I wasn’t going to get into the whole Hunger Games issue that’s hitting the all the blogs but when I read “Kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad..”   Really!  That deflates her quality as a character to pull at your heartstrings.  She was twelve-years-old.  If the death a twelve-year-old doesn’t make you sad I think you have bigger issues that need to be addressed with someone who works with sociopaths.

Now to my initial warning.  In Chrysalis I have black characters.

I know.  It’s shocking.  Since I don’t come right out and say the race of each character I’m warning you now that some characters in Chrysalis are BLACK. Shocking I know, but it’s true.  The web is alive with people that were “shocked” that characters in the movie the Hunger Games were black.  My question to them is why?  Did you not read the series? 

Due to time constraints I haven’t read all of the Hunger Games, I’ll admit that, but I did read most of it or at least far enough in to read that some kids were dark skinned.  You take that phrasing in a world where people are so sheltered due to the way their world was broken apart by war and why would they say…this person was African-American.  There was a reason that Native American’s called Caucasian people pale faces.  They had never seen them before and they used a way to describe them that made since.  It seems common place to call some one white, Asian, black, etc, but if you were in a society that for generations had never mixed and the history of your world had been destroyed what would you call someone that looked different then you.

Let me tell you what my son did when he came home from school at age three and said he liked his brown and his white teacher.  It took him a few months of being in school to not only learn that his teacher wasn’t brown she was black and that he was too.  Although if I were to describe his skin tone I’d probably go with a dark olive color or tanned, but since his father is black he is.  According to our society.  Not the society that the world had created at the time of The Hunger Games.  Look at Othello.  He’s simply called the dark Moor, but we all knew that Lawrence Fishburne was the right choice for the part?  He wasn’t called black, just dark.

In Chrysalis the first line is “The chocolate colored skin on his clean-shaven head glistened with sweat from football practice.” Spoiler alert!  I don’t say Oscar’s black, but chocolate is a universally known product that has a distinct color to it.  Lets head back to the Hunger Games, the main characters didn’t know what chocolate was until they went to the city so using it as a way to describe someone’s skin tone wouldn’t be natural.

Back to Chrysalis.  Ellie’s best friend, Kelly, is described as having mocha colored skin while her boyfriend, Max, is said to have skin the color of dark honey.  Shoot the fact that Rue was described as dark skinned made me think of Nye from The Frozen (by the way …there are black people in that book too).  Nye is described as obsidian in shading his skin so dark.  But to Katniss who’d never seen a person darker than summer tan little Rue would seem dark.  I give the author credit for using phrasing that was appropriate for her characters.  If Susanne Collins would have come right out and said Rue and the other tribute from sector eleven were black as opposed to dark skinned with brown eyes she would have compromised her characters and her book.

Just to keep it straight in Chrysalis, Oscar, his father Mr. Jeffreys, Sharyn, Mia, Max and Kelly are all black.  And because like every race they have various shades…just take it from the pasty white girl Ellie.  They are not described as black people or African Americans (that’s a different soapbox for another time).  They are described for the beautiful shades that they are.

I didn’t go into Lenny Kravitz character Cinna because I didn’t have vision of Cinna in my mind anyway and Lenny can walk around naked (and he has…oh music pick) and I’m fine with it.   And really the comment that the girl dying wasn’t as sad was more the focus of this blog.

To follow the initial article that set me off click here.

To follow another blog that hits even more to the point on race in fantasy books check out Tricia Drammeh.

And since I brought up Lenny Kravitz…enjoy.  I know I will.

On Saturday it'll be exactly one month until Chrysalis releases.  Freaking out?  I'm not freaking out, why would I be freaking out?  Once Chrysalis is out I have about one month to push that then The Frozen starts up.  Yep one month to Chrysalis, four months to The Frozen.

Okay, I just threw up a little in a little in my mouth.  It's fine in theory to have my books read by some awesome beta readers and writers groups.  It's another thing to have it available to everyone.  What will they say?  Will they love Oscar and Ellie like I do?  Or will Kiri and Nye from The Frozen be the fan favorite.  

I'm too attached to Chrysalis.  That I'll admit.  But it's my baby.  I poured myself into it.  It's my first born so I want to protect it and make sure no one hurts it's feelings.  

The Frozen on the other hand is my fifth book, technically and you know how it is ... as they say in the movie Parenthood.  "By the third kid you let them juggle knives."  Not saying I don't love The Frozen.  Really, I had a feeling that The Frozen would have been picked up first because of the reactions I got from it over Chrysalis.  But here I am hoping to not be crushed by my love of Chrysalis.  Both books are written in two drastically different styles and voices, I think.  With The Frozen you have three voices where with Chrysalis just one.   The Frozen has stronger language and content.  Chrysalis shows a first love bloom.

