This week the International Kittens of Mystery invite Laptop and Boboko, without whom (as all cats know) Alma Alexander would not have been able to write the latest Worldweaver's book - Spellspam - which is out today.

Because of the premature end to last week's interview (following the tuna incident) Xena has decided to assist Kai this week.

Kai: How do you most help your human with her writing? Do you warm her keyboard? Help her with the typing? Or do you translate her text into Polish with some clever paw strokes?

Xena: You asked that last week.

Kai: So? It's my best question. (flicks tail pointedly and turns to Laptop)

Laptop: I find that pathetic meows from the middle of the office where I am just too far to reach REALLY help her concentration. it helps her focus in the right place - which is, of course, me.

Boboko: Well, there are times I want lovings. Like, NOW. And there are times I want her to clean the litter box. Like, NOW. And there are times that I want her to... oh, wait... you mean she was doing something else?

Kai: Humans ALWAYS think they're doing something else. (climbs onto back of chair, tries to turn, teeters precariously, overbalances, digs in claws and swings precariously from front paws whilst trying to pass off entire incident as pre-planned) Thea's a double seventh - seventh child of two seventh child parents. Those are pretty big litters for humans. So, I'm guessing Thea's really a kitten, isn't she? It's one of those allegorical stories where the heroine has to be a human for marketing purposes but we all know she's really a kitten.

Boboko: Yes but how long are her whiskers?

Laptop: Pah. Humans just get carried away sometimes. Doesn't mean they can aspire to be cats.

Xena: (watching the tempting target of Kai's fluffy tail swing in front of her nose for one too many times) thwap!

Kai: Ow! Are ... are there any magical kittens in this book?

Laptop: There are no such things as NON-magical kittens. In this book or anywhere else. Yes, there's a cat - I'm told that SHE has committed the atrocity of amalgamating me and my silly brother into one creature for her character's cat, but we can both forgive her that. She probably didn't want to hurt our feelings by choosing one over the other. And I fully realise that she couldn't have a cat called Laptop in a book which has to do with cyber magic - humans are easily confused - hence the name she gave the cat in the book.

Boboko: There's a cat in the book?

Kai: (trying to read the autocue while hanging upside down) Yawny raft ot kooq...

Xena (rolls eyes) How would you suggest a cat sells this book to their human? What would your pitch be?

Laptop: We cats, we have known for a long time there is more to the world that you know than just what you can smell or paw or hear, that there are other creatures out there (some of them ARE food, arguably) and that you need to open your mind to the possibilities. And that once you become aware of yourself and what you are and what your place is in all the worlds that you can walk in, anything is possible, really.

Boboko: You DO know that neither of us can read...? But this book was written by She Who Doles Out Treats and Kibble. We like treats and kibble, Lap and I. So buy the book, and help her keep the kibble coming...

Kai: (falls down, shocked) Kibble can be stopped? What about the Kibble Fairy?

Xena: Thwap! (turns to Laptop) Any plans to talk your human into writing some cat-centric mythology. I'm thinking Bast the Egyptian cat goddess.

Laptop: ALL HAIL TO BAST - and don't think we haven't been trying. With the help of the Cat Headed One, we will prevail. And if she doesn't there's always the option of wandering across her keyboard on our own and doing it ourselves. In Polish.

Boboko: Well how was I supposed to know that the pile of treats you wouldn't eat was an offering to Bast and not just something I could finish off?... Sorry, folks. I messed up the sacrifice. I guess the Cat Headed One will have to wait just a little longer for her story... ooooh... SQUIRRELS...

Kai: Squirrels? Where?

Xena: Come back! We haven't finished...

Well, if it's not tuna it's squirrels.

Here's Laptop and Boboko behaving themselves:

And here's Kai and Xena having an animated discussion about third person narrative:

If you'd like to know more about Laptop and Boboko click here

Tags: alexander, alma, books, cats, fantasy, interview, kai, writing, xena, ya

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Four Cats and a Goblin (plus some Tuna)	Mar. 4th, 2008 @ 11:23 am

As heralded last week, our international kitten of mystery (the kitten formerly know as Kai) is conducting a series of feline interviews to prove the old adage - 'Behind every successful author there's a cat - and there's another one over there and one's got the manuscript and one's on the keyboard and Noooo!'

