Terra Elan McVoy is the author of 5 novels, including her latest, Criminal, which takes a bit of a darker turn than her other novels, and she was kind enough to drop by and talk about the book!

Please welcome Terra to the blog!

You’ve been a reader, and a writer, for most of your life! What’s one of the earliest things you remember writing?
I have lots of memories of working on “stories” from when I was little, including dictating tales to a volunteer in kindergarten who would then write them down so we could practice copying the letters after. The writing time we had every morning in 4th grade was also one of my favorites. But the first “serious” project I did was the fantasy/romance novel I worked incredibly hard on in 6th grade. It’s lost now in our family’s old Kaypro, which I’m sure has been long recycled, but I do remember it was quite epic.

After four books that explore the (mostly) lighter side of being a teen, you’ve written the brand new Criminal, which is decidedly darker. Will you tell us a bit about it and its heroine, Nikki?
CRIMINAL, my 5th book is, you’re right, a bit of a darker turn for me. It’s about a girl, Nikki, who is very down-and-out, and has just about nothing but her boyfriend, Dee, and her best friend Bird (who has her own difficulties). Dee is not what you would call a nice guy, and before the book has even started he gets Nikki to help him in a murder. The whole story is about Nikki’s journey from protecting Dee at all costs, to finally acknowledging what has happened and her role in it, and I hope eventually repairing herself after the fact.

What made you decide to head into darker territory?
What made me take this turn was the same thing that has motivated all my other books, and that’s my deep interest in the human condition: how we’re all struggling to become ourselves, but especially during adolescence. Instead of exploring what sisterhood is like this time, or trying to be a person of faith while dealing w/ regular high school stuff, or being friends with a bunch of different boys, in CRIMINAL I was trying to understand what it would be like to be in this truly awful situation. I had heard about a murder case wherein a young man was accused of killing his girlfriend’s parent; with a little research, it seemed he maybe had another accomplice–a girl with whom he was also romantically involved. I was just fascinated by this possible accomplice girl. I wanted to figure out why she would do something like this, and then how it would really affect her.

What was your favorite part of writing Criminal? Without giving anything away, do you have a favorite scene?
My favorite part about writing CRIMINAL was the pacing. A lot of my work is very internal, about the characters’ relationships and emotions. This one is very much that too, but because of all the stuff with the police, the investigation, and jail and all that, there’s a lot happening externally too, and that was fun.

I think a lot of my favorite scenes involve Bird. I don’t want to give anything away, so I can’t say which ones, but she’s just so fierce and strong through the whole book, in a way I admire and am not sure I could be myself. Even when Nikki doesn’t know it, that’s such an important foil for her to have. I’m grateful, for Nikki, every time Bird’s in a scene.

What kind of research did you do for the book?
The research for this book was really important. First I learned the basics of the case, but then my imagination quickly took over and I wanted to not feel limited. I interviewed several lawyers (defense and prosecuting) to know more about the process, and a friend who had spent some time in jail. Surprisingly, there was a lot of great stuff online too, especially first-hand accounts of people who had been in county lockup where I live, which helped enormously.

What are a few of the biggest influences on your writing?
The biggest influences on my writing are by far the books I’ve read. Every single poem, story, and novel has influenced me in some way, because it’s all shown me what I do and do not want to do in my own work. I think the single most important thing any writer can do, especially a young writer, is read everything you can get your hands on, and look at how the writer is doing what they’re doing.

How about a few of your favorite thrillers?
You know, I’m not really a big thriller reader, surprisingly enough, but I do have some favorites. When I read WATCHERS by Dean Koontz in high school, I was just gripped, and I still love that story. I also think Stephen King’s 11/22/63 is one of the best books I’ve ever read. (Which means it’s up there with Jonathan Franzen, John Irving, Pat Conroy and Robert Penn Warren, just for comparison’s sake.)

If you could experience one book again for the very first time, which one would it be?
If I could experience another book for the first time, it’d be a tie between WINTER’S TALE by Mark Helprin, or else ANNA KARENINA. WT is just so *magical* and surprising. I picked it up for no reason at the library, and it changed my idea of magical realism. And AK, I had tried to read several times and hated, but my sister kept insisting I finish it. Finally I found the right translation, and I got so sucked in, especially into the whole story of Kitty and Levin. That all said, I do also love reading favorite books multiple times.

What’s one piece of advice that you would give to a struggling writer?
My advice to struggling writers is probably not very popular advice, but it’s to focus on the work, not on the publication of the work. I see so many people fixated on “getting published” when often that takes years (for me decades) and many, many unpublished pieces. (And sometimes it still never happens; look at Emily Dickinson.) Good work–the highest quality you can make–should be the goal. Which means a LOT of practice. The truth is, just because you write something (just because I write something) that doesn’t mean it belongs out there amongst Dickens, or Zadie Smith, or John Green, or anyone else who has worked incredibly, incredibly hard at honing this craft. So focus on that: on learning and practicing and perfecting, not on publishing. That part, if you do the rest, will probably come.

When you’re not busy with your next project, how do you like to spend your free time?
When I’m not working, I still love absorbing stories, so a lot of what I enjoy doing is either reading, watching movies (or, lately, “Friday Night Lights” episodes) with my husband, or else hanging out with my friends and hearing about *their* stories. I also like to cook a lot, and when I have time I really love doing paper collage crafty things.

What’s next for you?
What’s next? Next is the book I have to hurry up and finish: IN DEEP. I’m actually bringing back a character from a previous book, and exploring her life before that one starts. Like CRIMINAL, this one is also darker and edgier than the first four, so after this I think I want to go back to a sweet romance or something!

Keep up with Terra Elan McVoy: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

About CRIMINAL:
Nikki’s life is far from perfect, but at least she has Dee. Her friends tell her that Dee is no good, but Nikki can’t imagine herself without him. He’s hot, he’s dangerous, he has her initials tattooed over his heart, and she loves him more than anything. There’s nothing Nikki wouldn’t do for Dee. Absolutely nothing.

So when Dee pulls Nikki into a crime—a crime that ends in murder—Nikki tells herself that it’s all for true love. Nothing can break them apart. Not the police. Not the arrest that lands Nikki in jail. Not even the investigators who want her to testify against him.

But what if Dee had motives that Nikki knew nothing about? Nikki’s love for Dee is supposed to be unconditional…but even true love has a limit. And Nikki just might have reached hers.

Wounded Prey by Sean Lynch (Exhibit A Books, May 28th 2013)-In 1967, when Staff Sergeant Bob Ferrell investigates the brutal death of a Saigon prostitute’s young son, he’s led directly to 20 year old Lance Corporal Vernon Emil Slocum, a violent bruiser who’s racked up a ton of medals during combat, but whose fellow soldiers have noticed behavior that defies the norm, and the definition of “normal” in Vietnam was already stretched to the limit. An obvious limp was the big identifier and after injuring the officers assigned to bring him to Ferrell, he’s finally subdued. Ferrell only has to look into Slocum’s eyes to know he’s dealing with evil and he assumes he’ll be brought to trial for the murder of the young boy. That’s not to be, however. Ferrell is unceremoniously told his investigation is over, and he won’t see Slocum for another 20 years.

In 1987, Iowa rookie cop Kevin Kearns happens upon a scene in a schoolyard and intervenes. A large man is brazenly attempting to kidnap a young girl in front of the rest of her class, and her teacher. Unfortunately, the man proves too much for Kearns, and the suspect manages to shoot the teacher, who tried to help, and gets away with the girl. Later, the little girl is found hanging from a tree at a rest stop with her throat cut. Unfortunately, the public, and the sheriff, who is up for reelection, needs a scapegoat, and that scapegoat is now Kevin Kearns.

