The Midnight Brew Presents: Colleen Gleason

Our guest author today has been writing stories since she was in elementary school. All through high school and college Colleen Gleason kept writing (when she should have been studying) and finally finished her first novel after she finished college. Unfortunately, she didn't sell that one. Off and on over the years, during her career in health care and with small business start-ups, getting married, raising two dogs and three children, she followed her passion - writing. Recently she became addicted to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Then an idea hit her - what would it be like if Buffy had been living during the Regency England - balls, chaperones, and the ton? And thus The Gardella Legacy was born. Her first book, The Rest Falls Away was released back in January 2007. Rises The Night, the second installment of the series, will be out June 5th. The Midnight Moon Cafe has the pleasure to welcome a new voice in paranormal romance, Colleen Gleason. MMC: Do you remember the first paranormal romance you ever read? Colleen: Wow... that’s a good question. I think it must have been a Barbara Michaels ghost story — which meant that the romance was not between a ghost and a woman, but that there was a ghost and there was a romance. I also remember reading Antoinette Stockinberg’s Emily’s Ghost and loving it, and also her follow up books, as well as Jill Jones’s paranormals. But I don’t know that I’ve read that many romances in which the hero or heroine are a ghost. Wait. I forgot about Jude Devereaux’s A Knight in Shining Armor. I probably read that one first. Loved it, too, by the way. MMC: When did you first become interested in writing paranormal romances? Colleen: When I was reading Barbara Michaels, Antoinette Stockinberg and Jill Jones, which must have been in the early ‘90s. Around that time, I actually wrote two paranormal romances—and by paranormal romances, I mean ones with paranormal elements; not ones with vampire heroes or werewolf heroines or angels or anything like that. Those two romances I absolutely love and hope that someone will want to publish them one day. One is about a haunted deck of Tarot cards, and the other is about a haunted antiques shop. MMC: Who influenced you the most in your writing? Colleen: I think some of my favorite authors have influenced me. For example, Elizabeth Peters (who also writes as Barbara Michaels) is one of my comfort reads/keeper-authors, and from her I learned the beauty of subtlety. How very subtle one can be and by doing so, make the sexual tension high and tight. I also learned from Roberta Gellis, who wrote the Roselynde Chronicles, how to infiltrate fiction with good historical fact and feeling. She does a great job of this. MMC: What is your writing schedule like? Colleen: I started off writing when I had a day job, and for me, that meant writing at night after the kids were in bed, instead of watching TV. So I’m a late in the day writer still, even though I write full-time and have all day. Usually, my day starts with catching up on email, writing a blog entry, visiting other blogs, doing the business end of writing. I might do research, read for a bit, send out a few email correspondences, etc. Then I have lunch and while I’m at lunch, depending how things are going with the book, I either read for pleasure or I read research books or I sit and stare into space while I’m eating while I try to figure out what I’m going to write about that day. The kids get home from school around four o’clock, but I keep working until 6:00 or so. Have dinner, do all the other things that I love to do with the family, get everyone to bed, and then get back to the computer by 9:00ish. MMC: How much time do you dedicate to research for your stories? Colleen: I usually research as I go, so it’d hard to say. It also depends on the book. Since I’m writing in the same time period right now, I have a lot of that kind of research either done, or resources at my fingertips...but when I move the story to a different geographic location, as I did in Rises the Night and The Bleeding Dusk, I have to do more research on place, of course. MMC: Let's talk a little about world-building. How did you come up with your backstory for the Gardella Vampire Chronicles series? And how does that setting affect your main characters? Colleen: Some of the backstory just kind of popped in my head as I was writing. It just kind of worked itself out—the idea of a family legacy of vampire hunters, and how they’re chosen, and what their skills are. How they get their strength, things like that. It just came to me when I needed to know. (I think they call it grace under pressure—when it was time to explain that stuff in the book, I had to have an answer, so an answer appeared!) But some of it is still being developed as the series develops. Like my protagonist Victoria, I don’t know all there is to know about the Gardellas and their legacy, as well as their history, quite yet. Some of the questions arise as I go along and I realize I have to have an answer for them, and so I do. As for the vampire mythology in the Gardella books...the idea that Judas Iscariot was the first vampire came, not from Dracula 2000 (starring the luscious Gerard Butler), but from a small two-line paragraph I found when I was researching vampire mythology. And I built on it from there. MMC: What attracts you about the paranormal characters you write about? Colleen: I love writing about a strong woman who is self-sufficient in some ways, and not so confident in others. It’s a fun mixture of things — and then I get to overlay on top of that the whole historical setting, the mores and culture of the time, and wow! It’s just a lot of fun to think of ways to juxtapose these different facets in the story. That’s the most fun of the story. I don’t have cell phones to rescue the heroine, I don’t have the Internet, and cars, and medical science, etc. I have to rely on the time period, the legends and beliefs of it, and impose a female superhero on top of it! MMC: Let's talk about The Rest Falls Away. Can you tell us a little about it? Where did you get the idea for this story? Colleen: The Rest Falls Away is the first in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles, and thus the first book about Victoria Gardella Grantworth, my protagonist who will appear in five books. It’s the story of a young woman, who on the eve of her debut into Regency-era Society, finds out that she is the next in her family’s long line of vampire hunters. She learns that she’s called to hunt the evil creatures, and that in order to do so, she’s armed with special