Today, Kai welcomes Flop, Pod and Flit who's pet human, Jim Hines, has a book coming out today. The book is called Goblin War and makes an ideal gift for pet humans of all ages.

Kai: (balancing precariously on arm of chair while trying to read autocue) How do you most help your human with his writing? Do you warm his keyboard? Help him with the typing? Or do you translate his text into Polish with some clever paw strokes?

Flop: Some humans need more help than others. Jim requires a three-cat team. Flit over there helps keep him on schedule, making sure he doesn't sleep in too late. Pod provides financial incentive for Jim's work by shredding the occasional curtain. As for me, I keep the other two in line.

Pod: What's that supposed to mean? You think just because I'm missing a leg, you can--

Flop: *thwapthwapthwap*

Pod: Hey, I was just asking.

Flit: Huh? What was the question?

Kai: (falls off chair, almost lands on feet, swishes tail and blames last week's earthquake in Market Rasen) Are there any magical kittens in his book?

Flop: No magical kittens, but there are tunnel-cats, the fiercest beasts in the whole trilogy. Jig the goblin might be able to fight humans and wizards and even a dragon, but he never messes with the tunnel-cats.

Pod: What about that short story where the tunnel-cat gets--

Flop: I don't want to talk about that. I'm pretty sure the dogs wrote that scene when we weren't looking. They'll pay for that one of these days.

Flit: Wait, what's going on? Who are we talking to now?

Kai: (sharpening claws on chair legs) With your human writing all these books about goblins, when's he going to produce a cookery book? There must be some good goblin recipes - maybe with a little tuna...

Flit: Tuna! (bounds away)

Flop: You had to say the T-word, didn't you.

Pod: Most goblin recipes sound pretty good to me, actually. But humans don't seem to appreciate them. Don't ask me why. The barbequed elf with rock serpent gravy is especially tempting.

Kai: (mouth open, head back, glazed look while doing a passing imitation of Snowball imitating Homer Simpson) Rock serpent gravy... (gurgle, wretch - unexpected hairball) How would you suggest a cat sells this book to their monkey? What would your pitch be?

Flit: He lied. There wasn't any tuna. Go sneeze on him, Pod!

Flop: Jig the goblin takes a very feline approach to adventures and quests: he wants nothing to do with them. He'd rather curl up and nap, or at least hide somewhere that the warrior goblins don't pick on him. Instead, he gets dragged off on some silly human adventure, and has to survive with his wits and his fangs. Also with his pet spider who sets things on fire a lot.

Pod: I had a pet spider, but I eated him.

Flop: Anyway, it's an entertaining book, particularly for anyone who's familiar with the tropes of the genre. Jig's a very loveable character, for a biped.

Flit: What's a trope?

Kai: (acting knowledgeable)It's French for mole. Not as nice as mouse but better than spider. Do you think any of the characters in your human's books are based upon you?

Flop: Well, the elves who appear in the first and third books are highly graceful, like myself.

Pod: Didn't you fall off the DVD player again last night?

Flop: *thwap* Some of the goblins are a little dense in the head. I'll leave it to you to decide which of us inspired them.

Flit: Wait, maybe there's tuna now! (Bounds off again)

Kai (bounding in pursuit) Tuna? Wait for me!

And there - a little sooner than planned but we are talking tuna - the interview ended.

Here's Flop, Pod and Flit in the Green Room interviewing the tuna.

And here's Kai resting after a heavy meal.

Tags: books, cats, goblin, hines, interview, kai, writing

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Annalise interview	Jan. 28th, 2008 @ 08:27 am

Jackie Kessler, author of Hell's Belles, has been running a series of interviews on her blog where one of her characters (Jezebel, a former succubus demon) interviews characters from other author's books.

Naturally, Annalise volunteered.