Bob Ferrell is now a retired San Francisco cop living on his own, drinking and smoking too much, and wondering how everything seemed to have gotten away from him. His daughter is in college and they don’t talk much, and he’s gone through two wives. While looking at the paper, he notices the headline of the Iowa incident, and when he reads the details of how the little girl was killed, there’s no doubt in his mind that this killer is the same one he encountered in Saigon 20 years ago. After getting a line on Slocum’s whereabouts since 1967, Ferrell loads up and drives to Iowa to make a proposal to Kevin Kearns, one that could alter his future forever.

Wounded Prey is former San Francisco detective Sean Lynch’s first novel, and boy is it a doozy. Bob Farrell is a man out to settle a 20 year score, and he uses his police skills to fine effect as he cons his way into Kevin Kearns life and pretty much abducts him to convince him to hunt down Slocum. Kearns’s police career has barely started, but it seems sure to end soon, and the guilt he feels over the little girl’s death at Slocum’s hands is eating him from the inside. He has absolutely nothing to lose and no family to think of as he considers Ferrell’s proposal. Revenge and retribution are a heady combo, and they both drive the two men as they hunt down one of the most fearsome killers the state of Iowa has ever seen. The narrative switches back and forth from Ferrell and Kearns, and Slocum, and the scenes with Slocum are chilling; a portrait of a man that has sunk so far into depravity there is not hope for his return. He is an intrinsic part of the dark now, and he has no intentions of letting Ferrell and Kearns catch up now.

Wounded Prey heads into some pretty dark territory, and although it’s never gratuitous, the subject matter is deeply disturbing, but for me, that just made me want to see Slocum taken down even more. Slocum is a beast and a true monster, and strangely enough, Farrell and Kearns are just the men to take him down. With the FBI on their tail, they follow the body trail, hoping to catch their man before more children die. If you love a good thriller, you’ll blaze through this one, and personally, I can’t wait for the next Farrell and Kearns novel! What a great debut!

Mur Lafferty is a podcasting guru and editor, and her first book, The Shambling Guide to New York drops on the 28th from Orbit Books! She’s a busy lady, so I was psyched when she took a few moments to answer some questions about the new book, writing in general, and more!

Also, courtesy of Orbit Books, we’ve got a copy of The Shambling Guide to New York City up for grabs, so be sure to check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post (US/Canada only.)

Photo by JR Blackwell

Mur, will you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I have wanted to be a writer since I was around 10 or 11, as far as I can remember. I wrote like crazy through high school and college, and then decided that if I wasn’t perfect at the end of college I wasn’t meant to be a writer. I didn’t write for ten years, but still thought of myself as “Someday I will be a writer.” Finally I got back into it in early 2001 and started getting work via role playing games. I wrote for games like Mage, Vampire, and World of Warcraft the RPG. I started podcasting my essays when podcasting began, back in 2004, and started building an audience. My career has gone down an unexpected road, as I started self publishing audio fiction to my podcasting audience, then got attention for a podcast novel, Playing For Keeps, in 2007. It was published by a small press in 2008, and then I worked on a variety of work for hire projects until 2011 when I sold Shambling Guide to New York City to Orbit.

Your brand new novel, The Shambling Guide to New York City, comes out next week! What would be your elevator pitch for the book?
It’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Neverwhere. A woman discovers the travel book company she’s trying to apply to actually writes travel books for monsters. She gets the job and discovers the underground world of the monsters, their careful balance they strike in living among humans, and then meets a very powerful person determined to tip the balance.

Will you tell us a little about its heroine, Zoe?
Zoe is a woman who has a great deal of uncertainty, but believes that confidence is all in how you offer yourself, so she tries very hard not to let her anxieties show. She’s running away from a scandal in her former home, something she’s still trying to come to terms with. She finds a mentor who helps her learn how to stay alive when working with monsters, but she isn’t a typical superpowered kick ass heroine, she knows her own limitations. This doesn’t stop her from jumping into the middle of every conflict, though.

What inspired you to write The Shambling Guide to New York City?
In 2005, when Katrina hit New Orleans, I got together with some other RPG writers to make a book to benefit the Red Cross, and we made it an RPG sourcebook about New Orleans. I wrote a story about a zombie tour guide, trying to show other monsters what she loved about her city. The idea stuck with me and I tried to think about what other cities would be interesting to view from a monster tourist point of view.

Obviously, the new book deals with some pretty scary folk and situations. What’s something that you find particularly terrifying?
Zoe’s co-workers (those who feed on humans, anyway) are under strict orders by their boss to leave her alone, but there is still a constant tension, especially with the incubus, John, who gets sexier as he gets hungrier. Violence is scary, naturally, but the knowledge that peaceful coworkers could turn on you increases the tension.

Who, or what, are a few of the biggest influences on your writing?
Obviously Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman, but I get a lot of my inspiration for humor from Connie Willis, and the authors Madeline L’Engle, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Robin McKinley were instrumental in making me want to write as a teen.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Pants, but I’m trying to learn how to plot more, especially as now i’m working with an agent and editors, and they would like to know what the next book is about, more than, “Uh, they will go to this city to write a travel book, and chaos will happen.”

If you could experience one book again for the very first time, which one would it be?
That’s tough. A lot of books that were awesome as a kid sometimes don’t hold up- i honestly fear if I read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy now it wouldn’t be as funny. But that’s probably the one.

You have a long history in podcasting! What do you love most about it?
I completely didn’t expect to make a strong connection with my audience, didn’t realize how intimate the process of putting your voice in someone’s ears is. Also, strangely, I don’t feel comfortable blogging, but when I turn on my mic I feel at ease. That makes no sense, but I love it.

When you’re not at work on your next project (or podcast), how do you like to spend your free time?
I play video and board games, hang with my family, go running, read, cook, and practice martial arts.

What’s next for you?
I just finished THE GHOST TRAIN TO NEW ORLEANS, the sequel to Shambling Guide to NYC, and now I’m writing a novella for the Torment video game project. Later this year I’ll work on my thesis to earn my MFA in January.

Keep up with Mur: Website | Twitter

About THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY:
A travel writer takes a job with a shady publishing company in New York, only to find that she must write a guide to the city – for the undead!

Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can’t take off her resume —- human.

Not to be put off by anything — especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker — Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble — with Zoe right in the middle.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The first episode (of 12 planned episodes) of the new Kindle serial by one of my favorite authors, Seanan McGuire, INDEXING, just came out yesterday, and with permission from Amazon, I have an excerpt from the first episode. You can purchase the entire series right now for only $2.99, and you’ll get each episode delivered to your Kindle as they are released every two weeks. Enjoy!

Indexing Episode 1: Attractive Narcolepsy

Memetic incursion in progress: estimated tale type 7.90 (“Snow White”)
Status: ACTIVE

Alicia didn’t feel well.

If she was being honest, she hadn’t been feeling well for a while now. The world was spinning, and everything seemed hazy and unreal, like she was seeing it through the filter of a dream. Maybe she was. Dreaming, that is; maybe she was dreaming, and when she woke up, everything would be normal again, rather than wrapped in cotton and filled with strange signs and symbols that she couldn’t quite understand. Maybe she was dreaming…

In a daze, she called a cab and left the house, the door standing open and ignored behind her. The dog would get out. In that moment, she didn’t have the capacity to care. Alicia didn’t feel well, and when you don’t feel well, there’s only one place to go: the hospital.

Alicia was going to the hospital, and when she got there, they would figure out what was wrong with her. They would figure out how to fix her, and everything would be normal again. She just knew it.

#

My day began with half a dozen bluebirds beating themselves to death against my window, leaving little bloody commas on the glass to mark their passing. The sound eventually woke me, although not before at a least a dozen of them had committed suicide trying to reach my bedside. I sat up with a gasp, clutching the sheets against my chest as I glared at the windows. The damn things had been able to get past the bird-safety net again, and I still couldn’t figure out how they were doing it.

A final bluebird hit the glass, making a squishy “thump” sound. Feathers flew in all directions, and the tiny birdie body fell to join the others. I glared at the bloody pane for a few more seconds before turning my glare on the clock. It was 5:22am—more than half an hour before my alarm was set to go off, which was entirely unreasonable of the universe.

