Dear ladies and sexy captives, please put your hands (just your hands!) together and welcome our very own,
~~~Meljean Brooks~~~
~~~Meljean Brooks~~~
On my stomach, in bed; curled up in the corner of the sofa; in the car, with my shoes off and my feet on the dash. Mostly, anywhere the book is in front of my face.
* Best love song
Yesterday by the Beatles or White Flag by Dido (stalker lurve) or Full of Grace by Sarah McLachlan (the I-just-stabbed-the-love-of-my-life-through-the-heart-to-save-the-world theme song)Ripley from Aliens
* Author everyone loves but you don't
Nora Roberts. Seriously, the woman writes a gazillion books a year, makes a gazillion dollars, yet still manages to be nice and friendly and have great shoes. I hate her. Love her books, though. Especially those J.D. Robb ones.
* If you could be in one book/series/world which would you pick* How old is your inside voice
Eight, and she’s called Missy* Favorite sex song
Candy Says by The Velvet Underground or Father Figure by George Michael or Slow Like Honey by Fiona Apple I’ve never actually had sex to any of them, though. These and ‘Closer’ by NIN are my writing-sex-scenes music.* If you could be a hero who would you be
John Smith from Mr. and Mrs. Smith, so that I could totally rock Jane Smith’s pillow-lipped world.* What heroine is most like you
There is no heroine that dorky. Seriously.* What heroine would you like to be
Eve Dallas, because I’ve always wanted to kick ass and take names and have whiskey-colored eyes. Or maybe Peabody, because she gets so many of the awesome lines. Or Scully -- but not in those first years, when she had the frumpy hair and was wearing the boxy clothes to hide her baby bump.
* Boxers, briefs, boxer briefs, kilt, commandoFavorite book set on a tropical island?
Can I choose a play? The Tempest, by Shakespeare
* What hero is most like your significant other?
Ah, ah! I know! All of them, because every hero seems to have dark hair. In the hugest of koinky-dinks, my husband does, too.
* What hero would you like to be your significant other
Ooh, Nicholas Daventry, because he’d make me laugh like crazy.
* If you were stuck on a desert island what 3 things would you bring?* Favorite drink to bring to the DIK party?
Diet Pepsi. Watching those cabana boys is a round-the-clock job, so I’d need the caffeine.* Which 6 heroes would you bring?
Nicholas Daventry, from Katherine Kingsley’s NO GREATER LOVE; Daemon Sadi from Anne Bishop’s BLACK JEWELS trilogy (katiebabs hasn’t read this yet, everyone. Dog pile on katiebabs!); Batman; Fox Mulder; Mal Reynolds; Sir Pup, because he’d watch over my hut.* Which 6 books would you bring?
The aforementioned NO GREATER LOVE and BLACK JEWELS trilogy, THE LAST UNICORN by Peter S. Beagle, Johanna Lindsey’s WARRIOR’S WOMAN, for the guilty pleasure read, Neal Stephenson’s THE DIAMOND AGE, and Stephen King’s IT, so that I can read it around the campfire at night and scare the crap out of everyone who might even think of stealing the dudes in my hut.
*watches the DIK ladies with narrowed eyes*
~~~~~
Meljean's new release, Demon Bound, is out! You know you want it.
26 comments:
I haven't read the black jewels trilogy yet either, though I've bought it on your recommendation and it has been sitting on my shelf for six months. *ducks* Have no idea why I haven't read it yet. None. Coincidentally, it is keeping the first In Death book company, another yet to be read and highly recommended book. I'm sure I'll kick myself when I finally get around to opening them...as I've done with the brockmann books.
I have questions for you: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Did you construct complicated spreadsheets for the Guardian mythology and plot out the entire series before you started writing the books? What's your steampunk romance series going to be about? Which of your heroes was the most fun to write? When do we get to read Michael's story, and will it feature a feather duster? (I think you should write one in for kicks.)
