Today we have Cheyenne McCray answering some interview questions for us. A&R: Can you please explain your world and the premise of your novel!
My next novel, Vampires Not Invited, is due in stores November 30th. Nyx goes up against Volod, a Master Vampire who does not want to see Vampires suppressed any longer. Paranorms have controlled Vampire kind for over a hundred years. Paranorm strength and powerful magic has been able to enforce laws to stop Vampire attacks.
Vampires have tired of drinking synthetic blood and not being able to add to their ranks. They desire their freedom. Volod not only manages to gain information regarding every paranorm race’s known weakness, but he also obtained a highly contagious virus deadly to all paranorms , the serum thought to have been previously destroyed. If Volod is successful, the paranorm enforcers will be gone and a frenzied feeding feast, suppressed for so long, will be on.
A&R: Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?
Not lately . . . Oh, you must be talking about in my books.
I can’t recall killing off a character that I later regretted. Although, the great thing about paranormal and fantasy novels is that if I do kill off someone, I can use magic and bring them back. For those of you who remember Dallas, if JR can be written back into the story from the dead, I would have no trouble doing that with magic in my fantasy books… Unlike real life, humpty dumpty can always be put together again. A&R: Do you feel any of your heroes or villains could possibly exist in the real world?
In my contemporary suspense novels, yes. With my paranormal or urban fantasy novels it might be harder to find a Vampire with… Actually, even a Vampire has aspects of greed and evil that are human villain qualities, too. In my latest, Vampires Not Invited, the villain has a lust for power. The heroine has needs to be cared for, loved. She’s also brave and desires to help others. So yes, many of my characters could exist, save for the paranormal aspects. All of my characters’ personalities and emotional makeups are very realistic.
A&R: What led you into a writing career?
I wanted to be an author from the time I was in kindergarten. I was always a voracious reader and I would imagine myself creating worlds that readers could get lost in, like I would get lost in my favorite books. It was something I always aspired to do and I feel so fortunate to have made my dream a reality.
A&R: What adventures will be next for your characters?
Nyx and the other Night Trackers go up against Zombies in Zombies Sold Separately. An evil and very powerful Sorcerer has the desire to find a replacement world for his own dying world. He comes to Earth with a plan he has executed successfully in another world to take over its people. It is a book full of imaginative magic and unique fun characters. A&R: Are the names of your characters important? And what do they mean?
Most of the time I do look at name meanings and name each character something that relates to their personality or what they do. Also names that are from the geographical area that their race
originally comes from. Like the Werewolves from the Czech Republic have Slavic names. Characters form Otherworld mostly have Celtic, Irish, Gaelic, names, etc. I try doing research to come up with them. Also, I look for names which reflect the character of that person. I have trouble even writing an initial synopsis without having a character’s specific name, as opposed to calling them the heroine for example.
A&R: What did you do before you became a published author?
I was in the mortgage business for several years and then was in sales for 10 years. I went to college to be a journalist but ended up far from what I wanted to do for a long time. I started writing for publication in the year 2000.
A&R: Can you explain why you chose this theme for your book?
My theme has been the suppression of evil in the paranormal world and the need to stop an ominous enemy who is fighting that suppression. I wanted to create someone so dark, so evil and so cunning in a character that readers would feel the suspense and the emotion of wanting to see it destroyed. I wanted something different and unique in Vampires Not Invited, and I think I accomplished that goal. It still revolves around good vs. evil but I think there are creative aspects in how the evil plays out. I am excited to see how it is received.
Only once… But coffee, dirt, errant markers, always seem to find it. A&R: Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?
Wearing a hole in my jammies from sitting in my writing chair too long, forgetting how to talk to real people who aren’t in my head, lamenting that I can’t use transference in real life when I have to be somewhere quick, when it is so easy in a book. People wondering when is this person who sits at Starbucks day after day going to find a job.
Seriously, it can be a lonely profession for some. It is just the writer and her mind creating characters and story plots. I have been fortunate to have writing partners and a group of writers who get together to discuss their current work and have the group brainstorm. These times are always fun. But most times, it is just me alone writing. There is a discipline required to get the work done; of knowing there is no time clock to punch. You have work to do and no one is there saying anything if you take a day off and another day and another day. A person must have a combination of love of their work and self motivation.
A&R: What was the name of your first typewriter/computer?
I still have the portable electric typewriter my parents bought me when I was in high school. It’s here somewhere—can’t remember the name of it. As far as our first computer, I think we had an IBM. I think it is sitting on top of my 8-track tape and my record players
A&R: What d'you want to be when you grow up? An author. Never dreamed of anything but being an author when I was young. I was fortunate to have a mom and dad who impressed on me that I had the talent to pursue my dreams. I have heard of other people with mentors or parents who discouraged writing saying that “you can’t
make money doing that. You need a profession you can make a living at.” My mom and dad encouraged me to believe that writing didn’t have to be a fantasy profession. No pun intended.
A&R: Do you think that fiction brings something to peoples’ lives?
Absolutely. It provides a means to stretch the imagination, to think of things they wouldn’t have before, to believe in new possibilities, and an escape from everyday reality. Either a fun escape to your own Neverland, or reading about a character with problems that make your own seem like a walk in the park. I think readers like to put themselves in these books. Think of what they would do and imagine themselves being able to fly, or use magic just as a child would think reading the book. I like to think of someone reading my books and finding a respite from the reality of their own challenging world.
A&R: Who would you most like to be trapped somewhere with?
Jason Bourne. He’d be handy to have around, and the adventure! A&R: What adventures will be next for your characters?
The Night Trackers must stop a Sorcerer who targets the Earth world for new host bodies for the people from his dying world, turning the old, discarded bodies into Zombies. I think you will find it intriguing when you read Zombies Sold Separately coming in June 2011. Following that more Vampires in Vampires Dead Ahead, due out Fall 2011.
Readers can find me at: My shiny new website: http://cheyennemccray.com Cheyenne McCray’s Place on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheyenne-McCrays-Place/183525008980
And Twitter: @CheyenneMcCray
Thanks so much for having me!
Chey
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