“Once upon a fuck you people,” I muttered, shoving the covers off of me and onto the floor. If I wasn’t going to get any more sleep, I was going to get ready for work. At least in the office, there would be other people to receive my hate.

Wildflowers had sprouted from the hallway carpet again, this time in a clashing assortment of blues and oranges. I didn’t recognize any of the varieties, and so I forced myself to step around them rather than stepping on them the way that I wanted to. Research and Development would be able to figure out what they were, where they originated, and what tale type variants they were likely to be connected to. The wildflowers were usually random as far as we could tell, but they had occasionally been enough to give us a lead. Rampion flowers meant a three-ten was getting started somewhere, while the strange blue-white blooms we had dubbed “dew flowers” meant that a three-oh-five was underway. It wasn’t an exact science, but very little about what we did was anything like exact.

Turning the water in my shower all the way to cold produced a freezing spray that chased away the last unwelcome remnants of the previous night’s dreams and left me shivering, but feeling like I might have a better day than the one indicated by the heap of dead bluebirds outside my window. Really, if all that went weird today was a few dead birds and some out-of-place flowers, I was doing pretty well.

I work for the ATI Management Bureau. Our motto is “In aeternum felicitas vindactio.” Translated roughly, that means “defending happily ever after.” We’re not out to guarantee that all the good little fairy tale boys and girls get to ride off in their pumpkin coaches and on their silver steeds. They’ve been doing that just fine since the dawn of mankind. They don’t need any help from a government-funded agency so obscure that most people don’t even suspect that we exist. No, our job is harder than that. Fairy tales want to have happy endings, and that’s fine—for fairy tales—but they do a lot of damage to the people around them in the process, the ones whose only crime was standing in the path of an onrushing story. We call those “memetic incursions,” and it’s our job to stop them before they can properly get started. When we fail…

When we fail, most people don’t hear about that, either. But they do hear about the deaths.

There’s no dress code in my office, not even for the field teams, since many of us have reasons to avoid the more common suits and ties. I still liked to keep things formal. I pulled a plain black suit out of my closet, selecting it from a rack that held ten more, all of them virtually identical. Pairing it with a white button-down shirt and a black tie left me looking like an extra from the set of Men in Black, but that didn’t bother me much. Clichés are relatives of the fairy tale, and tropes aren’t bad; they go with the territory.

My gun and badge were on the nightstand next to my SPF 200 sunscreen. I scowled at the bottle. I hate the smell of the stuff—it smells like a shitty childhood spent locked in the classroom during recess because the school couldn’t take responsibility if I got burned, but also like trying to find the right balance between flesh-toned foundation and sun protection. None of that changed the fact that if I went out without lathering up, I was quickly going to change my complexion from Snow White to Rose Red. “Lobster” is not a good look for me.

My phone rang as I was finishing the application of sunscreen to the back of my neck. I glanced at the display. Agent Winters. “Answer,” I said curtly, continuing to rub sunscreen into my skin.

The phone beeped, and Sloane’s voice demanded, “Where are you?”

“In my bedroom,” I said, reaching for a tissue to wipe the last of the clinging goo from my fingers. “I’m getting ready for work. Where are you?”

“Uh, what? Are you stupid, or just stupid? Or maybe you’re stupid, I haven’t decided. Have you checked your texts this morning?”

I paused guiltily. I hadn’t taken my phone into the bathroom while I showered, and I could easily have missed the chime that signaled an incoming text. “Let’s say I didn’t, to save time. What’s going on?”

“We have a possible seven-nine kicking off downtown, and management thought that maybe you’d be interested in, I don’t know, showing the fuck up.” Sloane’s voice dropped to a snarl on the last few words. “Piotr sent everyone the address ten minutes ago. Most of the team is already en route.”

Full incursions are rare. We usually get one or two a month, at most. Naturally, this one would kick off before I’d had breakfast. “I’ll be there in five minutes,” I said.

“You don’t even know where—”

“Goodbye, Sloane.” I grabbed the phone and hit the button to hang up on her with the same motion, pulling up my texts as I bolted for the door. Even obscure branches of law enforcement can break the speed limit when there’s a good reason, and a Snow White starting to manifest downtown? Yeah, I’d call that a damn good reason.

#

There are a few things you’ll need to know about fairy tales before we can get properly started. Call it agent orientation or information overload, whatever makes you feel more like you’ll be able to sleep tonight. It doesn’t really matter to me.

Here’s the first thing you need to know: all the fairy tales are true. Oh, the specific events that the Brothers Grimm chronicled and Disney animated may only have happened once, in some kingdom so old that we’ve forgotten whether or not it ever really existed, but the essential elements of the stories are true, and those elements are what keep repeating over and over again. We can’t stop them, and we can’t get rid of them. I’m sure they serve some purpose—very little happens without a reason—but it’s hard to focus on that when you’re facing a major beanstalk incident in Detroit, or a gingerbread condo development in San Francisco. People mostly dismiss the manifestations, writing them off as publicity stunts or crazy pranks. It’s better that way. Not many people have the kind of iron-clad sanity that can survive suddenly discovering that if you’re born a seven-nine, you’re inevitably going to wind up poisoned and left for dead…or that rescue isn’t guaranteed, since once you go inanimate, the story’s focus switches to the Prince. Poor sap.

We use the Aarne-Thompson Index to map the manifestations as much as we can, cross-referencing fairy tales from all over the world. Not every seven-nine has skin as white as snow and a thing for short men, even if Snow White is the best known example of the breed. Not every five-eleven is actually going to snap and start trying to kill her stepdaughter or stepsisters, although the urge will probably rear its ugly head a time or twenty. Like any rating system, the ATI has its flaws, but it mostly gets the job done, and it’s better than running around in the dark all the damn time.

Some folks say using the ATI dehumanizes our subjects, making it easier to treat them like fictional creatures to be dealt with and disposed of. Then again, most of them have never put in any real hours in the field. They’ve never seen what it takes to break girls like Agent Winters out of the stories they’ve gotten tangled up in before the narrative consumes them. Me, I got lucky; I got my sensitivity to stories by being adjunct to one, rather than being an active part. My mother was one of the most dangerous ATI types—a four-ten, Sleeping Beauty. She was in a deep coma when my twin brother and I were born, the misbegotten children of the doctor who was supposed to be treating her injuries and wound up taking advantage of her instead.

She slept through our birth, just like the stories said she should. We didn’t pull the poisoned needle from her finger when we tried to nurse; we pulled her life support cable. Mom died before the ATI cleanup crew could figure out where the narrative energy was coming from, leaving us orphans. Under normal circumstances, the narrative would have slammed us both straight into the nearest story that would fit. The cleanup crew didn’t let that happen though, despite the fact that I was already halfway into the Snow White mold, and my brother was just as close to becoming a Rose Red. In a very real sense, I owe them my life, or at least my lack of singing woodland creatures.

Most of the subjects we deal with are innocents, people who wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time and got warped to fit into the most convenient slots on the ATI. Others are born to live out their stories, no matter how much damage that does to the world around them. It’s not a choice for them. It’s a compulsion, something that drives them all the way to their graves.

That’s the second, and most important, thing you need to know about fairy tales: once a story starts, it won’t stop on its own. There’s too much narrative weight behind a moving story, and it wants to happen too badly. It won’t stop, unless somebody stops it.

#

Whoever had initially scrambled the field team was following the proper protocol: I started driving blindly toward the address Piotr had sent to my phone, only to come up against a cordon nearly half a mile out from my destination. It was disguised as a standard police blockade, but the logos on the cars were wrong, and the uniforms were straight out of our departmental costume shop. Anyone who knew what the local police were supposed to look like would have caught the deception in an instant. Fortunately for us, it was early enough in the day that most people just wanted to find a clear route to Starbucks, and weren’t going to mess around trying to figure out why that officer’s badge had the wrong motto on it.

