Q&A with Gerry Bartlett and Giveaway!

 

REAL VAMPIRES DON'T WEAR SIZE SIX

Curvy vampire Glory St. Clair kicked out the demon that had set up shop in her body, but she had some serious fallout, mainly to her relationship with longtime lover Jeremy Blade. Before Glory can win him back, she has some issues of the hellish variety to deal with.

First, some visitors from the Dark Side want to make her their hell-buddy, and they definitely like to fight dirty. Second, the local vampire council is after Glory to clean up her act, or they'll run her out of town. To pacify them, she has to mentor a vamp fledgling, a computer whiz with a fashion phobia. And to top it all off, Lucifer himself offers Glory the ultimate temptation: work for the devil and he'll make her the size six she's always lusted after.

Glory's not sure if she can resist such an offer, but there are a few things the full-figured vamp knows for sure. Somehow, she's going to get back the man she loves, keep the business she needs, and teach her nerdy newbie that size doesn't matter.

Welcome to fun! Gerry Bartlett is a friend of mine, and I'm a huge fan of her Real Vampire series. I just love that she set her vamp world in Austin, TX  because it's such a cool place.  The best part about Gerry is her hilarious sense of humor,  and boy does it shine through in her books.  Her character, Glory, is so relatable because she's like most of us ~ minus the margaritas and Mexican food.  By the way, if you haven't read the previous installments of the REAL VAMPIRE series, don't let that stop you. Gerry is a master at writing standalone books. Warning: Once you read one, you'll want them all.

Gerry graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me. Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of REAL VAMPIRES DON'T WEAR SIZE SIX (US & CA only). I've read it, and believe me, you don't want to miss the fun.  So on to the Q&A – and feel free to ask Gerry questions while you're here.

Q&A with Gerry Bartlett

 

You wrote a Regency historical under a pen name, then switched to vampire contemporary paranormals. Why the big change? At the time the market was soft for historicals. Thank goodness that market has heated up again and I wish I had the time to go back to the Regencies, I absolutely love that time period. I tried my hand at the vampire thing at the urging of my critique partner, Nina Bangs. She was doing really well with her own paranormals and I enjoyed reading hers. I was lucky that my proposal helped me snag my first ever agent and a contract with Berkley for the first two in a series that's now on book 7 with REAL VAMPIRES DON'T WEAR SIZE SIX, out this month.
What do you think makes vampires so popular? It's the mystery surrounding the vamp male for one. He's usually totally alpha and dangerous and what woman doesn't have a secret fantasy involving one of those bad boys? As for the women, well, having a pair of fangs and kick butt abilities is very empowering. I like the fact that Glory, my heroine, is able to take care of herself. The immortality thing is a huge fantasy for all of us, I think. I love being able to add a bit of history with my ancient vampires.
Any advice for new writers trying to break into the market now? It's tough and you have to stand out in a crowded field. The problem is, the publishers want new and different but not too far out there. What they really are searching for is a strong voice that tells a universal story that readers will want to buy. Confusing? I hope not. If you pick up any popular author's work, you can usually tell it's his or her book by the style, the tone and the topic. That's voice. If you haven't found yours yet, you haven't written enough.
Tell us about Glory, your plus size vampire. Glory is over four hundred years old but she was bloating when she was turned and got stuck that way. So she has figure issues. I keep in mind that she's a product of the 1600s when women weren't independent. So it's been a struggle for her to pull away from her sire, who is a typical controlling Highlander. She loves him, but she knows she needs to make her own way in life. Readers seem to relate to her and her problems and I love that. Even when I wrote historical romances, I tried to keep in mind that I was writing about people with human emotions and problems and that those are universal. If I can't feel what my characters are feeling when I write a scene, I throw it out and start over.
Last words? Perserverence is the key to success in this business and paying attention to what readers are buying. I switched to vampires and never looked back. But if vampires became a no sell? I'd move on in an instant. The bottom line is that I want my books to reach readers and I'll do what it takes to make that happen. Book 8 in my series, REAL VAMPIRES HATE SKINNY JEANS, comes out in April and we're negotiating for a book 9. So far each book has hit the bestseller list for trade paperbacks at Barnes & Nobles and Borders . As long as that keeps happening, I hope to keep the series going. It's been a great ride.

Thank you so much, Gerry. I'm looking forward to REAL VAMPIRES HATE SKINNY JEANS in April and have my fingers crossed for a ninth installment.

If you want to find out more about Gerry, click on the hyper link: Gerry Bartlett. Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of REAL VAMPIRES DON'T WEAR SIZE SIX! Cheers!