I'm happy to welcome author L.M. Pruitt today to my blog! I was able to ask her some probing questions about her new book, Shades of Grey.
Your main
character in Shades of Grey,
Jude Magdalyn Henries, is thrust into the tumultuous underworld of magic and
vampires in New Orleans. As a fake tarot reader, what can she do to save her
beloved city?
Ah, but who says all she is is a
fake tarot card reader? Part of the journey of the story is discovering that
some of the things you thought were true your entire life are nothing but
carefully constructed lies.
Who hires
her to do the private reading that involves Jude in that underworld?
This
is a question with three levels—there’s the obvious person paying the bill. The
person pulling those strings, determined to find out how powerful Jude is. And
there’s the third person, who pulls the strings on the second level, and is out
for vengeance.
Do the two
men in Jude’s life, Williams and Theo, come to her aid when she faces this new
challenge?
When you’re fighting a war, you need
two kinds of people—the obvious warrior and the person who can make you forget
the horrors of war. Who you are will depend on which role you consider more
important.
Jude seems
torn between those two men, each calling to a different part of her. What are
those different sides of her personality? One scares her a little. Why? What do
each of the men see in Jude? What draws them to her?
I think Jude is like all of us—she’s
both a realist and a dreamer. Both men scare her, because as much as she can
accept reality, meaning dealing with vampires and magic and things that go bump
in the night, she also dreams of family and stability and love. This isn’t to
say that each man represents only one of those traits—just that each has their
strong points. As to why Theo and Williams are drawn to her…well, some of the
appeal is because she’s new on the radar. There’s also, for lack of a better
word, an innocence about her in an emotional sense, undiluted by her time on
the streets. Finally, she’s kind of bitchy—and for some reason most men find
that attractive, lol.
Briefly describe the magical
systems of your world. How do those who are empowered gain their abilities?
Right now, there are two ways people
come into power. Either you’re born with it or someone powerful can gift it to
you on their death, an ability that was lost to the Covenant for years but is
now returning with the return of their power source.
As to the magical system—I like to
think of it in terms of any type of large organization. In order to be
successful, not everyone can have the same skill set. The more diverse the
group, the more likely they are to continue to expand and fill their niche. So
the Covenant isn’t straight magic—there’s also voodoo and divination and
empathic/emotional magic. It’s a grab bag, which can make for interesting
encounters.
Shades of Desire
By L.M. Pruitt
Book 2 Jude Magdalyn Series
Blurb
All I wanted was a little peace and
quiet.
Instead, I've got dead Covenant members and a steady stream of letters from the new guy in town. His beverage of choice? A 2002 Merlot, with a shot or two of powerful virgin blood.
On top of that, I'm breaking in a new police liaison, failing at playing matchmaker, and fighting nausea like it's a full time job. All I wanted was a little peace and quiet.
Instead, I've got dead Covenant members and a steady stream of letters from the new guy in town. His beverage of choice? A 2002 Merlot, with a shot or two of powerful virgin blood.
On top of that, I'm breaking in a new police liaison, failing at playing matchmaker, and fighting nausea like it's a full time job.
Did I forget to mention that I've also got enough girls living at the Crossroads to start my own boarding school?
Peace and quiet? Out the window.
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Instead, I've got dead Covenant members and a steady stream of letters from the new guy in town. His beverage of choice? A 2002 Merlot, with a shot or two of powerful virgin blood.
On top of that, I'm breaking in a new police liaison, failing at playing matchmaker, and fighting nausea like it's a full time job. All I wanted was a little peace and quiet.
Instead, I've got dead Covenant members and a steady stream of letters from the new guy in town. His beverage of choice? A 2002 Merlot, with a shot or two of powerful virgin blood.
On top of that, I'm breaking in a new police liaison, failing at playing matchmaker, and fighting nausea like it's a full time job.
Did I forget to mention that I've also got enough girls living at the Crossroads to start my own boarding school?
Peace and quiet? Out the window.
Buy Links
Book
1 Shades of Gray for your
Kindle, in Paperback
Shades
of Gray
Book One
By L.M. Pruitt
Jude Magdalyn Henries lives what many would call an unconventional
life.
Orphaned at birth, raised by nuns, a teenage runaway living on the
streets... she now earns a living at odd jobs, including one as a fake tarot
card reader. Very little about Jude's life appears normal, by any scale.
When she accepts a gig to do a private reading, unconventional
takes on an entirely new meaning. Life as she knows it ends when she's thrust
into a world she never knew existed-one filled with magic, vampires, and her
beloved New Orleans on the verge of an underground war.
To make matters worse, she's got two men in her life vying for
attention, Williams and Theo. Both call to a different part of her, but one
scares her just a little bit.
Can she step up to the challenges set before her and make the
right choices for the greatergreater good?
Excerpt Shades of
Desire
“If someone doesn’t get me a lemon in the next
five minutes, everyone will suffer. A lot.”
“Jude, I love you. Which is why I can say you’re being just a little
overdramatic.” One look at my face and Theo changed his tune. “But then again,
you could say pregnancy is dramatic and you’re just getting into the groove.”
“Nice save.” I tried to sit up again. Halfway through the upward
movement greasy waves of nausea rolled over me and I eased back down onto the
pillow. Strands of black hair clung to my sweaty face and I closed my eyes,
exhaling slowly. “Not as nice as that lemon would be right now, but nice.”
“Elizabeth will be here in a moment. No doubt she’ll have a lemon. And
tea. And toast.” Theo turned over to face me, laying one hand over my still
mostly flat stomach. If you looked close, you could see the smallest of bumps.
I know, because I checked. Every other day or so.
If anybody told me three months ago, that the week before Halloween,
I’d be lying in bed with a man who absolutely adored me—even the crazy
parts—I’d have asked them what the hell they were smoking. If they’d thrown in
being pregnant, I would have punched them in their jaw. Then gone to the store
and bought a dozen pregnancy tests and prayed for them all to be negative.
But that was before the Covenant.
In two weeks, I’d gone from being an orphan raised by nuns, to the
latest in a long line of only daughters. Women charged with the protection and
well-being of hundreds of people with unique powers. Some made flame burn for
hours, while others called the wind to knock you flat on your ass. They were a
group of people who came together over two-hundred years ago, bound by a
prophecy. One with no past, lost in the present, will bring in the future,
through gifts of both this world and the next.
And lucky me, I’d passed the job interview.
I’d sent Hart to a muddy, watery grave-literally. Unless something went
crazy wrong, he’d stay under the Mississippi until the Final Judgment. Williams
ruled the vampires of the city now and kept his distance as much as possible.
And I, Jude Magdalyn Henries, led the Covenant. Maybe I wasn’t terrific
at it. But Gillian would be proud.
All things considered, I think I came out with a pretty good deal.
L.M. Pruitt has been reading and writing for as long
as she can remember. A native of Florida with a love of New Orleans, she has
the uncanny ability to find humor in most things and would probably kill a
plastic plant. She is the author of the Jude Magdalyn Series as well as New
Moon Rising, featuring Cari Gravier, and Taken, featuring Frankie Post. She is
currently at work on the next book in the Moon Rising series, Harvest Moon
Rising, due out April 2012. Ms. Pruitt makes her home in Florida with two
cats--one smart, the other not so much.
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/LM-Pruitt/364776895104
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/lmpruitt
1 comments:
New Orleans, I love any story set in New Orleans! The characters in Shades of Desire intrigue me and I'll be checking out the book this week!
Great interview Marsha that showcases Ms. Pruitt's work for the reader.
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