Anton Strout Interview and Book Giveaway!

After reading Dead To Me and hearing Ace author Anton Strout speak, my goal was to have him answer some questions that have been on my mind about the publishing industry along with the Urban Fantasy genre that has exploded recently with such excellent authors! And, I can honestly say that Anton is one of these authors.

Since you work in the publishing industry, are there any secrets or advice you can give to a new author trying to get their work published?

Anton: Be professional when trying to submit your work. Publishing is a business, and although your secret heart is poured out on your manuscript pages, you can't take things personally. If you get a form rejection, don't rage and scream against the industry. If you get a more personalized rejection, take any advice you get in it and give it careful consideration. I've heard too many stories about aspiring authors getting caught up in feeling like their precious baby has been kicked in the teeth that they forget that they SHOULD be trying to make their manuscript better! Serve the story. Even published authors are always learning new things to make their work better. You should be too!

I have heard so many rumors about how important it is to wait to buy a book on the release date. How true is it that sales are only counted after a book is released than before? If I buy a book before its release date, does that mean I am a bad person and that it won't count toward the total sales of the book?

Anton: It depends. Generally, it works best if you pick up an author's work in the first 8 weeks or so after the "street date" of a book. Why? The stores that carry these books are looking to see what the strong performers are during that time period and those sales will affect how many of your NEXT book they will take. It's also a crucial time for trying to get an author onto the bestseller list. By buying a book early, there is a chance that those early sales won't get lumped into the first week sales that are reported and crucial to a books performance. I believe some of the online retailers do factor this in and report the sales as one rolled up figure, but it's not a constant.

How did you come up with the character of Simon?

Anton: Is it strange to say that he decided to show himself to me over time? There was no initial inspiration for him that I can remember, but when I started writing the protagonist of this story I wanted to tell, the situation's kind of help to build him. Simon strives to be a badass hero that we're all used to in the genre, except he's not. He's a fairly normal guy who simply wants to get his shit together, date, and do something a bit more good and meaningful in his life. But all of this only came to me as Simon walked up to situation after situation. It was only then than he revealed how he'd handle it.

You made New York City come so alive that it seemed like another character in Dead To Me. Did you do any type of research on the city or just make it up along as you wrote since you work there and live close by?

Anton: I lived in Manhattan for about a decade and about six years in Queens, so I am very familiar with most of New York City. It IS a character all its own and I set out to portray the lively creature that it is. I researched a lot of my locations within the story and if I didn't have the time I would Wiki some of the history of those locations. It's such a fascinating city! I have little videoed bits on my camera where I would act out certain scenes at locations, which drew some stares. The Lovecraft Cafe, for example, is based on an East Village coffeehouse/movie theater I used to go to. I'm almost afraid to go back there because my fictional version of it has so taken over that I might be disappointed by the reality of it.

What does the future hold for Simon?

Anton: Well, Ace recently contracted books three and four in the series, so suffice it to say, poor Simon has some troubling times coming. DEADER STILL, book two in the series has Simon dealing with oubliettes, ghosts, cultists, and the scariest creature of them all... women!

What is your definition of Urban Fantasy? Do you see this genre exploding even more? What other authors should we look forward to?

Anton: I have a very loose definition. I think that to qualify as urban fantasy you need a modern day city and you need something fantastical... magic, vamps, you name it. That's it for me. A lot of it can wander into the paranormal romance category, which generally speaking constitutes more emphasis on the boning and less on the plot. Julie Kenner gets away with sub-urban fantasy, with her soccer mom demon slayer, so there are of course exceptions to these rules... I'm doing humorous urban fantasy, sort of in a Whedon-esque vein, and I'd love to see even more of that. I miss Buffy and Ghostbusters.I think the genre has grown about as much as it will, but I think we'll be seeing changes in what specifically is being dealt with in urban fantasy. Vampires were the initial trendsetters... shape shifters are big now... I'm gonna predict that dragonkin will be next. Not in my work, mind you, but hey, it could happen!As far as other authors, I can always recommend my colleagues over at the League of Reluctant Adults... and also this new author at Ace, Jes Battis, who is doing my kind of stuff only with a more serious edge and a paranormal CSI squad.

