Adult Review & Author Interview: Generation V & Give@way of 10 copies!

Today I'm really excited because I have M.L. Brennan on the blog for an interview!  I also have a review of Generation V at the bottom of this post.  And some fantastic news folks, there's a giveaway of TEN copies, yes folks, that's 10 copies up for giveaway!

Let's welcome M.L. Brennan to the blog!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!

Thanks so much for having me!

Generation V was a book that really surprised me, I hadn't heard much about it before I got it so it wasn't one I was pining for or anything, but the second I started reading I was completely pulled into Fort's life and loved his voice!  I found it to be very authentically male, but you're a female, was pulling off the male voice at all difficult for you?  Did you have any tricks for getting it 'authentically' male?

Oh, I like this question a lot. The short answer is “no,” but now I’m going to lay a long answer on you.

Literary gender-swapping is actually something I do a lot of, and really did a lot since I started writing seriously in college. There’s always a bit of controversy about this – there are people who will argue that men can’t write women realistically, for example – but I think that it’s actually a really good exercise for any writer, because what you ultimately realize is that gender is just another piece in constructing a character. There’s always the question of experience when people argue about this – that women can’t write men because they’ll never truly experience what it is to actually function in that skin. But you can make that argument about a lot of things – age, level of affluence, and race all spring immediately to mind. I’d hate to be limited to only my own experience when it came to crafting characters.

Fort is a guy, which is something that I’ll never experience. But I’m also not a vampire. And I’ve never had a relationship end because someone cheated on me. And the thought of actually being a film major makes me shudder. Constructing all of those things together, though, helped me figure out who Fort was, and what he would sound like. And once I figured out what his voice would be, the rest fell into place.

Funnily enough, there was a character who I had such a problem writing that I just rewrote a scene to avoid it – but that character was female. (you’ll meet her in the next book, and writing her just never got any easier)

In terms of tricks… it helps to remember that at our core, we fundamentally operate off of emotion and need. Once you figure out how the character feels and what he needs, it helps a lot. It also helps to have a good editor – it didn’t happen a lot, but there were at least two separate instances where my editor sent me a note that was basically “Can you butch Fort up a little here?” and I though, oh, okay, I guess this incident won’t *actually* drive him to tears. But I think that both of those instances could have applied equally to a female protagonist.

The vampire 'world' you created was very unique.  I haven't read as many vampire stories in the past year or so but I feel like I've read my share of them in the past and finding a real unique spin is kind of hard, it seems like it's all 'been done' yet you came up with something new.  How did the ideas for the vampire 'workings' come to you?  I mean, the whole breeding thing is seriously gross and creepy, but yet so fascinating...

Thanks, I was definitely aiming for new! My personal take on vampire workings really originated from a

need for my vampires to make sense to me on a biological level. A creature that is physiologically frozen in time from the moment they are changed, won’t ever die, and only have to do a small blood donation to make more of themselves? That sounds like a population disaster that would leave the entire planet in the equivalent state of Guam and its snakes.

So I rethought vampires in two directions – first, as apex predators. Watch any animal documentary and you notice that for the three-hundred mule deer running in terror, there are only about five wolves. So there needed to be similar biological differences between humans and vampires as to mule deer and wolves to get that kind of disparity naturally.

Secondly, I thought about vampires as parasites. This led directly to the breeding, since my source of inspiration on that one was the tick. And anything that is based on a tick is going to be creepy and gross, but it sure was fun to dream up and then put into action.

In Generation V Fort starts learning more about the supernatural around him and starts acknowledging the fact that he really knows very little about all the 'creatures' in his world.  We meet a few in Generation V, do we continue to meet more in the next book?  Any hints on what we might get to see? 

The next book will definitely involve Fort becoming much more involved in the supernatural parts of his world, which is also going to make his ties to humans become more problematic and dangerous.

As for hints… I can confirm straight out that the kitsune will definitely be back, but beyond that… hmm… well, let’s just say that when I was planning this book, one of my primary resources was Carol Rose’s marvelous Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia.

There's not really much for romance in Generation V, but there's a bit of chemistry there and I think anyone who reads it chants in their head "kiss, kiss, kiss..." so is there any kissing in the next book?  Please say yes!

