Interview with Kristine Grayson

Books-n-Kisses is pleased to welcome first time visitor Kristine Grayson to the blog.  We are chatting about her newest book Thoroughly Kissed.

1. Have you always wanted to be an author?
As long as I can remember, I wanted to write. My mother kept my first book, which I wrote (and, sadly, illustrated) at seven. It was about a pony. I was such a girl.

2. Who are some of your favorite writers?
Currently, I’m enjoying Julia Quinn, Mary Jo Putney, and Mary Balogh. I also like Laura Griffin’s Tracers series. And in urban fantasy, Ilona Andrews, P.N. Elrod, and a host of others.

3. Who do you feel has influenced your writing?
Well, that’s tougher. I reread F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca every year, but what I write is nothing like their works. I have a hunch my influences for these books are the 1930s & 1940s screwball comedies. I love Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, His Gal Friday, and all of those witty romantic films.

4. How did you get into writing this specific genre?
Accidentally. Under my real name, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, I published a short story called “The Strangeness of the Day,” and my husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, told me that it was really a novel. I wrote the novel, which became Utterly Charming, and decided to publish it as a romance under a different name for commercial reasons. It’s been a fun ride ever since.

5. Have you ever thought about writing in a different genre?
I do write in a different genre. In fact, I write under different  names in almost every genre. Kris Nelscott for mystery, Kristine Dexter for romantic suspense, Kris DeLake for futuristic romance, Kristine Kathryn Rusch for pretty much everything else, including nonfiction. I’ve been nominated for everything from the RT Book Reviews reviewer’s choice award to the Edgar award, and I’ve won the Hugo award and the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery among other awards. Plus my short stories have ended up in (at last count) 18 years best collections.

6. What are some of your writing rituals?
Tea. Cats. Cats. Tea.

7. Can you please tell us about your latest book?
Thoroughly Kissed follows Sleeping Beauty ten years after she woke up in our world. She’d been asleep for 1,000 years. She’s managed to thrive by learning everything, ending up as a history professor of the Dark Ages (which she lived). Now she’s come into her magic without training and she needs help. Unfortunately, her mentor can’t travel to her, so she has to go to him. And she can’t fly or take public transportation because her magic is out of control and she might kill someone. Through a series of mishaps, she ends up traveling with her handsome boss and—well—you can figure out the rest.

8. How did you come up with the idea for this story?
Sleeping Beauty was a side character in Utterly Charming—back when she woke up. And I couldn’t stop thinking about her, wondering what happened next. I finally had to write the story to answer that question for myself.

9. Can you share your current work in progress?
I’m working on the next book in the Assassins Guild series that I write as Kris DeLake. These are futuristic romances set in the far future. I just finished the latest Grayson novel, Charming Blue, which has (of all people) Bluebeard as my hero. (He’s horribly misunderstood.)

10. What would you be if you were not an author?
Hopeless.

Seriously, a composer, probably. Something in the arts.

11. What is in your TBR pile that you are dying to start or an upcoming release that you can’t wait for?
I’m waiting for the next Michael Connolly mystery and the upcoming Jeffrey Deaver Kathryn Dance novel. Tonight, I’m going to start Julia Quinn’s latest, A Night Like This. The book arrived today; I can hardly wait to finish work so I can read.

12. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Just a thank you for asking me to participate in the blog.

Twitter: @KristineRusch

Facebook: Kristine Grayson page

Website: www.kristinegrayson.com