SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH SHERRILYN KENYON
Sherrilyn Kenyon is the hugely successful and beloved New York Times Bestselling author of numerous paranormal and historical romances. Her vivid and emotional books have touched the hearts of millions and continue to make her a fan favorite. This year she will be releasing her latest Nick Gautier book, Infamous, which will be out this March and new League futurisitc Born of Silence out this April! Whoo- hoo! I can't wait.
With so much going on and being is such demand I was amazed she was able to find the free time to answer my questions.
1) This is such an honor to have you at our website!! Your books have meant so much to me and millions of other fans. The first book I read was Fantasy Lover and I haven't stopped since. How do bring such emotion and depth to your characters? And how do you keep coming up with all your fabulous ideas for more books?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Thank you so much for letting me come out and play for a bit :) And I'm so glad you like the books. I try really hard not to stink ;)
As for your questions, I blame it all on the characters :) They come to me and I listen to them. They're like my family and part of the reason I write is so that I can learn more about them and understand them better.
I have no idea where they come from. I'll be driving or just sitting and looking out the window and bam, there they are. If I never had another idea again, I have more than I could write even if I lived to be a hundred.
2) Being a successful writer can be draining. Are you able to find time for yourself between book appearances and writing? What do you enjoy doing when not writing?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
I'm always writing. I've been that way since before I started school. I can't imagine taking time off from it. It's like taking time off from breathing. But, I do like spending time with my sons and husband. And I love visiting museums, going to the opera, cooking, quilting, belly dance and other fun hobbies which are surprisingly girlie for someone who also loves to work on cars and power tools (I’ve had my own tool belt since I was 2), weight lift, box and work with computers. But while I'm doing all that, I’m always plotting the next story or going over my current work-in-progress.
3) Wow, you really have a exciting life! I have to ask, fans are really looking forward to reading more about Nick Gautier (And so am I!). Did you always plan to write a series about him? Will you write more Squire books?!
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Aww, thank you! I did, indeed. It took awhile though. When I first mentioned doing a YA with my original DH editor after Night Embrace came out, she asked, "Why would you want to write those?"
So it took a bit of convincing and then it was awhile before we could work it into my hectic writing schedule- I really need a clone :)
Because it is so involved and has its own rules to follow, I’ve always been in love with the Squires and their world. There are several Squires and characters in the Chronicles of Nick series such as Brynna, and of course, Caleb, I hope to write an adult book for one day.
I think I’m having way too much fun with the series.
4) Sounds great! Okay, Infamous is coming out this March. Will Infamous be the last in the Chronicles of Nick series? Can you please tell us more details about future books with Nick –maybe when he gets older?!
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
There should be at least eleven more. One for each year of Nick's life until it hits the Night Pleasures time line. And there is some extremely important information in Infamous about Nick and his origins. It’s a little darker than the first two, but still has the humor in it. The book and Nick deal with cyber-bullying and bullying in general which is a topic near and dear my heart. Not only was I a victim of it all through school, but I used to teach IT classes for parents and students that told them how to safeguard and combat such online tactics. While the internet is a great place, it can also be rather brutal.
There’s a big surprise with Ambrose and Nekoda, too...
Inferno will come after Infamous and it will have some huge shockers in it. But one of my fave scenes is Acheron at the prom. I can’t wait to roll that one out.
5) I am really glad you are incorporating real life problems and addressing them in your books. Plus, more of Acheron?! I can’t wait! But to keep on track, what about your other books such as your futuristic romances. How many League books have you planned? Can you tell us more about more about Darling and Zarya in Born of Silence?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
It's a monster of a book- well over 800 pages. Only Acheron has been bigger and BOS came really close to meeting it. I go more into their politics, but what fascinated me most about it is that I take a hero and turn him into a villain and then bring him back again.
I’ve always known that Darling was a complicated hero, but not even I knew the exact depth of his spirit or character. True, he loses it for a bit and there was a point where I feared he wouldn’t come back from it all, but as always, he surprised me. Also, the relationship he has with Maris added another element I wasn't expecting. Again, I knew they were close, but once I got in there... it was eye-opening. Darling really is a hero like no other and Zarya, with Maris’s help, is the perfect person to help him heal and learn to live again.
