QUESTION 1: How was Dory’s and Louis-Cesar bond formed, was it from the wine or was he sneaking blood from her?
Louis-Cesare would like to know if you’re a man. Because if you are and if you impugn his honor again by asking such a question, he would like to have a word with you. Preferably at dawn and with the weapon of your choice. If you’re a woman, however, he is somewhat at a loss, as he has few defenses against insults by women, having suffered very few of them over the years.
Anyway, no, they do not have a bond. Dory has a latent vampiric ability at mental communication, but it takes the wine to bring it out in her. So when she’s had a few, she can hear his thoughts, and vice-versa, although it is intermittent.
QUESTION 2: How many books are you planning to have in the Cassie/Dory book series? Or is it just a sort of I-know-what-happens-but-am-not-sure-exactly-how-to-write-it-out-and-who-plans-the-number-of-books-in-a-series-anyway thing?
I was asked this question by a reviewer shortly after the first Cassie came out. I said then that I thought it would take nine books to tell the story, but that I couldn’t be sure because it depended on too many variables. Namely that I am often optimistic about how much of the overall plot I can cram into a single book, and have to cut it back. That’s still my answer. I also said I thought five books for Dory, with the same caveat.
QUESTION 3: In “A Family Affair” Rosier refers to Pritkin as “…a homicidal half-demon best known for killing one of the high council”. If it isn’t a spoiler, who did Pritkin kill and why did he do it?
It’s a spoiler.
QUESTION 4: How do you feel that nearly all questions in the Q&A are about Pritkin? Is the Pritkin hype intended? I love to ask a question about Mircea, but I just can’t come up with one.
Hm. I’m not really sure how to respond to this. Asking me why there aren’t more Mircea questions and then telling me you don’t have a Mircea question…kind of answers your question, doesn’t it? Apparently, other people don’t have anything they’d like to ask, either. I answer the questions that I receive, barring those that are spoileriffic or incomprehensible. If I am asked something about Mircea that doesn’t fall into those two categories, you’ll see it here.
By the way, the prevalence of Pritkin-related questions might be because the novella “A Family Affair” recently came out, and it was Pritkin-centered. Once “Masks” debuts, you’ll probably see more Mircea-related questions. At least, that would be my guess.
QUESTION 5: Regarding the satyrs in “Touch the Dark,” what realm are they from (are they demon or Fae, or something else?). Also, in “A Family Affair,” Rosier refers to Cassie as “that unbearable harpie.” Same question … what type of being are harpies in the Cassie world?
Both are Dark Fey, although the satyrs in TTD had something unusual about them, if you’ll recall, which ventures into spoiler territory. As for the harpies, did you read “Buying Trouble?” It’s a Claire novella that precedes Midnight’s Daughter, and answers your question. As far as Rosier’s comment is concerned, though, he was just being a dick. As usual.
QUESTION 6: This series has been centered around three main characters who so far have undefined relationships to each other lover/friend/protector/guardian/partner which has created a interesting triangle, but its playing havoc with my emotions. Will you at some point define who these characters are to each other ie Cassie choosing one male for lover.
You know, I almost didn’t answer this question, simply because it requires a spoiler. But then I realized that it gives me a chance to bring up an important point. Important to me, that is, as a writer, although possibly not to anyone else. So if you’d like to skip the boring, long-winded explanation that follows, the short answer to your question is: you’ll have to wait and see. Commence rotten tomato throwing at your convenience.
Now for the long version, but first a statement. I like romance novels. I really do. They can be very entertaining, and I don’t want to give anyone the idea that I am coming down on the genre. I may even try writing a romance one day; I think it might be fun. But it isn’t what I’m doing right now. And it honestly gets a little tiring when readers assume that the Cassie series falls into that category.
It’s partially marketing’s fault. They are aware that romance sells far better than virtually any other type of book, and are therefore sometimes guilty of making novels with a romance sub-plot look like full-on romance novels in order to increase sales. I understand the compulsion—they have a job to do, after all, and the trick often works. But it has nonetheless caused me a number of headaches through the years.
For example, I frequently get poor reviews from people who thought they were picking up a romance and got a hell of a surprise. One irate reader sent me a tirade about buying the last Dory expecting a lovely, sweet romance, only to find the heroine toting around a severed vamp head in a bag for most of the book! And when she wasn’t carrying the head, she was partnered up with its gory, still-mobile corpse. I can understand how that could come as a bit of a shock.
But when I apologized, and explained to her that I viewed the books as urban fantasy, she calmed right down. Not so much because of the apology—which wasn’t that heartfelt since I consider Death’s Mistress to be one of my better books—but because the novel had suddenly gone into a different slot in her mind. Suddenly, instead of writing what would have to be viewed as a pretty lousy romance novel, she realized that I had written what might be considered a pretty decent fantasy novel, and told me she was off to read it again. I later heard back that she quite enjoyed it the second time through, when she wasn’t spending the whole book waiting for things that never materialized.
So on to your question. I can’t tell you how the books end for the sub-plotline, namely the romance, any more than I could for the main one. It would spoil the fun for a lot of people who don’t like to know what is coming. I can tell you, however, that the emphasis on plot over anything romance-related will continue. That is not to say that there won’t be romance, which I like using and refuse to relinquish entirely to my romance-writing sisters, no matter how much trouble it lands me in. But simply that it won’t be the main focus.