If you were stuck on a desert island, what 5 books would you want with you? Also, what 5 characters would you want living in your hut?

Anton: Hmm...again with the tough questions! I tried to come up with all kinds of erudite answers, but you'll have to settle for these...

Fellowship of the Ring- I like beginnings, and this is my favorite one. I reread it every few years.

The Hotel New Hampshire

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- I don't think I'd be a writer if it weren't for the humor in this book

The Sandman- the entire graphic novel series, which I'm counting as one book.... this has a little bit of everything and helps class up my list

Neuromancer- this William Gibson classic made me realize that I had to work hard, both as a writer AND as a reader... first read through at fourteen, I didn't get it, but I wanted to. Gibson (who I recently had a sammich with!) hits the ground running, not looking back, and it's up to the reader to catch up to what's going on and quick.. I like that Runner up:

Snow Crash/The Diamond Age- Neal Stephenson makes me drool a little bit, what can I say...?

If you could have any superpowers, what would they be? Who is your favorite superhero if you have any?

Anton: These are tough questions to ask a self-proclaimed comic book geek. I've given too many hours to thinking about this in my life. Spidey has always been one of my favorite heroes and I'd probably want his powers. I don't need nigh-invulnerability or anything grand like that... I'd be happy to settle for webslinging, clinging to walls and super strength. Although I always used to play Tony Stark driven Iron Man clones back in my RPG days... I'm also a huge Batman fan, but other than his smarts and wealth, he doesn’t really have powers... which is keen in its own right. Now please to be putting on this Wonder Woman outfit....

Not only was Anton nice enough for me to "pick his brain", he is giving away a signed copy of Dead To Me! All you have to do to win is post here by Thursday. But to make it interesting, I want to know:

"If you could have any super power what would it be and why?"

Katiebabs, who would want the power to fly! :D

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

I have been on such an Urban/ Paranormal Fantasy kick lately. The two out of the three I have reviewed here were very enjoyable, while the third one was a major dud. I may have some rotten fruit thrown at my head when you find out which one was given the label of being a DNF! *muwahahaa*

Dead To Me by Anton Strout
I had met Anton when Christine and I went to Comic Con a few months ago and when he wrote me saying that he was doing a talk at Borders last Saturday and invited me to come hear him speak, I was very interested. I had a very enjoyable experience hearing him speak about the publishing industry, (he also works for Penguin) his writing process and how he came up with the ideas for his first published book.

Dead To Me is the first book in a series about Simon Canderous, a twenty-four year old psychometrist, living in New York City and working for the secret Department of Extraordinary Affairs. What’s a psychometrist you ask? Psychometry is the ability to touch an object that someone owns and find out things about them, such as memories or a certain time in their lives when they owned the object. Poor Simon hates having this ability because anything he touches with his bare hands, will allow him to know a person’s deepest and darkest secrets. It also makes dating quite an uncomfortable thing for him.

Simon used to work as a petty thief and is now on the side of good even though his underpaying job can hardly pay the bills. Plus, he comes in contact with all types of creatures. This includes ghosts who will turn part of your hair white if you tangle with them, thus being welcomed into the “White Stripes” group. Simon calls them the Hair Club For Men. His older partner, Connor, is part of this elite group of hair men because of his latest ghostly investigation. Simon and Connor take up a case after Simon spills his coffee through a ghost named Irene. And since they can’t just have her floating around scaring people, they decide to find out who killed her. From there, Simon falls into all types of scrapes from being chased by killer bookshelves and evil cultists. He has to make sure he keeps his job and not touch anything that could possibly drain him to the point of passing out.