Welcome to the island!
Wha-what?!! How did this post already. Oh noes!
I have no idea how this happened. *blinks innocently with cute puppy eyes*
I do love Ripley. Totally have a crush on Sigourney Weave to this day.
Now I suddenly have the song supergirl in my head. Hmmmm...
*hugs Ciara* You have the best questions and stuff.
I think Ripley rocks and do a re watch once or twice or so a year. My brother has the box set... woot!
And , a Firefly pic. Such a cool series!
Adore your books... excuse me and my fangirl moment.
Meljean! *waves*
Hey, Fox Mulder used to be in my hut until I let him go. You can try to look for him around *wink*
and ay ay ay Malcom Reynolds!
and Peabody! I am reading book number 2 and seriously that woman loves my world. I iz in love.
Ciara - by nature, I'm a pantser. Although I have a general idea of what I want to do with a story before I start it, I don't meticulously plot everything out -- primarily because the characters come first, and I have to know how *they* would get from point A to point B.
Demon Bound, for example -- I knew what I wanted to do in the overall Guardian arc, but absolutely nothing in that book clicked until I realized that Alice was bound by a bargain. As soon as that happened, everything fell into place...because that meant the HEA would involve her getting out of that bargain somehow. (I had no idea HOW ... I trusted that I'd figure it out along the way, and that I'd be using something that came out of the characters.)
That said, I do have to give my editor a synopsis of the entire book, and I write it around the third-chapter mark. By that time, I've established the characters and so the paths they take and their choices become narrower and narrower -- so although I do sketch out the plot then, there really aren't that many other ways they could go.
Er, not that I don't veer from the synopsis. For example, the "solution" I gave to Alice's bargain in the synopsis, is -- in the book -- reduced to an idea that Jake proposes and Lilith shoots down. I knew it wouldn't work even as I wrote the synopsis; but sometimes I have place-hold ideas in my head until I actually get closer to that point.
When I started the Guardian series, I knew what I wanted the overall arc to be, but I didn't have spreadsheets or storyboards or anything mapped out except in a general way (and all in my head.) Since then, I've bought a few whiteboards that I write reminders to myself on...but that's mostly to record ideas as they come to me. Like, in Demon Dawn, I'll be introducing a character who I know is going to have other motives besides helping the Guardians, and that it will play out later in the series, but I hadn't known how. Then I realized he'd be perfect for a thread I'd started on vampires in DM & DN ... so that went on to the board.
And that way, I can keep all that stuff in mind and weave in the foreshadowing and junk as I go along (and it's mostly for the secondary characters). I don't need it *as much* for Michael or the current characters, because they're already huge in my head.
I don't really have anything for the mythology; it's just sitting in my head, too.
The steampunk series...we are keeping the premise under wraps just a little bit longer. But it will include nanotech, "ghosts", people with mechanical appendages, and a dirigible.
Hero that was most fun to write: last year, I'd have said Colin. But this year, Jake is really, really close. And this is sad ... but it's because I am basically making fun of them the entire time. Not *just* making fun, but also having fun -- but there is an element in both their characters that lets me do the most terrible things to them/say the most absurd things, and get away with it.
Luckily, they as characters also have self-awareness and a sense of humor, so it doesn't make *them* absurd at the same time.
Michael's story is still planned as the last story, which will be the eighth full-length book.
*waving with one hand, and passing pomegranate margarita to Meljean with the other*
Hi Meljean! I'm running into you all over the place.
So, I've never even heard of No Greater Love. But it sounds like I need to read it. Why do you love it so much?
I love, love, love the Black Jewels trilogy! I read it this summer. In fact, Carolyn Jean and I are doing tradesies, I'm reading Kushiel's Dart (which I started yesterday [again], CJ) and she's going to read Daughter of the Blood, which she's had a hard time getting into.
It's great to have you with us Meljean!
