Author Interview & Contest with Molly Harper

Author Molly Harper joins me again this week on Amberkatze's Book Blog! Molly stopped by a while back when her first book in the 'Nice Girls Don't...' series came out. Now book three in the series is about to be releasesd and I am eagerly awaiting my email from Amazon to say it is on the way ;)

So sit back and enjoy the interview and make sure you enter the contest at the end! Maybe you will be lucky and win a copy of Molly's new release!

----------------------

Amber - Welcome back to Amberkatze's Book Blog! Thank you for joining us again. I have really been enjoying your 'Nice Girls Don't..' series but just incase some of my readers haven't had the pleasure...maybe you can start things off by telling us a little about the books so far? The newest edition to the series, NICE GIRLS DON'T LIVE FOREVER, is due out any day now. What can we expect from the third book?

Molly -In the first two books, new vampire Jane Jameson was struggling to adapt to her new lifestyle. She's found a job she loves, new friends, and a source for her bottled blood. In the third book, Nice Girls Don't Live Forever, she's forced to confront some long-simmering issues with her boyfriend/sire, Gabriel. The seductive, anonymous notes that await Gabriel at each stop of their vacation, coupled with his evasive behavior over the past few months, finally push Jane onto the next flight home to Half Moon Hollow - alone, upset, and unsure whether Gabriel just ended their relationship without actually telling her.

Now the children's-librarian-turned-vampire is reviving with plenty of Faux Type O, some TLC from her colorful friends and family, and her plans for a Brave New Jane. Step One: Get her newly-renovated occult bookstore off the ground. Step Two: Support her best friend, Zeb, and his werewolf bride as they prepare for the impending birth of their baby . . . or litter. Step Three: Figure out who's been sending her threatening letters, and how her hostile pen pal is tied to Gabriel. Because for this nice girl, surviving a broken heart is becoming a matter of life and undeath.

Amber - Will there be more books in the series? How long would you like to see things continue for Jane? Do you see an end in sight?

Molly - Right now, there are three books contracted in the series. I could see going for a few books. I know this will sound weird, but I think the characters will let me know when it's time to end things... Or you know, if I start writing a book where the entire cast of characters gets sent to jail together, that's when it will be time to cut things off.

Amber - One of the things that made your first book, NICE GIRLS DON'T HAVE FANGS, stand out was the quotes form the 'Guide for the Newly Undead'. Then in the second book, NICE GIRLS DON'T DATE DEAD MEN, you had quotes from 'Mating Rituals and Love Customs of the Were'. What book are the quotes from this time around? and where did the idea come from to use quotes like this at the beginning of each chapter?

Molly - Thanks! I knew there was going to be a guidebook for Jane because that's what she would need to survive. She's a book person, that's what she responds to. And when I started to think of the events of each chapter, I thought of the quotes from the guidebook that would apply to those situations. The quotes were better than any chapter title I could come up with and I thought it would be a fun way to introduce the reader to Jane's world.

The third book features quotes from a vampire self-help book on love called "Love Bites: A Female Vampire's Guide to Less Destructive Relationships." Jane starts reading it after she and Gabriel run into problems. (To put it mildly.)

Amber - You mentioned before that you would write a full version of 'Guide for the Newly Undead' if there was enough interest. Any progress on that? Would you do the same for 'Mating Rituals and Love Customs of the Were'?

Molly - I've been focused on finishing the vampire novels and some other projects, so I haven't started on a full version of the guide. And if there was interest in "Mating Rituals" I would expand on that, too.

Amber - How do you pick the names of your characters? Are they just names you like, people you know or do they have some other meaning?

Molly- I try to give my characters significant names. I wanted Jane to be an everygirl. She's a plain Jane. She's a little shy and a lot neurotic. And I knew I wanted her to have an alliterative name like the comic book heroes: Peter Parker, Lois Lane, Clark Kent. And I used Jameson because it allowed Dick Cheney to make a joke on their first meeting that said a lot about his personality and sort of set the tone for their whole relationship. This is a family blog, I probably shouldn't go into it here.

