Interview with Fang, from the Demon Underground Series.

Picture of Fang
"...I'm part-hellhound, part poodle,
part terrier, and all snark."

The Demon Underground series, by the fabulous Parker Blue, is one of the first series that I read and fell in love with on my Kindle. Ms. Blue does such a wonderful job creating characters with depth; characters that are so much more than the prevalent archetypes that litter the YA genres. Characters that are, in fact, so complete I decided to do an interview with one.

Fang, first I'd like to welcome you to my blog. I'm very excited to get to know you a little more. Why don't you tell our readers who, exactly, you are.

Fang:  Thank you!  Well, I fool a lot of people into thinking I’m a cute and cuddly little doggie.  Not!  My friend Val Shapiro says I’m part-hellhound, part poodle, part terrier, and all snark.  I have no clue where she gets that.

I was assigned to show Val the Demon Underground ropes after her parents kicked her out of the house on her eighteenth birthday.  We kind of became besties and hang out together, kicking evil vamp butt and keeping San Antonio safe for human and demonkind.

One of your abilities is the power to telepathically communicate and read the minds of demons and part-demons. Clearly you know your friends very well because of this, and there have been several times that your ability has been used to the benefit of your friends and allies, but are there any drawbacks to being able to read the mind of those around you? Ever heard anything you wish you hadn't?

Fang: Hoo, boy. You bet! Especially since Val is, you know, a succubus. I wish I could tune out when she turns on any guy who gets within her energy field, but it ain’t easy. Humans make such a deal out of the whole lust thing, but I’m no peeping Fang.

When we last left Val her relationship with Shade, her shadow-demon boyfriend, was in turmoil. We have recently gotten a chance to learn more about his past, but that doesn't really help Val's broken heart. How is our kick-butt heroine doing? The girl hasn't had the best of luck in the love department; will that be changing anytime soon?

Fang: Well, in Dare Me, she’s got two studpuppies drooling over her—both Shade and the sexy cowboy vampire, Austin.  She’s having a hard time deciding between them, but this time, she has to actually get off the pot and make a choice. And when she does, he does something kinda cool for her in the end.

Val has semi-hated her 'Lola' powers since she hit puberty. How does she feel about the fact that they are now rapidly diminishing because of her spell-use?

Fang: She’s kinda missing them, you know? Especially since the rogue vamps all know her as the Slayer and she has a lot of enemies.  Kinda hard to control the bad guys when Lola isn’t able to grab ‘em by the chakras and give ‘em what for.

A lot of readers consider you to be Val's trusty sidekick. What do you feel about that? Do you agree?

Fang: Heck, no. She’s my sidekick! Okay, okay, we’re each others’ sidekicks, I’ll give you that. 

What can we expect next in the story of Fang and Val? Trouble with Vampires? Other demons?

Fang: Well, I can’t say too much, but it starts out with human trouble, of all things, humans hunting shadow demons.  But the humans have super strength and speed, so it takes us awhile to figure out what they really are. And it’s a bigger baddie than we’ve ever fought before.

What do you hope readers take from your and Val's story? Any nuggets of wisdom you'd like to share?

Fang: It’s all about being true to yourself, not selling yourself short, and finding a place to belong. Plus you don’t have to share DNA to be family; true family consists of people who care about you.

How's fatherhood been treating you? Has Princess mellowed out a bit now that she has something to distract her from... herself? Will the pups be following their father’s paw prints in vampire/crime fighting?

Fang:  You’ll see a different side of Princess in this book.  Turns out there’s more to her than most people know.  As for the pups…that remains to be seen.  They’re not even weaned yet! But if I have anything to say about it, they’ll all be clones of their proud papa.

I'd like to thank you for taking time to sit and talk with me. I'm sure you have things to do, people to bite. But first I'd like to ask one last question: if the world were ending and you had any choice of a last meal, what would it be, where would you eat it, and what company would you share it with?

Fang:  That’s an easy one—pizza!  On the Riverwalk in San Antonio with Val and Princess and my kids, natch.

Thanks again! Look forward to seeing more of y'all at the next book release, Dare Me, which is set to come out next month.

Fang:  Thank you! It was fun. You’re pretty cool, for a human.

Thanks Fang!

Fun facts
Some of the following links will take you to Amazon.com, where you can buy these tasty treats... or just read the synopsis.

• The next book in the series is called Dare Me, and is set to release in September 2013
• Her previous books in the Demon Underground series are, in order:Bite Me, Try Me, Fang Me, Make Me, 
• Forget You (Demon Underground Series) is a novella about Shade and is based before the events in the first book. It is currently FREE, and you can absolutely read it before everything else since it can act as a stand alone.... and an addictive introduction to the series that will make you HAVE to read more.
• She also has a story in the anthology Magick Rising, it's about a man trying to rid himself of Lycanthropy (he's a werewolf), which is killing him. There might be a Wiccan woman to help... and love.
• To find out more about Parker Blue, check out her website HERE
• or her Facebook HERE 
• there's also her Twitter (HERE) and her Pinterest page (HERE) that you can follow

An interview with Rachel Higginson! Striking blog tour.

As most of you have probably guessed by now, I am a huge fan of the works of one Rachel Higginson. Thanks to my Kindle, I read a lot of self-published works... And indie has a lot of variances in quality. Rachel's works, however, are the cream at the top that make the Indie genre worth reading.

To celebrate her upcoming release of Striking, cowritten by Lila Felix, I asked if Rachel would be willing to do an interview with me. 

