“Venom” + “Tangled Threads” by Jennifer Estep (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Jennifer Estep Website

Order “Venom” HERE

Order “Tangled Threads” HERE

Read FBC’s Review of “Spider’s Bite”

Read FBC’s Review of “Web of Lies”

Read FBC’s Interview with Jennifer Estep HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jennifer Estep has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism, and a Master's in Professional Communications. Her bibliography includes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, the Mythos Academy YA urban fantasy series, and the Bigtime paranormal romance series. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and other writing groups.

ABOUT VENOM: What kind of assassin works pro bono?

It's hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family. Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most.

To the public, I'm Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland's best barbecue joint. To my friends, I'm the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker—Mab's right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists. At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I'll take my chances. Then there's Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland's finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I'm a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life...

ABOUT TANGLED THREADS: I'd rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings. But here I am; Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson's front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn't shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull's eye on my forehead.

Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers which means there's a fifty-fifty chance one of us won't survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I'm her long-lost sibling . . . or that I'm the murderer she's been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn't know just might get us both dead...

CLASSIFICATION: The Elemental Assassin novels are darkly tinged, action-packed Urban Fantasy with a side helping of romance.

FORMAT/INFO: Venom is 416 pages long divided over a Prologue and thirty-two numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Gin Blanco. Venom is self-contained, but is the third book in the Elemental Assassin series and contains overarching story threads from the previous two books. September 28, 2010 marked the North American Mass Market Paperback publication of Venom via Pocket. Cover art and design is provided by Tony Mauro.

Tangled Threads is 357 pages long divided over thirty-one numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Gin Blanco. Tangled Threads is the fourth volume of the Elemental Assassin series after Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies and Venom. Because Tangled Threads features overarching story threads from the previous three books, it’s not advisable for new readers to start the series with book four. April 26, 2010 marked the Mass Market Paperback publication of Tangled Threads via Pocket. Cover art and design is provided by Tony Mauro.

ANALYSIS: After reading the first two books in the Elemental Assassin series, I knew this was another series I was going to have to follow. When Venom came into my hands, I finished reading the book in a day, and Tangled Threads is a good continuation of the story. While the first two books in the series are more standalone, both Venom and Tangled Threads are much more closely connected due to their plots and character arcs.

Venom begins with Gin Blanco gearing up to assimilate the information revealed to her at the end of book two, when she learns that Mab Munroe had a particularly cruel hand in the demise of her family. Gin realizes that from now on she will have to be extra careful and persistent if she wants to take down Mab Munroe and her underlings, but before that can happen, Blanco has a rather unfortunate encounter with Mab’s right and left hands: Elliot Slater and Jonah McAllister. Jonah is still vexed at Gin due to the disappearance of his son in the climactic events of the second book. So Gin is forced to take a severe beating in order to hide her identity and come out alive. Around the same time, Elliot Slater takes a rather special interest in Roselyn, the vampire madam who supplied the men & women for the party in the climax to Web Of Lies. Slater’s violent fascination with Roselyn fuels the majority of the plot threads in Venom. Also introduced in the book are Bria Coolidge, Gin’s long-lost baby sister who is searching for her family and has an interest in Mab Munroe, and Owen Grayson who has taken a liking to Blanco and might have a previous connection with her as well. Personally, Venom was my favourite entry in the series so far as it has the perfect amount of action and intrigue, while also introducing some interesting new characters into the mix.

Tangled Threads begins where Venom ends and continues Gin’s shady war with Mab Munroe and her empire. However, after the events of Venom in which she is recuperating from her losses, Mab decides to bring in heavy artillery in the form of Elektra LaFleur, an assassin who is possibly more powerful than Gin. In the meantime, things are heating up between Gin and Owen, and unlike her previous interest, Owen seems to be reciprocating her attention. The problem lies with Gin revealing her identity to Bria Coolidge, who is thrust into a difficult situation because of her profession. Also thrown into the mix is a spy amongst Roselyn’s workforce and shocking revelations about Gin’s family and Fletcher Lane which have been bubbling since the first two books, all of which comes to an epic climax in Tangled Threads.

