We continue with The Book Pushers’ official Ellen Connor Day. Has and MinnChica already shared their super gushy joint review this morning. Now, we have the chance talk with the creators behind Ellen Connor.
Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty are the masterminds behind the Dark Age Dawning trilogy, a new post-apocalyptic series that is guaranteed to take readers on a thrill ride. Nightfall, the first book of the trilogy recently released on June 6th, 2011. The remainder of the trilogy, Midnight and Daybreak will be out later this year: September and December respectively.
Book Pushers: How did the two of you team up and decide to write together? What’s the story behind your kick ass pen name?
Ann: We met online five years ago. I had recently moved to Mexico. Carrie was writing a historical romance novel. I was writing all kinds of things. Since then, she’s sold historical romance novels. I’ve sold all kinds of things.
Carrie: How did we become Ellen Connor? Well, we discussed just using our names, but we wanted these books to be ours. Together. A pen name is the best way to communicate that joint commitment. Plus, on a more technical note, it’s easier for the art department to utilize one name. The amazing art by Gene Mollica certainly validates this decision! We were totally blown away by his gorgeous, perfect depiction of our world and characters.
Once we settled on the idea of a new name, we needed to pick the perfect one. What a nice surprise that it wasn’t too difficult! Ellen Ripley of Aliens and Sarah Connor of The Terminator are our favorite kick-ass heroines of all time, so it was a simple matter of combining their names. (We did toy with the idea of Sarah Ripley, but we liked Ellen Connor better and hope you agree.)
Book Pushers: What sparked the idea for the Dark Age Dawning series?
Ann: Fast forward two years into our friendship to when I had an epic dream. It was insanely vivid, post-apocalyptic, full of dangerous magic, excitement, a compelling hero and heroine, the end of the world, and evil demon dogs. I posted a blog about it, where a ton of readers commented: I would so totally read that! You should write it. But by that point, I didn’t have time to finish a book on spec. Yet the idea haunted me. Eventually, between deadlines, I hammered out the first chapter and I emailed it to Carrie.
Carrie: I was curious about Ann’s idea. Frankly, as a historical romance author, I’d never given much thought to writing outside of my comfort zone. But the idea of plunging into something crazy and unformed was really tempting. It was unlike anything I’d tried before. I took a chance. After all, what do I know about writing a male soldier’s point of view during an apocalypse?! I think Ann was nervous about working with me because, at the time, I was quite a plotter. Neither of us knew if I could free style in the way a partnership needs.We needn’t have worried. The work was so much fun! Writing for the hell of it. No goal. No net. Just tag, you’re it!
Book Pushers: What is your writing process like? Do you write characters, chapters, lines?
Ann: This is where you find out that we do, in fact, split the books by point of view. The strategy worked for us because any minute differences in our individual voices as authors could be attributed to character differences. Thus during the summer of 2008, we wrote Nightfall by pinging the chapters back and forth. Suddenly we had a book.
Book Pushers: What can you tell us about these books, and what can we expect from Nightfall?
Carrie: Fast forward another year, and we sold the whole trilogy to Berkley Sensation. Which is insanely thrilling. It was incredible exciting to start with nothing but a dream, fall into a partnership for the fun, and—against the odds—wind up going pro with a cross-genre project. The “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy fits firmly in the romance genre because without the couples at the center of each book, the center would not hold.
And happy endings all around! But we provide elements of fantasy and horror too. We hope to have created something new and exciting. We think of Nightfall as groundbreaking, fresh, hot, gritty, edgy, violent, and dark. It’s a new brand of romance.
Book Pushers: The “Dark Age Dawning” series has some intense world building. What do you do to keep all your details consistent? Is there a super secret series bible out there somewhere?
Ann: I’m amazingly good at keeping track of that sort of thing. Which is ironic, given that I can’t remember people’s faces or certain details about day-to-day life. But I know my fictional worlds like the back of my hand. We don’t have a series bible, but we do have a secret timeline.
Carrie: The timeline is so key! Ann was my guide through the process of worldbuilding, because my experience has been writing historical romance. There, I have historical fact as my guideline, with only my characters and events to keep track of. With this series, we needed to work out the logistics in a way that stayed consistent across all three books. Ann’s expertise in that aspect of craft was a fantastic asset.
Book Pushers: Was it difficult to hop back and forth between the intense writing of thehorrors in the world, and the sweet romance between Jenna and Mason?
Ann: It made for nice breaks in the action, so that made it easier. Sometimes you’re not in the mood to write a fight scene. And sometimes you don’t feel like writing the sexytimes, so all the various elements make for a fantastic, diverse workday.
