Author Interview & Contest with Suzanne McLeod

I am very happy to welcome back author Suzanne McLeod to Amberkatze's Book Blog!

Suzanne is a UK author who writes books about dangerous faeries, seductive vampires, bureaucratic witches, eccentric goblins, rock-solid trolls, magic, mayhem and murder!

I absolutely love her Spellcrackers.com series and I am already reading The Bitter Seed Of Magic which comes out this week!

Read the interview and enter the contest to win a copy of Suzanne's newest release!

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Amber – Welcome back to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you here as a guest again! Could you start things off by telling my readers a little about your Spellcrackers Series?

Suzanne – Thanks for inviting me back Amber. It’s lovely to be here! Okay, well my books are set in London, UK, and they’re about Genny (Genevieve) Taylor who is a sidhe fae, and who works for Spellcrackers.com ~ making magic safe! Genny’s job gets her involved in all sorts of magical mayhem and murder, and usually means she has to venture into the dangerous deep end of both the local fae and vampire communities in order to solve her ‘case’.

Amber - The first two books in the series were amazing reads and I expect The Bitter Seed of Magic will be too. What can we expect from the third part?

Suzanne – Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed them :- ). And you can expect lots of trouble for Genny both in her personal life, and in her working life, as she has to find a way to crack a fertility curse afflicting London's fae, stop a murderer, save her friends, and make sure she doesn’t become the curse’s next victim.

Amber - The Sweet Scent of Blood came out in 2008 and The Cold Kiss of Death in 2009. Why has there been such a long wait for The Bitter Seed of Magic to be released?

Suzanne – The Bitter Seed of Magic was due to be released in 2010, but unfortunately a couple of things derailed it. First I had some health problems which meant I couldn’t meet my deadline, then when I did finish, my editor had her own health problems . . . all of which ended with the book’s publication being put back 6 months. Something which no one wanted to happen, and which we’re all sorry about, but sadly was unavoidable. Hopefully, it will be worth it, and the readers will forgive us for the wait.

Amber - Genny has already seen a lot of action. How do you decide what to throw at her in each book?

Suzanne – Oh, I stick my ‘evil author’ hat on, decide what could go wrong in Genny’s life, then make it worse. Lol! The practical way of doing that, is to work out what the ‘baddies’ want, why they want it, and what they’re prepared to do to get it. And as Genny is usually standing in the baddies’ way, and trying to stop them, she’s the one who ends up in the middle of all the action :- ).

Amber - How did you come up with the idea for the series? Was it a long process or did it just come to you?

Suzanne – I always knew I wanted my main character to get involved in ‘solving’ crimes or mysteries in some way. Which was the quick part of the idea. Only I didn’t want her to be constrained by rules and regulations, like the police, or even a P.I. would be. But if I made her an amateur sleuth, there was the possibility that ‘I as author’ would end up having to use a lot of coincidences to kick-start my plots, and get Genny into the thick of things. So I had to work out what sort of job/abilities/world she could live in that would bring her into contact with enough problems, and people needing her help, that she would always have trouble battering at her door and calling her out to play *g*. Which was the longer part of the process, and I think probably took a good three to five months in all.

Amber - What kind of research have you done for the books so far? Anything interesting or do you find research boring?

Suzanne – Oh no, I love research. And it’s something I do all the time. Life is full of fascinating things that trigger all sorts of ideas. Then I daydream ... err, sorry do some serious thinking/investigating to see if the idea will work. Not every idea does, but the research is always fun, even if it’s just Googling, or reading up, and then quite often I’ll end up finding something even more interesting that my original idea. Which is always very cool.

Of course, the most fun is the location research. I usually read up on a place first, then once I’m sure it’s going to work for the plot, I visit (any excuse for a day out in London *g*) where I take lots of notes, photos, and get the feel for the place. Frex: A place I researched for use in The Bitter Seed of Magic is Dead Man’s Hole which is under Tower Bridge, and which was used in the past to retrieve corpses from either suicides or bodies dumped in the River Thames from the Tower of London and surrounding areas. The bodies were stored in the mortuary under the steps until they were ready for burial. I thought it would be an ideal place for a victim to be found *g*.

