Interview with Rachel Caine, author of the 'Morganville Vampires' series

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I am such a huge Rachel Caine fan. I loved battling storms and Dijn with Joanne Baldwin, gained some human perspective with Cassiel and most recently I've been enjoying the resurrection racket with Bryn Davis. But it's Caine's 'Morganville Vampires' series, and the awesome-foursome of Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve who I have a real soft spot for. 

I can't believe 'Morganville Vampires' is now into its 13th book, with the latest offering of 'Bitter Blood' setting up some very interesting curve balls for the Glass House residents.

I was actually lucky enough to catch up with Ms Caine last year, for a lovely breakfast (courtesy of Penguin Books Australia!) and I had a wonderful time picking her brain... so I couldn't pass up a second opportunity to find out the latest goss about one of my favourite authors!

If you would also like the opportunity to meet Ms Caine - check out her Aussie tour dates!

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Q: I understand that ‘Morganville Vampires’ will be ending with a whopping 15 books in the series – with the very last book, 'Fall of Night', to be released November next year. Have you started writing that book yet? Have you observed any writerly rituals to say goodbye to these characters that you first wrote into existence back in 2006?

Actually, FALL OF NIGHT will be the next-to-last book, released in May 2013 ... we haven't yet finalized the title for #15, but I'm leaning toward DAYLIGHTERS. I haven't started Book 15 yet, although I have done the outline -- I'm just finishing up FALL OF NIGHT at this time. (My publishing turnarounds are much faster than normal on deadlines, so Book 15 will be written after the first of the year.)

But when I get there, and start writing it, I think the reality will definitely set in. It certainly did when I finished the last book of the Weather Warden series in Urban Fantasy ... the reality that 9 years of living with those characters had come to an end. It's very much like moving neighborhoods ... you know you'll settle in, make new friends, but you always feel nostalgic for those you left behind.

As to rituals, I suspect that finishing Book 15 will be followed by an actual vacation -- the first I've taken in nearly 20 years. And I'll probably hoist a glass of ale to the road behind me, and the road still ahead.

Q: ‘Morganville Vampires’ was really your first foray into YA. Do you think you’ll ever revisit the young adult genre with a new series or stand-alone?

Absolutely! I've already finished a stand-alone novel called PRINCE OF SHADOWS -- you'll hear more about that as we get closer to 2014 when it's scheduled for release, but it's about Romeo and Juliet. I also have a new series, unrelated to anything else, that I'm putting down in the planning stages right now. So definitely there's more to come!

Q: ‘Morganville Vampires’ has come such a long way and taken so many twists and turns. Fans read the awesome foursome survive Bishop, the draug and Ada – we’ve seen good characters turn bad, humans turn vampire and we’ve had to say goodbye to a beloved few (Sam! *sniffle*). I wonder if you’re a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ – that is, do you plot your books meticulously or fly by the seat of your pants? And was there ever a time when fan influence had sway over the story (I know that many fans pushed for a Myrnin/Claire romance – and in recent books you have broached the subject…) furthermore, was there ever a time when you were really surprised by the direction the series took?

I definitely started my career as a pantser -- seat of the pants, going without a map. I wrote about ten books that way before I started publishing often enough that having that roadmap was essential -- not just for my sanity, but for business reasons for the publisher, who needed to design covers, write ads and copy, sell the book ahead into stores ... it isn't all about the book itself. So I was forced to try to find a compromise between the two. Now, I have a general outline of events, and then I find room to "pants" my way around and through them!

Hmmm, fan influence ... I try not to let anyone else's ideas influence what I do, but I had always intended for Myrnin to have a bit of a fatal fascination for Claire, and for him to be equally fascinated by her. It isn't a romance, per se ... in Myrnin's mind it probably comes closer, but it's really mostly deep admiration and trust. He's the world's worst candidate (well, next to a draug, probably) for boyfriend, because as sweet and fantastic as he can be, and as loyal as he is, he's also unpredictable and has a history of killing those he loves when he's out of control. This is not what you want in a sweetheart.

Q: In the last few ‘Morganville Vampires’ books you’ve started writing perspectives beyond just Claire’s. I, personally, have loved Shane’s insight – it’s really been a way to mark his growth from the angry young man in ‘Glass Houses’, to someone with a lot to lose (and fight for!) in ‘Bitter Blood’. What gave you the idea to offer up more perspectives in the latter-half of the series? And who have you most enjoyed writing for?

It started in BITE CLUB because there was no way I could pull off the plot without people understanding what was in Shane's head. I tried -- I wrote it all from Claire's perspective. But Shane came off horribly, and there seemed no way to make it work without more explaining than I was comfortable with doing. So ... I switched to Shane's perspective.

