s book, Irreparable Harm, can be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other fine retailers.
An Interview with Author Cidney Swanson
Blending History with Fiction
My novel Rippler (Book One in the Ripple Series), which tells the story of a girl who can “ripple” or turn invisible, contains numerous excerpts from the journal of a scientist working secretly in the late 1930’s. He’s the bad guy. He’s observing and sometimes interacting with children with names like “Fritz,” “Franz,” “Gunter,” and “Helga.” It doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out that the man running the experiments is politically and philosophically a Nazi.
However, when I wrote the book, I had the experience of discovering his affiliations. At first, I only knew that he had performed behavioral experiments upon a group of children as part of an effort to create a new and perfected race. The word “eugenics” kept dancing around in my head, and one day when I’d written as much as I could for the morning, I hopped online and googled “eugenics.” Wow! As I delved more and more deeply into the world of this movement in the early twentieth century, I realized I’d found exactly what my scientist would have been attracted to.
What I read was deeply repugnant to me—this was not fun research. But gradually I came to see that to some of the people of that day, the goal of human “perfection” felt simply like an extension of the search to hybridize a perfect plum or breed a perfect milking goat. The really disturbing part was that many eugenicists felt that plums or goats or humans that fell outside of their set of standards should be eliminated. And of course at that point, we travel in a straight line to the Nazi “Final Solution” and the horrors of the Holocaust.
How to combine this back-story with a contemporary setting and a couple of teens just coming of age? I found that it felt most organic when I let my boy- and girl-hero discover these things for themselves. That is, a comment overheard in biology class leads them to research the eugenics movement and connect the dots to Nazi Germany. They feel for themselves the horror and the attraction of the movements. (I don’t for one minute mean to say that eugenics is attractive, merely that my characters had to get a grasp on how or why it could have been attractive to someone else.)
So did I start out to write a contemporary story with a Nazi bad-guy? No. However, as my research took me further and further, I realized that I couldn’t have placed him better in time if I’d tried. My bad guy is, of course, entirely fictional. But the methods he employs to create his übermensch are grounded in early twentieth century eugenics and behaviorism. He is able (*teensy-spoiler*) to extend his life into the present day, but his beliefs have not altered significantly since the 1930’s. He’s one big, bad dude with a big, bad plan to complete what the Nazis left unfinished.
The blending of my fictional world with history created excitement for me as a writer. I’ve always loved history. While the research wasn’t much fun, it was nonetheless both rewarding and sobering. I’d love to hear how my blending of real with imagined works for you as a reader!
You can contact Cidney on her blog at www.cidneyswanson.blogspot.com or by email at cidneyswanson@gmail.com. If you like twitter, please say hi to @cidneyswanson, or if Facebook is your thing, stop by facebook.com/cidneyswanson
Rippler, by Cidney Swanson
Williams Press 5/2011
Summary:
Samantha Ruiz has a freak gene that makes her turn invisible, or ripple. She can’t control it, and it’s getting worse. Afraid of becoming a lab-rat, Sam keeps her ability secret, until fellow runner Will Baker sees her vanish into thin air. Will promises secrecy and help, and Sam begins to fall in love.
Together, the two discover there are worse things than being a scientific curiosity. Someone’s been killing people who possess Sam’s gene. A mysterious man from France sends letters that offer hope for safety, but also reveal a sinister connection with Nazi experiments.
The more time Sam spends with Will, the less she can imagine life without him. When Sam uncovers secrets from her past, she must choose between keeping Will in her life or keeping Will safe.
Unbalanced, an Excerpt
Please allow me to introduce author Cindy Speer. The following is an excerpt from her novel, “Unbalanced.”
Everything you have ever read, everything you have ever dreamed, exists. Knowing this and keeping this constantly in mind is the only way you’ll ever survive the world.
— Grigori Temkov, in a letter to Andromeda
It’ll be snowing soon, Andromeda thought as she pulled her black cloak tighter. It was an impractical thing, fastening only at the throat, the wind parting it at will, but she liked it. Her usual winter coat lacked the elegance needed at these sorts of parties.
The noise from that too-loud, too-glittery party faded as she walked up the path, her feet crunching on pale gravel. She sighed with relief at her temporary escape. The people here were not the kind she felt comfortable with. The food was elegant, the music was good, and everyone was nice enough, but she couldn’t seem to relax. She kept fighting the feeling that, any minute, she was going to do something awful and embarrassing, exposing her to the world as the classless slob she was.
