Halloween Special with Stacia Kane!

To close the Halloween Weekend I have an interview to share with you! Stacia Kane is a great author who has some Personal Demons and some may say a Demon Inside. If you haven't checked out her books yet then I highly recommend you do!

Enjoy the interview and make sure you enter the contest! Oh and make sure you enter the other contests (see the sidebar for more info) which don't close for entries until November 8th!

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Amber - Welcome to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you as a guest here and I hope you will enjoy your time here ;) Maybe you can start things off for us by telling my readers a bit about your Megan Chase series?

Stacia - Well, I usually describe it as a light, kind of sexy romance-y urban fantasy. It's not strictly romance, but there's a stronger romance subplot than in straight urban fantasy.

Megan Chase is a regular woman with a special skill; she's psychic. The ability serves her well in her job as a psychological counselor, but not so well in her personal life, since knowing exactly what a potential friend or lover is thinking about her isn't really conducive to close relationships. But when she takes a job doing a silly radio show--the tagline is "Let Megan Chase slay your personal demons"--she realizes there are some people she can't read: demons themselves. Her psychic abilities make her powerful in the demon world, and the "slay your personal demons" line is seen as a threat by the actual personal demons, the Yezer Ha-Ra of Hebrew and Biblical myth.

Demons exist, and they look basically like people, and to survive--and make money, lots of money--they've rganized themselves into Mafia-like "families" called Meegras. Greyson Dante, a representative of one of these Meegras, originally contacts Megan because his boss thinks her abilities can be useful. But it turns out there's a lot more to it than that, and as the days go by Megan realizes she's quite attracted to Greyson and he to her. I love Greyson. He's my idea of a perfect Alpha male: strong, smart, and in charge, but without all the Me-Tarzan-You-Jane so many "alpha males" seem to have. I always say Greyson doesn't need to behave that way because he KNOWS who he is. :-)

So watching Megan struggle to deal with all of the new information, and to forge a real life for herself in this alien demon world, is basically what the series is about. Reviewers and readers seem to have found Megan to be an extremely likable, appealing heroine with common sense, which has been really gratifying because that's exactly what I'd always hoped she would be. I wanted to create a heroine I'd actually like to hang out with, who ran away when it made more sense to run away, just like a normal person would do, but who would turn and fight--and fight hard--when there were no other options.

Amber - How was the idea for the series born? Was it a long process or something that just came to you?

Stacia - It was a little of both, actually. I'd seen several agents blogging about the phrase "[MC] has to battle his/her personal demons" and started thinking about the fun that could be had with that cliche, keeping in mind the old cartoons with the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. So the tagline came to me, and originally Megan had written a book, but I didn't want to write the kind of character who would actually come up with that "Slay your personal demons" thing on her own. So the radio show was born. I'd started a ms a while back which dealt with the antipathy between demons and witches and really liked that idea, and I was thinking of adding bodyguard demons to the Megan story, and "Malleus and Maleficarum" came to me as names. Only immediately following them was "...and Spud." And it just all fell into place; the tone of the book, the characters, and the plot.

Amber - Are you anything like your characters? Are any of them based on people you know?

Stacia - Oh, there's a bit of me in all my characters, sure. Megan has some of the same likes and dislikes as me--she cooks the same foods I do, using my recipes, lol, and she's allergic to bell peppers like I am. Chess from the upcoming Downside books likes the same music I do and has some of the same opinions on things. But they're not me, and no, I've never really based a character on someone I know.

Amber - The second book in the Megan Chase series, Demon Inside, has just been released. What can people expect from the newest installment?

Stacia - More action! There's a lot more action in this one, more craziness, more violence. But I think there's more depth there too; we learn a bit about Megan's background and childhood, and her relationship with Greyson takes a few careful steps forward; they're so cautious, those two. It's really about the aftermath of the events of PERSONAL DEMONS, and how Megan deals with all the enormous changes in her life brought on by those events.

Amber - How many books will their be in the Megan Chase series? Are you working on any other projects you would like to tell us about?

Stacia - Well, I just finished the third book in the series, so there will definitely be three! And right now I'm working on a YA project, and am especially excited about the Downside books. They're much, much darker than the Demons books and much more intense. My heroine, Chess Putnam, is a drug addict who lives in a creepy punk-rock ghetto called Downside. Twenty-four years before there was a huge ghost apocalypse--the dead rose from the grave and slaughtered humanity--and it was only ended by the intervention of an atheistic, magic-based church called the Church of Truth. Chess works for the Church disproving hauntings--the Church will pay a settlement if you have a ghost in your home--and her particular expertise, along with her drug habit, leads her into some very interesting avenues. The first book, UNHOLY GHOSTS, will be out May 25 from Del Rey, with the next two books following in the next two months. We sold UK rights to the series and those will follow essentially the same schedule, and we just sold audio rights as well, so they'll be audiobooks, which is really exciting to me!

Amber - How did you end up being a writer? Was it something you always wanted to do?

Stacia - It was, yes. And over the years I tried, off and on, to do something with that ambition but I didn't really get serious about it until after my first daughter was born. She was about a year and a half old when I really gave writing a go; it was about two years later--after taking almost a year off while I was pregnant with my second and the first few months of her life--that I started selling, and I've been chugging along ever since.

Amber - How did you end up writing Paranormal Urban Fantasy? Was it planned? Is it a genre you enjoy yourself?

Stacia - I love the genre! I originally started writing medieval romances, because I love that period. But I decided to try writing a vampire erotic romance, really as a lark, and discovered I really enjoyed writing them. Through paranormal romance I discovered urban fantasy and it just clicked; that was what I wanted to write. So I did, and to my delight I found it suited my voice and style really well and was a blast to write.

Amber - What books do you like to read when you have time? Do you have any must read authors/series?

Stacia - Oh, I read almost anything I can get my hands on! Any genre, anything; it's all about voice for me. I love Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters. I love Caitlin Kittredge, Richelle Mead, and Mark Henry.

Amber - How do you relax?

Stacia - With vodka. Lol. No, not really. Well, okay, sometimes. But I watch TV with my husband--we're currently catching up on MAD MEN--and I love to bake. I hardly ever eat what I bake, but I love the process of doing it. I read to my daughters or do things with them. And of course I read. A LOT. :-)

Amber - Lots of authors have playlists for their books. What music or bands would find their way onto a playlist for the Megan Chase series?

Stacia - For the Megan books? I listened to a lot of old soul music when writing DEMON INSIDE; lots of Bill Withers and Isaac Hayes and Sam Cooke. I had in mind that that was the sort of thing Greyson listened to; I could picture him driving around with those songs playing, you know?

Amber - If you could be any paranormal creature what would you be and why?

Stacia - Oh, I'd love to be a vampire. Eternal life and eternal youth? I am so there.

Amber - You are stranded on a desert island. What 5 things do you hope to have with you?

Stacia - Aside from the obvious things like a sharp knife and a firestarter? Hmm. Sunscreen. Water purifier. A phone with working internet so I can tell people where I am? And something to write with and/or on! That's seven. So I guess I can lose the purifier, and make the thing to write with or on a computer with an endless battery.

Amber - Thank you so much for being a guest on Amberkatze's Book Blog. I hope you will pop by again sometime!

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Contest Time!

Stacia is kindly giving away a signed copy of DEMON INSIDE!! One lucky winner will get their very own demon!! Cool!!

All you have to do to enter this contest is tell us what you dressed up as this Halloween! If you didn't dress up then tell us as who you would like to dress up as.

No Costume = 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! (although right now the account is empty....)




The contest will stay open until Sunday 8th of November 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.