Interview with Marjorie M. Liu
"Marjorie M. Liu has an amazing imagination. She comes up with one original idea after another. It's exciting to start a book by her and know that the story you're going to read isn't something that reminds you of something else. She's had three new stories this summer [2008]; THE WILD ROAD, THE IRON HUNT and a short story called Minotaur in Stone in the anthology HOTTER THAN HELL. Three stories in two months and every single one is brilliant!"
This summer's offerings are every bit as awesome!
INTERVIEW with Marjorie M. Liu
How do you juggle so many novels and novellas a year without going insane?
I honestly don't know! When I sit back sometimes and make a list of everything I need to do, I question what I've gotten myself into. Crazy person, crazy! But I just try to be systematic about all my work, biting it off in small chunks, and just plowing forward. I find that doing a little every day -- going with the flow, building momentum -- gets more work done than trying to write something on super-speed in a short amount of time.
How do you fit in time for promotion?
I enjoy blogging and twittering, but I no longer maintain my own website -- the wonderful Taughnee Stone of Endeavor Creative does that -- and I finally hired a publicist, Elena Stokes of Wunderkind PR, who has been doing marvelous work for me and my books.
Do you find that your travels help you in the writing, either providing ideas or giving your brain a break from “the usual”?
All of the above. :-) I believe in waking up my brain, giving it a good jolt -- more frequently, the better. Sometimes it's simple to do -- reading a book, taking a walk -- but I find that traveling really makes those mental cylinders fire up. We take so much in our lives for granted, but when you travel, nothing is familiar. Everything is new. Something as simple as a vegetable market will be familiar to the locals -- taken for granted, in the same ways we do at home -- but for us, it's unique, different. Full of possibilities.
With so many wonderful, dark and twisty ideas constantly calling to you, do you sometimes find the worlds you create more intriguing than the one outside your door? Has there ever been a book (yours or someone else’s) that you’ve wanted to live in for a time?
I'm a firm believer that truth is stranger than fiction. I think the world we've got is plenty intriguing. Having said that, I wouldn't mind meeting a shape-shifter, or my very own hot clairvoyant. :-) As for living in books, I think I do that pretty much all the time anyway, but I would love to live for a spell in the wonderful land of Oz.
This summer is huge for you, with the one-two punch of DARKNESS CALLS, the second Hunter Kiss novel, and the HUNTRESS anthology both released in July and THE FIRE KING, the latest Dirk & Steele novel, forthcoming in August. Do you find there’s a lot of fan cross-over from one series to the other. What should fans expect to find within the pages of these books?
As you said, Darkness Calls is the second Hunter Kiss novel, and follows the heroine, Maxine, as she fights to protect the man she loves from death -- or worse. There's genetic manipulation involved, demons, zombies, time travel, psychic barmaids, crazy priests, and lots of Bon Jovi. And blood.
My story in Huntress is called "The Robber Bride" and is about a girl who runs a junkyard in the post-apocalyptic American Midwest. At least, until her mentor is kidnapped by a sex-crazed demonic biker gang. It's like Mad Max except with magic, Amish, and shape-shifters.
The Fire King is the ninth book in my Dirk & Steele paranormal romance series, and is about a shifter who has been asleep for thousands of years -- only to wake up and discover that everything he knew is completely gone. And oh yeah, other shape-shifters want him dead. His only ally is an agent of Dirk & Steele, a woman who has suffered terrible loss -- and who is his only hope for surviving this new world.
That, and the comic books from Marvel -- Dark Wolverine, specifically -- round out my summer of releases.
Is there anything you want to add about the writing process, current releases, contests or anything else I may have forgotten?
I'll be joining in on reader discussions of Darkness Calls all month long at the Barnes and Noble Paranormal & Urban Fantasy forum. While you're there, be sure to check out a web-exclusive promotion that I did for the book -- a letter from the hero, Grant, to the unborn daughter he hopes to one day have with the heroine, Maxine Kiss.
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board/message?board.id=vpttn&message.id=15533
This summer's offerings are every bit as awesome!
INTERVIEW with Marjorie M. Liu
How do you juggle so many novels and novellas a year without going insane?
I honestly don't know! When I sit back sometimes and make a list of everything I need to do, I question what I've gotten myself into. Crazy person, crazy! But I just try to be systematic about all my work, biting it off in small chunks, and just plowing forward. I find that doing a little every day -- going with the flow, building momentum -- gets more work done than trying to write something on super-speed in a short amount of time.
How do you fit in time for promotion?
I enjoy blogging and twittering, but I no longer maintain my own website -- the wonderful Taughnee Stone of Endeavor Creative does that -- and I finally hired a publicist, Elena Stokes of Wunderkind PR, who has been doing marvelous work for me and my books.
Do you find that your travels help you in the writing, either providing ideas or giving your brain a break from “the usual”?
All of the above. :-) I believe in waking up my brain, giving it a good jolt -- more frequently, the better. Sometimes it's simple to do -- reading a book, taking a walk -- but I find that traveling really makes those mental cylinders fire up. We take so much in our lives for granted, but when you travel, nothing is familiar. Everything is new. Something as simple as a vegetable market will be familiar to the locals -- taken for granted, in the same ways we do at home -- but for us, it's unique, different. Full of possibilities.
With so many wonderful, dark and twisty ideas constantly calling to you, do you sometimes find the worlds you create more intriguing than the one outside your door? Has there ever been a book (yours or someone else’s) that you’ve wanted to live in for a time?
I'm a firm believer that truth is stranger than fiction. I think the world we've got is plenty intriguing. Having said that, I wouldn't mind meeting a shape-shifter, or my very own hot clairvoyant. :-) As for living in books, I think I do that pretty much all the time anyway, but I would love to live for a spell in the wonderful land of Oz.
This summer is huge for you, with the one-two punch of DARKNESS CALLS, the second Hunter Kiss novel, and the HUNTRESS anthology both released in July and THE FIRE KING, the latest Dirk & Steele novel, forthcoming in August. Do you find there’s a lot of fan cross-over from one series to the other. What should fans expect to find within the pages of these books?
As you said, Darkness Calls is the second Hunter Kiss novel, and follows the heroine, Maxine, as she fights to protect the man she loves from death -- or worse. There's genetic manipulation involved, demons, zombies, time travel, psychic barmaids, crazy priests, and lots of Bon Jovi. And blood.
My story in Huntress is called "The Robber Bride" and is about a girl who runs a junkyard in the post-apocalyptic American Midwest. At least, until her mentor is kidnapped by a sex-crazed demonic biker gang. It's like Mad Max except with magic, Amish, and shape-shifters.
The Fire King is the ninth book in my Dirk & Steele paranormal romance series, and is about a shifter who has been asleep for thousands of years -- only to wake up and discover that everything he knew is completely gone. And oh yeah, other shape-shifters want him dead. His only ally is an agent of Dirk & Steele, a woman who has suffered terrible loss -- and who is his only hope for surviving this new world.
That, and the comic books from Marvel -- Dark Wolverine, specifically -- round out my summer of releases.
Is there anything you want to add about the writing process, current releases, contests or anything else I may have forgotten?
I'll be joining in on reader discussions of Darkness Calls all month long at the Barnes and Noble Paranormal & Urban Fantasy forum. While you're there, be sure to check out a web-exclusive promotion that I did for the book -- a letter from the hero, Grant, to the unborn daughter he hopes to one day have with the heroine, Maxine Kiss.
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board/message?board.id=vpttn&message.id=15533