About Joleeen
Joleene Naylor is an independent author, freelance artist and part time photographer. She grew up in southwest Iowa surrounded by corn and very little entertainment – so she made her own. She’s been writing and drawing since she was a small child, with a particular leaning towards speculative fiction.
Her published works include the fun eBook short 101 Tips for Traveling with a Vampire, and four books in the Amaranthine series; Shades of Gray, Legacy of Ghosts, Ties of Blood and Ashes of Deceit. The Vampire Morsels, short stories about characters from the Amaranthine universe, are available individually as free reads or as a collection. She is also the author of the non-fiction How to Get a Cheap Book Cover. She’s also written many short stories and poems, and has been published in The Blue Turtle Crossing eZine and Target Audience Magazine. Her photographs have been featured on travel sites, cooking sites and have even made the homepage of Digg, and she was a judge in the now quiet New Covey Awards.
Current projects include the fifth novel in the Amaranthine series; Patrick, a novella; illustrating The Terrible Turtle Conspiracy, a weekly web comic written by Jonathan Harvey; and creating freelance book covers for other authors.
Joleene has out done her self with her spectacular work on her characters for the Amaranthine Series and not only that but she has brought them to visual life for us all! if you go to her the series website you can meet all the characters from the books! Katelina, Jorick, Oren, Verchiel and much much more!
VerchielVerchiel
Orenor
Oren
Oren
Are you brave enough to walk in the shadows?
Pulled into a world of darkness, Katelina’s fate becomes intertwined
with that of Jorick, a dark, enigmatic vampire. To stay by his side, she
must navigate fields of intrigue, terror and bloodshed as they are
drawn from one vampire war to another. Dreams of peace seem elusive, and
complications abound in the form of mysterious vampires, old relics,
and an ancient master. Join Katelina, Jorick and their friends in a
world where vampires don’t sparkle and night is eternal.
Click the books below to see the characters of the Amaranthine Series
My Interview
I got the chance to interview the wonderfully talented Joleene Naylor author of the Heart of the Raven which is the 5th book in the Amaranthine series. Heart of the Raven is a exciting and action packed tale of love and adventure, betrayal and bloodshed, these books have it all.
Joleene's Amaranthine Series is a must read for anyone who loves a great
vampire series. I am extremely fond of this book and can not wait to
read the others, Joleene is a amazing gifted author and her characters
are so real you expect them to leap up off the page.
Q: Can you please tell us a little about your Amaranthine series and what inspired you to write it?
Amaranthine is a vampire romance series that has a lot of blood, gore and a good dose of death. Katelina was a normal human with a mundane life until she got tangled up with the wrong guy. From there she met Jorick, an enigmatic vampire, who dragged her running and screaming into the world of vampires, night and blood. I actually started the series as something to write for NaNoWriMo and originally hadn’t intended to do much with the book until a friend of mine convinced me it was worth finishing – and publishing.
Q: Which Book in the series was your favorite to write?
Ties of Blood stands out as one of my favorites. I think it was because of Verchiel. He was originally supposed to get killed in his introductory scene; sort of a “Hullo. Swish, fight, snarl, stab, gurgle, done” moment. I never meant for him to be a real character, so it was a lot of fun seeing him become one.
Q: If you could be one of the characters in your book which one would you choose?
Ha ha! I know how evil the writer is – I don’t think I’d want to be any of them! Maybe being a side character, like one of the treasure hunters, who doesn’t get enough face time to kill or torture would be okay. Then again, there’s the risk of getting tortured in one of the short stories…
Q: In Heart of the Raven we see that Katelina and Jorick love each other very much and there was talk of turning her will we maybe see that sometime soon?
I actually ran a poll once asking readers when they thought I should turn her because I had toyed with doing it while they were in the mountains in Japan. The results came back with 23% saying “there’s no rush, I like her human”, while the next set, at 14%, said “After Malick is defeated.” Of course, I admit it will get stuck in when it fits, but it will eventually happen, whether Katelina likes it or not. The main question is who will do it.
Q: Are any of your characters in your books based on people in your real life?
None of them are intentionally based on anyone, though it happens, I’m sure. Like Jorick actually has a lot in common with my husband, though I didn’t do it on purpose.
Q: Verchiel is a pretty big pain but I think he helped out alot in Heart of the Raven Do you think he should be forgiven for what he did?
I think he means well most of the time. He actually helps Katelina, and even Jorick, a lot throughout the series, but Jorick can’t see it and Katelina goes back and forth on it, which is just as well. If she was too open to it I’d end up with a love triangle and I know several of my readers have said they don’t want that.
Q: If your own life was a subject of a book what type of fiction would it be: humor, horror, love story etc...?
Ha ha! Humor for sure! We often joke that we need our own sitcom/reality show because we all think we’re funny. (And looks don’t count – ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Okay, sorry, sad joke.)
Q: You brought a lot of quirky characters together for Heart of the Raven, did you think when you started the book they all might kill each other in the end?...lol
They’d like to, I’m sure! They’re all so self-centered and egotistical that at times it’s almost impossible to get them to cooperate. But I imagine that’s what vampires would be like, especially old ones. As Jorick says in one of the books, it’s only self-centered people that crave immortality, humble people don’t think they deserve to live forever.
Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and what kind of tips would you pass on to make the journey easier for other writers?
The hardest part of this one was all the foreign locations because I’ve never left the U.S. I’ve never flown internationally, or been on a ferry, or even seen a customs office, and google has only so much info. I started by reading travel blogs, official customs websites, travel wiki, and about a billion other sites, but there were still some holes , so I had to network. My cousin’s wife is from Germany, I have a friend who visits Russia often, another who has been to Japan, a fourth who knows a lot of Japanese, and a fifth who just went to Egypt, so I was able to get pretty much everything I needed from them. My advice would be that people often love to talk about their experiences, so if you need some information, just ask. There’s a good chance they’ll be happy to help you out.
Q: With the big bad unleashed in Heart of the Raven what is in store for your Characters Next?
I have no idea. I know they will go back to Munich, then they’ll go to the beach (finally) and then… well, I suspect something bad will go down while they’re there. Hopefully I can get them back to the U.S. so I won’t need to do as much research on locations! I do have a friend in Italy, though, so if they have to go somewhere new maybe they’ll end up there… Just a random thought.
Q: Thank you so much for your interview, Joleene. Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and where everyone can buy your books?
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