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Ilona Andrews Book Giveway and Interview!
posted Monday, 14 July 2008
This is Katie wishing everyone a happy Monday and announcing yet another fun book giveaway! Ilona Andrews is a rising star in the Urban Fantasy genre with her Kate Daniels’ series. She welcomed us to ask her some questions about her writing process and the Urban Fantasy genre in general. You and your husband Gordon co-author your books. How did that come about? Do you both think two imaginations are better than one?
Ilona: Two imaginations are absolutely better than one. I think co-writing came naturally to us. Even before we wrote, we discussed movies and books. I kind of forced heroic fantasy on him and he made me read Robert Parker's mysteries. Our first story kind of grew out of our discussions.
The Urban Fantasy genre seems to be exploding this year with incredible authors and their books. What is your definition of Urban Fantasy and where does your future lie in this genre?
Ilona: To me, Urban Fantasy is modern day mythology. I define it as a story containing magic and set in a modern setting (urban, suburban, or country) in our world or a world which, at some point, was very similar to our own. I think it's a vibrant and exciting genre. As to where the future lies, I'm not sure, Katie. I can tell you that "Ilona Andrews" is contracted for two more book in the Kate Daniels series and two books in a new series, which swings a little bit more toward romantic side of the genre. That's my immediate future. :)
You have an interesting story on your blog, One Crazy Dame about rejection. What advice can you give an author about rejection and trying to break into the publishing world?
Ilona: It took me years to break into publication and to some extent, I'm proof that anyone can do it. I'm a college drop-out, who didn't learn to speak English until I was sixteen. :) If I can do it, you can do it. But, you have to prepare yourself for rejection. Rejection is inevitable. The worst thing about rejection is that it sometimes makes writers doubt not just that particular piece of writing but their very ability to create. It happens to everyone at least once. There is no help for it. When that moment comes, the writer has a choice: to give up or to soldier on. My advice is this: recognize that it's natural to doubt yourself; give yourself a period of time to mope about and moan, be it an hour or a day; and then walk a wide circle around that feeling of inadequacy and keep going.
Can you tell us about your heroine Kate Daniels and the world she comes from?
Ilona: Kate's world is an interesting place. It's a world battered by magic waves: when magic is up, technological gadgets fail: cars stall, guns misfire, electricity fails, and mages shoot fireballs and summon weird creatures. When magic is down, technology once again works and gains an upper hand. Magic comes and goes as it pleases, as if somewhere a child is playing with a switch. It's a very unpredictable, volatile world, full of dangerous people: shape shifters, necromancers, mages, knights... Everyone has an agenda and everyone is ready to rip the competition to shreds. In this world lives Kate. She was raised from birth by a man of extraordinary martial skill, who employed all of his expertise to make her into a lethal fighter. To this end, he took her all over the continent to let her train with different experts and he subjected her to grueling training. He made her into a living weapon and gave her a mission. And then he died. Now Kate is alone. She has her mission, but she is smart enough to recognize that she will need a lot more experience and power before she can embark on it. She didn't have much of a childhood. If you really think about it, she doesn't even know how to be a girl - her mother died when she was very young. For now she just tries to make sense of who she is and what she is doing. She is learning how to make friends. And she might be falling in love.
Do you consider your Kate Daniels series to be a romance? What does the future hold for Kate?
Ilona: Not exactly. Romance, by strict definition, is a story of two people finding love through adversity. The main focus is on the couple and the interaction between them is the plot. (Also sometimes there is a threesome rather than a couple, but we won't go there at the moment.) Kate Daniels series focuses more on the action/mystery plot. However, it definitely has romantic elements. There is a lot of tension between Kate and Curran, the Beast Lord of Atlanta. Kate's future is uncertain at the moment and depends very much on how many books the readers would want us to write. In the immediate future Kate will have to deal with an underground gladiatorial tournament to save one of her friends in MAGIC STRIKES, which will be out in the Spring of 2009.
What are you working on now?
Ilona: I just finished a novella for the MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS anthology, which will be out in summer of 2009. The other authors include Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh and Meljean Brook. I was planning to start a new Kate book. Unfortunately, my laptop just bit the dust and Best Buy is taking two weeks to fix it (two weeks!) so I am on a forced vacation until I get it back.
You are originally from Russia. What was your experience like leaving there and coming to America? (Kate wants to know which country has the hotter men. LOL)
Ilona: Eh. I came here when I was 16 to study in a very strict boarding school in Georgia. (Looong story, but in the end they gave me a scholarship.) Let me put it this way: I remember the train ride to Moscow, I remember the flight, and I remember meeting a very nice man who was supposed to take me to the school. We stopped on the way at McDonalds, he bought me a supervalue meal, but I could barely eat half of it, it was too big. Then there is a black hole of about six months. Huge culture shock. I can't tell you what I did for Christmas that year. I do not remember. I know I had to have gone some place because the school closed for the holidays, but I don't know where I went or with whom. As for Russian men, they are a very varied bunch. There are so many nationalities and ethnic groups, especially in the city I grew up in, that you can pretty much find a man to match your needs.
There are so many different types of creatures in both Magic Burns and Magic Bites. If you could be any creature in one of your books what would you be and what name would you give yourself?
Ilona: I'd be Rowena, the incredibly beautiful necromancer. :P I'd pilot vampires and make men squirm. And then I would go home to my lovely husband, whom I would love dearly and who would buy me ice cream and give me back massages. (Oy. Even in my fantasies, I appear to be firmly married.)
We have 2 copies of Magic Burns to give away! In order to win, you just have to answer this question correctly:
Ilona also writes on another blog with author, Jill Myles. What is the name of that blog?
Send your answer to aarblog@gmail.com One winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Thursday night, July 17, 2008. (Unfortunately because of high postal rates, we can only ship to US addresses.) The winner will be announced here and notified by email on Friday, July 18, 2008. Good luck!
comments (1)
1. Michele L. left...
Monday, 14 July 2008 10:06 pm
Hi Ilona!