Dead Girls Don’t Cry by Casey Wyatt Excerpt, Interview, & Giveaway

Dead Girls Don’t Cry

The Undead Space Initiative

Book 1

Casey Wyatt

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Date of Publication: August 18, 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1534902718

ISBN-10: 1534902716  

ISBN13: 2940153402147

ASIN: B01HUFDDT2

Number of pages: 410

Word Count: 83,000

Cover Artist: Kim Killion, Inc.

Book Description:

Cherry Cordial, vampire stripper extraordinaire, spectacularly messes up her life with a single act of kindness. How could she have known when she rescued gorgeous rogue Ian McDevitt that she would be implicated in the vampire queen’s murder?

Soon, she faces the wrath of the entire vampire community. To escape retribution, she joins a settlement program to colonize Mars. Her choices are grim: hurtle through space to the red planet to face the unknown and possible death, or stay on Earth and face certain annihilation.

To make things even more complicated, a certain gorgeous rogue seems to be shadowing her every move...

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Excerpt:

Suddenly, I wasn’t the biggest, baddest thing on the block.

Revenants.

They always traveled in packs. Enough of them could take me down. Revenants were cousins to vampires, undead beings with too much spirit. Essentially ghosts with physical reality.

I picked up the pace, steering toward the middle of the street and well away from dark corners. If I had a heart rate, it would have been pounding. My blood was rare and prized. One sip and the revenants would keep me alive to serve as a drink dispenser.

I fished through my bag. Where was my cell? Jonathan would come. Provided I could find the damn phone.

Meaty thwacks rang out in the alley as I passed by.

 Do not look.

About the Author:

Casey Wyatt grew up in a mid-size Connecticut town where nothing exciting ever happened. To stem the boredom, she spent plenty of time reading fantasy and sci-fi novels and imagining her own adventures in her head. Not much has changed since she’s grown up, only now she shares those made up stories with her readers and earns a coin or two.  

Interview

Where are you from?

First off, thank you so much for hosting me today.

I’m a lifelong resident of Connecticut (minus the college years when I lived in Washington, DC.)

Tell us your latest news?

I’m embarking on my first virtual book tour in four years. After receiving the rights back from a publisher, I decided to rebrand and publish Dead Girls Don’t Cry on my own.

When and why did you begin writing?

I began writing on and off through grade school, right up until college. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that I began writing romantic stories in my free time as a stress relief from my day job.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Not until 2009, when I completed my first book. I’d actually stopped writing for a few years because I was convinced I’d never finish a book. Yes, like all writers, I do have half-finished stories hidden under my bed. Only one of them was resurrected, a book titled Radiance. After scrapping the original plot, it became Misfortune Cookie which was published in 2013 by Soul Mate Publishing.

What inspired you to write your first book?

The first book I completed, Ascension remains unpublished. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing story wise so there were a lot of point of view characters. My goal was to finish a book. Not having completed a manuscript ate away at me for years and I finally got it together and did it.

While that book wasn’t ready for primetime, finishing something led me to writing Mystic Ink, the first book I sold. I was researching character names for a different story and I landed on an entry about a Greek God named, Nereus, who had fifty daughters. I have two sons so having fifty daughters is unfathomable to me. That’s when Nix, a tattoo artist and sea nymph, was born. I grew an entire world and two other romances set in real life Mystic, CT (where gods and goddesses live among us).

Dead Girls Don’t Cry was born during a car drive. The main character, Cherry Cordial, sprang to life as follows: a vampire stripper who’s forced to go to Mars. Who better to populate a world where the oxygen level is ankle height but a bunch of the undead?

Do you have a specific writing style?

When I write,  I usually “Frankenstein” the parts into a single monster. Each book is cobbled together in its own unique way. Some books come out in a linear fashion, mostly in order like Mystic Ink, Lachlan’s Curse and Dead Girls Don’t Cry. Others like Mystic Storm, Mystic Hero, Over Easy, Ascension, and Misfortune Cookie were written out of order. For all of my books I do plot ahead of time, having learned that not plotting is a Bad Idea.

How did you come up with the title?

Dead Girls Don’t Cry just popped into my head. Which is usually where all my titles come from – thin air!

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

For Dead Girls, it’s be yourself and don’t be afraid of the changes life throws your way.

How much of the book is realistic?

Since most of the book takes place on Mars, I relied on numerous web sites like Google Mars (yes, that’s a real thing), NASA, and a book by Mary Roach: Packing for Mars. The rest takes the usual creatures of the night like vampires and zombies and turns it sideways.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

As a kid I was greatly influenced by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. At one point, I even wanted to be an astronomer. That is, until I realized how much math is involved (cue me: screaming then running from the room.) But, I never lost my love of science fiction and fantasy stories. If anything, it’s the love of those genres that influences my stories overall. While there isn’t a specific person or event that influenced Dead Girls Don’t Cry, I think we can all relate to those times when life takes an unexpected turn, forcing us to adapt.

What books have most influenced your life most?

Hands down, The Lord of the Rings and Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. They opened the world of impossible and improbable things. From that point on I read sci-fi and fantasy novels in bulk. And I still own all of those books today. And, I do have toss this out there, even though they aren’t books – Star Trek and Star Wars. The originals.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Kristan Higgins. She’s the most generous and honest mentor anyone could ask for. I was fortunate enough to receive her guidance last year when I was writing a contemporary romance, Over Easy. The other person is Kelley Armstrong, who I’ve never met, but her NaNoWrimo tips enabled me to complete my first book in 2009, called Ascension (still unpublished and needs a rewrite.)

What book are you reading now?

I read several books at a time. For non-fiction: Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, M.D. and for fiction I just finished Dr. DOA by Simon R. Green and, manga, The Heroic Legend of Arslan #1 – 3 by Yoshiki Tanaka and Hiromu Arakawa.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I don’t know how new these authors are but they are new to me. I love Grave Draven’s Wraith King books – Radiance and Eidolon. And Erika Johansen’s Tearling Books – The Queen of the Tearling and Invasion of the Tearling. Both are insta-buy authors for me. I also love Gail Carriger, Rob Thurman, and Patricia Briggs. For non-sci-fi/fantasy choices, I enjoy Gail Chianese, Jamie Beck, Jamie Pope, and Susannah Hardy to name only a few. I could list more because being an author means unlimited access to great books and great writers!

What are your current projects?

I’m working on book 2 – Dead Girls Don’t Sing. While, I’m letting the draft ferment, I’ll work on something different like another contemporary romance or paranormal romance.

What would you like my readers to know?

I love to talk about books, pop culture, and all things geeky. Come find me on Facebook (my main hangout these days) or on my website – caseywyatt.com.

Keep dreaming!.

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