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A Q&A with Karen Marie Moning

What inspired you to launch a new series? And what is the single greatest new twist in the Fever series that fans can expect to enjoy?
Inspiration is a kind word. I didn't have a choice. It's the story idea that came and wouldn't go away. I think the single great­est new twist in the Fever series is that Mac is a continuing heroine, on a critical mission, who gets caught in a danger­ous love-lust triangle with two of the most seductive men I've written to date.

If you were casting the Fever series for television, who would be the ideal actress to play Mac. Why?
That's a tough one. I don't watch much television and what I do see is after the DVD's have been released, so I'm woefully out of date. If backed to a wall I'd say Mac is one part George from Dead Like Me, one part Sara Pezzini from Witchblade and one part sweet southern belle who's being forced to discover there's steel under all that magnolia, after all.

You write vividly sexy scenes. You write thrilling suspense plots. Do you find any one part of crafting these novels more challenging than another?
I find them equally challenging. The suspense plots have to be tightly constructed and seamlessly interwoven through the five books of the Fever series, which makes for a lot to keep up with, what to reveal, what not to reveal, how and when. The sexy scenes are very intimate and I don't shy away from detail, which demands both total immersion and separation of self to write. There are some "sexy" scenes in this series that are far more disturbing than seductive and those are among the most difficult to write. I hope if I'm squirming, wanting to rescue Mac, so is my reader.

Were you surprised at any point in the writing of Blood­fever—meaning did anything come up in the creative pro­cess that was not what you anticipated when you began Darkfever, the first novel in the series?
In Faefever, the third book of the series, Mac says: "Sometimes my dreams feel so real it's hard to believe they're just the subconscious's stroll across a whimsical map that has no true north. Sometimes it seems like Dreaming must be a land that really exists out there somewhere, at a concrete latitude and longitude, with its own rules, laws, treacherous terrains and dangerous inhabitants." (She later finds out The Dreaming does, indeed, exist.) I feel the same about the Fever world. It's so complete to me, so vividly and exactingly detailed that I think it must really exist out there somewhere. Since the story came to me in toto, there have been very few, minor surprises.

If you could stand in a room with your heroes—the men from any of your novels—not just the Fever novels—who would you most like to interview yourself? Why? What of the women?
Men: The Unseelie King. He's rumored to be a million years old. I want to know if he's sorry.
Women: Queen Aoibheal. I want to know if she's really for­gotten, or if she's just pretending.

Describe your writing routine when composing the Fever novels.
The location varies but the schedule is the same. I write best in the morning when my subconscious is still simmering with images and metaphors from dreaming. I wrote Darkfeverin Georgia, and Bloodfever in Key West; all that sunshine was a nice counterpoint to the darkness of the story. I start early in the morning, usually around 4:30 or 5:00 and write until 11, break for a two-hour lunch and go back to it around 1. I use the afternoons to edit and work on other aspects of my busi­ness. Before I go to bed I block out the scene(s) I plan to write the next day so my subconscious can mull them over while I sleep.

When you aren't writing your novels, what are you doing for fun? And what kinds of books or which authors are your favorites?
Lately a lot of lying in the sun—I'm still in Key West and I'm afraid Mac has rubbed off on me, or maybe it's all the Jimmy Buffet they keep playing down here. Usually, however, I'm not so sedentary. I love to work out, hike, bike, rollerblade, shop with my sisters, and travel with my husband and our cat, Moonshadow. I don't get nearly enough time to read. The most recent books I finished were the latest by Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Charlaine Harris, and an early Dan Simmons.

And can you share a little sneak peek at what's coming after Bloodfever?
The darkest hour is before dawn. It isn't dawn yet.

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You'll reach for this collection of kid-pleasing read alouds again and again. Each short selection will grab kids' attentions, build vocabulary, as well as comprehension, listening, and high-level thinking skills. They are also a great way to introduce kids to genres such as poetry, short story, speeches, expository writing, and more. All have been carefully selected by noted author and educator Janet Allen. 128 Pages..
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"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you."

So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building.

Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions.