Both Tangled Threads and Venom are entertaining novels full of action-packed story arcs that continue to progress as the series nears fruition, while seamlessly fitting in with the clues and subplots developed in the earlier books. Prose meanwhile is commendable, deftly describing both action scenes and romance, while the fast pacing of the books never lets the reader’s attention slacken.

Drawbacks include the predictability of the story. While there are a few surprises in store for the reader, overall the plot seems to be heading to a certain conclusion. This isn’t such a bad thing as the author has done her best to give the readers a polished and entertaining ride in spite of the predictable nature of the tale. Secondly, I’ve noticed Gin constantly focuses on the nature of her relationship with Owen and whether or not he will be able to accept the dichotomy within her, which can get a bit repetitive. Lastly, with the ever expanding character cast, not enough time is available for all of them to be developed as fully fledged characters. Fortunately, Jennifer Estep has written a number of short stories that helps reveal more about certain characters including Fin (Wasted & Poison), Bria (Tangled Schemes) and the Deveraux sisters (Tangled Dreams).

CONCLUSION: In Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies, Jennifer Estep wrote two books that got the Elemental Assassin series off to a good start, but with Venom and Tangled Threads, the author has upped the stakes, and with the final book—Spider’s Revenge—set to be released September 27, 2011, all the cards are in places for an explosive finale. So now’s the time to jump in if you happen to like stories about an assassin bent on revenge, a quirky supporting cast, and generous helpings of action, humor & romance...

“Queen of Kings” by Maria Dahvana Headley (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Maria Dahvana Headley Website

Order “Queen of Kings” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)

Read An Excerpt HERE

Watch the Book Trailer HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Maria Dahvana Headley is a MacDowell Colony Fellow whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, The Washington Post, and other publications. She is also the author of the memoir The Year of Yes, which has been translated into nine languages and optioned for film adaptation by Paramount Pictures. Queen of Kings is the author’s debut.

PLOT SUMMARY: The year is 30 BC. A messenger delivers word to Queen Cleopatra that her beloved husband, Marc Antony, has died at his own hand. Desperate to save her kingdom and resurrect her husband, Cleopatra summons the fearsome warrior goddess, Sekhmet, and strikes a mortal bargain.

In exchange for her soul, Cleopatra is transformed into a vampiric creature of mythical proportions, an immortal shapeshifter with superhuman strength and an insatiable hunger for human blood—a being at once ferocious and seductive. And she is bent on vengeance against those who have wronged her family and her kingdom.

Clashing against witches and monsters, gods and warriors, Cleopatra journeys from the tombs of Egypt to the great amphitheaters of Rome to the ancient underworld—where she will meet her love once again, and where the battle between man and beast will determine the fate of the world...

FORMAT/INFO: Queen of Kings is 416 pages long divided over a Prologue, Epilogue and three Books with each Book divided into numbered chapters. Narration is in the third person via several different POVs including Cleopatra, Marc Antony, Octavian/Augustus, Nicolaus the Damascene, Chrysate, Usem, Auðr, Marcus Agrippa, the Senate, Cleopatra’s children, and various minor viewpoints. Queen of Kings is self-contained, but is the first volume in a trilogy.

May 12, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Queen of Kings via Dutton. The UK edition (see below) will be published on July 21, 2011 via Bantam Press.

ANALYSIS: What if Cleopatra, one of the most famous women in history, was a vampire? That’s the basic concept behind Maria Dahvana Headley’s entertaining debut novel, Queen of Kings, which combines the historical events surrounding Cleopatra’s death in 30 BC, with Greek and Egyptian mythology, resulting in a historical/fantasy/horror hybrid that brought to mind The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, Douglas Clegg’s The Vampyricon, and Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Starting out, Queen of Kings is decidedly more historical than fantastical, with Octavian’s invasion of Alexandria, Marc Antony’s suicide, Cleopatra’s imprisonment and eventual suicide, the execution of Cleopatra’s son Caesarion, and other historical events taking precedence over Cleopatra’s summoning of Sekhmet, the “goddess of the end of the world”, and the new powers that Cleopatra gains. This disparity remains so for the first one hundred pages of the novel, which also happens to be the weakest part of the book. The problem with this section of the book is twofold. One, the novel’s historical elements lack detail and authenticity, making it seem more like I was reading something off of Wikipedia instead of being transported back to Ancient Egypt. Secondly, the decision to narrate Queen of Kings through multiple point-of-views coupled with shallow characterization prevented me from connecting with or caring about any of the characters in the book.

