Interview with Christine Feehan Special post (julie)

Interview with Christine Feehan

1.       First why don’t you tell us a little about yourself.

I love to write. I particularly love to have my grandchildren over. I have my house set up for children. Even my eloquent dining room is sometimes used by a certain little girl as her playhouse.   I come from a large family and have a large family of my own.  Family is everything to me.

I have 4 Maltese dogs and 1 very large Black Russian Terrier.

I can no longer travel due to health reasons so every year in February, I put on a convention so I can have fun and meet my readers.  The convention is called FAN, www.fanconvention.net  I keep it small and intimate so I can spend as much one on one time with my readers.  I love having the ability to meet my readers and actually get to spend time with them.  This year our guest author is Maggie Shayne.  I am so excited!!!

2.       Newest Release? 

Dark Lycan was released on September 3^rd of this year. My next book to be released is Dark Wolf. That will happen on January 7^th.  Airbound  my next Sea Haven book will be released May 27, 2014 and Dark Blood is due out September 2014.

3.       What can we expect from your stories, action, drama, romance, sex, blood, and guts?

All of the above.

4.       Do you have a favorite character in your stories? Who? And Why?

Whichever characters I am writing about at the moment are the ones I am most passionate about.

5.       How about your least favorite character? What makes them less appealing to you?

There was a secondary character in one of my books that drove me crazy. She liked to stick her head in the sand and didn’t want to know what was happening around her. That bothered me a lot.

6.       Give us an interesting fun fact or a few about your book or series.

Sea Haven is a real village on the northern California coast, of course I renamed it to make it my own. Most of the details are actual places. Many incidents that happen in the stories such as The Red Panty Ceremony have actually taken place.

7.       Has there been any other authors who have inspired your work or helped you out with your stories?

I find many authors inspiring. I have a group of writer friends that I brain storm with as well as with my son.

8.       What can readers who enjoy your books do to help make it successful.

Recommending or gifting my books to friends is a big help. Pre-orders and buying the book in the first week of it’s release help me to get on the best sellers list.

9.       Do you have any tips to readers or advice for other writers trying to get published.

Write the best book you can. Read books that are similar to the one you are writing, then go to the website of the publishing company for those books . For instance if you are writing a book similar to mine go to the Berkley website to see what their criteria for getting published is. What is the word count they allow etc.

10.   Do you have a favorite author? If yes, what draws you to that person’s work?

I have so many favorite authors. I would say that when I am sad, depressed or going through a difficult time, I know I can pick up one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s books and her book will draw me in and I always feel much better.

11.   Can you remember one of the first things you wrote?  What makes it memorable?

Oh yes, I remember the first book I completely finished. It was called the Leighton Sisters. They solved mysteries. It was the worst book ever but I loved it. At that time I was reading Trixie Beldon, The Happy Hollisters, The Hardy Boys and any of the other mystery books popular at that time. I was in the 5^th or 6^th grade.

12.   Where do you gather most the inspiration for your works.

Everywhere.  Just about anything will give me inspiration….during a storm, when the wind blows, a man leaning over and whispering in a woman’s ear, reading newspaper articles.

13.   Do you have any other interesting hobbies, pets or stories you would like to share?

I taught martial arts for over 20 years. I am a 3^rd degree black belt.

In my younger days I loved white water rafting. I now love to take walks with my dogs.

14.   Favorite places to travel or visit?

Since I can no longer travel I am limited in where I can go. As long as the places I go are within one or two hours from where I live it is doable. I love the ocean and the mountains. Fortunately for me, those places are doable from where I live.

15.   And now before you go, how about a snippet from your book that is meant to intrigue and tantalize us. (Include links to where we can find your work).

Mikhail.  Zacarias sent him a call along the common Carpathian path, which allowed Gregori to hear as well. My family must set out now if we’re going to make it to Paul before dawn. As it is, it will be close. Andre, Mataias, Lojos and Tomas have returned.  Clearly, Zacarias was reminding him that there were others to take his family’s place. Mikhail had known they would go. Still, it was troublesome.

Zacarias was unpredictable. He wasn’t a man to take prisoners or ask too many questions. If the Lycans provoked him, he would retaliate. There was no way to ask him to stay, not when Paul had been shot. Paul was his nephew, and no De La Cruz would leave a family member, especially a child, behind.

Mikhail had enough men to guard him and their women and children. He had no real excuse to keep the families of those that were in trouble in Russia with him. He knew Lucian and Gabriel Daratrazanoff would go as well. The combination of Zacarias, his brothers and the legendary twins was more than he would ever wish on his worst enemy.

Don’t start a war, he cautioned. The members of the council appear to have come here in good faith. Give us time to work this out.

If a war has been started, Gabriel reminded him grimly, the Lycans fired the first round.

Emotions were high. There was no getting around that. He didn’t know what he would have done had the Lycans attacked either of his children. He put his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “Bring them home. All of them.” He didn’t care if Rolf and the other council members heard him. He wanted them to hear. They could see for themselves what his people were capable of, just by looking at them— seasoned, ancient warriors—every one of them. Let the council call their packs and warn them. There was no trap these men would be caught in.

He looked around him at the men and women. They were not volatile, or impatient. He couldn’t even say that about Zacarias. They were steady, calm and deadly. Do you understand what I’m saying? The children belong to all of us. Bring them home no matter the cost.

The seven men looked at him, straight into his eyes—each one of them—and then nodded slowly. Mikhail lifted his hand. “Good journey and Godspeed.”

Rolf shook his head with a soft sigh. “We have much to talk about.”

Mikhail nodded. “We will talk, but our children must be brought home.”

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak to my readers.  I have a wonderful community on my website at www.christinefeehan.com where my readers can find all of the latest and most updated news and I try to go to my wall several times a week to answer questions.  There are book discussion walls for each of my books and the discussions can become quite lively!  I have also created webisodes that are being released once a month until the release of Dark Blood.  It is called Before the Dark.  It is a prequel to the Dark series.  The webisodes are posted in my community as well.  I think COS did a wonderful job in the creation of Before the Dark.  It is my thank you gift to all of my loyal readers throughout the years.  I hope you all enjoy Before the Dark and continue to enjoy the books!!!!  Again, thank you so much for having me here!