Here's the result.

Tags: annalise, humor, interview, resonance, sf, writing

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Virtual Book Tour: Alma Alexander at the Astraldome	Mar. 1st, 2007 @ 12:05 pm

Today the Astraldome welcomes bestselling author of the Jin Shei series, Alma Alexander.

So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Alma to a place very close to your computer screen. Warning: there is an 'r' in the month so there will be ectoplasm.

Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading, the mediums are entering a trance like state - possibly Belgium. Now, concentrate on Alma's picture below. Will her across the astral plane. And hold that image. The astral plane is a slippery place and she may snap back.

Can you see it? Alma's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...

Q1 I hear that Jin Shei has sold over 30,000 copies in hardcover in Spain in only six months. Just how large is the Spanish branch of your family?

Someone I met at one of my many schools, back when I was fifteen or so, grew up to be a Spanish teacher - she lives in Wales and holidays in Spain regularly. Believe it or not, that is my only connection with Spain. The only thing I can say in it with any degree of conviction is "Que?" (you have to imagine the other upside down question mark, my keyboard doesn't do exotics *grin*). The success of this book in Spain was completely unlooked for, utterly confounding, and still hard to believe...

Q2. Has living in a large number of countries and travelling extensively seeped into your writing? Do you find it easier to write about outsiders and 'the other?'

That's cheating, that's two questions.

What can I say? It's two for one night on the astral plane.

Okay, part the first: I would recommend travel as a way of learning people. I make it a point to try and "mingle"; when I was living in New Zealand the opportunity arose to visit Tahiti and I grabbed it - and by the end of my ten days there I could speak a couple of dozen words in the local language, I had engaged in conversations with a local young security guard at my hotel in the only language we had in common (French) although they were peppered with lots of "how do you say" prefixes as I tried to remember the rusty schoolgirl French I'd not touched for years, and I had learned a bunch of traditions and ghost stories and tales of mystery and magic many of which WILL find their way into my writing sooner or later. I've still got my entire African life experience to write about, practically untouched. Travel is wonderful.

Part the second: oh, yes. There's nothing like coming in from outside the circle for clarity of vision of the way things are INSIDE the circle. The things that the insiders don't, will NEVER be able to, see. And will sometimes hate you, the outsider, for pointing out.

Q3. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be for your new book, Gift of the Unmage?

"Thea Winthrop is a Double Seventh - seventh child of two seventh children - the most magical of the magical, the flowering of her potential eagerly awaited by her family, by her world. There's just one problem - she can't do any magic at all. Before giving up completely and sending her to the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent, where children of a magical world who are incapable of magic are sent for a decent education while being kept out of harm's way, Thea's desperate parents whisk her back in time into the care of an Anasazi tribal elder for a last attempt at waking the dormant Double Seventh potential. What Thea learns in the shadow of the red mesas of the Southwest will make her realise that she and a handful of other misfit kids from the Last Ditch School are the only ones who can save their world from a hungry evil called simply The Nothing - and that Thea's co-called magical powerlessness is the most potent weapon of all."

How is the serial killer counting the words?

Very scarily using other people's fingers.

A glance towards the silhouetted serial killer. He's deep in thought ... and other peoples' fingers. What's he going to decide? It's ... it's a thumbs up - several thumbs up - for Alma and Thea.

Q4. In Gift for an Unmage Thea attends the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent. Would you have liked to have gone to that school? Did you?

I didn't go to that school, no, but funnily enough a few of its teachers taught at schools I DID go to. I will (ahem) particularly draw your attention to the Mathematics teacher, Mr Siffer - and later, in the second book (coming next year) the Biology teacher, Mr Crow. (My husband recently bought me a T-shirt that says, "Careful or you'll end up in my novel". He thinks he was kidding.)

It's a nice enough school, as schools go, if it weren't for that moniker and its reputation as a dead-end place for useless misfits - but then, my books redeem the place, and how, so I guess that having gone there will come to be regarded as a plus rather than something to try and hide on your resume...