Then there was Alaister.
She looked up at the night sky and watched the clouds pass across the waning moon. She was mad at herself for coming, for trying to wedge herself into a place where she fit about as well as an egg in a sack of marbles. I guess I’m just lonely, she admitted with a bit of asperity, her eyes panning the treetops, noticing how the branches met and interlaced.
She continued along the path, the woods surrounding her. For a few minutes, until the cold chased her back to the party, she was free. She paused and picked up one of the pale water-smoothed pebbles. How expensive, she wondered, would a path of all white river stones be?
A twig snapped, and she jumped. For a second, her fancy made the sound into a gunshot. She clutched the stone to her chest, peering into the woods on either side of the path. Thick brambles and bushes obscured her view. She tilted her head, listening.
Nothing, she decided, considering going back. But she wasn’t ready to face the crowd yet, and she remembered there was an old greenhouse farther down the path. Being out alone in the dark didn’t bother her—she’d gotten over that fear long ago.
There was a bend in the path, and when she turned along it, the moon removed its mask. The trees were suddenly outlined in light, their shadows so crisp they seemed tangible. The path glowed, trailing like a satin ribbon to the greenhouse that glittered, dark and jewel-like, in the middle of a tiny clearing.
A breeze began to rise, causing leaves to skitter and branches to rub. At times, they sounded like an old creaking bedstead, and sometimes they sounded more pained—deep and sorrowful. She shivered, and realized she was beginning to feel unpleasantly chilled.
She reached out and tested the doorknob. The door opened with barely a whisper, and she was in, leaves somersaulting after her, cloak swirling as she turned and closed it. She wrapped the cloak around her, attempting to make it airtight.
It was slightly warmer out of the wind, and the moon silvered everything, turning even the most mundane things magical. There was frost on some of the panes, and the light picked out gem colors in it, the glass seeming to be held by frames of ice, not metal.
“I could run away. I can fake a headache with the best of them.” Her voice sounded oddly hollow, so she swallowed and ran a finger along the water-stained table that dominated the room. She could cut through the woods, get to the road, walk to town and the nearest gas station, call a cab.
That would be easier than facing Alaister MacDuff again.
It had been one of those oddly idyllic relationships, where everything seemed to snap into place as if guided by magic. Seeing him again while she still cared for him made her feel awkward and foolish. The relationship had turned too serious too quickly; they were both talking about the future like it was inevitable. She’d enjoyed it, enjoyed him.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell him she was an agent of Balance. Outside of the fact she wasn’t allowed to discuss her job in the first place, how did a girl tell a perfectly sweet, normal man she made her living keeping the peace between werewolves and vampires? That she belonged to one of those secret government agencies people loved to make up conspiracy theories about? She had too many secrets, and he was perceptive, and asked too many questions.
There was a gust of wind as someone opened the door. She turned and saw him.
“Hello, Alaister.” Part of her panicked. Of course he would follow her. That’s the way her life worked.
He smiled at her slightly, saying nothing. He looked at the long tables with their high sides and mesh bottoms, empty save for an occasional dried leaf or twig.
“A magical place,” he said softly, his deep voice resonating. He was taller than she was, strongly built. He looked wonderful in his black suit; and the attraction she felt for him, normally a niggling, smothered bit of annoyance in the back of her head, came forward with full force.
“What makes you say that?”
He surveyed the tables, the hutch with its stack of broken pottery. He had the look of a man whose bluff had been called.
“There’s still a lingering smell of growing things, plentiful work space, a mysterious location. I think it easily could have been an alchemist’s laboratory.”
She was playing with a split on the edge of one of the tables, running her fingernail up and down the crack.
“I thought alchemists usually work in basements.”
He came closer. “Maybe this one wanted to be different.”
“You never know.”
He was almost touching her now, his warmth like a bonfire. Her fingernail scraped up some splinters, one of which went deep into her finger. She winced.
“You know, this whole avoiding-you thing and not-wanting-to discuss-things thing works ever so much better without you here.”
“Well, that explains why I’ve not been doing a good job of getting to talk to you so far tonight,” he said, taking her hand. He must have noticed she’d hurt herself picking at the table, because he peered closely at it. She could see the bit of wood clearly, dark against the pale of her skin, but knew he wouldn’t.
