Yes, finally - the first book in my Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI series is available in trade paperback.
A haunted FBI agent is on the hunt for that most rare of killers... a female serial.
And thanks to Amazon's Matchbook program, if you buy the paperback, you can get the Kindle copy for free! Perfect for the holidays - gift the paperback and keep the e book for yourself! :)
Buy here:
Huntress Moon
- Trade paperback
- e book
Of course, Book 2 in the series is also available:
Blood Moon
And... stay tuned for an announcement about Book 3: Cold Moon. Coming very soon!
- Alex
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
October giveaway: BOOK OF SHADOWS
Halloween is coming and to celebrate I'm giving away 31 signed hardcovers of my spooky thriller BOOK OF SHADOWS.
Just sign up for my mailing list on the home page of this website (there's a box on the left) to be automatically entered in the drawing!
And if you don't want to wait, BOOK OF SHADOWS is available on as an e book in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, for $3.99 in the US, £1.31 on Amazon.uk, and €3.21 on Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, and Amazon.es.
Amazon
Amazon UK
Amazzon DE
“A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing is-it-isn't-it suspense all the way to the end. Highly recommended.”---Lee Child
Homicide detective Adam Garrett is already a rising star in the Boston police department when he and his cynical partner, Carl Landauer, catch a horrifying case that could make their careers: the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have Satanic elements.
The partners make a quick arrest when all evidence points to another student, a troubled musician in a Goth band who was either dating or stalking the murdered girl. But Garrett’s case is turned upside down when beautiful, mysterious Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch from nearby Salem, walks into the homicide bureau and insists that the real perpetrator is still at large. Tanith claims to have had psychic visions that the killer has ritually sacrificed other teenagers in his attempts to summon a powerful, ancient demon.
All Garrett's beliefs about the nature of reality will be tested as he is forced to team up with a woman he is fiercely attracted to but cannot trust, in a race to uncover a psychotic killer before he strikes again.
"Compelling, frightening and exceptionally well-written, Book of Shadows is destined to become another hit for acclaimed horror and suspense writer Sokoloff. The incredibly tense plot and mysterious characters will keep readers up late at night, jumping at every sound, and turning the pages until they've devoured the book." --- Romantic Times Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars
"Sokoloff successfully melds a classic murder-mystery/whodunit with supernatural occult undertones." --- Library Journal
"As usual, Sokoloff (The Unseen) does a good job keeping the reader guessing whether a supernatural agency is really at work." - Publishers Weekly
Just sign up for my mailing list on the home page of this website (there's a box on the left) to be automatically entered in the drawing!
And if you don't want to wait, BOOK OF SHADOWS is available on as an e book in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, for $3.99 in the US, £1.31 on Amazon.uk, and €3.21 on Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, and Amazon.es.
Amazon
Amazon UK
Amazzon DE
“A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing is-it-isn't-it suspense all the way to the end. Highly recommended.”---Lee Child
Homicide detective Adam Garrett is already a rising star in the Boston police department when he and his cynical partner, Carl Landauer, catch a horrifying case that could make their careers: the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have Satanic elements.
The partners make a quick arrest when all evidence points to another student, a troubled musician in a Goth band who was either dating or stalking the murdered girl. But Garrett’s case is turned upside down when beautiful, mysterious Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch from nearby Salem, walks into the homicide bureau and insists that the real perpetrator is still at large. Tanith claims to have had psychic visions that the killer has ritually sacrificed other teenagers in his attempts to summon a powerful, ancient demon.
All Garrett's beliefs about the nature of reality will be tested as he is forced to team up with a woman he is fiercely attracted to but cannot trust, in a race to uncover a psychotic killer before he strikes again.
"Compelling, frightening and exceptionally well-written, Book of Shadows is destined to become another hit for acclaimed horror and suspense writer Sokoloff. The incredibly tense plot and mysterious characters will keep readers up late at night, jumping at every sound, and turning the pages until they've devoured the book." --- Romantic Times Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars
"Sokoloff successfully melds a classic murder-mystery/whodunit with supernatural occult undertones." --- Library Journal
"As usual, Sokoloff (The Unseen) does a good job keeping the reader guessing whether a supernatural agency is really at work." - Publishers Weekly
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Huntress Moon, coming soon in print and audio!