Q5. If you had the power to select any book, delete its existence from the time line, then give that concept to another writer, what would be that book and who do you think should have written it?

Oof. No fair. These days such books might well be written by my own peer group, by people I consider friends - and quite often the people who I might nominate as replacement-writers will ALSO be people I consider friends. Doing this would not be kind to either. But might I put forward the screenplay for the LOTR movies (as done by Peter Jackson et al) and suggest that they would have been better off giving the job to, well, *me*...? (okay, everyone, put the rocks down. I know the Jackson movies have LOTS of fans. I, however, don't think he did the book justice, he messed with the storyline (leaving out important stuff which WAS in the books and inserting irrelevant nonsense of his own making), and he COMPLETELY failed to get either Aragorn or the Elves. There IS a way of filming these books. I could have written that screenplay, kept the sweep and the drama of the movie and still kept true to the spirit of the book.

Thank you, Alma. The mediums power down, Peter Jackson's lawyers reach for their ouija boards and Alma's ghostly presence returns to whence it came.

Meanwhile, The Gift of the Unmage can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK

Tags: alexander, astraldome, authors, fantasy, interview, sf, worldweavers, writing, ya

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Virtual Book Tour: Chris Roberson at the Astraldome	Jan. 30th, 2007 @ 10:58 am

Today the Astraldome welcomes award winning author and publisher of Monkey Brain Books, Chris Roberson.

So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Chris to a place very close to your computer screen. Warning: there may be ectoplasm.

Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading. Concentrate on Chris's picture below. Will him across the astral plane. And hold that image. The astral plane is a time-slippery place and he may snap back.

Can you see it? Chris's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...

Q1. Who is your favourite X-men character?

It’s sad, but if I’m honest my favorite X-Man is none of the cool ones. No Wolverine for me, with his cigar-chomping machismo and hairy chest. And that strange glowing-eyed Cajun who throws playing cards didn’t come along until after my time, so I don’t even have an opinion about him. No, my favorite characters are the staid, the boring, the blatant reader-identification figures for nerdy teenage boys. It’s a toss-up between Cyclops, who seems to have no identifiable personality traits of note, and Cypher, the teenaged New Mutant whose only super-power is the ability to translate things into and from foreign languages (only very, very fast). It’s certainly no accident that I just wrote an X-Men novel for Pocket Books in which the ability to translate things was of vital importance to the plot...

Q2. If a genie from the Justice League of America offered to make you into a superhero, what powers/mutations would you choose? And what name would you take?

Does the JLA have a genie on staff? Sheesh, they’ll take *anybody* these days. (If you ask me, when they lowered the standards far enough to let Firestorm on the team, the salad days were over.)

But powers? At the moment, I’d like the mutant ability to jump ahead in time to a point just after I’ve finished writing whatever book I happen to be writing at the time, to save the muss and fuss. Wouldn’t it be so much easier that way? I always enjoy the moments leading up to writing a book, and I love the warm afterglow of having finished one, but the time in between is muddied up with all of this damned *work*.

As for names, I’ve always been partial to God Emperor. It has nothing to do with my requested superpowers. I just like the sound of it.

Q3. The God Emperor receives a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be for Paragaea?

Paragaea is that familiar old story of girl launches in rocket, girl falls through hole in spacetime, girl meets boy, girl meets jaguar man, girl and boy and jaguar man fight monsters and pterosaur-riding pirates, girl meets ancient android, girl falls through another hole in spacetime and loses boy. It’s a planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, but with an underpinning of real science. A female cosmonaut, a timelost British naval officer, and an outlaw prince of the jaguar men have adventures the length and breadth of the posthistoric world of Paragaea, pausing frequently for suitable alcoholic refreshment. Along the way they encounter a merman, an ancient android, and an Amazonian warrior, take a trip in an airship, go on a sea voyage, walk long distances, ride on horseback, and travel crosscountry by indricothere (look it up). It’s the same old, same old, really.