But once I'd done that, I realized that it really opened things up for the events that were coming with the draug, so I kept going, opening up the world more and more.

This continues in BITTER BLOOD, because (again) of the necessity to have other characters carry plot points. And you'll see it to a smaller extent in FALL OF NIGHT.

Q: In 13 books so far – what has been the hardest scene you’ve had to write, and what made writing it so difficult?

The toughest scenes are always the ones that you don't expect. I have no problem with action scenes ... once things are moving and the plot is charging along, the writing goes extremely fast.

It's the beginning of the book that is the toughest for me, every time -- getting established back in the world, allowing the characters to find their feet before the plot sweeps it all away. The structure and order is necessary as a contrast to the chaos that's to come, but it also can be challenging to write.

I also had to be careful of the big love scene between Claire and Shane in CARPE CORPUS, because I wanted it to feel real, sweet, exciting, awkward ... all the things that it would be in real life. It had to be more realistic than romantic, in my mind, and I probably rewrote that scene five or six times to get it right.

Q: ‘Fall of Night’ is your next book in the ‘Morganville Vampires’ series, and it’s the one before the big finale. Can you give us any clues about what we can expect from book #14?

It's WAY out of the Morganville box, as I mentioned before ... big changes for characters not only in geography, but internally as well. This is a pivotal book for Claire learning what she really wants and who she really is ... I strongly felt that Claire needed to become her own person and face some issues without the protection of the Glass House gang (at least initially), so this is what came out of that. It's a shock to her to find out that when you leave someone behind (her former best friend Elizabeth) the person they are when you see them again isn't the same ... and it can be dangerous to underestimate how much someone can change. We'll meet some new characters who'll play important roles in Book 15 as well.

Q: Are you aware of the many, many, many, many Morganville ‘mock trailer’ videos there are on YouTube? What do you think about fan’s fantasy casting (particularly the persistently popular Jared Padalecki as Shane?)

I think the mock trailers are GREAT! Honestly, the creativity of my readers just blows me away ... I saw one the other day that looked like an actual movie trailer, and it would've fooled me if I hadn't known better.

The casting is always fun, but in practical terms, Jared's done playing teens, and he wouldn't be convincing anymore as Shane at 18. I love him, and he's absolutely the right type, but I look at the type, not the actor. Because who's available and the right age when (IF) something comes about is usually completely different than your dream cast.

Q: Something I love about ‘Morganville Vampires’ is that you take what is, essentially, a sociological idea of a vampire-run town and turn it into something rather magnificent that fits beautifully into the vampire mythology. I think you did it again with your new ‘Revivalist’ series – which I read as delving into the world of big Pharma and corporate takeover – which fits very cleverly into a modern zombie mythology. Where did you first get the idea for the ‘Revivalist’ series, and what made you want to explore zombies?

Thanks! As you probably know from the news, the USA faces unusual issues in regard to health care -- we're a wealthy nation, and we have some great hospitals and doctors, but we also have traditionally not had the kind of healthcare safety nets other countries do. Our insurance has always been employer-based, with some private insurance available for purchase. Other than that, there is "charity healthcare" where you can be treated as a charity patient if you meet certain very strict income levels.

For many entrepreneurs (like me!) the struggle to get health insurance is a nightmare. I am a successful writer by any standards, and by small business standards especially ... yet the insurance companies will not insure me for any price, because I am not employed by someone else, and I have had health issues in the past. They have the ability to reject me for coverage, and do.

Living in that world, where no matter how much money you may be fortunate enough to have in the bank just means you're six months away from homeless if you have a car accident, serious illness, etc. -- it made me think about how much we're controlled by the very companies that save us. Our employers ... the insurance companies ... and the drug companies. Many people exist just a day or two away from death if they can't afford their medication.

I just held a science fiction mirror up to a real situation.

Q: On that note – what other supernatural creatures would you like to write about? Werewolves and witches perhaps?

I honestly don't know yet. I'm still letting things form in my mind! But I don't think it will be anything too easy to guess :)

Q: Can you give us any clues about the latest ‘Revivalist’ book?

In book 2, TWO WEEKS' NOTICE (you may have figured out the book titles are all a play on employment-related terms!) Bryn will have to face some deadly secrets about who's really behind the impending zombie war, and why ... and deal with her boyfriend Patrick's former relationship with Jane, who in many ways was Bryn 1.0: an original test subject for the nanites, with the unfortunate complication that it made her into a psychotic killer. Is it coming for Bryn, too? And is there any cure to death itself?

