So the fabulous Yelena Casale, writer of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, got this idea to do a Halloween Urban Fantasy Blog Hop, and I got on board. My current work-in-progress, Crow's Rest, is my first full-length urban fantasy novel. I've written some UF short stories (which will likely never see the light of day) and I've always been a fan of the genre as a reader, so I figured why not join the blog hop?
All of our posts will go up on our blogs today, October 24, and each site is offering a giveaway! And we're answering some questions (brace yourself, it's going to be a long post) to help you all get to know us better. Here are my answers:
1.
What do you love about the urban fantasy genre (reading and writing)?
For urban fantasy, it's the possibilities that hook me. Like magical realism, it's our own, recognizable world, but with the possibility of magic and something extraordinary. That's been my favorite part of writing Crow's Rest.
My first book, Spirits from the Vasty Deep, is historical fiction and I did a ton of research before even starting to write. Historical fiction involves world-building as well, but there's also a lot of pressure to get the details correct.
But with Crow's Rest, I had the freedom to indulge all the possibilities without the restrictions of a historical basis. I've made up words, folklore, spells, traditions, an entire present-day town. Sure, I drew on Celtic and other mythologies, but it was more of a guideline.
And urban fantasy is a great place to get your geek on, both as a writer and a reader. So many esoteric facts and fantasies come together within the genre!
2. Who is the sexiest supernatural creature? Who’s
the scariest?
The sexiest supernatural character? That would be Damon Salvatore. Oh wait--you didn't want that specific of an answer? But seriously, I don't actually think that vampires are inherently sexy (necrophilia, anyone?)--I think that comes from some brilliant writers and
Ian Somerhalder actors having fun with those characters.
I do think it's curious that you can find examples of the same creature as hero and villain within the paranormal and urban fantasy genres. A demon might stoke one person's fires, but be the worst nightmare for another. Except zombies--for a long time, that was the creature I was most scared of, and I can't imagine anyone thinking an animate rotting corpse would be sexy. Oh wait, I just remembered the movie
Fido.
3. If you could make any supernatural creature,
what would it look like and what powers would it have?
I created a type of fae called a corbin for Crow's Rest. The corbin usually cross over into our world by inhabiting crows, but in specific circumstances they can take over human bodies. If it's with the host's cooperation, then the human takes a dreamy sojourn into Fairy while the corbin inhabits the body. If it's without the human's cooperation, and both consciousnesses are fighting for the body, it usually ends in madness for the human.
In Crow's Rest, some of the corbin are no longer
satisfied with crow bodies. Or even the occasional accommodating human.
They want to come here in their natural forms, with their full, terrible
powers intact. It’s happened before, leading to the fall of Rome and
the Dark Ages.
4. Do you have any Halloween rituals?
I don't! I've gotten kind of lazy about Halloween since we don't have kids, my nieces and nephews are mostly grown, and our isolated house doesn't lend itself to trick-or-treaters.
But last year on Halloween, I was actually radioactive. The radioactive iodine for my thyroid cancer was administered on October 31, and it's a little different from most radiation treatments because you are radioactive yourself for some days. So I spent it locked in a room, alone and watching stuff on the computer--interrupted by phone calls where everyone joked about if I was glowing!
So if I go for a costume this year, I'm thinking glow paint or glow sticks.
5. Walking at midnight in a forest on Halloween –
crazy, scary or adventurous?
It would be adventurous for me--I'm kind of a nature girl, and as long as I could stay awake until midnight I'd be up for it!
6. What is your worst fear?
Yeah, I'm not answering this one. I'm just superstitious enough to not want to attract the attention of what scares me most!
7. What is one of your character’s worst fear?
For Lonan, the corbin who's been sent to stop his scheming kin from invading, it's fear of what happens if he fails. There was an attempted invasion years before, which was stopped--but not without casualties. And see question number three above for the stakes if he fails.
8. What is your favorite Urban Fantasy novel?
I have lots of favorites (all of Charles de Lint's books, the Borderland series, the first few books in Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, and Christopher Moore), but the Charles de Lint book I often recommend is Svaha. I think it has some great concepts, including a dystopian twist, and the story and writing is more accessible for a newbie to the genre. My favorite Christopher Moore book is A Dirty Job.
9. Who is your favorite Urban Fantasy hero/heroine?
There's some definite crossover between paranormal and urban fantasy, so I would have to say Evie from Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series. She's fun and sassy at first, and as she develops as a character, reveals surprising depth.
10. Which hero/heroine would you love to be on
Halloween?
I'd love to be able to dress up as Xena, warrior princess, because it's such a combination of badassness and ridiculous campiness. Hmm, I used to be able to manage her ululation--I wonder if I still can?
GIVEAWAY
Okay, if you stuck around for all that, you're probably wondering about the giveaway that was promised at the beginning!
If you comment on this post, you will be entered to win a signed copy of
Behind the Bookcase by Mark Steensland! See
Monday's interview post for more on the prize, and if you've already entered the giveaway there, you can also comment here for an extra entry. Double the opportunities, double the odds (unless everyone does it, in which case they're still pretty good odds).
You must leave an email address (feel free to disguise it from bots, like emailaddy (at) gmail (dot) com), and
only one entry per person please.
Winner will be randomly chosen with a random-number generator. Email
will be used to contact the winner only; you will not be added to any
kind of list.
Entries close at midnight Pacific Standard Time on
October 29th (I'll use the time stamp to determine the cutoff) and the
winner will be announced on Angelic Muse on
October 31, Halloween!
And yes--this giveaway is
open internationally!
Good luck, and don't forget to check out the other participants in the Halloween Urban Fantasy Blog Hop through the links below!
Kristie Cook
A.J. Locke
KH LeMoyne
Yelena Casale
