The Garnet Dagger by Andrea Cooper-a review and interview with the author

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About the Book: Release Date March 2013

Forbidden to cross the Elvin barrier into human lands, Brock cannot sate his curiosity. Cursed by a vampyre bite that forces him to feed on the life-essence of others, he is unable to touch another without taking their life. Chained by prophesy, he must find a witch, pierce her heart, and draw her blood for his cure.

Celeste must escape the monks who have held her prisoner for years. Her magic has been kept dormant by her captors. An ancient powerful Warloc craves her powers. If he succeeds in devouring her magic, she and the world will die.

When Brock falls in love with Celeste before realizing her demise is his cure, will love triumph over his desire to be healed? Will he risk everything to save her from a Warloc, an oath breaker, who also wants her dead?

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REVIEW: Cursed by a vampyre bite, the ever curious elf Brock finds that he now needs to feed off the life-essence of others. Banned by the elders and bound by a prophecy, he must search and find a witch, pierce her heart and spill her blood to cure himself and save his fading world. Celeste is the witch, with the power to heal and imprisoned by monks. Brock searches all over to find the witch that is his salvation and those of his Elvin brothers. He happens upon her and little does he know – that the one he has fallen in love with is the one on which he must kill!. But if she is the witch of prophecy – how could he possibly fall in love with her?

I enjoyed this book – I found it to be more fantasy based than paranormal. The writing is poetic in nature and the ending leaves you wanting another book with Brock and Celeste. This book weaves a Hobbit type universe where creatures lurk and hope abides. Well written and thought provoking.

Reviewed by Erin

Copy supplied by the author

TRC: Hi Andrea and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of THE GARNET DAGGER.

We would like to start with some background information. Please tell us something about yourself?

Follow Andrea: Website / Twitter / Goodreads /

Andrea: I live in Houston, Texas and would leave because of the weather (Hot & humid 362 days a year), but I stay because I was born and raised here, for family, and the delicious TexMex food. Even though I wrote poems from age fourteen through my early twenties, I didn’t consider myself a writer. I didn’t start writing novels until my late twenties. It started out as a hobby I did in my spare time which was limited do to working fulltime, divorced and raising my son. However, I was always a storyteller. I remember being in Elementary school and the neighborhood kids coming up to me asking what we were going to play. I created the plot and characters. Once we played ‘Space Vampires’ (yes I know it sounds silly now, but to a 2nd grader it was revolutionary) and so the kids didn’t bite each other, I told them their fangs were their first two fingers.

TRC: There is a quote on your website by Robert Frost: “No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” Would you please tell us about the significance of this quote to your life and your writing?

Andrea: Yes, this has special meaning for me because I’ve experienced this. My characters take on a life of their own. I wrote my forthcoming historical romance, Viking Fire, determined to write strictly a historical – no paranormal or magic. Even though a character hinted at things in the beginning of the story, it wasn’t until she let down her hair, literally, that she revealed herself to me and the heroine—it was not planned.

I have a friend of mine with a writer in her reader’s group. She told my friend she hates it when her characters deviate from her outline. If they do, she said, she just kills them. How sad, I picture her characters fearful of taking a step without her permission.

TRC: THE GARNET DAGGER is your March 2013 release. Would you please tell us something about the premise?

Andrea: The premise is not to judge someone for what they are, but who they are and their actions. Also perception is everything; we don’t know the motivations of others unless they tell us.

For example, in The Garnet Dagger Celeste is given the dagger and keeps it. Her motivations are not stealing, but that she recognizes the magick in the dagger and that it is hers (even though she’s never seen it before), she also knows that its purpose in other hands would be her death at best and destroying the hero’s heart and thus setting up the Warloc’s rule and evil. This isn’t stated in the book, but it’s suggested in the story.

TRC: Have you always had an interest in Elven stories? The paranormal?

Andrea: Funny, The Garnet Dagger, by some reviewers has been mentioned along with Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. What an amazing honor! What I find humorous about it is that I wasn’t allowed to read those novels growing up—nothing with mythical creatures or magic—not even Disney! So naturally it just made me crave them more. I didn’t read Tolkien until a few years ago, after I finished the third book in The Garnet Dagger trilogy. Martin is on my list to read because I’m addicted to the Game of Thrones show.

I’ve always loved stories of vampires, dragons, and anything magical. The only elves I remember, until seeing Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, were shoemaker and Santa’s elves. These elves were small and not at all what my imagination believed. I’d always thought of Elves as the same height as humans—seeing Tolkien’s movie validated what I had always thought.

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

Andrea: Three. I’ve always thought of it as a trilogy and have all three books written and am working on edits for the second, Son of Dragons, and third, War of Darkness. If readers love the series, I could write two more: one from Celeste’s point of view and another on Brock’s sister and her love interest.

TRC: If you could virtually cast the lead characters, which models or actors would be represent your ideal image?

Andrea:

Brock – closest actor to my image (without too much of a tan) would be Eduardo Verastegui. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s worth checking out—you won’t be sorry 😉

Celeste – Elisha Cuthbert

TRC:  Eduardo is perfect 😉

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

Andrea: I don’t usually write a storyline. I start with a character, an idea, or a situation. I write until the characters take over. I have a general knowledge of the end result, but the journey is new to me as I write. If the characters get lost or go off on a tangent, then I stop and write up a storyline including where we’ve been and where we need to go. I and my characters hate this so much that it has worked 98% of the time and I start writing again.

