Podcast Transcript 106: An Interview with Ilona Andrews
by SB Sarah
Here is a text transcript of Podcast 106: An Interview with Ilona Andrews. You can listen to the mp3 here, or you can read on!
This podcast transcript was handcrafted by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.
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Sarah Wendell: Hello, and welcome to another DBSA podcast. I’m Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and with me is New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews, who totally saved my bacon. Yesterday, on Thursday, I recorded an hour-long conversation with Jane that was completely awesome. We talked about websites and our 10th anniversaries and all kinds of interesting things, and we disagreed about books – I know you’re all shocked – and then when I went to edit, there was no audio. It didn’t record. Epic bummer. Like, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that it didn’t record, ‘cause it was really fun. So, I’ll have to do it again, once we’ve forgotten what we said and can try again without saying, didn’t you talk about that right about now? Because that makes for epic boring podcast.
So for a solution I thought, I will ask who’s on Skype? It’s like asking who’s on first but involves more digital technology. And I went on, on Twitter, and I said, if, if you’re on Skype and you’d like to tell me what you’re reading, I would love to hear about it, and I promise I won’t quiz you on math. And so Ilona Andrews said, I’ll do it! To which I said, well, hell, yeah! So now we have a very fun and interesting spontaneous interview about what she’s reading, which includes barbarian romance, and then we talk about fantasy romance and Harlequin Presents and all of the things that Ilona likes to read. So, thank you, Ilona Andrews, for being entirely awesome. I owe you wine or beer or both, but not in the same glass. That would be gross.
Before I get to the interview, I have a message from our sponsor. This podcast is brought to you by InterMix, publisher of The Affair, the brand-new, red-hot e-serial from New York Times bestselling author Beth Kery. I will have information at the end of the podcast about that book, as well as about the music that you’re listening to, but without any further delay and with perfect audio recording – thank you, technology gods – please meet and listen to the fun recommendations of Ilona Andrews.
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Sarah: So tell me, ma’am – thank you for calling – what are you reading?
Ilona Andrews: I am reading a hot barbarian romance.
Sarah: A hot barbarian romance?!
Ilona: Yes, ma’am.
Sarah: Please tell me all about hot barbarians.
Ilona: Well, here’s how it started, right. We got invited into this anthology with a bunch of people, with Nalini Singh and Lisa Shearin. It was supposed to be an urban fantasy anthology. So here I am, and I’m basically looking through the, you know, the setup, so I start reading, reading the little blurbs about the different stories, and suddenly it’s like, you know, Nalini, urban fantasy, paranormal; Lisa Shearin, urban fantasy, paranormal; and then there’s one, and it’s like, barbarian queen.
Sarah: Ohhh?
Ilona: And she is, she is looking for her barbarian dude, and I’m like, okay. Who the hell is Milla Vane, and why is she in this anthology?
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: So I’m sitting there, and I’m like, okay, well, this is kind of super interesting that she’s in here, and here’s an interesting thing, right? When you look at the ARCs in the beginning, you know, where, where it lists the thing, Milla Vane is not even listed. It’s like, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin. Where’s Milla Vane? So here I am, and I’m trying to figure out who the heck is Milla Vane and why she’s in there.
Sarah: Mm-Hmm.
Ilona: So I start reading the book, the story, and the story’s called The Beast of Blackmoor, and it, it starts, it starts magnificently. It’s like, victory made gods of men, so had claimed the first man who – and I’m reading this, and I’m like, okay, this is manly, this is hot, this is this guy named Kavic, and he is just this badass, and then, you know, and then you go, you get further into it, and then you realize, wait a minute, this is actually a romance! You know, it’s, I’m, I’m reading it, and I’m like, this is good! This is some good stuff! You know, and it’s getting hotter and hotter, and I’m reading it, and I’m like, I know that I have seen this style before, and it’s bugging me to no end.
Sarah: Ooh.