Ditto on Black Jewels, Ciara, though I started it and DNF! Though Kati and I have a challenge to read it. She's reading Kushiel.
Okay, Meljean! Hi! Mal Reynolds is the best choice. **eyes him across the fire. Gives treat to Hellhound**
Alice -- lol, innocent, sure :p
About Ripley, though -- I'm totally a heroine-centric writer. I love my heroes and male characters and do give them as much as I do my women ... but every book really is the female's book, and I think characters like Ripley are the reason. There she is, smart and pragmatic and kick-ass and still sexy as all hell. And when she is emotionally vulnerable, she doesn't let it take over everything; she just acknowledges it, and keeps going.
Sarah -- you are a woman after my heart. Firefly, Aliens ... all populated with just awesome characters.
Ana -- I'm actually going to be hiding under a banana leaf instead of looking around for anyone. I'm kind of skeeered of someone on the island.
And if you're on book 2, Peabody only gets better. And, don't kill me Roarke-lovers (because I like him, too) ... but if I had to choose between killing off Peabody and killing off Roarke...?
*whistles and walks away*
And, don't kill me Roarke-lovers (because I like him, too) ... but if I had to choose between killing off Peabody and killing off Roarke...?
*whistles and walks away*
**grabs Katiebabs to start posse**
Um, those are fighting words, Meljean. Now I'm going to have to handcuff Roarke to me for your entire visit.
Oh wait...that's a good idea.
Kati -- thank you! And yes, I'm getting around :-D
NO GREATER LOVE: this was one of those books that came out of nowhere and smacked me in the face (I'd picked it up at a UBS). First, there's Georgia, who is a (mostly) sensible widow trapped in service to Nicholas's evil stepmother. The beginning has a very Cinderella-ish feel, so it immediately hit on my great love -- fairy tales -- but there was also this sense of humor and fun that pervaded it, and it comes from both characters (despite their each having pasts that don't give them much to smile about).
So I was utterly, utterly charmed just by the setup and the writing. But then Kingsley gave the characters depth, and changed them in some really spectacular ways over the course of the novel.
...I actually have a write-up on this book somewhere in my old blog (which is all crazy at the moment). But let me see if I can find it, and post that link here.
Carolyn Jean -- Sir Pup loves treats :-D
And I also found DotB hard to get into the first time. Bishop just throws you into the world (I remember I constantly had to flip back to the guide on status and jewels, and was taken aback by the first scene with the rats and the boat). But I hope you'll think it's worth it if you hang in there.
Kati -- I just found the post and reposted it on my blog :-)
There's 2 Firefly pics, ya know. Where's all the Jayne love? ^_~
Meljean - It's one of the reasons why I love your books. Lilith was just too awesome. As much as I enjoy great heroes, I really feel it's the great heroines that really rise above it all. I don't know if that makes any sense. I know this is a bit childish, but sometimes it's so hard to have strong, brave, emotional (seen in a good way), and intelligent women as role models. They're always too idealistic or too perfect. Ripley was one of the first strong females I've ever encountered when I was little.
Granted, I later found out the character Ripley was originally written for a male protagonist, but I think the fact it was Signorey Weaver made it much better.
I'd let Lilith steal my heart, but given she's able to actually rip it out, I'll just admire her from afar. >_<
I am still waiting for my mo fo library to give me the Black Jewels books. *grr*
Never thought about craving my name into the buttocks of the men on the island.
*grabs Meljean's knife and goes find Roarke and Michael's asses. Throws CJ and Kati into the ocean*
Ah the BJT and Daemon Sadi. 2 of my great loves.
I've already got Daemon here on the island Meljean so if you're carvin names you can take one cheek and I'll take the other. See? I'm sharing!
Ripley rocks. That woman kicks ass and I love it. She's pretty much the only reason I ever watch those movies.
Who are you scared of on the island? I'll have my men kick their butts!
Oh, and you gotta love a book with a dirigible!