Fortunately, once the novel starts focusing more on the fantastical than the historical—Cleopatra’s new abilities (shapeshifting, commanding animals); Sekhmet’s children (Plague, Famine, Earthquake, Flood, Drought, Madness and Violence); a journey through the Underworld in order to bargain with Hades & Persephone; the search for a weapon that can kill an immortal; the three sorcerers Marcus Agrippa finds for Augustus: Chrysate, a priestess of Hecate who can summon shades; Usem, the Chieftain of the Psylli tribe, who can control snakes and is married to the daughter of the Western Wind; Auðr, a seiðkona (fate spinner); et cetera—Queen of Kings is not only much more interesting and fun to read, but it also becomes easier to ignore the book’s deficiencies, which includes the aforementioned shallow characterization and an unconvincing love story between Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Negatively, the novel’s supernatural/mythological elements are occasionally too fantastical, which made it difficult at times to suspend my disbelief.

My biggest complaint with Queen of Kings though is with Cleopatra herself, who is not even the star of her own book. Instead, Cleopatra is overshadowed by Octavian/Augustus and numerous supporting characters like Marc Antony, Chrysate, and Marcus Agrippa. This is particularly disappointing because the author could have significantly fleshed out the love story between Cleopatra and Marc Antony and the motivations behind Cleopatra’s vengeance—important factors in the book—if she had focused more on Cleopatra instead of the supporting cast. On the plus side, Maria Dahvana Headley’s writing is smooth and accessible throughout, heavily contributing to the novel’s overall charm and readability.

CONCLUSION: Shallow characterization, unconvincing historical detail, and spending too much time with the supporting cast instead of Cleopatra may prevent Maria Dahvana Headley’s Queen of Kings from living up to its full potential, but the author’s debut novel is still primed for success thanks to an accessible writing style, a thrilling story full of heart-pounding drama and adventure, and appealing to a wide audience—fans of historical fiction, supernatural fantasy, romance, Greek & Egyptian mythology, and horror should all take note. Plus, all of the problems that can be found in Queen of Kings are issues that can be easily corrected, meaning the sequels could be even better. For myself, Queen of Kings started out slowly after an interesting Prologue, but from the Book of Divinations through the end of the novel, Maria Dahvana Headley’s debut was as exhilarating a thrill ride as any big budget blockbuster movie, leaving me with high expectations for the sequels...

Spotlight on May Books

This month we are featuring 36 books. There are probably twice as many new sff and related releases this month in traditional publishing not to speak of the countless indies from Amazon and Smashwords but we are limiting ourselves to books that will be reviewed here or are similar with such. For the full schedule of May 2011 titles known to us, you can consult the Upcoming Releases page.

The release dates are US unless marked otherwise, though for books released in the UK and US in the same month but on different dates we use the earliest date without comment and they are first edition unless noted differently. The dates are on a best known basis so they are not guaranteed; same about the edition information. Since information sometimes is out of date even in the Amazon/Book Depository links we use for listings, books get delayed or sometimes even released earlier, we would truly appreciate if you would send us an email about any listing with incorrect information.

Sometimes a cover image is not available at the time of the post and also sometimes covers change unexpectedly so while we generally use the Amazon one when available and cross check with Google Images, the ultimate bookstore cover may be different.

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“The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists & Strange Literature” by Jeff VanderMeer. May 1, 2011. Abrams. (MISC)
"The Door to Lost Pages" by Claude Lalumiere. May 3, 2011. Chiz-Zine. (FAN)

“Extremis” by Steve White & Charles E. Gannon. May 3, 2011. Baen. (SF).