A glance towards the silhouetted serial killer, he's thinking - or maybe he's looking up indricothere in his serial killer dictionary - and ... yes, the chainsaw can be put away for another day, it's a mass-murdering thumbs up from the Man in the Ironed Skin Mask.

Q4. It's been rumoured for quite some time that the success of Monkey Brain Books is down to the use of small amounts of real monkey brains impregnated into the fabric of each page. Is this true or do you use synthetic monkey brains?

I take deep umbrage at the scandalous suggestion that we would use anything but the finest in free-range farm-fresh monkey brains in our publications. Lies! All lies!

Q5. Was there a moment in your career when you moved from 'I think I can be a writer' to 'I know I can' and if so what, other than alcohol, precipitated that change.

I was foolish enough to “know” that I could be a writer long before I actually should have. I wrote my first novel in college, then finished another before I graduated, and between then and the time that I actually started selling fiction I managed to write another seven novels and a few dozen short stories, none of which anyone will ever see. It was that complete lack of any realistic expectations, I think, that helped me weather those long years in which I completely sucked as a writer, to reach the point where my suckiness dropped to tolerable levels.

Of course, once I reached that point, and started selling novels and short stories, I became immediately convinced that I was a fraud, with no business writing anything at all, and that it was only a matter of time before I was found out. And it’s in this latter state that I persist, to this day.

That said, alcohol certainly didn’t hurt, in either condition.

Thank you, Chris. The mediums power down, Doris falls down, and the God Emperor's ghostly presence returns to whence it came.

Now for feedback - did anyone see any ectoplasm? Did anyone sober see any ectoplasm? Did Chris's astral form billow out and grasp anything? And if so, is it anything you can talk about? Enquiring minds need to know.

Meanwhile, Paragaea can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK

Tags: astraldome, authors, interview, roberson, sf, writing

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Virtual Book Tour: Cherie Priest at the Astraldome	Dec. 1st, 2006 @ 10:49 am

Well this time the Astraldome leaves its walls unhosed down, its drains blocked and a film of scary ectoplasm moistening its drapes ... because (cue Vincent Price at the organ) it welcomes Cherie Priest -

cmpriest and Mistress of the Southern Gothic.

So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Cherie from her office in a Seattle graveyard to a place very close to your computer screen. Remember, there may be ectoplasm and if any gets on your keyboard - don't let your cat lick it up.

Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading and the quantum computer has flipped through to its spin cycle. Now concentrate on Cherie's picture below. Will her across the astral plane. And hold that image, even if it takes a scary form. The astral plane is a slippery place and Cherie's spectral image might snap back.

Can you see it? Cherie's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...

Q1. Do you think that you'll continue to set most of your novels in the South? Or has moving to Seattle nudged your writing axis?

Well, I spent most of my life in the south so it's the region I know best -- but I'm already planning to rework one upcoming project to be set in Seattle. It's simply easier to write about a location that I know very well and/or have easy access to.

Q2. If you were given a government grant to design the ultimate scary chimera. What animals would you borrow from and for which parts? And would it start with the face of a sloth?

Hmm .... let's see. Face of sloth, yes. Hands of sloth too -- they look like lobster claws with fur. Maybe mouth of those bitey fish that have the glowing lures on their heads. Legs of kangaroo ... because what could be scarier than a hairy lobster-clawed sloth beast with big teeth LEAPING TOWARDS YOU?

(long pause) ... Interviewer stands back for next question, sneaking worried glances over left shoulder whilst listening for Slobbo, the were-skippy.

Q3. If you had (pauses for another look over shoulder) the opportunity to spend the night in the haunted location of your choice - anywhere in the world - where would it be? Or would you pass?

I wouldn't pass so long as I'm not alone. I wouldn't do it by myself, that's for sure. But with company? Holy crap. So many options! I've always wanted to go to Waverly Hills, in Kentucky. It's an old sanitarium (what IS it about me and old sanitariums? I tell ya ...) , fearsomely haunted, and I think that Ghost Hunters on the SciFi channel even did an episode there. Really, I'd be game to go just about anyplace, so long as I was assured (a). that I wouldn't be alone, (b). some good recording equipment and (c). somebody else would be paying my traveling expenses.

