Guest Blog and The Taken Giveaway with Vicki Pettersson

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN.
THE TAKEN is the first book in my new Celestial Blues series, a book that’s been … well, it’s been a long time coming. It was initially inspired by a short story I wrote right before I sold The Signs of the Zodiac series. (By the way, that very short story can be seen in all its pared down glory on my Facebook “Like” page. It’s kinda fun, even for me, to compare how it began with how it evolved and eventually saw its way into print.)
The important thing, though, was that the story stayed with me for seven long years. I literally could not shake the idea of a mortal-turned-angel whose job it was to assist murdered souls into the afterlife, and after six books, I’d learned that the ideas that haunt you are the ones worth pursuing on the page.
One of the perks of being an author is the chance to research, to learn and to play according to whim. Want a protagonist who’s into the rockabilly subculture? Call up a modern-day burlesque star and ask her about her world. Want to pair her up with an old fashioned PI who died back in 1960? Read The Maltese Falcon and The Last Good Kiss, and call it a day’s work. And want a romance that defies the ages? Study an epic romance like that between Hepburn and Tracy to see what chemistry really is. Suddenly, effort and time and a pinch of kismet combine to create not just a new book, but a new series. In this case it birthed my unlikely sleuthing team of Griffin Shaw, busted angel, and Kit Craig, rockabilly reporter.


That’s why “Where do you get your ideas?” is such a hard question to answer. “Everywhere” is a simple answer, but a more accurate one is, “By mining every current interest and errant thought throughout my waking day.” Every thought is fodder. Every conversation can be turned into text. Every headline is a potential story.


And that’s how the things that haunt you combine with the things that interest you to create a world that didn’t previously exist. Suddenly I’m talking about these characters as if they’re people who really lived the lives I’ve created for them. And suddenly, because of them, I’m living a new life too. What a surprise. What a gift. What a world.


*Read Samples
Chapter 1: http://www.scribd.com/doc/93783449/The-Taken-Chapter-1

Chapter 2: http://www.scribd.com/doc/95469416/The-Taken-Chapter-2

Chapter 3: http://www.scribd.com/doc/96303130/The-Taken-Chapter-3*
Cover copy:

Griffin Shaw used to be a PI, but that was back when gumshoes hoofed the streets . . . and he was still alive. Fifty years later, he’s an angel, but that doesn’t make him a saint. One small mistake has altered fate, and now he’s been dumped back onto the mortal mudflat to collect another soul—Katherine “Kit” Craig, a journalist whose latest investigation is about to get her clipped.
Bucking heavenly orders, Grif refuses to let the sable-haired siren come to harm. Besides, protecting her offers a chance to solve the mystery of his own unsolved murder—and dole out some overdue payback for the death of his beloved wife, Evie.
Joining forces, Kit and Grif’s search for answers leads beyond the blinding lights of the Strip into the dark heart of an evil conspiracy.
But a ruthless killer determined to destroy them isn’t Grif’s biggest threat. His growing attraction to Kit could cost them both their lives, along with the answer to the haunting question of his long afterlife . . .
Who Killed Griffin Shaw?
Author bio:

The New York Times bestselling author of the Signs of the Zodiac series – and former showgirl – Vicki Pettersson was born, raised, and still lives in Sin City, where a backyard view of the Strip regularly inspires her to set down her martini and write.









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