At least, not for a month or so, because I’ve got books coming out at the end of June—an anthology, a comic, and a full length novel, Darkness Calls, the sequel to The Iron Hunt (check out the link for the entire first chapter).
Let me confess: The Iron Hunt was an extremely difficult book to write, partially because I tried to do too much in too small a space (check out today’s Break Into Fiction for my thoughts on that). I wanted to write an epic, and did a lousy job in my first draft. I completely rewrote that novel from page one, and if folks wondered why there were so many unanswered questions, it’s because the answers were taken out—I did not have room in the novel to do them justice. Those were answers that required whole books.
And Darkness Calls is a whole book devoted to one of the biggest of those mysteries: Who, and what, is Grant?
Now, for those who have read the novella, Hunter Kiss, and the novel, The Iron Hunt, you know that Grant isn’t the typical hero—in the sense that he isn’t this more-muscles-than-God, chest-beating, you-woman-me-man kind of dude.
He’s a former priest. He’s a musician. He’s a philanthropist with a leg that got crushed and never healed right, so he walks with a cane. He loves deeply, and loves true, and he’s the kind of guy who would run out in the middle of the night to buy you ice cream if that’s what you wanted, because he thinks it’s cute that you like ice cream just that much—and because he knows you’d probably hop in the car with him, in your pajamas, just because it’s fun to be together and talk, and drive in the dark with the windows rolled down, happy that you’re alive, with this person at your side, in this place and time.
He’s that kind of guy. And Maxine is that kind of girl, to him—even if she does fight demons…and happens to be covered in living tattoos.
Grant doesn’t fight with his fists, but he’s still a man’s man. He takes care of the people he loves. He makes hard choices. He takes responsibility for his mistakes.
But like Maxine, he’s not quite human. Or maybe he’s too human. Darkness Calls answers that question, quite clearly. And, perhaps, raises more. But you expected that, right?
The first part of Grant’s letter is still at the Romantic Times website. If you don’t want to sign up for an RT account to leave a message, feel free to post in the comments below with questions, thoughts, anything you like about Grant, or the Hunter Kiss series. There’s going to be a drawing for an iTunes gift certificate with names compiled here and from the original RT post.
PS: Did you watch Angels & Demons? And if you did, did you see Ewan McGregor? Dudes. So hot. Now, I’m not saying Mr. McGregor would make a good Grant (feel free to make suggestions), but if you had to choose between him and…well, anyone else…
Okay, I’m done now. Go, have a great night! And check back every day for more blogging about Darkness Calls! I’ll be posting the soundtrack for the book, excerpts, and my continuing thoughts about writing this second installment in the Hunter Kiss series.