I’m very
happy to report that the trade paperback of Huntress Moon will be available in
October, and the audiobook in November.
We’re
up to over 230 reviews on Amazon (147 five-star reviews!) and still consistently at the top of the
Amazon charts in the serial killers and vigilante justice categories. Both
Huntress Moon and Blood Moon are the top rated Kindle books in those categories
as well.
The
great reviews are keeping me going as I’m writing book three, Cold Moon. In
which things get even crazier for Roarke and his team.
Out in December!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of
a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover
member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident
Roarke can't believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a
mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a
years-long string of "accidents" and murders, and who may well be
that most rare of killers: a female serial.
Roarke's hunt for her takes him across three states...while
in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded
from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach
and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.
As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he
realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before
more blood is shed.
- An ITW Thriller Award
Nominee for Best Original E Book Novel
- A Suspense Magazine
Pick for Best Thriller of 2012
"This interstate manhunt has plenty of thrills...
Sokoloff's choice to present both Roarke's and the killer's perspectives helps
keep the drama taut and the pages flying." -- Kirkus
Reviews
Twenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace.
The haunted child who was the only surviving victim of his rampage is now wanted by the FBI for brutal crimes of her own, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is on an interstate manhunt for her, despite his conflicted sympathies for her history and motives.
But when his search for her unearths evidence of new family slayings, the dangerous woman Roarke seeks - and wants - may be his only hope of preventing another bloodbath.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Blood Moon in Top Ten horror and hardboiled mysteries!
I'm happy to report that since its release at the beginning of the month, Blood Moon has been holding steady in Amazon's Top Ten in horror and also in hardboiled mysteries, besides moving in and out of the Top Ten in many other mystery/suspense and horror categories. I've also discovered that at least for the moment, I'm the only woman in Amazon's Top Ten most popular horror authors. I'd kind of argue that the Huntress books belong in horror, but they're a lot scarier than a lot of other books in that category!
I've been going a million interviews on the book and the series this month which I should link to on the website, but here for now, here are some of the most common questions (and one uncommon one!)
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
I've been going a million interviews on the book and the series this month which I should link to on the website, but here for now, here are some of the most common questions (and one uncommon one!)
Tell us a bit about
your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.
Blood Moon is the
second in my Huntress/FBI thriller series, which follows a haunted FBI agent on
the hunt for a female serial killer. But
if you talk to FBI profilers, some will tell you that from a psychological and
forensic standpoint, there’s no such thing as a female serial killer. Women commit homicide, but not sexual
homicide. That’s a little-known fact
that has interested me for a long time. For years I’ve been looking for the
right story to explore that issue.
Then two years ago I was at the San Francisco Bouchercon, the World
Mystery Convention, and there were two back-to-back discussions with several of
my favorite authors: Val McDermid interviewing Denise Mina, then Robert Crais
interviewing Lee Child. There was a lot of priceless stuff in those two hours,
but two things that really struck me from the McDermid/Mina chat were Val
saying that crime fiction is the best way to explore societal issues, and
Denise saying that she finds powerful inspiration in writing about what makes
her angry.
Write about what makes you angry? It doesn't take me a millisecond's
thought to make my list. Child sexual abuse is the top, no contest. Violence
against women and children. Discrimination of any kind. Religious intolerance.
War crimes. Genocide. Torture.
That anger has fueled a lot of my books and scripts over the years.
And then right after that, there was Lee Child talking about Reacher, one
of my favorite fictional characters, and it got me thinking about what it would
look like if a woman were doing what Reacher was doing. And that was
it—instantly I had the whole story of Huntress Moon,
the first book in the Huntress series.
What will the reader
learn after reading your book?
They’ll learn that there is no such thing as a female serial
killer! But the series also seems to
force readers to question their own beliefs about justice and punishment and
retribution. I am thrilled that so many people find themselves torn about what
they want to see happen to my killer, and that they even find themselves hoping
for a love that really shouldn’t ever happen.
So I guess what readers learn is that there may be some vast gray areas
between good and evil.
Did your book require
a lot of research?