As for how many books, the League was the first series I ever wrote and published back in the early 1990's. Not sure how many people are aware, but I was writing paranormal and futuristic back in the first boom, twenty years ago (obviously while I was in grade school). After publishing six extremely successful/best selling books, the market tanked and no publisher would touch either genre no matter who wrote it (it’s why my vampires are called Daimons. No one would publish a vampire novel because we all know they don’t sell).
I’ve been working with these characters even longer than I’ve been working with the Dark-Hunters. Which means, I have tons of stories to tell and there are a number of characters in my head that haven’t made it to the page yet.
6) Your Hunter series are my favorites. You are an awe-inspiring, (genius) mastermind. I love how you mix ancient Greek myth to create some very real, powerful and even scary characters. Where did the genesis for your series start? How did you choose Artemis as your goddess who created the Dark Hunters? Will Simi and Artemis ever resolve their differences?!
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Aw, thank you so much. Although, I don’t think I’d call me a genius. You’re talking to someone who has to wear a crossbody bag because I have a bad tendency to put my bag down and lose it. Seriously. And we won’t even get into how many times we’ve found my car keys in the fridge...
But the beginning is one of serendipity. Because I come from extreme poverty (as in we didn’t have running water in my dilapidated house kind of poverty), I had to work three jobs and go to college part time. One of my jobs was editing for a small press science fiction magazine. Since we had a subscription rate of five (okay, slight exaggeration), my boss was desperate to up the number. He asked if I could come up with an ongoing serial that we might be able to addict readers to so that they wouldn’t want to miss an issue. So, being me, I asked if I could write a vampire series.
Nonplused, he scratched his head. “You do know we’re an SF publication, right?”
“Well... yeah. But can I write vampires?”
He told me if I could get folks addicted to the series, I could write about purple flying Elvis impersonators. So off I went to the next job where I was charged with doing a series of articles on Halloween legends and their origins. Now I’d been doing research for awhile, but all of my research kept leading me back to ancient Greece as the origin for all popular legends. Since I was still a student, I went to confer with an expert who happened to be my favorite Classics professor. I can still see me in Dr. Kraut’s office, posing the question that would forever alter my course. “So... why do you think that if the vampire legends originate out of ancient Greece, no one has ever written something about Apollo since he’s the god of sun and also of plagues? I mean, if you’re going to write about someone being banned from daylight, wouldn’t he be the perfect god to anger?”
I have no idea what he answered because the moment those words were out of my mouth, BAM! My brain kicked into gear. Yeah, Apollo was the god of the sun and of plagues... He had a tendency to curse people. His twin sister was goddess of the hunt and linked to the moon...
In that one instant, I had the whole idea of Apollo as the “godfather” and Artemis as the one who would set up the Dark-Hunters. The Were-Hunters were born a couple of stories later and the Dream-Hunters were born out of a slip of the tongue while I was talking to another writer.
As for Artie and Simi...
Hmmm....
7) You are a genius! Your imagination has no bounds. Is this how did you get the idea for your Magna series and eventually your graphic novels? Do you get to input how the characters look?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
I’ve been an otaku (in the American sense of the word) since middle school. Although, my obsession with anime began when I was six. Back then though, it was hard to find manga and anime. Very few places carried it.
Comics I’ve been into my entire life. My older brother was a major collector and I lived down the street from Titan Comics in Atlanta- where I’m pretty sure I gave Pat every paycheck I made until I married my husband LOL. I literally grew up in Titan Comics. As a result, I wanted to be a comic writer and even submitted scripts to Marvel, DC and Dark Horse. So it was a natural progression to adapt my works to that medium.
Because I have a long and varied comic/manga/manwha/anime and art history, I have a lot of input and I’m not afraid to use it, LOL.
8) I also really enjoy your BAD series. Will Tee and Joe get their own book soon? How did you and Dianna Love start your fabulous writing team? Do you find it easy to write with another author?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
I have most of Joe and Tee’s story drafted, but haven’t had a chance to see it in print yet.
Dianna and I were traveling extensively a few years back and we kept running into each other. To the extent that I’m pretty sure I was spending more time with her than my family. We were heading into the holidays and I had a critical deadline in that I wanted the book finished so that I could actually have a Christmas with my children. The only way was to spend a few days walled in someplace and I didn’t want to go alone. Dianna was the only person I knew who would go and not be offended that I worked and didn’t talk to her for days on end (she’s as serious about writing as I am). Since she was trying to finish a book, too, it worked out.
