She's back! As promised, Colleen Gleason is back to answer some of our questions, as well as your questions (that's what the comment section is for). She also will give away a copy of Rises the Night to a lucky person, but like I was really strict about last time (not that I am in any means strict), you have to contribute more than "pick me, pick me!" Not a lot to ask. The winner of The Rest Falls Away will be announced later on this afternoon.
Twisted Kingdom: What is your favourite colour?
Colleen Gleason: With a name like Colleen Gleason, it has to be kelly green! Although it’s really not. I’m fond of jewel colors—sapphire, garnet, emerald. Any of those colors are favorites.
TK: What is your favourite food?
CG: Pizza, nachos, chocolate, guacamole…hm…lobster. The list goes on and on. I haven’t met too many foods I don’t like!
TK: What is your favourite author/book?
CG: That’s no fair! I can’t pick just one…but I’d have to say that some of my favorites are Elizabeth Peters’ Vicky Bliss books (particularly Trojan Gold and Night Train to Memphis) and JD Robb’s In Death series.
TK: What other fantasy/romance authors do you read?
CG: Nora Roberts, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jennifer Crusie, Liz Carlyle, JK Rowling to name a few…all the gals at the Wet Noodle Posse (Diane Gaston, Janet Mullany, Stephanie Rowe, Stephanie Feagan, Terry McLaughlin, I know I’m missing some…Lisa Scottoline (she’s not romance or fantasy, but I like her). I don’t read a lot of fantasy.
TK: Any of them close friends?
CG: I’m close friends with all of the Wet Noodle Posse gals, and I know several other authors that I read (Caroline Linden, Sally MacKenzie), but none of the others I’ve listed above. I wish!
TK: How do you feel about having a second book coming out?
CG: Alternately ecstatic and terrified. Part of me can’t wait for the people who have read The Rest Falls Away to read the next installment (after all, I’m two books ahead of everyone right now, having just finished the third book, The Bleeding Dusk, due to be released in February)….but there’s always the fear that it won’t be well-received and that there won’t be good reviews. But that’s part of the business, and it’s normal.
TK: Are their any personality traits that you share with the main character? What about the men? Are they based on anyone at all, or are they fantasies?
CG: In some ways, in a fantasy, Victoria is who I’d like to be. We’re both stubborn and reasonably intelligent women, but she’s a lot more physical and bold than I am! And she’s got three hot men after her.
And the men…well, there are certain aspects of each of the men that are drawn from my husband.
For example, Sebastian’s always making double entendres and turning any moment into an opportunity for seduction; my husband has that kind of sense of humor. And my husband also shares Max’s blunt, outspoken conversation style. So you can see that there’s a bit of him in each of them. But other than that, no. They’re my fantasy men.
TK: In previous interviews, you said that The Rest Falls Away is your ninth completed novel. Now that you're a successfully published author, has there been interest in your other 8 novels?
CG: My agent and I haven’t made the decision to send out any of the previous novels, mainly because they are so different than The Gardella Chronicles books.
If one or more of them sold, my publisher would want me to write more books along those lines (eg, contemporary romantic thriller, or medieval historical romance) and I honestly don’t have time to do that, with my schedule of two Gardella books a year as well as other projects.
Perhaps some day those manuscripts will have the chance to see the light of day. I certainly would like them to, for I still love them as much as I did when I first wrote them.
TK: In other series where vampires are villains, they've eventually become love interests. Can you see yourself writing a non-villainous vampire?
CG: I don’t know. Right now, no, I can’t see that. But never say never, right? If it were the right character in the right circumstances, it could happen. I’d probably be more likely to write a sympathetic vampire before I’d write a love-interest one…but again, I don’t have any plans to do so at this time.
TK: If you got offered the chance to make a movie or television series of your books, would you do it? Why or why not? And if you would, who would you like to see playing the lead roles?
CG: I probably would have a hard time saying no to a movie or TV option offer…but I’m such a control freak that in some ways, it would be hard to give that up. And based on the story and the way I’ve written the first three books, I’d anticipate Hollywood wanting to make a lot of changes to the story—to tie up loose ends sooner, or in different ways.
