Today I would like to welcome to RFTC author Allison Pang. Allison is currently on tour promoting the her newest release A Sliver of Shadow. Before I give the floor to Allison lets get to know her a bit.
A marine biologist in a former life, Allison Pang turned to a life of crime to finance her wild spending habits and need to collect Faberge eggs. A cat thief of notable repute, she spends her days sleeping and nights scaling walls and wooing dancing boys….Well, at least the marine biology part is true. But she was taloned by a hawk once. She also loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists.
She spends her days in Northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by the occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes.
Places to find Allison:
Melanie’s voice became distant, quiet beneath the weight of her own memories. “We’re moving into dangerous territory here, Abby. Unless the Queen reopens the CrossRoads, I think some serious shit is going to go down.” She stopped, resting her hand on my shoulder. “And we’re going to be in the thick of it. Again.”
“The cake is a lie,” I intoned gravely.
She stuck her tongue out at me. “It always is. But we need to be a bit more alert to what’s going on this time.” Her mouth curved into a wry smile. “There’s science to do.”
“Well, the first thing I want is shoes,” I said, wiggling my toes. “As much fun as this is, I find I run a lot better when I’m not worried about stepping in horse crap.”
“I’ve got an extra pair,” she offered. “Probably the fastest thing. I’m next to Moira’s tent.” She pointed to the largest tent beside the pavilion, gauzy with pink and cream cloth, a set of royal pennants snapping briskly beside it.
“Nice and simple,” I quipped. “I like it. It’s got that whole Barbie’s My First RPG Campaign thing going on.”
It’s no secret I’m an old school gamer in my spare time. (Which isn’t so spare these days.) It’s a rather unfortunate side effect of having a full time job, kids AND the secondary job of being a novelist. Time, particularly the sort I used to be able to dump into hours and hours of gameplay is at an incredible premium.
It becomes harder and harder for me to justify sinking myself into all-night raids or messing with The Sims (yes, I’ve got one game with all my Brush of Darkness characters, all living in in one tiny house driving each other crazy!), or RPGing my way through Thedas. I still very much enjoy gaming, but it always seems as though there’s something more productive I should be doing.
I still try to fit it in as best I can, but I’ve definitely had to weigh what I play and when I play it. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t throw in a few bits of gaming pop-culture into my books, and I do…in spades. If you read A Brush of Darkness, you’ll remember there’s a pretty large World of Warcraft scene that goes on between Abby and a character named TartBarbie. (Who has turned out to be a fairly popular secondary character, oddly enough.)
It was a pretty blatant reference to my own WoW gaming, seeing as I actually did play on the BlackHand server for a while (though I made up the gaming handles.) And I don’t make these references to confuse anyone- most of the time, it’s usually what I’m playing when I’m writing the book and if it fits, I’ll throw it in there. (Much like a large amount of the music Abby listens to on her magic iPod – sometimes it’s there specifically, but often it’s whatever is playing on my own headphones at the time. I actually find it fascinating when I go back and reread those passages, because it jiggles my memory to everything that was going on in my real life when I was writing those particular scenes.)
In A Sliver of Shadow and the forthcoming A Trace of Moonlight, the gaming references aren’t quite so obvious (unless you’re a gamer). The above passage, for example, is actually a well-known and probably over-used nod to Portal. Expect references to Skyrim and Dragon Age in the next book. (Phin is actually a rather avid gamer in the books, though don’t ask me how he manages to use a mouse or a keyboard. I’ll probably just say “Blood Magic” and leave it at that. ;-)
Just when her new life as a TouchStone – a mortal bound to help OtherFolk cross between Faery and human worlds – seems to be settling down, Abby Sinclair is left in charge when the Protectorate, Moira, leaves for the Faery Court. And when the Protectorate’s away…let’s just say things spiral out of control when a spell on Abby backfires and the Faery Queen declares the Doors between their worlds officially closed.The results are disastrous for both sides: OtherFolk trapped in the mortal world are beginning to fade, while Faerie is on the brink of war with the daemons of Hell. Along with her brooding eleven prince Talivar and sexy incubus Brystion, Abby ventures to the CrossRoads in an attempt to override the Queen’s magic. But nothing in this beautiful, dangerous realm will compare to the discoveries she’s making about her past, her destiny, and what she will sacrifice for those she loves.
Places to Purchase:
| Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Powells | Indiebound | The Book Depository | **Excerpt**
“Who’s my little man?” The unicorn crooned at Benjamin and then winced when a hank of beard became the baby’s newest form of entertainment.
“Keep that up and you’ll be a baldy chin,” I retorted. “And I don’t recall asking your opinion. Not that that’s ever stopped you before. Talivar around?”
“Nope, burned the coffee again. Ran out to get more.” A snort escaped him. “He’s even worse at it then you are.”
“Probably something about being a prince and not having to actually cook for himself. At least he’s trying. More than I can say for you.” I stooped to search for my Crocs, pushing through dust bunnies and clumps of what suspiciously looked like unicorn droppings. “Christ, Phin, use the toilet or go outside or something.” I snatched my hand away.
“That’s not me. I think you’ve got mice.” His tone became wheedling.
“I’ll bet. Just clean it up.”
“With what? Gonna turn my tail into a broom?” The furred tuft in question flicked as if to make the point.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something. Besides, aren’t unicorn horns proof against poison? Purifying water, that sort of thing? Surely something that can bring a dead man back to life can disinfect like Lysol?”
**Giveaway**
On behalf of Allison, 10 lucky winners will win a copy of A Silver of Shadow. So make sure to leave a comment and to fill out the Rafflecopter form for your chance to win.
Good Luck =)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
It sounds like a wonderful book:)
ReplyDeleteya, I never did get into gaming, I think I just never figure out how, not that I never really wanted to join or not.... Anyhow, thanks for the post and the giveaway, I love learning little-known-facts about books! Book Savvy Babe
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gamer, but I am surrounded by people who are so some of the references might make sense to me. I love the idea of your real life being in sync with your books like with the music.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway opportunity! I look forward to reading both books.