Interview & Giveaway with Thea Harrison

Welcome to our second interview with the lovely Ms. Thea Harrison. Here at Book Pushers we’ve become big fans of her Elder Races series. With the newest novel, Lord’s Fall, just released yesterday, we get to go back to the roots of the series and see how Pia and Dragos are holding up.

BP: Ms Harrison, thank you for joining us today. It is always a pleasure to have you here.

Hi, thanks so much for having me again! It’s always a pleasure to visit with you. ☺

BP: Your current full novel in the Elder Races series made a return to Pia and Dragos. Will we see Dragos, Rune and Tiago come together and heal the rift that has sprung up between them?

You do get to see more of Rune in Lord’s Fall. I don’t want to get too spoilerish, so I won’t speak of what happens… Tiago, I’m afraid, has not shown up with the folks from New York yet. Tiago and Niniane’s story gets an update in the fourth Elder Races novella, Hunter’s Season. They’ve solidified Niniane’s position on the Dark Fae throne and have just reached a point in their lives where they can start planning yearly stays in Chicago and the rest of Earth.

BP: Your world building of the Elder race increases in size with each book. How did you start off with your world building, and what research did you do?

I think the research I did is difficult to pinpoint, because it encompasses years of personal interest reading, hobbies, and classes I took in college as electives, such as mythology and philosophy, etc. When I sat down to pull it all together for Dragon Bound, the first book in the series, I set some factors up that would leave the world wide open to further world building, but I didn’t think too far ahead. So far, extending the world building with each story has been a complementary process and it hasn’t been too difficult to reconcile different facts with the series mythology.

BP: Are you able to give us any sneaky hints in what readers can expect after Pia and Drago’s book. Are you open to bribery?

Ooh, bribery! ☺ Book six, Aryal’s story, is under submission with my editor. I don’t want to talk about it much until I know it gets the official seal of approval, but I really enjoyed that story. After that, I’ve done some plotting for the next three books. I have got plans for other non-Wyr stories, and should readers really love the second story about Pia and Dragos, I would like to pursue a third story with them. All of this is contingent on approval from my editor, of course, so it’s very much in process!

>BP: Will we find out more about the Oracle’s prediction for Dragos?

Absolutely! This plot thread is continued in Lord’s Fall.

BP: Your Elves seem to be particularly devious and have demonstrated that “politics makes for strange bedfellows”. What inspired you to make them devious, instead of the omnipotent-mostly-neutral-with-a-shading-of-good side?

I don’t actually see the Elves in my stories as being particularly devious. I actually have a great deal of sympathy for their outrage that Dragos broke treaties and trespassed on their land. Dragos is a frightening creature to someone who is not friends with him, and who, in the past, have been his enemies.

My concept of them is more that they have good, and not so good, aspects to them. Just like everybody else, some of them are good people and some of them are bad, and the bad ones have a talent for making trouble for everybody else.

BP: Some authors prefer to write novels, novellas or even short stories. What length are you most comfortable writing?

Although I learned a lot while writing the novellas that I have to date, for the Elder Races series, I actually prefer the full length novels. But I’m very aware that this might not always be the case, depending on what project I may be working on—for example, contemporaries, or thrillers, as opposed to such a content rich world like the Elder Races universe.

BP: Are you planning on writing any more books with characters we’ve already had POV’s from in the series?

Not at the moment. I want to see how readers respond to Lord’s Fall first. Some people won’t like Lord’s Fall simply because it isn’t Dragon Bound (nor was it meant to be), but if the overall response is strongly in favor of the story, then I would definitely consider more.

BP: We hear that you have a new series in the works. Can you give us any hints or information on what’s it about and when to expect it?

The Game of Shadows novels is actually a duology. The first one, Rising Darkness, releases April 2, 2013. You can read the official cover copy here on my blog. The stories are based on another alternative Earth, although this Earth is nothing like the one in the Elder Races universe. I’m very excited at this project, and I can’t wait to share the gorgeous cover art with readers! (I’ll post more news about that on my blog as we solidify plans for it!)

BP: Do you have any plans in re-releasing any of your back-list titles written under your other author name, Amanda Carpenter?

I do indeed! We’re in the final stages of contract negotiations, and I’ll be sure to post on my blog just as soon as I have the go ahead to share concrete details!

BP: What is the weirdest and funniest guilty pleasures from any of your characters?

The first thing that popped to my mind when I read this question was how Alice, the heroine from the first Elder Races novella, liked to hang out in her Wyr form in the small potted trees in her living room while she watched television.

BP: If any of the characters from the Elder Races found themselves (for whatever strange or wonderful reason) at a fantasy or comic-con, what kind of mayhem or costumes would they adopt?

What an awesome question! Can you imagine a comic-con in the Elder Races universe? I want to go to one! The question makes me think of that movie Galaxy Quest, where actual aliens show up at a sci-fi convention. (I loved that movie.)

In the Elder Races universe, I think probably Light and Dark Fae Trekkies that show up at Star Trek conventions dressed as Spock or other Vulcans has been overdone, but this fact has probably not dissuaded them in the slightest.

Thanks again for such an awesome visit!

I have a question for readers: if you were to go to a comic-con or fantasy convention, which Elder Races character would you like to see there?

BP: Answering Ms Harrison’s question above enters you into a contest to win one mass market paperback copy of any of the previous four Elder Races novels, Dragon Bound, Storm’s Heart, Serpent’s Kiss, or Oracle’s Moon. This contest is only open to the US and closes on Wednesday the 14th with the winner announced on the 15th. Good luck!