“See, that means the plan was working.” She extricated herself gently, squeezing at the injury with a forefinger and thumb.
He leaned his forearms on the table.
“You would have done better sticking with the crowds.”
“Maybe I thought you could take the hint.” She gave him a half-smile. “Stalker boy.”
“Sadly enough, mind reading has never been one of my talents.” He paused at her soft hrumph to add, “No, really, it is sad, because it would completely improve my stalking abilities. But I just have to rely on being lucky.”
She wiped her hands on her skirt.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
He straightened so he could turn and lean against the table next to her.
“You’ll think it’s lame, considering the effort I went to, but I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
She tried to find something to say.
“Alaister…”
She let it trail off, and they stood together in an awkward silence neither one of them could seem to fill. He gave her another smile then stepped away, as if getting ready to go.
Andromeda was the first to hear the scream.
“Where did that come from?”
“The house.”
She pulled the door open, and they went out into the cold again, running up the path. Sometimes, only the paleness of the stones led them when the moon hid behind fast-moving clouds. She couldn’t hear music, even when they got closer to the house. A blanket of absolute silence settled around them, as if the world were holding its breath.
They slowed, picking their way carefully. As they rounded the bend, the white gravel disappeared, and she thought for a second the path had ended.
No, she realized, something was lying across it. She bent, eyes straining, as she tried to make sense of the shape.
Then the cloud passed, and Andromeda saw a face, eyes dark and vacant, the shadows of the branches crisscrossing the woman’s pale skin, giving it the look of crazed china. That and a hand, palm up and out of place, were the only recognizable pieces.
Something cold touched her face. It was like a clammy hand closed over her nose and mouth, and she couldn’t breath until it slid over her cheek and off. She jumped and tried to pull away. She looked around, shivering, knowing that, shrouded by the woods and uncertain light, something was watching her.
Alaister muttered under shaking breath and grasped Andromeda’s elbow. As one they stepped back.
“What could do a thing like that?” he whispered.
The body had been ripped apart, scattered. She shuddered, feeling ill, but the spell was broken; and she turned her thoughts back to the tragedy at hand.
“This just isn’t one of those things you get used to, is it?”
“No,” he answered. “I don’t see how you could. Let’s get to the house, and see if anyone’s called the police.”
They backed down the path, neither one quite able to stop looking at the corpse, as if it might come to life. They found a gap through the trees and weeds and got off the path.
“I think we can agree she’s not the one who screamed.” Andromeda said, since the killer had obviously spent some time with his victim.
“Then there’ll be others coming soon.”
She tripped, cursing the heels on her shoes, but the ground was too cold for her to just take them off.
“Take my arm,” Alaister offered. “I don’t bite.”
“Thanks,” she whispered. He was nice and warm, and she could feel comfort flowing from him.
She heard sirens in the distance. Good. Hopefully, the police would detain everyone to ask questions, which would make her job easier.
“That…whatever did that wasn’t human,” she whispered. “Do you think it was a wild animal?”
“I don’t know. There are…things…” He paused. “I just wouldn’t wander the woods alone again.”
In the silence that followed, she worried the murder over and over in her mind. She had a tricky situation on her hands. Such savagery could easily be blamed on a werewolf. If that were true, she had to discover who was responsible before the vampires got wind of what was going on. Anything could be used as an excuse to declare war—or at least make things messy.
Vampires and werewolves were, like anyone else, more good than bad. That didn’t mean they didn’t hate each other enough to use any legal means to decimate the others’ populations. Politics and racial hatred, her least favorite combination.
Hearing her sigh, Alaister said, “We’re almost there.”
Soon, they crossed back into the lighted areas of the front yard and porch. People were milling around, trying to get answers. A slender young man whose shaved head shone in the amber porch light smiled and started towards them, and Alaister steered her around a group of people and away from him.
Cindy can be found at her website, www.apenandfire.com.
An interview with author Erik Lynd
Last year, I brought you a series of interviews – Authors Over Thirty. One of my interviewees was Erik Lynd. I’m thrilled to bring him back to you today, with an update on where he is now and what’s going on in his world. If you’d like to take a look at that, here’s the link.
Now, on to the new questions and answers.
TLH: So Erik, what’s been going on with you this past year?
