Real Vampires Get Lucky by Gerry Bartlett

When I was looking for ideas for the third book, Real Vampires Get Lucky, in the Glory St. Clair vampire series, I wanted to put her in a really bad situation, so bad that it would take the rest of the book for Glory to work her way out of the jam. Hopefully, this would hook the reader and get her to read on. So I dumped a seriously wounded mortal in Glory’s path and gave her a choice: let someone die or turn him or her vampire.

Glory had always sworn never to make a new vampire because she’s had her own regrets about taking on a pair of fangs. For one thing, she would have lost those ten pounds that have been riding on her hips all these years before she’d let her vampire lover turn her. For another she’d never had a chance to sample chocolate truffles. Enough said. Now, although she’s been a vampire for over four hundred years, Glory doesn’t have a clue about how to turn someone vampire. So here she is, in the alley behind her vintage clothing shop staring at this person who is one breath away from death. This alley is significant because bad things always seem to happen here. At least they did in book one(Real Vampires Have Curves) and two(Real Vampires Live Large) of the series. That’s important because when you’re writing a series, you’re juggling not only a continuing cast of characters, but their memories and the settings they’ve lived in.

Back to that mortal bleeding out. Glory’s stuck. She’s got to turn this person vampire. And Gerry, the writer, has to decide whether it’s going to be a hot guy or a woman. Hmm. Hot guy is competition for the love of Glory’s life. Interesting, but not what I need right now. So it’s a woman lying there. And to motivate Glory further, this woman has an expensive handbag and great boots. Her Gucci wallet is lying a few feet away and Glory’s shape-shifting bodyguard Valdez has a laugh when he reads the name on the driver’s license: Lucky Carver(See where I got my title?). A phone call to Glory’s boyfriend finally gets Glory the information she needs to make Lucky into a vampire. Well, that problem’s solved. But of course there are lots more problems ahead for Glory and a woman who turns out to be a loan shark for paranormals.

Loan shark? Where did that come from? I needed a reason for Lucky to be in an alley in Austin, Texas at two in the morning. Authors are constantly working on a character’s motivation, goals, conflict. Fancy words that mean “Does this make sense?” Lucky was used to collecting debts at night in strange places, but this time that habit almost got her killed. When Glory takes her upstairs and begins her vampire training, our heroine is stuck with a woman who doesn’t know the meaning of “low profile” and who has a very unhappy would-be killer still after her.

Since this is also a romance, I gave Lucky an ex-boyfriend whom she hates. Lucky’s idea of revenge is to turn the rock star into a vampire. Then she dumps him on Glory so our heroine can mentor him. Hmm. Imagine waking up with a naked rock star in your bed. And not just any rocker, but one whose music lights your personal fire. Now Glory’s longtime boyfriend finally has some serious competition. And Glory’s life gets really complicated.

Okay, now you’ve got the set-up for Real Vampires Get Lucky: There’s slightly chubby and always independent vampire, Gloriana St. Clair; her hunky Scottish lover, vampire Jeremy Blade; newly made vampire, Lucky and a hot rock star to resist. Sprinkle in all the continuing characters that readers of the series expect to see like Glory’s best friends and her bodyguard/dog Valdez. Oh, and don’t forget the usual suspects like vampire hunters. See why writing a series is such a challenge?

You can read an excerpt from Real Vampires Get Lucky at gerrybartlett.com. It hit bookstores June 3. Also, come visit Glory’s blog at myspace.com/gerrybartlett.

Hope to see you there!
Gerry Bartlett

Ghost Moon by Rebecca York

GHOST MOON is the seventh book in a werewolf series I never planned.

When I wrote my first Moon book, KILLING MOON, I simply wanted to write a werewolf story, and I thought of the idea of a werewolf detective who uses his wolf senses to solve crimes. Then Berkley asked me for more werewolf books–and I was off and running.

By the time I got to the third book, I realized I needed to add another major theme that would expand the series. So I began writing about heroines who had psychic powers.

I used that in several books. Still, I felt that I needed a bigger canvas, so I introduced an alternate universe, parallel to our own. Only something happened there so that a lot of people suddenly acquired psychic powers, completely disrupting civilization. I’ve had characters from that world come into this one. And I’ve had characters from our world go there.

In GHOST MOON, I’m using that new setting to its full advantage, but I’m also looking for traits that will make each of my werewolf heroes unique and will create conflict between the hero and the heroine. Which is how I came up with the basic idea for the story. Caleb Marshall is the ghost of a werewolf killed 75 years ago by his cousin. And he wants to avenge his own death–which puts him in conflict with the Marshall werewolves my readers know and, hopefully, love. The heroine, Quinn, who comes from my alternate universe, is friends with the Marshalls, so she’s immediately afraid that Caleb will go after them. With my usual twisted glee, I set up a situation where she and Caleb are forced to work with them to defeat a terrorist plot.

As I planned the book, I didn’t want to back myself into a corner with a ghost hero. So I needed a way for Caleb to acquire a body. That’s part of the terrorist plot. But I don’t want to give away any more of the story by telling you more about it. Except to say that I had one more horrible idea. What if the body Caleb acquired couldn’t change to wolf form? What would that do to him?

Rebecca York