Release Day Interview & Giveaway with Thea Harrison

Today J9 is interviewing author Thea Harrison. Welcome back to The Book Vixen Thea!

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J9: Congratulations on your new book, Rising Darkness. Thank you for visiting The Book Vixen for an interview about the book.

Thea Harrison: Thank you for having me here today! I’m very happy to get the chance to visit with you, and readers.

J9: First, can you share with us why you wanted to start a new series?

Thea Harrison: I had actually written the original draft of Rising Darkness and Falling Light before I ever went under contract with Berkley for the Elder Races series. In fact, Berkley offered for two the books before Dragon Bound was released. At the time, it seemed a good idea to not invest everything in a single project or series, and I still think that is true. As a full time writer, it’s good to work on more than one series concept – it helps to stay fresh and avoid burnout on any one thing.

J9: Reincarnation plays a large role in Rising Darkness. What are your thoughts on reincarnation both in your book and in real life?

Thea Harrison: I enjoyed writing reincarnation into the story. As a fiction trope, reincarnation has always fascinated me, and it was satisfying to take that concept and see what I could do with it. In real life, I think reincarnation is possible. I think a lot of things are possible. But of course reincarnation can’t be proven. It’s one of those things that either you feel it, or you don’t.

J9: Do you have a set number of books for this series with a defined story arc?

Thea Harrison: Yes, this is a two-book series. Mary and Michael’s story is concluded in Falling Light. I do have a third story idea, but if I get around to writing that story, it would be a spin-off, not a continuation of Mary and Michael’s story. Right now that idea is in the embryonic stage. It’s not under contract.

J9: This is an esoteric question coming up! I work in the South Bend-Mishawaka, Indiana area that is a setting for part of this book and I was awed at how accurately you portrayed the area, including an understanding of the relationship between the two towns and Notre Dame. Are you a native of the area? If not, what kind of research did you do to so accurately portray this setting?

Thea Harrison: All I will say is, I don’t live there – I live in Colorado – but I am quite familiar with the area.

J9: Rising Darkness contains lots of action scenes. Do you visual these to write them or do you have another method?

Thea Harrison: I do a lot of visualization with action scenes for all of my projects. I do have one upcoming project that I will need to do a lot of research on as well as visualization. It promises to be quite a challenge. Fortunately, I happen to know an expert in the *ahem* area that I need to research, so it should be fun as well!

J9: I know from twitter you’re a busy person and must have a TBR list. Will you share five books from that list?

Thea Harrison: I’d be delighted to! A couple of months ago, I underwent a fit of nostalgia and bought several Mary Stewart’s books so I could re-read them. I still haven’t found the time to do so, but I’m looking forward to it! Of Stewart’s books, I bought The Gabriel Hounds, Madam, Will You Talk?, My Brother Michael, and The Ivy Tree.

But those books will be re-reads. Other books that I have on my TBR list that I haven’t yet read are: Lisa Kleypas’s Love, Come To Me, Kevin Hearne’s Hounded, J. R. Ward’s Envy, Karen Chance’s Fury’s Kiss, and Larissa Ione’s Eternal Rider.

J9: Thank you for chatting with us and please write more books quickly!

Thea Harrison: Thank you, again, for having me! And I promise to write as quickly as I can.

A question for readers: what books do you have on your TBR list?

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New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Thea Harrison is the pen name for Teddy Harrison. Thea has traveled extensively, having lived in England and explored Europe for several years. Now she resides in Colorado. She wrote her first book, a romance, when she was nineteen and had sixteen romances published under the name Amanda Carpenter.

She took a break from writing to collect a couple of graduate degrees and a grown child. She experienced waitressing as a teenager, has worked as an activist for a non-profit consumer rights organization, has been a receptionist, an office manager, a penniless graduate student, a director of development and research, and a single mom. Her graduate degrees are in Philanthropic Studies and Library Information Science, but her first love has always been writing fiction.

Her paranormal Elder Races series began May 3, 2011 with Dragon Bound, which won RT Book Review’s Book of the Year Award, and the Romance Writer’s of America RITA in the paranormal romance category.

All five of her full length novels in the Elder Races series have won Top Picks from RT Book Reviews. Book two in the series, Storm’s Heart, and book four, Oracle’s Moon, hit the USA Today bestseller’s list, while book three, Serpent’s Kiss, hit the New York Times extended bestseller list. Her fifth book, Lord’s Fall, hit both the USA Today and the New York Times extended lists.

She adores animals and currently resides with two small dogs that have very large personalities.

Find the author online: website | blog | twitter | facebook

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Title: Rising Darkness
Series:Game of Shadows, Book 1
Author: Thea Harrison
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Published/Release Date: April 2, 2013 by Berkley Sensation

In the hospital ER where she works, Mary is used to chaos. But lately, every aspect of her life seems adrift. She’s feeling disconnected from herself. Voices appear in her head. And the vivid, disturbing dreams she’s had all her life are becoming more intense. Then she meets Michael. He’s handsome, enigmatic and knows more than he can say. In his company, she slowly remembers the truth about herself…

Thousands of years ago, there were eight of them. The one called the Deceiver came to destroy the world, and the other seven followed to stop him. Reincarnated over and over, they carry on—and Mary finds herself drawn into the battle once again. And the more she learns, the more she realizes that Michael will go to any lengths to destroy the Deceiver.

Then she remembers who killed her during her last life, nine hundred years ago…Michael.

 

 

Read J9’s review of Rising Darkness.

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Thanks to Berkley Books, one lucky winner will receive a print copy of Rising Darkness. Good luck to all who enter!

• No purchase necessary.
• Must be 18 years old or older to enter.
• Giveaway open to US residents. Void where prohibited.
• Comments are appreciated, however, you must fill out the Rafflecopter form in order to enter this giveaway.
• Please read TBV's Giveaway Policy before entering.
• Giveaway ends 9:01 pm (Pacific Time) on 4/16/2013.

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