Sunday, April 22, 2012

12 Days of Morganville Madness tour [Part 1]

Rachel Caine Q&A

Rachel Caine's stopping by today with a Q&A she prepared about Midnight Alley, the third installment in the Morganville Vampires series!

(You can find the rest of the tour schedule - where there will be more Q&As, giveaways and reviews in my post here.) Please help me welcome her - and enjoy!!

Black Dawn - Book 12, Out May 1

1. What kicked off the concept for this book?
An intriguing little thing that I'd worked into the previous book -- the sinister alley next to Gramma Day's house, with the vampire she refers to as the "trap door spider." I knew I wanted to explore that character. To my surprise, he came out completely different than I expected.

2. Which character do I think stood out in this book, and why?
Definitely Myrnin, who burst onto the scene really vividly, and pretty much out of nowhere. I have no idea what kind of crazy tree he fell off of, but it's a colorful one.

3. Five things I loved about writing this book
A. Working for the vampires. Claire's challenges keep getting bigger, and certainly being suddenly tossed in as the (sacrificial) apprentice to a largely-insane vampire scientist is a pretty large hurdle.
B. Trying to imagine Myrnin's train of thought. It always took strange twists, and led some very weird places.
C. The growing heat between Shane and Claire. It felt really fun to write, and very natural.
D. The tension between Michael and Shane over Michael's choice to become fully vampire
E. Sam. I really enjoyed building the relationship -- forbidden as it was --between Sam and Amelie.

4. Five things I didn't love about writing this book
A. In order to protect his friends, especially Michael, Shane did some questionable things. And he really didn't have to answer for that.
B. While it was great fun to trash Monica's house, I probably went to the out-of-control party well once too often in two books.
C. Figuring out how far to take Jason was difficult. It was hard to get a read on Eve's brother.
D. Amelie could have been much more forceful in her response to many things that happened, and I was sometimes frustrated that I couldn't let her off the chain.
E. For the second time, those wild ferrets got cut. And this time, they had chainsaws.

Okay, that last one was totally imaginary.

Midnight Alley ~ Book 3
5. If I could do this book over, what would I do differently, and why?
Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. I wish I hadn't done it. Sorry.

6. Favorite quoted passage from the book
Myrnin: "Home is where the heart is. Why don't you leave yours here? I'll take very good care of it."

7. What I learned from this book
I really never thought much about alchemy, but it's a pretty fantastic subject, and really a precursor to modern scientific methods.

8. Fun research moment
Trying to find alchemical texts to read that weren't (a) in Latin, or (b) in code. Good luck with that!

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Review and Giveaway in next post!!

17 comments:

  1. I love the names of the vampires, and it's so cool Rachel loves to research - I'm sure that gives the books an extra touch:)

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  2. Fabulous interview. I'm so stoked to read Black Dawn!

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  3. Wonderful interview! I can't wait to catch-up with this series!!
    DeAnna Schultz

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  4. Oh no! I haven't read this series yet, but plan to, and I am worried for this Sam character! I'm sad already and don't even know why. Great Q and A.

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  5. Great interview. I am always fascinated by alchemy. I love watching the history Chanel shows on it and reading it in novels, like Harry Potter. I can't wait to read this installment if it includes alchemy.

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  6. Great interview. I love Myrnin he is so crazy never know what to expect when he is around, but he is so smart also, i have learned so many about Alchemy reading the books.

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  7. There are few YA books that I hold to and this is one of them. I love Morganville!! :)

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  8. Great interview! I really enjoy reading this series :)

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  9. great interview! i love this series so very much : )

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  10. I miss Sam he was a great Vampire.I think he would have helped Michael more.

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  11. What a great interview and I am really excited about the latest installment. sdylion(at0gmail(dot)com

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  12. Oh, you may have broken all our hearts with Sam, but I think you made up for it by throwing in Myrnin. His crazy can cure any lingering sadness. Haha "I have no idea what kind of crazy tree he fell off of, but it's a colorful one." That made me laugh!

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  13. Oh, I love Myrnin and his crazy strange colorfulness. And Sam, that just broke my heart into itty little pieces. This is such a fantastic and delightful interview to read, with some wonderful insights and hilarious comedic moments to the Morganville Vampires. This is seriously a series that is close to my heart.

    Suz @ A Soul Unsung
    Glass Houses by Rachel Caine Giveaway!
    susanhaugland@att.net

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  14. Great interview...this book really was great and a bit of a turning point for several key players.

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  15. I love the quote and cannot wait to read the rest :) Thank you for taking the time and effort to share with us today.

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  16. Love all of the Morganville books! Great interview! Cannot wait to hear more from Rachel Caine! :)

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  17. Great interview. I love myrnin. He is awesome. I want the vampire bunny slippers!

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