After that, we realized that we traveled easily together because we both work until we drop. While on tour with Dark Side of the Moon, we were brainstorming ideas for BAD. Dianna had some awesome ones and I wanted to use them, but didn’t feel right taking credit for them. So I asked if she wanted to co-write with me. The rest is history.
I won’t say it’s easy because nothing about writing is easy, and I do mean nothing. But it certainly is more challenging because we both have our own ideas about the characters and the worlds in which they live. When you write alone, you don’t have to worry about that. But Dianna and I always work it out because we both know what the most important thing in any book is.
The reader. So it’s not about ego. It’s not about being right. It’s about writing the best book we can every time and doing our best to convey the characters’ stories.
9) Too, cool! Speaking of your writing team, you started your new Belador series with Dianna Love. What was your inspiration for the tough Evalle? Will there be a spin off with other characters besides Evalle?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Evalle is Dianna’s creation. I’m the Quinn/Tzader team :) It’s interesting how differently we see the same characters in a series. It’s what makes working/writing with a partner interesting and challenging. Most of the time we’re really synchronized, but others, we’re like the two-headed llama from Dr. Doolittle. Each trying to pull the other and convince them that they really do want to go in this direction, in spite of what they think.
10) You have also written historical romances under the name Kinley Mac Gregor. What attracts you to the rugged Knights of Camelot, scandalous pirates and your brawny highlanders? Will we see more of them?! Do you have a favorite hero? How many books do you have planned for the Lords of Avalon?
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
All heroes are my favorite or I wouldn’t write them :)
The only thing I love more than ancient Rome and Greece is medieval Europe (the Plantagenets and Anglo-Saxon England to be precise). The concept of the Lords of Avalon was born out of my dissertation which was on the precept that the concept of Courtly Love isn’t from the Arabic love poetry of the Crusades as most historians argue, but rather from Celtic mythology and lore. While trying to prove my argument, I was knee deep in King Arthur. My mind being what it is, I couldn’t help wondering what happened the day after the battle of Camlann. In many stories, Arthur’s body is taken to Avalon to lie in stasis until England needs him again. But there’s no real story that deals with what happens to all of them the day after Arthur and Mordred fight. At least not in any kind of detail.
So in my world, Camelot has fallen into the hands of Morgan le Fey and the Knights of the Round Table have withdrawn to Avalon where they continue to fight her evil. And the war is on...
The Sea Wolves come out of the third time period I was required to pick for my major. In history, at most universities, you pick two major time periods and then a third that has nothing to do with them.
The American Revolution has always fascinated me. One of the first writing awards I won in elementary school was from the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution)- a story about Virginia Dare and what might have happened to her. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned I had family all over the place who fought for American independence. One was even on the Continental Congress. One was a general, another a soldier, but the most fascinating was my great-great grandfather who was a Native American scout for them. And I was lucky enough to live not far from Williamsburg for a time while my husband was stationed at Ft. Eustis. So again, it was more serendipity that I wrote them. But sheer luck they were published. I remember well, my critique partners reading me the riot act when I wrote the first Sea Wolf novel. No one had published a pirate book (this was years before Pirates of the Caribbean) and I even lost an agent over that book. But thankfully, Laura Cifelli who was a HarperCollins editor took a chance on it and relaunched my career after a four and a half year involuntary hiatus where I submitted every kind of book to every publisher I could think of. Laura, laughingly enough, passed on the Dark-Hunters.
I always say there are two things you never want to ask me about- publishing and pregnancy. Because I’ll scare you off both.
I couldn’t stop myself from asking sooo many questions. This has really been a dream come true! Thank you so much for letting me interview you!
Sherrilyn Kenyon:
Thank you so much, sweetie! I really appreciate it. You have a great day. Hugs!
Interviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club
For Additional Information about Sherrilyn Kenyon you can check her out at:
On her website at:
http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/
You can also check out her stores where you can buy special Sherrilyn Kenyon items… Oh! Yeah!
http://www.darkhunterdolls.com/
https://www.mightybarnacle.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/mydarkhunter
Upcoming and Recent Books by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Born of Silence -April 2012
Death Stalks Them All...
