Elven Blood by Debra Dunbar - Virtual Book tour and giveaway

Today author Debra Dunbar visits on her tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for the Urban Fantasy, "Elven Blood".

Debra will be awarding an e-book copy of A DEMON BOUND (book 1 in the Imp Series) to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop, and a grand prize of a Kindle Fire with an ELVEN BLOOD book cover skin to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY), so leave a comment at the end of this post to be entered!

Thanks to Debra for answering all my prying questions!

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I’ve always loved fantasy. To young children, everything is magic and it’s just as possible for a dog to sprout wings and fly as it is for a bird to do so. I don’t think I ever lost that ability to see the world as a place of possibilities. The odd thing is I’m also a stodgy, practical person. I’ve got an MBA and work for a corporation designing sales compensation plans- which involves a lot of spreadsheets and statistics. You wouldn’t think that kind of person could also write stories about demons and angels, about elves and changelings, but I do. I like to think of it as a Clark Kent/Superman kind of thing. Mild mannered compensation consultant by day, cape-wearing super author by night!

What world-building is required?

Since I’m writing urban/contemporary fantasy, I try to root a lot of my world-building in mythology, folklore, or old religious texts. I think it’s easier for the reader to buy in to a fantasy world if some things are familiar.

For the parts that sprang completely from my imagination, a lot of brain work had to go into the series before I ever began the first chapter. The first draft of novel 1 (A Demon Bound) brought up even more questions, and I found myself with a few re-writes to make sure I had all the details down on the various supernatural races, their interactions and history, and the geography. I actually have a map drawn of Hel, so I know where the elven kingdoms are, topographical features, and locations of the angelic gates to our world.

Name one thing you learned from your heroine.

That we all have an imp somewhere inside of us, and it’s okay if we let her come out and play every now and then. I’m not likely to make a whole bar full of people crave hot wings, or vandalize an entire block of parking meters, but I still can take naughty pictures of our Elf On A Shelf and post them to Pinterest.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

There is one weird superstition I have about picking up coins. If I see any kind of money on the ground, no matter how gross it is, I need to pick it up. I don’t have to keep it – I can stick it in a donation jar, give it to one of my kids, put it in a piggy bank, etc, but I do have to pick it up. If I don’t, I believe I’m sending the universe the signal that I don’t need money, and I’ll wind up with financial misfortune.

I actually wrote a horror short story based on this – A Slave To The Coin. It’s free on Smashwords, and on Amazon for 99 cents.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I’m trying to be a reformed pantser. I’ve always done a sketchy outline, but for my current work-in-progress I have a chapter-by-chapter outline with more detail. I think that’s about as plotter as I can get, though.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

My four year old son, with a panda Pillow Pet. He loves to sit beside me while I work, and sometimes he’ll pull one of my books off the shelf and “read”. He tells me they are quite good.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

Now that Elven Blood is out the door, I’m working on book 4 in the Imp series. I’ve also got 2 more short stories in my Naughty Mom romantic erotica series coming soon, and a paranormal thriller, Dead Shift, due out this fall. There are story ideas for a few more things, but I’m not sure my schedule will allow them this year.

Do you have a question for our readers?

If you let your inner Imp out to play, what would she (or he) do? Assuming you didn’t need to fear incarceration, that is!

Sam may be the Iblis, but she is also an imp with a price on her head. The powerful demon Haagenti won’t rest until she’s dragged back to Hel for “punishment”. Sam knows she can’t face Haagenti and win, so when an Elf Lord offers to eliminate the demon in return for her help, Sam accepts. It’s a simple job – find and retrieve a half-breed monster dead or alive. But finding this demon/elf hybrid isn’t proving easy and time is running out.

Now enjoy an excerpt:

The hiss of Wyatt’s shower penetrated through the fog of my pre-caffeinated brain. I was still sprawled on the bed, hidden under a heap of covers, wondering whether I could sneak in a few more minutes of sleep. It was rent day, and I was already late in making my collection rounds. Stretching, I poked my head from under the blanket and watched a small lizard cross the floor. It had a scorpion tail, pointed ears and crimson eyes that darted intelligently across the room. Those red eyes locked onto the bed just as I realized this wasn’t a lizard. It was a demon—and not the usual Low one either.

There was a flash, and I rolled across the bed and onto the floor just before the mattress sliced into two smoking sections. Unfortunately I was trapped in a tangle of sheets. Instinctively I converted my form, deconstructing my usual human one into basic atoms and re-assembling into a creature that was small and hard to kill.

I heard a muffled curse, and I felt the sheets snatched from above me. The demon was no longer a lizard; he was bipedal with furry, clawed legs and a scaled torso. Arms hung down past his knees, ending in sharp hooks. His head twisted and turned, forked tongue tasting the air as he searched for me.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Debra Dunbar lives on a farm in the northeast United States with her husband, three boys, and a Noah’s ark of four legged family members. Her urban fantasy novels feature supernatural elements in local settings. In addition to A DEMON BOUND, SATAN’S SWORD, and ELVEN BLOOD, she has also published a short story erotica series titled NAUGHTY MOM. Connect with her on Twitter @debra_dunbar on Facebook at debradunbarauthor, and on her website at http://debradunbar.com .

A DEMON BOUND: http://amzn.to/MK6nxD

SATAN’S SWORD: http://amzn.to/Tsi1Wr