I am a huge fan of all the female protagonists in your books. If you were sitting down to eat with Eden, Stella, Reagan, Ivy, Ellie, and the star of your newest book Cami, what would you ladies talk about? What would the girls think of each other? Who would you sit next to? And for goodness sake, what would you be eating?

Thank you so much Regan! And thank you for having me on your fabulous blog!

I love my leading ladies, so it’s great to hear that you do too! First of all, this would be the best afternoon of my life! I would love to hang out with all my girls and share a meal. Well, outside of my head…. J

I think the first thing we would have to talk about would of course be the boys!! I mean, some of them are in some pretty difficult places with men, and we’d of course need to work out those issues. And those who are settled into their happily-ever-afters already would be required to dish all the delicious details. That would be priority number one. Obviously.

Then I’d just love to hear a firsthand account of their struggles from their perspective. I’d want to hear Eden tell her plight to save Lilly the first time from her point of view. Or what it was like for Stella to be trapped in that locker room with Seth, surrounded by such palpable evil. And I’d want to hear Cami’s humble account of spending time in Tennessee and when she felt her life was changing. I foresee hours and hours of conversation in our future!

And it would be such a relaxed atmosphere. All my girls are adventurous foodies, so we’d sit down over Indian and share roti and vegetable samosas. We’d eat with our hands, and drink King Fishers and just laugh until we cried. I would need to sit by Eden- my literary BFF. But the other girls all come in at a very close second. And they would love each other. I imagine Cami and Ivy would get really close with their mutual love of fashion and ex-mean girl ways. And Reagan and Ellie have that sarcastic, dry humor thing in common. They would keep us laughing at everything they said! And Stella and Eden would hit it off right away too, since they have that whole saving-everyone-they-love thing going for them. I’d make Eden recreate the Morocco desert tent- only the less sexy version- and we’d just enjoy the most fabulous girls’ night out ever.

I used to work as a barista and you can learn a lot about a person by their regular coffee order. If you had to pick up coffee for the gang, what would their orders be? How about yours?

Judging a book by its cover, an interview with a graphic designer

He's got his game face on.

It's something that we all do. Maybe it's wrong or shallow, but we really do judge on appearances. Well, the appearances of books at least.

We do that slow shuffle down our favorite book-aisle, skimming through the titles with our heads bent slightly to the side (so we can actually read the book spines). When one finally strikes our fancy, we pull that book off the shelf to check out the cover, then turn it over and read the synopsis... well sometimes we do that. Other times after checking out the cover we put the book back and start that odd looking shuffle all over again. Most of us don't realize we're doing it, just something about the book wasn't interesting anymore so we forget about it and move on. 

We are visual people, and that's a fact that book publishers are well aware of. A good graphic designer can help turn a great book into a bestseller.

I want to give ya'll an inside scoop on how graphic designers do their job, and to do that I decided to interview Bruce Gore, the art director for Howard Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

AotW: Interview with Marilee Brothers

There are probably a hundred reasons why I love my Kindle and Marilee Brothers is definitely one of them.

She is an author that I probably would never have discovered without it, and an author that I have grown to love these past couple of years. She has several books in The Unbidden Magic series; a YA series about a spunky girl named Allie who discovers her magical talent after a tussle with a satellite dish (she lost). They are great reads, and absolutely appropriate for the young adults, but still fun to read for us older YA readers.

Marilee keeps herself busy; she publishes about a book every year and has a great book blog. As busy as she is though, I've found that she is great about responding to any questions or comments I might write to her on Facebook or twitter. 

So great, in fact, that she agreed to do an interview with me so that you guys can get to know her a bit better.

What kind of jobs did you have before you started writing and when did you

realize you wanted a career change?

I was very young (19) when my husband and I married. Two baby boys quickly

followed. Several years later, we sold all our earthly possessions and moved to a

college town. Through a series of part-time jobs, scholarships, student loans and

juggling baby-sitting duties, we both obtained degrees with teaching certification. We

began teaching. Another baby boy came along. (Gee, how did that happen?) Later, my

husband went into school administration and I became a school counselor. However, I

always loved the world of books. Even though I had very little spare time, I was either

reading or writing. I even managed to sell some poetry. It wasn’t until my kids were

grown and gone that I had the time and energy to attempt a book. My first book was

published in 2008. Since then, I’ve had a book published every year.

What was the most influential book or author you’ve read? Tell us how it

affected or influenced you.

Just one book? You’ve got to be kidding! Here are some that linger in my memory.

Favorite memoirs: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Unbroken by Laura

Hillenbrand. For pure reading enjoyment: The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. YA series: Can’t beat The Hunger Games. When I

get stuck in my own writing and want to read beautiful, lyrical prose, I read any book

by James Lee Burke. As you can see, I’m a very eclectic reader.

What are you reading right now?

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown, Bossy Pants by Tina Fey and Roadside Crosses by

Jeffrey Deaver.

Tell us something about yourself that people wouldn’t guess.

I taught physical education and coached a winning volleyball team for a number

of years. I play an ugly game of golf but enjoy hacking my way around the course. I

absolutely love to fish but always give them away because I don’t like eating them.

Out of all your books, is there a character that you relate the most with? Which

one is most like you?

Allie Emerson, my protagonist in the Unbidden Magic series has all the qualities I wish

I’d had when I was her age. She’s brave. (I wasn’t) She doesn’t let her circumstances

hold her back. (I did) I guess you could say Allie is my alter ego. The character I relate

to the most is Allegra Thome, in my adult romantic suspense, The Rock and Roll

Queen of Bedlam. Allegra teaches behavior-disordered teens as I did. Many of the