Ask the Author: Andrea Speed
Answered Questions (33)
Andrea Speed
Oh boy. Well, I'll try and condense this. Long story short - some pirate sites have these books, and because they do, Amazon won't let me sell them on their site. Yeah, I don't know what kind of rule that is, because if authors could prevent pirates, we would. But since Amazon refuses to sell thsee books, I have them available at my https://aspeed.itch.io/ itch.io page. (Although my books will be on sale at Smashwords for the first week of July, so you can get them cheaper if you'd like.) And once you download the epub, you can upload them to your Kindle here: https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle Right now that's all I can do to get around Amazon's weird policy. Thank you for reading!
Andrea Speed
Oh, now I had not considered that, but it might be interesting to put together some collections. Of course, a single Infected omnibus would be massive, and provably not welcomed, but I could probably break them up into "seasons" (like three books in one). I might have to put some end notes in them, but I know I could easily do that. You have given me something to think about. Thank you.
Andrea Speed
Yes! While I have a new Infected novel in the editing phase, I'm also writing a different urban fantasy novel that involves more magic and eldritch gods, and I have this science fiction story burning a hole in my pocket. We'll see which I get finished with first.
Andrea Speed
The box set? That will depend on when I get more than one book released. (Which should hopefully be soon.) But right now, there are no material changes to the book. If I do that, I will definitely announce it.
Andrea Speed
Please check your messages. And I will say it is coming out again, but I don't know when exactly, because I'm waiting on the cover artist, I'm afraid. Which is also the answer for when the other books are coming out.
Andrea Speed
Thank you! For now, there probably won't be any major changes to the books. (I will note that if it happens.) As for the rest of the series, they will be released, but timing is up to the artists I hire to do the covers, and my ability to buy said covers. As for audiobooks, I'm looking into that! I would really love to do them.
Andrea Speed
Grandpa died on a Tuesday. By Friday, he was back.
Andrea Speed
Well, Roan does get a kind of happy ending, if you read on. (Not that I'm hinting ...) But the Infected series as a whole is about grief: living with it, or trying to, and learning to live with all that follows. It's also about living with chronic illness, which ... okay, admittedly, I'm making my books sound terrible and depressing. I like to think they're not. We all have burdens we carry, and people we love and lose. It's how you deal with it that I found to be an interesting idea to explore. Especially when ... well, I can't spoil the series completely. But when you find out maybe there's certain rules that only apply to you. Life is bloody unfair (no kidding). But sometimes, if you write about it, it's easier to deal with.
Andrea Speed
I have taken back the rights of the Josh of the Damned stories from Riptide, and I'm hoping to republish them independently. Also, I'm working on a new Josh story, which will probably be included in the re-published Josh.
Andrea Speed
I think I would qualify, yes. (The Read Harder challenge? Cool.)
Andrea Speed
It might sound like I'm being evasive or cute when I say "Roan wouldn't let me", but really, he wouldn't. It wasn't exactly right for the character. He would allow me to give away so much about him, but he pretty much put his foot down about giving that part of himself away. If I ever felt it had any narrative value, I might have pushed back a bit more, but I didn't feel it was ever necessary. Nothing I could write was ever going to be as good as a reader's imagination anyway.
Andrea Speed
There's actually quite a few. My father's family went through a period of time where they went from hard core Catholics to joining all sorts of weird cults - did you ever wonder where I got my fascination with them? - and since I have no contact with them, I kind of wonder why they went through that period of time, and if they ever stopped. (If so, why.) Also, my Dad's a sex offender, but that's an even weirder story. But I'm sure it's a book plot. (As my sister and I say, we one day have to get t-shirts that say "My Dad's A Sex Offender, And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt".)
Andrea Speed
I am glad! I'd like to see what he makes of all that. And I don't have any appearances at the moment, but I will probably be at GRNW in the fall. Check my posts here, as I will update with the info when I can.
Andrea Speed
I am happy to tell you that Dee plays a bigger part in the Holden sequel I'm currently writing, and I would suspect he'd be part of the next one, if that happens. I would love to write more of him! Dee is fun, and an EMT has a very colorful job.
Andrea Speed
Oh, so many! Off the top of my head, I can tell you he has the astrological symbol for Leo on his wrist, a bleeding heart with Paris on his arm, as well as a ribbon with the name Dylan wrapped around paint brushes on his other arm, an ink work Asian tiger (designed by Dylan), a yin/yang symbol made out of koi (another Dylan design), and a quotation from Krapp's Last Tape filling out his arms. He also has a biohazard symbol on his chest, and by the time I've written this, he undoubtedly has a few more. I'm sure I'm forgetting some! Roan is filling his skin with tattoos to reassert ownership over it. The lion can do a lot of things, but it can't get rid of the ink on his skin. That is his, and the virus will never take it away.
Andrea Speed
Actually, I used the short story as a springboard into a full length novel about Kaede and Ash. I hope to have some news on it soon. (And will there be more with them? I hope so.)
Andrea Speed
As far is as known, no, although it is possible it was done when some of his blood was stolen for this very purpose. (It's in Epitaph, if you're curious.) I think people have asked him, and no, he hasn't reacted well. (N.B. : I actually wonder if Roan's viral strain is at all contagious in that manner, because his infection is very different from everyone else's. But I honestly don't know.)
Andrea Speed
I'd love to! I'm a big audio book listener myself. But you'll have to make the request of my publisher, as they ultimately decide what gets made into an audio book.
Andrea Speed
1. Roan's mother was alive long enough to give him a name. He even speculates on why she named him Roan in one of the books, assuming she named him after his hair color. Since McKichan is a rather Scottish name, he's just assuming, and everyone else just goes with that.(Which means no one really knows.) 2. I'm not sure I ever said when Roan's transformation started in the novels, but my assumption is around seven or eight.
Andrea Speed
I have considered writing the end of the Roan story, but the end of the Roan story I envisioned wasn't death. (I'm going to just let that sit there. What does that mean? Keeping it to myself.) But part of me doesn't want to write it, because I want to leave the door open. I love writing Roan so much.
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