Q: I was such a HUGE fan of your ‘Weather Warden’ and ‘Outcast Season’ series. I think Jo & Co. got such an epic, befitting ending and I loved both ‘Total Eclipse’ and ‘Unbroken’. Have we most definitely read the last of the ‘Weather Warden’ universe and the Djinn? And how hard was it for you to say goodbye to those characters who you’d been writing for since 2003? Do they still occasionally ‘speak’ to you, even though their series’ are over for now?

Awww, thank you! I truly cried when I ended the cycle of those stories ... I tried to make it as big and epic an ending as I possibly could, because I felt that they were larger than life themselves, and deserved all I could do. It's a super fun universe, and I definitely will go back to it (possibly for novellas or e-releases) but I'm letting my brain cool off a bit before I jump back in. :) This is my first year without a Weather Warden book in, eep, more than 10 years if I count the time I spent writing ILL WIND! And yes, they definitely do speak to me ... especially as the powerful storms are lashing us in the USA. I think we might need the Wardens now more than ever!

Thank you for the chance to chat -- I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at SupaNova in Brisbane and Adelaide, and at the upcoming signings in Sydney and Melbourne!!

'Two Weeks' Notice' Revivalist #2 by Rachel Caine

 Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

After dying and being revived with the experimental drug Returné, Bryn Davis is theoretically free to live her unlife - with regular doses to keep her going. But Bryn knows that the government has every intention of keeping a tight lid on Pharmadene's life-altering discovery, no matter the cost.

Fortunately, some things have changed for the better; her job at the rechristened Davis Funeral Home is keeping her busy and her fragile romance with Patrick McCallister is blossoming - thanks in part to their combined efforts in forming a support group for Returne addicts. But when some of the group members suddenly disappear, Bryn wonders if the government is methodically removing a threat to their security, or if some unknown enemy has decided to run the zombies into the ground . . .

** WARNING: this review contains spoilers of book #1 ‘Working Stiff’ **

Bryn Davis is caught between a rock and a hard place. Or, to be more precise, a live and a dead place. She is neither here nor there, not really. Because Bryn is living on injected time – having been ‘revived’ from death using a drug called Returné, which embroiled her in a mega-conspiracy web concerning a company called Pharmadene who manufacture the life-preserving drug.

But Bryn has discovered a way to keep getting her daily doses of the expensive Returné without having to be indebted to the questionable company behind its manufacturing. With the help of ex-Pharmadene employee (now Bryn’s almost-lover), Patrick McAllister and a paranoid genius called Manny, Bryn is being given a home-brew of the drug. And running her own Funeral Home Service with Patrick’s associate, Joe Fideli, is keeping her busy and out of Pharmadene’s way.

But that doesn’t mean the company is entirely done with Bryn. Her sister, Annalie, is still missing (presumed kidnapped) for reasons as yet unknown. And when some ex-Pharmadene, Returné-dependent employees seek Bryn’s help in dealing with their ‘undead’ state, she feel compelled to offer her services and wisdom, which again drags her back into the company’s orbit . . .

‘Two Week’s Notice’ is the second novel in Rachel Caine’s Big-Pharma urban fantasy thriller series, ‘Revivalist’.

Last year I got hooked on Rachel Caine’s new series ‘Revivalist’ – which was no surprise since I’m a fan of anything and everything Caine writes, from her ‘Morganville Vampires’ series to ‘Weather Warden’ and its spin-off ‘Outcast Season’. Like many Caine books before it, ‘Revivalist’ suckered me in with a ballsy heroine, slow-burning romance, long-game story and a sensationally tricky spin on an old immortality plot. And I’m happy to report that Caine’s brilliant set-up in ‘Working Stiff’ is proving ‘Revivalist’ to be a truly addictive series, if this second outing in ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’ is any indication.

We begin again with Bryn Davis, who suffered from an enormous case of wrong-place-wrong-time in ‘Working Stiff’ when she was killed by her Funeral Home employer. She was bought back to life by Patrick McAllister using Returné, the very drug her boss had killed her over when she snooped to close to the Pharmadene secret behind the Home’s double-resurrection-dealings. After a long tussle with Pharmadene, Bryn finally won a modicum of freedom when she joined forces with Pat McAllister, his tough friend Joe Fideli and their crazy scientist buddy, Manny. Now Bryn is able to continue ‘living’, thanks to Manny’s replicas of the Returné formula. But Pharmadene isn’t quite finished with Bryn yet. Not when former undead employers seek her help in adjusting to their ‘unlife’, and certainly not when Bryn’s younger sister, Annalie, has been kidnapped for reasons as yet unknown, but inevitably linked to Returné (the ironically life-giving and life-destroying drug).

