A NEW CONTEST … and help!!!!!!


Okay, I’m going to do the help part first, because it all comes together in the contest part. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, my werewolf novella HEART OF THE WOLF will be e-published in July. I’m very excited about this, because I LOVE my werewolf characters and hope to write more with them. Anyway, the publisher wants me to come up with several questions/answers (essentially interviewing myself) to go along with my author listing on their web site, and they don’t want the same ol’, same ol’ questions.

Now, I’ve done a whole bunch of interviews over the last year while I was promoting RAPHAEL and JABRIL and there were some VERY good questions. I’ll be borrowing liberally (and shamelessly) from those interviews, too. But I thought maybe all of you might have a question or two that you always wanted someone to ask, but no one ever did. Remember, these questions are supposed to make a potential reader want to read my books. So, don’t ask me the name of my dog. First of all, I don’t HAVE a dog, but secondly … Well, you get the picture.

Which brings us to the contest part. Enter your questions in the comments part of this blog post. I might use your specific question, I might not, BUT, everyone who posts a question (and let’s TRY to be inventive, people) will get her/his name in the hat for a giveaway drawing. The winner will get his/her choice of an autographed copy of any one book … either RAPHAEL, JABRIL or RAJMUND. RAJMUND, of course, will be a promise for the future, the copy to be mailed after the book’s release later this summer.

This contest will only run through the end of March, but I’ll be starting a new contest in April. The prize will be the same, but the entry requirement will be different.

So, get those questions in now!

DBR

FACTS, VIDEOS and AMUSING LINKS: Tooling around the Internet, actually looking for photos of Northwestern Washington state, I happened across a website called Atlas Obscura, which describes itself as “A Compendium of the World’s Wonders, Curiosities and Esoterica — sort of the Internet version of a Renaissance era Wonder Cabinet. Here’s the Wiki listing for Wonder Cabinet for anyone who’s never heard of it. So … back to Atlas Obscura, there’s all sorts of cool stuff, but I LOVE these photos of a place called Kjeragbolten in Norway. It’s a GIANT bolder suspended over a 1000 meter abyss! Amazing. My favorite is the picture of the sheep — second row, second from right. I wonder if she jumped there on her own or if there was some human connivance involved?

There are lots more cool photos of this on Flickr, if you’re interested.

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22 thoughts on “A NEW CONTEST … and help!!!!!!”

  1. Okay, so the ePub won’t let you ask and answer this question, but I’m asking it anyway 😉

    Whatever happened to PLANET SHIFTER? Think it was called that, anyway…It finalled, or won, a contest in which Miriam Kriss was the judge, so…what happened next? Did you end up querying it or what?

    1. That’s a good question, Tez! And, no, I can’t use it in my interview! LOL The manuscript is Shifter Planet and I’m still querying it. I think it’s a great story. Obviously Miriam Kriss thought the beginning of it was a great story. I’ve still got a bunch of queries out on it (including Miriam Kriss) and interest has been expressed, but nothing has panned out so far. VERY FRUSTRATING! I hate the query process!

      DBR

  2. What led you to writing Vampire/Werewolf fiction?

    What research if any, do you do before writing?

    Are you asked to do re-writes/tweaks by your editor/publisher before publication or is your manuscript finished when submitted?

    What genre do YOU think your books should be catagorized in, UF, PNR,combination or other?

    How many books do you plan to write in your Vampire In america series?

    Will your Werewolf e-book be the start of a new series?

    Do you know the entire plot of your book when you start to write it?

  4. When did you first fall in love with vampires?

    What advice do you have for writers aspiring to be published?

  5. Wow, so many good questions have been asked. Lets see what I can come up with…

    Will your vampire and werewolf series ever cross?

    Who is your favorite vampire in your series?

    If your books were made into a movie or tv series, who would you pick to play Raphael?

    What will your werewolf series be about? Will there be a continuing story line or will each book stand alone?

    *fingers crossed* I get picked 🙂

  6. I’ve had this happen a couple times with my own work, so … have you ever written a character, then realized that some aspect of them was based on someone you knew even though you hadn’t planned it that way?

    What was the best advice you received as an aspiring writer?

    If the market for weres and vamps completely dried up, what other types of stories would you work on instead?

    Where is your favorite place to write and why? Do you do your best work mornings or evenings?

    Do you prefer the writing or the editing more? (ie – which is more satisfying to you?)

    If you could be included in an anthology with four other authors, who would you want them to be and why?

    Since becoming a published author, have their been any stories that you’ve started (or even finished) that you decided to scrap because they just weren’t up to snuff?

    Do you “dream cast” your characters, either for fun or just to have handy reference models?

    Um …. yeah, that’s all I’ve got right now.

  7. Okay some of my questions have been asked, lol. I don’t think I saw this one.

    With the werewolves, are you going to stick closely to the mythology of werewolves or will you add a little of your own version?

    Either way, I know I’ll love the werewolves as much as I love your vampires :).

