Interview and Giveaway with Kristen Painter

Hello, book lovers! Today is a very special day for The Nocturnal Library. Gothic urban fantasy author Kristen Painter has graciously agreed to stop by and answer a few questions for us. Kristen’s House of Comarré novels (Blood Rights, Flesh and Blood and Bad Blood) were published in 2011 by Orbit. We’re pretty sure all of you have noticed these books - the fabulous covers make them a little hard to miss.

The story is set in Corvinestri, Romania and Paradise City, New Florida in 2062. We asked Kristen about her worldbuilding, characters and future installments, and she kindly answered to it all. So without further ado:

1. Why did you decide to set your story in the future?

Setting the House of Comarré series in the future served two purposes. One, it gave me some artistic license to change the way the world worked and was shaped. Two, I wanted to show how little the world had actually changed in 50+ years due to war, strife and other human machinations.

2. Comarré, varcolai, wysper, nothos, shadeux, cypher fae, remnants... the mythology in your books is fascinating and complex. How did you come up with it and what kind of research did you do for your world-building?

What research I did involved old texts, original myths and basic origin stories. The rest of it comes from my overactive imagination. My dreams tend to have some pretty good source material.

3. Chrysabelle and Mal have had a strange, reluctantly symbiotic relationship from the very beginning, and later that relationship turned into an even more reluctant mutual fondness. We were somewhat surprised that you brought a third person into the equation. Did you always intend to write a love triangle or did Creek just sort of show up along the way?

To be honest, I kind of hate the term “love triangle” and never really thought it would be applied to these books. Creek was never meant to be anything more to Mal and Chrysabelle than an obstacle in their relationship. He’s definitely got his own path to travel. As for Chrysabelle, I think it’s just natural that anyone in her situation of newly attained freedom is going to question things and want to “experiment” a little. If you’d only had vanilla ice cream your whole life because you weren’t allowed any other flavor, then someone showed you a toppings bar, would you only choose one topping? It’s human nature to try hot fudge and rainbow sprinkles. ;o)

4. Do you have a favorite among your characters? Is there someone you particularly enjoy writing about?

That’s such a tough question! But if I’m true to my gut and go with my first answer, I’d have to say Mal. Poor, tortured Mal. He’s such a mess, how can I not love him? I think I tend to root for the underdog anyway.

5. Your covers were done by the amazing Spanish artist, Nekro. They are all stunning and they certainly attract attention, but I’ve also noticed that he always puts a lot of thought into the actual content. Do you feel that these covers accurately represent your books and is there a downside to having such a memorable cover art (with male audience, for example)?

Atmospherically, these covers are great. They definitely say gothic to me and you get a good general sense of who Chrysabelle is. Ultimately, a cover is there to make you pick up a book and I know from the many letters I’ve received that these covers accomplished that.

6. Can you tell us more about the rest of the series - how many books will there be and the release schedule for them.

Two more books are on the way! The fourth book, OUT FOR BLOOD, will be released this fall and LAST BLOOD, which will close out the series, will be out spring 2013. There will also be a short connected story this spring. Watch my website, FB page or Orbit Books site for more info on that.

7. What do you usually read and is there a title you’d like to recommend to our readers?

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of comic books and graphic novels because I’m under deadline and I can read one of those quickly and not feel like I should be working instead. I don’t know how to only recommend just one title, but if you’re curious about comics or graphic novels, I say just grab one and dive in. X-Men is always good because most people know them from the movies

8. Which writers inspire you?

Any writer who tells the kind of story that draws me in and makes it impossible to put the book down.

A personal, silly side question by Lisa: I’ve noticed in a lot of books lately (mostly paranormal YA but some UF too) this habit of having at least one Italian vampire. Since I am Italian (but not a vampire!), do you know why that is and why did you choose to have one?

Well, I’m Italian (on both sides of my family) and since my dad’s name is also Dominic, I guess that character was a little shout out to him. My dad’s told me several times not to kill him off. Hah! I do think the Italian heritage is a rich one and coming from that background, writing about it just seemed like a natural thing to do. Also, the headquarters of one of my vampire families is in Italy, so how could I not have Italian vampires?

A huge thanks to the lovely Ms. Painter for answering our questions. If you want to know more about her, please visit her website, and for more info about the series, check out the new House of Comarré website. You can also read our (well, Maja’s) review of Blood Rights here.

And now to the giveaway: we have decided to give away two copies of Blood Rights, book 1 of the series. The giveaway is international (anywhere The Book Depository ships), as always. The usual rules apply. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below, we’ve tried to make it as easy as possible. The giveaway will end on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

Good luck, lovelies.

Your Euro team,

Maja & Lisa

a Rafflecopter giveaway