“Hounded” by Kevin Hearne. May 3, 2011. Del Rey. (UF).

“Throne of Fire” by Rick Riordan. May 3, 2011. Hyperion. (MG).

“The Damned Busters” by Matthew Hughes. UK May 5, 2011. Angry Robot. (UF).

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“Vampire Warlords” by Andy Remic. UK May 5, 2011. Angry Robot. (FAN).
“Dark Mist Rising” by Anna Kendall. UK May 5, 2011. Gollancz. (YA).

“The Deserter” by Peadar O'Guilin. UK May 5, 2011. David Fickling Books. (YA).

“The Ritual” by Adam Nevill. UK May 6, 2011. Pan Macmillan. (HF).

“Stonewielder” by Ian C. Esslemont. May 10, 2011. Tor. (FAN / US Debut).

“The Chaos Crystal” by Jennifer Fallon. May 10, 2011. Tor. (FAN / US Debut).

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“Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti” by Genevieve Valentine. May 10, 2011. Prime Books. (STPK).

“The Quantum Thief” by Hannu Rajaniemi. May 10, 2011. Tor. (SF / US Debut).

“The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making” by Catherynne M. Valente. May 10, 2011. Feiwel & Friends. (YA).

“Hell's Bells” by John Connolly. UK May 12, 2011. Hodder & Stoughton. (YA).

“A Girl Called Tennyson” by Joan Givner. May 15, 2011. Thistledown Press. (MG).

“Embassytown” by China Mieville. May 17, 2011. Del Rey. (SF).

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“Eclipse 4: New Science Fiction & Fantasy” ed. Jonathan Strahan. May 17, 2011. Night Shade Books. (ANTHO).

“The Dark City” by Catherine Fisher. May 17, 2011. Dial. (YA / US Debut).

“The Order of the Scales” by Stephen Deas. UK May 19, 2011. Gollancz. (FAN).

“Savage City” by Sophia McDougall. UK May 19, 2011. Gollancz. (AH).

“City of Ruins” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. May 24, 2011. Pyr. (SF).

“The Falling Machine” by Andrew P. Mayer. May 24, 2011. Pyr. (STPK).

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“The Warlock” by Michael Scott. May 24, 2011. Delacorte Books for Young Readers. (YA).

“Blood Magic” by Tessa Gratton. May 24, 2011. Random House Books for Young Readers. (YA).

“The Girl in the Steel Corset” by Kady Cross. May 24, 2011. Harlequin. (YA / STPK).

“The Necklace of the Gods” by Alison Goodman. UK May 26, 2011. Bantam UK. (FAN).

“Dead of Veridon” by Tim Akers. May 31, 2011. Solaris. (STPK).

“Degrees of Freedom” by Simon Morden. May 31, 2011. Orbit. (SF).

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“Timecaster” by Joe Kimball. May 31, 2011. Ace. (SF).

“The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter” by Brent Hayward. May 31, 2011. ChiZine (FAN).

“Centuries of June” by Keith Donohue.May 31, 2011. Crown. (MISC).

“The Midnight Palace” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. May 31, 2011. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. (YA).

“The Five” by Robert McCammon. May 31, 2011. Subterranean Press. (MISC).

“The Fly-By-Nights” by Brian Lumley. May 31, 2011. Subterranean Press. (HF).

Interview with Blake Crouch (Interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Blake Crouch Website

Order “RUN” HERE

Read An Excerpt HERE

Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “RUN”

Q: Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic and thank you very much for agreeing to participate in this interview. To start with, could you introduce yourself for our readers and tell us how you came to be a writer?

