Gena Showalter and PC Cast – Interview with the Authors

October 23, 2012 saw the release of the AFTER MOONRISE anthology written by Gena Showalter and PC Cast. We would like to welcome both Gena and PC to The Reading Cafe.  And pay close attention-these ladies are truly gifted in the humor department.

TRC:  Hello ladies and welcome to The Reading Café. We would like to congratulate you on the release of AFTER MOONRISE.

For our members who do not know about Gena Showalter or PC Cast, would you please tell us something about yourself?

PC-I love wine, Oklahoma, and typing “the end.”

Gena-I have three dogs I treat like children—even though one of them is as big as a horse and all three reward me by farting in my office.

TRC:  OK..let’s switch it up. Would you please tell us something about each other that we may not know?

PC –about Gena: She cheats at pillow fights and sheds enough hair to make a hair rug.

Gena-about PC: She would totally win at Dancing with the Stars/Dirty Dancing Edition and success hasn’t changed her. Proof: she still teases me about my amazing hair rug—even though I spent three days weaving it for her.

TRC:  😉

TRC:  AFTER MOONRISE is new anthology (October 2012 release). Would you please tell us about the premise for your contribution to the book?

PC-POSSESSED-My fabulous hero, Kent Raef, is a psychic detective who can follow negative emotions and track killers through them. He spends a lot of time dealing with the underbelly of life, so he’s not very good at positive emotions, like love and happiness and pleasure. It’s only after he accepts a job tracking a killer, who is also psychic and who preys on negative emotions, that Raef realizes for the first time in his life he has to tap into the gentler side of his gift, which leads him to opening himself to love during a murder investigation… There’s a twist and a ghost and a lot of heat!

Gena-HAUNTED-My antisocial hero, Detective Levi Reid, is missing big chunks of memory. Like, he’s not sure how he ended up living in a flea bag apartment, suspended from duty, with a best friend/former partner who won’t speak to him. Then, in moves the innocent and haunting Aurora Harper who thinks she’s witnessed a murder so brutal she’s repressed the memories, only to sleep-paint the scene. They’re drawn to each other in the most magnetic way—and as they help each other, they begin to realize just how entangled their lives really are.

TRC:  What was the decision behind participating in an anthology? Have you ever collaborated with an anthology before?

PC-My decision to participate in a duology with Gena is because she and I have collaborated on two other anthologies. I loved playing in the sandbox with her!

Gena-PC said, “Want to do a book with me?” I was screaming “Yes,” before she finished the sentence.

TRC:  Most storylines in anthologies are novellas or short stories. Which do you find more difficult to write-full length novels or short stories where the premise, plotline and character development come to fruition at a much more rapid pace?

PC-I’m most comfortable writing long. I like to have plenty of room to world build!

Gena-And see, I would love to write an entire book in a single page. <== true story.

TRC:  Have either of you considered working on a co-authored collaboration with each other?

PC-We have! And I definitely would again! I heart me some Gena!

Gena-PC has been one of my dearest friends for the longest time (and that doesn’t mean we’re getting old! We’re young. Young, I tell you.) She’s a dream to work with!

TRC:   PC-ACCIDENTAL MAGIC (September 2012 release) is a combination of two of your short stories. Would you please tell us something about the premise of each storyline?

PC: My ACCIDENTAL MAGIC stories are from the anthologies Gena and I created several years ago. They’re set in Mysteria, Colorado, a supernatural town filled with vampires, witches, werewolves—and lots of sex! Here are the premises:

In Candy Cox and the Big Bad (Were)wolf, five-time divorcée Candice Cox is burned-out and lacking in love. But when a friend’s spell presents Candice with the young werewolf lover of her dreams, she starts to rethink her commitment to swearing off men. While the age difference throws her at first, Justin is exactly what Candice needs to kick-start her stalled love life…

In It’s in His Kiss, strict vegetarian Summer Smith has always had a hard time giving up control—especially since her magic is unpredictable at best. But when she meets a dark, gorgeous vampire named Colin, Summer suddenly finds herself wanting to let loose and experience the new appetites awaked by Colin’s kiss…

 

TRC:  PC- HIDDEN is the latest installment (October 2012) in the House of Night. Would you please tell us something about the premise? Do you see an end in sight for Zoey and the House of Night series?

HIDDEN is book 10 of the House of Night. Yep, I plotted 12 HoN books. I totally know what’s going to happen to Zoey and the gang!

 

TRC:  Gena-BEAUTY AWAKENED is the February 2013 installment in your Angels of the Dark series. Would you please tell us something about the premise?

Gena:  Beauty Awakened features Koldo, who is scarred, powerful, and known for his control legendary. He lives only for vengeance, determined to punish the angel who viciously removed his wings (AKA his mother. Yes, he has slight mommy issues). But if he yields to the forces of hatred, he will be kicked from the heavens and eternally damned. His last hope is the fragile Nicola Lane, a human born with a defective heart. Yet she shows surprising strength as demons stalk her every move, determined to end her. She is the key to Koldo’s deliverance…and his downfall.

