Interview & Giveaway with Kira Brady

Hello everyone!  Book Monster Reviews and LITERAL ADDICTION are very happy to welcome author Kira Brady to the site today!  

Kira Brady writes apocalyptic paranormal romance set in a grisly modern day Seattle. Her trilogy debuts August 2012 from Kensington Publishing.

A native Seattleitte, Kira spent her childhood hiking the rainy forests of the Pacific Northwest and drying out by the fire with a good book and a mug of something hot. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her real life Prince Charming and promptly dragged him back to sunless Seattle. 

She fell in love with historic, haunted cities in graduate school. Now she writes about the twisted cities of her imagination, where wraiths and shape-shifters stalk the night and love redeems even the darkest heart. When not writing, she can be found drinking inordinately large mugs of Assam tea, knitting wool socks, and raising a wee heroine-in-training.

Kira is the proud creator of the new Deadglass Trilogy.  The Deadglass Trilogy is a dark, redemptive paranormal romance trilogy set in a gritty, alternate Seattle, where two warring shape shifter races fight to control the Gate to the Land of the Dead. In the first book, HEARTS OF DARKNESS (August 2012), a cursed werewolf and a human focused on solving her sister’s murder must team up to stop the Gates from unleashing a disaster of apocalyptic proportions.  There is also an enovella prequel titled HEARTS OF FIRE.  Let's take a look at both books in this great new series….

HEARTS OF FIRE

The Deadglass Trilogy, Prequel
Kensington Zebra • June 26, 2012

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In the prequel to a stunning new paranormal series, one woman’s desire for a forbidden man will spark a centuries-long supernatural conflict—and a love nothing can destroy.

She’s the heiress to Seattle’s most powerful shifter clan. Her destiny is as controlled and certain as moonrise. However, from the moment Alice Snow encounters the man known as Brand, she will defy all constraint and break every rule to make this dragon-shifter hers. Brand is determined to repay the clan leader he owes his life to. But one taste of Alice’s exquisite spirit will make him question his loyalty—and plunge them both into the middle of a ruthless power play. Their only chance at freedom is a gamble that could risk the future of humans and shifters alike…

HEARTS OF DARKNESS

The Deadglass Trilogy, Book 1
Kensington Zebra • August 7, 2012

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“In this dazzling debut, Brady blends Norse, Babylonian, and Native American mythology to create a dark and compelling story set in an alternate present day… This dark paranormal moves quickly to a thrilling finish, setting the stage for the next installment of this irresistible new series.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

In the first of a dazzling new romantic trilogy, one woman’s courageous search plunges her into a millennia-old supernatural war—and an irresistible passion…

Nurse Kayla Friday has dedicated her life to science and reason. But for her, Seattle is a place of eerie loss and fragmented, frightening memories. And now the only clue to her sister’s murder reveals a secret battle between two ancient mythologies…and puts Kayla in the sights of lethally-sexy werewolf mercenary Hart. He’ll do whatever it takes to obtain the key to the Gate of the Land of the Dead and free what’s left of his soul. But seducing the determined Kayla is putting them at the mercy of powerful desires neither can control. And as the clock ticks down to hellish catastrophe, the untested bond between Kayla and Hart may lead to the ultimate sacrifice.

They sound wonderful, right!!?  Before you go off to start buying them from your favorite bookseller, let’s learn some more about Kira and this great new series.

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION:  Hi Kira!  Welcome to Book Monster and LITERAL ADDICTION!  We’re very happy to have you here today and are thrilled to help spread the word about your new Deadglass Trilogy. 

KIRA: Thanks for having me!

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION:  We always start by getting to know our guest author a little bit better.

Q1): Can you tell us 3 things about yourself (no matter how random) that we can't find out on the Internet?

KIRA: When I was a kid, my dream was to grow up to be president (ha!). I hate politics, even though I majored in it in college. The worst grade I ever got was a C+ in beginning sign language. I had trouble showing up to class.

Q2):  What are 2 things that always make you smile and 2 things that always piss you off?

KIRA: Rainbows, kittens, and my toddler's laugh always make me smile. People who make promises they don't intend to keep and littering piss me off.