Q4. If a friend with a time machine gave you the chance to go back in time and alter something from your writing past, what would it be? Telling your 15 year-old self to burn that first novel? Or would you say 'forget it' and take the machine back to watch an early Bowie concert?

Bowie. All the way. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I've learned from them -- and it's worked out fairly well so far. So yes. Let's say "Bowie" on that one. Or let's just say "Bowie" a lot anyway. Bowie Bowie Bowie ...

Q5. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be?

Which book? I've got this stack of them, see ... But okay. Let's take Dreadful Skin (since that's the next one out). Dreadful Skin is a trio of stories about a little Irish nun who hunts werewolves with a silver-bullet-loaded Colt. The first story, "The Wreck of the Mary Byrd," is my werewolf/steamboat/disaster novella; the second one, "Halfway to Holiness," has the nun infiltrating a traveling Pentecostal camp meeting (in search of werewolves); and the third, "Our Lady of the Wasteland," features our nun-hero hunting werewolves in [cue Jack Palance voice] the ooooold west.

Is that less than 150 words? Cripes, I hope so ...

A glance towards the serial killer. He likes the nun, the silver-bullet-loaded Colt brings back memories... But he's not sure about the word count. He's taking off his shoes and socks ... putting down his chainsaw... Oh dear, I knew he should have done that the other way round. But ... here comes the verdict. He raises a thumb - several thumbs, several pieces of thumbs. And it's a many thumbs-up verdict for Dreadful Skin.

Thank you, Cherie. The mediums power down, the serial killer limps off towards a distant alley, and Cherie's ghostly presence returns from whence it came.

Or is it ... BEHIND YOU!

Now, for those still able to read, did anyone see any ectoplasm? Did anyone sober see any ectoplasm? Did Cherie's astral form billow out and grasp a pen? And if it did, did it write anything you can sell on eBay? Enquiring minds need to know.

Meanwhile, Dreadful Skin can be pre-ordered from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK. For those who can't wait,Wings to the Kingdom is out now in the US, the UK and all good bookshops worldwide.

Tags: astraldome, authors, cherie, chimera, fantasy, ghost, gothic, interview, medium, priest, writing

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More Spectral Authors Coming to the Astraldome	Nov. 11th, 2006 @ 01:26 pm

The lure of the ectoplasm has proved too great for another couple of authors. Bestselling author, Cherie Priest, of Four and Twenty Blackbirds fame will be boldly going through the final frontier in the next week or so. As will the much acclaimed Chris Roberson.

Now, if only Doris can stay sober...

Tags: astraldome, interview, priest, roberson, sf, writing

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Virtual Book Tour: Sarah Hoyt at the Astraldome	Nov. 2nd, 2006 @ 10:16 am

Following the great success of the inaugural astral interview (i.e. no one died. Well, no one important...) the Astraldome has had its walls hosed down, the drains unblocked and ... welcomes fantasy and mystery author Sarah Hoyt.

Sarah has two books coming out this month. Draw One in the Dark - a shape-shifting urban fantasy - and, writing as Sarah D'Almeida, Death of a Musketeer - an historical mystery starring four very famous musketeers.

So, same format as before, with the help of two mediums strapped to a supercomputer we are going to astrally project Sarah from her home in Colorado to a place very close to your computer screen. Same warning as before. If there is any ectoplasm leakage - which I'm assured there won't be - don't let your cat lick it up.

Ready? Okay, Windows ESP is loading, the quantum computer may or may not be on. Now concentrate on Sarah's picture below. Will her across the astral plane. And keep concentrating. Hold that image. The astral plane is a slippery place to cross - her spectral image might snap back. Or shape shift. We are dealing with an author who uses pseudonyms.

Can you see it? Sarah's spectral form? Then let the interview commence...

Q1. I read in an interview that you've had a crush on Athos since the age of eleven. But why Athos? Wasn't Aramis the Musketeer heart throb?