Ilona: So I’m actually, I actually went, and I was on, online, and I started searching barbarian romance, and I was like, okay, who the hell is this person? Because the, the writing is polished, and the way, there’s a particular way the sex scenes are structured where, you know, it’s not – there’s a lot of people that do sex scenes really well, and – but, but they’re kind of end up being a little bit mechanical in the sense that it’s like, okay, he does this, she does this, and this is all about the motion, and it’s all overboard. It’s, if it’s rage, it’s boiling; if it’s passion, it’s, you know, super hot. So I’m sitting there, I’m like, okay, I have got to know who this person is, right?
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: And I am, I’m totally, completely, you know, sold on this whole barbarian romance I didn’t know I actually needed in my life, so –
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: - I’m getting to the end, and then I get an email. You know, I, I talk to other authors a lot, and it’s, like, Meljean Brook, and she’s emailing, and I haven’t seen her in a while and haven’t talked to her. I’m like, yeah, how are you? She’s like, yeah, I’m fine, how are you? I’m like, you know, I’m working on the final edits to the stupid anthology story about Jim and Dali, and I’m do -. She’s like, yeah, you know, it’s the Night Shift anthology. Yeah, I haven’t turned mine in either yet, the final draft. And I’m like –
Sarah: What?
Ilona: - Are you Milla Vane?
Sarah: (Gasps)
Ilona: And she’s like, yes, I am!
Sarah: Oh, my gosh! So it was Meljean, and you recognized her style?
Ilona: Yes!
Sarah: That’s amazing. And also barbarian hotness, that’s also amazing.
Ilona: I was, I was floored. I was like, are you serious? And she told me, like, years ago, at one point we were talking about something and she was like, you know what? I’m just going to write something for fun. I’m going to write barbarian romance. And I’m like, uh-huh, do it!
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: She’s like, oh, I’m going to. I’m like, okay. So this solves the mystery of why she isn’t in anthology, because she’s always in anthology with us. So it’s like, okay, so she’s Milla Vane. So, it’s hard to describe the story, but basically, I don’t want to actually, like, read chunks of it, because you kind of have to be into the style. The style is over the top, because it’s obviously barbarian romance, right?
Sarah: Of course, right.
Ilona: So, I, I don’t want to, you know, spoil it, because it is, it is kind of a little bit out there if you don’t have the context of it –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: - but, you know, it’s like, well, he dragged her up to her knees and mounted her like a beast, and normally I would be like, what?! And with this one, I’m like, yeah! You go ahead and mount her.
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: I was okay with it. You guys go ahead and, and let me know how it works out.
Sarah: Oh, gosh! (Laughs)
Ilona: Yeah, I kind of had the same – I don’t even know if you, if you are a fan, but I used to read, what is her name? Ah, gosh. I have the most horrible memory for names. I’m so sorry. She wrote those really old romances. There were pirates.
Sarah: Bertrice Small?
Ilona: Nonononono. Gosh, what is her name? She, there was, like, a whole family. Gosh, you know I have all of her stuff, but I can’t remember her name. She’s from Hawaii. She lives in Hawaii.
Sarah: Oh, Johanna Lindsey?
Ilona: Yes, Johanna Lindsey. And normally I am very, very anti- any kind of forced seduction or any kind of even rough seduction. I’m not, I’m not, I’m not down with that, but we all have our preferences. And with Johanna Lindsey, you know –
Sarah: That happened a lot.
Ilona: Yes, and for some reason, I don’t have that thing.
Sarah: I’m with you. I don’t have problems with her doing it either, because it’s her.
Ilona: I know, and it –
Sarah: And I don’t know what it is, but I’m down with it there and nowhere else.
Ilona: Yeah, and nowhere else, exactly. You know, normally, you would tell me, whoa! This guy kidnaps a woman and locks in a truck, in a trunk on her ship, and she’s kidnapping her, and, and normally I would be outraged. I’d be, what?! You know. With her, it’s like, okay. I’m okay with the trunk.
Sarah: Of course!