Q3):  If you could spend the day with anyone – alive, dead, fictional, etc – who would you want to spend it with and why?

KIRA: I'd like to spend it with my maternal grandmother, because she sounds like she was quite the character. My mom has some great stories about her. I imagine her as this larger-than-life woman with a deep voice and a theatrical bent who made friends wherever she went and butted into strangers conversations. Kinda like Auntie Mame. She died of emphysema when I was eleven.

Q4):  What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing or taking care of other author business?

KIRA: I love hiking, both here in the beautiful, rainy Pacific Northwest and in exotic foreign locations. I enjoy knitting, sewing, and crafting, but I haven't had much time to do those things since I had a baby. And READING!

Q5):  Are there any specific authors or titles that you feel have inspired you to become the writer you are today?

KIRA: Diana Gabaldon was the author who sucked me into the romance genre with her amazing time-travel romance, Outlander. After that, I fell hard for Meljean Brook, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Kleypas, and Loretta Chase. The books I read as a teenager are still the ones that stick strongest in my mind: Watership Down, Sabriel, The Golden Compass, and The Last Unicorn. I wasn't writing fiction then, but they influenced my love of adventure plots and fantasy settings.

Q6):  What are the best and worst parts of writing for you?

KIRA: Brainstorming is my favorite. Starting the book with a new shiny idea is so much fun, but the rest is work. I find the first draft the hardest to get down. Once I have words on the page I can pretty them up, and I usually like that rewriting/editing stage better. The worst part of writing is the part that isn't writing the book: the marketing/promo/business side of it.

Q7):  What is a typical writing day like for you?  Do you have a routine that you follow, specific things that you have to have with you to get the creative juices flowing, unique writing quirks you must adhere to, etc?

KIRA: When I have a babysitter, I usually make myself a cup of tea, sit at my computer, and check my email/facebook/twitter five hundred times. Eventually I open Write or Die and input 1000 into the word goal box. After writing 1000 words, I copy it into Scrivener and compulsively check the internets again. If my toddler deigns to nap, I can usually get another 1k in. But my writing is in fits and starts because the babysitter doesn't come every day, and that time is broken up with errands and other busywork I can't do while watching the kiddo. I'm sure I will be more productive once my darlings are in school and I have every day to write.

Q8):  What type of scenes (dialogue, action, sex, etc) do you enjoy writing the most and why?

KIRA: Descriptive scenes full of world building. My favorite paragraphs are where I get to talk about Deadglass Seattle and have my hero or heroine interact with the strange, altered landscape. For instance, my favorite scene in Hearts of Darkness is the first one in Chapter 4 set in Butterworth's. The tea house and opium parlor resides in the historic landmark building of the Butterworth Mortuary, which was one of the sites I visited on the Pike Place Market Ghost Tour that inspired the book. I also like writing action scenes, because they move fast. Scenes with lengthy dialogue feel slow to me, though I've been told by powers-that-be that dialogue moves the action faster. But some characters talk easier than others: Hart and Sven Norgard were easy to write dialogue for, which is another reason I like the first scene in Chapter 4.

Q9):  If you could have any one super power, which would you want and why that power?

KIRA: I want to fly. I've always wanted to fly. I read too much Peter Pan growing up.

Q10):  Can you please tell us a little about your new Deadglass Trilogy?  Maybe a little about the hero of HEARTS OF DARKNESS as well?

KIRA: The Deadglass Trilogy is set in a gritty, alternate Seattle, nothing is as it seems and death is only the beginning. Two warring shapeshifter races fight for territory: the Kivati (based on Pacific Northwest Native American mythology) try to protect the cracked Gate to the Land of the Dead from the Drekar (Norse dragon-shifters) who seek to destroy it. Hart is a cursed Wolf shifter who was outcast by the Kivati at a young age. He's been enslaved to the Drekar Regent for 15 years, and now he has two jobs left to win his freedom. After so many years as a mercenary, he cares for nothing, but a human woman who lands in the middle of the bloody shifter war needs his help. Suddenly he can't say no.

Q11):  Was there any specific inspiration behind the creation of the Deadglass Trilogy?