EL: Well I have chosen to fully embrace indie publishing. Asylum was the first indie novel I released and it was an experiment to test the waters. It was a great experience and remains my best seller. So this past year I have focused on writing, and indie publishing is really liberating that way. I feel I can focus on writing quality novels quickly rather than waiting to be picked up by another publisher (Asylum was originally sold to a traditional publisher, but I pulled it after they made some decisions I didn’t agree with).
This past year I have published a handful of short stories, and my latest horror novel, The Collection. I will have at least two more novels out by the end of the year. It has been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
TLH: Now that you’re past your first ‘birthday’ in self-publishing, what are your impressions of the industry? What surprised you the most?
EL: With the advent of eBooks, I think self-publishing is the future. Day after day, more and more reasons why you should not go with a traditional publisher come out (at least with a standard traditional publishing deal). It is just so much easier to reach a lot of people while retaining control and keeping a good portion of the income.
I think one of the most surprising things in this new indie publishing world is that the business model is completely different than Traditional publishing. I went into it expecting to do similar types of things the publishers do albeit on a smaller scale: Book launch events (mostly virtual), marketing, big push to get my first novel listed in various best seller lists, try to get my first novel on all the blog review sites, etc.. But the business model that is evolving is more of the long tail business model. eBooks are forever and there is more value in focusing your efforts into having more books available than in trying to push any one book.
The marketing advice I would give now is write good, write fast, and don’t even think about marketing until you have at least a handful (I use 5) products available. Not to say all those marketing efforts shouldn’t be tried, but it was a change in mindset for me.
It is much easier to “fail” in traditional publishing. In traditional publishing you say “I haven’t sold very many copies of my one book in three months, I’m screwed.” in the new world of self publishing you say “I haven’t sold very many copies of the 20 different novels I have over the course of the last ten years, I’m screwed.” Chances are your fist book through self publishing won’t sell much and would be a “failure” in the traditional world, but by the time you have 20 books out you will be making a nice income and that first book ten years down the road will be contributing to it.
Of course this is assuming you write good books 
TLH: You have a new book out, The Collection. Tell me about it?
EL: Here is the description:
Mark Holloway never asked to grow up on the road, dragged from one city to the next by a mother who always seemed to be running from something. He hoped the moving would stop now that they have returned to her hometown.
But not everything is as it seems in the peaceful seaside town of Hannity on 
the Coast. He soon discovers a family he never knew he had and a horrible legacy he is destined to inherit. With his mother’s health failing and a killer on the loose Mark must find the strength to overcome his dark family tree and save those he most cares about.
This one was a lot of fun to write. With Asylum I set the story in a creepy and unique setting that many of my readers have probably not experienced, a mental hospital, which contributed to the feel and mystery of the book. In The Collection I set it in a small costal tourist town that most of us could easily imagine, so it was a different challenge. I populated it with a unusual cast of characters and created a dark underbelly that might be hidden in any small town. It was a lot of fun.
TLH: Who is your favorite character from Asylum? Why?
EL: I love them all, but I think David Styles, the doctor that tries to help Andrew, is my favorite. Of all the characters he is the most normal, the most like your average person, yet he is key to the success of the main character. He has a deep back story that plays well with the immediacy to the main character’s conflicts.
TLH: Tell me three random facts about you that most people might not know.
EL: I play guitar, I ride a motorcycle, and my youngest son thinks I know everything. He’s right of course Although I should mention that my older son thinks I know nothing, so the jury might still be out.
If you would like to learn more about Erik’s books, you can find them at Amazon, BN.com and Smashwords.
Erik Lynd is the author of horror and dark fantasy novels including ASYLUM and THE COLLECTION. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and two kids. More information about him and his work can be found at www.eriklynd.com.
An interview with author Aine Massie.
I recently ‘met’ Aine (pronounced Ah-knee) Massie through the Positively Published book tour, and I’m thrilled to be able to have her stop by today. Without further adieu, here is Aine.
Who is Áine Massie? What inspires you, not just to write, but in general?
What inspires me? My children (I have six), my Grandy, and my father mostly. My Grandfather, Grandy, always showed love, no matter what. He could always find a kind word or a good thought. He taught me to see the world as a place that even if bad things happened, you could not just survive but thrive… you just had to find others with open hearts. My father and I had a rocky time when I was younger but he always believed in me. He also, against my mother’s wishes, bought me anything I wanted to read. It was thanks to him I had most of my paranormal books. He thought reading was more important than her worries about fangs, thankfully. Then you have my children. They are my own little cheering squad! My oldest hasn’t shushed since he found out I was writing Blood’s Voice, just ask his friends at the high school / college he attends.
