Lindsey Piper’s BLOOD WARRIOR (Dragon Kings) -Interview, Blog Tour and Giveaway

Dragon King Series
by Lindsey Piper

A fierce and sensual new paranormal romance series features demonic gladiators, ruthless mafia villains, and a proud race on the brink of extinction.

TRC: Hi Lindsey and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the success of the “Dragon Kings” series.

Lindsey: Thank you, and thanks for inviting me to stop by!

TRC: We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Lindsey: Up until recently, when I was keeping my pseudonym all cloak-and-dagger sekrit, I would’ve been really vague. Now that CAGED WARRIOR and BLOOD WARRIOR are out, I can shout it loud! I’m Carrie Lofty, primarily known as a historical author but soon moving into New Adult contemporary, too. I also co-write erotic romance as Katie Porter. I live in the Chicago area, love Lake Michigan, and live for every possible day I can spend at Six Flags Great America. One day I’ll be one of those crazy people who base vacations on theme parks, just to try out newer, more extreme roller coasters!

TRC: You quickly released three successive novels in your new Dragon King series. Would you please tell us something about the premise of each of these novels.

Click HERE for our review of THE DRAGON KING series.

Lindsey:
THE SILENT WARRIOR (April 2013)
A silent woman ashamed of her criminal background becomes a Cage warrior to seek redemption. An unrepentant fortune hunter will do anything to escape his mounting debts. Neither one suspects that love will begin when he becomes the first man in five years to hear her speak. (A $.99 digital prequel novella.)

CAGED WARRIOR (June 2013)
He fights for glory and for the privilege of continuing his bloodline, as the godlike Dragon Kings face extinction. She fights to rescue her son—the only natural-born Dragon King in a generation—from a sadistic scientist. As enemies, sparring partners, lovers, and eventual allies, they learn that in their violent underground world, love is the only prize worth winning.

BLOOD WARRIOR (July 2013)
A lone assassin is set on revenge against the woman who’s haunted his dreams and made him into his own personal assassin. But the woman known as the Sun is a peacemaker, trying to unite two halves of her fractured clan. These mortal enemies become fiery lovers on the run. From the Himalayan foothills to the Highlands of Scotland, they discover passion, trust, family, and how love can heal the most headed hearts.

TRC: How are all of these novels interconnected and will we see each of the previous storyline characters make an appearance in successive novels?

Lindsey: Yes, the characters recur throughout! Many people have said that you don’t need to have read the prequel novella “SILENT WARRIOR,” for example, to understand CAGED WARRIOR, but that it’s fun to see where that novella’s hero and heroine, Hark and Silence, wind up after the conclusion of their romance.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series?

Lindsey: So far there’s the novella and three novels, with the last being HUNTED WARRIOR, due out in summer 2014. The entire trilogy culminates in HUNTED WARRIOR, while opening the whole world to new possibilities as their long-dead deity, the Great Dragon, returns…

TRC: What or who was the inspiration behind the Dragon King series?

Lindsey: I was busy watching shows like “Spartacus” and movies like Warrior, thoroughly enjoying the idea of arena fighting. (Notice that I said the idea of arena fighting. I wanted to keep it strictly fictional and within the romance trope, so I never go so far as to say I became a full-fledged UFC fan.) Following the RITA nomination I’d received for NIGHTFALL, which I’d co-written under the name Ellen Connor, I had been toying with the idea of writing a paranormal of my own. Thrown in a few decades’ obsession with the X-Men and poof!

But the real key that made me need to write it was a line from a song by the British band Bat for Lashes: “And when the battle was won, I was promised my son.” That was the thread that tied all those flashes of inspiration into one story, which eventually became CAGED WARRIOR, the first of the “Dragon Kings.”

TRC: If you could virtually cast the lead characters for the Dragon King series which models or actors best represents your ideal image?

Lindsey: I always cast my heroes and heroines, from Robert Downey Jr. to Australian hiphop dancers no one’s ever heard of (here, at least). But I never tell! I don’t want to ruin anyone’s expectations with vastly different images they’ve already imagined in their minds.

TRC: How do you keep the plot unpredictable without sacrificing content and believability?

Lindsey: In paranormals, it’s all about worldbuilding and character. But then again, it’s probably that way for every genre! No matter the plot and needing to keep it unpredictable, an author has to work within the frame he or she has established regarding the worldbuilding—be it underground cage matches or Victorian Scotland or modern-day Vegas. (I’ve done all three and more!) Content and believability must come from characters who behave consistently and a world where the reader can sink in without being jerked out by inconsistencies.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Lindsey: I can’t direct the characters once they’re established in my mind, or I run the risk of moving them around like puppets. It needs to read organically. So I start with characters. If I get them right from the start, the plot makes sense because everything flows from the believability of the hero and heroine.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Lindsey: A writer needs to sink deeply into the emotions and perspectives of their characters, which isn’t always sunshine and roses—not in my books, at least! There needs to be resonance and dimensionality that convinces a reader to cheer for lovers to find their happy ending, even if those lovers are of another color, race, orientation, kink…or species. We romance readers thrive on emotion. If you fall short on that score, you fall short on telling the story.

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

Lindsey: Personally, writer’s block is when my expectations of perfection slam up against the realities of (initial, first draft) imperfection. I love revisions, as a book gets shinier and shinier. I’m a grit-my-teeth first draft writer. I also get distracted by new ideas, which can add to a block. “But…but…that new idea seems so much cooler! I want to work on that!” It’s just another form of procrastination.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties (research, logistics, background) did you encounter writing this particular story or series?