Now as I look into places to do a type of book signing or maybe a party on release day we all know that it's just a distraction that I put out there.  It's all downhill from here.  Final edits.  Quick change to the cover art.  And few guest interviews and blogs.  All in an attempt to share my baby.  Be gentle with her.  Because it feels like this baby is riding an pinewood derby car going a hundred miles an hour with only egg foam to protect her.

            Okay, the best book on writing is called On Writing, by Stephen King.  How do I know that?  Because it gets mentioned only about seven thousand times when you talk to writers, whether in person or in a forum.  Which is great, since I’ve yet to read it, but all the good points have been brought up in the conversations. 

            Recently I took an online class through RWA and while sifting through all the commentary I found this little nugget.  A good writer has to be a good reader.  

            Sure it makes sense, you want someone who enjoys reading to write for you just like you want a chef who enjoys the subtilties in seasonings. But what of the fear of if I start writing and my world looks very similar to the author’s that I’m reading?

            It’s no secret that I wrote Chrysalis after being inspired by the Twilight series.  I had written the prolog a dozen times before, but never wrote more because I wasn’t even sure what I was doing anyway.  Then I just went for it like Stephanie Meyer had.  In three weeks I had lost almost thirty pounds and finished my rough draft and that was just the beginning of my series, sadly I started sleeping and eating again so it was the end of my weight loss.

            Then there’s The Frozen.  I had the idea in my head since college.  It was a running joke between my now husband and I that all the evil in the world came from a Hells Mouth in the town where we went to college.  As I read the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward the image became clearer.  Since I was dealing with angels and demons I didn’t start her Fallen Angel series until I was over 60 thousand words in because I didn’t know what her angels were doing, but I wasn’t about to copy her ideas.

            Let me tell you when I finally sat down and read about Jim Heron and his overgrown sidekick angels I breathed a small sigh of relief.  Her series had a soul war, where mine was an all out war.  Hers had men that were inherently good and hadn’t committed any sins, where mine had.  Hers were angels, where mine are men and women walking the line.

            If nothing else it made me breath a sigh of relief and believe in myself as a writer more.  These ideas were mine.  The stories were mine.  The MUSE was mine.  That’s a wonderful feeling. 

            So back to Stephen King, another writer I was inspired by, not because his stories give me a spark, but because it took him twenty years to get published.  Reading is fundamental.  We learn this in school, but after this weekend I realized it more than ever.  I worked as a campmaster down at my favorite camp Phillippo, which gives you hours of free time in between running around like a chicken with its head cut off.  And I read.  As I fell into Kristin James’ story about a woman recovering from loss I could hear my characters talking to me again.

            Silly Girl has been stalled at about fifty thousand words.  I debated on trying a short bridge between my beginning and ending and calling it a novella.  But no.  I didn’t short change Oscar and Ellie or Kiri and Nye and I wouldn’t do that to Sylvia and Matthias.  Their story deserved to be told and so it shall.  

            Guess I’ll have to read On Writing and stop taking the cliff notes off of blogs and classes, who knows what might happen.

Against my better judgement I sat down with Damarion from The Frozen.
He's the naughty demon that I didn't want to fall in love with, but what you will find with many of my demons ... they are delectable in their own way.

M-Would you like to introduce yourself and what you do for the readers?
D-My name is Damarion, but those in my coven call me Yahweh as I am their leader and god in this world.  Currently I watch over a coven of Deumos, female demons, that are trained to track, retrieve and mature the demons that emerge from the Hell’s Mouth.  If I am successful in maintaining and closing this Hell’s Mouth I will be rewarded with my love’s hand in marriage.


M-Do you fear anything?

D-My greatest fear are my Deumos, I need to control them and they determine my success or failure.  Sadly in my weakened state they could kill me at a moments notice and I am afraid I would be powerless to stop them.


M-What of desire?

D-Michel, you ask so nicely.  Desire on the other hand … funny … for the past forty-nine years I would say my love, the Princess, was my greatest desire but lately I have been confronted with feelings that are confusing my goal.


M-Is there anything that could make you cry?

D-Tears are weak.


M-What could lead you to murder?

D-Murder is always an option.  Not to kill is the hard part.  I’m stuck in a chess game and taking out a pawn could compromise my queen.


M-Sum yourself up in a few words.

D-Motto?  But for love go I.

I sat down with Nye from my new novel The Frozen for a meet and greet interview.  The Frozen will be coming out next year from Rebel Ink Press

I hope you find him as interesting as I do, sorry I did have to cut some of Nye's answers.  Once he gets comfy talking with someone, he spills a little too much.








M-Hello can you give a little background about yourself?

N-My name is Nye at one time it was Big George but I gave that name up long ago.  I was born on a plantation outside of Pascagoula, Mississippi in either 1834 or 1835.  Being a slave my birth date was never important.  I'm now looked at as one hundred and seventy two years old or twenty three.  It never really mattered anyway.


M-You don't look that old.  What do you do for a living?

