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Frequently Asked Questions I heard that Blood Ties is ending! Why? Are you going to write anything else? Blood Ties is coming to a close in June. The reason the series is only four books long is because it's a natural conclusion of the story. Besides, it's better to burn out than fade away, right? So, instead of chugging away with the same characters and the same world until the quality of the books is so compromised that people lose interest (or worse, keep reading to see how bad it will get), ending it now lets it stand as four decent vampire books that haven't run out of ideas. I will continue writing (I'm actually really shocked at how many people ask that... it's my job. When an architect finishes a building, he doesn't stop being an architect, he just designs a new building!), and my next series will debut Fall, 2009. No, it's not about vampires, but I don't think Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance fans will be disappointed. There will be a preview of the first book of the series at the end of Blood Ties Book Four: All Souls' Night. How many books will be in the series? "Well, originally there were going to be five... but now there are going to be four. It's a mystery of the cosmos." Will every book be about Carrie or will they be about other characters? "Every book will be about Carrie, but secondary characters will have major roles and their own plot threads in each novel." I loved Max/Dahlia! Will we get to see him/her again? "Max and Dahlia will return, and you'll also get to meet new secondary characters." I don't think Ziggy is really dead! "Your theory will either be proved true or false before the ending of Blood Ties Book Three: Ashes To Ashes, coming June, 2007. Where did you come up with the idea for the series? "I used to work at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Part of my job was to take deceased patients to the morgue, and when I would go down there I would always think of what might happen if one of the patients was a vampire. That eventually became the fight scene at the end of The Turning. Everything else grew from there. Did you model the characters on any real people? "The visual and voice inspiration came from actors I like. I imagined Naomi Watts (The Ring, King Kong) as Carrie, Gerard Butler ( The Phantom of The Opera, Dear Frankie) as Nathan, and Julien Sands (Boxing Helena, Warlock) as Cyrus. But the only characters I modeled on a real people were Ziggy and Clarence. I used to play the White Wolf game Vampire: The Masquerade at a coffee shop in downtown Kalamazoo, and a guy named Ziggy would sometimes play with us. I fictionalized most of him, but I tried to keep his speech patterns and his appearance consistent with the "real" Ziggy. As for Clarence, he was a charter bus driver my mother knew. What music do you like/did you listen to while you were writing the book? "When I wrote the first book, I had Marilyn Manson's Anti-Christ Superstar on heavy rotation, interspersed with Tori Amos's Boys For Pele and Shakira's Laundry Service. A wierd combination, but it seemed to have worked! For following books, I've made custom mix CDs for each character. My own musical tastes are all over the place. I'll listen to anything but that new, pop brand of country music. Who are your favorite authors? I read a lot of romance, and my favorite authors in that genre are Lyndsay Sands, Stephanie Bond, and Jennifer Crusie. I also enjoyed the first books of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series, but I'm way behind in reading those! I've only recently begun reading Laurell K. Hamilton, I'm on the second Anita Blake book and I've read the first Merry Gentry novel. On the Sci-fi/Fantasy side, I love Jaqueline Carrey's Kushiel trilogy and I'm a diehard Discworld devotee. I'm also a big fan of Anthony Bourdain's non-fiction work, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Shelock Holmes stories, Anne Rice and Stephen King. Charlaine Harris's vampire novels are awesome, but they are dangerous in that my whole day disappears when I'm reading one. I also loved Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan comic series and my favorite book is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Right now I'm on a huge Herman Melville kick, and I highly recommend his short stories. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?/What would you be doing if you weren't a writer? Originally, I wanted to be a singer on Broadway. I would like to think that in an alternate reality, that all worked out for alternate me. But never in a million years would I have imagined ending up a published author. I want to be a writer! Got any advice? Yes! Finish a manuscript. Don't complain about not having any time-- make time! And get the book done. If you finish it, you'll take it seriously enough to fight to get it published. Site Content © 2006, Jennifer Armintrout Author photos © 2005, Jill Welch, unless otherwise stated Cover images © 2006 Harlequin Enterprises Limited ® and &trade are trademarks of the publisher.

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