Ilona: This was kind of, this was kind of like that. Not, not that there’s any forced seduction, there isn’t, but, you know, it’s like, it’s a hot barbarian romance. Normally I would be like, okay, yeah. If it’s not war cries, I’m probably not interested –
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: - but this was, she sold me on it. I was reading it, I didn’t even know it was Meljean until basically I, I mostly got done with it, but yeah. I thought, I thought it was awesome. I super dug it, and I have no regrets and no shame about it.
Sarah: Wow.
Ilona: The title is The Beast of Blackmoor, and the anthology is called Night Shift.
Sarah: Damn, that’s awesome!
Ilona: It is! It is. I really, really, really enjoyed it, and I’m, you know, I’m like, well, one of those habitual bitches. Ooh, can I say bitch on the podcast?
Sarah: Are you kidding? Yes. You can drop the f-bomb, say bitches, and start yelling about whatever the heck you want.
Ilona: Well, I’m one of those really hateful, hateful bitches who basically hates everything. It’s like, this is the greatest book ever! And I’m like, yeah, okay, I’m 10 pages into it; I’m done.
Sarah: (Laughs) I don’t know anyone who has that problem. No, not at all. Hmm.
Ilona: No, it, well, you know, after a while you read so much, and you, you kind of do this for a living –
Sarah: Yep.
Ilona: - so if the plot is kind of obvious, I’m like, yes. His sister’s cousin did it, and she’s really a man. Yes, she is.
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: Yep. Okay. That’s, we’re confirming it now. Yep. You know, so, so, for me it doesn’t really work. I try to kind of read outside the genre. I really, really enjoyed, you know, like, the Harlequins, HP Presents, actually. They’re like guilty pleasure, cheap emotional entertainment, very quickly, you know, like, whoo! Yes! Yes, she is his secret secretary baby mama thing. I don’t care.
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: So, so, you know, I, I tend to read outside the genre, and, and it’s relatively rare when I can get a PNR that I read and I’m like, whoo! You know, I like Thea Harrison a lot, things like that. Nalini Singh, you know, obviously, and, and Meljean is usually my go-to, so I’m kind of little bit embarrassed that I didn’t recognize her right away, because I kind of thought I knew how she wrote, but yeah. Awesomesauce. So what have you been reading?
Sarah: That is amazing. Do you – before I tell you what I’m reading – do you have any Harlequin Presents authors that you will automatically buy? Like, this is going to be awesome, and I’m going to read it right now?
Ilona: Susan Napier.
Sarah: Susan – Oh, yes, absolutely.
Ilona: Absolutely. I will read –
Sarah: Susan Napier is amazing.
Ilona: Yep. I will read her early ones, I will read her late ones, I will read anything Susan Napier writes. There is another one that is, oh, my goodness. She did a lot of sheik books, sheik books early on, and I am sorry. You know, I am, like, just horrible with name, but that one’s kind of hit or miss. But yes, Susan Napier, and I see her, I buy. I don’t even look at it; I buy.
Sarah: Oh, that’s wonderful. So you asked me what I’m reading, which is really an awesome question. I am, oddly enough, reading an older YA fantasy that was originally published in 1982, and I found out about it because this past weekend I read the Percy Jackson series, because I thought my older son might like them, and he was being resistant because he saw the preview for the movie, and he thought the movie looked terrible, so he doesn’t want to read it because he thought, well, I saw the preview for the movie and the movie is horrible, and I’m like, I promise you, dude, movies, books, two totally different things, and I thought, okay, if I read the Percy Jackson series, then I can tell him all the cool parts, and then he can go read it, but then I got hooked on it because they were a lot of fun. And I realized I kind of enjoyed the fantasy parts, and I haven’t read fantasy in a long time, so I went online and found some recommendation lists of fantasy novels that would really appeal to romance readers, which I am, and one of the books that kept reappearing was The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, and it won the Newbery medal. It is, like, the copy I got out of the library hadn’t circulated since, like, 2007, and the librarian wasn’t even sure if it was still in circulation, but I guess if you win a Newbery, you stay in circulation forever; thank goodness. It’s really good. And I’m not usually the type of person that cares all that much about, you know, we’re in this desert land and, and these people have this problem, and this, these people have this problem, and they have an ages-old feud, and I’m sort of like, yeah, whatever. Characters, please. This is all of the setup of the land that’s got problems, plus characters that I really like. The heroine is very, very tall and plain, and she’s in a vulnerable situation, and she gets taken in by a family, and there is a culture of people who live on the other side of some big mountain dunes of sand that no one goes over, and he is some sort of magic king, and he has come in to ask for help, and all of the people who she lives with are like, yeah, totally we’ll help you, if we can, like, totally take you over and run you in, from sort of a government sense and take over your land, if that’s cool. And he’s like, no, so he leaves. And all of this setup is so unexpectedly delicious, and it, it’s both very familiar, like, this is a very common setup in fantasy, but the writing is incredible! Like, I totally get why it won the Newbery. So I am reading The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, originally published, excuse me, in 1987, no, in 1982, and still in circulation because of awesomeness.
