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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Author Interview with Rachel Caine (Includes Contest)

Halloween isn't over yet so that means there is still time for a couple more author guests and contests!

Next up is an author that, I hope, needs no introduction! Rachel Caine is one of the big names in the Paranormal Urban Fantasy genre and if you haven't read any of her books then you should be ashamed of yourself ;)

I hope you enjoy the interview and also take the time to enter the contest! Oh and keep tuned! There is still more Halloween fun to come!

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Amber - Welcome to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you here as a guest! The Morganville Vampire Series is still going strong! Ghost Town is nearly here and I can't wait. What can we expect from the new installment?

Rachel - Lots of twists and turns, for sure ... and lots of romance and scares and heartache, too. I really wanted to explore the whole idea of how people would react if parts of their memories began to disappear ... would you still be the same person? Would you still fall in love? And how do you survive when you no longer know who your friends and enemies are?

Amber - Ghost Town is book #9 in the series and #10, Bite Club, is due out in the Spring. Where is the series going? Will there be more? Do you see an end in sight?

Rachel - Well, right now, we have a contract for 12 books in total, so we'll have to see if (a) everybody is still interested in reading them at that point, and (b) if I still have more stories to tell! But there will be at least 12. I can promise that much.

Amber - How did the series come about? Did you always want to write a Young Adult Vampire series?

Rachel - I didn't! In fact, I didn't intend to write YA at all. I'd done vampire stories early in my career, in the early 1990s, and I didn't really think I had anything new to say about that ... but when I was given the opportunity, I did keep thinking about vampire stories, because those were some of the first things that really got me interested in reading and writing at a young age. Once I figured out that the story was really about this mysterious town, and all of the hidden agendas, it made sense to go ahead with it!

Amber - The Morganville series has had some amazing covers so far. Do you have a favourite?

Rachel - So many choices! I still love the US cover for FEAST OF FOOLS because, hey, look, a guy on the cover! And he's awfully cute, too. It's a lovely thing in design terms, too. But I love the new compilation covers for the 2-in-1 editions, and I love the green cover of GHOST TOWN, too. Argh!

Amber - There has been a lot of paranormal books made into films or TV Series. Would you like to see the Morganville Vampires on screen? Who could you see playing Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve?

Rachel - I'd love to see it come to the screen, but honestly, as to casting, I have no clue. I think it would probably be better to look for unknowns in the parts, although an awful lot of people are rallying for Alex Pettyfer, which is cool ... and if I could have David Tennant for Myrnin, I would be a happy, happy person.

Amber - The Weather Warden series is sadly over. Do you miss Joanne? Will we ever see her again?

Rachel - I do miss her, but we had some good, crazy, tough times together. And yes, we'll see her again, but I'm letting her have a happily ever after, for now. :)

Amber - So the Weather Wardens have earned a break after all that Earth saving. However the Djinn are still around. How is the Outcast series doing?

Rachel - It's doing very well! I've still got two more books coming in that series ... UNSEEN is already turned in and in production, so I just have UNBROKEN, the last in the series to write. Cassiel's been a heck of an interesting challenge, she's so different from my other characters.

Amber - Will we be seeing more of Cassiel and the other Djinn?

Rachel - Almost certainly, but probably not for a while. I'm going to move on to another series in August 2011 with the release of WORKING STIFF.

Amber - You are a busy bee but I know you have a lot of fans! I feel kind of cheeky asking but are you working on anything else? I know your readers can't get enough :)

Rachel - Aha, see, I already teased it, didn't I? Yes, a new series called The Revivalists, and the first novel is called WORKING STIFF. It's about a young woman in her first job as a funeral director who discovers that her bosses are reviving the dead down in the basement ... for profit.

Amber - How long on average does it take you to write a book? Do you have a process you follow? or do you just start at page one and see what happens?

Rachel - It takes about two months, generally. I always write from outlines, these days, which means of course that I have to stop and write the outlines at some point prior to starting the book. I usually write two or three outlines in a burst, so that I have them in reserve. But I try to leave plenty of room for improvisation, too.

Amber - How do you decide what to throw at your characters in each book?

Rachel - I think a lot of that comes from the characters themselves. In any given situation, a character will react according to their nature ... and sometimes, that drives the plot. For instance (and this is not a character I've written) ... what if you had a moment of decision and you could run out into traffic and save a child from getting kit by a car ... but you don't? How does that affect the rest of your life? In this situation, I can see the parents hating you, blaming you ... and maybe that drives the story. So you go from there.