Alice -- writing Lilith was really a huge break for me. I took a lot of risks with her, and I wasn't sure if she'd go over well with readers ... but (for the most part) she did, lucky me. And a part of me is kind of sad that I'll never create a Lilith again, because I don't want to copy myself; but at the same time, it gave a nice heads up about the type of heroines you can expect from me. Not that they will all be demons or kick ass, but that it gave me a lot of confidence to keep taking those risks. Whereas -- if Lilith had been a complete failure -- I'm not sure if I wouldn't have retreated and just played with nice, easy heroines.
katiebabs -- of course, the problem with that is that Michael's ass will heal :-D
Tracy -- she's coming...soon. O_O Er, probably Saturday, since that's my third post.
And yes -- you MUST love a book with a dirigible :-D
but it's because I am basically making fun of them the entire time. Not *just* making fun, but also having fun -- but there is an element in both their characters that lets me do the most terrible things to them/say the most absurd things, and get away with it.
YES YES YES! This is sooo true. I adored the terrible things that were done to and/or by them. Maybe because my husband and I are like that..we say the most ridiculous, mean things to each other, but it's all in love.
Your answers cracked me up. Well, except for that whole "knife-carve-the-butt" thing. That was just...a really good idea. I'm kind of jealous that I didn't think of it.
I can haz Sir Pup plz? Kthx.
*grabs knife again looking for Sir Pup. Sticks tongue out at Holly*
For the record I love your pictures but what no Walsh?
she's coming...soon. O_O Er, probably Saturday, since that's my third post.
I'm here to kick butt and take names!
Damn it! I was trying to think of some insightful question to ask you but...who am I kidding? I am just here for the menz.
Nathan is here...and David...and Adam.
I'm just gonna get comfy....*drool*
Ooh, White Flag...great song choice! My husband and I used to make out to that song when we were horny college kids. :D
Ahem...Warrior's Woman is one of *my* DIK books. But I suppose I can share it with you. Challen gives great spankings.
And I admit I'm a little frightened for your cabana boys. o_O
Dude...my captcha is "casper". How did Blogger know that I'm a redhead and my skin is the color of typing paper???
I love your answers, Meljean, especially about the cabana boys. lol
Your choice of heroines are fantastic and I have to agree with them.
I'm definitely looking forward to reading the Guardian series since I just stumbled across them.
Holly -- you should totally try the pocketknife thing. *looks at husband* Yeah. It keeps 'em in line.
Sir Pup is unfortunately a little busy. He's playing a big part in an upcoming novella, and is acting like he's a movie star or something. Pfsssssh. Hellhounds.
katiebabs -- lol! are you going to carve Sir Pup? You are a brave woman, my friend :-D
Sarai -- Poor Wash :-( I can never decide if Whedon's tendency to kill off people makes me love or hate his work more.
Tracy -- lol! I will shiver for you, too.
Sayuri -- that's a nice balance then. You're here for the menz, I'm here for the womenz, and we'll all have lots of eye candy.
Life on a deserted island is good.
JenB -- I'm Casper, too. Or a vampire, as my husband likes to call me, since I stay up half the night.
Karin -- yay! and I hope that you enjoy them :-)
lmao! ^__^
Y'know, Christine has been trying to get me to read your books for a while, but with RL kicking my behind, and a huge TBR pile already, I haven't gotten around to purchasing your books to even add to the TBR!
However, after this comment:
"and Stephen King’s IT, so that I can read it around the campfire at night and scare the crap out of everyone who might even think of stealing the dudes in my hut.
*watches the DIK ladies with narrowed eyes*"
...you are so moving up the list to read! I love it!
::comes running in late::
Alright bitches, hands off my Capt Tightpants! The man is in my hut, dammit! You can fight over Jayne, but Malcom is mine. MINE!
ehem.
Hi, Meljean. Please accept my belated welcome to our wonderful island. It really is a friendly place... provided no one touches my Captain.
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