Interview & Contest with Author Casey Daniels

My guest this week is another author who loves Amberkatze's Book Blog enough to return for a second visit! Casey Daniels is here telling us about her new book in the Pepper Martin series and giving away a signed book to one lucky winner!

I have already read 'Dead Man Talking' and have throughly enjoyed all the Pepper Martin books so far. So make sure you read the interview and try out Casey's books if you haven't already.

Also make sure to enter the contest! You could win a signed book!

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Amber - Casey, Welcome back to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you here again! You have a new Pepper Martin book coming out! Can you tell us about it?

Casey -The new book is "Dead Man Talking" and in it, Pepper's "on loan" to a down-and-out, city-owned cemetery for a restoration project. Bad enough (at least to Pepper's way of thinking) but she's also working with a interesting "team" and (just for fun) the whole thing is being filmed for a PBS television show called "Cemetery Survivor." Of course as in all the Pepper books, there has to be a ghost along for the fun, too. This time, it's a dead-but-not-gone prison warden who needs Pepper's help to clear his name. He was convicted of a murder he says he didn't commit.

Amber - Dead Man Talking is the fifth book in the Pepper Martin series. How many more Pepper books can we expect to see?

Casey -Right now, book #6 (tentatively title "Tomb with a View") is scheduled for publication in July of next year and after that, I've got three more books contracted.

Amber - You also write under the name Miranda Bliss. How is that going? Which do you enjoy writing about more? cooking or ghosts?

Casey -The two series are very different. The Pepper Martin series features ghosts and I love Pepper's attitude and how feisty she is. The Cooking Class mysteries are more traditional cozies. The heroine in that series, Annie, works as a business manager in a restaurant, and just to mix things up a little and make her different from all those culimary mystery heroines who are great cooks, Annie is the world's worst cook. Any time she goes near a stove, there's likely to be a fire! There are no paranormal elements in the Cooking Class mysteries so they are more rooted in the real world. Which do I enjoy most? I have to admit, that would be Pepper, because of those ghosts. It's always great fun to play with the woo-woo elements of the books.

Amber - Are you working on anything else? Do you have any ideas for another series?

Casey -Oh yes, plenty of ideas. In fact, lately, they've been coming hard and fast. We'll see what finally turns into a series.

Amber - What kind of research do you have to do for your books? Apart from visit cemetery's and doing lots of cooking? ;)

Casey -Well first of all, I don't do lots of cooking! Which is why Annie and I get along so well. The research for the Pepper Martin mysteries is always fun. For the new one ("Dead Man Talking") I got to explore a cemetery I hadn't paid much attention to before. And I got to learn more about the criminal justice system. There's always something to learn. The book I just finished ("Tomb with a View") is about President James A. Garfield. Admit it, how many people out there know anything at all about President James A. Garfield? So that was interesting, too, and I was able to put a fictional spin on some actual historical events.

Amber - Something I have always wondered is how authors come up with the names for their characters. How do you pick the names and where did the name Pepper Martin come from?

Casey -Good question. Wish I had a good answer! I think the "Pepper" part of the name fits her personality to a T. And I guess the Martin was a natural, at least for me, beause there was once a baseball player named Pepper Martin. We've always been big baseball fans so when I thought of the Pepper, the Martin followed along. As for names of other characters...coming up with names is harder than it looks. You need to find a name that fits a character's personality, and one that doesn't sound too much like the name of any other character in a story. It's always something of a chore to make sure all the names line up correctly and that readers won't mix up characters.

Amber - You have some great covers for your Pepper Martin books. How much influence do you have in the book printing process, like picking covers, after you hand in your story?

Casey -Well, I do get to offer my comments before the artist starts working on the cover. I tell my editor what I envision. Then when the first pass of the artwork is done, I get to see it and offer comments. I am not an artist, so I'm always blown away by what the cover artists come up with. My covers have been fabulous. And I'm glad you asked this question because it reminds me that I need to come up with some ideas for "Tomb."

Amber - There are so many online sites eg, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc to get in touch with fans. Which sites are you signed up with? Is it hard to keep up with them all? Do you think they are good?

Casey -I'm on Facebook and My Space and I'll tell you the truth, I don't keep up with them as much as I should. There just aren't enough hours in the day. It's nice to be able to connect to readers and let them know what's happening with me, but am I using these sites to their full advantage? Probably not. But then if I did that, I probably wouldn't have time to write.

Amber - What is the easiest and hardest part about being an author?

Casey -Easiest part . . . letting my imagination run wild. Hardest part . . . everything else!

Amber - If you could be any famous person, alive or dead, who would you be? and why?

Casey -That's a tough one, Amber. I think that's a case of "be careful what you wish for." I wouldn't want to be anyone else. I have enough trouble just dealing with being me!

Amber - Thank you for coming back to visit Amberkatze's Book Blog! I hope everything goes well for the new release! See you next time?

Casey - Absolutely! It's always good to be here.



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Contest Time!

Casey is giving away one signed book to one winner this week! Which book? Well the winner gets to choose! You can pick any of the Pepper Martin books so far. Which means if you haven't started the series yet you can start at the beginning...while anyone waiting to get their hands on one of the others can pick what they need for their collection!

Cool!

Now you are wondering what horrible question I have thought up for you this week? Well I think this one is easy. Tell me which famous dead person you would like to have visit you as a ghost!

No ghost = No entry!

The usual rules apply!

Earn another entry for each place you link this contest on the net. Make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries!

You can also earn extra entries by emailing your friends about the contest. Just make sure you send a copy of your email or receipt to me at Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot net.

I can offer more prizes if my Amazon Associates account gets more money!! So please make sure you order at Amazon.com through the links around the site and help keep the contest coming!



The contest will stay open until Sunday 25th of October 2009 4pm CET and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.

If you are claiming a prize, have emailed me and have not heard back before the 7 day limit is up then post a comment here on the blog. Your email may get sucked into my spam filter.