Carrie: I liked writing the fine-edged contrast between violence for the sake of survival and the violence inherent in fresh passion. All of their frustrations boil over at key moments that were so much fun to write. I cannot imagine people being in a life-or-death, end-of-the-world scenario and not be subject to those intense emotions.
Book Pushers: What is you’re favourite dark setting from either a book or movie?
Ann: I love Larissa Ione’s Demonica world. Karina Cooper’s world in the Dark Mission series is very intriguing as well. As for films, I’d say my favorite worlds are Resident Evil, The Terminator, and Blade Runner — in no particular order.
Carrie: I’m a sucker for monster movies–not horror movies where psychos are the badguys, but where zombies or sharks or aliens are there for the explicit purpose of dying in grim ways. My favorites are Aliens, 28 Days Later, and Pitch Black, as well as apocalyptic classics like The Terminator. There’s a reason why Ann and I work so well together!
Book Pushers: What is your dark favourite hero or heroine (Has’ is Riddick and Minn’s is those Boondock Saints brothers *faint*) and why do they appeal to you?
Ann: Riddick, obviously. I’ve seen Pitch Black a hundred times. He appeals to me because he’s the ultimate anti-hero. He’s dark, dangerous, mysterious, bad-ass and unknowable, but he’s not one-dimsensional. He has the capacity to learn and grow. By the end, he cares about Caroline and he’s wounded by her fate. He cares about Jack and tries to protect her by keeping his distance. Oh, Riddick. But I also love the Boondock Saints, too. They have Batman-style of cool, don’t they? There’s just something about a vigilante.
Carrie: I’m gonna have to go with Jim and Selena from 28 Days Later. They adapt mad-crazy fast, protect one another, and manage to find a small corner of the world to be together. I love how, by the big fight scene climax, the viewer can hardly tell Jim apart from the zombies. He went from a vulnerable, naked (totally!), thin, recovering hospital patient to a hardass! But yes, Riddick is incredible too. Pitch Black was an amazing surprise, now a near-classic in sci-fi. So good.
Book Pushers: If tomorrow was the apocalypse, what would you do to go out in style?
Ann: I’d hire a bodyguard who knew what he was doing.
Carrie: Well, I’d certainly ditch this diet and find a box of godiva. And gin. Lots of gin.
Book Pushers: Can you give a hint to what you are cooking up next after this series?
Ann: *smiles mysteriously*
Carrie: Oh, no. Not a word. Keeping secrets is too much fun!
Thank you so much, Ann and Carrie for taking the time to answer our questions!!! Ann and Carrie will also be giving away two copies of Nightfall, and will be open to all. To enter, what is your favorite post apocaylyptic movie/book or character?
The giveaway will end next Friday, July the 1st – Midnight GMT!
Good Luck!
Loved, loved, loved Nightfall. already have it, so I don’t need a copy, just wanted to tell my two favorite authors to keep writing 🙂
Thanks for a wonderful interview!
My fav post apocalyptic book would have to be The First Days…
thebookishbrunette@gmail.com
i’m totally new to post apocalyptic fiction so it’s really difficult to answer ( or perhaps i’ve read some but i didn’t know it was that kind)….i guess i will tell “dead iron” ( thanks to the snippet) from devon monk
Love Temple from Reapers are the Angels. Give that girl her machete and she will kick some serious butt! Can’t wait to read Nightfall – post-apocalyptic worlds are my favorite!
I cannot wait to read Nightfall, the cover looks especially good! It seems authors often get their ideas from dreams and I hope they never stop dreaming and writing incredible stories.
A post apocaylyptoc movie I really enjoyed was The Matrix.
Don’t think I have read or seen any anything post apocalyptic.
I’ve just finished reading ‘Magic Slays’ and I loved it.
Illona Andrews does a wonderful job in describing post- apocalyptic Atlanta .
I can’t wait to read “Nightfall’.
I’ve always enjoyed post apocalyptic stories – some of my favorite movies have been Blade Runner, I Am Legend, WALL-E, Mad Max, etc. I’ve read a lot of great books over the years, but the latest I can think of are Joss Ware’s Envy Chronicles.
Barbed1951 at aol dot com
Thanks for having us, ladies! And best of luck to everyone who stops by. If any of you will be at the RWA National conference, Ann and I will be signing NIGHTFALL throughout the week. Hope to see you there!
I am new to the post apocaylyptic theme so I have no answer– but I enjoyed the interview and I’m looking forward to reading this series!
My favorite postapocalyptic book is The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham.
kapranova.sofija@gmail.com
My favourite post-apocalyptic stories are Nausicaa and WALL-E.