N-Currently I am part of the Frozen a group of demon hunters located all around the world.  Becoming part of the Frozen isn't hard.  Take your own life and then make the choice to serve a sentence to avoid Hell.  Okay, so maybe it is hard.  You fail in your attempt and you are sent to Hell directly.  The one part of the deal made to make us be motivated to try. 

M-Everyone that commits suicide becomes part of The Frozen?

N-No.

M-I know it's hard, but why did you do it?

N-Well, I let you read the story. So I serve.  Moving from town to town as Hell's Mouths open and close with a group of Frozen only a few that are determined like me to stay alive long enough to complete their sentence. 


M-What's your greatest fear?

N-A few days ago my greatest fear was not completing my years of service, now my greatest fear is Kiri having pain.  I couldn't leave her on the road when Dilana's arrow pierced her leg.  I knew she would die and something about her eyes.  Those brown velvet cattail like eyes encircled by her light blond lashes wouldn't let me. 

M-What's your greatest desire?

N-Now my greatest desire is to have Kiri in my arms.  To make her my other.  Not that it would be fair.  For her to sacrifice her life and mine.  To make it so I would have to hunt demons for eternity or till they run out, but that's why it's a desire not a need.

M-What could drive you to tears?

N-Only Kiri now.  Her with another man, her in pain, her rejecting me.  Her crying.  I'd do anything to stop that.

M-So considering your profession I assume murder isn't an issue?

N-Murder of a human?  Yes I'd murder for Kiri.  Although I've killed thousands of demons over the years, I would consider murdering a human for her.


M-What would you like to leave us with?  Kiri said she was petite, but powerful.


N-She would ... I may be frozen in time, but my heart still beats. 

 

I've decided to interview my characters starting with Kiriana Kladshon from The Frozen.  Come back for interviews with Nye and Damarion.  Then I'll interview the Chrysalis characters


M-So can you introduce yourself?  Who you are? And what you do?K-I’m Kiriana Kladshon you can call me KK or Kiri.  Never mind about Kiri,  Nye calls me that, so Kiriana or KK please.  I’m a track coach at a small Midwest college called Iowa Wesleyan.  It’s in this tiny town called Mount Pleasant.  Although the name is a misnomer.  

M-Can you give me some background on where you come from?

K-I was born April 3rd 1985 currently I’m twenty five and this is my first non TA job that I’ve ever had.  I probably hate Iowa for a myriad of reasons, but I’m from Cali.  Born and raised in Medesto.  Not glamorous, but hey its home.   

M-What's your biggest fear?
K-Fear.  Well I guess death.  Being given the death sentence of HIV and watching my mother die from MS has brought that to the forefront of my mind.  

M-Have you ever done anything admirable?  What's your good side?  What's your bad side?
K-Have I been admirable in my life?  Probably not.  I guy hopped like the Hollywood Elite take drugs.  Doesn’t matter the form as long as I get the high at the end.  You want to know the kicker.  I never got the high.  Not for lack of trying, but until Nye, I never wanted it.  He made me accept it.  He didn’t stop.  He refused to stop.  Not because he was trying to take me by force, but because he wanted me to actually feel what it was like to achieve an orgasm.  I always stopped myself not feeling worthy of such a wondrous feeling.  Maybe it was because I knew the guy wouldn’t be there when I woke up.  

That’s the bad part of me.  The good.  I don’t know it goes with my secret, but I guess it’s the most admeriable part of me.  I helped my mother commit suicide.  She had such poor muscle control at the end.  Her mind…her eyes were begging me to just end it for her.  I didn’t do it.  I just added the pills to her water.  She knew what was in there and she drank.  It was the hardest thing I had ever done, but if I’m ever in that place I want someone to do it for me.  I just hope I’m not too scared to ask.

M- What's your greatest desire?

K-Nye.  I’ve never wanted someone as bad as I have him.  I’d never loved or cared for anyone before.  I’d dated, but never anyone I felt an instant connection to.  I should have feared Nye.  Truthfully I did initially, but it took very little time to change that.  

M-What makes you cry?
K-Lately I’ve been crying like a baby.  I guess that’s what happens when you open yourself up.  Years of hiding who I was inside came flooding out of me.  I cry in my sleep.  I cry when I’m awake it’s getting ridiculous as soon as Nye sees reason and lets me be his other I think it’ll finally stop.

M-What could drive you to kill?
K-Murder is something I don’t like to think about.  Not since whoever whatever he was…I had to do it.  It was kill or be killed at the time. 

M-What would describe you?  K-It’s not the size of the dog in fight it size of the fight in the dog.  In other words.  I’m petite but powerful.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook you already know that The Frozen has moved from WIP(Works in Progress) to the Novel section of my website.  The Frozen an Adult Paranormal Romance series will be out a few weeks after Chrysalis I suppose.  So as I pull everything together for the graphics guru at Rebel going on a book cover, I will get to Kiriana, Nye and Damariou's pages.  I'm so happy to introduce you to them and can't wait until you learn ... "When your body is frozen in time, can your heart still beat?"