Tons. I made this series hard for myself by making the main
character an FBI agent, which means I had to cram a lifetime of forensics and law
enforcement procedure into several months of catch-up. Luckily author and former police detective
Lee Lofland has created a fabulous program for writers to experience hands-on
police and forensics training under the supervision of an incredible professional
staff, the annual Writers Police Academy. I couldn’t write this series without
it.
How would you
describe your creative process while writing this book? Was it
stream-of-consciousness writing, or did you first write an outline?
I am a compulsive outliner. I was a screenwriter for eleven
years, and there’s no way to do that job without precise outlining. You need to be able to tell the whole story to
the studio long before you get to sit down to write. I use index cards, the three-act, eight-sequence
structure, a story grid, the whole nine yards – all the stuff I teach in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
workbooks. But once I have that outline,
the first draft can and often does take off in directions I never anticipated.
The characters have their own ideas about what needs to happen. You’d be a fool not to go with the flow in
the heat of the moment, to mix a metaphor.
Agatha Christie got
her best ideas while eating green apples in the bathtub. Steven Spielberg says
he gets his best ideas while driving on the highway. When do you get your best
ideas and why do you think this is?
Hmm, I’ve never tried green apples in the bathtub. Kind of sexy!
I agree with Spielberg, though (who wouldn’t?). Driving is very good for
me. Especially for this series, since the books are all about road trips – each
book in the series is an interstate manhunt.
More precisely, a womanhunt.
Night driving is the best. I also get a lot of ideas from
dreams. The shower is good. And dance
class.
Were you an avid reader
as a child? What type of books did you enjoy reading?
I was voracious. I
read everything. But I was always most attracted to mysteries, thrillers, and
horror. Anything with a spooky cover, I
was all over it. I need the adrenaline rush!
Stephen King, of course, Ira Levin, Ray Bradbury. Early on I discovered
that I especially love the feminine perspective on crime and the supernatural –
Shirley Jackson, Daphne DuMaurier, Mary Shelley, Agatha Christie, Barbara
Vine. I think women know a lot more than
men do about terror.
As an author, what is
your greatest reward?
Without
question, having readers read my books and experience the world and the
characters just as if they’re caught up in a film. And then being able to
dialogue with them about the story and characters and their experience of the
story. It’s such an intimate relationship. Incomparable.
- Alex
Huntress Moon, $3.99
A driven FBI agent is on the hunt for that most rare of all killers:
a female serial.
Blood Moon, on sale now: 99 cents
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Huntress Moon, FREE May 22! Blood Moon 99 cents!
Today you can pick up BOTH books in the Huntress/FBI series today for just 99 cents: Huntress Moon is a free download, Blood Moon is 99 cents.
- An ITW Thriller Award Nominee for Best Original E Book Novel
- A Suspense Magazine Pick for Best Thriller of 2012
"This interstate manhunt has plenty of thrills... Sokoloff's choice to present both Roarke's and the killer's perspectives helps keep the drama taut and the pages flying." -- Kirkus Reviews
FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident Roarke can't believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a years-long string of "accidents" and murders, and who may well be that most rare of killers: a female serial.
Roarke's hunt for her takes him across three states...while in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.
As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before more blood is shed.
(I know, I'm sorry, exclusive to Amazon for the first three months. It's the financial reality of it. But you know me - if it's a Nook or Kobo version you need, just e mail me at AXSokoloff AT aol DOT com and I will get either or both books to you!).
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
Twenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace.
The haunted child who was the only surviving victim of his rampage is now wanted by the FBI for brutal crimes of her own, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is on an interstate manhunt for her, despite his conflicted sympathies for her history and motives.
But when his search for her unearths evidence of new family slayings, the dangerous woman Roarke seeks - and wants - may be his only hope of preventing another bloodbath.
I've been absent from this blog because I've been doing so many interviews and guest posts about the book. I think one of the most interesting ones is this:
- Ten Things You Didn't Know About Being a Published Author
Newbie's Guide to Publishing (and everything else on the blog). I'll be doing my own posts about it here, as well.
- Another very thorough interview on The Book Nympho, talking about the Huntress series and all kinds of other stuff.... Jonetta always has the BEST questions!
- I thought there were some interesting questions in this She Writes interview. The last one kind of threw me!
- And another general interview on process.
- Alex
Friday, April 26, 2013
Blood Moon, out now!