Amber - How do you pick the names for your characters? Do they have any special meanings?

Rachel - They used to, when I was just starting, but now it's more a matter of what are good, solid names that don't start with the same letters, and preferably aren't too close to names I've already used before!

Amber - What have you been reading and watching lately? Do you have any recommendations for us?

Rachel - I love The Vampire Diaries. I'm a huge fan of the BBC series Being Human as well. Warehouse 13 is a personal obsession, as is Fringe!

Amber - If you were a superhero, what powers would you want? Or would you be a villain?

Rachel - I would definitely have the power to bend time. Because then I could get my deadlines met without ever asking for an extension. But I'd probably end up a villain, yeah. :)

Amber - Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I hope you will come back to visit again another time!

Rachel - Thanks, Amber, it's been great! Happy Halloween!











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Contest Time

I am offering up a Rachel Caine book! Winners choice! That means you can pick the book you are missing or get the newest release (includes the omnibus books but excludes the anthologies. Winners choice must be available on Bookdepository or Amazon).

How To Enter

What is your favourite spooky movie to watch on Halloween?

No Answer = No Entry

Earn more entries for each link you place about this contest on the net. You can post on Facebook, Twitter & MySpace but make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries! However please do not make individual postings for each entry. Please post all your entries in one post.

Advertise Amberkatze's Book Blog on your site and get an extra entry for this and every other contest!

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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.

Make sure you post your links here so I can confirm your entries.

Keep the contests going by using the Bookdepository.com links/Banners below and around the site!

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The contest will stay open until Sunday 7th of November 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.

42 comments:

Audra said...

Right now i love watching my series of SUPERNATURAL on DVD- i really don't watch too many horror flicks.

Pamk said...

I like the movies Halloweentown.

elaing8 said...

Great interview. I love the Morganville series.
A movie I like to watch on Halloween is Nightmare on Elm Street.

tweeted http://twitter.com/elaing8/status/29300934750

elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net

Vickie said...

I love Supernatural marathon, so borrowed DH's Season 1 and 2 and watching back to back episodes.
If I can find it, I'll watch 'Halloween' and 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'.

Stephanie said...

I like watching Halloween and Hocus Pocus on Halloween.

Skk25@aol.com

Asylumgirl said...

I love the Morganville Vampires. It would be really neat to see it as a tv series or movie.

My new Halloween favorite movie is Trick 'R Treat. The imagery is gorgeous. The colors and the feel of the movie will knock your socks off.

Blodeuedd said...

I do hate spooky movies. They are just so ugh. But hm, perhaps Scream.

throuthehaze said...

I like watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rocky Horror, and IT.
throuthehaze at gmail dot com

Barbara E. said...

I like movies that are more fun than very scary - like Witches of Eastwick, or something I loved when I was a kid - Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I do love The Nightmare Before Christmas and Legend of Sleepy Hollow, those are great movies.

JenM said...

I'm not at all a fan of spooky movies - I can't sleep if I watch them, but, I'll snuggle down with a couple of episodes of Buffy and that works just fine.

SiNn said...

im a horror fan junky every halloween I have to watch freddy and halloween of course anddddd cuase i never wanna grow up Hocus Pocus

Ina said...

my favorite movie is Halloween, could watch it all day long *g*

Mervi said...

I don't really watch spooky movies.. But I like to watch something like Corpse Bride. ;)

Anne said...

Paranormal Activity!
ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

Pink Panther said...

Dracula for sure! It's a classic! :)
You can reach me at luvpinkpanther@gmail.com

Jessica @ a GREAT read said...

Not too big on scary movies, but I love watching Beetlejuice with Michael Keaton. Of course I can watch that any time too! On Halloween I was watching some old Vincent Price horror movies, very entertaining!!

Have the banner button my blog sidebar: http://jessica-agreatread.blogspot.com

Julie S said...

When I was a kid my favorite movie to watch on Halloween was Hocus Pocus!!

juliecookies(at)gmail.com

Curling up by the Fire said...

I enjoy all types of movies, but I always watch Scream and The Nightmare Before Christmas over again as I really enjoy them. I also watch The Corpse Bride and Coraline with my children.