Oh, probably. But one falls in love with characters for different reasons. Besides, quite frankly, if I met Aramis I'd probably think he was too smooth by half.

Athos is different. Perhaps because of his guilt over his wife's death -- though of course, Milady isn't dead but he doesn't know that -- or because of a strict moral fiber with stoic overtones. The thing is, when Athos -- at the beginning of Monsieur Dumas books -- disciplined himself past physical pain and weakness to make his way to Monsieur de Treville's office to defend his friends, I fell headlong in love with him. There is a self-contained darkness there, a discipline and loyalty that transcends mere physical limits. Hard not to fall in love with, in fact.

Q2. In DOITD Kyrie is a werepanther. Which sounds cool but are werepanthers house trained? If I were to visit Kyrie's home would I find a large litter tray in her bathroom?

Um... I have no doubt if Kyrie saw this she would glare at you. Kyrie only shifts when she wants to or needs to. Oh, one or two accidental shifts might happen when she is stressed or in trouble -- but I have no doubt she takes care of the minutia of daily life in the ordinary way. :)

Q3. Given the choice which animal would you like to shape shift into?

One of my cats. This thing about sleeping all day, eating at will and being adored for your troubles HAS to be a good deal. If something more ferocious were desired, probably a tiger. However, my alter ego in Baen's Bar is an ocelot, and I guess that will have to do.

Q4. You receive a phone call from a serial killer. He asks you the same question he asked his previous victims. "You have 150 words to sell me your book. 150 words exactly. If I like what you write I'll buy the book. If I don't you die." What would your 150 words be?

Well, first of all I would yell at the serial killer for being so uninformed. After all, I have TWO books coming out practically one on top of each other.

So, my first talk would be about Draw One In The Dark --

Draw One In The Dark is hip without being illiterate, edgy without being dry and sexy without being sex laden. It does shape changers as you've never seen them before. They are not the cursed creatures of legend, bound to their unwitting fate. No, rather they are humans -- humans whose inner beast is made visible and external and therefore both harder and easier to control. Their battles with themselves are those we all engage in, only magnified. Besides, it's non-stop rollicking adventure with looming danger and a breath-taking payoff.

A quick pause for a reaction ... he's not sure about the word count - he's had to take his shoes and socks off. But he doesn't like the look of that spectral panther ... so, yes, it's an ectoplasmic thumbs-up from our serial killer. So, on with the next question...

Q5. I heard that "Draw One in the Dark" is diner slang for a cup of black coffee. Are you going to continue that theme for the sequel? Will book two be Draw Two in the Dark or maybe A Blonde with Sand Dragged through Georgia?

The second one, which I'm hoping very much will sell is Gentleman Takes a Chance, old diner slang for Hash, the third one Blonde with Sand and the fourth one Bowl of Red. :)

Thank you, Sarah. The mediums power down, the quantum computer's in a state, and Sarah's ghostly presence slithers back along the plane, pauses at the duty free and disappears.

Now for feedback - did everyone see Sarah? Did anyone sober see Sarah? Did Sarah's astral form billow out and grasp a pen? And if it did, did it sign anything? Enquiring minds need to know.

Meanwhile, Draw One in the Dark can be bought from all good bookshops including Amazon in the US and UK

Tags: astraldome, authors, draw, fantasy, hoyt, interview, medium, musketeers, mystery, sf, writing

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The Astraldome tomorrow: An interview with fantasy and mystery author, Sarah Hoyt	Nov. 1st, 2006 @ 05:03 pm

Yes, last minute touches are being applied to internationally famous medium Doris Scrote. The Salvador Dali Llama is being greased up and Windows ESP is ... displaying a blue screen and blaming everyone else.

But I'm sure all the kinks - and any other sixties supergroups we find lurking in the astral plane - will be ironed out by tomorrow.

So, tomorrow at the Astraldome - be there or be ... somewhere else. It doesn't matter. An astrally projected author can find you wherever you are.

And this one writes about werepanthers.

Tags: astraldome, authors, fantasy, hoyt, interview, medium, mystery, sf, writing

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