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

Suzanne – When I first started writing, quite a few of my walk-on characters picked their own names (out of my subconscious, obviously :- )) but after ending up with three characters all called Peter, which would have been confusing for readers, I decided that my subconscious wasn’t working hard enough. So now most of my walk-ons start out being called XXX. Then once I’ve got a handle on who they are, and what they’re up too, I start researching an appropriate name for them. Frex: the mountain trolls in the Spellcrackers world all have names that relate to mountains or stone in some way.

Amber - What made you want to be a writer? Were there any books or authors that had an influence on you? Why did you pick the Paranormal Urban Fantasy genre?

Suzanne – I’ve always loved reading, then about seven years ago got to a point where I couldn’t find enough to read next, plus I had a bit of time on my hands, so I thought I’d give writing a go. Which turned out to be the right thing to do! I think everything I’ve read has probably influenced me in some way, but authors like Charlaine Harris, Neil Gaiman, Emma Bull, Charles de Lint, Tanya Huff, Jim Butcher, J.K.Rowling, Tolkien . . . and many others, have given me a love of fantasy and urban fantasy in particular. So as I love reading it, that’s what I decided to write.

Amber - Is there a paranormal creature you just don't like, and would never use in your books?

Suzanne – Lol! No, I’m an equal opportunity author. If it’s paranormal, and if it fits with the plot, then I’ll probably use it at some point *g*.

Amber - What paranormal creatures are you dying to fit into a story but you haven't managed to fit in yet?

Suzanne – Umm, I’ve been trying to fit a certain character/creature (from Genny’s past) in since the beginning, but so far he’s ended up on the cutting room floor. I’m hoping he’ll make it for book # 4 – The Shifting Price of Prey. And, no, sorry, spoilers mean I’m not telling you what he is ;p. I will tell you that the book has a unicorn though :- ).

Amber - Would you ever be able to write a book together with another author? If yes, which author would you like to work with and why?

Suzanne – Now, that’s a hard question. Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never collaborated with anyone (other than my editor) on writing, so I’m really not sure if it would work for me. Though, if I was to pick a writer to work with, I’d be happy with any of my favourite authors.

Amber - What is next? More Spellcrackers? Are you working on any other projects?

Suzanne – I’m writing book 4 – The Shifting Price of Prey, then it’s book 5 – The Hidden Rune of Iron, then it’s book 6 – The Sharp Bite of Ritual (hope you all appreciate the Shameless Plugs! *g*), which is going to keep me busy for quite some time to come :- ).

Amber – A lot of authors have 'soundtracks' for their books. Is there any music influenced your books?

Suzanne – I don’t write to music, can’t in fact, it distracts me too much. But I did a lot of thinking about the Spellcrackers world listening to Seal, partly because I love his music, and partly because our dog was scared of fireworks and storms. Seal was the only music that we could play loudly enough to block out the noise, and that Mr. Mc. could also fall asleep to. Our dog’s gone deaf now (she’s very happy still), so we don’t have that problem any more :- ).

Amber - What have you been reading and watching lately?

Suzanne – Well, my recent fav reads are The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney, A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang, and just to make everyone jealous, Silver-Tongued Devil (which won’t be out until early 2012) by Jaye Wells (my brilliant Crit Partner). As for what I’ve been watching ... the new seasons of True Blood and Being Human have just started in the UK, so those, and I’m looking forward to Outcasts; new science fiction drama coming from the BBC.

Amber - What's your favorite paranormal movie of all time?

Suzanne – Umm, *ponders* I think it’s between Blade Runner, Serenity and The Fifth Element, which, now I written them down, I realise are more science fiction than paranormal . . .

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

Suzanne – Oh, a shapeshifter; one that can take on any shape. I think that would be a lot of fun!

Amber - A huge thank you for being a guest! I hope you will come by again!

Suzanne - I’d be delighted, Amber, and many thanks for having over again. It’s always a pleasure to visit!



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Contest Time

Suzanne is very kindly giving away a copy of her new release The Bitter Seed of Magic!

How To Enter

It's all about the Location! Where would you set your paranormal book?

No answer = No Entry

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The contest will stay open until Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 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.