powers that are enhanced and strengthened by a special holy amulet that she wears. So Victoria, who’s not a reluctant hero at all, is rather intrigued by the whole thing because she realizes what kind of freedom this is going to give her in a world where women are supposed to be little more than half of a corporate merger, and a womb for an heir. She embraces her new role and is determined to have a wonderful Season in London, snare a husband (preferably the handsome, rich, and eligible Marquess of Rockley), and kill a few vampires on the way. Unfortunately, she finds out it’s not as easy as she thinks. MMC: What do you enjoy most about writing this book? Colleen: It was a chance to write about a strong, unique female in a historical setting that allowed me to push the boundaries. I love the characters and how they interact — Victoria and her three men, and how they all move betwixt and between each other so interestingly — each of them having their own agendas, yet unwilling to reveal them. It’s a lot of fun to place that against the historical backdrop, and add in the paranormal aspect. MMC: What challenges have you faced in the process of writing this story? Colleen: The fact that I don’t know what’s going to happen until it does when I write a book makes it quite challenging sometimes! Now that I’m getting ready to work on the fourth Gardella book, one would think it would get a little easier — that I’d have to provide synopses to my editor and that I’d know where the series is going — and although I do know about some things on a big-picture scale, I still don’t know most of the events that will get me there. But then again... that makes it fun to write, even though I fear I’ll go bald some day! MMC: Let's say you've just landed a movie deal, and you get to pick the actor who'll play the hero from one of your books. Who would you pick and why? Colleen:: Ooooh....and I have three heroes to choose from in The Rest Falls Away. Let’s see... Lord Phillip de Lacey, Marquess of Rockley: would probably be Patrick Wilson (Raoul from The Phantom of the Opera) because of his classic good looks, and deep-set, hooded eyes. Or maybe Nicholas Cage or Sean Bean. I think if Matthew McConaughey would clean up a bit, he’d be a great Sebastian Vioget. He’s got that golden look, and oozes charm like you wouldn’t believe. And Clive Owen would be my pick for Max Pesaro, though he’d have to learn to be a bit more brooding than most of the movies I’ve seen him in. Maybe Gerard Butler would be a better pick, based on his portrayal of the Phantom. MMC: How about future releases, are there any other Gardella Vampire Chronicles books coming up? Can you give us a preview? Colleen: Sure... Rises the Night, the second installment, will be on shelves June 5th. In this second book, Victoria ends up in Venice and then Rome as she tries to stop a powerful vampire from hatching his plot. She’ll meet Lord Byron and John Polidori during her travels, and she’ll attend a very interesting opera. I just finished writing the third Gardella book, The Bleeding Dusk, which will be released in February 2008, and in this one, Victoria stays in Rome and works with some of the other Venators (vampire hunters) to find out how to open Rome’s Door of Alchemy. The fourth book will be released in late 2008, and that should take Victoria and Company back to London. MMC: Now for the fun questions. What's something that your readers may not know about you? Colleen: I went to an all-girls’ Catholic high school—uniforms, knee socks, nuns, and all! MMC: What’s your favorite vampire movie? Colleen: Dracula 2000 because Gerard Butler is hothothothothot in it. MMC: Do you have a favorite food/beverage/music do you always have on hand while you're writing? Colleen: I drink Faygo Sparkling Water (orange or grapefruit flavors) when I’m at home. When I’m at the café writing, I usually drink Tazo’s Mambo herbal tea, either cold or hot. Sometimes I spring for a chai latte, though. YUM. MMC: Can you give us an idea of what your writing/working area looks like? Colleen: A mess? Actually, I have a great office. It’s in a loft in my house, and my computer desk is right next to a huge plate glass window that overlooks my front yard and street (which is also east, which means that the morning brings a bright blast of sunlight through it!) I have lots of things around my desk to remind me of who/what’s important to me and my work, and behind me I have lots of bookshelves with my favorite books, as well as research. On the wall to the left of my desk I have my book collage hanging, along with pictures of and made by my kids, photos, knick-knacks, and a few shelves with other important things on them that people have given me. In short, it’s my space with all of my things around me that remind me of who I am and what’s important to me. MMC: Do you have any obsessions? Collections? Colleen: I collect antique Nancy Drew books, and also first edition Georgette Heyer books. I also have been eBaying—er, adding — to my collection of first edition childrens’ series books that I read when I was younger — besides Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden, I have The Three Investigators and the Willard Price Adventure books. MMC: Do you have a newsletter, blog, or website where fans can read about you and your books? Colleen: I do! Yes. I have a blog that I update nearly every day (and I have lots of contests too)...and my newsletter sign up is available through my blog or website. Web site: http://www.colleengleason.com Blog: http://www.colleengleason.com/wordpress/ Newsletter: http://www.colleengleason.com/contact.php Thank you so much for having me! These were great questions and I loved answering them. I’ll be happy to take questions in the comments section too. Contest Time! Ms. Gleason will be giving away a copy of her upcoming release, Rises the Night. Blurb: The glorious nineteenth-century city of Rome gives rise to a new threat from the Immortal Undead... Victoria Gardella has been a vampire slayer for just over a year, balancing her life as a peer of Society with the dangerous role that takes her out on moonlit streets, stake in hand. As Victoria races across Europe to stop what could be the most deadly army the Gardellas have ever faced, she is accompanied by the unlikely Sebastian Vioget, a man as tempting as he is untrustworthy. But when Victoria discovers that she has been betrayed by one of her most trusted allies, the truth will challenge all her powers as a Venator – and as a woman. Has this wet your appetite? *wg* Then all you have to do is post your comments and questions here. A winner will be chosen among those who post.