Yes, finally, Blood Moon, the sequel to my bestselling Amazon thriller Huntress Moon is out now!
-- Book II of the Huntress/FBI Thrillers --
Twenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace.
The haunted child who was the only surviving victim of his rampage is now wanted by the FBI for brutal crimes of her own, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is on an interstate manhunt for her, despite his conflicted sympathies for her history and motives.
But when his search for her unearths evidence of new family slayings, the dangerous woman Roarke seeks - and wants - may be his only hope of preventing another bloodbath.
Cover by Brandi Doane
And of course, the launch of the book means I'm going to be doing some posts about e publishing.
Last July, after I'd finished Huntress Moon, I made the decision not to pursue a traditional publishing deal for it. Instead I published it directly to Amazon and chronicled my promotional giveaway experience here on this blog, for everyone who had been asking me to talk about e publishing. (Links to those posts at the bottom of this blog.)
And I'm setting out again to chronicle my release of Blood Moon here, so there's some definitive version and so I can keep track myself of everything I've done, for next time.
The e publishing scene continues to be just as turbulent as the traditional publishing scene. I was at Left Coast Crime last month, and at the L.A. Times Festival of Books yesterday, and it continues to surprise me that so many authors I know, both traditionally published and aspiring, are still wary of e publishing, despite the success of authors like Blake Crouch, Brett Battles, Rob Gregory Browne, CJ Lyons, Elle Lothlorien, Zoe Sharp, Ann Voss Peterson, JD Rhoades, Scott Nicholson, Diane Chamberlain, Sarah Shaber and of course Joe Konrath, whose Newbie's Guide to Publishing is a must-read, as are his thrillers.
Personally I could not be more happy with my own decision to e publish Huntress Moon. The book hit the top of all Amazon's Mystery, Thriller and Police Procedural lists, made me twice any traditional advance I'd ever gotten in just two months of publication, and continues to sell steadily. It was on Suspense Magazine's list of Best Books of 2012.
I am also thrilled to announce that the book was just nominated for the International Thriller Writers' Thriller Award, in the brand-new category of Best E Book Original Novel.
Cover by BHB (i.e. the fabulous Robert Gregory Browne!)
Money, recognition, thousands of new readers... yeah, I'd say I made the right move.
Of course, the landscape has changed again, as it does pretty much week by week. I don't know if the things I did to promote Huntress will work as well with Blood Moon. Stay tuned to find out! But a launch is just a launch... while hitting big is the goal, I also know I have so many new readers from Huntress Moon I'm sure that Blood Moon will find the audience it needs to find. (And meanwhile, I'm on to Book 3...)
Now that I have several of my traditionally published backlist titles up as e books and the sales numbers continue to coming in, it's clear to me that e publishing continues to be the right choice for me.
How do I know this? Well, one of the amazing things about e publishing, for those of us who are used to the cryptic and essentially useless sales reports that we get quarterly - maybe - from our traditional publishers - is that now we can see exactly how many copies of each book we're selling and exactly how much money we're making per month. This is a vastly easier way to ensure that you're making a real living, and it takes huge amounts of anxiety out of the process. Plus you get paid every month, instead of when your publisher gets around to it, which is a vastly easier way to keep up with the bills, if you see what I'm saying.
E publishing has made making a practical living a much more realistic proposition for authors who are not (yet) bestsellers in traditional publishing. I don't know how long that will realistically last, whether it will get better or worse, but by now, for now, it's unignorable.
I have also become addicted to the speed of release that's possible with e publishing.
But based on the numbers I've compiled with my other books, I will sell thousands, and very quickly.
I have also become addicted to the speed of release that's possible with e publishing.
If I went through traditional channels, Blood Moon wouldn't even hit the shelves until - best case scenario - a year and a half from now. How can I possibly think of giving up the tens of thousands of readers I will be able to reach with this book starting NOW?
I want the book out, and I want to be on to Book 3. I'm already on to Book 3. I want to be able to release it by the end of this year. Thanks to e publishing, that's all completely possible.
I'll keep you posted on everything.
Have a great week!
---------------------------------------
Related marketing posts:
The Madness of Marketing
Letting it Ride (Kindle Select promotion)
Bestseller lists and Tag lists
Liking, Sharing and Tagging
My e publishing decision
To Nook or Not to Nook?