KIRA: The quote that starts the book was the inspiration for the series. Chief Seattle said, “These shores will swarm with the invisible Dead of my Tribe. The White Man will never be alone. Let him be kind and just to my People, for the Dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a Change of Worlds.” I also took a ghost tour of the Pike Place Market and learned about all the spirits and salacious stories from the founding of Seattle and was hooked. What if there are ghosts swarming the streets of Seattle? What if the dead refuse to pass over into the next world? What if an army of the dead are massing, ready to take over this world from the living?

Q12):  What's coming up next in the series?  Can you tell us a little about the second book?

KIRA: Book 2, Hearts of Shadow, is about Dreki Leif Asgard and mercenary Grace Mercer. Here is exclusive, unapproved and unedited cover copy for it:

Mercenary Grace Mercer is a woman on a mission--pay off her blood debt and kill as many aptrgangr as she can doing it. But on the post-apocalyptic frontier, one hunter isn't enough to stop the flood of risen dead. Her new master, Leif Asgard, seems content to let her grow old in bondage, even though he claims he wants to set her free. As far as Grace is concerned, the only honest dragon-shifter is a dead one.

Scientist Leif Asgard never wanted to rule the Drekar, but when his brother Sven is killed after freeing a demigod from the Land of the Dead, Leif inherits his crown and a pack of blood-slaves he knew nothing about. Leif is determined to restore his people's honor by freeing the blood-slaves, but one look at Grace and he knows he will never be able to let her go. Now as the demigod raises an army of the dead to march on Seattle, it will take Grace's keen skills and Leif's mad genius to save the city.

Q13):  What were some of the challenges in bringing the Deadglass Trilogy to life?

KIRA: Publishing is a roller coaster and there were many hurdles on the path to publication. I was lucky that my editor at Kensington came to the Emerald City Writers Conference and took pitches. He requested the full of Hearts of Darkness, but didn't get back to me for 15 months. I honestly never expected to hear back. Most editors don't accept unsolicited manuscripts, so the only three ways to get in front of them is to have an agent, a request from a pitch session, or a request from a contest they judged. I did very well on the contest circuit while I tried to find an agent, but getting so much feedback from contest judges and agents meant that I was always tinkering with the story to try to please someone new. This is a bad idea, but very easy to do when one is a baby writer trying to get published. At one point an agent suggested that I take out one whole section of mythology, either the Babylonian or Norse parts, and I was ready to do it. It would have completely changed my story. The Trilogy would have looked nothing like it does now, and I'm very, very happy I sold before I could butcher the book like that. Writing-wise, the second and third books have been easier because I've advanced in my craft, but harder because I now have a baby and less writing time.

Q14):  What’s up next for Kira Brady?  What do you have going on in the next couple months that your readers might be interested in?

KIRA: Unfortunately Hearts of Shadow doesn't come out until May 2013 and Hearts of Chaos doesn't come out until February 2014. There will be nothing exciting from me until then. I've got a lot of ideas for my next project, but I have to finish writing book 3 first.

Q15):  Is there anything special that you’d like to say, or something you'd like to let everyone know about while we have you here today?

KIRA: Thanks for having me! If you visit Seattle, I highly recommend the Pike Place Market Ghost Tour, The Seattle Underground Tour, and the Theo Chocolate Factory Tour. Also, many people have asked if they should read the novella HEARTS OF FIRE first. FIRE is a preview of the Deadglass Trilogy and explains the beginnings of the Drekar/Kivati war, but it doesn't need to be read before HEARTS OF DARKNESS. I'd recommend reading it before CHAOS comes out though.

Book Monster Reviews/ LITERAL ADDICTION:  Kira, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be with us.   We hope that we turned some new readers on to your Deadglass Trilogy, and we’d love to have you back in May 2013 to promote the release of HEARTS OF SHADOW if you're interested.

KIRA: I'd love to. See you in nine months!

To keep up with Kira's latest news, you can find her online here:

Website / Facebook / Twitter / GoodReads

Kira is graciously offering up a copy of Hearts of Darkness to a winner from Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION (US/Canada). 

To Enter, fill out the Rafflecopter widget for Kira’s Event, follow the directions, take action, and mark as ‘Done’.

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GOOD LUCK!!!

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