Interview with Kim Harrison

Or, OMG I just met my favorite author!

Yesterday, I got to meet with Kim Harrison (and the Guy in the Leather Jacket). The following is an interview with Ms. Harrison about RT and her upcoming projects.

Nicole: Is this your first RT?
Kim: Is this my first RT? No, I believe this is my third. Well, let’s see. EVERY WHICH WAY BUT DEAD had just come out, so that’s been about 2 years. So it was the one in Daytona (2 years ago).

Nicole: What are you looking forward to for this RT?
Kim: For this RT, mostly meeting and greeting the fans. I am really looking forward the mass signing, I love that.

Nicole: Are there any panels you are going to be on?
Kim: There are three, two of which I have already been on (Razor’s Edge and Infusing New Blood in the Vampire Genre), which was fun because I got to see LA Banks again, and she is just a wonderful woman in person. Demons Are the New Black on Friday which is right up my alley.
I have been told I am going to some kind of challenge. I think they are putting it on the close-circuit TV around the conference.
But it’s the mass author signing that I am really looking forward to.

Nicole: I read in our own RT magazine that THE OUTLAW DEMON WAILS was supposed to be the end of the Rachel Morgan series.
Kim: Orginally it was. But no, it’s not [the end]… Well, it seems that family is about to become a lot more important to her and with that comes the history and her background. We will see her in the ever-after a little bit more, which I am really excited about. We are going to see a little bit more Trent, which I am thrilled [about] because I love writing Rachel and Trent together.
I am looking at another six books, maybe four, maybe somewhere in between. I know where I am going with it, and I don’t really want to give too much away. I am ready to write it and see where I go.

Nicole: I know you do quite a bit of short stories, and most of them have been Rachel stories. Is the one in HOTTER THAN HELL (June, 2008) a Rachel story?
Kim: It is. This one involves Mia, and we saw her first in DATES FROM HELL, and her band. I am bringing her into the HOTTER THAN HELL and then to the regular books.

Nicole: Is this the last bit of your tour for OUTLAW DEMON WAILS?
Kim: No, this is not. I am actually going to Memphis in a couple of weeks, but it has not shown up on the board yet because I don’t have the details finalized. And then I am going out to LA at the end of May/June for the BEA conference. Which will be cool, and then they will leave me alone and I can write.

Nicole: Are there any authors here at RT that you wanted to see this year?
Kim: Well, there’s Jocelyn Drake, an up and coming urban fantasy author. Her new book comes out in July, NIGHTWALKER, which I cannot stand the wait. She won’t even show me the cover of it! I am really looking forward to that and getting to see her has been wonderful. Rachel Vincent and her Werecats series. She’s on a couple of panels. It’s been really fun to see her take off and become everything she’s wanted to be. Other than that, just running into old friends.

Nicole: To the Guy in the Leather Jacket: Anything you want to say?
Guy: No comment. It’s all about Kim.

Nicole: Tell me about your new young adult series.
Kim: Well, you can get a taste of it in the anthology edited by Meg Cabot, called PROM NIGHTS FROM HELL. It introduces the character named [Madison] Avery. I had a good time writing that one, and the publishers liked it so much they asked me to do it as a series. The first one comes out in June of 2009. It’s coming out in hardcover. It’s a new universe, new characters, it’s not the Hollows. In fact, it’s more urban fantasy than the Rachel books.

Nicole: So the upcoming books are…?
Kim: HOTTER THAN HELL in June, and spring of next year is the next Rachel. The title of the next Hollows book is WHITE WHITCH, BLACK CURSE. They are also re-releasing the Hollows books in hardcover, starting with DEAD WITCH WALKING starting next month.

For more info, check out www.kimharrison.net.