Giving it Away (Kindle Select promotion)
Monday, April 1, 2013
Thriller Award nomination for Huntress Moon!
I am, yes, thrilled, to learn that Huntress Moon has been nominated for an ITW Thriller Award for Best Original E Book. So many friends on this list! Huge congratulations to everyone...
2013 Thriller Awards Nominees
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The Keepers LA - new paranormal romance series!
In 2011 I was thrilled to be asked by the mega-talented and generally amazing Heather Graham to join forces with her to write a paranormal suspense trilogy for Harlequin Nocturne. The Keepers series follows a special set of humans with heightened powers who are charged with the ancestral duty of keeping the peace between mortals and the subcultures of paranormal beings who hide in plain sight among humans in cosmopolitan cities all over the world.
The first Keepers trilogy is set in New Orleans, co-written with sister thriller writer Deborah LeBlanc, and chronicles the individual stories of the MacDonald sisters: vampire, shapeshifter and werewolf Keepers, who fight supernatural crime while trying not to become romantically entangled with the beings they are sworn to protect.
(Read more about the first Keepers trilogy)
Now the series is back, with a new set of Keepers working to keep the peace between the supernatural Others and those crazy humans in Los Angeles. Three cousins: vampire, Elven and shapeshifter Keepers Rhiannon, Sailor, and Barrymore Gryffald wrestle with their new Keeper duties in a city where the mortals can be as deadly as the paranormals. Joining us for the new series is the fabulous Harley Jane Kozak, who knows a little something something about Hollywood.
 |
Heather, Alex, Bob Levinson, Harley
|
Heather and Harley and I actually have a not-so-secret life together: Harley and I are part of the cast of Heather's Slushpile Players and band, that perform and play for numerous conferences and other venues around the country, including Heather's unmissable Writers for New Orleans Conference, held every December in the best city in the world. Over the years Heather has managed to rope us into playing Wild West vampires, zombie strippers, space aliens, and my all-time favorite: pink flamingos. In fact, you might say that teaming up to write a paranormal series is one of the more sedate things we've ever done together.
I’ve asked Heather and Harley to join me to introduce the books and answer a few questions about writing the series together.
+ How did the idea of The Keepers L.A. come about?
Heather: The Keepers exist to "keep" the status quo between the human life that moves along in happy bliss and the denizens of the underworld who are certainly stronger and many ways and have some very scary talents and/or habits. Our first question to one another was, if you were different and trying to blend in, where would you least be noticed? First go round, we all said, "Hm. New Orleans!" This go round, especially with Harley in the mix, we all came up with "Hollywood!" Harley has worked an "A" list acting career there, Alex has worked as a screenwriter and an activist in the Writers Guild, and my daughter Chynna graduated from CalArts and is pursuing the dream--seemed like, hm, yes! Hollywood. If there's a third go around, my next inclination will probably be my home state and city, Miami, Florida. Trust me! We're pretty oblivious down here. If you were a different species or an alien life form, we'd just all think that you came from somewhere else in the Caribbean or Central or South America.
Harley: I have no memory of how it started, so I'm glad Heather remembers everything. Although I was born in Pennsylvania and did a small stint in North Dakota and even smaller ones living on location as an actress, I've only really lived in 3 places in my adult life: New York, L.A. and Lincoln, Nebraska. Hollywood was thus a no-brainer, because I don't think Heather and Alex would feel qualified to take on paranormal creatures living in Nebraska.
Alex: You're right, Nebraska would be a stretch for me. I was nervous at first about the idea of writing L.A. because I know it so well as a real place, not an urban fantasy setting. But Heather and Harley hit on the perfect catalyst for the story: the cousins live in this magnificent, if run-down, old Hollywood estate in Laurel Canyon built by a magician friend of their family. That was so true to L.A. but so timeless, I instantly understood how the whole story world worked.
+ Is it true you three only know each other because Bob Levinson was looking for blondes for the first Thrillerfest awards show?
Heather: Yes, we were introduced by Bob Levinson! I will be grateful to him for many things--he's a brilliant, wonderful man--but that he put the three of us together was amazing. I think that first day I felt as if I'd just met best friends that I'd known all my life. We can be miles apart for months and months--and it's still the same, incredible to see one another, as natural as if we'd never been apart. You can see people daily and not have that kind of bond. I'm so grateful!