Ilona: Robin McKinley in general is really, really excellent. That book –
Sarah: I’ve never read her before. What’s wrong with me?!
Ilona: There’s nothing wrong with you, it’s just –
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: - some books fly under the radar. I, I’ve got, I’m big, big fan of, like, science fiction, space, navy battles, go figure.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: And I, I pretty much, I thought I pretty much read everything, and then my editor sent me this book, The Lost Fleet –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: - and The Lost Fleet battles, I think it’s called, and I was like, it’s been published, I think, like, five or six years ago, and she’s like, you would really like this, this is right up your alley, and I’m like, I haven’t read this before. I pretty much read everything that’s, you know, navy in space. How did this fly under my radar? It’s probably not very good. And I inhaled it. I was like, okay, I am just, I am in it, that’s it. It, it was great. There was no romance. It was very different, but I really, really enjoyed it. Sometimes, books just kind of fly under our radar. It’s funny that you mention Percy Jackson, because my youngest daughter really loves the books, but she loves the books so much that watching movies with her, Percy Jackson movies, is a painful experience.
Sarah: (Laughs) ‘Cause they’re so different!
Ilona: Yes. This is wrong. This is wrong.
Sarah: She’s supposed to be blonde.
Ilona: Yes! Oh, yes, oh, my God, as if –
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: Do you know how much, how much rage this caused? I’m not even sure why. I get the gist that there was a specific portrayal of the character that tied to that character's image, and they just, they, they completely changed it, and you would think that they kicked a bunny, because the outrage was so real. It is a little bit difficult because she’s very widely read now –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: - and she has her own ideas, and going to the movies with her in general is a little bit difficult. We went to see one YA movie, from, based on a book for a relatively famous author, and, you know, she looked at the post – I knew that this wasn’t going to go well. She looked at the poster of it, and she said, yeah, so-and-so, based on everything ever. And I was like, okay, this is a –
Sarah: Oh, boy.
Ilona: - bad experience, and then we had to basically sit through the movie and be explained, this came from this author, this came from that author, and I actually, you know, I told her, I said, well, authors are influenced by each other. She’s like, no. She’s in that teenage stage where it’s like, yeah, black or white.
Sarah: She’s always right. You just have to accept that now.
Ilona: Yes, pretty much. I, I told her she would be wonderful lawyer.
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: There is no end of arguing. But, but, I’m, I’m so, so I’m not at all basically surprised that, you know, that Percy Jackson movies did not meet with a glowing review, but did he end up reading the books?
Sarah: He is convinced, because I read through the whole series in about four days, and, and he was like, you really liked them? And I was like, dude, they’re, they were really, really fun. You should try one. I will give you my copy before I turn it back to the library, so he’s sort of, he’s still of an age, he’s going to be nine soon, so he’s still of an age where he’ll take my recommendations with some skepticism, but when it comes to books, he knows that I wouldn’t lie to him about something he would like. I hope he tries it this weekend, ‘cause I think he would really dig them. I thought they were really, really fun.
Ilona: I am so glad, because I, I think that this, he’s leading into that, the classical education, which we kind of lack a little bit in schools now, because –
Sarah: We lack a lot of it, yes, absolutely.