However, if it happened, I’ve already got the cast figured out. :-D
Victoria: Emmy Rossum (from The Phantom of the Opera) or Anne Hathaway
Max: Clive Owen or maybe Gerard Butler
Sebastian: A cleaned up Matthew McConaughey or Patrick Wilson
Aunt Eustacia: Judi Dench
Kritanu: Jackie Chan (even though the nationality is wrong)
Verbena: Joan Cusack
Lilith: I don’t know. Maybe Kate Beckinsale.
TK: How long would you like for the Gardella series to run?
CG: I would like to write five books about Victoria (at this time, I’m contracted for four), and then if they want more Gardella books, I’d probably move to a different main character or Venator—likely in a different time period. I think that would keep me from getting bored and from stringing along a series for too long.
At least, that's my plan
TK: And, just in case people did not see it in the comments, what is SWAT?
CG: SWAT is my street team. I’m looking for people who really enjoyed the Gardella books enough to be part of my street team—like musicians and bands have. They’d help spread the word, come hold my hand if I come to their town for booksignings, be eligible for extra prizes, exclusive excerpts and giveaways, etc.
Interested parties can sign up by sending an email to GardellaSWATteam-subscribe at yahoogroups dot com
Thanks for having me! I’ll take questions in the comments section. Please try to avoid spoilers, though. ;-)
Posted by
Kailana
35 comments:
Do you think you might go back and tell us about Aunt Eustacia's younger days? It seems like she has a wonderful story, and I can't help but be curious about it!
Oh, that would be a good idea.
Hi Cory...and thanks for asking. I have thought about going back and doing something on Aunt Eustacia.
At the very least, I think she and Kritanu would be fodder for a novella in an anthology or something like that.
And...shhh...(you heard it here on Twisted Kingdome FIRST!): here's a secret that I hope to do something with in the future (it's not planned for any current books)
...Aunt Eustacia has a twin from whom she was separated at birth. Her name is Elysia and you can find out more about her on my Web site. :-)
Some really interesting questions you got Colleen! And very interesting answers! I hope you'll sign for more books :D I like the idea of the change of main character and time :)
I would really like to read more about Aunt Eustacia as well. :P
So, under what circumstances does Sebastian appear in Rises the Night? LOL
Sebastian, you will be pleased to know, has quite a lot of page time in Rises.
He appears, as you might anticipate, quite unexpectedly the first time. ;-)
LOL You're such a tease! I can't wait for Rises the Night to come out.
I think I saw in another interview that Victoria has a sword fight-right? So who does she fight and is Kritanu the one who teaches her or does someone else, like say, Max? :P
Well, in one scene Victoria matches swords with Sebastian--but that's just for "training" purposes.
Max? Max who? ;-)
Vixen!
LOL
Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask -
"What is your favourite colour?"
Am I the only one who thought of Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail when I read that? LOL
Why am I missing the reference? I love the Holy Grail......
Colleen, who enjoys occasionally being a vixen.
All the teasing here might kill me before the book comes out. Anyone have a time machine?
Great interview! I can't wait to get into the SWAT stuff, sounds like lots of fun.
I have to tell you, I want to be Victoria too. :)
Cory-I call first dibs on the time machine! LOL
Colleen-Remember when the knights had to cross that bridge and the old man had to ask them 3 questions? That's the scene I'm thinking about.
OH! Lol...thanks, Ames. *headslap*
And btw, some lucky winner's not going to need a time machine. Someone gets an ARC from today's post...and I'll be having more opportunities to win on my blog and on the SWAT team.
Great interview! This is such a cool blog, I'm glad I found it.
I'm so happy to hear that you're contracted to write at least 4 books! I hope you get more. I would love to learn more about Eustacia as well. I loved her in Rises the night. It would be nice to see her back in her early days. Lilith said she was quite a good match...I'd love a novella on her :)
It's amazing what power blogs have. I (as a 25 year old male) would've never read this book if I hadn't heard so many great blog reviews of it. I'm so glad I've read it and I'm hooked! Colleen, do you find the internet has been a big help in promoting your book? I seem to read about it everywhere I go...And it's always good news.
