Nico Murray: Interview With The Author

Nico Murray has just published her first novel and novella, and I was lucky enough to design the cover for the latter. You can meet her at the BinarySoul chainmail booth in the Dealer Hall at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA USA over the Labor Day weekend (August 31 - September 3, 2012). In the meantime here's a short interview with details of the books.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I live in Toronto, Canada, with my husband, and my strange little dog. When I'm not crafting strange tales, I work as a goldsmith by trade, while finding many ways to indulge in vodka, coffee and cupcakes.

So, what's the deal with this series?

That's a tricky question. I love vampires, and it's an idea that percolated in my head for a long time.

What I wanted, and found wanting in the great heap of vampires in media was a character who was relatively angst free, and perhaps average, not powerful, rich, or angry. Someone who was going to live life on his own terms. Or his unlife, as it might be. I also wanted vampires who accepted blood drinking, and that the mortals in their life were not just food, but a connection to their own humanity. The Council that Sascha answers to is largely hands off save for big matters.

The series will go from Sascha getting his freedom, but getting saddled with a huge responsibility, but also his own research lab, to have a chance to make things right for the people who need it, while protecting his own people and dealing with the risks of modern society when it comes in the front door.I have vague ideas for books beyond 2, and largely it tends to depend on what unfolds in book 2. Turning Night revealed twists to me that I could not have ever planned. Trying to avoid being spoilery here!

Is the novella Bound Lilies different to the main novel Turning Night?
The novellas are planned as a sort of side-story to the novels, a chance to get behind the scenes, or behind closed doors, or into secondary characters stories where they might not fill a novel entirely. The first novella was created out of a bit of joking between Asher and James, and suddenly I felt I was watching these two getting up to a bit of fun. I liked the play between them, and what was a one off short story just rolled out into this interesting little tale.

The novella also presents a kink/bdsm relationship in a different light. I'm not fond of the standard "Dominant Man/Naive Girl" thing, I wanted characters who knew what they were getting into, and delving into what I think is the pull of kink to some degree, the psychological stuff, catharsis, confronting one's boundaries, but done in a respectful, balanced and equitable way between the dominant and submissive. I mean, you can't have one without the other.

I have some ideas for novella 2, but it likely won't be quite so...graphic. I have no shame writing sex scenes, I think the aversion to that, but a general acceptance of all manner of full on violence seems odd to me. I also presented most of the immortals as somewhat fluid in sexual orientation, the joke being "you're warm, you're squishy, you're consenting? good enough." I sort of pictured that after 200 years you'd be pretty much down with whatever happened to stumble in to your arms.

So that's where its at.

Where can we buy the books?

Paper books at Createspace -
Bound Lilies ($10)
Turning Night ($15)

Paper books at Amazon -
Bound Lilies ($10)
Turning Night ($15)

One of the differences between Createspace (an Amazon company) and Amazon is that shipping from Createspace is not a very friendly option for those overseas. The localized Amazon flavour is likely your best bet if you’re quoted high prices for delivery.

eBook exclusively at Amazon’s Kindle shop
Bound Lilies ($3.99)
Turning Night ($5.99)

Where else can we find you online?

I have a tumblr where I post my own pics I take for novel ideas, and random flotsam and jetsam related to the writing at nicovamp.tumblr.com (occasionally NSFW) and my author page at nicomurray.ca.

You can also find the artists who created the Turning Night artwork here- MANDEM Mythpunk Art Noir.