A Horrible Wager and Fairy Tale Reinterpretation: An interview with fantasy author Adrianna Morgan

1) Please tell us about your book.

Once Upon a Fairytale Princess is a 45,000-word paranormal romance novel that takes some of what we know about fairy tales and twists it. After all, the plot is simple. What if every fairy tale we’ve read were snippets of one girl’s life? Ella Fitzpatrick is a young woman trying to hold her family together after her mother and two aunts are killed. The only thing she has of her mother’s is a crystal pendant and a pair of glass heels. Her father, in his grief, makes a horrible wager, forcing Ella to prove herself or lose the only home she has ever known. Just as horrible are her conflicting feelings for Prince Ethan and his bodyguard—her childhood friend—Hunter Kirk. The only thing Ella wants is her very own happily ever after, but will she have to choose between the Prince and his Beastly guard?

2) Please tell us about your opening.

“My daughter is far more talented than any spawn that spewed from your loins!” While the lead in this case was a bit dramatic, I wanted Ella to start her story in the middle of what becomes the beginning of the end. Her father is drunk and after an argument, sets the boast which sends Ella’s life spiraling out of control.

3) What inspired this particular book?

I have an affinity for fairy tales and during a conversation with my mother while watching television, the idea came to me: what if Cinderella, Snow White, and all the other fairy tale princesses were actually one girl and the stories were all one adventure in which this young woman has to adapt and change her appearance and her mannerisms in order to survive? What would that tale be like? How would she change? Why? It seemed too good of an idea to let go, so I experimented with it and the book was born.

4) What separates a fairy tale, in your opinion, from just basic fantasy?

Fairy tales can be differentiated from fantasies in that the fairy tale world is one of magic and hope and love. There is always a happily-ever-after and a moral of some sort. In the fairy tale, the main character overcomes some great obstacle and learns a lesson in the interim. Fantasies can have some of these aspects, but there is something about a fairy tale, that tangible feeling, where as you read it, you just know. Fairy tales also seem to have the heroine as the main character; it is her life, her mistakes and her triumphs that you read about. She is the one who becomes the champion and essentially, the hero. Fantasies can focus on many different aspects of the story, but the love and what the heroine goes through in the fairy tale makes it different. And although you know how it will end, the journey and the message become an integral part of the story.

5) We're in a bit of a cross-media fairy tale revival. There have been multiple recent movies revisiting classic fairy tales, more scheduled to come down the pipe, multiple network dramas based on fairy tale themes, and many books. What do you think is behind this recent trend?

It is more than simply fairy tales. We are seeing a return to the past. What was once old has become retro and such, it has become interesting. In addition to the fairy tales, we are seeing remakes of movies and television shows from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The idea of ‘recycling’ the different stories with a twist or a modern update makes for a great change from the stories we read and loved as children and it endears us to the newer version of the story.

6) Although fairy tales have been rewritten and changed throughout the ages, many modern readers often tend to think of them as more a fixed quantity, due to certain particular interpretations (e.g., Grimm's fairy tales, Perrault, Disney, et cetera) spreading in popularity because of the role of mass media. Do you think that anything is loss by this gradual waning of fluidity in the stories, or do you think things are still just as dynamic as they've always been?

I think the Westernized stories have become too blasé. And this is why some people have issues with the “message” they believe fairy tales send to young women. But the original stories were truly gruesome in some regards. Think back to Grimm’s fairy tales. In the Cinderella we know, there are singing woodland creatures and a pumpkin and the glass slippers. However, the original story had the sisters mutilating themselves in order to present themselves to the Prince. They were horrifically fascinating. The message of the story is lost and instead of Cinderella being a story about perseverance and hard work, it becomes about beauty and fashion, which fits in fine with our materialistic society. But the beauty and intrigue of the story gets convoluted and eventually lost.

7) You also seem to have a writing interest in another mythic subject embedded in our culture: the werewolf. Please tell us a bit about your werewolf books.

Mythology has always been a huge part of my life. I have read myths from all over the world; Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Egyptian. Even my favorite story as a child was an Arab myth. My werewolf series “The Blue Moon Trilogy” is a look at my love for mythology. The series utilizes Native American myths from both Alaska and Florida in addition to the mysticism one expects from mythology.

Book 1 in the series is called Tala and is about a young girl who is attacked on her 10th birthday by a group of rogue werewolves. She manages to escape, but her mother is not so lucky. 19 years later, the young woman, Layla, is in college, trying to get her life together and starts to have disturbing experiences. And three strangers; an old man who knows more than he lets on, a guy who is more than he seems, and the werewolf who killed her mother, are back in her life. Now Layla has to decide who is friend and who is foe. The book is available now on Amazon.com, while books 2 and 3 will be out in December and January, respectively.

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Thanks, Adrianna.

Adrianna Morgan was born in the Bahamas. Of both West Indian and African ancestry, she was exposed to the shadowy world of the supernatural at a young age. She was blessed with a mother that knew the importance of a good ghost story making her fascinated by anything that goes bump in the night. Adrianna is obsessed with werewolves, vampires and demons, oh my! A Marine Biology teacher by day, she is still intrigued by the weird and the unusual. Currently, she has 10 books on Amazon and has challenged herself to write one full novel per month this year, although she admits
she is ready to throw in the towel.

Visit her at http://adriannamorgan.com for more of her books.

Once Upon a Fairytale Princess is available at Amazon.

What's sexier than a cowboy? An interview with paranormal romance author Cait Lavender

Today I'm talking with paranormal romance author Cait Lavender about her werewolf western paranormal romance, HUNTER MOON.

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1) Please tell us about your book.