Ilona: Well, so much is based on the Greco-Roman myths, but –
Sarah: Yes, I agree. We, we don’t have enough of the understanding of the classics to understand how those different stories appear in so many other, other forms, in other genres. But the thing that the, with the stories is that he is so, the char-, the character of Percy is so grounded in the contemporary and doesn’t have that depth of education that he asks – it doesn’t seem fake or artificial that he’s sort of the audience stand-in – but he asks all of the questions and gets all of the answers and then figures it, figures it out on his own.
Ilona: Well, it’s a very, very classic setup.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: You know, the Ender’s Game. Same, same basic whole setup where it’s a young, it’s a young hero, and he kind of comes into contact with something new and strange, and, and we learn through him as it goes along.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: It’s interesting, because you can kind of see the change in different YA stories as, as kids grow older. You know, you start with somewhat funny stuff when they’re, like, kids, you know, much younger kids, like Junie B. Jones, and you know, just, just, you know, Captain Underpants. The silly, ridiculous stuff, the Diary of the Wimpy Kid, and then you get into basically adventure, like Percy Jackson, and my kids are a little bit older, so now we’re getting into hardcore YA, and I’ve got to tell you, things that, that my youngest reads are kind of scary. She read this one book, and she did it, she came and she said, I love it. I’m like, okay, what about this Run the Game, because she’s kind of like me, kind of. So, and, and the book was called Run the Game, and she is like – and I’m going to totally spoil for everybody, so if you want to read Run the Game, don’t listen to me. But basically, I’m like, okay, so, what’s so great about it? And she’s like, well, the character’s 17-year-old male prostitute, and he falls in love with a 14-year-old male prostitute, but she betrays him, and then her pimp cuts off his hand and feeds it to the rabid badgers.
Sarah: Rabid badgers.
Ilona: Yes. And you know, me being me, at this point I was like, okay, well, first of all, you cannot have rabid badgers. Rabies is a disease; they would die.
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: She’s like, Mom, that’s not the point.
Sarah: Are you messing up their fantasy with science? Why are you doing that?
Ilona: Exact-, but, but that’s interesting, because I think when they grow up, there is a need for those really strong kind of almost tragic emotions –
Sarah: Yep.
Ilona: - that they have to undergo. And then as we get older, I think in adult romance we tend to shy away from it a little bit because I think that we realize that life is really difficult and is often tragic –
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: - and we want a little bit of reassurance. We want the escape, that things will turn out well. You know, you will find that one true love, and hopefully he will not be a terrible jerk, and you will live happily ever after, you know.
Sarah: Without rabid badgers.
Ilona: Without rabid badgers, indeed, and hopefully no prostitution involved. Ah, so –
Sarah: God willing.
Ilona: Yes. So, you know, it’s interesting how you go from reading things, you know, like John Green, you know, The Fault in Our Stars, things like that, to, to kind of, you know, later in life, HP Presents. I, I’m not sure exactly how that happens, but it clearly happens somehow. So we talked about HP Presents. Do you read HP Presents, Sarah?
Sarah: I have read a few. I haven’t read them in a while, but my favorite tend to be the more realistically grounded ones. I really like when medicals are folded into Presents, I like those, and when the, it’s Mills & Boon modern heat, I think, or modern love. Those sometimes also get folded into Harlequin Presents in the U.S., and I like those very much. My absolute favorites in the Presents line are Sarah Morgan – I just love her books – and I also love Sharon Kendrick because if she’s going to go all the way to 11 with crazy sauce, it is going to be epic and amazing, and I, I really enjoy that. (Laughs)
Ilona: I am so glad. I like Sarah Morgan too. I am now going to have to check the other author out because, yes, I think if you’re going to go over the top and do something crazy, you should just do it.
Sarah: I agree.
Ilona: You should not pull your punches, you know.
Sarah: I agree.
Ilona: It’s interesting because there’s a certain risk as an author when you do it.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: I guess I see it from more of the author point of view – and, and it doesn’t always pan out, but I think that in the end of the things, when you look at the book and you say, okay, well, I took a risk. Not everybody loved it, but at least I did it!
