Meet the Author: Stacia Kane
Don’t forget the contest. Remember there’s a lovely candy filled mug to be won at the end of this week and a grab bag of October goodies (and book shaped objects) to be drawn on Halloween itself! To enter link to us and post it in the comments or just comment in general. Rumor also has it that there just might be an extra contest goodie on Monday so be sure to get on back here and check it out.
Housekeeping done, I wish my RL housekeeping was as easy, let’s get down to the interviewing. Today’s delightful diva is Stacia Kane, author of Personal Demons, yes the one we featured on Wednesday, and The Demon Inside (2009). Oh, and Unholy Ghosts is coming in 2009 too!
Let’s dig right in.
Vital Stats
Lives: England! Woohoo.
Webpage: Stacia Kane
Books: Personal Demons, The Demon Inside (2009), Unholy Ghosts (2009). She has a bunch of others, but we’re only putting UF stuff here today.
From the mouth of the Author:
Do you have a day of the week that is your most creative day? Or do all the days just gang up and attack you all the time?
Man, those days are such jerks. They follow me around with knives and taunt me, all the time, regardless of what I’m actually doing at any given moment. I hate them.
What is your favorite supernatural critter and why?
Ohhh, I still love vampires. I mean, demons are fun, and I am very, very partial to ghosts, but I still think vampires are sexy and I love them. I’m rather bloodthirsty anyway (um, not in that way. Well, maybe in that way. Muahaha) but the whole immortality thing is just way too appealing.
We all know it’s easy to get distracted when a project is taking its own sweet time to bubble. What is your Achilles heel when it comes to getting distracted from writing?
I have two of them, actually; one is seven and the other is almost four, and they nag me constantly. Like it wasn’t enough for me to give them life and let them destroy my figure in the process. They actually expect me to feed them and give them juice and pay attention to them when they talk and stuff. Sheesh. Not to mention my husband.
Actually, my big one is baking. My family can always tell when I’m avoiding a project, because suddenly I’m baking layer cakes with fresh whipped cream, or meringue pies, or cookies, or whatever else. And I don’t really eat them, because I’m on a diet (I have lost 32 pounds in the last year and am now the same size I was when I met my husband, which makes me quite happy), but I love to make them, the more complex the better.
With the holidays coming up and October being a good kick off, what is your favorite Halloween activity?
Oooh. I love everything about Halloween! Everything. This year the hubs is taking the girls Trick-or-Treating while I stay home in my sexy zombie costume and hand out candy (it seems to be catching on in our area!). I celebrate Samhain, so I put out some offerings and do tarot readings for myself and some other stuff, so I’m really looking forward to those too. I just love all of it!
I’ve heard of inspirational eating, so when you’re settled in to get things done is there a particular food that you just have to have on hand?
No. I’m not an inspirational eater. I’m an inspirational smoker. I smoke Camel Lights, and I have to have one before I get to work.
What does it take to write a really good villain? Do you ever find yourself in a mental space that scares you or makes you wonder if that really came out of YOUR head?
No, I’ve always known I’m kind of a sick freak, so… I remember when the hubs and I were dating and we went to see the film “Apt Pupil”, which was an excellent movie, we thought. (RIP Brad Renfro.) And we were discussing it with the guy who worked at the local video store and I mentioned how I think the thing about movies like that is, everyone has a very, very dark side that is attracted to horrible things; it’s human nature, and it’s easy to be fascinated by serial killers or the holocaust or whatever horrible atrocities. But why I thought the film was so powerful was that it showed how dangerous it can be to really give yourself over to that dark side, and what it can do to you mentally. Which the hubs and I thought made perfect sense, but the guy at Suncoast seemed to think I was saying the Nazis were cool or something, which I totally was NOT (and I don’t think that, not at all, not one bit. Nazis=BAD). And he got all offended and walked away before I could explain, and told all the other employees what a terrible person I was. It was very upsetting, actually. (And incidentally, Malleus, Maleficarum and Spud had run-ins with the Nazis during WWII, and still have extremely strong feelings about the experience.)
A really good villain must be convinced that he or she is in the right. Yes, there is the sociopath-as-villain, or the ones who enjoy hurting people, but in general I like a vilaain who fools him or herself into believing they are doing the moral and good thing. Those villains are so easy to hate, but they’re also easy to understand. And I think it makes them scarier because we understand.
Which of your characters gave you the most trouble and was the hardest to write for?
Hmm. Probably Brian Stone. He’s very complex, but I didn’t really have time to get as deeply into his complexities as I would have liked.
What is your most favorite murdered darling from any of your books?
Oh, gosh. Um…Actually I usually figure out a way to work them in somewhere else if I like them that much. *blush*
What is your worst writing habit, the thing which you keep telling yourself you’re going to change and you do it anyway?
I’m a feedback whore. I shouldn’t be, but I am, and I get very hurt when people don’t read my stuff.
If you were going to interview another UF author, whose brain would you want to pick…or consume, we’re not picky.
Hmm. I guess Neil Gaiman isn’t technically UF, but him. I would say someone like Mark Henry but let’s face it, there’s nothing to pick there.
From the mouth Greyson:
Boxers or briefs? You know I had to ask.
Boxer briefs. If I wear them at all. I don’t always.
Since no one seems to be able to stay out of gore covered trouble how do you get the blood stains out?
Oh, I have servants for that sort of thing. I don’t know what they do; honestly, they probably throw the bloody things out and just buy new ones. F*** it. I’ve got the money.
It seems most UF characters get a wardrobe I’d kill for. So what is your favorite article of clothing?
I quite like my overcoat. It’s just a nice black wool, but it fits well and looks good with everything. I buy most of my clothes on Savile Row.
What did your author screwed up most about you?
She made me too sappy. I don’t enjoy being exposed like that; it’s like she thinks she deserves to know everything about me and to spread it around. She’s a dirty sneak, that one.
Is there true love on your horizon, or is true love only for those sappy romance books?
Oh, no. That would be telling. You’ll have to wait and see, I guess; I don’t dare tell the author, she’d just blab it everywhere. It’s impossible to have any privacy with her around.
And there you have it! Thank you Stacia and Greyson!
~J