I pulled up to the cordon and rolled down my window, producing my badge from inside my jacket. A fresh-faced man in an ill-fitting policeman’s uniform moved toward the car, probably intending to ask me to move along. I thrust my badge at him.

“Special Agent Henrietta Marchen, ATI Management Bureau,” I said sharply. “Tell your people to get the hell out of my way. We’ve got a code seven-nine, and that means I’ve got places to be.”

The young man blanched. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said. “We were told to stop all cars coming this way, and we thought all agents were already inside the impact zone.”

“Mmm-hmm. And while you’re apologizing, you’re not moving anything out of my way.” I put my badge back inside my jacket. “Apology accepted, sentiment appreciated, now move.”

He nearly tripped over his own feet getting away from my car and running to enlist several more of the “officers” in helping him move the barrier out of my way. I rolled my window back up to discourage further conversation, sitting and drumming my fingers against the steering wheel until my path was clear. I gunned the engine once, as a warning, before hitting the gas and rocketing past the cordon like it had personally offended me—which, in a certain way, it had. I detest lateness. When you’re late in a fairy tale, people wind up dead. And not true-love’s-kiss, glass-coffin-naptime dead. Really dead, the kind of dead you don’t recover from. I am notoriously unforgiving of lateness, and being late myself wasn’t improving my mood.

The control van was parked at the absolute edge of the probable impact zone. I pulled up next to it. The door banged open barely three seconds later, and five feet, eleven inches of furious Goth girl threw herself out of the vehicle, already shouting at me. At least, her mouth was moving; thanks to the bulletproof, charmproof, soundproof glass in my car windows, I couldn’t hear a damn thing. I smiled, spreading my hands and shaking my head. It was a shitty thing to do, but considering the morning I’d been having, winding Sloane up a little was perfectly understandable.

She stopped shouting and showed me the middle fingers of both her hands, an obscene gesture that was only enhanced by the poison apple green nail polish that she was wearing. It clashed nicely with her hair, which was currently an unnaturally bright shade of red with black tips. Nothing about her could be called “subtle” by any conventional means, and that was how she liked it. The more visible she was, the less she felt at risk of sinking back into her own story.

“Getting a little saucy today, I see,” I said, finally taking pity on Sloane and opening my car door so that she could shout at me properly. “What’s the situation?”

“Andy’s working with the grunts to clear out as many of the local businesses as possible before shit gets ugly,” said Sloane. “And you’re late.”

“Yes, but if we’re still clearing coffee shops, I’m not late enough that you’ve been waiting for me at all.” I took another look around the area. In addition to our control van, I could see four more vehicles that were almost certainly ours, going by their paint jobs and lack of identifying features. “Who called it in?”

“Monitoring station,” said Sloane. She shoved her hands into her pockets, slouching backward until her shoulders were resting against the side of the van. The resulting backbend made my own spine ache in sympathy, but she continued as if she weren’t trying to emulate a contortionist, saying, “They started getting signs of a memetic incursion around two o’clock this morning, called it in, didn’t get the signal to wake us because there was nothing confirmed. The signs got stronger, the alerts kept coming, on alert ten they woke me, I came into the office and sifted the data, and we started mobilization about twenty minutes later.”

I nodded. “And you’re sure it’s a seven-nine?”

“She has all the symptoms. Pale skin, dark hair, affinity for small animals—she works in a shelter that takes in exotics and half the pictures we were able to pull off of her Facebook profile show her with birds, rats, or weird-ass lizards hanging out on her shoulders.”

The image of the bluebirds committing suicide via my window pane flashed across my mind, there and gone in an instant. I managed not to shudder, turning the need for motion into a nod instead. “Have we identified her family members?”

“Yeah. No siblings, father remarried when she was nine years old, stepmother owns a beauty parlor and tanning salon. She’s pretty much perfect for the profile, which is why we’re here.”

“Mm-hmm.” I considered Sloane. She was our best AT-profiler; she could spot a story forming while the rest of us were still looking at it and wondering whether it was even in the main Index. But she was also, to put it bluntly, lazy. She liked knowing where the stories were going to be so that she could get the hell out of their way. She didn’t like knowing the details behind the narrative. Details made the victims too real, and reality wasn’t Sloane’s cup of tea. “And we’re positive about her tale type?”

Irritation flashed briefly in her eyes, there and gone in an instant. “Jeffrey confirmed my research, and he said we haven’t had a seven-nine here in years. We’re due.”

“If that’s all we’re going by, we’re due for a lot of things.” Some stories are more common than others. Seven-nines are thankfully rare, in part because they take a lot of support from the narrative. Dwarves aren’t cheap. Other stories require smaller casts and happen more frequently. Sadly for us, some of the more common stories are also some of the most dangerous.

Sloane’s expression darkened, eyes narrowing beneath the red and black fringe of her hair. “Well, maybe if you’d shown up when we were first scrambling this team, you’d have been able to have more input on what kind of story we’re after. You didn’t show up for the briefing, so the official designation is seven-nine.”

I bit back a retort. Another promptly rose in my throat, and I bit that back as well. Sloane didn’t deserve any of the things I wanted to say to her, no matter how obnoxious she was being, because she was right; I should have been there when the team was coming together. I should have been a part of this conversation.

“Where’s Andy?” I asked.

“Behind you,” said a mild, amiable voice. It was the kind of voice that made me want to confess my sins and admit that everything in my life was my own fault. That’s the type of quality you want in a public relations point man.

I turned. “What’s our civilian situation?”

“I’ve cleared out as many as I could, but this isn’t an area that can be completely secured,” said Andy, as if this were a perfectly normal way for us to begin a conversation. Tall, thick-waisted, and solid, he looked like he could easily have bench-pressed me with one arm tied behind his back. It was all appearances: in reality, I could have taken him in either a fair or an unfair fight, and Sloane could mop the floor with us both. What Andy brought to the table was people skills. There were very few minds he couldn’t change, if necessary, and most of those belonged to people who were already caught in the gravitational pull of the oncoming story.

Put in a lineup, we certainly made an interesting picture. All three of us were dark-haired, although Andy and I were both natural, while Sloane’s black came out of a bottle. Andy had skin almost as dark as his hair. Sloan was pale but still clearly Caucasian. I had less melanin than your average sheet of paper, and could easily have been mistaken for albino if not for my blue eyes and too-red lips—although more than a few people probably assumed that my hair was as dyed as Sloane’s, and that my lip color came courtesy of Cover Girl. We definitely didn’t look like any form of law enforcement. That, too, was a sort of truth in advertising, because the law that we were enforcing wasn’t the law of men or countries. It was the law of the narrative, and it was our job to prevent the story from going the way it always had before—impossible as that could sometimes seem.

#

We set the junior agents and the grunts to holding the perimeter while we walked two blocks deeper into our isolation zone, trying to get eyes on our target. We found her getting out of a cab that had somehow managed to get past the cordon—not as much of a surprise as I wanted it to be, sad to say. Most of the police didn’t have any narrative resistance to speak of, and our junior agents weren’t much better. If the story wanted her to make it this far, she’d make it. The obstacles we were throwing in her way just gave her tale one more thing to overcome.

There are times when I wonder if the entire ATI Management Bureau isn’t a form of narrative inertia, something gathered by a story so big that it has no number and doesn’t appear in the Index. We’d be a great challenge for some unknown cast of heroes and villains. And then I push that thought aside and try to keep going, because if I let myself start down that primrose path of doubts and disillusionment, I’m never coming back.

Our target paid her cabbie before turning to stagger unsteadily down the sidewalk. She was beautiful in the classical seven-nine way, with sleek black hair and snowy skin that probably burned horribly in the summer. She looked dazed, like she was no longer quite aware of what she was doing. One of her feet was bare. She probably wasn’t aware of that, either.

Andy pulled out his phone, keying in a quick series of geographical tags that would hopefully enable us to predict her destination before she could actually get there. Finally, he said, “She’s heading for the Alta Vista Medical Center.”