Harley: Yes, too true. Before meeting her, I'd seen Heather on a panel at the Romantic Times conference, and was wowed by her (naturally). And of course I'd heard of Alexandra Sokoloff (doesn't that sound like a Russian Princess?) I remember thinking, when Bob floated the idea of the three of us, "I hope they like me" -- just like kindergarten. And by golly, it was like kindergarten -- and it still is. Whenever the three of us are together, it feels like playtime! How could I not want to write a series with Heather and Alex?
Alex: We do owe Bob for life. We just can’t ever tell him that. I had the exact same “I hope they like me” feeling. I’d read Heather’s books for years, and of course I’d seen Harley in just about everything. In fact, I once won a nice chunk of money in a “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” style movie trivia party game because I knew Harley had starred with Bill Pullman in a film called “The Favor”. So obviously, it was destiny. Meeting Heather and Harley for the first time, it was completely like we’d always known each other. I couldn't believe how real they were!
 |
The Killerettes, with Bob Levinson
|
+ What would you say makes you uniquely qualified to write about supernatural mayhem in Hollywood?
Heather: The uniquely qualified here really goes to Harley and Alex--although once Chynna headed to L.A., I definitely became qualified to write about LAX. Seriously, I definitely spend enough time in L.A. and Hollywood, although I admit I'm pretty sure my daughter became a "valley girl" before I actually understood exactly where the valley was. But I also have a young friend who is one of the most amazing "fabricationeers" I've ever met; she works for Legacy Studios and she's been kind enough to bring me through her work place--it's amazing! Robert Downey, Jr.'s Ironman suit is next to a werewolf is next to a mummy is next to a giant rat is next to . . . .
Alex: Wow, I want to go see! L.A. does have the greatest costumes. Me, I’ve lived here most of my life, but this was my first time setting a book here. Which is crazy, because it turns out it’s so much easier to write a place that you know as well as I know L.A. I can make fun of it with absolute authority and also show off the truly dazzling aspects of the city. And having worked in the film business I had no problem whatsoever populating it with vampires and werewolves and shapeshifters and Elven. No stretch at all.
Harley: In the early 80's I was flown from New York to Palm Springs to do a week's work on location (as an actress) and I was such a yokel that until I was on the plane I actually thought I was heading to Florida. I was confusing Palm Springs with Palm Beach. (Geography is not my strong suit.) I've never forgotten that first time, the plane landing, the sight of palm trees, the feel of the air, so different from anywhere else on earth, the eerie quality of the afternoon light. I came here for another job in 1985 and didn't intend to stay, yet here I am. I can truly say I love L.A.
+ What most fascinates you about the paranormal? To what one influence in your life do you attribute your fascination with the possibilities beyond the "known world?"
Heather: My mom was Irish and immigrated with her family. My grandmother watched my sister and I sometimes and was the world's most incredible story-teller. She had tales about pixies, leprechauns, gnomes, giants, and all kinds of things that went bump in the night. She really used to warn my sister and I to behave or the "banshee's be'd getting you in the outhouse." Her stories were so good we trembled--and didn't realize until we were teenagers that we didn't have an outhouse.
Alex: My dad was my influence, totally. He was a scientist, a complete rationalist, but he grew up in Mexico City, and Mexico is just steeped in magical realism. When I was a kid Dad would tell us ghost stories as if every single moment of them actually happened. He was so factual in every other aspect of his life that I think I got confused about reality. Or maybe it was Berkeley that did that. One of those. And as to what most fascinates me about the paranormal - it's exactly that place where the paranormal and reality meet that I love to explore in my books - the blurry line between what may have been a paranormal experience and what may just be a psychological interpretation. Or drugs. Or just plain crazy.
Harley: My grandma. She was my mother's mother, Scandinavian, and came to live with us when I was a baby. She read coffee grounds and tea leaves, had precognitive dreams, and the occasional visit from recently dead people on their way to the Other Side. And read fortunes in playing cards (along with playing a mean game of rummy).
+ How was working together on a project for you?