HUNTER MOON is a paranormal romance set in the small Central California town of Raymond. Shelby Flint is a cattle rancher struggling to make ends meet, fighting against her vindictive cousins who are trying to take her ranch and fighting against a man sabotaging her land and trying to kill her, all the while trying to keep from throwing herself and her heart at the feed of a nosy, gorgeous game warden who’s poking his nose in her business.

2) This book is part of the Lupine Moon series. Can you tell us how it fits in with the rest of the series?


Basically, any books in the Lupine Moon series are going to revolve around, you guessed it, lupines. They’re my own special, sexy brand of werewolves.

3) At first brush, werewolves aren't something you'd think would have made the romantic leap quite as well as they have in fiction. What do you think is behind the popularity of werewolves in paranormal romance circles?

I think there is something sexy about a man who can be, quite literally, an animal. Animals have a certain kind of honor too; they don’t kill needlessly, they protect those they love fiercely and
with their lives, and they have strength and agility that humans just can’t possess. Mix that in
with a sexy man, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a dream-man.


4) What traits do you think make for an interesting romantic heroine? An interesting romantic hero?


I hate it when the heroines are these shy little victims, accepting the bad things that happen to them because they can’t do anything to change them and expecting a big man to save them. All
my girls have guts, even if it takes them a little while to find them. And my heroes? I don’t like guys that are like Superman. Perfect. My men have flaws, issues, but I think that makes them
more real.

5) What's something that you just don't like to see in romance and have tried to avoid in your work?


Mmm...probably the instant "love at first sight’ moment." I don’t mind "lust at first sight", because I think that happens a lot in real life. But the instant, overwhelming I’ll-die-for-you kind of love, that’s gotta be worked up to. I think it’s a rare person that is that aware of their feelings and can come to terms with that strong of an emotion in second.

6) There's an old writing maxim: "write what you know." Though the exact meaning of "what you know" is debatable and varies by context, it's striking that you've written a story that seems
to play somewhat into your background strengths. Can you tell us a little about how your background influenced your story setting both in a positive way or maybe even ways that you found frustrating?

That’s a great question! That old maxim is why I set my story close to my hometown. I think because I was so familiar with the area, I was able to paint a clear picture of the landscape, the people and the western culture. The only thing I had to worry about was being too close to real life.

7) Fill in the blanks: ______ are sexy, _____ are sexier.


Cowboys are sexy, werewolf cowboys are sexier.

8) What's next for the Lupine Moon series?

I’m going to focus on Shelby’s next move. I’ve got lots of people hounding me for book two, so believe me when I say I’ll try to get it finished as soon as possible!

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You can find more from Cait at www.caitlavender.com.

HUNTER MOON can be purchased at Amazon.

Honor is more important than power: An interview with urban fantasy writer Coral Moore

Today, I'm talking with Coral Moore about her urban fantasy, Broods of Fenrir

1) Tell us about your book.

Broods of Fenrir is about a man who just wants to be left alone. The brutality of his own people disgusts him, and he really just wants nothing to do with them. When he finds out a woman is murdered by one of them in his town, he resolves to find out who killed her and make sure it doesn’t happen again. There are two side-by-side struggles he deals with throughout the story: his inner conflict with his own feral nature, and his outer conflict with the members of his race that don’t want to change from their primitive roots.

2) What inspired this book? Have you always had an interest in werewolves?

My interest in werewolves is relatively new. In fact, if you had asked me when I started writing almost two years ago if I would ever write a werewolf story, I would have said it was unlikely. It’s a bit of a tired trope, but I had a few ideas while I was working on another story that just kept coming back. The more I tried not to think about Brand (his name came to me very early on), the more scenes kept writing themselves while I was driving or showering or trying to sleep. Finally I just decided to just start writing it, and I hoped that I would work it out of my system, but the whole book happened rather quickly. The first draft was done in less than four months, and I’ve made it through the entire process in just over a year.

3) Werewolf-based urban fantasy is extremely hot right now, but that same popularity can make it hard to stand out in the crowd. What distinguishes Broods of Fenrir from other books in this genre?

Two werewolf differences and an addendum afterwards. First, my werewolves are not infected or cursed. They are a separate sub-species that can blend in seamlessly with humans most of the time. Second, my wolves aren’t very magical. There are some unknown forces at work obviously, but rather than mystical I’ve gone more natural. Think of my werewolves as shamans where others are sorcerers. The addendum is that my story is darker than most of the genre. I’ve gone for grit rather than magic and that gives the book a different feel from most UF.

4) Why did you choose to incorporate Norse mythology elements?

I was doing research for a completely unrelated story. While glancing over the Wikipedia page on Fenrir (to this day I don’t know how I ended up there) I came across the phrase broods of Fenrir. It was translated from a Skaldic poem and used as an alternate name for Fenrir’s two offspring, Skoll and Hati. The phrase really resonated with me and I don’t think it left my head for a month afterwards. There’s a little bit of history I’ve worked up for them that you can find here if you’re interested: http://www.chaosandinsanity.com/stories/broods-of-fenrir/broods-of-fenrir-history/

5) What would you say is your protagonist's greatest strength?

His unwavering adherence to the line that separates right from wrong. It gets him into a lot of trouble, but it truly does define him. His struggles all stem from his inability to compromise on this one point.

6) What would you say is your protagonist's greatest weakness?

He’s single-minded. When a problem presents itself, one solution occurs to him and that’s the only one he’ll consider. Even when another character (or his author!) thinks another way is probably better, he goes his way.

7) What two key themes do you think define your book?

Friendship will succeed where strength fails. Honor is more important than power.

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Thanks for stopping by, Coral.

If you want to read more from Coral, you can find her at http://www.chaosandinsanity.com, Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5341919.Coral_Moore or Twitter: http://twitter.com/coralm.

Broods of Fenrir is available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.