TRC:  Gena-DARKEST CRAVING (Lord of the Underworld #10) has been schedule for release in July 2013. Would you please tell us something about the premise? How many books do you have planned for the series?

Gena:  I wish I could, but I haven’t yet gotten permission from the publisher to post anything about the book. (Mostly because the rough draft isn’t done, and my stories can change so much between one stage and another) All I can tell you is that it features Kane, the keeper of Disaster, he’s in a terrible mental and emotional place considering all the bad stuff that went down in The Darkest Seduction. He needs a woman to shine a little light into his life asap.

Right now, I have two more books contracted in the Lords of the Underworld series. The next one might just belong to Cameo.

TRC:  Many authors bounce ideas with other authors, family members and friends. With whom do you bounce ideas and why?

PC-I brainstorm with my editors and my agent. I trust their instincts and love the different slants they bring to the writing process. I also babble to my wonderful man. (Yes, he reads my books!) He doesn’t so much brainstorm with me, though, as he does give me a sounding board. But sometimes he says stuff like, “Why don’t you just shoot that character?” The last time he said that was while I was writing POSSESSED. I told him he was brilliant – kissed him – and then I did, indeed, shoot the character. Ha!

Gena-I love to bounce ideas off fellow author Jill Monroe, as well as have her read my drafts in chunks. She’s honest, hilarious and isn’t afraid to tell me I need to chop the first hundred pages because I started in the wrong place. What I don’t like is having to say, “You’re right.”

TRC:  What difficulties or challenges have you faced as a writer?

PC-The first half of writing every single book makes me want to leap off a tall building.

Gena-Having more than one project due at the same time, in different stages.

TRC:  Do you still fear rejection from a publisher?

PC-I don’t really think about publisher rejection – or at least I don’t think about it after I’m under contract. I obsess about writing the best book I can every time I write – so I suppose the rejection I fear most is of my own making.

Gena-I hate fear and won’t let myself entertain it for anything! I used to make myself sick worrying over the silliest things. Now I’m learning to resist it in all its varying forms, and oh, I love feeling it flee. (You can probably picture me fist pumping and shouting, “Freedom!”)

TRC:  Writer’s Block is a very real phenomenon. How do you handle the stress of writer’s block?

PC-Well…I don’t believe in writer’s block. I believe that not everyone who begins a book can finish one. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a veterinarian, but when I volunteered at a vet clinic I realized I didn’t have what it takes to be a veterinarian. I didn’t have vet block; it just wasn’t the right job for me. I don’t look at writing as a nebulous, Muse-driven thing. I look at it as a job. It’s a cool job. I love it. But it’s a job, and that means that sometimes, whether I feel like writing or not, I write. It’s just like when I was teaching high school. I didn’t always feel like teaching class, but it was my job, so I showed up and did it to the best of my ability whether I felt like it or not. Because writing has been romanticized for so long I think people tend to forget that a successful professional author is a professional.

Gena—I don’t believe in writer’s block, either! And like PC, I see writing as a job. It takes discipline to force myself to go into my office, shut the door, and sit down at my computer when I’d rather stay in bed – and rather not be enveloped by the pungent aroma of dog fart.

TRC:  On what are you currently working?

PC-Right now I’m working on answering this interview – thereby procrastinating and not writing the House of Night novella that’s due next month and is soooo not close to being done…

Gena-I’m currently working on the rough draft of The Darkest Craving, copy edits for Beauty Awakened, page passes for Last Kiss Goodnight, and plotting Through the Zombieglass. “I will succeed,” she says with another fist pump.

TRC:  Would you like to add anything else?

PC-Yep – a big wave to my paranormal romance fans! It was a pleasure to write for you again!

Gena-Thank you so much for your support!

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food

PC-wine
Gena-gourmet hamburger from my favorite restaurant, The Stuffed Olive

Favorite Dessert

PC-wine
Gena-sugar cookie from my favorite restaurant, The Stuffed Olive

Favorite TV Show

PC-currently The Big Bang Theory
Gena-New Girl

Last Movie You Saw

PC-The Avengers
Gena-What to Expect When You’re Expecting

Dark or Milk Chocolate

PC-Dark!
Gena-Dark

First book ever published

PC-Divine by Mistake (published originally under the title Goddess by Mistake)
Gena-The Stone Prince

TRC:  Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations to both of you on all of your success and the release of AFTER MOONRISE. We are looking forward to your new and future releases.

The Reading Cafe is offering a GIVEAWAY a copy of AFTER MOONRISE to one lucky member wherever The Book Depository delivers.

1. You must be a registered member at The Reading Cafe. If you are not a member, please register using the log-in at the top of the page or by using one of the social log-ins.

2. If you are using a social log-in, please add your email address to your comment as Twitter etc does not allow for email addresses.

3. Giveaway open INTERNATIONALLY wherever The Book Depository delivers.

4. Please answer one of the LIGHTNING ROUND questions.

5. Giveaway runs from November 2-November 6, 2012