How many books have you written and published?
As of right now I have written Blood’s Voice, am finishing up the rewrites for Blood Bound, and 
have a start on Glamour Blade. I have published Blood’s Voice only but will have Blood Bound out later this year.
When did you discover that you wanted to write? What got you started?
Um, that’s a hard one. I can’t remember not writing, actually. I have written for so long, but this is the first time I’ve written something so in-depth and long, much less allowed it to be shared with total strangers.
Why vampires?
Because they had fangs, not whiskers or fins. Anya, Declán, and Nicholas were annoyingly loud about me telling their story so there was no choice, really. Actually, I have always loved vampire stories. I used to read ones that were much darker than what I now write, but trust me, only Anya and her House are ‘safe.’ When I had the idea for the story I didn’t actually have any intention to write a book, much less more than one. I just had these random thoughts running through my head about a girl with no memory that finds out she’s a vampire. (The original beginning to Blood’s Voice showed her initial forays into the waking reality around her.)
Tell me about your series.
The House Millar series (Blood’s Voice (pub), Blood Bound (pre-pub)) is about Mistress Anya Millar, Nicholas, Declán, and their family.
Blood’s Voice and Blood Bound are about the journey of Anya and Nicholas, human loving vampires and the human they love, Declán. They are abominations in the vampire world and Declán is a natural born vampire hunter called a Guardian. Anya must come to terms with who she is and her missing past, Nicholas must win back the object of his eternal love while dealing with new cravings in his silent heart, and Declán must learn to destroy the very creatures that he has unequivocally given his heart and blood.
Then, after poisoning, near-death attacks, consummated passions, and possible insanity, Anya, Nicholas, and Declán embark on their future. Or at least they try to. With her loves and guards, Nicholas and Declán, Anya sets out to do just that. If only life, eternal life, were that easy. You will witness the strange turns and twists as life, love, and passions collide with greed, politics, and evil.
Glamour Blade will actually be from a different characters point of view and will entail a grittier view of the world as vampire and fae team up to hunt for more Guardians.
Who is your favorite character and why?
That’s easy. Declán. He is so laid back, loving, loyal, and driven that you, or at least I, can’t help but love him. He takes everything as it comes, not worrying about the consequences even when others are begging him to protect himself. It doesn’t matter if it’s a problem with a friend, family member, or his loves… he is always there for them. I would love to have him as a friend or boyfriend (if he was real and older, lol).
Who is your least favorite character, and why?
My least favourite character? Hum, that would be a toss of between Gabriel and Marcus. They are both vile, cruel creatures, even for traditional vampires. Both have committed too many crimes against Anya to even count. How do you choose between the one that murdered your husband and the one that tortured you for three decades?
How did you develop the characters for your books?
Well, other than free writing, I also interviewed them to try to think through the how’s, why’s, and what’s of them and their stories. I also wrote a lot of scenes that do not appear in the books just to plot through more of what makes each one who they are and to see where they were headed.
How did your family and friends react to your writing?
I was actually a little worried about how my family would take the story and characters. My friends I had no concerns over, most are just as open minded as I am, some much more so. My mother however, is rather conservative (anti paranormal, anti non-straight) and has always had an issue with me reading vampire stories. I was dumbfounded when she not only supported me, but bought a copy and read it. The night she called to say she was done and that she was proud I was torn between wanting to stare at the phone in disbelief and crying.
What has surprised you most about this journey?
Many things have surprised me but the one that still surprises me the most would be that I feel like the characters are real. I had read interviews with some of the authors I’ve always loved and saw some of them say things about characters going in different directions than they wanted to or such and always thought that was a little odd. However, now I completely understand that characters do indeed have thoughts, opinions, and wills all their own.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
I have been asked this one a lot and always manage to think of half a dozen others I should have included after the interview. Stephen King, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Terry Pratchett, Peirs Anthony, Mary Higgans Clark, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe, Tolkien, Isaac Asimov, CS Lewis, Richelle Mead, and Terry Goodkind.
What is your guilty reading pleasure?