Blake: I was born and raised in North Carolina. Moved out to Colorado almost ten years ago after finishing college because I love the mountains, love to ski, hike, etc., and I was tired of the South. In terms of becoming a writer, there are several key moments:

a) 10 years old and telling my brother stories to scare him before bedtime...

b) 8th grade, when I turned in a short story for an assignment that offended my teacher, the entire class, and led to a parent-teacher conference. It was my first bad review, but I loved the experience of having people read and respond to my work. A pivotal moment for sure.

c) Working on my first-to-be-published novel, Desert Places, at Chapel Hill with my professor, Bland Simpson back in the winter of 2000 in an independent study class.....will never forget him coming in one morning when we were going to meet. He'd read the first 40 or 50 pages, and he said, "Blake, I think you might actually sell this thing."

d) Next big moment would be getting a contract for Desert Places which was in 2001.

e) And strangely enough, I'd have to mark 2011 as a big moment for me as a writer. The e-book revolution has broken down so many creative and financial doors for me, I'm still not 100% sure this is all really happening.

Q: My first introduction to you was via your collaboration with J. A. Konrath, “Serial Uncut”. How did you and Joe first meet? What was the spark that lead to the both of you writing “Serial” and combining your written worlds?

Blake: I met Joe in El Paso, Texas, at a book conference called Left Coast Crime in 2005. He said, “You want to come up to my room and drink some great scotch?” We were good friends for several years and then he wrote me one day and suggested we write something together. That became “Serial.” I think it was maybe a year ago, maybe a little more, when I suggested to Joe that we conclude his Jack Daniels series and my Andrew Z. Thomas series in a single collaborative novel. Once we decided to do that, we started actively combining our universes, culminating in Serial Killers Uncut.

Q: How does it feel to be a part of the Jack Daniels universe after being named in Fuzzy Navel, joining the ranks of various luminaries such as Barry Eisler & James Rollins? Your thoughts on this rather (in)famous character credit?

Blake: It’s probably better not to appear in a Jack Daniels novel if you’re a friend of Joe’s, because he just uses it as an opportunity to humiliate you.

Q: In each of your books, the environment is a veritable factor in the plot. How much of this is a conscious decision? Do you set your plots with specific environments in mind or is it the other way around?

Blake: Environment certainly plays a factor in my work. For instance, with Snowbound, that book began because I had been to this salmon fishing lodge in Lake Clark National Park, and I wanted to write a book set in Alaska. For Locked Doors, I loved the atmosphere of the North Carolina Outer Banks, and actually went there for Thanksgiving back in 2002, trying to figure out if the island would lend itself to what I wanted to do structurally (luckily it did). In fact Locked Doors is exactly the book it is because of where it’s set. Abandon, same story. It’s my Colorado book. I wish I knew why I work this way, but it’s probably best not to overthink it.

Q: You have written both short stories and novels. Do you have a schedule which you tweak depending on the length of the story?

Blake: It’s all dependent on the idea. I keep a running list of short story ideas (they’re so hard to come up with). I’ll often be working on several things at once, bouncing back and forth between what’s intriguing me most at the moment. Otherwise, there’s really no set schedule, other than write, write, write when an idea is working.

Q: Usually when an author writes a series, it features a protagonist. In your case, you came up with Luther Kite, an antagonist, whose role has progressively increased throughout each successive book. What lead you down this route? Also, you are currently writing Stirred which is supposed to be the end of the Luther Kite saga. How does it feel to conclude Luther’s story who has been with you since your debut?

Blake: It’s strange; I’ve known Luther since 1999. And he’s certainly grown with me. In a lot of ways, he’s still a mystery, and I like that aspect of him. But I’m ready to bring some closure there with Stirred. I’ve got a thousand other characters I want to write and explore. Can’t spend all my time on this one psychopathic monster!

Q: You have written a very informative essay about Jack Ketchum’s “Off Season” in the 100 Best Thrillers list. Did you volunteer to write about that specific book or were you chosen? If it’s the former, why did you choose that book specifically?

Blake: No, Hank Wagner and David Morrell brought Ketchum’s Off Season to me, which I hadn’t read, and asked if I’d be interested in contributing an essay based on that title. It was a blast (and hard work) and really fascinating to read. Ketchum was putting out some mind-blowingly nasty stuff way before it was cool. He was a true pioneer.

Q: I believe the titles of your first two books were taken from poems by Robert Frost and Anne Sexton, while the novella “Break You” had its origin in a U2 song. What is it about certain words or phrases that makes you pick them as titles? Why did you pick these specific ones?