If You Survive

One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II..
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In June of 1994 a dangerous "bomb" storm caught dozens of cruising sailors by surprise as they voyaged north from New Zealand This is the true story of how nine yachts struggled to survive the hurricane-like conditions. Boats were battered by fierce winds and capsized by seas towering well over 50 feet high. Equipment was ripped loose, and water penetrated every weak point. Masts collapsed, rudders broke, and sailors lost steering control when they needed it most. The crews coped as best they could with injury, fear, exhaustion, and illness. Their electronic calls for help were picked up by satellites and radio operators, who initiated a massive air and sea search. This is the story of heroic rescues, human endurance, and tragic loss..
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The Last Guard Out is the fascinating true story of one man's life as a guard behind the merciless concrete walls of Alcatraz I was newly assigned to the infamous island penitentiary of Alcatraz. Reporting to Alcatraz required me to uproot my wife Cathy and young son Kenny from Colorado to California. As we approached San Francisco via of the Oakland Bay Bridge we got our first foreboding glance of Alcaraz Island with a dense circle of fog surrounding it. A strange sense of dread came over me. I looked at our young son asleep in the back seat, then turned to my wife next to me and I whispered "What The Hell Did We Do".After moving on to Alcatraz our thought on Island life quickly changed and we decided not to apply for a transfer out, which consequently left us there until the Island closed in March of 1963.Because of our newly born daughters foot problem they left us there until June of 1963 making me The Last Guard Out..
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Bruce Ross-Larson's Effective Writing wraps three of his little books about writing--Stunning Sentences, Powerful Paragraphs, and Riveting Reports--into one volume. With these three little jewels, the author aims to eradicate sloppy writing from Web pages, office memos, budget reports, and the like. For Stunning Sentences, Ross-Larson inspects and categorizes well-wrought sentences of all shapes and sizes by the likes of Vladimir Nabokov, Henry Luce, and Mary Lee Settle. He isolates every type of sentence imaginable, from imperatives and fragments to "cascades" (sentences that, well, cascade), in an attempt to identify just what effect choice of sentence structure has on the reader. What does adding an extra conjunction to a series do to a sentence? What does dropping a conjunction do? A terrific tool for making a writer conscious of the impact of his or her writing at the sentence level.

Once you've got sentences down, it's time to move on to paragraphs. Surprise: A paragraph is more than "a collection of sentences framed by an indent and a carriage return." It also has to be "unified, coherent, and well developed." Ross-Larson starts with the opening paragraph, which needs to "grab your readers' attention, rivet them to your message, and propel them through your argument." From there, he elucidates the many ways to organize a paragraph, and then the many ways to link each of your well-toned paragraphs to one another. He provides many fantastic examples from The Economist and other sources.

Finally, it's time to put it all together. The significant word in the "Riveting Reports" section of the book is plan. Define your message, define your audience, define your purpose. Then figure out, paragraph by paragraph, how to present your message to your audience to achieve your purpose. Use examples, Ross-Larson insists; "an ounce of example," he says, "is worth a ton of abstract generalization." And try taping your completed draft up on the wall. It's an ideal way to see it all at once, and excellent for slash-and-burn editing. --Jane Steinberg.
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" . . . compelling, dramatic, and well-written . . . " --Journal of Southern History

". . . compelling narrative of four years of virtually unmitigated savagery " --Blue & Gray Magazine

"[A] thorough and comprehensive study of this tragic, almost forgotten episode of American history." --History

A riveting eyewitness account of the bloody guerrilla fighting that raged along the Missouri-Kansas border during the Civil War. Drawing from a wide array of contemporary documents--including diaries, letters, and first-hand newspaper accounts--Thomas Goodrich presents a hair-raising report of life in this merciless guerrilla war..
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Whether you are composing a Web page on the Internet or agonizing over an annual budget report, these books are the key to clarity, accuracy, and economy in any writing task. Covers everything from the first spark of inspiration to the final draft. Writers will see how a series of careful questions will lead them to the messages of their reports, and will learn how to let those messages drive the structure of the piece. From this foundation they will be able to create a paragraph-by-paragraph plan of their entire report. A final chapter explains the author's techniques for editing reports of any length..
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Critics and audiences agree: 24 is the most addictive thrill ride on TV.

Learn the secrets of its richly complex and irresistible world.

Every week some 15 million people watch the most riveting show in postmodern pop culture: the television series 24. That's why it has earned countless cover stories and in-depth commentaries in publications ranging from The New Yorker to USA Today, as well as attention from hundreds of bloggers. For political pundits as varied as New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, it's a Rorschach test of our views on terrorism.

Secrets of `24': The Unauthorized Guide to the Politics, Moral Philosophy, and Technology Behind the Most Riveting Show in TV History uses this blockbuster series as a jumping off point to pursue real issues of relevance to our times--from whether torture is ever justified to whether individual rights should be sacrificed in the fight against terrorism. These are "big think" issues, complemented by a survey and analysis of the technologies and methods that drive the suspenseful plots. The illuminating collection combines original interviews and commissioned essays from leading political figures, cultural commentators, celebrities, and experts on technology, security, and terrorism with carefully selected anthologized op-eds and essays. It follows the wildly successful model the authors established with Secrets of the Code and their Secrets books--which have more than four million copies in print worldwide and have been on more than a dozen international bestseller lists, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and USA Today.

Secrets of `24' is an exciting, engaging, and informative read for everyone fascinated with the series--and an essential companion for understanding the show's central concerns. It will be in stores just in time for the start of the show's seventh season in January 2008, and the widely anticipated movie..
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