Monday, November 8, 2010

Guest post and contest with H.P. Mallory

*Sorry I'm late! First, I will have a post about episode 2 of Walking Dead tomorrow- I have the flu and am just too tired to type right now. 

Secondly, many thanks to H.P. Mallory for taking the time to give us a peek into her imagination and sharing some of her inspiration. My review of Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble will be up later this week. H.P. has also generously donated 1 e-book to two different winners and contest details are at the end of this post.

Lots of people always ask me where I get my ideas for my books, one of which is a paranormal romance (Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble) and the other is an Urban Fantasy (To Kill A Warlock). And, silly though this might sound, it’s sort of a tough question to answer. I don’t really know where I get my ideas. I mean, I’ve always loved anything that has to do with the paranormal—when I was a kid, my favorite books were always about ghosts. I look forward to the Twilight Zone marathon every year around Thanksgiving and I love love love those shows about real haunted houses. So, I guess it was a natural that I should want to write paranormal fiction.

I started writing about two years ago when I was living in Cambridge, England. Living abroad might have been the catalyst probing me to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard as the case may be. England was such a magical place—not only in the incredibly old history but also in the weather—how dour and grey the sky can be and throw a crumbling old castle into the picture and you almost can’t help but write something gothic. While living in the UK, I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse series and got about halfway into the Anita Blake series before I couldn’t relate to Anita anymore and had to stop. I really loved both of those series and they might have had an impact on me in terms of the structure of my stories—writing in first person and creating a series narrative.

But, as for my story lines, I don’t know where they come from. I might hear a song on the radio that will make me think of a fun storyline or a memory might suddenly grab me, demanding to be included in my stories somehow. I guess it comes down to the fact that I’m constantly thinking about stories, about situations and scenes I can incorporate into my books. But, as to where I get my ideas? I don’t know. They just sort of arrive and refuse to leave!

H.P. Mallory
Author, Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance
www.hpmallory.com
www.urbanfantasyauthor.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/hpmallory
http://www.facebook.com/people/Hp-Mallory/10000124964376

































Contest details:
*Please leave a meaningful comment telling me your favorite TV/Movie witch OR tell me what serves as your inspiration for trying new things.
*One winner will get Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble, while the next winner will get How To Kill a Warlock.
*This contest ends November 21st.



4 comments:

susied said...

My favorite TV witch, mostly for nostalgic reasons, is Samantha from Bewitched. I used to watch this show every week when I was young and wished she were my mother (my poor Mom!). I always thought the show was funny. Now, years later, I still watch some reruns on the TV Land network when they come on. Still enjoy them alot.

By the way, these books sound like alot of fun!

Zita said...

I really enjoyed Amanda Tucker from Tucker's Witch. It was a TV show that ran from 1982-1983 and was about a married couple who were private detectives. Amanda was the witch (played by Catherine Hicks-yes, of 7th Heaven fame) and Tim Matheson was her husband Rick.

zita(at)dal.ca

LSUReader said...

Like Susied, above, I enjoyed watching Bewitched. But my favorite from the series--and my favorite TV witch--was Endora, Samantha's mother. She was caustic, competent and challenging and I loved her for it!

Kim - Bookishly Me said...

Charmed is my favorite serie and I like Phoebe the most of the tree/four sisters. She is the most fun.
kimvanaken@live.nl