TRC: Speaking of, has there ever been an occasion where you have had to scrap a particular premise because your character(s) went in different direction?

Andrea: Not exactly. I wrote a historical romance, unpublished, that the entire novel the heroine is trying to avenge her father and brother’s death. It wasn’t until the ending that another character, who had a hinted past with the antagonist, stepped up and killed the bad guy. At first, I was shocked, then I realized it could be no other way. However, the premise stayed the same.

TRC: Are you a plotter or a pantster?

Andrea: Mostly a pantser. First I come up with an idea, character, or a situation. Then I brainstorm and start thinking up ‘What If’ questions. I do not plot per se, I have a general idea of where the story is going to go, and sometimes the ending will change slightly. I enjoy it when characters take over and guide me. However, if they get us lost, I pull out the dreaded outline and map out where we’ve been and where we’re going. Hopefully since there are surprises for me that come up when I write, it will be a surprise for the reader as well.

With The Garnet Dagger, it started with a simple thought: Everyone knows what happens when a vampire bites a human…but what if the victim is Elvin?

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

Andrea: I move on to another project. I have eight completed novels, only two have been published so far, and five others in various stages. If I get burned out on one, I’ll move on to another one. If that doesn’t work, I start on edits. By the time I’m done with one story’s edits, my muse is screaming at me to write something—anything.

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

Andrea: For The Garnet Dagger, the challenge was logistics of writing a first person romance. All of my other novels I had written up to this point were third person. However, Brock’s voice sounded so clearly in my mind, that I could not shift him to third person. However, it was difficult not telling the reader things that I knew as the author, but that Brock didn’t know. For example, when Celeste wakes him with liquid hot peppers, she’s not being mean. She tried to rouse him before, but nothing worked—he was starting to freeze to death and that was the last resort.

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

Andrea: My husband. He is a lover of fantasy books (and introduced them to me and I fell in love with that genre as well). He is also read more books than I have and knows a good story when he hears one. So if he’s mildly interested in a storyline of mine, I know I’ve got a good one. Also, my sister has been open to my writing and she’s been wonderful in helping me with the actual editing. I sometimes will edit myself into a corner and have no idea if I’m making the story better or if I’m writing gibberish. She will read the entire novel and tell me if it reads smoothly or not. I’ve also recently joined an amazing group of writers online that do beta readings for each other.

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

Andrea: Excellent question. Since I don’t know the details of the ending ahead of time, I hope that it’s not predictable. If a character does something too easy, then I try to ask what if questions to make it more challenging. In The Garnet Dagger Celeste calls upon magic she’s never handled before…so that could be an issue. But what if this magic is ferocious and if not called upon properly, it could kill her instead of the Warloc? What if she realizes this too late? What if there is no way she can release this magic—if she sends it to the Warloc, it will destroy her soul, but once it is called forth, it cannot be voided.

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

Andrea: It is hard. I have a wonderful husband who supports me. When he’s not working he helps with the kids and cooking and cleaning. I’ve done a lot of late night writing and furiously typing away during nap time.

TRC: If you could be a contestant on a reality television program, which program would you chose and why?

Andrea: The new show, Whodunnit? I think it would be fun. I am critical of mysteries because from an early age, I could predict who ‘did it’. It was frustrating to have friends rave about Nancy Drew books, but when I would try to read them in Elementary and Middle school, I knew what was going to happen by chapter two. I’ve tried other mysteries, but they are the same for me. I think I was the only nine year old who reached for Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie when the teacher said we had to read mysteries.

TRC: What are your thoughts on book reviews-good or bad?

Andrea: Book reviews are subjective. Just like art. It’s hard getting a bad review. Chocolate cake works well ☺ I also read other bad reviews of famous authors I love. It helps a little. Good reviews are amazing and can brighten my day.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Andrea: I’m promoting my newly released historical romance, Viking Fire. I’m working on edits of the second Garnet Dagger book, Son of Dragons and finishing another romance set in 16th century Japan based on the female ninja’s who were called ‘deadly flowers’.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Andrea: I would love to hear from readers. What you liked, what you didn’t like from my stories. I’m a debut author and have learned a lot in the last nine months than I have in all the years I spent writing. My ultimate goal is to craft a wonderful story that many will enjoy.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: Tex-Mex. It’s spicy and cheesy! Yum.

Favorite Dessert: Chocolate cake with white icing. Or just give me anything with Chocolate

Favorite TV Show: Game of Thrones (even though I don’t have HBO so I’m waiting on this year’s series to be out on DVD).

Last Movie You Saw: Anonymous – the movie about William Shakespeare not being the actual writer of his plays, sonnets, etc.

Dark or Milk Chocolate: Dark. Even as a kid when my mom would buy the Hershey’s mini-bars, everyone would leave those and I would dig through the bag for them.

Favorite Flower: Tiger lily

Last Vacation Destination: The beach at Galveston, Texas. My two year old, at the time, didn’t want to leave.

Pet Peeve: When people post things on facebook (or anywhere) that are not true. Years ago, I got an email, with a picture of a new coin, that didn’t have “In God We Trust” on them. First thing I did is check out snoops. Sure enough, it wasn’t true – the slogan was put on the edge of the coin, so it didn’t so up in the picture.

I also don’t like injustice.

Secret Celebrity Crush: Chris Hemsworth – because he reminds me of my husband.

TRC:  I think we would like to meet your husband !!!!!

TRC: Thank you Andrea for taking the time to answer our questions. WE wish you all the best with your writing career.