And now Rachel Caine has been kind enough to stop by the blog for day #2 of the 12 Days of Morganville Madness Tour. Read on, and don't forget to leave a comment for Rachel!!
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A. I knew that I was going to have to deal with the questions I'd set up in the first book -- most urgently, who was Shane's dad, and what was he doing in Morganville? And that led to the revealing discovery that Shane wasn't being straight with his friends, either. And had hidden agendas of his own.
Q. Which character do you think stood out in this book, and why?
A. I think Frank Collins really held the stage well; he was a frightening character, and unfortunately a lot like some of the scary parents of friends I had growing up. I really felt I understood what it would be like to grow up under his influence.
Q. Five things you loved about writing this book...
A. Bringing Michael back and learning how to write him with his ghostly status out in the open to his friends. Like Shane, he was hiding a pretty important secret.
Eve, again, who just kept getting more and more funny and sharp to me.
Shane. This was really all about his relationship with his dad, and how his guilt and pain drove everything he did -- even down to beginning to fall for Claire.
Oliver becoming a genuine bad guy. He stepped up to the challenge of being a perfect foil for Frank Collins's hate, and did it with style.
I got to do another cliffhanger, because I am evil.
Q. Five things you didn't love about writing this book...
A. There's nothing sexy about sewers.
I really wanted to give Monica a comeuppance, but I realized she had more vile things to do to our characters, so ... she got a pass. Unwillingly.
I worried that I'd taken the terror a little too far, with Claire getting almost assaulted at the Dead Girls' Dance party.
Not enough university things in this book, again, though hey, there was a killer frat party. So that happened.
I really could have used Sam more.
Q. If you could do this book over, what would you do differently, and why?
A. I'd probably rethink the motorcycle gang and make their motives and methods a little more definite; Frank's not the kind of guy to roll into town without a pretty definite plan of action!
Q. Favorite quoted passage from the book...
A. From Shane, in the cage at Founders Square: "Hey," he said softly. He moved closer to the bars, pressing his face between them. "I always said you were jailbait, but this is ridiculous."
Q. What you learned from this book...
A. Monica really will go to any lengths to get her revenge. Even if she doesn't know what it's for.
Q. Fun research moment...
A. I decided that I wanted to base Amelie off of a real, historical person, and I was able to find an obscure French princess from the 1300s who, although the youngest and quietest of her violently ambitious family, somehow managed to be the last one standing for the throne. Unfortunately for her, her reign didn't last long, as a long-lost brother came back from the dead to cut it short. Sounded just like the kind of person who'd come back as the Founder!
About Rachel:
In 2011, Rachel published the first novel of her new series, The Revivalist, with the release of Working Stiff in August.
She has been honored with a Paranormal Pearl Award and an RT Booklovers Award, and was recently awarded a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times. Her first young adult novel, Glass Houses, was chosen for the Texas Tayshas List in 2009.
Rachel has appeared as a guest at over 100 science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance conventions and conferences over the past 20 years, including Dragon*Con, San Diego ComicCon, the World Fantasy Convention, and the World Science Fiction Convention. She has been featured in several national publications including People magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and Vanity Fair, and on international, national and local television and radio.
She was born at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, attended Socorro High School in El Paso, Texas, and earned a bachelors degree in business administration from Texas Tech University. She’s worked in many jobs, including accounting, graphic designer, insurance investigation, corporate communications, and web design, to name just a few. She became a full time writer in 2010.
Rachel is married to award-winning fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, and has two iguanas as pets: Popeye and Darwin
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