I loved reading about the Pharmadene/Returné set-up in ‘Working Stiff’ – it was such a wonderful spin on the usual immortal storyline, that instead of zombies or vampires, Bryn was given prolonged, frozen life in the form of a daily-dosing drug that keeps her from turning into a rotting corpse. It was interesting because Caine had put so much nefarious thought behind the drugging immortality – wrapped up in medical warfare, Big Pharma corruption and elitist ‘health care’. In ‘Working Stiff’, explorations into Returné were very grass-roots and close to home – with Bryn seeing how far people would go to buy costly injections for their dead loved ones. But in ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’ Caine really blows the storyline up, highlighting the conspiracy theories and political warfare behind the drug. This new angle is putting Bryn on a much bigger stage – where the villainous players behind the scenes have deeper pockets and more to lose. I love, love, love this frighteningly complex ‘undead’ plot – for all its corporate espionage and deadly cover-ups, it’s just begging to be adapted to film or TV for all the nitty-gritty, endless possibilities.

I will admit that in ‘Working Stiff’ I took a little longer than usual to warm up to Rachel Caine’s characters. Normally they’re so witty and warm right off the bat, that as readers we’re made to side with them almost instantly. Not so with Bryn. While she does follow in the Caine tradition of being a ballsy and admirable female heroine (don’t ya just love reading those?!) she was quite a more brittle and stand-offish protagonist than we’re used to from Caine’s characters. But there’s good reason for that – simply that Bryn is one of the most complex women Caine has ever written. She’s ex-military and dealing with the trauma from a life spent in warfare. When we met her in ‘Working Stiff’ she was very much trying to reassimilate back into society, and then she went and got herself killed . . . we met her when she was thrown into the deep end and left to flounder.

Well, in ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’ Bryn is a little more stabilized in her ‘undead’ life, but no less secure or sure of what the future holds for her. Or what she even wants out of her ‘unlife’, for that matter. She’s still a prickly character; but she’s also a protagonist going through the greatest upheaval of any Caine character, which makes her cock-sure, armoured attitude that much more compelling and complex.

I also took a while to warm up to the romance in Caine’s ‘Revivalist’ series, again it could come down to the fact that it’s the most tangled she has ever written. Patrick McAllister gave the order for Bryn to be bought back to life with Returné. Add that to the fact that he’s an ex-Pharmadene employee, and it’s more than clear the hurdles he and Bryn have to overcome. I loved reading about them in ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’ – because all those tangled webs and complications make for quite the burning romance, one in which the characters (let alone readers!) don’t know which way is up.

“Sorry,” she said faintly. “I don’t know what happened.”
“You were running on adrenaline even before you overloaded.” His breath stirred her hair, and he kissed the side of her neck, very gently. “I’m speaking from experience when I tell you that you’ll be okay, but you can’t run hot all the time. Gear down.”
Well, she was a machine, wasn’t she? Run by machines, anyway. The black humor of that tickled the back of her throat, threatening a laugh she couldn’t release because she knew it would sound like panic. Or screaming. Cars blurred by them on the road, blowing waves of cool air over them. Bryn’s hair ruffled in the wind like silk, and she closed her eyes, finally, and let that rushing sensation take over. Patrick’s body anchored her in place, and the wind stroked over her, soothed her, like the roar of the ocean.

I also think the ‘Revivalist’ series is some of Rachel Caine’s best writing. Being a fan of her high-octane ‘Morganville Vampires’ and ‘Weather Warden’ series, I've always admired and complimented her action scenes. Rachel Caine is a true master at writing those adrenaline-fuelled, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat scenes. But with ‘Revivalist’ she’s really showing her mettle in the subtler things – like Bryn’s constant battle between feeling alive and knowing that she’s just one late injection away from being a rotting corpse. So we get some lovely scenes in which Caine writes the juxtaposition of the bustling, live-wire world around her, compared to Bryn’s inner-monologue about being a Returné-machine.

But, as I said, Caine does excel at writing the heart-pumping, thrill-rides – and that’s especially true in ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’. In this book we get one of the best, most hauntingly sadistic villains I've read in a long time – Jane. What she does will chill you to the bone and put you off Green Jell-O for life. But it’s the jaw-dropping double-twist towards the end, that will knock you down and have you perking up for third book, ‘Terminated’ (coming August 2013). I suspected with ‘Working Stiff’, but Rachel Caine’s ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’ has cemented ‘Revivalist’, in my mind at least, as the new must-read urban fantasy thriller.

5/5

'Working Stiff' Revivalist #1 by Rachel Caine

From the BLURB:

It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it – dead or alive.

