Cover reveal for Hell Hath No Fury (Kelly and Umber Series #2) and Interview with Bill Blais!

Today I have author Bill Blais visiting for an interview and the cover reveal for his new book, Hell Hath No Fury! 


Here's a little more about Bill:
Bill Blais is a writer, web developer and perennial
part-time college instructor. His novels include Witness (winner ofthe Next Generation Indie Book Award for Fantasy) and the Kelly &Umber urban fantasy series. Bill graduated from Skidmore Collegebefore earning an MA in Medieval Studies from University CollegeLondon. He lives in Maine with his wife and daughter.


And here's more about Hell Hath No Fury:
After the horrific events under the streets of New York
City, Kelly McGinnis quit the team of demon hunters who had recruited
her and did everything she could to put the experience behind her. Six
months later, life is nearly normal, complete with bills, school for
her children and hospital visits for her husband.

Dreams of Umber --the handsome and intriguing incubus she
saved--continue to tease Kelly’s sleep, but it is only when far darker
dreams--and worse--begin to infect her children, that Kelly discovers
what happens if you stop hunting
demons.

They start hunting you.



Oooooo... Demon hunters? Incubi? Yes, please!


On to the interview:



Chelsea: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Bill Blais: Actually, no. When I was young, I was certain that I was going to attend MIT and be a super math genius. I loved math. Then I took algebra. Not an awesome experience. I remember laughing at my grades while my classmates were aghast. Writing wasn't necessarily next in line, but reading had always been there, and this only grew until my sophomore English class in high school, when I first tried my hand at stories of my own. Writing has been part of who I am ever since and I felt confident that I could make a living at it someday.

Chelsea: What influenced your decision to indie publish? Are you still pursuing the traditional route?
Bill Blias: I suppose the most direct influence was the impending birth of our baby. My wife has been a constant and steadfast supporter of publishing the books myself, but to be honest, going indie with the Kelly & Umber series was a major hurdle for me because I had been (and, to some extent, remain) indoctrinated with the traditional publishing model and the associations that go with it, particularly this one: if no-one will pay me to have my own work published, then it can't be that good, can it?

I struggled with this for a long time, but as the rejections for No Good Deed piled up (as they do - I thought I had a major editor interested, at one point, but that didn't go anywhere), I kept an eye on the growth of e-books and self-publishing. More importantly, though, I finished the last revision of Hell Hath No Fury the next year. More rejections. Then I finished Another Night at the End of the World. More rejections.

As I was finishing the second revision of yet another novel, we discovered we were pregnant and suddenly there was a sense of urgency I hadn't really felt before. Not pressure, exactly, but a kick-in-the-pants kind of "Hey! What are you waiting for?!"

So I took another look back at what I'd written and realized that I thought I had some pretty cool stuff, and the indie- and self-publishing options had come a long way. We didn't have the money for print, but places like Smashwords and Amazon were making it easy. Yes, the odds are still heavily stacked against indie and self-pub authors, but the possibility is now very concretely there.

So, after yet more encouragement (cajoling) from my wife, I finally took the leap. Of course, being me, I waited to do it until mere weeks before the baby was due, but I finished the futzing and finagling of getting each book to look and feel professional and posted them to Amazon the week before our little girl was born.

And a good thing, too, or I wouldn't be here talking to you today if I hadn't.
Am I still pursuing traditional publishing? I don't really know. I certainly wouldn't say no if someone read a digital copy and wanted to publish them (duh!), but I'm invested in a couple of series right now (Kelly & Umber and All Prophets are Liars) and now that I've self-published the first of these, there seems no interest in picking them up after the fact. I have other stand-alone books planned, and I will probably give them a go in the traditional market, but what I'm really committed to is writing. The indie publishing world is wide open, and I'm excited to see what there is to see.

Chelsea: I heard you had a new baby (Congrats!). How do you balance writing with all your other responsibilities?

Bill Blais: Thanks very much! It's still an awe-inspiring and thrilling and difficult and wondrous thing that beggars description. It's also a most fabulous consumer of time, so the real answer to your question is that I've had to scale back the writing accordingly (though I'm back to at least abiding by my 5-minute rule). I've worked multiple part-time jobs (teacher, web developer, etc.) for much of my adult life, so time management is something I've been pretty good at, but caring for a baby is far, far, FAR more than a part time job, and none of what I do would be possible without my wife (have I mentioned how amazing she is?).

The key thing, I suppose, is that writing is part of who I am. If I am not writing regularly, however much or little, I get quite unpleasant to be around. In order to be the best husband, friend and father I can be, I need to make sure I make time for my writing. One more reason having a partner who supports you is so important, whatever it is that you do.

Chelsea: What is the best writing advice you've ever received? What's the worst?

Bill Blais: Kill your babies (the literary ones, of course). In my early writing, I loved everything I wrote, and I believed that if I felt that strongly about something, it had to stay. Over the years, I have learned that the things I tend to feel most strongly about are the ones most in need of cutting from a story. It's amazing how this can continue to happen, but it sneaks up on me in everything I write, until I take a good fresh look at the page and demand a rationale for why I keep holding on so tightly to a particular scene. The sooner I can get to this point (and I've moved from 13 revisions down to 5-7!), the better.

The worst? I don't know that I've heard it said, but the flip side of the above is my greatest writing obstacle. I actually enjoy revisions, at least as much as the initial draft, if not more, so my initial approach is to try to make a piece as perfect as I can before putting it out there. There's no such thing as perfect, though, so this leads to madness (like, say, revising something 13 times).
Chelsea: Quick, it's 12/21/12 and the zombie apocalypse is upon us. Your family is safe inside the bunker already and you have five minutes to choose five things to bring with you. What would you choose?
Bill Blais: Oh, this is bad. Zombies are very much not my thing. I've never even seen a zombie film and I didn't read that handbook that came out a few years ago, so I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. If I somehow managed not to lose the keys to the bunker (seriously, just ask my wife) and thereby doom my loved ones to a hideous death, I suppose I would bring a series of incredibly un-unuseful things: 1) my copy of The Riverside Shakespeare, 2) a lot of blank paper, 3) a bunch of pencils, 4) a pencil sharpener, and 5) a bat (well? I had to pick something, right? Guns run out of ammo and blades lose their edge, but a bat you can trust, right?).
Thanks for the great questions, Chelsea, and for having me by. Okay, so I realize that last answer was probably lame, but I really would be useless in such a situation. Zombies terrify me. Seriously.

Great answers, Bill! Now, on to the cover reveal.... (drumroll)


Wow! Those eyes really get to you, don't they? You want it now, don't you?
Bill's Website and Blog: http://www.billblais.com/

Where to Buy the Kelly and Umber Series books:

No Good Deed (Kelly and Umber #1):
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Kelly-Umber-Novel-ebook/dp/B007IXY6UC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335582057&sr=1-1

Hell Hath No Fury (Kelly and Umber #2):
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Kelly-Umber-Novel-ebook/dp/B007IXY7RE/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335921706&sr=1-7

Read Sample Chapters of both books:

No Good Deed: http://www.billblais.com/books/no-good-deed/no-good-deed-excerpt/

Hell Hath No Fury:
http://www.billblais.com/books/hell-hath-no-fury/hell-hath-no-fury-excerpt/
Be sure to hit the other stops on the tour for more interviews and content!