Unknown said...

There are so many horror movies I like to watch. A Nightmare on Elm Street, Monster Squad, Leviathan, Darkness Falls. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Tore923@aol.com

debbie said...

I like to watch the shining, 28 days later, or night of the living dead.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

Sandy said...

The Shining ... or Psycho. If either one is on, I'm sucked in!

Victoria said...

I love to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas.
vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com

Dovile said...

I usually watch whatever is on TV, although I'm not really a fan of horror movies. This year I'm watching Angel series.

spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com

Kathy said...

I'm not into scary movies. A lot of people have mentioned Supernatural and I like that series a lot. Would the Twilight series or True Blood count? I love those, lol.
KathyB

sablelexi said...

I avoid most spooky movies chosing things like Practical Magic and Hocus Pocus for my Halloween watching enjoyment. If I were to pick a scary movie, I'd probably chose Thirteen Ghosts. Its one of the few I've seen and it sticks with me.

jlynettes @ hotmail . com

Unknown said...

There isn't a spooky movie, but I love Hocus Pocus :)

Unknown said...

Great interview and post. I Love watching 13 ghosts and is sorta a thing now in our house every Halloween but we've got a new movie we are adding to the play list of the days festivities. I watched for the first time, Repo Man & The Genetic Opera. Wow, if you like that sorta stuff, wow..It is similar looking styles of a Tim Burton type of movie & it's set to Opera music telling the story of the original Repo Man with all the blood, guts & gore of slashing body parts & you've got something really special. I had such a fun time watching this and let me tell you it's not for the week stomached. I love your Weather Warden series but I haven't gotten the spinn-off series yet. It's in my to get list though :) Hope you had a great Halloween.
Stephmartin71(at)yahoo(dot)com

A'lina said...

My fav movie to watch on Halloween is Pet Semetary. Thanks for the giveaway!

Calliope said...

I love the original serial murderer horror movies: Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, the Ghost Faced Killer, etc. Of those, I think Michael has to be my favourite - I mean, he's the only one who always survives and didn't start off dad already.

And if all that fails, there's always SUPERNATURAL. The "Bloody Mary" episode gives me chills just thinking about it.

Eternal Night said...

I love watching the Halloweentown movies and watching Tim Burton Corpse Bride. Those are my favorite.

Jen D. @ Not Now...I'm Reading! said...

Great interview Amber. Rachel Caine is one of my favorite authors.

My favorite movie to watch, Shawn of the Dead, is scary and funny.

Thanks for the giveaway!

Jen
jend(AT)notnowimreading(DOT)com

heatwave16 said...

Silence of the Lambs. It is just so creepy that it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand-up.

heatwave96(at)hotmail.com

tweeted - http://twitter.com/Heatwave316/status/29518584263

Margaret said...

That's kinda hard, since I hate scaring myself, but I enjoy watching Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" or if I plan to vege out and wimp out, I'll go for a Scooby-Doo flick :-p

Thank you for the chance! :)

legally_write[at]hotmail[dot]com

Aurian said...

I have only read some of the Weather Wardens books, but I really have to try those vampire books! I hate horror movies, but I love Hocus Pocus

Amy said...

My favorite scary movies to watch are: Final Destination, Supernatural series, and Paranormal Activity.

angeldream3(at)gmail(dot)com

Llehn said...

I love Nightmare Before Christmas.

Read for your future! said...

I love watching Halloweentoen on Thanks for the giveaway
chaarmedone1512@aol.com

pS I LOVE YOUR BLOG!

Rhonda said...

I enjoy watching the Halloween movies especially the first one which takes me back to my teen years

rhondastruthers at yahoo dot ca

Sue Brandes said...

Loved your interview. My favorite is the orignal Halloween movie.
Sue
stevebrandes(at)gmail(dot)com

Laurie T said...

I don't really watch horror movies on Halloween anymore-I've watched my favorites too many times. What I do like to watch are the paranormal shows on tv, the ones where people search for spirits and such. I find a huge dose of quasi-reality can be scary as any Hollywood production (and usually more entertaining).

Laurie

Laurie T said...

Also forgot to mention I love the Morganville series!

Laurie
readergirls(at)gmail(dot)com

whitewolfreads said...

Every year my family watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We also watch Hocus Pocus, Bettlejuice, and of course The Nightmare Before Christmas.

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