Coming to Town: Kim Harrison for The Undead Pool

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Coming to Town: Kim Harrison for The Undead Pool

Posted on 2014-03-07 at 14:42 by montsamu

In 2004, HarperTorch published Dead Witch Walking, and Kim Harrison’s urban fantasy “Hollows” series has since grown into a best-selling mainstay. In late February, HarperVoyager published book 12, The Undead Pool, in the continuing adventures of witch and day-walking demon Rachel Morgan, and Harrison was back on tour. As did last year’s tour for Ever After, this year’s tour brings her back to Quail Ridge Books tonight (Friday, March 7) at 7:30 pm. Harrison was kind enough to take some time in the middle of her tour to answer a few questions about her tour, urban fantasy, the Hollows, and what’s next.

Interview by Sharon Stogner

It is so nice to have you back in Raleigh, NC promoting your latest Hollows book The Undead Pool. You lived in SC for 10 years before moving back to your native state of Michigan. Coming to NC is quite a haul for you now. Why do you continue to include NC on our book tours? (I am so glad you do!)

Thank you, Sharon. I'm terribly excited to get back to the Carolinas, especially when I don't really have a big say in where I go while on tour. I am guessing that I'm back again because of the marvelous crowd I had the last time. People here don't mind a drive, and it's great to see them. 

Your name is one of the few that routinely comes up when people talk about the urban fantasy genre. After 20+ years of experience are there any general observations you have made regarding the ebb and flow of the industry and the urban fantasy genre in particular?

I'm going to guess that Urban Fantasy is going to hold steady for a while yet. The genre is unique in that it allows for many storytelling techniques, and this helps keep it fresh. You can write your Urban Fantasy like a mystery, a thriller, with humor, or heavy on emotion, or even romance. It's the characters that define Urban Fantasy, rather than its storytelling.

Next year the final book in The Hollows (I would use ‘epic’) series will be released. Do you have anything special in the works for Rachel Morgan’s send-off tour?

Of course I do! But because I'm a terrible tease, I won't be saying anything right now. ;-) 

You were very happy to get back to snowy Michigan, but is there anything you miss about the Carolinas? A favorite restaurant or place? 

I was fond of Red Bowl, which I’ve not found yet in Michigan. Also my writer critique friends who I credit with finding publication before hitting that ten-year mark. Spring. I miss the early spring.

Can you put into one sentence what it feels like to be so close to the end of The Hollows chapter in your life (see what I did there? ) and one sentence for what it feels like to be starting a new chapter?

One sentence describing what it feels like to be at the end of the Hollows? How about a list of words: terrified, exhilarated, breathless, and freed as I step into something new and the chance to grow my skills in a new way. I’ve been waiting for this for a while, and while I have enjoyed Rachel down to the last paragraph, I ache to tell a new story.

What can you tell us about your next project and how long you have been waiting to get it out into the reader’s hands?

Readers who have been lurking on my website or bog over the past year or so have heard me drop a few hints about what might come next after the Hollows as I’ve been finishing off a couple of manuscripts. And though I’m a known tease, I’m not saying much right now since it will be so long until it reaches the shelf.

My next work will be third person as I shift my writing style. It's faster, more involved, and something completely different while still being recognizably "Kim Harrison." I can't wait to start sharing it. Think The Bourne Identity meets Paycheck.

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Sharon Stogner is co-creator of the quirky multi-media review site I Smell Sheep and freelance editor (Devil in the Details Editing Services). Born and raised in NC she received a B.S. in Biology from UNC and a Masters in Microbiolgy from NCSU back before cells phones became popular. Married and mother of two girls, she loves reading speculative fiction, blow'em up movies, and eating spaghetti.

The Undead Pool is out now and available wherever books are sold. [IndieBound | Kobo | Amazon | Kindle | Downpour]

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged kim harrison, sharon stogner