Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
In the dark days since the insidious Red Lung virus decimated the human population, vampires have risen to rule the crumbling cities and suburbs. Uncontested Princes hold sway over diminished ranks of humans: their "pets." In exchange for their labor, loyalty and of course, their blood, these pets are registered, given food and shelter, permitted to survive.
Unregistered humans cling to fringes, scavenging for survival. Allison Sekemoto and her fellow Unregistereds are hunted, not only by vampires, but by rabids, the unholy result of Red Lung-infected vampires feeding on unwary humans. One night, Allie is attacked by a pack of rabids, saved by an unlikely hero...and turned vampire.
Uncomfortable in her undead skin, Allie falls in with a ragtag crew of humans seeking a cure, or cures: for Rabidism and for Vampirism. She's passing for human...for now. But the hunger is growing and will not be denied. Not for friendship—not even for love.
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A Q&A with
New York Times Best Selling
Author Julie Kagawa
After writing the
Iron Fey series for so many years, how difficult was it to immerse yourself in
a futuristic world filled with vampires, rabids and an enslaved human race?
It
was...very different. I think the
hardest thing for me was the fact that this story does take place in the real
world -- a futuristic, vampire-infested world, but the real world
nonetheless. Things had to make sense,
for example: how far can a large group walk in a single day if there were no
roads, they were going through thick woods, and there were children in the
group? I had to have logical reasons for
everything; I couldn't just make something work "because of faery
magic," lol.
Just like Meghan
Chase in the Iron Fey series, the main character in The Immortal Rules, Allison Sekemoto, is a “take charge and kick
butt” kind of girl. Is this intentional?
What woman – real or fictional, alive or deceased – do you look up to or
admire?
Yes,
Allison comes from a very different world than Meghan Chase. Meghan's upbringing was pretty normal;
Allison grew up among vampires and monsters, where every day was a fight to
live, so she couldn't afford to be weak.
While Meghan had to learn to "take charge and kick butt," Allison's
first impulse is stab first, talk later.
As for
female role models, the first that comes to mind--when it comes to kicking
vampire butt, anyway -- is Buffy Summers.
Thank you, Joss Whedon, for making me love feisty, snarky, heroines who
can dust all sorts of nasties but who also look good in a cheerleading outfit.
;)
You mention in your
acknowledgements in The Immortal Rules
that at the beginning of your writing career you promised yourself you wouldn’t
write a vampire book. What changed your
mind?
Well, there
were already so many really good books about our favorite bloodsuckers, so many
stories and ideas, I thought I didn't have anything new to add to the
masses. I was actually toying with a
post-apocalyptic YA novel when my agent mentioned I might want to try writing a
vampire series. I wasn't intrigued with
the idea at first, but then I thought about combining vampires with the
post-apocalyptic novel and then rest sort of fell into place.
Allison claims she
hates vampires and believes they are monsters yet when faced with a choice of
die or become one, she becomes a vampire.
Would you have made that same decision?
Me
personally? No. I'm like Zeke in the belief that there is
something better waiting for me beyond this life, and I just have to do my best
until it’s time for me to go. Besides, I
love pizza and Mountain Dew too much to give it up.
Who do you think the
most complex character is in The Immortal
Rules?
Probably
Kanin, Allie's sire. He's a vampire who
has made his peace about being a monster, yet chooses to live by his own set of
moral rules. He warns Allison about
getting too close to humans, yet he does not kill unless he absolutely has to. He is tormented about something in his past
that he refuses to share with anyone. He
is certainly the most mysterious of all the characters, if not the most
complex.
How many books will
be in the Blood of Eden series? When
will the next book be coming out?
At the
moment, there are three books planned, with the second coming out sometime next
spring, after the release of the new Iron Fey series this fall.
Before you starting
writing full time you were a professional dog trainer. Do the professions share any similarities?
Lol, well
you have to think on your feet a lot.
And some of the small dogs could be compared to tiny snapping goblins,
but writing requires less dodging skills, though perhaps the same amount of
creativity and problem solving.
When starting a new
series, like Blood of Eden, do you have the entire series mapped out in detail
or do you let the story develop book by book?
I have a high
point that I write toward in each story; I know this and this has to
happen, but getting from point A to point B usually develops as I go along.
And for the speed round:
What book have you
read and re-read, and read yet again?
Any of the
Harry Potter books.
Favorite song to play
when writing a fight scene?
My
"favorites" change daily.
Right now its "Awake and Alive" by Skillet.
Worst job?
Working a
kiosk in the mall during Christmas. It
sold glass figurines, and the maneuvering space around the hundreds of very
breakable merchandise was quite small. I
was like a bull in a china shop.
Best vacation spot?
Walt Disney
World
Sweets or salty?
Sweet.
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* Follow Julie on Twitter: @Jkagawa http://twitter.com/Jkagawa
* Follow Julie on her blog: http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/
* Follow Harlequin Teen on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HarlequinTEEN
Great Q&A! Thanks for featuring Ms. Kagawa and Immortal Rules. I'm really looking forward to reading it and can't wait to fall in love with the new series :-)
ReplyDeleteI know! I'm sad I couldn't put right on top of TBR
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