KAREN MARIE MONING TEASES FANS

WITH NO SPOILERS OR EARLY MANUSCRIPTS OUT, MONING HINTS ABOUT MAC'S WORLD

As fans of Karen Marie Moning know, the author likes to keep readers on their toes. And that means secrecy- and lots of it- when it comes to what's ahead in the Fever series. Readers will only discover what happens to heroine Mac on Aug 18 when Dreamfever, book four in the Fever series, is released by Delacorte. (book three, Faefever, is out now in paperback.) Because we want to help keep you guessing about what's to come and build the anticipation of what we're sure will be an exciting read, we asked Karen to discuss Mac's journey and answer questions posed by her fans at the RT website, RTBookreviews.com.

FROM KAREN:

"When can I get my advance reading copy of Dreamfever? If I had five dollars for every time I've been asked that lately, I'd buy myself a new car, LOL. Marketing the Fever series has presented a unique challenge, as Mac's tale unfolds over five books, with each of the first four installments ending on a cliffhanger of increasing emotional impact.

I feel strongly that the joy of reading, or hearing a riveting story, lies largely in discovering the tale yourself, at your own pace. There's a thrilling tension in embarking on an adventure with no assurances of what you might find. Only then can you truly experience the joy of slipping into the heroine's skin and living it along with her. Only then can you taste her fear, share her lust, weep for her failures and celebrate her triumphs. But you're denied that experience if, by the time you have the book in your hands, you've already stumbled across major plot and character spoilers everywhere you turn.

Last year, many of my readers complained that they couldn't open e-mails or visit message boards for weeks before Faefever's release, for fear of being exposed to spoilers they didn't want to know. Many of them encountered spoilers anyway, because they hadn't been appropriately labeled. It's common practice in the industry to circulate advance reading copies to help build buzz and increase advance orders from booksellers. It's a career risk to go ARC-less. But it's a risk I'm willing to take, rather than chance my fans having their Dreamfever experience spoiled."

YOU ASKED, KAREN ANSWERED:

Will Shadowfever be the last of Mac's adventures?

If you're asking will the storyline begun in Darkfever conclude in Shadowfever, the answer is "Yes." However, that's not to say that Mac might not pop up again, in the future.

As the Fever series comes to a conclusion, what are your plans for future projects? Will you continue with first-person urban fantasies or returning to third-person romances with touches of paranormal and fantasy?

The five books of the Fever series lay the foundation for two additional, connected series. I will continue writing first-person urban fantasy with romantic elements.

I would like to know how you keep track of all your foreshadowing and the tiny hints you give us in your stories!

For each installment in the series, I compile the following: character sketches of physical attributes and emotional/psychological profiles; immediate, intermediate and long-term goals; and flow charts detailing what I know about who knows what about who and what, what the characters know about who and what, and what the reader knows about who knows who and what about what and who. Whew! I have a stack of notebooks. I don't think I had any idea what I was taking on when I decided to write an urban fantasy/murder mystery that unfolded over 700,000 words and five installments, had an ever growing cast and required complex world building.

A question I see over and over on different boards is if you will write more Highlander books. I know that you don't have any plans to do so, but it is a hot topic and hopefully one you will address. Amazon just ran a "name your top 10 best books ever" post, and your Highlander books easily were among the top five overall. So, why no more of these if they are so dang popular?

Thanks, I'm delighted to hear people love my Highlanders! And I'm sorry to the fans who are disappointed that I've not continued writing third-person romance. But I think all the thing readers loved in my Highlander novels can be found in the Fever series, just in a different format. However, as I've said in the other interviews, I never say never. There are still a few MacKeltars that keep me awake at night!

Where did you go to high school? I understand you're from Cincinnati, so I'm very proud of you for representing my city. You're such a talented writer and your website is the coolest website I've ever visited.

Thanks, and a huge hi to Cincinnati- I love the town! I miss Skyline chili, Husman's potato chips and Esther Price candy, but I didn't go to school in Ohio. I attended high school in Indiana at The Immaculate Conception Academy. Although I was born in Cincinnati, we moved when I was 5, and I didn't return until I was 23. I lived near Eden Park for about 10 years.

The end of Faefever was considered by some of your readers to be controversial. I know most readers, like myself, found it to be cohesive with what an unseelie prince would do and therefore know exactly what "we" would tell those readers. However, what would you say to those readers that found the ending too much?

The best way for me to answer this question is from a blog entry I wrote addressing the issue. I received the following in an email from a reader regarding the ending of Faefever:

Ms. Moning, I love books. Especially paranormal ones, but I never condone rape in any form. I'm sorry to say I will not be reading the rest of your series and I will be telling my reading buddies to do the same.

The reason this bothers me is obvious. It implies that I do condone rape. No, no and no. This was my reply:

Dear ----, I don't condone rape in any form, either, ever. Having been attacked twice in my life, I fully understand the many emotions and ramifications. There's a thread at my message board about this very topic that sheds more insight. The scene was not written gratuitously or for sexual titillation. It was what it was: the Lord Master making good on his threat to take what Mac "prized most," which was her free will, by trying to turn her Pri-ya. In no way does the scene condone rape or forced intercourse, and in fact, in Mac's inner dialogue she recognizes the horror of what is happening: that she is being made to want something she so desperately doesn't want.

I have no idea where you got the idea that I "condoned" rape because I wrote a scene that contained it. Many authors write about serial killers and describe graphic torture, but I highly doubt they condone either. Because I have strong feelings about rape, because of what the scene signified and was intended to illustrate in the overall arc of the five-book series, I wrote the scene without naming body parts, I didn't make it erotic, and I chose my words carefully.

It's sad. I agree. Mac's in a tough place right now. But I'll reiterate what I've been saying since the first book in this series came out: It's not a romance novel, or even a romance series. It's urban fantasy with a dark edge, with mystery, suspense and eroticism. I've also said that there will be romance in it. It hasn't happened yet. It will happen when it's time. That time is approaching. I've also repeatedly assured my fans that I believe in happy endings. I do.

It makes me sad that this reader won't be around to see Mac get her happily ever after because she seems to have gotten the idea that because I write about a topic, I must condone it.

Sheesh, will somebody go lock up the guy who writes about that serial killer Dexter?

Thanks, readers, for participating, and be sure to visit KarenMoning.com to get the latest scoop on what's going on in the Fever world. While you're there, please drop in at my message boards to say hi. I look forward to seeing you there.