What a great interview! I have enjoyed your book and am impressed with the unique characters that you have created. How did you envision them originally.
Congrats to the lucky winner!
Hey Chris! Good to see you over here. I love Mailyn's work. And this is a very cool blog.
And as for whether the Internet has helped me with promo--yes, I think it has. I've worked hard to try and be "seen" everywhere--and I've been lucky enough to find enthusiastic people to help support me in this endeavor! Tons of bloggers have really made a difference for me, and I appreciate people like the T-K gals, Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings, Booklogged, you! and many others.
The other side of the coin is, however, that only about 4% of people actually read a blog--any blog. Any day. Let alone read a book blog.
So there are a lot of people I just can't get to through the Internet...so I'm trying to find other ways to find them. Off line. Which is why I say: if you read my book and liked it TELL everyone you know! Tell them they have to read it! :-)
I'm sorry, I am going to post the winner right now. I had an exam! Sorry, folks.
Colleen, I forget that not everyone reads blogs :p It's so easy to get sucked into blog universe...those that don't blog don't know what they're missing!
I've been telling everyone about your book. I want more authors like you to get the recognition they deserve.
Oooh, thanks Chris! I really appreciate it! Especially since you're a guy and a lot of guys wouldn't read a book that said "paranormal romance" on the spine.
You and Carl are wayyy cool!
They are just secure with their sexuality :p
Which is hot.
Yes, We're manly men! *puts fists on hips and sticks his chest out*
Seriously though, it was a great book and if I hadn't known it was classified as a romance, I wouldn't have known it was one. Vampires and hot chicks with stakes?! What's not to love :p
Hi Zeek!
All of my main protagonists will be women, but there might be some other male Venators popping up. You'll meet some in Rises the Night and in The Bleeding Dusk.
Max chose to be a Venator, but almost all Venators are born to it, and later accept (or decline) their calling.
There are very few female Venators--Victoria and Eustacia are the only two living ones (that we know of) during the stories.
Count me in as another one who'd like to hear about Aunt Eustacia's younger days! Just love this series, Colleen!
Thanks for dragging me over here, Colleen, I think I"m going to enjoy this blog in the future! It's so pretty.
But, Colleen, I just finished TRFA....how could you do that to me? Now I have to wait for what feels like YEARS until the next book!
You're evil.
(If you didn't catch it, that was a backhanded compliment. I'm good at those).
((And I want the ARC, if you didn't catch that either)).
Mwahahaaaaaaa!!
Just wait until you finish Rises the Night!
You'll have to wait until February...unless, of course, you win an ARC of The Bleeding Dusk.
TK you asked some great questions. And Colleen, I loved the answers. I'm glad to hear that you will be staying with Victoria for 4-5 books. I haven't had enough. At the same time I look forward to different venators in different time periods, too.
I have about 1/3 of Rises the Night left. It's even better than the first, which was fabulous. Such tension. Some more twists and surprises. You've got another BIG hit on your hands. I think it's amazing how many people are reading your books who don't usually read romance or vampire books - like me - and are totally hooked!
Thanks for popping by, Booklogged. I'm glad you're enjoying Rises the Night. I had a lot of fun writing that book, and the end...well, it just wrung me out.
In a good way.
Good to hear from you--I was just thinking about you earlier today. Must've been a vibe in the air!
I love that all your main protagonists will be women! I am very much all about the girls kicking butt sort of scenarios. There is not enough of that in literature.
Hi Colleen,
SO glad to hear that the Gardella books will go on for a while. Can't wait to read RTN. Grrr..June is so far away.
I am excited about the prospect of possibly getting to read about other Venators too. Woo hoo!
Will our favorite Venator be traveling to cities other than London or is that a spoiler? ;)
Hi Amy:
It's not a spoiler to tell you that in Rises the Night, Victoria goes to Venice (where she meets the infamous Lord Byron) and then onto Rome.
And the setting for The Bleeding Dusk is Rome as well, for the entire book.
I'm just starting to work on #4, and I'm planning to take Victoria and Company back to London...but who knows?
Sound great! I am so looking forward to reading more!
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