  8. I can’t read anyone elses comments so I have no idea if this is a repetition or not.

    Have you ever wanted to leap from paranormal fiction into what is now called general fiction?

    Do your fascinating 🙂 characters press you to write more about them and keep you from sleeping?

    Cheers!
    DianeG

  9. Hmm. Interviews are so hard.

    1. You said you’d like to write more about your werewolves. Where do you see the next story taking place?

    2. What part of the story is your favorite? Was it the hardest or the easiest to write?

  10. Perhaps a unique way of presenting the interview? I have a friend who do Author interviews from the POV of their pets. The author of Need is the one she is interviewing. Just a thought since I’m horrible at coming up with questions.

  11. Will Cynthia Leighton continue to be the main female in Rajmund? Did she really retire from her P.I. job? I can’t imagine her sitting idle in Raphael’s mansion and she didn’t seem interested in remodeling the mansion, either.

    Since Cynthia has suffered some life threatening injuries, been feed vampire blood, but is still not a vampire. What procedures must be done in order to reborn or bring over a vampire?

    How does the virus work to keep Dr. Saephan, in the first book, youthful, but not turn him into a vampire? What would happen to Dr. Saephan if he suddenly stop drinking vampire blood? Would he just start to age normally or would there be some adverse reactions?

    1. Great questions, Lisa. I can’t use them in my werewolf interview, since my vampires and wolves have different publishers, so I’ll answer them here.

      First of all, Cyn will continue her investigations, but will limit her client list to Raphael’s territory, and will no longer work with the public. Future stories, however, will offer plenty of opportunities for her to utilize her investigative skills. And, no, she won’t be redecorating the mansion! LOL

      Cyn and Raphael will continue through all the books, although other characters and their love interests will share the spotlight. In RAJMUND, Cyn’s friend Sarah, who’s seen in the Epilogue of JABRIL, will meet Rajmund, an up and coming Vampire Lord. Cyn and Raphael play a part in that meeting, plus they have their own storyline running in the background, which prepares the reader for book 4, SOPHIA.

      Cyn and Peter Saephan (and any other human lovers) of vampires remain young and healthy as long as they regularly ingest small amounts of vampire blood from their respective vampire lovers. However, the longer the human is with the vampire, the more tied her life becomes to the vampire’s, so that if the vampire cuts her loose and she loses that regular dose of vampire blood, she (or he) would age rapidly, depending on how long they have been together. If, for example, there were a very long-term human/vampire mating (say a hundred years or so) and the vampire was suddenly killed, the human would die also. These issues are explored in both RAJMUND and SOPHIA.

      As for the process of making a new vampire, it involves the death of the new vamp candidate and a complete blood exchange, and must be initiated by a vampire powerful enough to carry it through. For example, Alexandra would never have the “juice” to make a new vampire.

  12. When you take your readers back in time to a character’s past (like in Raphael), how much research goes into writing the historical setting?

    If you could be a character in a book for a period of time, who would it be and what parts of the book would you like to live through? On the other hand, would you rather be in the character’s shoes after the official end of the book to see how things turn out?

  13. I like Firewolf’s idea of POV. What about interviewing your main character? You asking him/her questions? I’ve read a few authors who have done that and it was really fun.

    Another question to add: What is the origin of your werewolves?

  14. First, absolutely LOVE your writing! (Just had to say it!)

    I don’t have a question for interviews, but rather about your news: am I missing something? Did you tell us WHICH e-pub your new werewolf book is coming out at? Is it ImaJinn, also? If it is, how come they can’t get Rajmumd out quicker?? 🙂 I feel like that Mervyn’s commercial, with my nose pressed to the glass, chanting, “Open…open…open…”

    1. Thank you, Lori! Compliments are always happily accepted around here!

      To answer your question, my werewolf novella will be coming out from the e-publisher, Siren-Bookstrand, in July 2010.

      And, believe me, when it comes to RAJMUND, I’m the woman standing next to you at that Mervyn’s window! I’m very eager for everyone to read Raj’s story, but publishers have their own weird calculus, so we all have to wait until July/August. As soon as I have a firm date, I’ll post it here. Let’s hope it’s JULY! LOL

      DBR

  15. Are there female werewolves in your novella? If so, what role to they play in the pack? If not…why not?

    What kind of special powers do your werewolfs have? What mythology did you create for them?

  16. Ok, I’m surprised that nobody asked this one yet:
    What made you came up with their names: Raphael, Cyn, Jabril, and Rajmund’s name and in fact the name every main character in the book? What’s the reason, the philosophy behind them?

    and another one..or two:
    How/Where did you get the ideas for Vampires In America series? How did everything started and why?
    where did you get the ideas for Raphael and Cyn? (again, same question for every other main character)
    i think that’s all for now :p

    and i have to say that i loved your books so far and can’t wait to get my hands on the next one

  17. umm sorry i forgot the dates (march), but still i am curious about what i asked 🙂

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