Kere is the second most infamous member of the shadow organization known as Sentella. An explosive engineer who strikes terror into the hearts of the League, the bounty on his head is truly staggering. No one knows his true identity.
The daughter of a traitor, Zarya Starska grew up hard on the back streets of hell- her family hunted to the brink of extinction. But Zarya dreams of a different life and a different world. A world where the harsh hand of the Caronese emperor doesn’t destroy his subjects. As a Resistance leader, her goal is to topple the government that needlessly ruined the lives of her family and comrades-in-arms. In this deadly quest, the only person she can trust is a mysterious man known only as Kere.
By The Light Of Day...
Kere has a dark secret and a brutal past. As he aids the Resistance, he’s actually working to bring down his own family- the Cruels- so named for the viciousness in their blood that runs so deep, no other name would do. Born and bred from one of the oldest and noblest families in the United Systems, Kere’s real name is Darling Cruel. And the one thing he wants most is to see his uncle, who stole the crown by murdering his father, pay for his crimes.
If You Tell A Lie Long Enough, It Becomes The Truth...
In order to protect his mother from execution, Darling’s entire life has been built on a lie that he dare not breathe a contrary word about. His hands tied by his uncle’s cruelty. No one has ever seen the real him. No one except Zarya. She’s the only person he’s ever fully trusted with the truth. But when she betrays him by allowing a weapon he designed solely for her to be used against him, all bets are off.
The Hero Is Now The Monster...
Betrayed to the deepest level, Darling becomes an enemy even worse than his uncle. His goal is not only to reign, but to kill every Resistance member he can find. He won’t rest until all of them are dead and that includes Zarya.
The Twisted Hand Of Fate...
Zarya is the only hope to reach the heart of the man her people once considered their ally. A man who hates her with a fury so great that she knows it’s just a matter of time before he kills her. But if she can find the part of him that once trusted her, the part of him that once loved her, she might be able to save not only her own life, but those of her people.
It’s an impossible mission.
Too bad she doesn’t play the odds.
Infamous -March 2012
The world has fallen in love with Nick Gautier and the Dark-Hunters. Now Nick’s saga continues in the next eagerly anticipated volume...
Go to school. Get good grades. Stay out of trouble. That’s the mandate for most kids. But Nick Gautier isn’t the average teenager. He’s a boy with a destiny not even he fully understands. And his first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him.
He’s learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive such a difficulty? But that isn’t the primary skill he has to master. Survival is.
And in order to survive, his next lesson makes all the others pale in comparison. He is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known.
Or he’ll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he’ll lose everyone he cares about.
Even himself.
The Guardian -Nov. 2011
As a Dream-Hunter, Lydia has been charged with the most sacred and
dangerous of missions. She’s to descend into the Nether Realm and find the missing god of dreams before he betrays the secrets that could kill all of them. What she never expects is to be taken prisoner by the Realm’s most vicious guardian.
Seth’s time is running out. If he can’t hand over the entrance to Olympus and the heart of Zeus, then his own life and soul will be forfeit. No matter the torture, he hasn’t been able to break the god in his custody. But when a rescuer appears, he decides to try a new tactic.
When these two lock wills, one of them must give. Lydia isn’t just guarding the gates of Olympus, she’s holding back the darkest of powers. If she fails, an ancient evil will roam the earth once more and no one will be safe.
But evil is always seductive...
Alternant with Dianna Love -Sept 27th, 2011
In this explosive new world of betrayals and shaky alliances, the only Alterant not incarcerated faces an impossible task -- recapture three dangerous, escaped creatures before they slaughter more humans…or her.
The way Evalle Kincaid sees it, saving mankind from total destruction should have cleared her name. But when words uttered in the heat of combat are twisted against her, she's blamed for the prison break of three dangerous Alterants. She has one chance to clear the cloud of suspicion hanging over her…for good. All she has to do is recapture the escapees. But deals with gods and goddesses are tricky at best, and now the lives of all Beladors, and the safety of innocent humans, rides on Evalle's success. The only person she can ask for help wants to see her dead.
Retribution 20th Dark Hunter -Aug 2nd, 2011
Harm no human...
A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey.
Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief- Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meets the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.
A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster...
Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who’s assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he’s not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all.
Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they’ve sworn to protect.