Help me welcome the lady with the twisted imagination that brought you blood sucking bunnies and the sexy vampire Gypsy, Ms. Delilah S. Dawson to The Book Nympho today.
Thanks so much for having me! I am prepared for peen this time. Not like on Twitter. :)
I’m going to just throw this out there…..Where the feck did you come up with the idea for Sang?
I know it's a horrible cliché, but... it came from a dream. I was watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the time and listening to the album Like Vines by The Hush Sound. And I had this dream that I woke up naked on a slab of rock in a forest, and suddenly there was this painfully hot dude standing there in a top hat and tailcoat. He opened his mouth, and it was like Spike from Buffy and Captain Jack Sparrow had merged. That was Criminy Stain, and I had to come up with a reason to write about him. The entire world of Sang revolved around him-- why he was a blood drinker but not a vampire, why he was out in the forest, what kind of magic he had used to bring a girl from another world. I built the entire world just so Criminy would keep talking.
The clockwork animals are wonderfully creepy. Why did you pick the animals that you did and not some of the other “normal” circus type animals?
Thanks! The thought process behind the clockwork animals at the caravan was that if you could build any animal you wished, wouldn't you choose the weird ones? The polanda bear was the first one I thought of, because I couldn't decide between a polar bear and a panda bear and my fingers decided for me; I just knew he juggled and rose a unicycle. Then I tried to think of animals that would be strange and exotic and figure out what they could be programmed to do to entertain city folk. Honestly, I was just trying to make it as magical and bizarre as possible!
I must admit the first thing that drawled me to reading Wicked as They Come, was the bludbunnies. Do you have issues with bunnies like Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Nope! I love bunnies. I used to have a dwarf Himalayan who liked to play my electric keyboard, and in college, I ran the small animal room of a pet shop. But I was also a huge fan of Bunnicula and Monty Python, and Watership Down was my favorite book for years. I love the idea of something that seems sweet and innocent suddenly biting your face off. During release week last year, a fan actually hand-crocheted a beautiful bludbunny with fangs for me. Scared the crap out of me when I opened the box!
Funny you mention Bunnicula, when I was reading Wicked as They Come I told my husband about the bludbunnies and he said that they reminded him of Bunnicula. I'll have to check the book from my library one day.
Speaking of Buffy…when I mentioned on Twitter that I picture Criminy as looking like Jack Sparrow with a top hat you said that he was a mix of Jack and Spike. Can you go into more detail about that pairing?
Ha! I did that in the first question! GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! I love the combination of swagger and whimsy and power, that a guy can be so thoroughly capable and confident that he can be foppish and beautiful and strange and just not give a crap. My favorite Spike moment is when he's in his crypt painting his nails black, and Buffy shows up unexpectedly and makes fun of him, and he's totally SHRUG/COME AT ME, BRO. The Captain Jack bit is where the swagger and fun come in. As a Bludman, Criminy is long-lived and hard to kill, so he had a sense of humor about life and yet is very dangerous and in touch with his feelings. So, basically, to me, a perfect guy.Do you have a character/celebrity mix for Tish?
When I was writing her, I thought of her as Jennifer Garner or Ashley Judd, but age-wise, I would now go with Ginnifer Goodwin. To be honest, I was still trying to write an “everywoman” when I wrote her, someone who wasn't amazingly gorgeous, who didn't stand out. Since then, I've paid much closer attention to crafting unique heroines.
What tidbits can you give us on this month’s release, Wicked as She Wants?
Wicked as She Wants is my attempt to make Casper (from Wicked as They Come) the most attractive man in the world... and to counter Tish with a feisty, kick-ass heroine who blazes through her story. It started with the premise that Princess Anastasia Romanov was a Bludman and grew from there. It's an adventure/journey like Wicked as They Come and includes the same mix of danger and wacky hijinks. There's an airship bordello, a fight with unexpected blud animals, and a masquerade ball. And I kicked the sex scenes up a notch, too!
You also mentioned that if the Blud series ends with book 3, that you might Kickstart or Self-Pub the rest of the series. How many books do you have planned for the series? Do you have a working title for book 3?
Book 3 will be WICKED AFTER MIDNIGHT and follows a bludded contortionist from Criminy's caravan to the cabarets of Paris. If someone wanted three more books, I could keep sending my characters to different places in Sang-- Almanica, Australia, and Egypt would be tons of fun! The idea to Kickstart or self-pub a Blud book came from the fact that I purposefully left Wicked as They Come the tiniest bit open; it was a happily ever after... but not completely. It's one of the biggest complaints I get from my readers, actually. I have a story arc for Crim and Tish in my mind and would love to write it to make the series feel complete, for the readers and for myself.How excited you are about AADSAV?! I went to AADNOLA last August and it was a blast. Do you have any site seeing planned while you’re in Savannah? I’ve never been so I’m looking for things to do.
Very excited! I've never been to Authors After Dark, but the authors I know rave about it. My husband is from Savannah, and my YA paranormal SERVANTS OF THE STORM is set there, so we go at least once a year. My brother in law is the Dread Pirate Robert, a Savannah pirate who gives tours in a horse-drawn carriage, and my favorite thing in Savannah is to go for a ride downtown. He even stops for cupcakes and Starbucks for us. I also like exploring River Street and eating fried crab claws, which are a favorite food from my childhood.Thanks for stopping by to chat and I can’t wait to crack open Wicked as She Wants! See ya at AADSAV in August.
Thanks so much for letting me stop by!
Delilah is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Georgia Romance Writers, and the Artifice Club. You can also read her product reviews at www.CoolMomPicks.com and www.CoolMomTech.com, where she is an Associate Editor. She's a geek of all trades, a synesthete, and the sort of person who saw Spawn in the theater and made other people angry by laughing. Find her online at www.delilahsdawson.com. Bring cupcakes.
You can also find her on Twitter and her blog. And if you're into artisan perfumes, you can find scents based on her characters at Villainess Soaps.
Wicked as She Wants
by Delilah S. Dawson
(Blud #2)
Available April 30th from Pocket Books
The second book in the darkly tempting Blud series, featuring a vampire princess who embarks upon a dangerous journey to claim what is rightfully hers.
When Blud princess Ahnastasia wakes up, drained and starving in a suitcase, she’s not sure which calls to her more: the sound of music or the scent of blood. The source of both sensations is a handsome and mysterious man named Casper Sterling. Once the most celebrated musician in London, Sangland, he’s fallen on hard times. Now, much to Ahna’s frustration, the debauched and reckless human is her only ticket back home to the snow-rimmed and magical land of Freesia.
Together with Casper’s prickly charge, a scrappy orphan named Keen, they seek passage to Ahna’s homeland, where a power-hungry sorceress named Ravenna holds the royal family in thrall. Traveling from the back alleys of London to the sparkling minarets of Muscovy, Ahna discovers that Freesia holds new perils and dangerous foes. Back in her country, she is forced to choose between the heart she never knew she had and the land that she was born to rule. But with Casper’s help, Ahna may find a way to have it all…
Great post! I hope to make it to AAD someday! There's absolutely nothing wrong with Criminy being a mix of Spike and Jack Sparrow (love them both)...he's perfect that way!
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