Guest Blogger: Yasmine Galenorn

Book signings. Reader letters. Both can be a blessing, or a curse, though most fall somewhere in between. I get some genuinely fascinating questions from both venues, and a few that I’d rather not deal with. And recently, a reader at a book signing tried to trip me up (albeit in good nature) by asking a very astute question. ~grins~

First, a little intro: I’m Yasmine Galenorn, USA Today bestselling author, and I’m guest blogging at Lynda’s gracious invitation.

I write books. So far, a lot of books—or a lot in my estimation. When I started out in life, I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was three. And the only way to get there was…to write. So over the years, I’ve written. A lot. I knew I wanted to write fantasy/science fiction so that’s what I focused on. I wrote seven novels and they all ended up in the closet. And then, I made my first sale: a nonfiction metaphysical book of guided meditations. Not quite what I’d envisioned, but hey, I was thrilled—I’d finally gotten published and a publisher was paying ME to do what I loved best. Not a lot, but hey, they were footing the bill. I went on to write seven more nonfiction metaphysical books before I knew it was time to get back to my first love: fiction.

So I wrote a new novel…after six revisions, I found an agent, and landed a three-book contract with Berkley. But wait! The books were mysteries—paranormal, fun and exciting, but mysteries weren’t ever something I envisioned myself writing. But I was still writing and now I was writing fiction. I went on to write eight books—in two series before I had landed my dream contract.

And now, I’m writing urban fantasy, and I’m one very happy woman. I’m writing The Sisters of the Moon Series. The D’Artigo Sisters—three half human, half-Faerie, sisters, work for the OIA—the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. Camille, a witch, Delilah, a werecat, and Menolly, an acrobat extraordinaire turned vampire, have been sent Earthside to keep them out of trouble by their superiors, who consider the girls nothing but a bunch of bumbling half-breeds. But the girls soon find themselves smack in the middle of Demon-Central when Shadow Wing, the leader of the Subterranean Realms, decides to attempt a coup on both Earth and Otherworld.

From their home in a seedy suburb of Seattle, the sisters must use every ounce of erratic power they have to thwart the havoc about to unfold. Together with Camille's lust-crazed and not-quite-human boyfriends, an FBH (full-blood-human) detective named Chase Johnson who has a penchant for spicy beef tacos and wild women, a gorgeous hunk of dragon flesh named Smoky, Iris the house sprite, and Maggie—their baby calico gargoyle, they must use all of their collective talents to prevent the demons from taking over as the three sisters attempt to save two worlds, one monster at a time.

So…back to the reader’s question. Someone asked me, “Who’s your favorite among the three sisters?”

Ha! I thought. Trick question! It seems each one of my readers for this series has their own favorite and it would be very easy to offend 2/3 of my readership by identifying too strongly with one character. The PC answer would be: I don’t have a favorite, I love each of them equally. But that would be a lie—just ask any mother privately. I always knew my mother loved one of my sisters better than the rest of us. It was obvious, even though she tried to hide it. So…to be honest, Camille is my favorite. I adore her—I love the others too, but I just adore Camille. But even as I say that, I realize, they are all my favorite, but for different reasons.

I love Camille best because she’s sexy and seductive, she’s snarky and doesn’t give a damn what anybody says about her clothing choices, her love life, her multiple lovers. She’s a witch—and that resonates with me because I’m a shamanic witch. Although her magic is the ooo-ahhh kind, and mine doesn’t really produce fireworks, I feel a kinship with her. She’s a gurly gurl—and so am I. Makeup, shoes, clothes, she loves them all without shame or apology, just like me.

But I also love Delilah best. She’s a werecat, and she also has a secret shadow self inside that I identify with deeply (telling you what that shadow self is would be a spoiler if you haven’t read Changeling so I won’t say what it is here). My totem is the black panther, I’m an ailurophile, I have four cats, I know cat. And so I love her very strong sense of catness. And Delilah genuinely wants to be believe the best about everybody, even though she’s coming to realize that sometimes, reality overrides fantasy in that department.

And then there’s Menolly. Menolly’s a vampire, but before she was a vampire she was an extremely athletic spy. She had the ability to climb up the smoothest of walls, to cling from the barest of finger holds…until she ran into the leader of the Elwing Blood Clan and was tortured and turned into a vampire, then sent home to destroy her family. But Menolly’s strength of will, her pure refusal to play by anybody else’s rules, prevented that from happening. I love that Menolly doesn’t take prisoners, she plays to win, she’s kick-ass and not afraid to get her hands dirty. And she has a deeply macabre sense of humor—again, which I identify with.

So dear readers, yes, I love them all best. For different reasons. And given the books rotate—each book is narrated from the viewpoint of a different sister—it’s a good thing. Go ahead, try and trip me up with questions! ~grins~ I’m ready for you!

Yasmine

PS: Yes, there are more than three books in the series, there will be at the very least, six and hopefully a number more after that.

Bio:
Yasmine Galenorn is the USA Today bestselling author of the Sisters of the Moon Series (Changeling; Witchling; Darkling—1/08; she also penned the Chintz ‘n China Mystery Series, the Bath & Body Series—under the name India Ink; and 8 nonfiction metaphysical books. She can be reached via her site: http://www.galenorn.com/, Myspace: www.myspace.com/yasminegalenorn, her blog: http://yasmine-galenorn.blogspot.com/, and several other venues.