Books-n-Kisses is super excited to welcome Kevin Hearne to the blog today.  We are talking to Kevin about his Iron Druid Choricles series.  Today is release day for book #6 Hunted.  Please give a warm welcome to Kevin.

Hi Kevin, please excuse me while I go a little, okay a lot, fan girl on you **EEKKKK**. 

Kevin: Virtual Fist Bump! (But that special secret one I will teach you when we meet in Salem.)

BnK:  Okay I think I am good!!  Where was I?  Oh yes, Welcome to Books-n-Kisses.

Kevin: Thank you! Very kind of you to invite me.

BnK:  Kevin for those who don’t know you can you please tell us a little about yourself?

Kevin: I taught high school English for seventeen years until I unexpectedly sold a few books and became a full time writer. I’ve always been a turbonerd and somehow I’ve managed to get paid for it, so I count myself very fortunate.

BnK:  I have to say that I am totally in love with your Iron Druid Chronicles series.  For those who have been living under a rock, please tell us about the IDC series.

Kevin: It’s an urban fantasy featuring the last of the Druids who has been hiding out from Irish gods for 2,100 years. He’s hidden himself in multiple places throughout the centuries, but when the series begins he’s in Arizona. Once the Irish gods find him there, he decides to fight instead of run, and the consequences of that decision snowball from there.

BnK: On your website (will put link in) you state that there will be 9 IDC books (which I am sad to know there is an end).  What do you plan to do after you are done with Atticus and crew?

Kevin: I have an epic coming from Del Rey, and there might be all kinds of different stuff after that. I might return to the Iron Druid world after a while, but after writing nine books in six years I imagine I’ll need a wee break.

BnK: One of the best things about your books, I mean besides the totally awesomely rad story, are all the great insults.  How do you come up with some of these? Can you share a few of your favorites?

Kevin: I kind of feel it’s my duty to put some unusual insults into print and remind everyone of what is possible with the language. People fall into such a rut otherwise with the same few words and I think we need to realize the potential English has to truly rock someone back with a well-crafted phrase. I wouldn’t want to commit to a favorite insult here, though, because it’ll probably be a different one tomorrow.

BnK: I have been listening to the IDC series on Audible (IDC Audible page).  Luke Daniels is an amazing narrator.  I know you recently interviewed Luke on your blog (Check out the interview HERE).   Have you listened to the audio books?  Did you give Luke any advice as to how you thought your characters would sound? 

Kevin: I have listened to them, and it’s a testament to Luke’s talent that he can make me laugh at my own jokes because his delivery is so amusing. I’ve only given him advice on a few characters here and there, and that’s all beginning with book 4. I had no contact with him at all for the first three.

BnK:  So I have to thank the amazing Laurie London for suggesting Hounded on Audible to me.  Laurie and I have been on a bit of a bender listening to the IDC books.  It has been fun we have been texting each other quotes.  So I asked Laurie if she had any questions she wanted you to answer. Take it away Laurie…

LL:  Hi Kevin! Thanks for coming onto Kelly’s blog. She and I have been having such fun texting each other various quotes as we listen to the series. I’ve become adept at hitting the bookmark button while driving so that I can text her later. Your knowledge of  Irish Folklore and various mythologies seems really extensive.  Was this an interest of yours prior to writing the IDC series?

Kevin: Absolutely. I used to teach more mythology than was strictly necessary in my English classes, and the students always enjoyed it because many of those old stories are truly messed up. The ancient Greco-Romans had some ideas I couldn’t come up with on my most batshit crazy day.

LL:  Why did you pick Arizona for the main setting of this series?  Was there something in the existing folklore that made you chose it or did you pick Arizona and build the IDC world around it?

Kevin: I chose it because I live here and I’m familiar with it, and to be honest I was a bit tired of reading stories set in NY, LA, and Chicago all the time. It’s also about as far away from Ireland as you can get, and I figured the desert would be a good place for a Druid to hide from the Fae.

LL:  Do you have a phobia of beards?  Or maybe it’s a fetish. There seems to be a lot of characters, particularly the dastardly ones, who have really interesting facial hair.

Kevin: I think it’s a bit of both. I find truly epic beards to be simultaneously fascinating and horrifying and more than a little funny. I want to grow one to learn more about the care and feeding of such personal topiary, but I can’t because my wife won’t let me. The thing is, any sort of facial hair display is a conscious decision on the part of a dude, and I suppose I’m interested by the psychology behind all the different ways that manifests itself. They’re getting in your face with their face, know what I mean?

Bnk:  Thanks Laurie!! Please feel free to hang out for the rest of the interview and throughout more questions if you wish

LL: Okay, I’m an expert stalker. J

Bnk: Okay Kevin, now the hard questions.  Between your witty, smart ass writing and Luke’s awesome narrating Oberon has to be my favorite character in the IDC series.  Who is yours and why?

Kevin: Oberon’s a good time for me, no doubt, but as a writer I have the most fun with Leif and more recently with Granuaile. Granuaile gets her own POV chapters in books 6 and 7 and her voice is so different from Atticus that I find her challenging and refreshing.

BnK:  I want to know will Atticus & Granuaile have any kind of romantic HEA by book 9?

Kevin: Please see book five. J

Bnk: Why on earth did you kill off you know who in book 3?

Kevin: One does not simply walk into Asgard. Someone had to pay the price…and many did.

BnK:  June 25^th is the release date for Hunted (#6 in the IDC series).  Can you tell us a little about the adventure that Atticus, Granualie & Oberon embark on in Hunted?

Kevin: It’s pretty much nonstop action. They’re on the run from two immortal goddesses of the hunt, Artemis and Diana, and a host of other enemies besides, and they have to find a way to survive and defuse tension with the Olympians.

BnK:  Kevin, it has been such a pleasure to have you on the blog.  I am looking forward to meeting you in person at the end of June.  And I believe that Laurie is going to stalk you up in the Seattle area in July.

LL: Yes, I’m going to try to drag my dad with me. I think he’d dig your books.   

Kevin: I’m looking forward to meeting you as well! I’ve never been to Oregon and I can’t wait to visit! Thanks for having me!

BnK:  Is there anything you would like to add before we let you go?

Kevin: I’m very grateful to everyone who’s read the books and told someone else about them. Word of mouth is the best! Thank you!

BnK: Thank you again Kevin. 

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!!

Want to know what the plus 2 is????

The most Awesome Laurie London & Karina Cooper have teamed up with me to give you 2 more chances to win awesome prizes.

Stop by all three blogs for a chance to win.

I am giving away an Audio copy of Hounded, Book one in the Iron Druid Chronicles

Laurie London is giving away an audio copy of Hexed, Book two in the Iron Druid Chronicles on her blog HERE

& Karina Cooper is going to be giving away an audio copy of Hammered, Book three in the Iron Druid Chronicles on her blog HERE

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