BOOK REVIEW - Lina Gardiner's GRAVE NEW DAY

Lina Gardiner is an award winning author of paranormal urban fantasy. The third book in her Jess Vendemire Vampire Hunter series GRAVE NEW DAY, has just been released, to glowing reviews. [NOTE FROM NORAH: I am currently burning my way through GRAVE NEW DAY, so I can vouch that it's a terrific, page-turning ride!]

Welcome Lina! You have the distinction of being our first author to be interviewed at Writers’ Grimoire. 

Thank you very much, ladies. I love your website. It’s always got interesting facts and information. Keep up the great work. Plus the design is wonderfully spooky.

What attracted you to writing paranormal?

I’ve always been a paranormal fan. Living in a haunted house (my grandparents’ home initially) from grade eight to high school probably sealed the fact for me that there are things out there that can’t be explained.

What would you say is the draw for vampires in particular? Why are we so fascinated by them?

Hmmmm. That’s a good question. Maybe I wouldn’t have been interested in them if they’d been depicted as unredeemable monsters in fiction and TV. I think I always felt sorry for them, because they’re often portrayed as ordinary people trapped in a horror-filled life that they can’t control. They have remorse. At least the good vampires do. AND….to be honest, I was a huge Buffy fan, though, that probably convinced me to write a vampire story in 2006.

Your Jess Vandemire Vampire Hunter series is aimed at the adult market, but for the benefit of any YA readers in our audience, if you had to put a movie rating on it, how would you rate it?

Maybe PG 14 or PG 18?? I’m not sure. I have a sex scene in book 2 and book 3. I know younger readers are more sophisticated than ever before and they’re reading at more mature levels.

What are your plans for the Jess Vandemire series? Is GRAVE NEW DAY the last installment of a trilogy, or is it Book 3 in an ongoing series?

The Jess Vandermire Vampire Hunter Series can continue as long as I want to write the books. I’m always thinking ahead, wondering what’s going to happen next. Book four is forming slowly as we speak.

The first book in this series won you a prestigious Daphne DuMaurier Award. How did that feel, having your small press book beat out your competitors from bigger publishers?

I actually won two fairly big awards, the Daphne and the Prism (best first book) with Grave Illusions. It was really wonderful and a bit odd to think that my small press book beat out some of the really big publishers. It also encouraged me because I’d like to write for those bigger publishers! 

That's right! You won a Prism award too! For our readers' benefit, the Prism is a highly coveted award made yearly by the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of the Romance Writers of America. What a way to debut!

Okay, Lina, I know you’re a huge fan of a number of YA authors. Do you have any desire to write for the YA market yourself? And if so, do you currently have any irons in that particular fire? Anything we can look forward to?

I started a YA years ago, but haven’t gotten back to it. It’s about werewolves and their handlers and a young girl whose parents die in a plane crash and she’s put in foster care. Her parents didn’t tell her the truth about her lineage and she finds out from another foster kid that the world isn’t quite as normal as she always thought. And that she isn’t as normal as she thought she was.

What are you reading right now?

Just finished: DAMAGED by Pam Callow – good serial killer book set in Halifax, and written by a Halifax author.

And not to make your readers really jealous, but I just finished reading your (Wilson Doherty's) manuscript ASHLYN'S RADIO and it is the MOST AMAZING YA story I've read in a very long time.  I had visuals in my head, chills running up and down my back and I couldn't put it down.  It's a Fab-u-lous book.  So readers, keep your attention on this web-page for sale news. Some editor is going to snap that story up!

Currently, I’m reading: BORN OF FIRE, Sherrilyn Kenyon; HOPE'S FOLLY, Linnea Sinclair; and MAD RIVER ROAD, Joy Fielding. I read multiple books at a time, as well as write more than one book at a time. Depends on which room I’m in. ; )

If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring writers, what would it be?

The best thing that happened to me was finding other writers. My critique group was invaluable in helping me understand elements of writing that I had to focus on improving. Being critiqued and critiquing other people helped me to understand techniques I could never have learned from books.

Ever seen a ghost?

Only one? Yup. Lived in a haunted house. After that I learned I was more susceptible to the presence of ghosts than other people. I still feel or see them now and then, but at least I don’t live with one anymore. Thankfully.

Ever seen a VAMPIRE?

Certainly have. And this is a really odd story? When I was young, I worked in the cosmetics dept. at Zellers on Prospect Street in Fredericton. In those days men didn’t wear much makeup, I suppose it’s not all that uncommon today, especially with rock stars, etc. Anyway, one day I was alone in the department and two very tall men dressed in black came into the department and bought quite a bit of makeup. That alone was unusual. I rang their purchases through, tucked the makeup into a bag and handed it to the gentleman who paid. He held out his hand, took the bag and smiled at me. He had the most perfect vampire teeth I’ve ever seen! I swear they looked real. . . . Given that they were buying such a large stock of makeup, I assumed they were actors from Theatre New Brunswick. I imagine the guy with the teeth got a kick out of seeing my reaction. I’d like to see his reaction today, if he realized that I write vampire books. LOL

RAPID-FIRE ROUND:

Who is your favorite between:

Mick St. John (Moonlight) or Henry Fitzroy (Blood Ties)?    Mick St. John
Stefan Salvator or Damon Salvator?    Stefan Salvator
Bill Compton or Eric Northman?     Neither…. (shrugging) I like Sam Merlotte
Angel or Spike?     Angel
Sam or Dean? (Okay, that’s cheating; they’re hunters, not vamps, but inquiring minds still want to know which Winchester brother does it for you.)    Dean

Now, answer the same questions, but in Jess Vandemire’s persona. 

Mick or Henry?     Still Mick
Stefan or Damon?    Still Stefan – because Jess is a good vampire
Bill or Eric?    Bill
Angel or Spike?    Spike
Sam or Dean?    Dean, because he’s been to hell and he’d understand her better…

In the not-necessarily-paranormal category, from TV, movies or books, name your favorite:

Bad boy?   Blade!
Anti-hero?   Spike and Blade
Hero?   Rick Castle
Heroine?   Lilia Desjardins in the Fallen series by Tor books

Thank you, Lina! I hope you'll come back when the next Jess Vandemire book hits the shelves, or when you sell that great YA!

GRAVE NEW DAY is available through ImaJinn Books.

From the back cover: Vampire and New York City Police Black Ops Captain Jess Vandemire is faced with the hardest decision of her life - become human again and regain her soul or remain a vampire forever and fight an ancient evil that is a threat to every human on the planet. Ensnared in a plan that might go teerribly wrong, she has little choice. As a human she can't fight the ancient enemy.

Then a mysterious stranger shows up and offers to help, and she's not sure if he's really on her side. She discovers her entire existence has been leading up to the challenge ahead. A challenge that has insurmountable odds, and if she doesn't win, every human on the planet loses.