I swore under my breath. “Of course she is. Where else would she be going?” Alta Vista was the largest hospital in the city. Even if we’d been able to close off eighty percent of the traffic coming into our probable impact zone, we couldn’t close or evacuate the hospital. Not enough people believe in fairy tales anymore.

“Shoot her,” said Sloane.

“We’re not shooting her,” said Andy.

Sloane shrugged. “Your funeral.”

“Let’s pretend to be professionals…and pick up the pace,” I snapped. Sloane and Andy exchanged a glance, briefly united against a common enemy—me. They knew that I wanted them to be mad at me rather than each other, and they accepted it as the way the world was meant to be. Besides, we all knew that our job would be easier this way.

We followed the target all the way down the road to Alta Vista, hanging back almost half a block to keep her from noticing us. Our caution was born more of habit than necessity; she was deep into her narrative haze, moving more under the story’s volition than her own. We could have stripped down and danced naked in front of her and she would just have kept on walking.

“If we’re not going to stop her from getting where she’s going, why are we even bothering?” Sloane walked with her hands crammed as far into the pockets of her denim jacket as they would go, her shoulders in a permanent defensive hunch. “She’ll play out whether we’re here or not. We could go out, get breakfast, and come back before the EMTs finish hooking her to the life support.”

“Because it’s the polite thing to do,” said Andy. He was always a lot more at ease with this part of the job than Sloane was, probably because the only thing Andy ever escaped was a respectable profession that he could tell his family about. Sloane missed being a Wicked Stepsister by inches, and she’s always been uncomfortable around the ATI cases that tread near the edges of her own story. I can’t blame her for that. I also can’t approve any of her requests for transfer. Jeff’s fully actualized in his story, and I’m in a holding pattern, but Sloane was actually averted. That gives her a special sensitivity to the spectrum. She’s the only one who can spot the memetic incursions before they get fully underway.

“She’s a seven-nine,” snarled Sloane, shooting a poisonous glare in Andy’s direction. Metaphorically poisonous: she never matured to the arsenic-and-apples stage of things. Thank God. Once a Wicked Stepsister goes that far, there’s no bringing them back to reason. “You can’t do anything for them, short of putting a bullet in their heads. Even then, the dumb bitches will probably just get permanently brain-damaged on the way to happy ever after.”

Andy raised an eyebrow. “Gosh, Sloane, tell us how you really feel.”

The target approached the doors of the Alta Vista Hospital. Even at our half-block remove, we saw them slide open, allowing her to make her way inside. If the story went the way the archivists predicted, her own Wicked Stepmother would be waiting inside, ready to hand her a box of poisoned apple juice or a plastic cup of tainted applesauce. That would let the story start in earnest. That’s the way it goes for the seven-nines. All the Snow Whites are essentially the same, when you dig all the way down to the bottom of their narratives.

Sloane shifted her weight anxiously from one foot to the other as we waited, looking increasingly uncomfortable as the minutes trickled by and the weight of the impending story grew heavier. Then she stiffened, her eyes going wide in their rings of sheltering kohl. “There isn’t a five-eleven anywhere inside that hospital,” she said, and bolted for the doors.

Swearing, Andy and I followed her.

Sloane had been a marathon runner in high school, and she’d continued to run since then, choosing it over more social forms of exercise. She was piling on the speed now, running hell-bent toward the hospital doors with her head slightly down, like she was going to ram her way straight through any obstacles. Andy had settled into a holding pattern about eight feet behind her, letting her be the one to trigger any traps that might be waiting. It wasn’t as heartless as it seems. As the one who had come the closest to being sucked into a story of her own without going all the way, Sloane is not only the most sensitive—she’s also the most resistant. She could survive where we couldn’t.

“Sloane!” I bellowed. “If it’s not a seven-nine, what is it?”

She didn’t have time to answer, but she didn’t need to. She came skidding to a stop so abruptly that Andy almost slammed into her from behind, both of them only inches from the sensor that would trigger the automatic door. Those inches saved them. I could see the people in the lobby through the glass as they started falling over gently in their tracks, all of them apparently sinking into sleep at the same moment.

I let momentum carry me forward until I came to an easy stop next to Sloane and Andy. “Great,” I sighed. “A four-ten.”
I hate Sleeping Beauties.

#

About INDEXING:
“Never underestimate the power of a good story.”

Good advice…especially when a story can kill you.

For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected—perhaps infected is a better word—by memetic incursion: where narratives the rest of the world considers fairy tales becomes reality, often with disastrous results.

A motley team struggling with their own unfolding narratives, they are tasked with identifying potential outbreaks using the Aarne-Thompson Indexing and making sure the story doesn’t reach “ever after”…because if it does, someone is usually dead, broken—or worse. When you’re dealing with fairy tales in the real world, it doesn’t matter if you’re Cinderella, Snow White, or the Wicked Queen: no one gets a happy ending.

Indexing is bestselling author Seanan McGuire’s new urban fantasy where everything you thought you knew about fairy tales gets turned on its head.

*NOTE: No spoilers for this book, but there might be info about previous novels, so if you’re not caught up, be forewarned:)

Blood Trade by Faith Hunter (Roc, April 2013)-Jane is depressed, which is a feeling she’s unaccustomed to, but it’s a fact she can no longer deny. All the symptoms are there, and it’s been especially bad since Christmas. The Younger brothers, Eli and Alex, who live with her and provide backup on her jobs, have helped a bit, but not shifting into Beast for a while has taken its toll. There’s a good reason she hasn’t shifted though, and it has everything to do with the MOC of New Orleans, Leo Pellisier. However, when she is solicited for help by the MOC Of Natchez, Hieronymous, she must put her feelings aside and get into warrior mode, because there’s a new breed of vampire on the loose, and they’re kidnapping and killing people at an alarming rate.

So, Jane and the gang pack up and head to Natchez, where they make their temporary home in the mansion of a charming, if a bit dotty old woman named Esmee, who enjoys a good adventure herself and loves having Jane and the boys as house guests. Before they departed New Orleans, Jane was informed by her info source, Reach, that she had an appointment with a reporter who plans to write a book about the vamps of Natchez. Little does Jane knows is that this writer, Misha, is a girl she grew up with in the group home, and she has not only her very sick young daughter, Charly, with her, but someone else that was in the home with them: Bobby, who is a man with the mind of a child and a very gentle heart. After Misha presumably goes off to meet a vamp that will help her with her book, she disappears, leaving Jane to take care of Charly and Bobby, along with figuring out why these new vamps are mutating into something much more powerful, and putting a stop to their reign of terror.

Blood Trade is the 6th book in the superb Jane Yellowrock series, and Faith Hunter shows no signs of slowing down with her heroine. My problem with reviewing these books is that there is always quite a bit going on in these novels, and it’s hard to decide what to touch on, and what to leave to the reader. I will say this: I’ve been hoping for Jane to find love for a while, and although nothing is ever cut and dry in her world, there are two men that have been in her life for a while; Bruiser, who works for Leo, and Ricky, who is now with PsyLED and has a physical condition that makes it impossible to be with Jane at the moment. It’s complicated. Jane is still smarting from Bruiser’s betrayal (which was beyond his control, but still), however, her heart is still with Rick (regardless of her undeniable attraction to Bruiser.) I like Ricky, but Bruiser will make your toes curl, in a good way…but I digress… The love triangle brings even more delicious angst to a storyline that keeps Jane very, very busy and constantly on her toes. Also, the author has tied up a few loose ends from previous books, which was pretty awesome. Additionally, we get some insight into Jane’s time in the group home as a child, which goes far to explain some of her insecurities.

Jane’s world is a fully realized one, full of shapeshifters, Native American magic and folklore, baddies that will make your hair stand on end, and a heroine, that, despite her considerable skills, harbors plenty of vulnerability and self-doubt. If you love urban fantasy or just plain wonderful writing and world building, this is the series for you.

Adam Mitzner is the author of A Conflict of Interest, and his newest legal thriller, A Case of Redemption, just came out last week! Adam was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about the book (and more), and he’s a pretty busy guy, so please welcome him to the blog!