Since I am so use to reading about the female protagonist’s point of view, it was nice for a change to read about the male’s POV. Dead To Me is very quirky and Simon is such a funny and loveable guy. I wanted to give Simon a big hug because he is such a fish out of water, barely making ends meet while trying to stay alive as the things that go bump in the night try to do him in. This is a straight up Urban Fantasy with many pop culture references (Simon has a leather duster that reminds him of the one worn by Angel in the old TV series Angel) and I found myself chuckling a few times. There is this one scene where Conner and Simon go looking for a man on the run and as they enter an office looking for him, they announce they are D.E.A. One of the characters responds:

“But, we’re environmentally friendly! We recycle. We don’t dump any contaminants.”

There are some subtle moments with a possible romance to come and since Anton has been contracted for three more books in this series, I would love to see what else he has in store for Simon.

3 out of 5 stars.

Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole
Since the titles in Kresley Cole's Immortal After Dark Series have become so confusing, I have nicknamed this one, Cade: The One With the Likable Horns. Alas, his horns were not licked during the story but this is another worthy addition to Cole’s paranormal series that should not be missed.

Caedon Woede is a rage demon who is trying to help his brother, Rydstrom retrieve his magical crown so he can take back his kingdom he lost. Cadeon will do anything to get his brother’s crown back even if it means sacrificing his one true mate, Holly. Cade has been watching or rather peeping on her ever since they met. He can never have her because she is human after all and if he tries to mate with her, she wouldn’t be able to survive. So, Cade has a constant case of blue balls.

One night Holly is attacked and about to be raped so she can conceive the spawn of evil, but Cade comes to her rescue in time. Holly finds out she is part Valkyrie and the vessel to carry the spawn that can either become a product of good or evil and help change the world. This has only come out now because Holly has been repressed. She holds back all types of sexual urges and likes everything to be in perfect harmony. Cade and Holly go on the road and she thinks Cade is trying to protect her and find someone who can change her back into human, while Cade needs to deliver her to the one person who can help him get Rydstrom’s crown and thus the key to the kingdom.

If you like road romances, Dark Desires is the perfect read for you. I had so much fun over the bantering and bickering back and forth between Cade and Holly. Talk about total opposites! Cade is a porn loving slob while Holly has OCD and the thought of sex gets her very scared because she feels if she loses it in the heat of the moment, she will hurt the man she is with because of her Valkyrie strength. I know some had issues with Holly and her being so repressed and stiff but what I enjoyed the most is how Holly was able to break free of her self imposed bonds and become more empowered within herself. Cade helped her realize who she is and held her hand so to speak. Plus, they way Cade helps her release her pent up feelings is oh, so good.

These two were a riot to read even though I wanted to bop Cade over the head at one point because of a certain situation he places Holly in, but again, Cade has to sacrifice a part of himself for his brother. In my eyes that made him a worthy hero.

3 ½ stars out of 5

Damien by Jacquelyn Frank
Sorry, this was the one book that was a major DNF for me. I have tried repeatedly to enjoy the world of the Nightwalkers and every time, I scratch my head and go “huh?” Perhaps I am missing something but every one of Frank’s books are so long winded and go on and on without any major action. I also think part of my problem is the long paragraphs that don’t really make sense and the sex is pretty ho hum.

Damien is the prince of all vampires and his story involves Syreena, sister and princess to the queen of the Lycanthropes. There is a magical sort of library that has all the secrets and history of the Nightwalkers which includes all creatures such as Vampires, Lycanthropes and Demons. Syreena is there to guard this library and Damian goes to read some books. Out pops an evil demon skank who attacks Syreena and Damien rescues her. All this rescuing makes them both horny for each other and they figure out they are each other’s mates even though it is not possible for a Vampire and Lycanthrope to be together. But for some reason it worked for Syreena’s sister and her consort who is an important Demon. Damien and Syreena think a lot while trying to deny each other. Plus there are some rogue vampires around intent on causing mayhem along with the demon skank who won’t go away and realize she has no chance in wining.

It is really hard to explain in so many words that Damien doesn’t really have much going on. Yes, there are some fight scenes and a love story, but this was so slow moving and blah, that I really didn’t care if Damien and Syreena would go off and have a few Vampthropes… or would that be Lycanpires?

1 ½ stars out of 5

Katiebabs (KB)