I never feel guilty about reading. I have been teased for reading as much as I do, but I figure it’s going to rot my brain a little less than the nonsense on TV most of the time. If I’m feeling really tired or down though, shhh… don’t tell… the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. I love the story and, sorry, but I’m team Dimka. It always manages to make me smile. My kids tease me that they know which book I’m reading based on how often I smile or frown.
You can find Aine at her website, Facebook, Twitter, or on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
An interview with author-publisher Julie Ann Dawson
I’m very fortunate today to be able to bring you an interview with author-publisher Julie Ann Dawson. Julie is the author of A Game of Blood, a Paranormal Thriller. 
Here’s the description:
What would you do if a 300 year old vampire decided that you would make the perfect Van Helsing for his own twisted game?
A series of bizzare kidnappings leads detective Mitch Grogan to the home of the wealthy and eccentric Darius Hawthorne. What he discovers there unleashes a chain of events that not only threatens his life, but also his sanity. Grogan finds himself caught up in a deadly game with a three hundred year old vampire looking for a worthy adversary. But how can a burnt-out cop with a crumbling marriage compete against a centuries’ old immortal with unlimited resources and supernatural powers?
More than boredom drives the cunning Hawthorne, however. His attempts to push Grogan to the breaking point are more than cruel entertainment. They also serve as a test to see whether or not the mortal is ready to help him hunt an even more deadly foe: one that would see the whole world burn to remove the vampiric corruption from it.
Julie is here today to help promote the Operation Backpack Fundraiser which runs through August. Just click on the link for more information. It’s a very worthy cause, folks.
Now, I’m not a huge paranormal fan, but I do find the genre and its writers fascinating. Being able to write well in paranormal fiction requires a completely different perspective oftentimes from where I come at writing. When I asked Julie about that, here’s what she had to say.
Why paranormal? What appeals to you about the genre?
I’ve had a fascination with the supernatural since I was a kid. A lot of my older relatives were very superstition. My mother was the seventh daughter of thirteen children, and I was the first born of three. Apparently that was all kinds of creepy with parts of the family. There are old legends and ghost stories that have been pasted down in my family. Hell, we lived in a haunted house on Atlantic Street in Bridgeton, New Jersey when I was younger. I could tell you some very scary stories about that house.
But besides my family ties to the paranormal, there is a certain freedom in using those classic motifs in storytelling. When you write a story about a drug dealer or terrorist, it is a drug dealer or terrorist. But when you write a story about a vampire or a ghost, you tap in to something old. Something primal. It opens doors to different interpretations of what you are doing. It lets you examine issues in a new way.
When you encounter readers who haven’t tried paranormal but show an interest, how do you approach them? What’s your sales pitch?
I don’t really “pitch” anything. If someone asks me about my writing, I answer them honestly. I’ve been told by a few people at conferences I have a rather academic approach to the subject matter that makes it easy for people to ask questions. I think some genre writers feel the need to “sell” or defend what they do, and so when a door opens to discuss their genre, regardless of what that genre is, they tend to get almost pushy. I’m comfortable with what I write. It is part of who I am. I don’t really need to sell it. But if I’m asked, I’ll explain it.
What annoys you about the perceptions of the paranormal genres and its writers? Why?
I keep hearing about this so-called perception, but I never actually see it directed at me. Of course, I also radiate an Aura of Fear, so maybe I frighten away the naysayers. I just don’t think it is all that big of a deal to write speculatively in the modern era. People like Stephen King and Anne Rice brought horror into the mainstream. We’ve got entire cable channels like Horror Net and Syfy dedicated to speculative storytelling. A Game of Thrones is an HBO series, by the gods. I don’t think there is any stigma really to being a speculative writer anymore.
Do you think the paranormal genre ‘fad’ has run its course, or is it like Rock n’ Roll, and is here to stay now that it’s been accepted by mainstream readers? Why or why not?
I never considered paranormal a fad. The notion of using supernatural elements as part of storytelling goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Shakespeare was effectively a paranormal writer. Hamlet is a ghost story, after all.
I think certain sub-sections of speculative writing wax and wane as writers and readers move on to other things. For example, I’m pretty hopeful the whole angst-ridden, sexy vegetarian vampire shtick is on the way out. From reading some of reader feedback and my interaction in the industry, there is starting to be a push-back from horror readers who want their vampires to be scary again. But even if the Twilight-style vampire story dies off, that doesn’t mean the speculative genre is on the way out. It just means readers have moved on to other paranormal goodies.
