QUESTION 1: I re-read TtD recently and it seems to be much more violent than the others. Is there any particular reason for that or am I just imagining things?
Touch the Dark was the first in the series, and so needed to set the tone. There were several scenes added that were designed to be a little on the shocking side, mainly to show that this wasn’t going to be a gentle, “vampire romance” sort of series. Not that I have a problem with those, but it’s not what the series is, and I wanted that out there early.
Having said that, however, I don’t know that it’s all that much more violent than later books. But it was the beginning of the war, and not one of those simmering-in-the-background types. I think that TTD did a good job of setting that up while still being enjoyable to read (I hope).
QUESTION 2: Also, after about 3 years of being a fan, I’ve only just noticed that every book ends with Cassie shifting. Is there any symbolism attached to that?
There are a lot of “Easter eggs” as they’re called, hidden throughout the books. For those not familiar with the term (which I wasn’t until recently), it means fun hints and clues buried in the text for people to find. Like Pritkin’s locker number in HTM, or the newspaper headlines Cassie keeps encountering, or the Tarot cards that keep popping up, or the significance of people’s names, or…well, you get the idea. And yes, the ending phrase is one of them. And yes, it has symbolism (they all do). And no, I am not going to tell you what that symbolism is.
I will say that the Easter eggs are mostly just for fun. What I’ve found interesting is that there are much more important clues to the overall plot that are right out in plain sight, not hidden at all. And yet, for whatever reason, they just haven’t been noticed.:-)
QUESTION 3: Have you ever based any of your characters off someone you knew? Or took someone and made into a character?
No. What other authors choose to do is up to them, but I’ve always thought: what if I need for something bad to happen to a character? It’s not a problem normally–I can be ruthless in pursuit of a plot. But what if that character is based off a friend? Or even an enemy? I’ve had some people I didn’t care for in the past from time to time, but I can’t honestly say I’ve ever wanted any of them blown up or decapitated or eaten. Well, okay, not most of them. So it just seems a bad idea to put someone in a book who might become a barrier to the plot.
QUESTION 4: How long lived Dory and Mircea together? You left a hint in Hunt the Moon, that Dory was with Mircea, when they escaped from Italy (and meet Tony)…
You find out more about Dory and Mircea’s early relationship in Fury’s Kiss, so I don’t want to say too much and spoil things. But I think it’s safe to comment that they were together for longer than she knows. A lot longer.
QUESTION 5: Mircea need to travel a lot by reason of his job, how many languages does he speak? (except English and Romanian of course).
Mircea speaks eight languages fluently and has people on staff (because he’s in charge of the Senate’s diplomatic wing) who speak dozens more. I envisioned each of the senate members as something like the members of a president’s cabinet, with their own portfolio of powers and responsibilities. Which is one reason Mircea has been so frazzled lately. He (and the rest of the dwindling number of senate members) have been wearing numerous hats and it’s getting exhausting. Of course, the senate is about to have some new blood injected into it once the old seats are filled. Whether that will be a good thing or not remains to be seen.