From an M.A. in politics, to a law degree! Have you always wanted to write? Did anything in particular inspire you to write your first published novel, A Conflict of Interest?
My first recollection of wanting to write was after I read John Grisham’s The Firm. It was my second year in law school and I was living the recruiting process that was described in the book. My roommate and I were both reading it and I said, “I could write this,” and he said, “No you couldn’t.”

There was no flash that caused me to write A Conflict of Interest. The novel opens with a Dante quote: “In the middle of the journey of our lives I found myself in a dark wood where the straight road had been lost sigh of” and that’s how I felt at the time. I wanted to write about someone in that predicament who finds his way back to the straight road. And, I confess, I was hoping that by writing about it, I could find my way back too.

How did you celebrate when you found out the book had sold?
My wife and I went out to dinner and the two of us just kept saying how we couldn’t believe it.

Your brand new book, A Case of Redemption, just came out this month! Will you tell us a bit about it and its hero, Dan Sorensen?
In A Case of Redemption I wanted to continue to explore the issue of trying to get your life back on track that was the focal point of A Conflict of Interest, but wanted to approach it from a different angle. The book opens 18 months after Dan Sorensen has lost his wife and daughter. After the accident, Dan left his partnership at a major New York City law firm and has been in a downward spiral, questioning whether the choices he made prior to the accident – as a lawyer, a father and a husband – contributed in some cosmic way to the death of his wife and daughter. He’s pretty close to rock bottom, although he wonders if he still has further to fall, when a he’s presented with the opportunity to represent Legally Dead, an up-and-coming rapper accused of murdering his pop star girlfriend. Legally Dead claims he’s innocent, but before the murder, he wrote a song that the media has portrayed as a not so veiled threat to commit the crime for which he now stands accused

The title evokes Dan’s hope that by defending an innocent man he can find redemption. Unfortunately, Dan’s far from convinced of his client’s innocence.

Obviously, your experience as a lawyer gives you tons of inside info for your novels, but did you have to do any other research for A Case of Redemption?
I have handled criminal cases, but never a murder case. As a result, I consulted with a close friend (the same law school roommate who doubted that I could write a book like The Firm) on issues particular to murder trials. Also, I needed some expert help concerning the forensic issues.

In your writing, are you a plotter or a pantser?
A pantser. I like to write the way I like to read – wondering what’s going to happen next.

What are some of your biggest literary influences?
In my opinion, Scott Turow writes the best legal thrillers. Readers have emailed me to tell me that A Conflict of Interest is the best legal thriller they’ve ever read, and I wonder if they’ve read Presumed Innocent. I’m also a big fan of Ethan Canin, especially his first book, The Palace Thief, which is a collection of short stories. I re-read it every so often and try to figure out how he presents such complex characters in so few pages.

If you could recommend one title (besides your own) to someone, off the top of your head, which one would it be?
As I said, Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent is the gold standard for legal thrillers. To Kill A Mockingbird is a different type of lawyer book, but it has withstood the test of time because it’s so marvelous. If I was going to recommend a book for sheer beauty of the language, it would be The Great Gatsby, which is my favorite book.

You’re the head of the litigation department at a major NYC law firm! How do you juggle such a demanding career with your writing?
I write or edit or think about writing or editing all the time. I also don’t go to the gym nearly as much as I did before I started writing.

What’s one piece of advice that you would give to struggling writers?
To write. All the time. To not worry about whether it’s perfect or even any good, or if the entire story is plotted, but just to get in the practice of writing and looking at your work critically after it’s on the page.

I once had a case about the making of a movie. In the deposition of a famous actor I asked if he thought the film was any good. His response was that actors can rarely tell because a film comes together in the editing. I feel that way about writing too.

When you do manage to find some free time, how do you like to spend it?
I have two daughters, ages 9 and 15, and twin stepsons who are 13, and they occupy most of my non-writing, non-lawyering time. Last year my nine-year old and I read aloud to each all seven Harry Potter books and this year we’re doing The Hunger Games series. To make it more exciting, we dress up like the characters when we read. My fifteen year old, as fifteen year olds are known to do, is more involved with her friends and school than spending time with her father, but she agreed that we would jointly read the same book and then discuss it. Right now we’re doing Megan Abbott’s Dare Me, which I also highly recommend. And to celebrate their Bar Mitzvah last month, my stepsons and I are watching the 10 movies all men must see. So far we’ve watched The Godfather, and while the list is still a work in progress, I’m pretty sure it will include Top Gun, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Rocky, and The Shawshank Redemption.

What’s next for you?
I’m about two-thirds through my next novel, which is the first time I’ve ventured outside of a first-person narrative. I’m excited about it because it permits story-telling from different perspectives. Also, my wife says that, so far at least, it’s the best thing that I’ve written.

Keep up with Adam: Website | Twitter

About A CASE OF REDEMPTION:
Dan Sorensen was once a high-powered New York City defense attorney . . . but that was before a horrifying accident killed the two people in his life who meant the most, plunging him into a downward spiral. As he approaches rock bottom, Dan is unexpectedly offered the opportunity of a lifetime: defend an up-and-coming rapper in a murder trial on the front page of every newspaper. Although his client swears he’s innocent of the brutal slaying of his pop star girlfriend, proving it will not be easy, especially because he’s suspected of bragging about the crime in one of the hottest songs in the country.

Unsure that he’s ready to handle such a high-stakes case, Dan realizes that this chance to save a man he believes has been falsely accused of murder just may be his last and only hope to put his own life back on track and achieve redemption for his past sins. But as Dan delves deeper and deeper into the case, he learns that atonement comes at a very steep price. A powerful and riveting new voice in fiction, Adam Mitzner pulls out all the stops in his follow-up to the highly acclaimed A Conflict of Interest. A Case of Redemption is a gritty, sophisticated thriller that will draw fans of Scott Turow and John Grisham into a world of relentless suspense.

Please welcome the wonderful Hilary Davidson to the blog! Hilary is kind of an overachiever-she’s not only written 18 non fiction books, but Evil In All Its Disguises, the third in her suspense series featuring travel writer Lily Moore, just dropped in March. And she shows no signs of stopping, thankfully! Hilary was kind enough to answer a few of my questions, and she’s also got one copy of THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, and one copy of EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES up for grabs!

Check out the details of the giveaway after the interview, and good luck!

Hilary, you had an extensive career as a travel writer! What inspired you to write your first novel, The Damage Done (which won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel!!)?
It sounds kind of crazy to describe travel journalism as a stepping stone to writing novels, but it was for me. I always wanted to write fiction, but I never imagined anyone would publish what I wrote. But I knew I could make a career out of writing nonfiction books and articles, and I did that for more than a decade. Early on, I knew I was seeing and hearing things I couldn’t put into travel articles, which were always supposed to be happy, upbeat stories.

There was one press trip I did with a group of female journalists, where people ended up speaking very openly about why they wanted to be on the road, and it turned out that almost everyone was running away from something in their home life. That was when I really started picturing Lily Moore in my mind. When I knew what she was running away from — and what would drag her back home — I had the backbone of the plot of The Damage Done.

Did you celebrate when you found out you’d won the Anthony? Was there happy dancing?
There was happy dancing for a week! At the time, I couldn’t believe I won, and it still seems like a dream. Because I’m a bit superstitious, I didn’t prepare any kind of acceptance speech, so I have no idea what I said when I got on stage. But I do remember looking around the room and seeing so many incredible people who’ve been supportive of my work from the start. That memory still brings tears to my eyes.