I absolutely love post apocalyptic story lines. For me the appeal really lies in what the author imagines about our possible future. It is unbelievable captivating for me.
One of my all time favorite series in this genre is the Dead World series by Jordan Summers. A dark mix of post apocalyptic with werewolves. Double win.
I heard so many good things about your novels. So can’t wait to check them out. *g*
just finished the Hunger Games and am thinking the qualitfy. They were great both me and my son loved them.
this book sounds great and I’d love to read it.
Action with a healthy dose of romance? Sounds wonderful. I’d love to win a copy *fingers crossed*
Thinking Matrix (Keanu Reeves….yummy!)
Read my first post apocalypse book this past month. Beyond the Night by Joss Ware. I really enjoyed it. My favorite post apocalypse movie is Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome…..so quotable in everyday life. I often tell my children, “Bust a deal, face the wheel” they of course look at me like I’m crazy.
RNACLARK at msn dot com
That would be “The Stand” by Stephen King
Pingback: Book Bits: Drink Deep excerpt, new Joey W. Hill, Jim Butcher excerpts | Vampire Book Club
OMG, I can’t wait to read your book. It was months ago when I first read about Nightfall and since then I’ve been biting my nails in excitement 😛 So many thanks for the post and the chance to win 🙂
Well, one of my favourite post apocalypse book is Night Betrayed by Joss Ware. I loved the whole plot and the her idea of the future of the world was really interesting. And there’s romantic in the story ;] So I loved the book, I can reccommend it to you, if you haven’t read it yet 🙂
Thanks again,
mikki-mano@hotmail.com
your book sounds very good and im looking forward to reading it. ive never read a post apocaylyptic book but my favorite movie would be resident evil. 🙂 thanks for the chance to win.
shadow_kohler(at)att(dot)net
Hmm, I’m not much read or watching about post apocalyptic theme, but I can said, I enjoy Terminator 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway
My current favorite is the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant (zombies are kinda post-apocalyptic, right?). Fast paced thriller with shocking twists….perfect!
Thanks for the giveaway! This book is on my TBR list.
Favourite character: Riddick (enjoyed Chronicles Of a lot more than I expected!) and I really enjoyed Jordan Summers’ Red, Scarlet and Crimson trilogy (mmm, alpha werewolves!)
Thanks for a lovely giveaway.
andra(dot)always(at)gmail(dot)com
“The Stand” – Stephen King I will re-read it every year or so and my movie is WALL-E
My favorite post apocaylyptic book series is the Magic series by Ilona Andrews. This is my favorite UF series and the world the authors have created is something absolutely unique.
Thank you for the interview and for making this giveaway international! 🙂
Giada M.
fabgiada (at) gmail (dot) com
I really, really enjoyed The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington!
Thanks so much for the giveaway!
mybookishways[at]yahoo[dot]com
I haven’t read a lot of post-apocalyptic books yet, a lot on my TBR list though. My favourite so far HAS to be The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, she manages to give the world life again.
Thanks for the great opportunity!!!
nat_isabel(at)hotmail(dot)com
THE ROAD with Viggo Mortensen was a great post apocaylyptic movie. The book, The Road by Cormac McCarthy was exceptional.
I don’t think I’ve really read many post apocalyptic books, but I know I’ve seen some movies (I’m just having trouble thinking of them). Ummm, Book of Eli was pretty good, and I kinda liked I Am Legend, oh and I loved WALL-E (does that count as post apocalypse?, okay not really but I went to Wikipedia for ideas and it kinda says so). Well, I’ve decided that although I’ve seen a few post apocalype movies, none are really myt favourite. Thanks.
My favorite post-apocolyptic movie is definitely 28 Days Later, and I am very happy to see that I am not the only one who loves this movie! I’ve watched it so many times I can’t even count!
Thanks for a great interview and giveaway:)
I don’t think I’ve read many post-apocalyptic novels but I really liked the Dark Angels series, and of course the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews!
What I love about post-apocalyptic settings is that the author has a blank page and tehy can reinvent the world as they see fit. I love this limitless canvas of possibilities 😀
I had had Nightfall on my wishlist for some weeks now, would love to read it, thank you so much for the interview and giveaway! 🙂
stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com
I’ve just started watching the Resident Evil movie series, which is pretty wild.
caity_mack at yahoo dot com
Not a movie but I loved the TV series “Jericho”! It was so good and I wish they hadn’t canceled it 🙁
smaccall AT comcast.net
Sounds really good. Unless you count The Stand. I think the only ones I have read are The Hunger Games series. Which was way better than I went in expecting it to be.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
The giveaway has now ended!