Sarah: Yep.
Ilona: I did it. I reached for it. You know, otherwise, I think we stagnate as authors, you know.
Sarah: I don’t know the author perspective, because I don’t write fiction, but I really admire it when, when an author steps outside the genre expectations a little bit and does something very challenging. Even if it’s just switching into a time period that’s not as popular and not as well known and trying an entirely different world setup outside of the Regency. I admire the hell out of that, because there’s, there’s more than enough Regency historicals, but I know so many readers who are like, oh? Wait, Victorian? Wait, wait, wait, you’re writing in the 1920s? Ooh, tell me more.
Ilona: Exactly, and there’s just, you know, there’s a wealth of culture that’s not really taught that you could draw from. I mean, I really enjoyed – and you probably will know, will know the name, because I don’t remember any names, as well you know. There was a series of romances set in ancient China, I believe.
Sarah: Jeannie Lin.
Ilona: Yes! Jeannie –
Sarah: Butterfly Swords.
Ilona: Yes. And I thought that that was the coolest thing since sliced bread. And I don’t know why the series stopped now, but, you know, it was just so different. It was different and refreshing and new, and I, I remember reading Regency for the first time because as, as an outsider, this was completely separate from me. I, I felt like I had to have a dictionary, Sarah. I was like, hacks, okay, what the hell are hacks?
Sarah: (Laughs)
Ilona: You know, so I had to, like, learn entire vocabulary for that period, but now I know it, and it’s not as exciting or familiar, and I’m like, oh, look, they’re having another tea. Can we have some kind of explosion? Can we drop an exploding toddler in the middle of this tea party and see what happens? Something. You know, so, so I’m not always as sold on, on the strict historical setting as I used to be. I a lot of times prefer kind of almost a fairy tale aspect to it, like Eloisa James does those a lot, I think, like Beauty and the Beast, you know. It’s almost like a fairy-tale-ish version of, let’s say, Regency or Victorian period. I, I enjoy that a lot, simply because it’s, it’s a little bit different, because let’s face it, you know, if you stay very safely in the Regency period all the time, eventually you reach the point where it’s just so familiar you’re just hoping for something new.
Sarah: Yep.
Ilona: I think, oh, my goodness, and, and Loretta Chase did a dressmaker series. Wasn’t that set in the Victorian period?
Sarah: I believe it was, but I’m not 100% sure.
Ilona: I, I thought, I thought it was. She’s, she’s another person that I will read any, anything by, pretty much, but I have been a bad reader, and I’ve been flaking off, because we’ve just been hitting deadlines one after another, and, you know, occasionally I, I, I will get caught by something, like I caught, got caught by Rachel Bach. She wrote a science fiction romance, which is a really rare animal nowadays.
Sarah: It is, yes.
Ilona: Hers was really, really excellent. It was basically about – it, it’s four books, so it’s complete, and it’s about – wait, I lied, I think. Is it three books? I think it’s three books. And it says, it’s a book about a mercenary, she’s a mercenary, and it was just really, really refreshing, and she caught me. You know that magical moment where you dig into the book, right, and then you come up for air when the book ends, and you realize, you know, it is done -
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Ilona: - and people, you know, are looking at you funny, and where have you been all day, and all the email club piled up.
Sarah: (Laughs) Yeah, I have that problem very, very often.
Ilona: Well, and I, I knew, I knew right then that I had to either read the entire se-, read the entire series; it was complete. I either had to read the whole thing right away or I had to give up on it, because I just can’t justify, you know, doing it. So I was like, okay, and I just ordered them all on Kindle –
Sarah: Yep.
Ilona: - because I’m a Kindle addict, and I sat there and I heroically read them for three days, and I was a happy camper. And then I had book hangover and couldn’t read anything for a week.
Sarah: Book hangover is the best and worst thing. I know exactly what you mean.
Ilona: So what has been your latest book hangover?
