Author Guest Post & SIGNED Book Giveaway w/ Dakota Banks! – A.K.A. Talking With Myself!

 

 

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Thanks, Larissa, for having me as a guest on your blog. I love being here and having the chance to talk with you and your followers.
Dakota Banks is a pen name. I crossed the border this week and signed a check as Dakota Banks when I should have signed my real name, Shirley Kennett. I'm sinking into the Dakota persona so that I have to stop and think which "me" is appropriate for the situation. I have no idea how authors with several pen names manage. But you're in for a treat today! I've decided to let my real self (SK) interview my writing self (DB), and it should be fun and revealing, because SK knows all the juicy questions to ask.

SK: Okay, let's start off with an easy one. What's the worst review you've ever gotten?

DB: Do I have to answer that? It's embarrassing.

SK: Suck it up. You're no delicate rose.

DB: This is from Dark Time, book 1 in the Mortal Path series. "Save your money or spend it on something more worthwhile to read... like a match book or a stenciled toilet paper roll." Ask a nice question next.

SK: How much money do you earn?

DB: Sheesh! How much do you earn?

SK: I asked first.

DB: A first-time genre writer typically gets an advance of $5,000 - $10,000 a book at a large publishing house, with the advances going up as readership grows.

SK: You sidestepped the question.

DB: So I did.

SK: Not going to budge, eh? Next question: Many writers I know spend a lot of time on the first sentence of their novels. There are even contests for the best first sentence. What's the first sentence of Sacrifice and how long did you spend on it?

DB: The first sentence is "The diversion would be the wet and bloody kind, though not something that really sang to him."

SK: (snort) Sounds like you spent all of five minutes on it.

DB: Actually I think it was less. Can we up the quality of these questions?

SK: It took you several years from getting the basic idea for the Mortal Path books to releasing the first one. Most authors can write a book in a year or less. What took you so long?

DB: The basic idea was this: Something from Sumeria survived to the present. That was it. Kind of hard to hang a story line on, much less compelling characters. All I knew was that paranormal elements were going to be involved, romance had to play a part, and since I came from writing thrillers, some thriller stuff was bound to sneak in. I increased my reading in the paranormal genre, and what I saw there stirred up a lot of worry. The Sumerians weren't exactly known for their vampire, werewolf, and witch stories. If I wanted to keep the basis of the story in Sumeria, I'd have to go off the radar as far as the creatures that dominate the paranormal genre. Would it even work? Would people be interested in reading it?

In an effort to fit my story into the mainline of the paranormal genre, I came up with a version of the Mortal Path in which a group of vampires had been put into a deep sleep by a Sumerian priest, to protect his people. An earthquake revealed their cavern in the modern day, and a beautiful young archaeologist indulged her fantasy when the rest of her team left the area. She kissed one of the vampires, unexpectedly awakening him. And so on. But this story could be from any time period. Just substitute a different kind of priest who put the vampires under a spell. It wasn't fresh, and the few chapters I wrote made it clear I wasn't writing enthusiastically. I wouldn't buy this book, even if it was published with my name on it.

No, I had to take the risk and stay off the well-traveled road if I was going to stay true to my original ideas. By this time, the main character of Maliha Crayne was popping into my head in quick, disconnected scenes. I made notes, but put Maliha aside while I researched extensively for a solid background in Sumerian mythology. As a plot based on Sumerian demons remaining alive on Earth came into focus, romance and thriller elements fell into place too. Then there was a lot of additional research so that Maliha could be a martial artist and proficient with ancient and modern weapons, and able to travel to exotic locations with convincing authenticity. This series is the most research-intensive writing I've done as a novelist.

I tried out different versions of Maliha and of her close companions. Dozens of combinations were scrapped. The demon-carved scale on her belly that comes to life to track lives she's saved came to me in a vivid dream. The books you see today have been through an amazing process of world and character building. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Maliha, and I put all the passion I can into writing about her.

SK: Show me the passion.

DB: What?

SK: Show me a scene that's written with this passion you're talking about.

DB: A scene without spoilers is tough to find. Here's one:

     She used some of her weapons for a brief, intense workout on the wooden planks, cleaned them so that no drop of sweat remained, and took a shower with the hot water set at such force it felt like it was needling her all over.
     In a thin white gown that stuck to her damp skin, Maliha went to her sleeping area. It was a Japanese tatami mat, woven of straw, on a wooden floor. Unrolling a thin futon on top of the mat, she lay down and looked at the sparkling low-voltage lights suspended from her ceiling like stars. After a while, she said, "Lights out."
In the dark, in her safe place, she was free to evaluate her experiences, feeling the doubts, the longings that often didn't get a chance to surface—especially in the middle of a firefight. That included weaknesses of her body that she usually had to conceal.

Never show an enemy a weakness, Master Liu would say, or he will know where to add to it.
She checked over all the parts of her body, working on the hurt places, the wounds, concentrating on helping them speed up their healing. Then she let her mind wander. In her haven, in the dark, Maliha could let the words take shape that represented deep fears. 

     I bear the guilt of doing great evil. Some days it nearly rips me up inside. All those people, dead by my hand. Why didn't I come to my senses earlier? A century earlier would have meant so many lives saved. Instead I stayed young, had a great time traveling all over, bedding princes and sheiks, and the payment was a growing  pile of corpses. Never enough blood to satisfy the demon though. I'm so ashamed. Would any good man want me as a wife knowing what I’ve done in the past? Bedmate, yes. But soul mate?
She closed her eyes and let tears slide down her cheeks.

SK: One last question. Is it really true you signed a man's underwear in a convention elevator?

DB: Yes, it's true. You should know, you were there.

Find Dakota Banks Online:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Buy Dakota’s Books:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository 

Check Out Dakota’s Awesome NEW Contest:

 

 

Check Out My Reviews:

Dark Time {Mortal Path #1}

Sacrifice {Mortal Path #2}

 

 

Win One of TWO SIGNED Copies of “Sacrifice” by Dakota Banks!

Book #2 in The Mortal Path Series!

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xoxo,