Lindsey: Worldbuilding! My editor ordered me to watch “Game of Thrones” and read Kresley Cole. Now I’m a huge fan of both! Then I sat with a legal pad in Starbucks and wrote fifty hand-written pages. It was a whole world in one notebook. Making it consistent was one goal. Making it my own was another.

TRC: Many authors bounce ideas and information with other authors or friends and family. With whom do you bounce ideas?

Lindsey: I co-write as Katie Porter with a historical and contemporary writer named Lorelie Brown. She has been my best friend and critique partner for about seven years now, and we’ve been writing together for three. I can’t get through a book—and sometimes I can’t get through certain scenes—without picking her brain for ideas!

TRC: How do you handle the pressures and anxiety of deadlines while still having time to raise a family?

Lindsey: I have an incredible husband who’s supported me since I started my serious push toward publication in 2006, and my children learned very early that when I’m wearing my headphones, I’m working. They’re pretty decent (ten year old) cooks. Support from my parents has also been wonderful. Balance…that’s the tricky part. I always take on more than I should, and I micromanage to my own detriment. But that’s still part of the learning process as each new stage of my career adds new challenges. No matter the chaos, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Lindsey: Three things at once! As Lindsey Piper, I’m working on HUNTED WARRIOR, the third in the “Dragon Kings” series. Co-writing as Katie Porter, we’re wrapping up the third in our sexy “Club Devant” Series, set in a New York City burlesque club. That’s called WATCH AND WAIT, out in January. Lastly, as my “real” self, Carrie Lofty, I’m writing a New Adult romance titled BLUE NOTES. That’ll be out from Pocket in February!

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Lindsey: Just to thank you again for inviting me to stop by. I appreciate it!

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food Enchiladas

Favorite Dessert Chocolate cheesecake

Favorite TV Show Game of Thrones

Last Movie You Saw The Conjuring – OMG, so good!

Dark or Milk Chocolate Dark, preferably with sea salt.

Secret Celebrity Crush Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Last Vacation Destination Does Atlanta count, where RWA Nationals was held? Or London, where my husband family lives? As for an actual vacation…um…

Pet Peeve People who make snacks or meals and leave the kitchen a mess!

TRC: Thank you Lindsey for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you all the best with the Dragon King series.

Lindsey: Thank you!

 

SILENT WARRIOR

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO /

The Dragon Kings, Prequel Novella
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
Publisher: Pocket Star
ISBN: 978-1476713250

A silent woman ashamed of her criminal background becomes a Cage warrior to seek redemption. An unrepentant fortune hunter will do anything to escape his mounting debts. Although rivals on the streets of Hong Kong, they find common ground when seeking their clan’s stolen idol, but for vastly different reasons. Neither one suspects that love will begin when he becomes the first man in five years to hear her speak.

________________________________________________________________

CAGED WARRIOR

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO /

The Dragon Kings, Book 1
Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Publisher: Pocket Star
Print ISBN: 978-1451695915

Ten years ago, Audrey MacLaren chose to marry her human lover, making her an exile from the Dragon Kings, an ancient race of demons once worshiped as earthly gods. Audrey and her husband managed to conceive, and their son is the first natural-born Dragon King in a generation–which makes him irresistible to the sadistic scientist whose mafia-funded technology allows demon procreation. In the year since her husband was murdered, Audrey and her little boy have endured hideous experiments.

Shackled with a collar and bound for life, Leto Garnis is a Cage warrior. Only through combat can Dragon Kings earn the privilege of conceiving children. Leto uses his superhuman speed and reflexes to secure the right for his two sisters to start families. After torture reveals Audrey’s astonishing pyrokenesis, she is sent to fight in the Cages. If she survives a year, she will be reunited with her son. Leto is charged with her training. Initially, he has no sympathy for her plight. But if natural conception is possible, what has he been fighting for? As enemies, sparring partners, lovers, and eventual allies, Leto and Audrey learn that in a violent underground world, love is the only prize worth winning.

_____________________________________________________

BLOOD WARRIOR

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble / KOBO /

The Dragon Kings, Book 3
Publication Date: July 30, 2013
Publisher: Pocket Star
Print ISBN: 978-1451695922

As a young man, sarcastic, violent Tallis Pendray believed the Dragon Kings’ survival depended on a prophecy delivered in dreams by a woman named “the Sun.” His role has been to complete inexplicable, even reprehensible tasks. First, by murdering a priest, he united his fragmented clan in their hatred of him. Dubbed “the Heretic,” Tallis fled his family’s Highland estate. Now disillusioned, he seeks revenge on the woman he holds responsible for two decades of exile.

Telepath Kavya Indranan is a charismatic, seductive cult leader born to a prominent family. However, she grew up terrorized by the ominous threat of her powerful, insane twin brother. On the run and hiding among the poor, she witnessed the destruction wrought by her clan’s centuries-old civil war. Maturity nurtures Kavya’s determination to end the cycle of bloodshed. Those who follow her call for peace have nicknamed her “the Sun.”

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Lindsey is giving away the following prizes when the tour ends:

GRAND PRIZE: $25.00 Gift card to Amazon, an eBook of SILENT WARRIOR and paperbacks of CAGED WARRIOR & BLOOD WARRIOR

2ND PLACE: 5 winners will each receive a paperback of CAGED WARRIOR or BLOOD WARRIOR (winners choice) and SWAG

3RD PLACE: 5 winners will receive an eBook of SILENT WARRIOR

OPEN INTERNATIONALLY

NOTE: The Reading Cafe is NOT responsible for the rafflecopter giveaway. If you have any questions, please contact the tour promoter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway