This is a guest post from Karina Fabian, author of the recently released Live and Let Fly. (See previous post for my review.) She’s appearing here as part of her blog tour; you can see the whole calendar for the tour on her Website.
Karina Fabian
You know the old (supposedly) Arabic curse: may you live in interesting times? I’m one of those blessed people who had never lived in a really “interesting time.” I grew up in a stable and loving home, enjoyed college, had an exciting few years as an Air Force Officer, met the man of my dreams, and have since settled down to raise kids and write books. I’ve had some hard times, but I’ve never been shot at, tortured, driven insane, been under an evil spell, or lost everything I owned or loved.
Trust me, I am not complaining. I thank God every day. But my life would be boring to write about, which is why my blog seldom gets into my daily life. I’d much rather write about all those awful things happen to my characters.
My best friend, Ann Lewis, and I call it “Torturing your characters for fun and plot-fit.” (Say it aloud if you don’t get the pun.) When it comes down to it, it’s making them live in “interesting times.”
The characters in my DragonEye novels and stories live very interesting lives. Vern is a dragon who, after a run-in with St. George, is trying to earn back all his dragon powers and attributes by working for God and the Faerie Catholic Church. Lately, that means he and his partner, the Church mage Sister Grace, spend a lot of time solving crimes and stopping evil creatures from trying to destroy our world and Faerie. Their interesting times tend to involve demigods and high-level magic, neo-Nazis and guns, and many trips to the hospital or the vet.
The latest book, Live and Let Fly, puts them in an international adventure as they get recruited by a covert agency to stop a Norse goddess from destroying the Mundane world. It gets more interesting than ever because they will encounter things they’ve never had to deal with before–like killer robots and sharks with lasers on their heads. (Please, it’s a spy spoof. How could it NOT have sharks with frickin’ lasers on their heads?) The worst of it is, they’ll be operating far from their home near the Gap between Faerie and the Mundane–the Gap which is their source of magic.
Fortunately, Vern has plenty of wit, and they have some help, including CIA agent Rakness, Stan Rakness, who is “interesting” in his own right. The result is a wild ride of ups and down, crazy twists and abrupt turns…a lot like the roller coasters I don’t like to ride but my husband and kids adore.
Yep, I like a quiet life–but my characters are doomed to live in “interesting times.”
Erin again: Leave a comment on this post or on my review post for a chance to win an e-copy of Live and Let Fly. Winner will be chosen with the aid of a random number generator.
how cool that you were an air force officer! My parents were in the air force too–but in the Philippine Air Force, though:)
Nutschell
http://www.thewritingnut.com
I like torturing my characters too! Sharks with head-lasers, cool fantasy.
This book sounds absolutely fascinating!
Thanks for the comments, folks.
Nutschell, I just read an article about the military creating less “agreeable” people, and I thought, “That explains so much about me.” Of course, I have to agree with the military members that said that we’re not grumpy, we just don’t like dealing with lower standards to “make nice.”
Catherine, I had to do the nod to Austin Powers.
Holly, thanks. Hope you decide to pick it up. You can get more info–including excerpts–at http://dragoneyepi.net