Yes, but something that I’ve always loved in fiction is when the romance is a slowly boiling pot. Think about any movie version of Pride and Prejudice – by the end you are screaming for Elizabeth Bennet to just grab Darcy and lay one on him. But if that had happened an hour earlier, it wouldn’t be as great when it finally happens. (I’m thinking here of the great recent web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries – it took something like 98 web videos and several months to actually see the two characters kiss. And it was totally worth the wait.)

I don’t make the reader wait that long. There is kissing in the second book. But I will not confirm the participants of said kissing. 

Now I'm really excited for the next book! Can you give us an estimate on the release date of it, do we have to wait a whole year?  And do you know yet how many books will be in the series?

Fantastic news on that front! The second Fortitude Scott book, Iron Night, will be published in January 2014!

So far I’ve been contracted for three books, but I definitely have ideas for more.

Do you have any other works in progress that are different from this series? 

I have a few ideas I’m playing with right now, but right now the only thing very seriously on my worktable is the third Fortitude Scott book, which I’m writing right now.

And last question, what is your most recommended book at this very moment?

Oh, that’s a really tough one, because I feel like I should be recommending something that isn’t getting a lot of attention… but I just can’t help myself – Anne Bishop’s Written In Red is mind-blowingly good, and I’ve already re-read it a few times.

But after Written In Red, people should absolutely check out Cassie Alexander’s Nightshifted, which has a fantastic heroine, an insanely active plot, and also answers the fabulous question of – if you have multiple species hiding in plain sight from humans, what the hell happens when one of them needs to go to the hospital? Great stuff.

Thanks again for coming on today! 

Thank you so much for having me, and this was so much fun!

Be sure to find M.L. Brennan on her Website | Twitter

Thanks to the publisher, Ace/Roc/Penguin, I have ten copies for giveaway!

Open to US only.

Must be 16 or older to enter.

Ends May 21st.

Fill out the rafflecopter to enter!

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Generation V (American Vampire #1) by M.L. Brennan

Paperback, 320 pages

Published: May 7th, 2013 by Roc

Source: Publisher

Reality Bites

Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.

But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved. So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort is determined to find a way to outsmart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.

But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him.…

After suffering a reading slump for a good long week and setting aside book after book I wasn't sure what I would think picking up Generation V.  Sometimes urban fantasies are just the thing to knock you out of a slump though and I was immediately drawn in by Fort's voice.  It's in first person, which I think helped me along quite a lot because I really felt that connection with him.  I think being inside someone's head instead of outside looking in, makes the reading a little easier.  And Fort is a great guy.  He may let people walk all over him, and is unable to defend himself in any way at all, but he's a great guy!  Okay, so yeah, he starts out being a wimp.  And yeah, he's a vampire but not really.  He's still mostly human.  And to understand how that works you'll have to read the book because that would take far too long to explain.

Vampires in this book aren't sparkly and are often cold blooded killers.  I feel the author did a great job in portraying that they are NOT good guys, yet there are worse guys than some of Fort's family.  That while he hates what they are and what he will become, he sees that they could be worse. The author created a very unique take on vampires.  I felt like it was a tad hard to wrap my head around initially, figuring out how they breed and all that, but as I read on everything clicked into place.  

As I mentioned already, Fort is a great guy.  In the beginning he's just a bit too nice.  He lets people walk all over him and doesn't stand up for himself much.  But he grows a lot through the story as he discovers that some girls have gone missing and a vampire is responsible that he must do something.  But his family won't get involved and he's been forbidden to do anything.

Suzume has been hired to protect Fort and from the moment she comes into the story everything changes.  She's larger than life and does a decent job of stealing the show.  Of course since we're in Fort's head that doesn't really happen, but she was just so FUN when she came on the page.  She's a kitsune and holds her own powers and magic.  She also teaches Fort much more about the supernatural community, which he was completely clueless about.  She stands by Fort through much of what's going on in the book, but will she stand by him when no one else will?  When he's ready to risk EVERYTHING to rescue a girl?  You'll have to read it to find out!

I flew through this book like nothing and I wanted to read more when it was finished.  I'm absolutely eager for more and will be chomping at the bit to get the next book.

 Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Photo credits:
Wolf: photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucumari/2366638158/">ucumari</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
Deer:  photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53825985@N02/6347146782/">** Lucky Cavey **</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>