Your brand new novel, Evil In All Its Disguises, is the third in the series to feature Lily Moore, who is also a travel writer. When you started the series, did you have any idea where it would go, or how many books you’d like to write?
For whatever reason, I think in threes, so I had the roughest of rough ideas about the first three Lily books. That makes it sound as if I knew the plots of the books, and I definitely didn’t, but I knew what the emotional arc of the character would be. My main fear, early on, was that there might only be two Lily books, since I had a two-book deal with my publisher, Tor/Forge. Fortunately, they signed me up for more. Evil in All Its Disguises brings a chapter in Lily’s life to a close — she’s stopped running from her past and has become a much stronger character, kind of like the hardboiled dames she admires from the old movies she loves so much. To me, she’s a more interesting character now than she was in The Damage Done. Of course, now I’ve got three more books featuring Lily that I want to write…

Will you tell us a bit about Lily? Has her character evolved in the way you first envisioned, or has it been an organic process?
It’s been a mix of the two. I definitely envisioned her becoming stronger and tougher, because I knew from the start she was more resilient than she ever gave herself credit for. She’s already survived so much before the books begin, but you only understand that as the books unfold — Lily’s not the kind of character who reveals all early on. But sometimes she surprises me. In Evil in All Its Disguises, she has to come to terms with her own desire for revenge, which I didn’t realize was there until I started writing. It’s ironic, because so much of the action in that book is motivated by vengeful feelings, and I didn’t understand how much that motivated Lily, too.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Pantser all the way. I’ve tried plotting, but my brain seems able to twist things around in more interesting directions while I’m writing, and I’ve learned to follow those impulses.

I imagine with your travel experience, your research is probably not as much as it normally might be. Did you have to do any research for Evil In All Its Disguises?
Evil is the first book that I’ve written that has its premise based in reality, so the research process was different. The book is about a journalist who goes missing while on a press trip, and that’s based on the disappearance of a Frommer’s editor on a press trip in 2000. It’s a story that haunts me and a lot of other female travel journalists, and I wanted to find out everything I could about it, especially how the investigation unfolded. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to tell the story about what really happened — the real-life journalist has never been found — but I wanted to explore why the story filled me with such a visceral sense of horror. I realized it wasn’t so much the journalist’s disappearance as its aftermath, especially the way the resort tried to pretend nothing was amiss. Then, when they couldn’t keep that up anymore, they trashed the journalist’s reputation. Evil takes place in a very compressed timeframe, but a lot of key details are the same.

The new book has a very “Old Hollywood” vibe to it, but although it doesn’t take place there, thought it does make references to classic film. What are a few of your favorite classic movies?
Lily is obsessed with Ava Gardner’s films, but my favorites feature Barbara Stanwyck. She was one of the best actresses of all time, and her body of work is impressively dark — think movies like Baby Face, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Double Indemnity, and Sorry, Wrong Number. I thought I knew a lot about old Hollywood, but I’ve had to watch a lot of films to see things the way Lily does. That kind of research is a lot of fun.

What, or who, has influenced you most in your writing?
I take inspiration wherever I can find it! I’m influenced by great books, compelling writing, fascinating films, smart conversations… it’s all over the map. There are a lot of writers who’ve influenced my work — including Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Patricia Highsmith, Laura Lippman, Linda Fairstein, Ken Bruen… it’s a very long list. They’re not necessarily direct influences, but reading great novels makes me aim higher.

If you could experience one book again for the first time, which one would it be?
Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I read that book for the first time when I was twelve, which was the age of several of the characters in the story, but I wish I could experience it again for the first time.

When you’re not busy at work on your next project, how do you like to spend your free time?
Walking around New York and eavesdropping on people. Seriously, it’s like an open-air show running all day long here. I’m also a very passionate, but strictly amateur, photographer. I used to be hardcore old-school about it — using a manual Yashica camera from the 1960s, developing my own film — but I’ve given in to the lazy ease of digital. When I want to relax, I jump on a trampoline. Some people think I’m joking about owning one, but I’m not.

What’s next for you?
My next book, BLOOD ALWAYS TELLS, is a standalone that will be published be Tor/Forge in April 2014. A lot of people have asked me, “When are you going to write something that’s as dark as your short stories?” Now, I can finally tell them I have a novel for them to read!

Keep up with Hilary: Website | Facebook | Twitter

**Ok, guys and girls, here’s the GIVEAWAY deets: Leave a comment or question for Hilary with your choice of book (THE NEXT ONE TO FALL or EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES), and I’ll pick 2 winners at random on 5/27/13 (US ONLY).**

About THE NEXT ONE TO FALL:
Travel writer Lily Moore has been persuaded by her closest friend, photographer Jesse Robb, to visit Peru with him. Jesse is convinced that the trip will lure Lily out of her dark mood, but Lily is still haunted by the death of her sister. At Machu Picchu, the famous Lost City of the Incas, they discover a woman clinging to life at the bottom of an ancient stone staircase. Just before the woman dies, she tells Lily the name of the man who pushed her.

When the local police investigate, the forensic evidence they find doesn’t match what Lily knows. Unable to accept the official ruling of accidental death, Lily hunts down the wealthy man who was the dead woman’s traveling companion and discovers a pattern of dead and missing women in his wake.
Obsessed with getting justice for these women, Lily sets in motion a violent chain of events that will have devastating consequences.

About EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES:
When travel writer Lily Moore joins a group of journalists for an all-expenses-paid press junket to Acapulco, Mexico, she expects sun, sand, and margaritas. Instead, she finds that the Mexican city, once the playground of Hollywood stars, is a place of faded glamour and rising crime. Even the luxurious Hotel Cerón, isolated from the rest of the town, seems disturbing to her, with its grand, empty rooms, ever-watchful staff, and armed guards patrolling the grounds.

Lily isn’t the only one who suspects something rotten under the hotel’s opulent facade. Skye McDermott, another journalist on the trip, asks Lily for help with an article she’s working on about fraud and corruption in the hotel industry. Skye claims she’s eager to write a piece of real journalism rather than the fluff she’s known for. But she also lets slip that she’s deeply upset at a lover who jilted her, and she plans to exact her revenge by exposing his company’s illegal activities.

After Skye disappears suddenly, Lily suspects that her friend is in grave danger. But the hotel’s staff insists that everything is fine and refuses to contact the police. Only after Lily tries—and fails—to leave the Hotel Cerón does she discover the truth: the journalists are prisoners in a gilded cage.

Too late, Lily realizes that she has been maneuvered into the role of bait in a vicious, vengeful plot. Faced with unthinkable choices, Lily must summon all her strength to survive, confront the past she’s still running from, and save other lives.

Wanna win a copy of Complex 90 by Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane? You can, courtesy of the kind folks at Titan, so check out the book and the giveaway details, and good luck!

About COMPLEX 90:
Hammer accompanies a conservative politician to Moscow on a fact-finding mission. Arrested and imprisoned by the KGB on a bogus charge; he quickly escapes, creating an international incident by getting into a fire fight with Russian agents.

On his stateside return, the government is none too happy with Hammer. Russia is insisting upon his return to stand charges, and various government agencies are following him. A question dogs our hero: why him? Why does Russia want him back, and why was he singled out to accompany the senator to Russia in the first place?

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Bec McMaster is the author of the London Steampunk series and the 2nd novel in the series, HEART OF IRON, just came out! Bec was kind enough to take a few moments to answer my questions about the new book, and more, so please welcome her to the blog!

Thanks for joining us today, Bec! Will you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Thanks for having me! I’m an avid reader and traveller, who loves dreaming and writing of far off places and times in history. I live with my very own Beta Hero, a hand-me-down dog and a towering TBR pile that threatens to become an avalanche every day. Writer of all things steampunk-ish, paranormal and slightly gothic. The weird and the wonderful.

Heart of Iron, the 2nd book in your London Steampunk series, just came out this month! Will you tell us a bit about it and what inspired you to start writing the series?
I’m very excited to unleash Heart of Iron on the world. My heroine, Lena Todd, is a flirtatious debutante, looking to find her place in the darkly dangerous Echelon that rules London. Of course, the brightly glittering world she remembers from her youth isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be, and when she finds herself involved with a group of humanists who are attempting to overthrow the blood-drinking aristocrats, she knows she’s in over her head.