Heather: The most fun ever that someone could pretend to call work! When we'd sit together, ideas would flow, we'd laugh, we'd think. I think our first real hash-through day was in the lobby of the Universal City Sheraton. They film there frequently and the walls behind the check-in desk are covered with pictures of stars from the silent era on. I think if I was asked to walk on water with Harley and Alex, I'd be willing to give it a try!
Alex: There’s such a past-life feeling to it, really. I sometimes forget I haven't actually lived in a magical old Hollywood mansion with Heather and Harley; it seems like something that happened.
Harley: Same. Every time I drive down Laurel Canyon and come to Lookout Mountain, I crane my neck, staring at "our" house and half expecting to see Rhiannon, Barrie and Sailor pulling out of the driveway.
Keeper of the Night - by Heather Graham
New Keeper Rhiannon Gryffald has her peacekeeping duties cut out for her—because in Hollywood, it's hard to tell the actors from the werewolves, bloodsuckers and shape-shifters. Then Rhiannon hears about a string of murders that bear all the hallmarks of a vampire serial killer, and she must confront her greatest challenge yet. She teams up with Elven detective Brodie McKay and they head to Laurel Canyon, epicenter of the danger, where they uncover a plot that may forever alter the face of human-paranormal relations.
Keeper of the Moon - by Harley Jane Kozak
Lust. Elven Keeper Sailor Gryffald's body quivers with it, but is it a symptom of the deadly Scarlet Pathogen coursing through her bloodstream or the proximity of shifter Keeper Declan Wainwright?
Sailor and Declan have had an uneasy relationship ever since they met, and now things are about to get a lot more complicated. A killer is stalking Los Angeles, intentionally infecting Elven with the deadly virus, and now Sailor and Declan must work to keep the supernatural peace while bringing the murderer to justice. But, in doing so, these powerful denizens of the Otherworld find themselves straddling a fine line between lust…and love.
Sailor and Declan have had an uneasy relationship ever since they met, and now things are about to get a lot more complicated. A killer is stalking Los Angeles, intentionally infecting Elven with the deadly virus, and now Sailor and Declan must work to keep the supernatural peace while bringing the murderer to justice. But, in doing so, these powerful denizens of the Otherworld find themselves straddling a fine line between lust…and love.
Keeper of the Shadows - by Alexandra Sokoloff
Coming May 1 - available for pre-order
Barrie Gryffald's work as a crime beat reporter is risky enough when she's investigating mortal homicides. But when a teenage shifter and an infamous Hollywood mogul are both found dead on the same night, her Keeper intuition screams, Otherworldly.
Reluctantly, she enlists her secret crush, Mick Townsend, a journalist with movie-star appeal, and together, they dig up eerie parallels to a forgotten cult-film tragedy. But it may be too late. With a cast of suspects ranging from vampire junkies to the ghosts of Hollywood past, no one can be trusted. Least of all Mick, who may well prove to be as unpredictable as the Others Barrie is sworn to protect....
Barrie Gryffald's work as a crime beat reporter is risky enough when she's investigating mortal homicides. But when a teenage shifter and an infamous Hollywood mogul are both found dead on the same night, her Keeper intuition screams, Otherworldly.
Reluctantly, she enlists her secret crush, Mick Townsend, a journalist with movie-star appeal, and together, they dig up eerie parallels to a forgotten cult-film tragedy. But it may be too late. With a cast of suspects ranging from vampire junkies to the ghosts of Hollywood past, no one can be trusted. Least of all Mick, who may well prove to be as unpredictable as the Others Barrie is sworn to protect....
Keeper of the Dawn - by Heather Graham
Coming July 1 - available for pre-order
Coming July 1 - available for pre-order
Alessande Salisbrooke has been warned about the legend of the old Hildegard Tomb - how human sacrifices are being carried out by the followers of a shape-shifting magician. As a Keeper, Alessande understands the risks of investigating, but she can't shake the nagging feeling that the killings are tied to a friend's recent murder, and she can't turn her back.
With the help of Mark Valiente, a dangerously sexy vampire cop, Alessande narrowly escapes becoming a sacrifice herself. But as the bodies continue piling up, completely drained of blood, one truth becomes all too clear: life is an illusion, and no one-not even those you care about the most-is who they seem.