Interview and Giveaway: Tate Hallaway

Please join me in welcoming Tate Hallaway to Debbie's Book Bag today! Tate is here to talk about her latest release in the Vampire Princess of St. Paul series, Almost Everything. The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Tate's book, see details at the end of the post. 

 

DEB: Tate, this is the first time you've been with us here at Debbie's Book Bag. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

TATE: I’m older than I look.  I’ll be 45 this year.  I have an eight-year old son, with whom I share a love of Anime (which, I’m convinced is how I stay so youthful!)  I’ve been writing professionally since 1999,

when I published a science fiction novel under my given name.

 

DEB: Tell us about your latest release, Almost Everything and a little about the Vampire Princess of St. Paul series.

TATE: Ana is a normal high school girl, a bit nerdy, who just wants to fit in.  Alas, she’s also a half-vampire princess, which would be bad

enough, except the other half is Witch, and the Witches and the vampires have been at war for centuries.  

In Almost Everything, Ana discovers more about the wider world of vampire politics, when a prince from the Southern Region shows up looking to make a peace treaty… and Ana accidentally offers her vampire boyfriend up as a hostage.

  

DEB: Have you always been interested in the paranormal and vampires in particular?

TATE: I have.  I can actually say I’ve come by my vampire love honestly.  I was a big fan of Anne Rice when I was a girl, and I read a ton of vampire fiction during the 80s, including Poppy Z. Brite and Les

Daniels.  I was even a member of a vampire listserv, and I contributed “fluff” (fiction).  An early version of Sebastian, a character from my adult vampire series, showed up in something I posted there decades ago.

 

DEB: What kind of research did you do for this novel? Were there specific aspects of the book that you needed more information for?

TATE: As a bonus, the book is set in my hometown, St. Paul , Minnesota .  In this particular book, I was very lazy in terms of research and set a lot of scenes within blocks of my house.  Ana and a guy who wants to be her boyfriend but who doesn’t know anything about her secret life as a vampire princess ends up at a drive-through three blocks from my house. Unfortunately, that place closed down recently, but I

preserved my memories of it in the book.

 

DEB: Do you have to have specific things in place to write comfortably? A quiet house, a certain drink etc.

TATE: Oh no, I find that sort of thing dangerous.  These days I write to deadline, so I can’t have any contingencies on my writing.  I won’t even let a crashed computer stop me.  In the writing of my next

project, Precinct 13 (an adult romance that’s a cross between CSI and Warehouse 13/X-Files), I dropped my computer on its harddrive – while it was running.  I lost 30,000 words.  I had to start from scratch

with pen and paper, but I did it.  I only managed to be two months late on my deadline, which considering how much I lost I thought was pretty darn good.

 

DEB: How did you feel when you got the word that your first book would be published? What was your reaction...

TATE: I screamed.  Which was only a bit awkward because I was working at the

Minnesota Historical Society in the basement, which tended to be as

hushed as a library.

 

The other thing that was funny is that I didn’t actually believe my

agent at first when he told me I’d sold.  We’d had a couple of near

misses with other publishers, and I thought he was just being a jerk

and getting my hopes up.  But then he started talking about publishing schedules, money…

 

Then I screamed.

 

DEB: Do you have advice for new writers?

TATE: Yes.  Forget this whole stupid adage “write what you know,” and instead write what you love.  Writing can be a crappy business, full of rejections and heartaches.  If your writing process becomes

something you love doing, no matter what, it will sustain you.

 

Also, talent isn’t everything.  What you need most of all is persistence.

 

Oh, and read.  Readers make the best writers.

 

DEB: What are you working on right now? Or what are your plans for the future as far as writing goes?

TATE: Actually, I’m in a very weird place right now.  I just finished the revisions on Precinct 13, but it doesn’t come out until August.  I have nothing under contract at the moment.   So the universe is wide

open.  I just talked to my agent about other novel proposals I might work on, so I guess it’s time to just get creative and think up new and fun stories I want to tell!

 

DEB: Do you have a favorite author or genre? What do you read when you have the opportunity?

TATE: I dread this question most of all because my favorite author changes almost daily.  I will read nearly anything in any genre.  I tend to

fall back to my first love, which is science fiction/fantasy. I just finished Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, which I enjoyed a lot.  I also read/listened to the audiobook of Cinder by Marissa

Meyer, which is a science fiction YA romance which I really, REALLY liked.

 

DEB: Tell us one thing about you that readers may not know?

TATE: I have a yellow belt (2nd level) in a Korean mixed martial art called Kuk Sool Wan, which actually makes an appearance in Almost Everything….

GIVEAWAY DETAILS: 

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Almost Everything by Tate Hallaway.

~ You must be a GFC follower or an E-mail subscriber to participate.

~ US and Canadian addresses only!

~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST February 21st. 

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