Enter Will Carver, the dangerous verwulfen ruffian who lives with her brother-in-law in the rookeries. When he finds a coded message on Lena he knows she’s in trouble. Of course, after a single kiss that went horribly wrong, Lena’s not about to blithely let him back into her life. Will’s going to have to exert every ounce of charm – an alien word in his vocabulary – to win his way back into her graces.

Also; explosions, clockwork automaton armies, mad dukes and mayhem.

What do you love most about writing in a steampunk universe?
The possibility. Steampunk is so much fun in that anything could have happened. So much has been discovered in the last hundred years that you realize back in Victorian times (which is roughly when I set my books, except for the fact in my world Queen Vic didn’t actually exist) there were whole parts of the globe that hadn’t been explored yet. There was mystery in everything. One of the interesting things in writing Kiss of Steel (Book 1 in London Steampunk) was that my heroine Honoria was working on a cure for the craving virus that afflicts my blue bloods of the Echelon. I know so much more about the virus and the cure and the way things work than she did, or that was written in the book, because some of it, she just had to say, ‘I don’t know.’ And they didn’t back then. Germ theory, viruses, anti-bacterials etc. were only just starting to be explored. Yet the spirit of adventure and of what was possible thrived. The idea for so many modern day technologies stems from historical times – helicopters, air-ships, computers – they just couldn’t quite get the theory in place. Steampunk is like saying that they did.

Have you done any particular research for the novels?
See above (:

I’ll throw in a couple of random areas I researched. For Kiss of Steel, since it was set almost completely in the rookeries of London, I really wanted to capture the feel of the area and period. I think I now know more about whores, street vendors, penny gaff theatres and assorted street gang weaponry than I need to.

In Heart of Iron, I’m exploring the Echelon and the world surrounding England a little more. Scandinavia and their verwulfen clans come into the story, so it was interesting reading about old Viking culture and berserkers, which is what my verwulfen are based on.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I attempt to plot but then I pants the rest of it. My plots rarely stick to the course, as I think I need to have a little bit of inspiration popping up here or there. Now, I just set an end goal – where am I going with this – and then work my way there.

I have to say, you must have pleased the cover gods, because the covers for your books are gorgeous! Do you feel like they effectively convey the spirit of the books?
I love my covers, I really do. Gene Mollica is an absolute genius when it comes to conveying the world, especially based on the couple of extracts I send him. I’ll admit that one of the most common comments I get is that Honoria would never flash her garters (or even her ankles LOL) like she does on Kiss of Steel and I agree, but the world, the spirit of the series? Absolutely nailed. It’s dark, it’s sexy, it’s dangerous and I think the covers do a great job in conveying that.

What are some of your biggest literary influences?
My editor definitely influences my writing and help to keep me streamlined and focused. Apart from that, everything I read provides ideas and influence, so it’s hard to pinpoint one or two correct answers. Sometimes it’s simply a case of unlocking my sub-conscious I think. For example, I was flicking through a travel blog the other day on Hawaii and there was a single line about volcanoes that set off this entire world within my head – characters, the world, the different races etc. One sentence and it’s like a key to unlocking something that was obviously buried deep.

If you could read one book again for the very first time, which one would it be?
The Hobbit. I was eight and it opened me up to a whole world I never knew existed.

When you’re not busy at work on your next project, how do you like to spend your free time?
Free time… *Sighs and stares off into the distance thinking about this myth* Actually, I’m trying to carve back some reading time at the moment because I think my writing suffers when I don’t give myself time to refill the creative well. Otherwise, baking and dealing with my vegetable garden, watching Spartacus or Game of Thrones with hero material, playing netball and running – they’re my physical outlets.

What’s next for you?
My Lady Quicksilver is out in October and features Sir Jasper Lynch, Master of the Nighthawks (blue bloods who hunt felons) and Mercury, the masked leader of the humanist revolution. When Lynch is charged with bringing in the notorious Mercury, he may have more on his hands than he bargained for. Mercury is not only elusive and a woman, but she’s also right beneath his nose (not that he knows that). MLQ is a battle – a duel of wits and wills, and very, very sexy.

**For a sneak peek at the London Steampunk world, I’m offering an e-novella called Tarnished Knight (set after Kiss of Steel and before Heart of Iron) for free download for the month. See here for details.

Keep up with Bec: Website | Twitter | Facebook

About HEART OF IRON:
In the mist-shrouded streets of London’s dreaded Whitechapel district, werewolves, vampires and a clockwork army are one step away from battle…

NO ONE TO TRUST

Lena Todd is the perfect spy. Nobody suspects the flirtatious debutante could be a rebel against London’s vicious elite—not even the ruthless Will Carver, the one man she can’t twist around her little finger.

Will Carver is more than man, he’s a verwulfen and he wants nothing to do with the dangerous beauty who drives him to the very edge of control. But when he finds Lena in possession of a coded letter, he realizes she’s in a world of trouble. To protect her, he’ll have to seduce the truth from her before it’s too late.

“Deftly blends elements of steampunk and vampire romance with brilliantly successful results…darkly atmospheric and delectably sexy.” –Booklist, starred review for KISS OF STEEL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author Bec McMaster lives in a small town in Australia and grew up with her nose in a book. A member of RWA, she writes sexy, dark paranormals and steampunk romance. When not writing, reading, or poring over travel brochures, she loves spending time with her very own hero or daydreaming about new worlds. The third book in the London Steampunk series, My Lady Quicksilver will be in stores in October 2013. Read more about her at www.becmcmaster.com or follow her on Twitter @BecMcMaster

Deadly Harvest by Michael Stanley (Bourbon Street Books, April 30, 2013)-In Botswana, as young Lesego walks home one day, she’s approached by a man in a car that offers her a ride. It’s hot, and she seems to know him, so she climbs in. She’s never heard from again. The investigation by police is little more than for show, and any trail that did exist, quickly goes cold. All that remains is a dropped shopping list that her sister, Dikeledi, found at the bottom of the hill where Lesego seemed to have disappeared. She knows something bad has happen, but no one seems to listen, until Samantha Khama, the newest detective (and only female) with the CID asks for the case. Disgusted with the way disappearances of young females are swept under the rug, she’s determined to get to the bottom of Lesego’s disappearance, and Assistant Superintendent David “Kubu” Bengu is asked to mentor her. Kubu is dubious about her methods, but he admires her enthusiasm, and is happy to help. He’s known for his unorthodox methods himself, so he can’t really make judgment on that, anyway.

When Samantha finds out that a second girl has gone missing, she’s incensed, and is convinced that the disappearances have something to do with the practice of muti, the procuring of herbs, animal parts, and even human body parts to make potions and spells. When the father of the second missing girl decides a political figure has been the ultimate cause of his daughter’s death, he lies in wait for him to get home and stabs him to death, and when muti is found in the candidates house, it provides the beginning of the trail that Samantha and Kubu must follow. The biggest problem that Samantha and Kubu have is tracking down the mysterious witch doctor that’s making these potions. After all, muti using human parts is frowned on by most practitioners, and they refuse to give out any information for fear there will be spiritual repercussions. When an albino man goes missing, however, they might just have the break they need to find this fierce, and ruthless killer.

Deadly Harvest is the fourth in the Detective Kubu series and my introduction to the charming Kubu. Kubu, in fact, is Setswana for hippopotamus, and it fits him to a tee, with his stout and solid presence and fierce determination. Speaking of fierce, Samantha Khama is the embodiment of the word, and she’s specifically determined to make it in a decidedly man’s world. Deadly Harvest is a fascinating procedural, and the witch doctor will send chills up and down your spine. The authors, Stanley Trollip and Michael Sears, were both born in Africa, so they know of what they write, and the unique setting, delightful protagonists, and by turns odd and charming cast of supporting characters are the icing on top of a riveting mystery. If you’re a fan of international mystery, and just plain excellent writing, this is the series for you, and this volume is very newcomer friendly, although I can’t wait to jump into the first book, A Carrion Death, and work my way up!