Interview with J.C. Daniels

When I heard that Shiloh Walker, aka J.C. Daniels was publishing a new urban fantasy novel on Aug. 1, 2012, entitled Blade Song I had to know more. I requested a stop on Daniels’ blog tour. I rarely request interviews, but with my curiosity urging me forward I asked Daniels to answer a few questions. Thankfully Daniels agreed and you get to know what I found out.

Q. Why did you decide to write Blade Song under the name of J.C. Daniels?

A. Necessity, basically.  A lot of factors figure into how a publisher can market an author and although urban fantasy isn’t an issue, since I write like a hyped-up bunny on speed, it just simplified things, in the long run, to pick up another pen name.  BLADE SONG was a new direction and I figured I might as well take the step there.  In the future, the UF works will be as J.C. Daniels, as well as any new erotic or contemporary works that are set to be published with my epublishers.  The name change will not affect any of my current series.

Q. What information pushed you to the decision to self-publish Blade Song?

A. It wasn’t selling with the traditional markets and I decided I’d go ahead and try this route.

Q. What type of world is Blade Song set in and is it part of a series?

A. It’s roughly fifty years from now, in a world that’s just like our own, only magic is there.  The dominant non-human species are shapeshifters and witches, and there are vampires.   My heroine isn’t any of them.

If it goes well, it will be the first in the series.  It all kind of depends on well the first book is received.  The second book is done, but self-publishing is expensive and time-consuming, so basically this is a gamble.  If it pays off, I’ll make another one.  If not…eh, sometimes they don’t.

Q. With all the urban fantasy books on the market, why should a reader pick up Blade Song?

A. Well, why not?  There’s a free short story on Tor.com http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/07/a-stroke-of-dumb-luck to give people a feel for the heroine, if you like it, BLADE SONG will be available for download at $4.99 at most of the various online platforms.

Q. One last question. Do you eat while you write? What’s your go-to snack?

A. Not often, but if I get tired, I crave spicy stuff.  Salsa.  That wakes up my brain. Thanks for having me.

(Click here to read an excerpt.)

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Series Spin-offs

Today I noticed Deborah Cooke will release book eight in her Dragonfire series in October. Normally I’d be happy as I’ve always enjoyed reading the series. However, last year I read Cooke’s young adult spin-off The Dragon Diaries. The YA series follows the adventures of the offspring of the characters from her Dragonfire series. Confused?

Well, I knew the Dragonfire characters were procreating. Realistically I knew the characters would survive (happy ever afters, they’re romances). But seeing that they’ve managed to raise children for 16 years is a turn off on the original series for me. I don’t want to flip-flop in time. Granted I don’t know for a fact that the book releasing in October is set in different years from the Dragon Diaries. Regardless, the YA series now has my attention and I’m doubtful that I’ll go back to the initial paranormal adult romances. Had I never read the spin-off, I think I’d read them. Now, I’m not really feeling it.

How do you feel about spin-offs? Do you like them? Do you read them? Do they change your feelings toward the series which first introduced you to a particular world?

Offensive or True: Male writers are better than women?

Wow, I just finished reading a post at the Huffington Post’s site and had to scratch my head in wonderment because I don’t understand why women feel the need to knock other women down. The article is filled with wide sweeping comments aimed at a complete group of writers and their work. I think what bothered me most was when its author Koa Beck wrote, “Commercial books do not deserve serious critique because, generally, the writing does not merit it.”

I want to know what type of “commercial books” Beck read to form her opinion. Sure, there are books which don’t deserve “serious critique.” Occasionally I’ll get irritated enough to write about all the reasons a book is an epic fail. However, I would never generalize an entire writing genre or community because of one or two bad books.

According to Beck, “The recognized style of commercial books is cheaper, less authentic, more formulaic, and more predictable, known for comfortable endings and neatly packaged characters that function more as cartoons than representations of actual people. When it comes down to fiction writing — solid, genuine fiction writing — that attempts to push boundaries and say something unique about our nature or the way we live, commercial lit doesn’t have that kind of reach.”

Do you agree or disagree? Why? What book do you think proves her comment to be ignorant or true? I’d especially like to hear from authors.

Edited to add: The title stems from the section of Beck’s article which states “With the exception of a few female literary giants who are regulars in The New Yorker and the New York Times, it seems that even when a big publication does take note of a compelling female voice, she isn’t nearly as strong a writer as her male colleagues.”

Author’s beliefs

I received a heads up email from a reader about an author expressing her views on homosexuality and other things. I don’t think that people should hide their beliefs, but I’m not sure how I feel about going to an author’s site and reading their views on hot issues like homosexuality. Here’s a link to what I read. Scroll down the page and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

I guess what it does is serve as a conversation starter. Do you feel it’s appropriate for authors to put their believes on their website? Yes or no, and why. Me?

I believe that everyone has a right to their opinion. Just as I have the right to disagree with them and use their belief system as a basis to buy (or not buy) their books.

Bathroom rules and Romance

Genevieve pulled Lancelot into the corner and smashed her body into his. Her arms grasped the lapels of his shirt as she battled her tongue with his. “Wait. Someone might see us,” Lancelot said.

The couple pushed open the nearest door, found themselves in the women’s restroom and were greeted with the smell of the last entrant’s poop. It was as effective as a bucket of cold water being dumped on the couple and the mood was broken. The two separated and went back to work totally grossed out.

Can you imagine the horror of bathroom sex with parfum de pupu in the air? Anyways, I have a couple of workplace bathroom pet peeves and wondered about y’all. I can’t stand it when there are three stalls and people go in the middle stall, forcing me to pee next to them.

My other pet peeve is people taking a dump in the toilet and leaving floaties. Ewww gross!! I know this is different from my normal posts, but I’m just saying, “Check the toilet before leaving the bathroom.”

How important

is Google ranking to you? At one point my Google rank was 5. Today I looked and my Google ranking had dropped to 2. So, I did what most people do. I read up on how Google comes up with their rankings. The first item is pretty logical. Get people to link to you and in return link to other people.

The next one is to use specific words repeatedly. So instead of just saying the title of the book one time, I should say it every time and not replace it with words like: it or the book. I refuse to make my blog posts a pain to read and won’t be following their advise, but I want my rank to go up.

What can I do? What do you do? Does Google ranking really matter? What are your thoughts on this?

Readers Ask: Question #1

I was talking to Ikhnaie about Michelle Sagara. We are both squeeing fangirls, so when she asked me the following question and I had no answer I thought to give it to you.

“Have you got any suggestions for similar writers I might enjoy?”

Any suggestions are welcome.