In addition to being a writer, Julie is also a publisher and has very valuable insights into the industry as a whole. While I had her captive, I had to ask a few questions in that regard.
What has it been like, watching the self-publishing ‘revolution’ that’s been going the last couple of years?
I’m amused, mostly. I launched Bards and Sages back in 2002. I started publishing ebooks in 2004. Everybody keeps acting this is something new and revolutionary. It’s really not. The only thing different is that the volume of people self-publishing has increased. But in terms of being a successful publisher, whether self-publishing or actually operating a small press? The same rules are still in place.
You have to realize that the market dynamics haven’t changed. They have just expanded. Ten years ago, the ebook industry was small and confined to mostly romance novels, speculative fiction, and self-help, DIY instructional books. Print on demand was just taking off with placed like Lulu.com, but even before POD there were vanity presses and DIY printers producing print books. Most self-publishers failed miserably. Some made a decent amount of money. A handful got bloody rich.
Finally Amazon comes along and the market gets huge because ereaders overcome the one big problem ebooks suffered: people don’t like reading long text from a computer screen. But people are confusing the TECHNOLOGY with self publishing. The technology involved in producing ebooks has changed, but self-publishing hasn’t/ You still have most self-publishers failing miserably. You still have some making decent money. And you still have a handful that get bloody rich. The only reason why it seems like a “revolution” is because the QUANTITY of self-publishing authors has increased. When volume increases, even if the percentages stay the same, it creates the appearance of more success.
What do you consistently see self-published authors doing that irks you?
Not thinking about the needs of the reader. Too many self-publishing authors forget that while writing is a personal act, publishing is a public one. Publishing requires a readership willing to pay money for what you wrote. You have to take the reader’s expectations into account. Too often, I see authors cutting corners under the theory that they will go back and “fix” the book later when they make some money. This isn’t a charity. It’s a business. If your book, your product, isn’t ready for sale then don’t sell it until it is.
Self-publishing authors today are making the same mistakes that their counterparts made ten years ago. This is what I meant earlier when I said the technology has changed but self-publishing hasn’t. And those mistakes include not taking editing and proofreading seriously, not understanding the importance of a good book cover, not taking the time to learn the market and develop a marketing plan, and not realize that none of us are unique little snowflakes. Publishing is a business. Readers don’t owe you or me a chance. We have to take the time to learn the business end and give the readers what they want.
What trend do you see being the next ‘big thing’? Western, Sci-Fi, Fantasy? Romantic Suspense? *grin*
I don’t think about it. I’m not someone who looks for fads to piggyback on. I write what I enjoy. I write the kinds of stories I would like to read. And I write the kind of stories my readers are looking for.
What one piece of advice do you think is the most important for new authors, whether they go the traditional route or try self-publishing?
Patience. People need to learn patience. We live in this “I want it and I want it now” society. Someone gets two or three rejection letters and suddenly the entire industry hates writers so they should self publish, or someone uploads their book to Amazon and if it isn’t in the top 100 of their genre in a week they start crying about whether or not they should drop their price to 99 cents. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy to get established.
Statistically, the average small business loses money the first three years. Publishing is a business. If you accept that this is a long-haul and not a get-rich-quick scheme, you can develop a long-term plan and build on it slowly so you have something sustainable. People fixate on the micro-numbers. They religiously check their sales daily, sometimes several times a day, and then have nervous breakdowns if they go two days without a sale.
What is the one impression you would like your readers to have when they put down one of your books? What would you like to leave them with?
Ultimately, I hope the reader finds what he or she was looking for. I think readers have their own needs in mind when they decide to read a book. All I hope for is that the book filled that need.
Julie Ann Dawson’s love for the horror genre began at the age of thirteen, when she found a copy of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot in the Bridgeton High School library. She earned her B.A. degree in English, Liberal Arts from Rowan University in 1993. Her short stories, poems, and articles have appeared in a variety of both traditional and digital publications, including Gareth Blackmore’s Unusual Tales, Black Bough, The New Jersey Review of Literature, Lucidity, Happiness, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and others. In 2002, she founded Bards and Sages Publishing. If you would like to read more of what Julie has to say, you can find her at her blog, http://www.bardsandsages.com/juliedawson.
A big thanks to Julie for doing this interview, and for everything she does for authors, whether they be Indie or what.