Sarah: My latest book hangover – ooh, probably – wow, it’s been a while since I’ve had good book hangover. I hope it’s The Blue Sword, because I’m, I’m, I’m approaching that point where I’m going to read it and then I’m going to not do anything else until I’m finished with it because it’s so absorbing. Like, I, I can feel myself, I’m just kind of the edge, and I’m about to plummet to my doom, because I, and I can see where the bookmark is, ‘cause it’s a paper book. It was never digitized, this book. I can see where the bookmark is that I’m about to get to the good part, and I’m like, yeah, I’m going to have to make sure that there are, that I’m cooking something that I don’t have to pay attention to for dinner tonight, ‘cause I know I’m going to be reading.
What was the name of the author who was writing the science fiction romance that you fell into complete ecstatic happiness with?
Ilona: Her name is Rachel Bach, and it’s spelled B-A-C-H, and hold on, I will tell you the name of the book.
Sarah: Fortune’s Pawn?
Ilona: Yes, that’s the book.
Sarah: Oh, the Paradox series. I see it right here.
Ilona: Yes, and she is marvelous.
Sarah: Oh, that’s great. Oh, I like it.
Ilona: And I really enjoyed the fact that – I know this is terrible because I’m a series writer, but it was complete. I was like, yes, I can get the whole story right away. It’s done, complete, it’s mine. I, that, that – and it’s not as, you know – I also read Tanya Huff. She has basically a, a – she has a space marine series, and hers has elements of romance, not as much, where, where the, the Rachel Bach, it’s basically, it is sci-fi romance. They, the storyline would not exist if you took the romance out. So, so, you know, Tanya Huff was kind of more gritty, and, and it did have a lot of tragedy and an awful lot of death unfortunately. And, you know, I’m a, I’m a total wuss. Anytime a character, like, gets killed, I’m like, oh, my God, this is the worst thing ever. You know –
Sarah: I am with you; I am exactly the same way.
Ilona: Well, and, and that’s the thing, and Tanya Huff I have to stagger a little bit because each book was emotionally very satisfying but also very draining because, you know, people died, and it was kind of scary and, and sad, and even though there was a happy ending always, it still kind of emotionally drains you. Where because Rachel wrote her whole series out, and she is, she is really, really good at plotting, it almost read like a single book in three parts. You know what I mean?
Sarah: Yep.
Ilona: So I really, really enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it.
(music)
Sarah: And that is all for this week’s podcast. Thank you again to Ilona Andrews for being on Twitter and saying, yeah, sure, I’ll talk to you on Skype right now. Why not? I really enjoyed that, and I hope that you did too, and as I said in the entry for this podcast, it’s going to be expensive, because I really want to buy at least half of the books she told me about.
This podcast was brought to you by InterMix, publisher of The Affair, a brand-new, red-hot e-serial from New York Times bestselling author Beth Kery.
The music that you’re listening to was provided by Sassy Outwater. You can find her on Twitter @SassyOutwater. This song is called “Mackerel & Tatties,” and I happen to really like saying tatties. This is by Michael McGoldrick from his album Aurora. I will have links in the podcast entry about where you can find this album and more about this artist. I hope you enjoy the music that Sassy provides. I totally do, and I think we’re getting new music soon, and I’m very excited!
If you enjoyed this podcast or you would like me to call you on Skype and ask what you’re reading, which is always an option, you can email us at [email protected], and you can also leave us a message at our Google voice number, 1-201-371-DBSA. Please give us your name and where you’re calling from so we can include your message in an upcoming podcast.
I am curious, if you also feel like telling us, how you listen to the podcast. Do you subscribe through iTunes? Do you subscribe through a separate feeder? How do you listen? I’m very curious about this. If you feel like telling me, you can tell me on Twitter, or you can email me, or you can yell out the window. Maybe we’re neighbors. Half of publishing lives near me; you never know.
But if you are listening, thank you for listening for our podcast. It is always growing, and it’s really cool to hear from all of the different people in all of the many different places that listen to our discussions about romance. So wherever you are and whatever you are doing, Ilona Andrews, Jane, and I all wish you the very, very best of reading. Have an excellent weekend.
(lovely music)
Categories: General Bitching