Bryn Davis knows working at Fairview Mortuary isn't the most glamorous career choice, but at least it offers stable employment – until she discovers her bosses using a drug that resurrects the clientele . . . as part of an extortion racket. Now Bryn faces being terminated (literally) with extreme prejudice.

With the assistance of corporate double agent Patrick McCallister, Bryn has a chance to take down the bigger problem – pharmaceutical company Pharmadene, which treats death as the ultimate corporate loyalty program. She'd better do it fast before she becomes a zombie slave – a real working stiff.

She'd be better off dead . . .

Bryn Davis is ex-military, just trying to fit into her new civilian job . . . at a funeral home. Not exactly a ‘normal’ job, offering people casket packages and floral arrangements, but a job nonetheless.

Except Bryn thinks there’s something strange(‘r’ than you’d expect) happening at Fairview Mortuary. Desperate people come to this place after hours, and the funeral director seems to be selling more than just bereavement packages. And as it turns out, Bryn is right. Because Fairview is selling immorality and reanimation – for a hefty price.

Bryn soon finds herself in the middle of a corporate upsurge with a company called Pharmadene – more than that though, she has become their own personal lab rat. Complete with handler, Patrick McCallister and a do-or-die mission.

‘Working Stiff’ is the first book in Rachel Caine’s new paranormal series, ‘Revivalist’.

I love Rachel Caine. Honestly, between ‘Morganville Vampires’ and ‘Weather Warden’ she has fast become an automatic-buy for me and a guaranteed book-pleaser. So her new series was heavily anticipated . . . and, of course, it totally lived up to expectation.

In ‘Revivalist’, Rachel Caine is exploring the current hot-topic of zombies. But in typical Caine fashion she is setting herself apart from all other zombie paranormal’s that have gone before her. Because in ‘Revivalist’ zombies are a by-product of clever business marketing –tied up in big Pharma and corporate espionage.

“From the moment our researchers discovered that this drug could revive and maintain dead tissues, there was no going back. It isn’t about a market share; it’s about power. Someone’s going to have it. Someone will control how this drug is manufactured and used. It will change the entire world. Wars will be fought. Whole civilizations will be destroyed, because right here, in these rooms, we have stopped the one thing that man never conquered: death.”
There was a glow in her face now, an almost religious ecstasy that Bryn found scarier than the corporate bullshit she’d seen before.

I was reading ‘Working Stiff’ while also viewing the new season of ‘Torchwood’, and their new ‘Miracle Day’ storyline. Caine and Torchwood are exploring similar ideas very differently – and I found that my reading/viewing was a nice, harmonious complement. With Caine, we observe the grass-roots of a corporate pharmaceutical takeover. In ‘Torchwood’, we are watching the global fall-out if such a pharma problem was allowed to thrive. And at the root of both concepts – what if we couldn’t die? I love it. I love that both Caine and Torchwood have taken the fairly blasé concept of ‘zombies’ and ‘immortality’ and put a clever and real-world spin on it.

One of the best things about all of Caine’s series is her tendency to put her main (female) characters into tough predicaments early on. In the first ‘Weather Warden’, Jo is an accused murderer on the run with a demon mark on her person. In ‘Morganville’, Claire is quickly under ownership by the biggest, baddest town vampires and left to serve them. Likewise, in ‘Working Stiff’, Bryn is quickly thrown into a bad situation that sees her become a Pharmadene puppet, and almost completely reliant on them. It’s such an interesting dynamic for our heroine to be in – literally ‘owned’ by someone else. And everything that comes after is the repercussions of her being between a rock and a hard place.

Caine also excels at writing swoon-worthy romance – Jo and David, Claire and Shane. Well, in ‘Working Stiff’ we have a slower-to-burn romance between Bryn and her handler, McCallister. It’s one of those romances where you’re really not sure if what you’re reading is a romance-in-the-making or just a little side-tracking . . . Caine definitely keeps these two subdued, and readers on their toes when it comes to their true feelings. It’s a different paced coupling than what we’ve read from Caine in the past (none of Jo and David’s instant-steaminess, or Claire’s constant pining for Shane) but it still works. Just a little more subtly.

I will definitely be reading more of Rachel Caine’s ‘Revivalist’ series. ‘Working Stiff’ is a smart zombie novel that goes beyond the typical reanimation explorations and delves into the world of big Pharma and corporate takeover. In typical Caine fashion, our heroine is gutsy, loyal and in the wrong place at the wrong time . . . this series is shaping up to be a very rewarding and interesting new addition to the urban fantasy genre, even if the romance was less ‘fireworks’ and more ‘slow burn’.

4/5