Gabriel is Jane's savior, so I wanted to name him after an archangel. For some reason, it just struck me as funny to have a vampire named Dick Cheney. Zeb is my sister's middle name. Jettie Belle was a many-times great relative on my mom's side whom I'm said to resemble.

Amber - Are you working on any other projects you would like to tell us about?

Molly - I have a non-paranormal romance, AND ONE LAST THING, being released by Pocket Books in August 2010. It's about a woman named Lacey, who finds out her husband, Mike, is cheating on her. She uses his business mailing list to send a mass e-mail to his friends, family and clients, announcing his infidelity in stunning, technicolor detail. This is not well-received by said friends, neighbors and clients, and Lacey is exiled to a family cabin by a lake. She meets her new neighbor, Monroe, a grumpy crime writer with an unfortunate buttock-related nickname and a strange aversion to recent divorcees. Random nudity and romantic hijinks ensue.

I also have an as-yet untitled werewolf project that was just picked up by Pocket. The release date has not been determined yet, but I'm really excited about it. And the "Mating Rituals" notes were a huge help!

Amber - Werewolf or vampire? Both appear in your books but who do you prefer? Team Jacob or Team Edward? ;)

Molly - Well, before I saw New Moon, I was completely on Team Edward, but now... Yowsa. Holy Six-Pack Abs, Batman. Obviously, I see the appeal of both werewolves and vampires. And now that I've written about werewolves as romantic interests, I have to say it's pretty sexy to write about a man who overcome by his animal instincts in wanting a woman's body, not her blood. But vampires will always have that sexy, cool mysterious thing going for them. They're the bad boys of the underworld. I'm torn between the two teams. Isn't this how wars start?

Amber - What was the best book you read and best film you saw in 2009?

Molly - My favorite movie for this year is a British comedy called RUN FAT BOY RUN. It stars Simon Pegg, from HOT FUZZ, which is another awesome movie. Pegg plays an unreliable guy who agrees to compete in the Nike River Run to try to get his life back in order. It's profane and quirky and hilarious. A close second would be DEATH AT A FUNERAL, another great British comedy. I don't know why I like dry English humor, I just do.

I've been reading a lot of young adult books this year. My mom teaches eighth grade English and I've spent a little time trying to find alternatives for her students who want to read my books. I found Beth Fantaskey, who has written a wonderful age-appropriate vampire book called JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE. It's funny and snarky and compelling. Beth has another book coming out in May called JEKEL LOVES HYDE, a darker, sexy update on the classic Stevenson tale.

Amber - I am pretty sure writing books is hard work! How do you relax?

Molly - I have a day job and I write every night, so really, the only time I'm not working is when my family travels or we declare Family Movie Night. (You haven't lived until a one-year-old and five-year-old plant themselves in your bed and the five-year-old proclaims that you WILL watch Barbie and the Nutcracker for the twelfth time this year. AND you will be making popcorn. Or else.)

Also, I really love spending time with my husband, David. We've been together since high school and he's the only person on the planet that can put up with me for more than a few hours. We just got back from a trip to New York, where we saw Phantom of the Opera and ate a ridiculous amount of food from vendor carts. Mmmm. Falafel.

Amber - Thank you for being a guest again on Amberkatze's Book Blog! Good luck with the new release and make sure you stop by again!

Molly -Thanks for having me!

------------------------

Contest Time!!

Molly is giving away a signed copy of the third book, NICE GIRLS DON'T LIVE FOREVER, plus bookmarks (open internationally!)

All you have to do to enter is tell us what you will be doing to celebrate New Years!

No Answer = No entry!

Earn another entry for each place you link this contest on the net. You can post of Facebook, Twitter & MySpace but 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.

Keep the contests going by using the Amazon links below and around the site!

The contest will stay open until Sunday 3rd of January 2010 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.

Good Luck!