Blake: Typically, I’ll use phrases that have always stuck with me, such as the case in the epigraph for “Break You”. That phrase comes from their song, “Peace on Earth”:

“They say that what you mock/will surely overtake you/and you become a monster/so the monster will not break you.” There is no more perfect summation of “Break You” than that beautiful lyric from Bono and the lads.

Q: Where do you find the inspiration for your stories (i.e.: nature, events, people, etc.)? And is there a particular life experience that influenced your writing?

Blake: For novels, it’s usually a slow realization of a long-burning idea….like Abandon, where I’d always wanted to write a ghost-town thriller, and only three years after moving to Colorado, did I finally realize how to tell it.

With short stories, it’s often weird things. Like for instance, I was sitting in a hot spring pool in Pagosa Springs, Colorado last week, and overheard these two old Romanian guys having a conversation, and the opening to a wicked little short story presented itself that I’ll probably write when I get a moment. It’s all about constantly being open to inspiration, even from the strangest places and circumstances.

Q: This is perhaps an odd question so forgive me for asking it, but why do you write thrillers? If not thrillers, are there any other genres you plan on writing would like to explore?

Blake: All I can say about what I write is that I write the type of books I would want to read. I’m considering a project now that may edge into sci-fi, possibly even fantasy. We’ll see what happens. I have no commitment to a particular genre. The common thread running through my writing is that I explore characters who are at the end of their rope, because that’s where interesting things begin to happen.

Q: As a writer, what still challenges you and what do you want to accomplish?

Blake: I still find it a challenge to start a novel I’m excited about. There’s this hesitation, always, because I don’t want to spoil the perfect idea I have in my head.

In terms of future goals, I want to find those stories that haven’t been told, that blow my hair back, and communicate those to readers. I also want to use the emerging technology afforded by e-readers to enhance the way stories are told. We’re attempting our first stab at this with the double-novel Serial Killers Uncut, which has a number of brand new features that all work toward interconnecting this book with all of our other novels.

Q: What are some of your favorite books?

Blake: Here’s the 10 that come to mind at the moment:

“The Prince of Tides” by Pat Conroy

“Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy

“The Sun Also Rises” by E. Hemingway

“Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris

“Cottonwood” by Scott Phillips

“Savages” by Don Winslow

“Deliverance” by James Dickey

“A Wrinkle in Time” by L’Engle

“Mystic River” by Dennis Lehane

“Night Dogs” by Kent Anderson

Q: You and Joe Konrath were recently featured on the cover of Crimespree magazine and I noticed curiously that the books being burned in it, were your own publications. Can you tell us more about this?

Blake: That Crimespree Magazine cover photo just sort of came together when I was visiting Joe Konrath last summer. We were trying to make a statement about what was beginning to happen with e-books and the possible implosion of the traditional publishing infrastructure. Little did we know how far along that process would be when the magazine actually came out last January!

Q: You have a top 10 list of your various moments while touring in 2004. After so many years, can you add any new additions to that list?

Blake: No new ones, because thankfully, with e-books, I don’t have to tour. I do miss visiting bookstores and seeing the fans, but I don’t miss being away from my family.

Q: I believe that both you and your wife are hiking enthusiasts. What are your favorite areas for hiking?

Blake: Well, we live in Colorado, so hiking and climbing is what this area is all about. We love to spend time in the La Plata Mountains and the San Juan Mountains just outside of Durango.

Q: You are also a Tar Heels fan. What’s your greatest memory of the team?

Blake: Ha! The 1993 championship when they beat Michigan.

Q: In closing, are there any final thoughts or comments that you'd like to share with your readers? What can we look forward to you in the future?

Blake: I think it’s an amazing time to be a writer, but more so, a reader. The stuff Konrath and I are doing, interconnecting our universes, is the kind of thing I WISH my favorite writers had done, and if the readers of the blog enjoy just one of our books, they’re going to love the entire catalog.

I’m working on a few things at the moment, including a new novel, Stirred with Konrath, and laying the groundwork for two new collaborative works that will be a ton of fun.

Thanks for having me!